Gudula (Gudrun)

ON ST. GUDILA, VIRGIN, AT BRUSSELS IN BELGIUM.

Circa the year 712.

Gudila, Virgin, at Brussels in Belgium (St.)

From various sources.

[1] At Brussels (which is the city of the Duchy of Brabant, the seat of the Princes of Belgium) St. Gudila, or Gudula, or Guodila — called by the Belgians St. Goele or Goule — Virgin, is venerated with solemn celebration on the sixth day before the Ides of January. Concerning her, the proper Martyrology of that Church states: The feast of St. Gudila. "The deposition of St. Gudila the Virgin, our patroness: whose sacred bodily relics are venerated here." Molanus adds in his Additions to Usuard: "At whose tomb at Ham in Brabant, in the winter season, a poplar tree, without the hands of those pruning it, soon grew up and flourished green like a grove. Both of which God did, by the service which he knew and willed, and by the power with which he prevailed, in testimony of the same Virgin, flourishing in the house of the Lord like a palm tree." More briefly, the augmented Martyrology of Usuard published at Paris in the year 1536, and very many manuscripts under the name of Usuard, and the Cologne Carthusians in their Additions to Usuard: "At Brussels, the birthday of St. Gudula the Virgin." Ferrarius, Ghinius in the feasts of the Holy Canons, Andreas Saussaius in the Gallican Martyrology, the Gallo-Belgian Martyrology, the Florarium, and others record her on this day. I am surprised that her name does not appear at all in the Belgian Martyrology of Henricus Adriani.

[2] Petrus Galesinius: "At Brussels, of St. Gudila the Virgin. She, born of illustrious lineage, was trained by the Blessed Gertrude in a monastery, and advancing in Christian character as in age, perpetually and devoutly exercised herself in vigils, prayer, fasts, and every duty of piety. Her relics are preserved there with great veneration." Relics. Wion and Hugo Menardus have nearly the same, but I do not see why they, like Dorganius, should count her among the Benedictines. The German Martyrology reports the same concerning her relics. And indeed they were devoutly guarded there for nearly six centuries; but, as Arnoldus Rayssius writes in his Belgian Hierogazophylacium, during the last tempest of the Belgian disturbances, they were dispersed by the fanatical fury of the Calvinists; or if they were snatched from their fury by pious persons and hidden in some secret places, they have certainly remained unknown until now.

[3] Life. We give a twofold Life of St. Gudila: the first from a manuscript codex of the College of the Society of Jesus at Bruges, by a certain Hubertus, who, as far as can be gathered from the end, lived after the year 1047, since he mentions the translation made that year by Count Lambert Baldric of Louvain. The second, fashioned from this one — sometimes even retaining the phrasing, though mostly tempered — was edited by Surius from an anonymous compiler, which Andreas du Chesne cites in volume 1 of the History of the Franks. Franciscus Haraeus in volume 1 of the Annals of Brabant, under Charles, makes the Clerics of Brussels the authors of this Life. Surius, who reports that he transcribed it from a very ancient codex, also acknowledges that he corrected the style in various places, but moderately, as we also observed when we compared it with the Brussels Breviary printed long before Surius. There exists another somewhat shorter version in the manuscripts of Rouge-Val and Corsendoncano, which seems to have been abridged from one or the other of these by Antonius Gentius or Joannes Gillemannus. Another, more ancient but rough and uncultivated, is cited by Hubertus at the beginning of his Prologue, which we have nowhere yet found. Baldericus, Bishop of Tournai, cites it in his Chronicle of Cambrai, book 1, chapter 16, which chapter we shall give in full on January 15, when we treat of St. Alebertus, or Emebertus.

[4] But Baldericus seems to have lapsed in memory there, Her era. when he writes that St. Emebertus held the see after Bertoaldus and before St. Autbertus, while he acknowledges that Emebertus survived his sister Gudila. Gudila was received at the sacred font by St. Gertrude, was imbued with piety and learning at her house in Nivelles; and when Gertrude finally died, she returned to her father's house. Now St. Gertrude died, as we shall show in its place, in the thirty-third year of her age, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of April, a Sunday, in the year 664. Gudila then lived as a private person until the year, as Miraeus holds in his Belgian Chronicle, 712, so that in the times of Charlemagne there was still living someone who had known her as a young man. Whence, as we shall deduce more fully elsewhere, Emebertus must be said to have succeeded not Bertoaldus but St. Vindicianus. Others who have written the Life of St. Gudila include Franciscus Haraeus, Zacharias Lippelous; in Spanish, Pedro de Ribadeneira; in German, Henricus Fabricius; in Dutch, Henricus Adriani and Heribertus Rosweydus; in French, Clemens Marchantius, Jacobus Doubletius, and Guilielmus Gazaeus; in Italian, Silvanus Razzi.

