Erhard of Regensburg

ON THE HOLY BISHOPS ERARDUS AND ALBERTUS.

In the eighth century.

Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (St.) Albertus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (B.)

From various sources.

[1] The birthday of St. Erardus is observed on the sixth day before the Ides of January, and several Martyrologies make mention of him. The Cologne Martyrology and the Viola Sanctorum: "On the same day, of St. Erardus, Bishop and Confessor of Regensburg." The birthday of St. Erardus. The Martyrology of St. Mary at Utrecht, written more than 500 years ago: "At Regensburg, of St. Erardus, Bishop." Ferrarius, Hugo Menardus in the Benedictine Martyrology, and Molanus in his Additions to Usuard agree — though the last, having called him Bishop of Regensburg in the first edition, seems afterward to have retracted this. But the Cologne Carthusians in their Additions to Usuard also make him Bishop of Regensburg; as does the German Martyrology, in which the following is read: "Likewise of St. Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg, who was a Scot by nation and Bishop of Trier; thence he came into Bavaria and there preached the Gospel: he baptized Otilia, blind from birth, and obtained sight for her; and at length, as he had long desired, he departed to the Lord, and shines with miracles." Several other more recent Martyrologies mention him. Galesinius: "In Germany, of St. Erardus: he was devoted to letters from boyhood, made admirable progress in learning, and shone forth also in innocence of life. Burning with zeal for spreading the Gospel, he came to the province of Germany; where he led the people who inhabit the bank of the Rhine to the faith of Christ: then, having gone to Bavaria, he disseminated the Christian religion both by preaching and by the example of his virtues. Laden with these merits and the glory of other admirable deeds, he fell asleep in the Lord."

[2] The manuscript Florarium records the birthday of St. Erardus on January 9, in these words: "At Regensburg in Bavaria, of Erardus, otherwise called Nerardus, Bishop and Confessor. He was a Scot by nation, and having been made a Priest, he went up to the province of Bavaria for the sake of preaching, and was made Bishop of Regensburg. Then, at the command of a divine voice, he baptized St. Otilia, blind from birth, who immediately received her sight." David Camerarius has him on February 9 and April 14, and here calls him Eberhardus, Bishop of Regensburg; there Erehardus, or Erchardus, set over a monastery. But on October 8 Translation. the commemoration of his translation is observed. The Cologne Martyrology: "Likewise, the translation of St. Erardus, Bishop and Confessor." The Cologne Carthusians in their Additions to Usuard, the German Martyrology, and the manuscript Florarium mention him on the same day. His name variously expressed. He is called now Erardus, otherwise Erhardus, Erchardus, Erehardus, Nerardus, Errardus, or Arionardus.

[3] We give a threefold Life of St. Erardus. The first two were communicated to us by Joannes Gamansius, a priest of our Society, a man of the first rank in learning and a diligent investigator of sacred antiquities. A threefold Life. The first had been copied from two ancient codices, the second from another, more ancient one. The former bore this title: "The Life of St. Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg, by a certain Paulus, a religious man, nearly his contemporary." But since he mentions not only St. Wolfgang but also Pope St. Leo IX, it is certain that he was some 300 or even 400 years younger than St. Erardus. The author himself indicates his era, when he testifies that he wrote this life at the request of Heilika, superior of the lower monastery at Regensburg, and writes that he learned certain things from those who had known St. Wolfgang and the Virgin Kunigunde; whence it is concluded that he flourished at the end of the eleventh century. One might suspect that this is the Paul of Bernried who wrote the lives of Blessed Gregory VII and Blessed Herluca, published long ago by our Gretser: certainly they do not differ greatly either in age or in style. The second is mostly contracted from this one, by an anonymous author.

[4] The third was written by Conrad von Montepuellarum, formerly Rector of the University of Vienna and Canon of the Cathedral Church of Regensburg, who flourished not around the year 1390, as is stated in the latest edition of Gesner's Bibliotheca and in Possevinus's Apparatus, but around the year 1340, since, as the same Gesner and Possevinus write, he dedicated his Oeconomica, a great and noble work, to Lupold, or Leopold, Bishop of Bamberg, who is said to have died in 1341. This life was transcribed from an ancient codex of the monastery of St. Mang, of the Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine, at the foot of the bridge in Regensburg, His celebrated memory. and sent to Heribertus Rosweydus many years ago by our Stephanus Vitus, together with the lessons of the old and new Breviary of the Church of Augsburg, which we shall append — testifying that in nearly all the churches of Germany, his commemoration is observed annually in the divine office.

[5] We join to Erardus his brother Albertus, or Adelbertus, or at least his companion in pilgrimage; The sanctity of Blessed Albertus. because, although we do not know his birthday, we do not doubt that he was held and venerated as a Saint — with Erardus himself commanding this from heaven, as Conrad reports in chapter 3, section 13, and calls him a Saint, as does Wiguleus Hundius; while Raderus and Braunerus call him Blessed. The latter writes of both brothers: "In these very times (around the year 754), Erardus and Albertus illuminated Bavaria with great virtues. We have received that they were brothers born in Ireland, although others have thought differently about both. This is established: that the former voluntarily laid down the honor and burden of the bishopric of Ardagh, and the latter that of Cashel, and set about on a pilgrimage. Rome, the chief citadel of our religion, was first visited: then, having departed to Trier, they remained with their brother Hildulphus, Bishop of that same city, until, when he had died or embraced the monastic life (for both are reported), they perceived that all minds and eyes were turned upon themselves. Therefore, turning again to their skills and original plans, His pilgrimage. they fled the mitres threatening their heads and the honors they detested: and Erardus indeed settled at Regensburg, while Albertus, carried farther away, reverently visited the places sprinkled with the tears of the newborn God and the blood of the dying one, accompanied by seven companions, of whom he buried Guillipatricius in Palestine: on his return to Salzburg, death also took away Joannes; finally, at Regensburg he also learned of the fate of Erardus. By this news deeply moved, he did not cease to flood the tomb with tears, until, as a great gift, he obtained his discharge from life, and was buried at a small distance from Erardus. The fame of Erardus became illustrious both through very many admirable deeds, and most especially through the obtaining of sight for Otilia, who had been born blind and whom her father had forbidden to be raised or educated." So he writes, and Hundius writes things consistent with this.

[6] Three matters are disputed concerning them: from what nation they sprang, what churches they governed, and in what period they lived. Their brother is said to have been Hildulphus, or Hidulphus, Bishop of Trier, concerning whom see July 11. The nationality of each. Braunerus, book 7 of the Annals, relying on the authority of a manuscript life, writes that he was born of an illustrious Norican family. We too have obtained two copies of that same life; in one, which is from the monastery of St. Maximinus at Trier, he is expressly said to have been born of an illustrious family of the Nervii; in the other, which is from the college of the Society of Jesus at Paderborn, of the Niernii — perhaps to be read Iuernii, that is, Hibernii Irish. Hundius also recognizes them as Scots from Ireland. Raderus explains more fully, in volume 1 of Bavaria Sancta: "Some report that St. Erardus and Hildulphus and Albertus were born of noble Bavarian blood; others that they were Nervii; others Norici — who are the same as the Bavarians; others that they were Scots by origin, which is the view of M. Velser. And he read in a manuscript codex of the Mons that St. Erardus is called a Scot." And shortly after: "I do not place St. Hildulphus among the Bavarians, since it is written on doubtful authority that he was Bavarian, even though Aventinus assertively declares him to be so." And concerning Albertus: "He too came forth from the darkness of Scotland into the light of Germany." In his Observations on volume 1, published after volume 3, he again asserts that the homeland of Erardus was Ireland, or ancient Scotland, and that he was the son of the King of Ireland; but that Hildulphus, his full brother, the youngest by birth, is erroneously called a Bavarian by some. Afterward, however, he adds that a life of St. Hildulphus has recently appeared in France, where he is expressly affirmed to have been born in Bavaria; but that this is not certain. Christophorus Phreislebius also writes that St. Erardus was a Scot by nation. From these it is clear that it seems more probable that these holy Bishops were natives of Ireland, or ancient Scotland; yet this is not altogether beyond doubt. But what does it mean that in the first life, and in the old Breviary of the Church of Augsburg, Erardus is said to be "Narbonensian by nationality, Nervian by citizenship, Scottish by descent"? Was he born in Narbonensian Gaul of Irish parents? Or was he begotten in Ireland from a parent — or at least one parent — of Gallic origin? For in that age marriages between the Gauls and the Irish, or Scots, were entered into rather frequently, as we shall say concerning St. Waldetrudis on April 9, and her husband St. Vincentius Madelgarius on July 14. That he is called "Nervian by citizenship" seems to indicate that he was either educated among the Nervii, a people of Belgic Gaul, or perhaps enrolled in the clergy there — whence Hildulphus was held to be a Nervian. The second life, written by an anonymous author, asserts him to be not a Scot but a Goth from Narbonensian Gaul. Hundius rightly says: "Because of the antiquity of the times, the scarcity of writers, and their discordance, scarcely anything certain can be transmitted."

[7] Aventinus confidently asserts that Erardus and Albertus were Bishops of Regensburg. Where they were Bishops. Concerning Erardus, several of the Martyrologies cited above concur, as does the author of the book entitled The Daily Bread. Hundius, Raderus, and others deny it. What the author of the second life, the German Martyrology, and Phreislebius report — that he was also Bishop of Trier — seems further from the truth. Hundius, Raderus, and Braunerus believe that Erardus was Bishop of Ardagh, and Albertus Bishop of Cashel. Ardagh, or Ardaha, or Ardraha, commonly Ardagh, is an episcopal city of Ireland under the Archbishop of Armagh, in the County of Longford, not far from the Royal Lake, or Rigio, which the river Sineus forms, to the northwest of Meath. Cashel, or Cassilia, is a city of Munster, in the County of Tipperary, not far from the left bank of the Suir, or Sewer, a noble river, now an archiepiscopal see. Whether these holy men were truly Bishops of those Sees, or only consecrated so that they might bring more effective aid to the foreign peoples to whose conversion they were about to set out, we are not in a position to pronounce. The former is consistent with the customs of that age, the latter with the example of St. Hildulphus, their brother. If they lived before St. Boniface came to Bavaria, it would not be unreasonable to suspect that Erardus exercised episcopal functions at Regensburg, as an itinerant, not a proper Bishop of that See.

[8] The question of their era is more difficult, and we confess that we are by no means able to decide it here. We shall briefly set forth some discrepant chronological markers, intending to discuss them more accurately in the entry on Hildulphus, if meanwhile a more certain light should shine forth. When they lived. And first, we do not make much of the authority of Conrad von Montepuellarum (who, as will be apparent below, examined the chronology rather carelessly). Although both earlier Lives, and, as we said, Braunerus too, write that he flourished under King Pippin, as does Braunerus, who says Hildulphus died around the year 779. Phreislebius claims that Erardus was educated in letters in the time of Constantine VI. This is reported by all: that St. Otilia was baptized and given sight by St. Erardus, and that St. Hildulphus was either his brother or at least his contemporary. From the era of each of them, a determination can be made about Erardus. St. Otilia was the daughter of Adalricus Eticho, When St. Otilia, who was baptized by Erardus, lived. or Atico, who is said to have been the son of Leudesius, son of Erchenoaldus. Erchenoaldus died around the year 660. His son Leudesius, who is also called Leuthericus, became Mayor of the Palace in 667 after the death of King Childeric, and was shortly after treacherously slain by Ebroin. Athicus, or Adalricus, his son, had married Berswindis, daughter of the sister of St. Leodegarius and sister of the Queen, during the reign of Childeric. The parents of Otilia. On account of this kinship, as is said in the historical fragment of an unknown author prefixed to the chronicle of Albert of Strasbourg and published by Andrea du Chesne in volume 1 of the writers of Frankish history, he obtained from the aforesaid King the Duchy of Germany, and had his seat in the royal villa of Ehenheim and in the castle called Hohenburg: "and he begot a daughter blind from birth, named Otilia, who was baptized by St. Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg, and Hildulphus of Trier, and received her sight at the sacred font." Hence it is clear that the history of Otilia's baptism cannot be assigned to the times of King Pippin and Charlemagne. We shall give her Life on December 13.