[5] Several translations of the relics of St. Gudila have been made. For from the village of Ham they were carried to Moorsel in the times of Charlemagne: thence to Chievre-Mont, when Moorsel was devastated by the Northmen: brought back thither afterward; they were translated to Brussels by Duke Charles, son of Louis Transmarinus, King of the Franks, and Prince of Brabant, and placed in the church of St. Gaugericus: and at last, in the year 1047, they were honorably deposited by Duke Lambert Baldric in the church of St. Michael, which is now called St. Gudila's. The first Translation was customarily celebrated by the Church of Brussels on July 6 (not June, as Galesinius wrote in his notes on the Martyrology), with a double office, First Translation. as is evident from the Breviary of that Church. On which day the Brussels Martyrology has: "The Translation of St. Gudila the Virgin, our patroness." The Cologne Carthusians in their Additions to Usuard, the German and Cologne Martyrologies, Radulphus de Rivo, and Ferrarius agree. But the manuscript Florarium: "At Moorsel, the Translation of St. Gudula the Virgin. She was indeed first transported there from the estate of Ham, where she had originally been buried, accompanied by miracles: for a tree, which they call a poplar, which had grown green that same night at her sepulcher, also transferred itself there; and on the journey itself a deaf man received his hearing." Second. "Finally she was translated from Moorsel to Brussels, where she now rests, in the year of salvation 1047." But the Author of the Florarium errs: she was translated to Brussels not in that year, but around 978, as we shall say below. Arnoldus Wion, Benedictus Dorganius, and Hugo Menardus also record that Translation, as though, because she was educated in piety under the discipline of St. Gertrude in the convent of Nivelles, she is considered to have embraced the Benedictine institute; whereas our Rosweydus more correctly numbers her among those Virgins who led a holy life in the world. We think, however, that on that day not so much the first Translation to Moorsel is recalled, as the later one by which her relics were carried from Moorsel to Brussels, not without an illustrious ceremony.

[6] Afterward, they were translated to the church of St. Michael by Gerard I, Bishop of Cambrai (in whose diocese Brussels then was, Third. which now falls under the Archbishop of Mechlin), at the initiative of Duke Baldric, who in his diploma (in Miraeus, in the Belgian Calendar and books of Belgian donations), dated in the year 1047, Indiction 15, speaks thus: "Wherefore I, Baldric, caused the parochial church of Brussels to be consecrated, and translated to it the body of the most holy Virgin of Christ, Gudila, with as much honor as I could, which I found negligently placed in the little church of St. Gaugericus." The memory of that Translation is recorded in the Brussels Martyrology at September 14 with these words: "On the same day, the dedication of this church, and the translation of the body of the Blessed Gudila the Virgin to it." Molanus in his Additions to Usuard, Wion, Menardus, Dorganius, Ferrarius, the German and Gallican Martyrologies of Saussaius agree. Whether the translation occurred on that day, or as is said in the Life on November 16, is not established for us. In that year September 13 was a Sunday, as was also November 15. Such solemnities are usually performed on Sundays, so that they may be honored by the greater attendance of the entire people, who are then at leisure. Dedication of the church. Neither day, however, but the Sunday after the feast of St. Denis in the month of October, was afterward chosen for celebrating the solemnity of the dedication, as is evident from the old Breviary of that Church.

LIFE

BY HUBERTUS.

From the manuscript of the Society of Jesus at Bruges.

Gudila, Virgin, at Brussels in Belgium (St.) BHL Number: 3684

By Hubertus, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE.

[1] To his most beloved brother Albertus, Hubertus, servant of the servants of God: may he both serve Christ with favorable successes in this life, and stand with joy before his presence in the life to come.

You have most recently brought us a quire, most loving brother, in which a few things were contained about the virtues of the gracious virgin Gudila. The substance of these things is indeed to be preferred to refined gold and topaz; but the composition of the text was so filled with barbarisms and solecisms, each in its own measure, that it was proved to be more than rustic. Whether this resulted from the negligence of the copyist or the ignorance of the author is entirely removed from our knowledge. Therefore you humbly appealed to our lowliness, that I, faithfully receiving the meaning of these deeds, might set them forth in my own words in a scholarly manner and arrange them suitably. At the first urging of your charity, however, I preferred to defer rather than to do it, being most deterred from attempting this work for two reasons especially: The author excuses his inadequacy. both because I had not hitherto touched this kind of subject matter, and because I saw this task to be beyond my powers, in which my text missing ... and therefore more prudent persons should have labored with every effort: lest I, a young man and, as I truly confess, of no substance, should presume to prepare myself to undertake it.

[2] But having been admonished a second and third time about this matter by your familiarity, I judged that I would assent to your requests. For when I revolved in my mind the many hindrances of my timidity, that saying of the wisest man occurred to me: that wisdom opened the mouths of the mute and made the tongues of infants eloquent; and that verse of David uttered under God's pledge: "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it." Wis. 10:21; Ps. 80:11. At length, strengthened by the support of these testimonies, and urged greatly by the impulse of charity itself, which endures all things, as the Teacher of the Gentiles attests, I seized the burden enjoined. 1 Cor. 13:7. And so, of what lineage this most holy virgin descended, what manner of holy life she led, and with how great miracles she shone both while living and after death, our pen shall declare. I beg the kind indulgence of readers, that they give credence to what is said, He writes nothing that is not proven. and not suppose that I have written anything not ascertained and proven. Otherwise it would be holier for me to keep silent than to speak falsely. Let them not attend to the words of our rusticity, but to the deeds, and let them remember that the beginnings of Holy Church were initiated not by orators but by fishermen. Now let the power of the Holy Spirit be present, to move the instrument of our most infantile mouth. This glory is by no means new to him: for he himself caused the mute beast of burden of Balaam to pour forth human speech: and to those who first believed he distributed diverse tongues. Num. 22:28. He implores the patronage of St. Gudila. May he also deign to water my palate with his dew, that it may be sufficient to narrate the virtues of his house, namely of the inviolate virgin: through whose intercession I the writer, and you the admonisher, and likewise all the brethren who are with you, may all be freed from the bonds of sins, and, banished from infernal fire, may deserve to become partakers of divine glory.