[9] In the two manuscript codices — the one from Trier and the one from Paderborn, cited above — St. Hildulphus is said to have been made Bishop of Trier When St. Hildulphus lived. while Ansegisel, son of St. Arnulf, was watching over public affairs; and to have died in the year 707, on the fifth day before the Ides of July, in the time of the younger Justinian. What the writer of his life reports concerning his successors in the administration of the monastery of Moyenmoutier plainly confirms the same era. In the Life of St. Deodatus, Bishop of Nevers, in Surius on June 19, St. Hildulphus is said to have been very intimate with him and to have survived him by twenty-eight years; and Deodatus died in the year 679, on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of July, a Sunday, Indiction 7. In the Life of St. Florentius, Bishop of Strasbourg, on November 7 in Surius (and Guillimannus agrees in his history of the Bishops of Strasbourg), Arbogastus, Florentius, and Hildulphus are said to have come from Scotland in the time of King Dagobert.

[10] On the contrary side, it is reported in the same manuscript life that Weomadus succeeded St. Hildulphus when he withdrew into the hermitage. But it is established, as Wandelbertus attests in the Life of St. Goar in Surius on July 6, that Weomadus held the see in the time of Charlemagne, when he had a dispute with Assueras, Abbot of Prum, concerning the Cell of St. Goar. But if we wish him to have held the see from the year 679 or thereabouts, then he would have completed at least 90 years in the episcopate. Furthermore, St. Ludger testifies in his letter to Rixfridus, Bishop of Utrecht, which we shall give on March 1, that Stephen II (or III, as we shall say below), when he came to Gaul in 754, committed his functions "for the examination of the acts, virtues, deeds, and miracles of St. Swibert, for the canonization of the aforesaid holy Swibert on his behalf, to the venerable Fathers and Bishops, namely to St. Hildulphus of Trier and Boniface of Mainz, Archbishops, to Fulcharius, Bishop of Liege, and especially to Hildeger, Archbishop of Cologne, etc." Perhaps someone will suspect that there were two Hildulphuses: the former who lived in the Vosges in the seventh Christian century, and another who lived at Trier in the eighth century as Archbishop, and who perhaps also, having resigned the episcopate, afterward embraced the anchoritic life.

LIFE

BY PAULUS, OR PAULULUS.

Extracted from an ancient manuscript by Joannes Gamansius of the Society of Jesus.

Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (St.) Albertus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (B.) BHL Number: 2590

By Paulus, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE.

[1] To the Lady and Mother Heilika, feeding among the lilies of virtues and leading the choirs of Virgins — famous by the prerogative both of virginal chastity and the title of nobility — Paulus, or rather Paululus, a humble servant of the servants of Christ, sends what a servant and son owes to a Mother and Lady.

[2] This Life written at the command of Heilika. You command me to attempt, O most blessed Mother and Virgin, model of virginal beauty, to offer, as it were, a cup concerning the excellent virtues of the blessed Father Erardus to those who thirst with desire: a matter indeed most worthy of veneration, but hard to dare. For one blinded by vices knows not how to write of luminous virtue, nor is it readily possible for one who studies, nor credible for one who learns. Yet when I consider the person of her who commands, I dare not refuse what you enjoin, nor do I think it useful to do so — especially since the thing requested is honorable, and the will that urges it is pious. And who would not obey one who wills piously? For to refuse consent to one who wills piously is, in my judgment, to dissent from virtue. And he who dissents from virtues necessarily consents to vices. Wherefore, lest I be judged either not obedient to your pious will, or not devout, or indeed most contrary, setting aside the shame of my ignorance, though the task is beyond my powers, I nevertheless attempt to pay back the debt of obedience, encouraged also by your virtues, by which, with the flesh subdued, the spirit abounds more strongly in you.

[3] For setting aside those things which you possess in common with all who are better in rank — Her praises. fasts, vigils, and prayers — who, at the progress of your so great and worthy age, would not admire and love and venerate the seal of virginal chastity preserved in you? How great its dignity and merit, the divine sublimity of the Virgin Mother suffices as our example: she who, spurning carnal allurements, merited by the virtues of chastity an ascent above the angelic spirits. And rightly so: for, as a certain man of no small authority says, for an angel to be chaste is a matter of nature; to merit angelic chastity is a matter of virtue. And lest the authority of your chastity seem small — how many dwellings worthy of God have you prepared by the encouragement of your admonition! — which, laying the foundation of humility, have supplied the increase of chastity, the summit of virtue, and the summit of charity. And if the truth must be told, as many as there are heads, so many are there individual virtues, besides those common to all. And of the nuns over whom she presided. For what member of so great a life in the numerous congregation of the holy virginal choir does not scrutinize with Argus-eyed gaze the fullness of knowledge? What member does not already, with the prison of the body subdued, strive for the perfection of continence? What members, dead to worldly desires and hostile to carnal allurements, the right of nature having been subdued, would not possess your virtues by hereditary right — which they imbibed from the dew of your maternal nursing, and through which they grew from the womb of your instruction? But whatever that may be to your praise — nevertheless, no small proof of the matter, however unlikely, is the fruit of your maternity, so great that God has deigned it, that you have merited the blessing which was promised to those who shall never cease to bear fruit. For what degree would be lacking to your household? — as if it were a small thing to have renounced the world. There are in your company those who, alive yet dead, have renounced even life itself, so that you abound not only in cenobites but more authoritatively bear fruit in hermits, who in their souls have merited the promise: "He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit." 1 Cor. 6:17. You command me to write about such things? I write. But if these displease, let those things too displease which you command me to write. Yet so that I may be defended by devotion against the ignorance of which you take charge, I deem, embrace, and love it, setting you forth as a shield against envy, since you command even the unwilling to write.

a In the catalogue of Abbesses of the lower monastery, published by Gewoldus in the Additions to Hundius's Metropolis, volume 2, Hailka is mentioned, daughter of the Count Palatine of Wittelsbach; whom we consider to be the same as Heilika: and the age agrees, for the Bertha who succeeded her is there reported to have died in the year 1120.

b So the manuscripts; perhaps "Antistitis" of the Bishop should be read.

BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

The studies, virtues, and priesthood of St. Erardus.

[4] Erardus, whose name can be interpreted as "strong in glory," was Narbonensian by nationality, Nervian by citizenship, and Scottish by descent. The homeland of St. Erardus. He, extending the pattern of his conduct in accordance with the omen of his name, placed Christ as the foundation for the virtues to be built upon the ground of his age, lest the house destined for heavenly habitation should be shaken by any wave of temptation or disturbed by any storm of trouble. His yet tender age already meditated on the strength of virtues — the barrenness of diversions, the abundance of studies, the fruit of labor, the joy of the fruit; and, which is no small sign of a good disposition, to fear the teacher when absent as though present. He was present at readings, dictations, and writings; His diligence in studies. and if he had diligently seen anyone devoted to idleness, the little boy marveled. He was eager with assiduous questions, the most subtle observer of each detail, and he committed them to the most tenacious recesses of his memory. Nevertheless, setting aside the quibbles of worldly sophistry, he gave himself entirely to the utilities of divine learning, cleansing his heart with purity of hands for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

[5] The blessed boy Erardus, therefore, when he was putting forth the first flowers of virtues, fixed the roots of his study in the spiritual rock, and though not yet a fully independent judge, used his judgment generously. For from infancy, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, Gravity of character. in the place where he received the seeds of Christ's teaching, while many of his companions were going astray through the devious paths of behavior, he directed the steps of his desire by the rule of virtue and earned the rewards of an excellent reputation. For while others delighted in the sports of dogs and birds, he thirsted to be imbued with the dew of the evangelical precepts, and by the inspiration of the grace of the Holy Spirit, the shoots of life bore fruit in the garden of his heart. For as it was said in the ears of the listener: "He who fills your desire with good things" Ps. 102:5 — for his good desire of piety he obtained the result. He willed what he was able, and his willing grew strong; and according to the measure of his approved will, he gained a most approved talent in his tender age. Isa. 65:20. That curse, "A boy of a hundred years," etc., he not only escaped, but also attained this: "Gray hairs are the understanding of man, and an immaculate life is old age." Wis. 4:9. For his spiritual understanding, growing strong in vigor, aged with the gray hairs of mature sense; and treading the path of the life-giving way with an immaculate foot, he merited the joy of the prophetic privilege, that "the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord."

[6] The blessed youth Erardus grew; the honor of his adolescence grew; the hope of his youth grew — the joy of old age, the rule of his order, the glory of the clergy, the admonition of the rich, the contempt of riches, the consolation of the poor, the love of poverty, the sight of the blind, the ear of the deaf, the foot of the lame, the father of orphans, the help of widows, the obstacle to flattering fortune, the challenger of adversity, the bridle of the flesh, the pursuer of the spirit, Other virtues. and — for want of proverbs to describe him — the armory of every virtue and the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit. He himself grew in bodily strength; the strength of virtue grew within him. He had already learned to be angry at vices, to confront temptations, to fight against desires, not to shrink from fasts, to despise nakedness, to hold clothing in contempt, to slay pride, to humble vainglory, to castrate gluttony, to lend to friends, to forgive enemies, not to give ear to detractors, to sympathize with the afflicted, to have compassion for the wretched, to rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep, to be present at divine praises, to participate in the gatherings of the good, to seek from all, to neglect nothing. Following such footsteps, therefore, he entered the path of eternal life, and his younger age did not retard him as much as his readier will spurred him on.

[7] Self-mortification. When the blessed man Erardus had first passed beyond the thirtieth year of his age, emptying all things that were of the child, he seized the vigor of a manly spirit — fearing the Lord by loving him, loving his neighbor by fearing — to withdraw from worldly things, to venerate divine things, to spend the night in prayers, to attend to psalmody, to be washed with compunction, to be weary of carnal things, to be suspended toward eternal things; and what most people use for the pleasure of the body, he used for necessity. No breeze of flattering favor had moved him, no taste of smiling fortune had enticed him; sloth did not carry away the victory from him, avarice never blinded him, despair did not mislead him, murmuring did not disturb him. He subjected his body to the spirit, the spirit to piety, and ascribed piety to heaven. He already hated the carnal members and the inexorable enmities between flesh and spirit, which continued rebellion renews — until at last, when his body was worn out by the continuation of fasts, vigils, and every kind of fatigue, the spirit attained dominion within him.

[8] Priesthood. After he had ascended to the rank of the Presbyterate, he also ascended to the highest rung of the heavenly ladder — already not feeling the labor from continuous practice, but from the practice of labor resuming his habit. For, consecrated to the ministry of the altar, he immolated himself as a living sacrifice on the altar of the Cross — already, according to the Apostle, not conformed to this world, but renewed in the spirit of his mind, always proving what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. Rom. 12:2.

a In Teutonic, "Er" or in Flemish diphthong "Eer" signifies honor; "hard" or "herd" signifies strong or robust. Concerning this interpretation of the name, see chapter 1 of the third life by Conrad, below.

CHAPTER II.

Journey to St. Hildulphus.

[9] Meanwhile the blessed Hildulphus, himself an equally bright luminary of the Church, held the chair of the episcopate of Trier — a man of no less learning than merit, concerning whom it has not yet been sufficiently ascertained what was not greatest. For that both excelled in nobility, and were noble in knowledge, and that their merits were worthy of being known, does not escape the corroded memory of oblivion. He visits St. Hildulphus in the hermitage. When this venerable man had governed the holy Church holily for no few days, burning with no small desire for solitude — where, free from the tumult of the people, he might devote himself solely to the Lord — he voluntarily laid down the care of governance which he had unwillingly accepted, out of love for the more secure divine service. Since by now his mature fame had spread the fragrance of his reputation far and wide, the blessed man Erardus, himself also adorned with an equal episcopal miter, came for the purpose of visiting his brother. Finding him in the region of the Vosges, already leading an eremitic life for the love of Christ, after the offering of their common prayer and the pledge of heavenly charity — namely, the kiss of greeting — he said: "Behold, brother, alike in the order of both carnal and spiritual ministry, you possess the place long sought and desired; use it now in good desire, and nourish yourself on the hunger of divine service. Let not the zeal of divine love fall asleep in you like something old and weary: but arise, awake, labor in all things, do the work of an Evangelist, fulfill your ministry, be sober." When he had poured many such things into the ears of his listener, he remained there for a considerable number of days, and by the favor of Christ's mercy, as the history of the Roman library attests, They build monasteries. the author being the holy Pope Leo, who as the ninth of his name governed the holy Roman Church, they built fourteen monasteries there — he seven and he seven. For since they were most noble by birth and had entirely renounced all patrimony, in the land of their pilgrimage they devoted to the divine service everything acquired by the merit of their life and their own labor.