a This is perhaps Albertus, or Olbertus, a monk of Lobbes and afterward Abbot of Gembloux, who described the miracles and translation of St. Veronus: whose contemporary was Humbertus, Priest of Lembeke, a man, as Olbertus himself attests, not to be despised according to the standard of modern men. We cannot, however, certainly determine from this that he is the author of the Life of St. Gudila: we only set this forth for a more fortunate conjecture by someone else.

b A quire, that is, a booklet of four leaves.

c Something is missing here.

CHAPTER I.

The birth and religious education of St. Gudila.

[3] The blessed virgin Gudila, then, had a most worthy birth in the region of Brabant: noble in lineage, but nobler in the quality of her mind. St. Gudila's homeland. Her parents, according to the dignity of the world, were distinguished by an excellent line of descent, and had attained the highest ranks in the administration of the commonwealth. For her father was Witgerus, whom we have learned held the fasces of the County; Her parents. and her mother is known to have been named the most noble Amulberga. Moreover, the virgin herself, born of royal eminence, traced a genealogy both most religious and most noble. For she was joined by blood to St. Gertrude, who, as a daughter of Pippin, manfully despised earthly marriages, Her kinswomen. that she might be fit for the heavenly bridal chamber. She was also distinguished by kinship with the holy women Aldegundis and Waldetrudis; of whom the former, having dedicated her virginity to God, confined herself under regular discipline, and completing the course of her life in that same celibacy, is now adorned with the diadem of the immaculate Bridegroom; the latter, however, having been married in her years of youth to a certain Duke, after receiving holy offspring from a chaste marriage, laid aside silken garments radiant with gold and gems, and likewise distributed her remaining possessions for the use of the poor, and escaped naked from the shipwreck of this world, seizing the long-desired veil of the sacred Order. Finally, that it might be manifest how far wickedness was from that house, of which our virgin was a native, Her sisters and brother. and how much goodness dwelt therein: she had sisters renowned for holiness, namely Reinildis and Pharaeldis, and a brother, St. Emebertus, Bishop of Cambrai. But having used an excessive abundance of words while our intention was to record the series of her lineage, let us now direct the course of our discourse to what follows.

[4] When her aforesaid mother was pregnant with her, as is the manner of women in childbirth, she was tossed by a storm of anxiety, being much more concerned about the future offspring — whether it would be endowed with good morals or would serve shameful pleasures. But what corner of the word could be left for sadness, where the Wisdom of all things was known to be visibly fashioning a temple for itself in a certain manner, and the hosts of virtues had occupied everything, and the ardor of heavenly glory had filled it? Nor was it fitting that she should be afflicted with prolonged anguish whom divine predestination had appointed as the bearer of so great a gem. Therefore he, of whom the prophetic oracles testify, "And in his servants he shall be consoled," deigned to refresh his handmaid with the following consolation. 2 Macc. 7:6. It was night, and sleep held mortals on the earth, An angel foretells her holiness. when that same mother of the household, given over to slumber, beheld an angel present from the stars, who seemed to remove her fear with these words: "Release the fear from your heart, and banish your gnawing cares, for you have been made fruitful with precious offspring. Indeed the ruler of all kingdoms sends me to you from the bright heavens, he who turns heaven and earth by his divine power; he himself bids me bring you these consolations: You have conceived faithfully; you will give birth happily, O mother of a venerable daughter. For I tell you these things, since this care gnaws at you: from her very girlhood she will devote herself to sacred observances, in which persevering until the bounds of this brief life, she will receive the palm of eternal life." Having spoken thus, the angelic vision left her when the speech was completed, and vanished into thin air. But she, cheered by such visions, snatched her body from the bed, and stretched her upturned hands with her voice toward heaven, and preparing a believing heart for the responses delivered from heaven, rendered thanks to the bestower of all good things. Here ancient praises are renewed, which it is pleasing to recount as set forth in trustworthy volumes. For thus indeed Esau and Jacob, before they were brought forth into the light, were prefigured to their mother as two peoples to be divided from her womb: thus the prophetic priest of God and abstemious herald of the Lamb, John, about to be begotten from the barren body of Elizabeth, was foretold, alas, to his ill-doubting father. Gen. 25:23; Luke 1.