[10] Erardus returns to Bavaria. Thence the blessed man Erardus, taking counsel for his own flock, bade farewell to his brother, and, addressed with holy exhortations, entered Bavaria for the purpose of preaching. At that time Pippin, the father of Charles the Great, presided over the kingdom of the Franks, under which men no small part of the heavenly host served the Lord. For diverse flowers of virtues flourished in all the regions of the kingdom of the Franks under these Kings, and spread the fame of their reputation far and wide. In that time, however, among the famous, the blessed Father Erardus became the most famous of all. For although he excelled in birth and learning, he was nevertheless considered by far the most outstanding in merit. Dead to the world, although still bearing a breathing little body, He flourishes in all sanctity. a virgin in chastity, a Priest in rank, a monk in poverty, a Confessor by profession, a Martyr in labors, an Apostle in his mission, an Angel in purity of flesh — he suffered the loss of no degree, neglecting himself and providing for others. He did not seek the things that were his own, but those of another. For no flame of rivalry burned in him; he did nothing amiss. He knew not how to be provoked; he thought no evil of his neighbor. He did not rejoice over iniquity at the goal of the present time, but always rejoiced with truth; he bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, endured all things. The Scripture saying was fulfilled in him: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him." John 14:23. Because, therefore, he loved the Lord not only in word and tongue but in deed and truth ... the free spirit desires to go through the airy passages from the recesses of the body; he grieved at his prison, he seeks the kingdom, and as if weary from a heavy and prolonged burden, laying down his load and drawing breath, he sighs for the eternal homeland.

a In the Lives of Saints, frequent mention is made of the forest of the Vosges — Vosagi, Vosaci, Vosegi, Voseci, Vasaci — which encompasses a part of Lotharingia, as will be said more distinctly elsewhere.

b We have not seen this writing of St. Leo IX. Perhaps it was some bull concerning the elevation and translation of SS. Wolfgang and Erardus.

c Something seems to be missing.

CHAPTER III.

The baptism and illumination of St. Otilia, who was blind.

[11] But lest so many merits of the holy Father should remain entirely mute, he showed by miracles proceeding outwardly how great his worth was before God. For at that time a blind daughter was born to Duke Eticho; upon learning of this, the father, ashamed, gave an execrable sentence against his daughter — namely, that she should lose her life by beheading. But when the mother's heart was shaken on account of her daughter, the mother's mercy frustrated the father's cruelty: and entrusting the daughter to a nurse, she commanded that she be raised secretly in the monastery called Palma. But the Lord, mindful of his works — namely, to save the daughter and to console the mother — about to demonstrate that neither the girl herself had sinned nor her parents, but that it was solely for the glory of God, so that the works of God might be made manifest in illuminating his beloved one, preordained a beloved illuminator. Therefore, while the blessed Erardus was intent on heavenly things in the regions of Bavaria, it was revealed to him that he should return to the region of the Rhine, baptize the girl, and give sight to the blind. He, following the voice of the one who commanded with the foot of obedience, arrived at the appointed places. When he had seen the girl, sought out and presented to him, his cheeks wet with tears, with a heavy sigh he raised his hands and eyes to God; and when for a long time and at great length he had praised, magnified, and blessed the divine mercy with the silent prayer of his heart, at length furnishing voice to words, He baptizes St. Otilia and obtains sight for her who was blind. he said: "True Light, Jesus Christ, who illumines every man coming into this world, instill the dew of your mercy upon your handmaid, illuminating her in heart and body." Then, after the rudiments of the sacred faith, giving her the name Otilia — on account of the nature of the events, which is interpreted "God is the sun" — when he had immersed her in the sacred water of the font and after the rest had said: "May he himself illuminate you in soul and body" (O admirable power, and the merits of the holy Father!), according to the voice and will of the one asking on earth, the power was acting of the one presiding in heaven. For the delight of light burst into the hitherto unknown windows of her forehead, and with the true God as sun illuminating through the imposition of the hand of St. Erardus, the girl at length obtained the full perfection of birth. Great joy arose everywhere among those who learned of the miracle: the father was lifted to heaven with praises, the girl was called blessed, the mother was consoled, divine power was proclaimed.

[12] But because in the Life of the blessed Hildulphus it is written that he himself baptized her, and that this holy man raised her from the font, it did not seem right to pass over this matter negligently, but to advise that which of these is more true should be sought in the Life of St. Otilia. For it seems to my insignificance that the merits of holy men should be so written about that the praise of God is proclaimed from their merits, and not from us — not, I say, from the falsehood of the writer, but from the virtue of the one who merited. But let us return to the rest.

[13] When the holy Virgin had been received from the font, the holy man, having adored the mercy of almighty God and rendered the praise due for so great a miracle (since indeed, as the sacred Gospel history attests, it has not been heard since the beginning of the world that anyone opened the eyes of one born blind, except Christ the Son of God), he consoled the holy virgin, and kissed her, now covered with the holy veil, about to return to his own regions. When he learned of the harsh sentence that the father had given concerning the killing of his daughter, He reproves Otilia's father. the spiritual father trembled, both shuddering at the enormity of so great a crime and sympathizing with the girl's miseries; and sending a messenger to reconcile the father with the daughter, he warned him not to give the devil such occasions for accusation, adding: if on account of the blindness — which she had not merited through any fault — he had previously held her in hatred, now on account of the health which the true salvation Christ had restored, let him love her; intimating also that if he should spurn the counsels of salutary advice, he would incur the punishments fitting for transgressors.

[14] Meanwhile the blessed Father Erardus, now loathing his mortal members and desiring to be dissolved and to be with Christ, was transferring his entire mind from present things to future, from temporal to eternal, from visible to invisible, from things that do not abide to things that endure. How often and with what groaning he chanted this verse: "When shall I come and appear before the face of the Lord?" Ps. 41:3. Already placed in the very last period of his age, he reckoned every day a weariness. Often he spoke within himself, saying: "When will you free me from the anguish of this corruption? When will you lead me out of the misery of this bodily prison? When will you satisfy my hope? When will you manifest your glory to me? He yearns for death. When shall I know whether the devotion of my labor pleases you? When shall I see by what judgment you will examine me?" 1 Cor. 2:9. "What is that reward of which the Apostle said, 'Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him'?" Phil. 3:13. Thus indeed, according to the Apostle, forgetting the things that were behind and stretching forward to those that lay ahead, in Christ Jesus he crucified himself to the world, to its vices and concupiscences. You might see the man, as though already placed in the arena of his final contest, reviewing the course of his entire life; now as though standing before the tribunal of the Judge, protecting himself with the shield of hope against every despair; now wishing to know what it is to stand before the divine gaze, to be no longer weighed down by earthly thoughts, to be among the angelic assemblies — what the possibility of living without food might be, what the quality of the spirit without the body, what the continuation of divine praise without labor, without weariness; or what the mansion may be that the just man is to hope for. But whatever he saw or heard lost its value; he thrived on the sole hope of things to come, and still living only by the movement of his body, was for the rest already dead. With the eyes of his heart closed, he had entered the world, the Holy Spirit being the author, already setting his foot in the heavenly entrance. Meanwhile the happy hour of a happier passing drew near, when the blessed Father Erardus, overtaken by a severe illness for several days, from that very inequality of his health thrived with an abundance of greater and more certain hope, desiring now to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Then at last he knew himself to be a pilgrim and an exile of the heavenly homeland, burning with desire, when he saw that he was about to leave behind the members owed to the earth and to depart from the corruptible body. O how often and with what sighs drawn from the depths did he call upon the conqueror of death for his aid! How often did he stretch out his hands, free from worldly desires, toward the region of the heavenly shore! How often did he open his eyes, closed to the world, to the reverence of eternal discipline! In his heart he frequented hope; on his tongue, Christ; in his eyes, reverence; in his hands, supplications.

a Concerning this signification of the name Otilia, we shall treat at chapter 2 of the third life by Conrad, letter Au.

b See at chapter 2 of the third life, letter Bb.

EPILOGUE OF BOOK I.

[15] I have obeyed your commands, most blessed Virgin of Christ and mother of orphans and wards and widows, the ornament of all nobility, the exemplar of your order, the ladder of virtue; and so I have resolved, as long as a breath still warms me and the spirit of God remains in my nostrils, not merely to pursue what you command — you and those who abide with you as followers of the heavenly Lamb — but to seek, strive, and desire on my own, whether I might show anything pleasing to those who devote themselves to such great piety. Let the burning flame of devotion, therefore, magnify my small service, my zeal and goodwill in your estimation — you to whom nothing that lacks order is pleasing, and nothing that is ordered displeases. At your will and command, therefore, and that of your daughters whom you nourish with the instruction of holy conduct, we have run through the life of the body of the blessed Father Erardus up to his deposition — less fittingly indeed, but as devoutly as we could. Fashioning, then, the second book, we beg the breeze of your prayers, blowing like the south wind of Paradise against the sweat of envy and detraction — against which the spirit urges us to venture something. The poison of envy bears on its rancorous heart the hook of detraction on its deadly lip: it wields peace in word, a sword in heart. For he who detracts from others in your presence will likewise speak the same evil of you to others. But what shall we do? Let us cry out with the Psalmist: "Cast down, O Lord, divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and strife in the city." And again: "Let them go down alive into hell, for there is wickedness in their dwellings." Ps. 54:10, 16. But neither do I speak of envy to you and your daughters — in whom alone at this time virtue has established its dwelling — and the other friends who have been set aside; I praise [you] in the open.

a There is some textual error here.

BOOK II. ON MIRACLES.

CHAPTER I.

Various apparitions of St. Erardus.

[1] We write the second book concerning the signs that were performed at his tomb, having as witnesses either those who themselves saw, Preface to Book 2. or those to whom eyewitnesses reported them — not gathered from ancient time, but still living in the body. Be present, favor us with your prayers, so that if perchance pride should babble anything, the virtue of your humility may defend.

[2] After the blessed Father Erardus had returned his spirit to heaven and to the earth what was its own, he obtained the memory of worthy esteem through the evidence of miracles. But we, rejecting what is ancient, shall endeavor to set forth only those things which recent fame still widely proclaims in definite terms.

[3] In the times of the blessed Bishop Wolfgang, there was a certain nun, a niece of the blessed Bishop Ulrich, named Kunigunde, who presided over the custody of the Church — she herself too had attained the summit of all goodness and perfection. In her times, the linen cloth A linen cloth grows from the tomb of St. Erardus. in which the body of the blessed Father had been wrapped began to grow from the tomb, as though it were already protesting with a loud voice that it was unworthy for one whom the host of heaven rejoiced to have as a companion to be covered in the hiding place of so small a sepulcher. But the custodians of the church (those who knew both of them reported the same to us), while they were sweeping and cleaning the pavement of the church, whenever they came to the tomb of the holy man, seeing a linen cloth protruding from the earth, believed it to be some binding decayed with age, and carelessly tore it away. When this happened not once but quite often, a certain wooden cross which is still preserved in that same church — which we ourselves have seen — while it was still standing near the tomb of the blessed Father, The Crucifix reveals to a nun the merit of St. Erardus. is said to have wept. For what is impossible to you, almighty God, who even in our memory tilted the head of the crucifix standing near the tomb from right to left? And it said to the aforesaid Virgin: "Warn the custodians," it said, "not to so carelessly tear away the linen cloth which they see protruding from this tomb: for beneath this tomb lies one who is believed to be of no small worth before the Lord; what they so carelessly tear away is a sign of his virtue, not an accident." If anyone here asks what the cause of that weeping was, since the rest is hidden from us, we judge that it signified the magnitude of the sin of the custodians, who both sinned through negligence and, binding their life with a great offense, did not know they had sinned. But the blessed virgin who merited to hear the sentence of the divine testimony, struck with amazement, after she had again collected her spirit, consoled by the strength of the divine testimony, she securely proclaimed everywhere what she had heard, following the evangelical precept which says: "What you hear in the ear, proclaim upon the housetops." Matt. 10:27. After these words, a multitude of the faithful gathered, and, estimating by the divine testimony how great the benefit the divinely attested tomb could afford, regarded it. And indeed it must be truly weighed that she was of singular merit, for whom neither an angelic oracle came in testimony, nor some doubtful dream of a vision, but rather a true voice through a divine image, a conversation of one present to one present. Wherefore, blessed Father, rejoice with eternal gladness, since in the midst of the one speaking and the one hearing, you yourself lie silent, and you have the testimony of divine conversation. And well indeed through the Cross you have testimony, you who, renouncing the world, had taken up the cross to follow the Lord: come to our aid, therefore, for our offenses — we who are brutish of heart — since you merited to be testified to by divine voices through a dry piece of wood.