[5] When the little maiden of God, Gudila, was born and immersed in the life-giving bath of regeneration, she was received from the font itself by the holy Gertrude, She is received from the sacred font by St. Gertrude and educated by her. that is, by her aforementioned kinswoman. Under whose care she was afterward, when grown, handed over to teachers of the Scriptures: and they indeed imbued her with the knowledge of letters — not secular ones, but those seasoned with the salt of divine law. She, however, like a clever bee, spread the nectar of these things through the hives of her heart, fashioning therefrom honeycombs of sweet works, and conceiving the chaste fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. Indeed, mature studies were already present in her tender age, and, so that she might hear things unknown, she clung as a most diligent seeker to devout elders, and gathered in her tenacious memory the seeds of instruction she received. She neglects delicacies. She was never a source of annoyance to her own people, as is usual at that age, on account of varied and delicate foods, nor did she pursue the blandishments of softer fare: she was content with only those things that were given to her. Devoted to piety. Going often to church with the nuns, she did not follow the playfulness of children nor the negligence of girls; but, greatly esteeming only those things that were read, she carried out the usefulness of the precepts through the conduct of her life.

[6] The teachable young girl, having passed beyond the ordinary course of rising infancy and arrived at the crossroads of the Pythagorean letter, without hesitation began to leave the left branch with the pleasure of the world, and to yearn with all her strength for the right branch with heavenly desire: not, as is ingrained at that tender age, inclined to the lowest things and harsh to her advisors; rather, intent on the works of the aged, she walked not in her own desires but in the Lord's dispositions. She flourishes in virtues. Indeed, as her age increased from day to day, she grew in the excellence of her character, as was befitting a handmaid of God. For she was chaste in body, uncorrupted in mind, lovable to all, affable to everyone, shrewd in prudence, vigorous in fortitude, serene with the reins of temperance, stern with the vigor of justice, tireless in long-suffering, praiseworthy in patience and humility, excellent in gentleness and piety, fervent in twofold charity, steadfast in robust faith, patient in unshaken hope. The commerce of all these virtues was augmented in her soul by that wisdom which disposes all things.

a A great part of that region which is called Brabantum, Brachbantum, Bracbantum, or Brachantum by writers fell under the jurisdiction of the Counts of Flanders and Hainaut. The Counts of Louvain retained the name, and made it common to their dominion, afterward widely extended to the borders of Batavia and the Meuse, so that for many centuries now Brabant has been considered the chief of the Belgian provinces; concerning whose ancient peoples and etymology we shall treat more fully in the Life of Blessed Pippin on February 21.

b He was afterward a monk at Lobbes, as we shall say on July 10.

c More commonly Amalberga and Amelberga. She concluded her most holy life at Maubeuge in the convent of St. Aldegundis, and is venerated on July 10 in the town of Binche among the Hainautois, where her body rests, at Lobbes, and elsewhere.

d We shall give the Life of St. Gertrude, or Gertrudis, Virgin, on March 17.

e January 30.

f April 9.

g St. Vincentius Madelgarius, concerning whom see July 14.

h St. Landericus, or Landricus, Bishop of Meaux, who is venerated on April 17: SS. Aldetrudis and Madelberta, Virgins, both Abbesses of Maubeuge; concerning Aldetrudis we shall treat on February 25, concerning Madelberta on September 7: and St. Dentlinus, who is venerated at Rees in Cleves, as we shall say on July 14.

i Concerning St. Pharaildis, Virgin, we treated on January 4. But if she was a sister of St. Gudila, it is necessary that St. Amelberga was married twice, although unwillingly: first to Duke Theodericus, who had previously received two sons from another wife, of whom mention is made in the Life of Pharaildis, and Pharaildis herself; and finally to Count Witgerus.

k It seems that "ibi" there should be read.

CHAPTER II.

Her holy life. The snares of the devil.

[7] Meanwhile she returns to the dwelling of her parents, bringing back a heart thirsting yet filled with the draught of wisdom. She returns home. Joy abounded on both sides: they applauded their offspring for the fame of her good odor and her nourishing virtues; she exulted in their benevolent affections toward her.

[8] Now there was in the vicinity a village called Morzella, distant from their dwelling by an interval of two miles, She visits the oratory at Morzelle. in which an oratory had been built and dedicated in honor of the Holy Savior. Loving this place, the blessed virgin of God sought it out, removed from her family, avoiding being a burden to them in even the smallest matters, and desiring to be free for the contemplation of the divine alone. But with what exercise she there fitted herself for the gaze of the heavenly majesty, it is beyond human power to explain; even if all the members of the body were turned into tongues and each limb resounded with a human voice. She lives most holily. She devoted her days to prolonged prayers, and continued through the nights as well, spending the night in vigils, diligent in psalmody, practiced in fasts; she offered herself as a holocaust to the sight of Christ, to whom she had devoted her entire self from her childhood years. And while she was here only in body, daily she hastened to pass in spirit to eternal things: and how acceptable she showed herself to the searcher of hearts and minds was also made clear through her outward works. For devoted to the mercy of almsgiving, Generous to the poor. she never suffered a neighbor's misery to be left unaided: and the care of her parents furnished her with abundance to supply these needs; since they proved in reality what the angelic proclamation had foretold concerning her. Her speech also, according to the Apostle, was seasoned with salt: with most frequent genuflections she besought the Lord, with tears and compunction of heart, that whatever she might meditate or do would be acceptable in his sight. And he himself deigned to hear her pious prayers mercifully, who had inspired them powerfully.

[9] When, therefore, she was conducting herself in this manner — whence she had kindled the flame of everyone's love toward her — the devil, enemy of the Christian name, impatiently bearing that she was growing in such great advances of virtues, panted against her with the heats of his veteran malice; and he was goaded by a sharper torment the more he was conquered by the sex most familiar to him, which had been the first cause of human perdition at his suggestion. And first indeed, striving to see whether he might in some way draw her from the resolution she had seized, She is variously tempted by the devil. he cast into her mind the frailty of her body, the prolonged spans of her age, and stirred up the greatest possible clouds of her thoughts. But his first attempt was dashed and shattered, because she was firmly fixed in the meditation of the commandments of God. Yet even so he did not come to his senses, although baffled in his first encounter, and assailed her with various attacks, though in vain — like one who besieges a lofty city with siege engines, or sitting around mountain fortresses, under various equipment of arms tries now these, now those approaches by stratagem. But she, repelling his machinations by the urgency of her prayers, stood like an immovable column, struck by his vain blows. For he inserted sordid thoughts: She resists nobly. she removed them by the constancy of her prayers. He titillated the senses with the natural ardor of the flesh: she fortified her entire body with faith and fasts. He set forth the female nature as easy to ruin: she, considering the eternal torments of the future judgment, preserved the integrity of her soul's purity through the temptations. All these things, moreover, happened to the confusion of the devil: for the Lord aided his handmaid — he who, veiled in flesh for our sake, bestowed upon the body victory against the devil, so that to each one thus contending it may be permitted to bring forth the Apostle's word of counsel: "Yet not I, but the grace of God which is with me." 1 Cor. 15:10.

[10] At last, when he could not destroy her by this stratagem either, Every night she goes to the church. he made it clearer than daylight to all with what gnashing of teeth he raged against her. For this Saint had the laudable custom that from cockcrow, leaving her bed, she would go to the threshold of the aforesaid basilica every night, with her handmaid going before her with a lantern of guiding light, so that there she might spend the remainder of the night in vigils pleasing to God, offering herself as incense to God in the frequency of her sighs and prayers. On a certain night, therefore, when in her accustomed manner she was making for that same church for the reason we have mentioned, that very author of all malice, not forgetful of his craft, declared the sign of his presence; for arriving suddenly, he extinguished the candle. O what a fitting trick the satellite of night revealed for himself! For he who is called Lucifer by the testimony of Isaiah, Isa. 14:12. just as this lesser one is surrounded by the splendor of the golden-haired stars, so before his fall he was adorned with the resplendent beauty of the heavenly orders as if with gems; now, called by him the prince of darkness, he delights in the filth of crimes and fosters the hiding places of blinded minds. But the handmaid of Christ, when the trick of the enemy prevailed and the light was lost, could not direct her steps on a straight path by any effort. So great a murky horror of that night had descended, more than usual. For there were no fires of the stars, nor was the sky bright in the starry heavens, but clouds were in the dark air, and an untimely night concealed the moon in mist: and — what is easy to believe certain — the enemy himself had augmented the obscuration with the darkness friendly to him. Her attendant also declared that she could not distinguish the path, whether straight or devious, nor remember the way forward. Know that by diabolical instigation she was enveloped in so great a cloud of error. What was she to do? The holiness of her breast devoted to God was burning, because she was unwilling to be torn from her good undertaking. At length, coming to herself, she knew that help must be sought from God, remembering that Davidic verse: "You, O Lord, are my refuge from the tribulation that has surrounded me: my exultation, deliver me from those who surround me." Ps. 31:7. She relights the candle extinguished by the devil through her prayers. Falling on bended knee, she prostrated herself on the ground, her hair was sprinkled with foul dust, and with all the marrow of her soul she beseeched the Lord, saying: "Have mercy, O God, on my toil: have mercy on me, who, though bearing what I deserve on account of my hindering sins, yet presumes on your protection. Shatter the snares of the deceiver, remove the bars of this wax-bearing darkness, and command this candle to be relit, lest the enemy rejoice over me. For you, the emancipator of your serving creature, have restored us to freedom by the price of your death — us who were captured under the slack yoke of the horrible serpent. I beseech you, therefore, mighty Redeemer, do not allow us again to lie subject to the seizure of the greedy plunderer." Why should I delay with many words? God on the right hand assented to these prayers, and favored them with a propitious countenance, and by his command the lamp was relit, strengthening his faithful one. With more than its usual gleam the lamp vibrated with a shining ray: to such a degree that you might see that neighborhood illuminated by a new sun. At the sight of such wondrous brightness, the virgin, suffused with tears over her shining eyes, raised herself up, lifted her face to the stars, and rendered praises to the magnificence of the Most High, who does not abandon his own in adversity. "To you," she said, "most merciful God, be praise and glorification, to you thanksgiving. What service could be repaid to you for these gifts? No vows of those who praise you compensate the price of your bounty: for the lesser care of those who serve is always surpassed. You are the true light to our eyes, you are also the light to our inmost senses. Therefore let your creature bless you, its Creator, whose majesty and mercy continues the kingdom in the triple Godhead, forever and ever." With these and similar hymns of praise she entered the house of God, toward which she had been heading: there, whatever time remained until the boundary of night was closed, she kept vigil, laboring in prayers, with the melody of psalms augmented beyond the usual measure, with a heaped-up accumulation of prayers.