[4] At that time the blessed Wolfgang began to frequent the tomb of the holy man, always approaching at a more private time, about to surpass him by rejoicing together in his glory. But when on a certain night, more privately after the solemnities of Matins, he was addressing the holy man in prayer near his tomb with many tears and supplications, [St. Erardus appears to St. Wolfgang and commands the reform of the lower monastery.] the blessed Erardus stood before him and said: "Brother, I announce to you the secret of my grief, which I bid you, brother, to attend to. Your works are indeed pleasing to God, and the true Shepherd Jesus Christ has placed you as corrector and Pastor over this place and flock; and therefore, if you prudently carry out your office, as you have begun, you will receive the eternal reward of your labor. Know, however, brother, that this monastery which almighty God has provided for my repose is contaminated by many crimes, and the sin of the nuns who inhabit it cries out against my prayers in manifold ways — prayers which I pour forth very often in many ways for their negligences. Already for some time, moved by their tears, I have poured forth prayers to the Lord; but because they are open to carnal defilements, their groans have not been brought to judgment. And I, brother, am afflicted with no small sadness on account of this matter, because I am overcome by the outcry of so many crimes, so that I cannot benefit them by my intercession. How often, therefore, do I fall on my knees before the fearsome Judge! How often do I promise a more amended life on behalf of the sinners! How often have I postponed the harsh sentence of the avenger! How often have I brought my fellow brothers to prayer! Everything has been attempted, everything has been done. And what more shall I do for the wretched congregation? Or with what prayers shall I plead before the fearsome countenance of the almighty Judge for so many defilements of those who indulge in luxury? But I beg you to use the prudence divinely granted to you, and to destroy this entire congregation, and to establish there a monastic profession: and if any of those who are now present wishes to profess it, let her be received; but if not, utterly destroy what they now are, and do not permit this place to be contaminated any further." At that time, indeed, there was in that same place a profession of Canonesses, and no small confusion of carnal wantonness was occurring — to such a degree that when they were compelled to a stricter life, some of them abandoned the monastery and clung to their former fornicators. But as I attend to such things, the mercy and strength of the blessed Father come to mind: his mercy, by which he always and tirelessly prayed for sinners; his strength, by which he was heard before the Lord, so that if his voice could prohibit, he would conquer vice by virtue, establishing the monastery for its sake. After these words, the blessed Wolfgang, obedient to the heavenly will, resolved to fulfill what he had been commanded, and hastened by every means he could. When those things which the Lord had disposed and the holy man had requested had been carried out by the blessed Wolfgang, Miracles are thereafter wrought there. after the strictness of the profession had cleansed the place previously contaminated, every shoot of virtue began to flourish, and the holy Father, with vices extinguished, began to shine forth with radiant signs, as if saying to those who served him: "Because you are with me, and I am with you."

a Hence a conjecture can be made about the author's era.

b We shall give his life on October 31.

c Concerning St. Ulrich, see July 4.

d Fr. Joannes Gamansius thought it should be read "inclamosa," that is, silent.

e In the manuscript it read "aureteuenus."

CHAPTER II. Various miracles wrought in his church.

[5] In those days there was a certain matron converted to the Lord from the shipwreck of the world, who, by continuing in vigils and tears, was overtaken by the infirmity which physicians call albugo of the eyes — with her eyes open, she saw nothing. Thenceforth, ever more frequent and anxious in her prayers, she would visit the tomb of the aforesaid Father, seeking his aid in her grave infirmity. "Alas," she said, A blind woman receives her sight. "Holy Father, what shall become of wretched me, who, living in countenance but dead in sight, suffer the losses of divine light? If I still inhabited the world, I would have something to give to physicians for the recovery of my health, or at least someone who would extend a hand to the darkness that persists in me; now, fleeing to you, I lack both what I left behind in the world, and I have lost the very members with which I should have served you." Therefore, as she cried out repeatedly and pressed with importunate prayers, at length the blessed Father Erardus stood before her and said to her: "You are troublesome to me, O woman, who seek salvation from me, when no one ought to do anything before his superior, or is obligated to. But if you wish to be illuminated, prostrate yourself seven feet from my tomb; there you will find one who will illuminate you." The words are indeed obscure, but the proof of the events is clear: for where she was commanded, she came, she prostrated herself, and she saw.

[6] What the holy Father said to her would indeed remain doubtful if credulity were not raised to faith by a more certain manifestation. A person possessed by a demon is freed. For at the same time a certain demoniac was led into that same church; and as soon as his feet touched the pavement, he was snatched up with a rush into the heights, suspended in the air, testifying that on account of the sanctity of those who lay in the aforesaid church, he could find no rest. When commanded to leave the little body he inhabited, to demonstrate the power of the one compelling him, he did violence to the body. We, indeed, although we learned these things from the attestation, however imperfect, of truthful persons, nevertheless judging silence more prudent in many matters, we ascribe everything to him whom God has shown us as our patron there. And who could know whether the dignity of such great sanctity is spoken of in a shadowy way concerning the holy man? Or whether there are also some others resting there, of great merit before God, as the memory of the ancients also affirms? The matter is also evident: Duchess Judith, who enlarged that same monastery, when she went to Jerusalem to the tomb of the Lord, as is the custom of Kings, acquired — either openly or secretly — many bones or bodies; where on earth, or where in the aforesaid church she deposited them, she herself did not wish to be known, nor could anyone inform us. But because she herself is buried in that same church, she clearly teaches that she devoted herself most especially to that one place where she made it known that she wished to be buried. These things we say briefly about her, although we could have said many things worthy either of mention or memory; for what God wished to conceal, we too wished to conceal. But we did not sharpen our pen to say these things: for we believe that such and so great things happen on account of the blessed Father, whom, by God's disposition, we know to rest bodily in the same place. But if certain things happen more secretly, we ask that the divine mercy in the blessed Father would show us why they happen, when it pleases him. And truly, if we labor at works worthy of him, just as we now have in the open what was formerly hidden about him, so also God is able to exalt him with a still greater title. But let us return to the rest.

[7] There was a certain woman with a withered hand, who on his feast day came closer to his tomb, sought healing, A withered hand is healed. was heard, and was restored to life in her hand. But when she was being healed, the hand sprang back with so great a crack that all who stood in whatever part or corner of the church heard the hand spring back and recognized the miracle that had been done. We learned all these things from no other witnesses than those who themselves saw or heard them. Why should I recount various miracles? How present he is to all as an aid to those who serve him — it pleases me to set forth some proof, to strengthen the hope of those who seek the holy Father's intercession with all their heart.

[8] There is a well next to the aforesaid church, which the beloved Father himself dug with his own hands, Three who fell into a deep well brought out unharmed. as was his custom in all places where he stayed for any period of time. This well has no less than fifty feet in depth, or even more, which we ourselves have confirmed by sight. And though it is of such great depth, it nevertheless received in its gentle bosom a servant of the holy Virgins who dwelt there when he fell. And when they sought him, it presented him not only alive but showing no sign of so great a fall. Therefore those who saw him fall ran up: for who would believe that he would be found whole rather than shattered to pieces, when in so narrow a well the stones would have dashed him against stones? But when he was extracted and returned to the surface, at first he himself reckoned the magnitude of the danger; but after collecting his wits and seeing himself free from all peril, giving the most attentive thanks to almighty God and the most holy Father Erardus, he marveled greatly at the outcome of the event and departed. We too, in awe of the result of so great a sign, say it is as great a faculty to raise the dead as to preserve the living from death. And the same thing happened a second and third time in the same well: the second time with a pregnant woman, who, falling in, was found safe and was extracted, to the praise and glory of almighty God and the most holy Father; the third time with a boy, about whom we wish to write more fully. And to increase your wonder, they fell so many times into such a great depth and returned safe: and rightly so. For who would find death in that well which the friend of salvation had prepared for the health of the living?

[9] There was a certain woman (who is still alive) with both hands, arms, and legs twisted — more similar to a monster than a human being. Half of her was cured at the shrine of St. Wenceslaus in Bohemia; the other half was restored to human form at the shrine of the holy Father Erardus. Twisted arms and feet healed. We ourselves saw this woman, we ourselves questioned her: she confessed with great veneration, and also showed the part that had been healed.

[10] A certain man also, instigated by diabolical persuasion, stole a horse; and when he could not conceal what he had done, he came to the tomb of the holy man, and offering a penny, begged that the excess of his crime be concealed. Having poured forth a prayer, when he returned to the door of the church, The Saint rejects the gift of the thief. the penny which he had offered he carried with him: he returned, brought it back, replaced it; he went out, carried it with him; he went back, prayed, went out, and carried the penny so many times offered with him, marveling and fearing. As soon as he left the church, those who would seize the guilty man came to meet him. So that it may be plainly understood that the holy man rejected the offering, because his guilt could not be concealed.

[11] He appears frequently. How many times he has been seen in the holy church in which he rests bodily, if I wished to tell, I would weary the reader. How often burning lights descend from heaven into that same church — if anyone is held by reverence for heavenly things, let him ask the custodians of that same church, who affirm under solemn attestation that they have often seen him standing at the altar which is adjacent to his tomb, singing in episcopal vestments. One of them, who kept watch while the others slept and served more frequently, while sweeping the altar one day with a cloth, and the surroundings likewise, had a penny fall before him from the foot of the Crucifix which is placed above at a great height — indeed from that place where no one can ascend except by ladders. Therefore, for so great virtues and signs which God has wrought through his most blessed servant Bishop Erardus, let us glorify almighty God, who is wonderful in his Saints, to whom be honor and glory forever. Amen.

a Conrad and others understand this to refer to the blessed Albertus.

b Something is missing here.

c Rather, she seems to have taken such care for the restoration of the buildings that it could be considered an entirely new monastery. For thus in the diploma of the holy Emperor Henry, given in the year 1002, Indiction 2, it is said: "That the monastery of nuns ... which our grandmother Judith of divine memory formerly erected as an abbey from the foundations in honor of the holy Mother of God, Mary, and enriched with gifts of estates among other things for the place, etc." That diploma is found in volume 2 of the Metropolis of Wiguleus Hundius; where there is also another of Otto (not the First, as Hundius writes there, but the Second, as is evident, because it was given in the year of Christ 974, the 13th of Otto's reign, the 6th of his empire), in which he professes to donate various estates, at the intervention of his most sweet mother Adelheid and the salutary petition of the venerable Lady Judith, to the nuns at the lower monastery constructed for the veneration of the holy Mother of God, Mary, and the blessed Erardus, Confessor of Christ. Concerning the same donation, Braunerus, volume 2 of the Res Boicae, book 8, states that the noble monastery at Regensburg, commonly called the Lower, built for sacred Virgins, also attests to Judith's piety; where she herself wished to be buried, in what year is uncertain: that she was still alive in 974 can be understood from the letters of Otto II, by which he transcribed to that same monastery the possession of several places, induced by Judith's prayers. Judith was the mother of Henry the Quarrelsome, also called the Pious, Duke of Bavaria; wife of Henry, brother of Otto the Great.

d We shall give the Life of St. Wenceslaus on September 28.

ANOTHER LIFE

By an Anonymous Author. Extracted from an ancient manuscript by Joannes Gamansius of the Society of Jesus.

Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (St.) Albertus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (B.) BHL Number: 2591

From manuscripts. By an Anonymous Author.

CHAPTER I. The deeds of St. Erardus during his life.