a They had already embraced the religious life. For St. Amalberga is said to have received the sacred veil from St. Autbertus, who is thought to have died around the year 659; whereas Gertrude did not die until the year 664, after whose death Gudila returned to her father's house. She then went together with her sister Reinildis to Lobbes, intending to offer all her possessions to God there. But when the monks refused to open the doors to those who knocked, declaring it was not lawful for women to enter there, Gudila returned home, whether indignant or nobly acquiescing and thinking nothing further should be attempted. But Reinildis, on her bare knees pouring forth prayers, had the doors of the church opened to her on the third night by divine power: and the Saint gave the village, with five estates, to that monastery.

b The village is Morsella (or, as it is called here, Morzella; by Surius, Mortsella; in the Brussels Breviary, Mortscella; by Miraeus in his Chronicle, Mortesella), at the very borders of Brabant and the territory of Aalst. But in what place particularly the domicile of her parents was, we have not ascertained; unless perhaps at Martinis, which place, as we shall indicate in the entry on Emebertus on January 15, seems now to be called Merchten.

c An abra (Greek: abra and habra) is, as Suidas writes, "neither simply a maidservant, nor a beautiful maidservant, but a domestic girl of a woman, and honored, whether she is home-born or not." Judith 8:32: "And I shall go out with my handmaid," and elsewhere. See our Serrarius on Judith chapter 10, question 1.

d That is, "straight."

CHAPTER III.

Her zeal for mortification illustrated by a miracle.

[11] Meanwhile, as Phoebus spread light over the vault of the sky and the most ample spaces of the lands with his gleaming breezes, She walks on the bare soles of her feet. the Priest of that place arrived, about to celebrate the customary mysteries of divine worship. When, therefore, intent upon the morning offices, he was preparing the sanctuary and arranging the altar as if about to make an offering, walking to and fro and casting his eyes this way and that, he happened to turn his face to where the Virgin of God, prostrate on the ground, was heaping up prayers in humble supplication, presenting herself, according to the decree of the Teacher of the Gentiles, as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God. Rom. 12:1. He, contemplating her with the most attentive gaze and admiring the length of her prayers, saw that the soles of her feet were bare, while only the tops of her feet were covered by the coverings of sandals. And first he was astonished at the novelty of so great a thing, and then because, though prosperously raised and delicately, she was mortifying herself under such severe rigor. Truly does the excellent King sing with voice, string, and timbrel: "Good understanding for all who practice it; his praise endures forever and ever." Ps. 110:10. But you, O supreme Wisdom, as the most excellent orator elegantly discusses, "you dispose all things sweetly." For this your handmaid, applying understanding to your commandments, has fulfilled what you commanded: "Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them"; but you have rendered what you promised: "No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hidden place, nor under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light." Matt. 6:1; Luke 11:33. She, shunning human favor, lest the wind of boasting should blow, concealed with joyful modesty whatever she offered for your worship: for you see what is secret and hidden, and bestow a gift; but you, by whatever sign pleased you, have made her known to us for imitation. The aforesaid Minister of God's altar, therefore, struck with awe at so great a deed and moved with compassion at her cold, The Priest places his gloves under her feet. waiting for a very long time, after she rose from prayer, immediately drew the gloves from his hands and went to place them under her feet, so that he might honor a maiden of such illustrious merit with a pious service. But she did not relax the bonds of her most resolute purpose even at the Priest's solicitude; She rejects them. but recoiling from the unaccustomed softness that blandished her ill, as if she were moved by a received injury, she snatched them up with her hands and threw them upon the pavement.

[12] A wondrous thing and vehemently worthy of praise — one indeed which the centuries, instructed by their tenacious records, have found most rare. Shall I speak or be silent? But just as no one ought to boast of his own merits, so no one ought to silence the works of God alone, which are done through his Saints, but ought to proclaim them: since we read that the Angel admonished Tobias thus: "It is good to hide the secret of a king; but to reveal and confess the works of God is honorable." Tob. 12:7. The gloves did not touch the ground, They hang suspended in the air. but hung in the air as if clinging there. And this was entirely just. For why should the foulness of dust defile those things which had slipped from hands that were simple and free from the stains of vices? You might see them raised above the great void, when neither in the upper part did movable cords fastened to the rafters detain them, nor from below did the support of any prop sustain them. These are therefore your works, O Christ, your miracles — you who, as the Davidic lyre affirms, are wonderful in your Saints, whom you deign to glorify in many ways. Ps. 67:36. We, however, considering the outcome of so great a matter, perceive that that rejection sprang not from a disturbance of bile, but from a pure intention. To her the Truth says in the Gospel: "If your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light": because when the intention that precedes is pure, every work that follows is good, even if it may seem to be reprehensible. Matt. 6:22. O the glorious fervor of the Virgin, who did not suffer herself to be relaxed from her most familiar rigor for even a single moment of time! O that blessed Priest, who did not take this as an insult to himself, but, magnifying her virtue with exultation, spread abroad far and wide what he had seen!