[1] The homeland of St. Erardus. Erardus was a Goth by descent, born of parents who, though pagan, were of the most noble birth, in the city of Narbonne. He, forewarned by the Holy Spirit, fearing Christ from boyhood, shone with many marks of virtues and honorable character. For, which is a sign of good disposition, he always feared his Tutor when absent no less than when present; His education. he was always present at dictations, readings, and writings; and if he saw anyone devoted to idleness and dissipation, he himself, though a small boy, wondered not a little. Having been adequately trained in worldly and sophistical quibbles, he applied the entire effort of his mind to the study of divine Scripture, and fixed the roots of his study in the spiritual rock, full of the grace of the Holy Spirit and of virtue, providing an example of life to others. For while others delighted in the business of dice and the sports of frivolity which boyish age embraces, he thirsted to be imbued with the dew of the evangelical precepts. Gravity of character. In which age also he shone with many marks of virtues. For as he grew in body, so also he grew in the beauty of virtues. For he was the rule of his order, a despiser of riches, a consoler of the poor, a lover of poverty, the eye of the blind, the ear of the deaf, the foot of the lame, the father of orphans, the helper of widows, the restrainer of the flesh, the pursuer of the spirit; and, to speak briefly, the armory of all virtues and the vessel of the Holy Spirit.

[2] For he grew in body and in virtue: he confronted vices and temptations, he fought against desires, he practiced fasting frequently, he did not shrink from the contempt of fine clothing, he possessed humility, he restrained gluttony, he never acquiesced to detractors; Other virtues. he always compassionated from the heart with the afflicted and wretched, he rejoiced with those who rejoiced, he wept with those who wept, he was always present at the divine praises, he diligently attended the gatherings of good and holy people, he often spent the night in prayers, and he abounded in devotion with most copious tears. Persevering therefore in these and other virtues, he ascended to the sacerdotal rank. From that time on, by the mortification of frequent fasts, he daily immolated himself as a living sacrifice to God.

[3] Meanwhile Hildolphus, a man of great sanctity and praiseworthy merit, was governing the Bishopric of the Church of Trier: who, having governed that same Church — which he had even accepted unwillingly — for many years in a holy and provident manner, See St. Hildulphus. resigned the governance itself, and entered the wilderness he had long desired, wishing to serve the Lord alone there, without the tumult of the populace. But Blessed Erardus succeeded him on the episcopal throne. When, however, in the course of time, the praiseworthy fame of Hildolphus had spread its fragrance far and wide, Blessed Erardus came for the purpose of visiting his brother; and when he had found him living as a hermit in the region of Rosae, they fell into mutual embraces, and for joy poured tears upon one another. Devoting themselves therefore to prayers and other services pleasing to God, they remained together for a number of days. And as the Roman history attests, with Pope Leo the Ninth — who at that time governed the Roman Church — as authority, they built fourteen monasteries there, namely Hildolphus seven, and Erardus seven. For since they were of noble birth and had entirely renounced all patrimony, they devoted everything that they had acquired in the land of their pilgrimage by merit of life and by their own labor to the divine service.

[4] At length Blessed Erardus, consulting the interests of his flock and bidding farewell to his brother, entered Bavaria for the purpose of preaching. At that time Pippin, the father of Charles the Great, presided over the kingdom of the Franks. Under these Kings, therefore, diverse flowers of virtues bloomed in every place of the Kingdom of the Franks. Among all of them, Blessed Father Erardus became the most famous. For although he surpassed all in birth and learning, he was nonetheless held to be most excellent by the merit of his life. For dead to the world, a virgin in chastity, a Priest by ordination, a monk in poverty, a Confessor by profession, a Martyr in labors, an Apostle in his mission, an Angel in purity ... he existed.

[5] At that time, therefore, a blind daughter was born to Duke Ethico: upon learning of which the father, being ashamed, ordered the infant to be beheaded. When this became known to the mother, she took pity on her offspring; she gave her to be nursed in a monastery called Palma, having her secretly nourished there. In the regions of Bavaria, it was revealed by heaven to Blessed Erardus, who was intent on celestial things, that he should return to the regions of the Rhine river, and there baptize a certain girl and illuminate her. Obedient, he arrived at the designated places. When, therefore, he had seen the girl whom he had sought and who had been presented to him, he raised his eyes and hands to heaven with tears and a deep sigh, and at length said aloud: "True Light, Jesus Christ, instill the dew of your mercy upon your handmaid, and illuminate her in heart and body." After the rudiments of the sacred faith, therefore, having given her the name Otilia, when he had immersed her in the water of the sacred font, He baptizes and illuminates St. Odilia. her eyes were opened and she received her sight. All therefore rejoice and all marvel: the father exults, the mother is consoled, the divine power is praised by all. In the life of Hildolphus, however, it is read that he himself baptized her, but that Blessed Erardus lifted her from the sacred font.

[6] At length Blessed Erardus returned to his own see, where, living in the utmost rigor of life, he served the Lord most devoutly. For he always thought within himself, saying with a groan: He dies. "O Lord, when will you free me from the corruptions of this misery? When shall I see you?" These and similar things the holy Father always revolved within himself. At length, seized by a severe fever, he died. When, however, this corruptible body felt itself ill, with hands raised to heaven he invoked aid, and drawing his last sighs, he happily fell asleep in the Lord.

a A most shameful error against chronology, which Conrad rightly reproves below.

b One should read "Baioariam" Bavaria.

c In the manuscript something was added, but the erasure and condition were so corrupted that it could not be read.

CHAPTER II. Miracles after death.

[7] After his death, however, the Lord wrought many glorious miracles through him. For a certain nun, by the name of Kunigundis, the daughter of the sister of Blessed Martin, a virgin of great probity and perfection, was placed in charge of the custody of the monastery. When on a certain occasion she ordered the monastery to be cleaned, those who came to the place where the blessed Father was buried A linen cloth protrudes from his tomb and keeps growing back. saw a linen cloth rising from the earth above the pavement. Thinking, however, that this was old wrapping impressed into the pavement by the feet of those walking upon it, they tore it away: and immediately it grew back. When the cleaners, wishing to do their work diligently yet not understanding what the Lord intended, tore away the cloth; behold, a crucifix carved from wood, which had been placed next to the tomb of the Blessed Father, inclining its head from right to left, began to weep, and said to the aforesaid virgin: "Forbid the custodians from presuming to tear away any further the linen cloth which is seen protruding from the tomb: for in this tomb lies a man of great esteem before the Lord. For it is the linen in which that blessed body of Erardus is wrapped." Miracles occur here. She, meanwhile, struck with amazement and at length coming to herself, recounted to all what she had heard and seen: and many of the faithful, running to the tomb, were healed of various infirmities.

[8] Blessed Wolfgang was accustomed to visit the tomb of the blessed man secretly and often. On a certain night, therefore, after the solemnities of Matins, approaching the tomb in secret, he implored the patronage of the holy Father with many tears and prayers. Blessed Erardus, standing beside him, said: "Brother, I announce to you a secret grief, St. Erardus appears to St. Wolfgang and commands the monastery to be reformed. which you must diligently avert. Your works are pleasing before God, and the true Pastor, Christ, has appointed you as ruler and shepherd of this place and his congregation; and therefore, if you diligently carry out your office as you have begun, you will receive an eternal reward for your labor. Know, therefore, that the monastery which God provided for my resting place is contaminated by many sins; and the sins of the nuns who are maintained here impede my prayers, which I often pour forth before the Lord for their negligence, crying out against them, because — alas! — they are entangled in carnal things. For you, therefore, brother, I am not greatly distressed; for I have been overcome by the outcry of so many sins, so that I cannot benefit them by my prayer. I fall upon the knees of the fearsome Judge many times, I promise amendment for the sinners many times, I have delayed the harsh vengeance of the Judge many times, I have gathered my brethren to prayers — everything has been attempted, everything has been done: and what else shall I do for this congregation? Or with what prayers shall I act before the fearsome Judge on behalf of the foulness of so many wanton persons? I beg that you use the prudence given you by God, and destroying this entire congregation of nuns, establish here a monastic profession for men; and if any of the nuns herself wishes to profess it, let her be received; but if not, destroy their convent entirely, and do not allow this place to be contaminated any longer." For at that time there was there a profession of cenobitic nuns, who were excessively devoted to the wantonness of the flesh and other vanities. The venerable man Wolfgang, therefore, fulfilling the commands, changed the profession of the nuns, and established there a convent of monks living under a strict rule, and thus purified the place. Some of the nuns, however, were so obstinate that when they were compelled to a stricter life, they abandoned the monastery and clung to their former fornicators.

[10] A certain matron, having left the world, was converted to the Lord; who, persisting in vigils and frequent tears, contracted the infirmity which physicians call albugo, A blind woman receives her sight here. so that with her eyes open she saw nothing. Coming to the tomb of Blessed Erardus, she sought his intercession, saying: "Ah, holy Father, how has it happened thus to wretched me, who, though alive in body, am dead in sight? If therefore I still remained in the world, I would have something to give to a physician as payment, or at least someone to lead me by the hand; but behold, having turned to you, I lack the things which I left behind in the world, and moreover I have lost the only members, namely my eyes, with which I should have served you." Therefore, as she cried out and pressed with importunate prayers, at length Blessed Erardus stood before her, saying: "You are troublesome to me, woman, who seek salvation from me. Do you not know that no one should act before a superior? If therefore you wish to be illuminated, you shall prostrate yourself at a distance of seven feet from my tomb, and there you will find one who will illuminate you." Coming to where she had been commanded, she prostrated herself, and immediately received her sight.

[11] At the same time, a certain demoniac was led into that same church; as soon as he touched the pavement with his feet, A possessed man set free. snatched up with force on high, he was suspended in the air, and crying out with a terrible voice, he said that on account of the sanctity of those who lay in that church, he could not have rest. Commanded to leave the little body which he inhabited, he departed. From this therefore and from the preceding miracle we gather that in the aforesaid monastery not only the body of the venerable Father Erardus, but also the bodies of other Saints are buried. For a certain Duchess, the foundress of that same monastery, who is also buried there, when she went to the tomb of the Lord at Jerusalem, wherever she could, either secretly or openly, she acquired bodies or bones of Saints, whose names she neither knew nor could know, and buried them in the aforesaid church.

[12] A certain woman also, having a withered hand, when she came to the tomb of Blessed Erardus on his feast day A withered hand healed. and sought healing with tears, was immediately cured. The hand sprang back with so great a crack that all who stood in whatever part or corner of the church were terrified by the crack of the springing hand.

[13] A certain man, led by diabolical instinct, stole a horse; The thief's offering rejected. when he could not conceal what he had done, he came to the tomb of the holy man, and having offered a penny there, he begged that his offense be concealed. When, therefore, having completed his prayer, he wished to exit and reached the door of the church, he found in his hand the penny which he had offered. Amazed therefore and marveling, he returned to the tomb and replaced the penny: and when he wished to exit again, he found the penny with him, as before. A third time therefore he returned and, praying, carried the penny back with him; and while he was wondering in fear, behold, as soon as he left the church, those from whom he had stolen the horse came to meet him and seized him. From this you can plainly understand that the Blessed One rejected his offering, because his guilt found no concealment.

a Read Udalrici Ulrich.

b It seems rather that "Dominus" the Lord should be read.

c This is narrated somewhat differently in the earlier life; as is the following apparition.

d In the manuscript it was erroneously "monachorum" of monks.

ANOTHER LIFE

BY CONRAD OF MONTE PUELLARUM,

Transcribed from an ancient Regensburg codex by Stephanus Vitus of the Society of Jesus.

Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (St.) Albertus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (B.) BHL Number: 2592

By Conrad, from manuscripts.

CHAPTER I. The life of St. Erardus up to his Episcopate.

[1] Erardus, distinguished Confessor of Christ and eminent Bishop, Etymology of the name Erardus. received the name of his praise from the conformity of his sanctity: so that God, glorious and wonderful in his Saints, might show by his very name what manner of man he had predestined for eternal glory. For Erardus, according to the vocabulary of sacred Scripture, is interpreted as "one who, with a vigilant life, chooses the Lord." For from "Erech," meaning "vigilant life," and "rara," meaning "choosing the Lord" and "being vigilant for the Lord," it is so named. And thus this name is composed of two corrupted words, to connote both original stain and also actual fault, to be utterly destroyed in Christ before he should enter the homeland of celestial glory. For heaven can in no way endure the wicked. Therefore at the baptismal font, by the demonstration of the finger of God, the most blessed Father himself, in the state of infantile bloom, was named Erardus, as if "Erechararus," which is "one who, with a vigilant life, chooses the Lord." In the German language, however, it is explained not, as some say, as "glory of the strong," but rather as "treasure of honor."