CHAPTER IV.

Other miracles during her life.

[13] When at length the solemnities of the Mass had been completed by the Priest, in which the holy virgin, according to the Psalmist's voice, had offered her contrite spirit as a sacrifice to God (for the Lord does not judge a contrite and humbled heart to be despised), she returned to the threshold of her own dwelling. Ps. 50:19. Already nearly half the journey had been retraced; and behold, she met a certain woman whom prolonged grief and long-lasting calamity were tormenting. She prays for a boy who is crooked, mute, and afflicted with gout. For she was carrying on her shoulders her son, who had fallen into this light with a congenital ailment from the womb of his own ill-birthing mother; and already the golden sun, governing the world through twice-six stars, was revolving the ninth year since she had seen that same boy weakened by a threefold affliction. For he was contracted, bent over, with a downcast countenance, and stooping, gazing only at the ground: the passages of his voice were also obstructed, his tongue had become mute, and the plectrum did not form articulate movements. Moreover, in addition, a terrible gout of the hands had crushed the joints of his hands, to such a degree that he could not convey food to his mouth unless placed there by the help of another's hand. Therefore when the holy woman of God beheld so small a body beset by so many plagues, her breast, clothed with the viscera of mercy, was shaken. Then, conceiving the Holy Spirit with all her mind, she received the boy into the embrace of her arms, and turned with prayers to God, saying: "Most gracious Jesus, turn your ears to the voices of your handmaid, and pour forth the aid of your mercy upon this child: whom your most mighty dignity created, may your most sweet compassion strengthen. I do not trust in my merits — for they are nothing — but I hope in the most abundant fountain of your bounty. For you yourself said: 'If you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you.' Do not, therefore, Lord, regard my sins, but having mercy on the miseries of these two, restore health to the one, and render us both joyful together." John 16:23. What more? The prayer ascended to the inner chambers of heaven: it reached the ears on high: she felt that she had obtained what she had requested. For immediately the pathway of speech was opened for the boy, and the bond being loosed, the long-mute throat now became eloquent. The organs were restored and fitted to their proper sinews, and he exulted with straightened limbs. And what fruit the Saint's prayer had reaped, the boy himself declared at once, The boy is suddenly healed. calling his mother thus, crying: "Mother, come! Mother, come!" The holy virgin, marveling that he who from the very beginning of life had grown up with coeval silence had so suddenly burst forth into words — and, what was more wonderful, had fully formed his voice — set him down upon the ground, because she felt the arrival of divine power. And he, hitherto not his own master, but now at last given over to his own freedom, ran to and fro rejoicing. But when his mother looked upon her unexpected prayers fulfilled, she was stunned in her soul, and in altered manner wept for joy, fell at the Saint's feet, and licked them with kisses.

[14] Then both gratefully confessed and unanimously rendered praises to the ineffable mercy of the Almighty, who, by the testimony of Scripture, "raises up the fallen and directs the just." Ps. 144:14. Gudila wishes this to be concealed. Thereupon the blessed Virgin commanded the woman that, as long as she herself lived in the body, she should not reveal this to anyone; fearing, namely, lest, struck by the power of the miracle on the lips of men, she should become inwardly empty from the very thing by which she appeared great outwardly before men. She was also following the example of Christ, who, granting healing to one whose voice was restored while his hearing was empty, sternly charged those present not to reveal the powers they had seen. Mark 7:36. But what follows there? "The more he charged them, so much the more they proclaimed it." So also here. For the neighbors, who the day before yesterday had known the boy entangled in a horrible knotting of his limbs, shortly afterward, observing him made whole with a handsome and upright frame, inquired of his mother the cause and order of this event. When she revealed it, the Saint's holiness became known everywhere. For that same woman rejoiced that she had found the occasion and opportunity of making known and magnifying the authoress of her salvation. The boy's mother spreads the news. Thus, then, that holy virgin of God desired indeed to lie hidden in the great things she did, in her sincere will; but, so that they might benefit others, they were made manifest: so that it was a mark of her great humility that she desired her works to be kept silent; and of the most useful edification of others, that they could not be concealed.