[2] Well indeed is he called "treasure of honor," whom the Lord made and chose as so venerable an ark of sanctity. Well moreover was he named "vigilant in life," well "choosing the Lord": since if anyone, by examining the matter, should traverse the entire period of the purity of his mortal life, it will clearly appear to him how this man of God, in his tender years, came forth like a flower of spring fragrance into the sight of men — perfumed, as it were, with sacred virtues and sincere morals, as much as the tenderness of boyhood could support, His pious adolescence, breathing forth pure meditations, reverently obedient to his scholastic teachers, by listening, questioning, faithfully committing to memory what he heard and the responses given, and instructing from the bowels of charity others of his age who were of lesser capacity. His homeland. Among the vain students, therefore, who gape at foolish games and engage in other wicked pursuits, he, like a purple rose, had spread far in Scotland, his homeland, the fragrance of human felicity: and as much as he grew in the powers of the body, so much did he grow in the virtues of the soul.

[3] His happy adolescence flourished in the tempest of this raging world, like a young vine in springtime spreading its branches, leafy with pleasant foliage and blooming with praiseworthy flowers: and thus he reached and continued into manly age with the sweetest fruits, His virtues, devoting himself entirely both to the sacred studies of divine learning and to the works of charity; drawing the people into the Church of God by a certain wonderful and sweet fragrance of his chaste life and sober conduct: so that he deserved to be numbered literally with the Apostolic saying, the Apostle declaring, "We are the good odor of Christ." 2 Cor. 2:15. Yet this most blessed Confessor of God was familiar with few of the common people, but benign to all and faithful toward everyone, to such a degree that by the worthy judgment of Angels and men, he could be enrolled in the episcopal service in the Church militant of Christ. His merits therefore demanding it, he ascended first to the rank of the Priesthood, and thence to the episcopal summit, by the will of God and the fervent desire of the people requesting it. Priesthood, Episcopate. And in that same state he shone forth like the morning star in the midst of cloud, and like a rose tree among thorns, like a sweet river flowing through a desert, and like a lark singing sweetly in a tamarisk, like the nightingale adorning the nocturnal silences and rousing torpid sleepers to wakeful delights. This man, with his honey-sweet teaching, in word and deed, like the harmony of a sweet symphony among banqueters, had flowed happily upon the people entrusted to him, and like a refreshing spring in the scorching heat quenching the thirst of travelers. That happy Bishop dispensed himself to penitent sinners: and he who was noble in birth according to the propagation of the flesh, His lineage, showed himself nobler by the work of virtues; omitting nothing of what the Apostle writes to Timothy: sober, well-ordered, prudent, chaste, hospitable, a teacher, not given to wine, not a striker, not quarrelsome, not covetous, and a good ruler of his own household, having good testimony concerning these things from his entire neighborhood, and especially in heaven from the ineffable banqueting chamber of the holy Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — as shall be declared below by divine miracles. 1 Tim. 3:4.

a The superfluous and almost ridiculous effort of this writer in investigating and deriving the etymology of the name Erardus from Hebrew sources.

b Paul, the author of the first life.

c Again a forced derivation from "Schat," which signifies "treasure." Let us more correctly interpret it as "One of a disposition inclined to honor," or "made for honesty and distinction"; from "Er" or "Eer" and "art" or "aert" or "aerd," which signifies "disposition." Concerning the etymology of this and very many other German names, the most learned disquisition of our Arnold Boecop on the name of St. Hubert in the Hubertine History of our Joannes Robertus may be consulted.

d The weevil is commonly called "calandra," in German "Kalander." Does the Author perhaps mean the cicada or cricket here?

CHAPTER II. Pilgrimage and Apostolic labors.

[4] And he had a brother by blood from the same parents, named Hydolphus, equal to him in good morals and holy devotion: His brother St. Hidulphus, Bishop of Trier. who, going into exile, had come to the lower parts of Germany, and, known for his sanctity, was elevated to the episcopal See in the Church of Trier by the desire of princes and peoples. At that same time the Bishop of the universal Church, Pope Leo, the Third of his name, governed the holy Roman See. The pious Father Erardus had gone out for the purpose of visiting his aforesaid brother, He rebukes him for devoting himself to the solitary life. whom he found not in the place of Trier, but in the regions of the Vosges, living as a hermit for the love of Christ. And staying with him for some time, he admonished him by the testimony of the Scriptures to be vigilant over the flock of the Lord, because, other things being equal, the wise merit much more by preaching and teaching the people than by living as hermits; whence also Jerome says: "Holy rusticity indeed profits only itself; and however much it edifies the Church of Christ by the merit of its life, it harms equally if it does not resist those who destroy." And again the Psalmist says: "Your statutes were my songs in the place of my pilgrimage." Ps. 118:54. And the Doctor of the Gentiles, the preacher of truth, writes to Titus, "For this reason," he says, "I left you in Crete, that you might correct what is deficient, and appoint presbyters throughout the cities, as I also arranged for you." Tit. 1:5. And among other things he says in the same place: "A Bishop must be without reproach, as God's steward." ibid. v. 7. And with a few words interposed he adds, "holding fast to the faithful word according to the teaching, so that he may be able to exhort in sound doctrine, and to refute those who contradict." and v. 9. Thus the Apostle. Although these things apply par excellence to a Bishop, they apply nonetheless, with somewhat looser measure, to any Priest whom the Lord has distinguished above others with the special light of learning. And therefore, although Blessed Father Hydolphus had already voluntarily resigned the See of Trier, which he had accepted unwillingly, he nonetheless needed to be admonished and aroused by fraternal kindness, so that he might exercise the aforesaid duties as far as was permitted through faithful effort.

[5] Both build seven monasteries. He therefore acquiesced to him; and with Christ our Lord bestowing, and the aforesaid Leo, the Vicar of Christ, authorizing, these two brothers and most happy Fathers in Christ laudably built fourteen monasteries in the aforesaid place in the surrounding region of the Vosges over fourteen years — this one seven and that one seven — to the praise of God and of his venerable Mother, the Virgin Mary, and to the honor of all the heavenly citizens. But whence came this opulence? For they had already entirely renounced their paternal inheritance. The historiographer says that in the course of their pilgrimage they had accomplished these things through the generous offerings of the faithful, earned by the merits of their lives.

[6] When they lived. In those times there reigned the most serene Princes and God-devoted Kings, namely Pippin and his two sons Carloman and Charles, who was afterwards called the Great: whom Pope Stephen had anointed as Kings of the Franks in the last year of his Pontificate, in the year of the Lord seven hundred and fifty-three; and he chose them and their successors to defend the Roman Church. And Pope Hadrian the First, the immediate successor of the aforesaid Lord Stephen, with the holy Synod which was then celebrated at Rome, made the aforesaid Charles Patrician of the Romans around the year of the Lord 773. But Blessed Pope Leo III, who had immediately succeeded Hadrian I, after the Romans had torn out his eyes and cut off his tongue in a certain procession, and the glorious God, who works wonders in his Saints, had divinely restored his sight and speech, and Blessed Charles then went to Rome to avenge so atrocious an injury to Blessed Leo — he crowned the Lord Charles as Emperor of the Romans in the church of Blessed Peter on the holy day of the Lord's Nativity, when he rose from prayer, in the year of the Lord eight hundred and one.

[7] Therefore the legend which is commonly held concerning St. Erardus is defective, saying that during the lifetime of St. Leo, The second life of St. Erardus corrected. who as the Ninth of his name governed the holy Roman Church, and at the time when Pippin, the father of Charles the Great, presided over the kingdom of the Franks, these two holy Fathers flourished, namely Blessed Erardus and his brother Hydolphus: for Leo IX did not yet exist in nature; indeed Leo IX was promoted to the Papacy after Emperor Henry II; and he was a German by nationality, and was freed from the labors of this life in the year of the Lord one thousand fifty-five, the sixth year of his Apostolate, a man of most holy life. This same Leo IX also translated the body of Blessed Erardus in the times of the most happy Emperor Henry III, founder of the Church of Bamberg, in the year of the Lord one thousand fifty-two; Translation of St. Erardus. which Henry had succeeded to the empire after Otto III Augustus, who died at Rome.

[8] Under the aforesaid illustrious Kings of the Franks, therefore, and especially under the most serene Roman Emperor Charles the Great — who, on account of the merits of his life, deserved to be numbered in the catalogue of Saints by the Church — holy men flourished in the field of the stormy and tempestuous life in Hibernia, Hibernia is Greater Scotia. which was called Greater Scotia, and had dispersed themselves in great number through all the places of Francia and Germany, and thence to other regions of the earthly globe, in order to illumine the people of darkness with the light of faith, and, having extirpated the errors of blindness, to turn their bleary eyes toward the Sun of Justice. And so the most happy Bishop, Blessed Erardus, at that time, having taken along with him the holy Bishop Adalbert, when he had made arrangements for his own fold of the Lord's flock, bade farewell to his brother, and entered the land formerly called Noricum from its western part — so named generally, however, as Bavaria, St. Erardus comes to Regensburg with Adalbert. named as it were "Barbaria" from the coarseness of the language and the crudeness of speech — this servant of God entered for the purpose of preaching the Catholic and orthodox faith: and coming to the city of Regensburg, which was formerly called the "square city" from the shape of its foundation, but in the common tongue Imbripolis from the river Imber; Ratisbona, however, as if "Ratisposita," firmly founded, on account of the strength and elegance of its structures.

[9] There the man of God lived as an Angel lodged in a human body, fervent in charity, He converts many. excelling in chastity and modesty, renowned for miracles; to such a degree that he happily eliminated the errors of the unfaithful and the heresies of those halting in the faith from the Lord's fold. Let us endeavor here to touch briefly in a few words upon the miracles by which he was illustrious. For when this most faithful herald of Christ and sweet-sounding harpist of the Queen of Heaven was flourishing with such great virtues, it was divinely revealed to him that he should transfer himself from Bavaria to the regions of the Rhine river, namely to Alsace, and baptize the blind-born daughter of Duke Ericones, He baptizes St. Ottilia by divine instruction and bestows her sight. and by the help of divine grace illuminate her both corporally and spiritually. Assenting to the divine will, he betook himself to the aforesaid place, and finding the girl whom he had sought, he instructed her in the Catholic faith at the appropriate time, and having informed her of the truth of the faith, he baptized her, imposing on her the name Ottilia, which is interpreted "God is Sun." And when he had immersed her in the waters of the sacred font, he happily fell upon these words of devotion among others: "Lord Jesus Christ," he said, "who are the true light illuminating every person coming into this world, instill upon this your handmaid the dew of your sweetness, illuminating her in heart and body." Immediately the girl attained the clear light of her eyes at the prayers of the most blessed Father, by the working of divine mercy. From here the fame of this miracle flowed with abundant report among the Norican peoples, who were thereby strengthened in the Christian profession. And the most blessed virgin of God, Ottilia, grew in sincere morals and sacred virtues, to such a degree that she was numbered among the choirs of virgins in the eternal joys of paradise.

[10] From here the man of God returned to Bavaria and to the city of Regensburg, where he lived especially at the lower monastery, built in honor of the venerable Mother of God, He dwells near a monastery of Virgins. delighting in the purest sanctity and the most spotless devotion — at that time in the virginal diligence with which the handmaids dedicated to God of the celibate canonical life served and strove to serve God and the glorious Virgin day and night. The pious Father so loved that same place that with his own hands he dug a well of fresh water there next to the monastery, He digs a well with his own hands. which is now surrounded by the court of the Abbess: into which well, although it is quite deep, three persons successively fell in former times — namely a certain servant, a pregnant woman, and a certain infant — and each of them escaped entirely unharmed. These are not unfittingly ascribed to the miracles of the blessed man.

a Leo III began to sit from the beginning of the year 795. That St. Hildulphus was still alive at that year, not even Braunerus asserts.

b This is reported somewhat differently in the life of St. Hildulphus: "Meanwhile the fame of his renown, flying across the surrounding lands, had penetrated even the more remote regions. And when many came to the man of God from various parts, Erardus, equally most holy in life, a blood brother indeed of Blessed Hildulphus, but a fellow Bishop by ordination, drawn by his name, hastened to him. Having at length found the one he had long sought, congratulating him on his labor, he said: 'Behold, brother, God has granted you the desire of your heart, and has not defrauded you of your wish. For you have found the place you long desired, suitable for your way of life. Stand therefore manfully in the faith, and be strengthened in the Lord and in the power of his virtue, certain that he who perseveres to the end shall be saved.' Remaining with him therefore for several continuous years, they resounded with mutual admonitions of eternal life; and providing for the necessities of life for the brethren they had gathered, they erected tabernacles." The life written by Paul agrees.

c This is perhaps what was already said from the life of St. Hildulphus, "They erected tabernacles." Although these things are also found in another place in the life of the same Hildulphus: "Thence Blessed Erardus, having built a church in the name of St. Aper, the holy Confessor of Christ, not far from the monastery, namely on the left side of the aforesaid river, etc." Concerning St. Aper, see September 15.

d This was not the last year of Stephen III, who sat from March 27, 752 to April 26, 757.

e Rather in the year 754, on the 5th day before the Kalends of August, Stephen anointed Pippin and his sons, as Baronius demonstrates from ancient sources, volume 9, at the year 754, number 5.

f Not Hadrian but Paul succeeded Stephen III. After him Stephen IV was created in the year 768, to whom Hadrian succeeded in the year 772. But hence the occasion of error for the Author, that Stephen IV is often called III, and III called II, because Stephen II lived barely three days in the Pontificate, which he held immediately before Stephen III.

g That the title of Patrician was greatly esteemed is evident from the letter of the same Charles to Leo III, given on the 7th day before the Kalends of January, in the year 795, and from Hadrian's letters 11 and 12 to Charles.

h Charles set out for Italy that year against Desiderius, King of the Lombards, at the invitation of the Pontiff.

i December 26, 795.

k This happened in the year 799.

l If we count the years from the birth of Christ, Charles was crowned in the year 801; if from the Kalends of January, 800.

m Hence it is clear that Conrad did not use the earlier life written by Paul, in which this is not found, but the second one.

n Rather in the year 1054, April 19.

o Hundius mentions this translation in his account of Gerardus III, Bishop of Regensburg. Raderus, however: "Erardus: Pope Leo IX, personally present at Regensburg, decreed that he should be honored with celestial honor along with St. Wolfgang." Braunerus, concerning the same matter, volume 2, book 10: "On the same occasion the memory of Wolfgang and Erardus was consecrated to eternity; they were received into altars and temples by the best right, and called Saints. But that temples had been dedicated to Erardus much earlier is evident from the diploma of St. Emperor Henry cited above." St. Leo IX, the Pontiff, came to Germany in the year 1052 to reconcile Emperor Henry II (who is the Third to the Germans, as is evident even from this) with the King of Hungary.

p Conrad errs grievously here. Not Henry III but II succeeded Otto III, and founded the Church of Bamberg, as we shall say in his life on July 14. He, however, had already died earlier, in the year 1024.

q Others write the same; others, however, report that he died on the journey after he had departed from the City. This occurred at the end of January, 1002.

r Concerning him, see January 28.

s It is not sufficiently clear what the Author means here. Does he mean that the western part of Bavaria was called Noricum? This is false: Bavaria is west of Noricum, even though writers of a later age also called it by the name of Noricum, because the Boii formerly held Noricum or at least part of it. Or does he derive the name of Noricum from the West? It seems rather to be derived from the North, which the Germans call "Nort." Whence the appellation of "Nortgoia" (it signifies "Northern land," which the Narisci formerly held) is today wrongly, as Braunerus says, called Noricum by the half-learned.

t Nor is Conrad's conjecture more fortunate in deriving the etymology of Bavaria. Braunerus, book 4: "That entire region is what, having encompassed part of Raetia, Vindelicia, and Noricum, with the former names almost effaced, was long called Noricum, and finally, with the appellation drawn from its masters (the Boii), was called Boiaria: which very name, through the most monstrous inflections — which would wound delicate ears today — has been distorted into the more usual word 'Bavaria.' For to pass over the more modest corruptions which Paul the Deacon, Metellus the most ancient poet among the Boii, and Venantius Fortunatus permitted themselves; who could endure those who, having spoken almost like stones, bellowed 'Waivvaria,' 'Wavvaria,' 'Baugaria,' 'Bavvaria' with unchiseled mouth?" Thus he. As to what the derivation of the Boian name is, Velserus, book 1 of Bavarian Affairs, confesses that he does not know, and rejects the futile conjectures of various authors; he adds, however, that "Boiaros" or "Boieros," which is the German appellation for the Boii, is still a word of distinction and nobility among the Muscovites even in our present age, inasmuch as it is assigned to the most eminent order of that nation.

v In volume 1 of the Theater of Cities by Georgius Brunus, the same is reported — that it was surrounded by a wall of square figure and great squared stones, as can be seen in the remains of the ancient walls behind St. Paul's. Aventinus thinks the city was called that of the Quartani, from the fourth legion. But in the Notitia of the Empire it reads: "The prefect of the third Italic legion, upper division, Castra Regina, now in Vallatum."

x Aventinus ridicules this name and its formation, and rightly so. The river Reginus, which the Germans call the Regen — a word which also signifies rain — flows into the Danube at this point. Whence "Regina castra" and in the German word "Regensburg." For what Aventinus writes — that the name was given to the city from Reginopurga, the wife of Theodo I — should rightly be reckoned among the inept scraps of fables which Braunerus notes that he sewed throughout his history. Writers of the middle ages, as we shall see in the life of St. Emmeram on September 22, called it "Hyetospolis," "Hiatospolis," "Hiaspolis" — with a ridiculous affectation of elegance; not, as Brunus has it, on account of the rudeness of the rustic people uttering gaping words with gaping mouth; but from the same river Regen, which, as Conrad here calls "Imber" rain, so they called it by the Greek word ὑετόν, which signifies "rain."

y The derivation of this name is unknown to us; but this explanation of Conrad does not please us, nor that in Brunus, from rafts confluent for the purpose of commerce.

z Rather Ethico, or Aticho, or Aticus.

Aa It is not easy to derive this meaning; unless the Author either prefixes the letter G, as if it were "Got," which signifies God to the Germans, and ἥλιος, that is, Sun; or from ἥλιος and "ia," that is, God in Hebrew. But truly, why should we pursue difficult trifles?

Bb In the life of St. Hildulphus it is narrated that this happened at the time when Erardus was with Hildulphus in the forest of the Vosges; and it is said that Hildulphus baptized her, and Erardus received her from the sacred font. In the life of St. Odilia, as here, it is said that Erardus came from Bavaria to Alsace by divine instruction, and baptized her.

CHAPTER III. Miracles after death.

[11] When, therefore, the man of God had continued to bear the yoke of the Lord in this vale of tears, He dies. until the divine grace should command him to put off the garment of flesh and happily enter the company of the citizens of the heavenly homeland by the Holy Spirit, he was entombed within the basilica of the aforesaid monastery on the north side: and there after his death he was and still is today illustrious for frequent miracles.

[12] For at the time when St. Wolfgang, by the promotion of Emperor Otto II, was faithfully governing the episcopal See at Regensburg, he was accustomed to visit the tomb of Blessed Erardus at the most secret time he could. And when on a certain occasion, after the hour of Matins, he addressed the Holy Spirit with tearful devotion, He admonishes St. Wolfgang to reform a certain monastery. Blessed Erardus said to the slumbering Blessed Wolfgang: "I am weary of being here among these harlots: do you therefore reform for the better the sheep entrusted to you in the fold of Christ." For after the death of the most blessed man Erardus, the devotion of the cloistered women of the lower monastery had so lapsed that it deserved to be called a brothel rather than a monastery, at least as regards some of them. Nor did they wish to be called nuns, but canonesses, proceeding in silk and various garments in the manner of secular canons. The canonesses of the upper monastery also wished to be of the same condition. Blessed Wolfgang, therefore, with the support of the Dukes of Bavaria, founded the monastery of St. Paul at Regensburg, in which he established nuns under the Rule of St. Benedict and under the habit which they wear today: and then the greater multitude of those in the lower monastery as well as the upper followed them in morals and way of life. Some of them, however, unhappily apostatized here and there, and clung to their former debauchery. Therefore let the modern women who are more happily proceeding not count the shamefulness of the ancients as a disparagement; but rather let them compassionate them in our Lord Jesus Christ.

[13] Also at the same time as St. Wolfgang, a certain nun named Gunegundis, the daughter of the sister of St. Ulrich, who was then the custodian of the church of the lower monastery, saw by night the wooden image of the crucified Lord Jesus Christ, standing then next to the tomb of Blessed Erardus, weeping, and saying to her: "Forbid the servants who are custodians of this church from tearing away so negligently the linen cloth in which the body of Blessed Erardus is wrapped: for he who sleeps in this tomb is not of small repute before the Lord." The linen in which his body was wrapped keeps growing. For such a linen cloth was growing, and extending itself outward to the sight of men, as if the Lord were signifying by this that the sacrament of such great blessedness should not be hidden from the peoples in the recesses of the earth. But the ministers of the Church thought this happened by chance, and cut off whatever particle of the linen appeared, until — in connection with the aforesaid prohibition — a certain woman suffering from albugo of the eyes, who with her eyes open saw nothing, frequented the tomb of the holy Father Erardus, so that by his prayers she might deserve to receive health from the Lord. To her Blessed Erardus at length appeared, St. Erardus commands that St. Adalbert be honored. and said in a vision: "If you wish to be illuminated, prostrate yourself at a distance of seven feet from my tomb; there you will find one who will illuminate you." He was intimating by this the merits of the sanctity of Blessed Bishop Adalbert, who had been the companion of his pilgrimage, and who was entombed at the head of his tomb. For he wishes to have him, God willing, as a companion in miracles, whom in temporal life he had as a companion in labors and merits.

[14] He heals a cripple. Another woman, withered and contracted in all the members of her body, received partial restoration of health from St. Wenceslaus in Prague, and partially from Blessed Erardus in Regensburg.

[15] A certain thief who had stolen a horse approached the altar of Blessed Erardus at the lower monastery in Regensburg, offering a penny upon it, beseeching the holy Bishop to deign to conceal his theft. The thief's offerings rejected. But because he performed a feigned penance, departing three times to the altar, he always found the penny back in his hand; and the third time, as he was leaving the monastery, he was seized by the servants of the Judge and hanged.

[16] Nor should I pass over in silence that miracle which the most blessed Bishop of God, Erardus, deigned to work upon me, The Author, Rector of the University of Vienna, though unworthy, though a sordid sinner of Christ. For when more than sixteen years ago I was governing the University of Vienna in Austria, it happened to me by divine correction that after a severe colic, I contracted a grave paralysis of the limbs — namely of the feet and hands — to such a degree that I could neither walk from one place to another, nor could I bring a morsel of bread to my mouth with my hands. And it seemed to me in dreams that I was kneeling at Regensburg before the tomb of Blessed Erardus at the lower monastery, and looking upward I saw on a certain slip of paper, affixed to the iron railings surrounding his tomb, these two verses: By the help of St. Erardus he is healed of paralysis.

"Erardus increases virtues, wealth, and honors, For every nation coming hither to his praise."

I therefore had myself carried to Regensburg by a little boat on the Danube river: and when on a certain day I had arranged, with the help of friends and companions, for a solemn Mass to be celebrated upon the altar of Blessed Erardus at the lower monastery, prostrate in the form of a cross before that same altar, while there was being sung, "Alleluia; O lucid gem of the pastoral office," and the sequence, "Hail, splendor of the firmament" — which praises I, though infirm, had composed by God's gift in honor of the Bishop — immediately my entire body with all my limbs was changed for the better, and I recovered completely. Therefore now, to the honor of God and the glory of this Saint, I have delivered this history, and have transformed his legend into this compendium.

a Hundius writes that he was made Bishop in the year 968, the 33rd of Otto the Great, the first of Otto II.

b This also, after the reformation made by St. Wolfgang, was adorned with new buildings, as is evident from the diploma of St. Emperor Henry, given in the year 1010, found in Hundius, volume 3, where among other things these words appear: "To the monastery of Regensburg, which is there called Obermunster, dedicated in honor of the holy Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, on the very day on which we had it, completed from the foundations by us, consecrated in our presence, on the 15th day before the Kalends of May, etc." Other documents concerning its antiquity are found in Hundius.

c Hundius writes that the first Abbess constituted here was Brigida, the sister of St. Emperor Henry; and that this verse was written there by St. Wolfgang himself: "The shepherd Wolf-walker built this little shrine." The writer of the life of St. Wolfgang testifies that he was accustomed to interpret his own name thus, so that he wrote himself as "Lupambulus." Concerning the construction of this monastery, the restoration of the earlier discipline, and the sanctity of Brigitta, Braunerus writes briefly in book 8.

d But Raderus writes that he was placed in the same tomb with his brother.

CONCERNING THE SAME ST. ERARDUS

from an ancient printed Breviary of more than 130 years ago, which the Church of Augsburg used for very many centuries past.

Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (St.) Albertus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (B.)

From various sources.

[1] Erardus, who can be interpreted as "Glory of the strong," was a Narbonese by nationality, a Nervian by citizenship, The homeland of St. Erardus. and a Scot by descent. Extending the standard of his morals to the presage of his name, he placed Christ as foundation for the building up of virtues upon the ground of his age, lest the house destined for heavenly habitation be shaken by any wave of temptation or overturned by the whirlwind of disturbance. Diligence in studies and other virtues. Already his tender age meditated upon the strength of virtues — the barrenness of jests, the abundance of studies, the fruit of labor, the fruits of joys; and what is a sign of good disposition, to fear his teacher no less when absent than when present. He was present at readings, at writings, at dictations; and if he saw anyone devoted to idleness, the little boy marveled. He eagerly attended upon those who questioned; a most subtle annotator in each matter, he committed what he heard to the most tenacious recesses of memory.

[2] Yet, having set aside the quibbles of worldly sophistry, he gave himself entirely to the study of divine learning, covering his heart with the purity of his hands through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He devotes himself to piety. The blessed boy Erardus, therefore, when he was first putting forth the flowers of virtue, fixed the roots of his study in the spiritual rock, and not yet a judge of his own free will in full, he used it liberally. For from infancy, full of the grace of the Holy Spirit, in the place where he received the seeds of Christ's teaching, while many of his companions were straying through the byways of morals, he adorned the steps of his desire with the rule of virtues, and gained the merchandise of a perfect reputation. For while others delighted in the sports of dogs and birds, he thirsted to be imbued with the dew of the evangelical precepts: He spurns vanity. and by the breath of the grace of the Holy Spirit, in the garden of his heart the seeds of life bore fruit. For as it was said in the ears of the listener: "Who fills your desire with good things" — for good desire, he attained the effect of piety. Ps. 102:5. He willed what he was able, and his willing prevailed, and according to his will, having proved himself most proven, he gained his excellent disposition in his tender age. Isa. 65:20. That saying, "A boy of a hundred years shall be accursed," he not only escaped, but obtained this: "The understanding of a man is his gray hairs, and an unspotted life is old age." Wis. 4:9. For his spiritual understanding, growing strong with the vigor of a perfect mind, grew old with the hoariness of wisdom; and treading with immaculate foot the path of the life-giving way, he merited the joy of the prophetic privilege: "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." Ecclus. 1:16.

[3] The blessed youth Erardus grew; the glory of his adolescence grew; the hope of his youth grew; the joy of old age, the rule of his order, the glory of the clergy, the admonition of the rich, the contempt of riches, the love of poverty, the sight of the blind, the ear of the deaf, the foot of the lame, the father of orphans, the aid of widows, the obstacle to flattering fortune, the challenger of adversity, the restrainer of the flesh, the pursuer of the spirit; and, to pass over in a poverty of words, the armory of every virtue and the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit. Intent upon pious actions. He himself grew in the strength of body; the strength of virtue grew in him. He learned now to be angry at vices, to confront temptations, to fight against desires, not to shrink from fasting, to despise nakedness through contempt of clothing, to slay pride, to humble vainglory, to castrate gluttony, to give a loan to a friend, to forgive an enemy, not to acquiesce to detractors, to compassionate the afflicted, to feel in his bowels for the wretched, to rejoice with the joyful, to weep with the weeping, to be present at divine praises, to be among the gatherings of the good, to inquire into all things, to neglect nothing. Persisting therefore in such footsteps, he entered the path of eternal life. Nor did his more infirm age retard him so much as his readier will urged him on.

[4] When indeed the blessed man Erardus had first passed his sixtieth year, putting away all those things which belonged to childhood, he seized upon the vigor of a manly spirit — loving, fearing the Lord; fearing, loving his neighbor; abstaining from worldly things, venerating the divine, spending the night in prayers, attending to psalmody, being washed by compunction, being wearied by carnal things, being suspended toward eternal things; and what most people use for pleasure, He strenuously mortifies himself. he used his body only for necessity. For the wrath of seductive fury did not move him; the savor of flattering fortune did not entice him; sloth did not carry away from him the victory; avarice never blinded him; despair never made him forget; murmuring never disquieted him. He subjected his body to the spirit, the spirit to piety, and ascribed piety to the heavenly life. He now hated the carnal members: and the continuous rebellion renewed the inexorable enmity of flesh and spirit, until — with the body wearying from the continuation of fasts, vigils, and every toil — the spirit in him attained the Lord. Made a priest, he lives more holily. After he had ascended to the rank of the Priesthood, he also ascended to the highest rung of the heavenly ladder, now from continuous practice no longer feeling the labor, but from the habit of labor resuming the custom. For having been consecrated for the ministry of the altar, he immolated himself as a living sacrifice on the altar of his heart. Rom. 12:2. For according to the Apostle, he was not conformed to this world, but was reformed in the spirit of his mind, always proving what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

From the Breviary of the same Church of Augsburg, approved by Pope Pius V.

Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (St.) Albertus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (B.)

[1] Erardus, a Scot by nation, was accustomed from his tender years to fear God and render obedience to his superiors. The homeland of St. Erardus, and his holy youth. He was, from the very first, pious, devoted to good studies, honorable disciplines, and praiseworthy morals; but accustomed to be angry at vices and, with idleness banished, to fight against desires, he made such progress that, with lust restrained, he learned both to confront temptations and to devote himself to fasting, vigils, and other pious actions. At length, also following the habit and practice of humility, he rejected all carnal things and, occupied and intent only upon divine matters, was made full of the Holy Spirit. When he was a monk and priest, The monastic life. he followed Hindulphus, a man of singular sanctity, formerly Bishop of Trier, who was leading a solitary life in the wilderness of the Vosges or Wasegewde, and remained with him for some time for the purpose of contemplating divine things.

[2] Then, entering Bavaria to preach the Gospel, by divine revelation he was commanded to go to the Rhine and illuminate a girl born blind. Having set out, therefore, when he learned that the daughter of Adelricus Eticho, the Duke, had come into the light deprived of her eyes — on account of which her father had long since ordered her to be put to death, but her mother, taking pity on the creature, had given her to be secretly nourished — Erardus himself approached her and opened her eyes by the power and authority of the name of Christ, and imparted the sense of sight. The sight of Odilia obtained. She indeed, not yet satiated or captured by the desire and wonder of the most lovable light, longed for and loved Christ, the author of light. Erardus therefore instructed her in the faith and baptized her, and named her Ottilia.

[3] Having returned to Bavaria, he died. When Blessed Wolfgang was visiting his tomb at Regensburg in the lower monastery of nuns according to his custom, St. Erardus appeared to him unexpectedly and without warning, and among other things complained that the nuns contaminated the building of his tomb with luxury and lust. "I indeed," he said, "have interceded with God for them hitherto with many prayers; I have often also enlisted my brethren, the heavenly citizens, to prostrate themselves together with me before the fearsome Judge; Dissolute nuns are commanded to be corrected. and in this way, up to the day for which it was petitioned, the harsh sentence of the Judge has been delayed from being pronounced — this on our account, in the hope of a more amended life. But these women persist in foul debauchery; and yet they always press upon me to pray for them. What more shall I do? Or with what prayers shall I stand before the sentence and countenance of the fearsome Judge? Do you, therefore, according to your piety and office, destroy this congregation and establish a stricter one, and remove every occasion for practicing lust and contaminating this place." Having said this, he disappeared again. Wolfgang therefore wisely and seriously carried out what had been enjoined: Miracles at the tomb of St. Erardus. and those nuns who were unwilling to submit themselves to a stricter yoke, he expelled and shut out entirely. And thus it came about that in a short time at the tomb of Erardus the blind received their sight, the lame were healed, and many other miracles occurred.

a Cluverius testifies that the region on both sides of the Vosges, up to the town of Zweibrucken, is commonly called by the Lorrainers "le pais de Vosques," and by the Germans "das Wasgau." And near Tabernae Alsaticae, there is a castle, distinguished by the title of Barony, which is called "Geroltzeck in Wassigau." These names, derived from Vosagus, or Vasagus, or Wasagus, there can be no doubt.

From the modern Breviary of Augsburg.

Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (St.) Albertus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (B.)

From various sources.

[1] Erardus, a Bishop and a Scot by nationality, accustomed from his earliest age to the fear of God and obedience, and excellently adorned with pious and honorable studies, morals, he always endeavored to avoid vices, inordinate desires, and idleness. In which kind of exercises he made such progress St. Erardus becomes a monk. that, having at length professed himself a monk of the highest humility, he followed Hindulphus — who, having left the Bishopric of Trier, had taken up the solitary life — and devoted himself with him to the contemplation of divine things.

[2] Setting out then for Bavaria, he preached the Gospel of Christ; and thence, departing at God's instruction to the Rhine, he learned that the daughter of Adelricus Otticho, the Duke, had come into the light deprived of her eyes. Having rescued her from the plots of her father, who strove to put her to death, and having instructed her in the faith and as she demanded the washing of regeneration, he baptized her He baptizes St. Ottilia. and healed her by the power of the name of Christ, imposing on her the name Ottilia.

[3] After this, Erardus, having returned to Bavaria, illustrious for miracles, closed his last day — which he had long awaited with burning desire. His body was interred at Regensburg in the lower monastery of nuns, After death he is illustrious for miracles. whose tomb also was illustrious for many miracles. When Blessed Wolfgang was visiting it according to his custom, St. Erardus appeared to him at a certain time, complaining that the place and building of his tomb was being dishonored by the dissolute life of the nuns: He appears to St. Wolfgang. moved by which matter, St. Wolfgang restored a stricter manner of living in that place.

a Cluverius testifies that the region on both sides of the Vosges, up to the town of Zweibrucken, is commonly called by the Lorrainers "le pais de Vosques," and by the Germans "das Wasgau." And near Tabernae Alsaticae, there is a castle, distinguished by the title of Barony, which is called "Geroltzeck in Wassigau." These names, derived from Vosagus, or Vasagus, or Wasagus, there can be no doubt.

From the modern Breviary of Augsburg.

Erardus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (St.) Albertus, Bishop of Regensburg in Germany (B.)

From various sources.

[1] Erardus, a Bishop and a Scot by nationality, accustomed from his earliest age to the fear of God and obedience, and excellently adorned with pious and honorable studies and morals, always endeavored to avoid vices, inordinate desires, and idleness. In which kind of exercises he made such progress St. Erardus becomes a monk. that, having at length professed himself a monk of the highest humility, he followed Hindulphus — who, having left the Bishopric of Trier, had taken up the solitary life — and devoted himself with him to the contemplation of divine things.

[2] Setting out then for Bavaria, he preached the Gospel of Christ; and thence, departing at God's instruction to the Rhine, he learned that the daughter of Adelricus Otticho, the Duke, had come into the light deprived of her eyes. Having rescued her from the plots of her father, who strove to put her to death, and having instructed her in the faith and as she demanded the washing of regeneration, he baptized her He baptizes St. Ottilia. and healed her by the power of the name of Christ, imposing on her the name Ottilia.

[3] After this, Erardus, having returned to Bavaria, illustrious for miracles, closed his last day — which he had long awaited with burning desire. His body was interred at Regensburg in the lower monastery of nuns, After death he is illustrious for miracles. whose tomb also was illustrious for many miracles. When Blessed Wolfgang was visiting it according to his custom, St. Erardus appeared to him at a certain time, complaining that the place and building of his tomb was being dishonored by the dissolute life of the nuns: He appears to St. Wolfgang. moved by which matter, St. Wolfgang restored a stricter manner of living in that place.

a Nearly the same things are found in the Breviary of Wurzburg, in which a commemoration of St. Erardus is made on this day with the ninth Lesson.