[15] And so the report of her faith and virtues was spread far and wide: from villages and towns people of every sex and every age flocked to her from all sides. Many flock to her. Peoples streaming together in crowds were refreshed by the sight of her and soothed by her conversation; many who were in need of the help of health returned rejoicing, having recovered their well-being. What need is there of words? All venerated her as a mother; they truly confessed her to be beloved of God the Father, the spouse of the Son, the temple of the holy Spirit. She heals a leper. Among that throng of the infirm, a leprous woman approached her, bearing spotted prodigies, whom antiquity in its providence handed down to posterity by the name Eremfreda. So severe and so terrible were the eruptions of her ulcers that even worms flowed forth, boiling up from her neck. At which sight, the holy virgin of God could not restrain her mind, drenched with the copious dew of piety, from the accustomed sting of compassion. Forthwith, indeed, addressing her voluntarily with a gentle word, first surveying each contagion of leprosy by sight, she endeavored to offer friendly and soothing words — trusting, to be sure, in him whose invocation of his name is never devoid of mercy: "Be of good courage," she said, "Eremfreda: divine providence has given you this for salvation, not for destruction. Whence we must take care the more, lest your recovery bring any peril. May he, therefore, who is a helper in opportunities and in tribulation, be a propitious consoler to you and a healer of your diseases." After this, returning to the weapons that were most familiar to her in matters of this kind, she began earnestly to press upon God with prayers, with groaning and contrition of heart, for her sake: "Do not, most merciful God, be angry that I, a sinner, presume to invoke your most holy name: for it is not in my own justifications that I cast down my prayers before the face of your Majesty, but in your many mercies. Remember your mercies and your compassions, which are from eternity; you who through Elisha the prophet cleansed Naaman the Syrian from leprosy in the stream of the Jordan: and, clothed in our likeness, through yourself you wiped away very many from this most foul horror. 4 Kings 5. Certainly you do all things with measured wisdom and prudently, and you grant the relief of your mercy bountifully. Whether, therefore, you wished this woman to be worn down by the most unclean leprosy on account of her sins, so that she might repent when corrected — by blotting out her crimes, cleanse her wonderfully; or whether it was so that by the omen of her cure your magnificence might be made manifest — heal her wonderfully, that you may be magnified by your creature." Swiftly, at these prayers directed to the throne of the Thunderer, the limbs of the woman changed their alien form, restored to their former beauty, as if the discolored affliction had never disfigured her with its unseemly marks. Then both women, not ungrateful, did not cease to render magnificent praises to the liberator of all: and from the mouth of all who saw and heard these things, praise was sung in unison to the most sublime Deity.

[16] These and other innumerable things did divine excellence work through his handmaid, which are far too extensive to describe. But from these few, her other works are also known: those especially in which she is observed to have been conscious only to herself; because, not seeking grace from men, she would have wished, as far as it was in her power, that all her virtues should lie hidden. But if her outward acts could somehow be set forth in words, her interior life and daily conduct, and her mind ever intent on heaven, no speech (I truly profess) will ever explain. Various virtues of Gudila. That perseverance and moderation in abstinence and fasts, that power in prayers and vigils, and nights and days spent by her in the same manner; and no time vacant from the work of God, in which she indulged either in leisure or in business — nor indeed in food or sleep, except insofar as the necessity of nature compelled. Not even if the Mantuan Poet himself should emerge from the underworld could he set it forth. To such a degree are all things greater in this holy virgin than can be conceived in words. O truly Blessed one, worthy of many praises, in whom there was no deceit, judging no one, condemning no one, rendering evil to no one for evil, but living holily and justly before the Lord and before men.

a Ms. reads "obstrusa."

b Ms. reads "perderent."

CHAPTER V.

Death, burial, miracles.

[17] Persisting, then, in this constancy of mind — not to speak of each individual day, but even in each moment of the hours — she burned with the ardor of her interior desire to see the God of Gods in the heavenly Sion. O with how many drawn-out sighs she signified this, as though she seemed to say to those beholding her: "I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ." For as the hart desires the springs of waters, so her soul thirsted and longed for the sight of things above. At length Christ determined to bring her so praiseworthy affection to its fulfillment, She dies piously. and to recompense her labors with the denarius of eternal reward. And so, struck by a slight affliction of the corruptible flesh, she reached the boundary of death: and thus, with her limbs left behind, her faithful soul seized hold of heaven; for whom the way is opened by a straight and lofty path to the Father. The bright choirs of angels attended her on either side as she went: borne aloft by their ministry, she was brought into the heavenly Paradise, where she was received by the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, together with the approaching choir of virgins, enjoying without end the faith of the Patriarchs, the hope of the Prophets, the company of the Apostles, the fellowship of the Martyrs, the companionship of the Confessors, and delighting perpetually in the jubilation of all the inhabitants of heaven.

[18] Her departure, moreover, brought joy to the heavenly assembly, The poor mourn. just as it brought heavy and almost intolerable grief to those who had enjoyed her fellowship until that time. For one could see the faces of the poor wet with tears — of whom that Saint had taken the greatest care; since, as the Gospel attests, she knew that by sustaining such people she was being received into the eternal tabernacles. Here one held out in his hands the garment with which she had covered herself; there another proclaimed to all with weeping that his hunger had been refreshed by her charity. Indeed, all together, beating their breasts in lamentation, bewailed that they were deprived of the consolation of so great a nurse. Her body, as was fitting, was prepared with religious office and in the manner of the Church by the ministers of the sacred order and the other faithful, devoting their attention to Davidic canticles and appropriate prayers over it. Then, performing the divine mysteries with incense and lit torches held before, as the funeral occasion required, She is buried in the village of Ham. they deposited it in the sepulcher with the most fitting honor, which they had constructed before the doors of the oratory in the village called Ham. Her deposition is celebrated on the eighth day from the beginning of the year, which is the sixth day before the Ides of January.

[19] Now farewell, most holy virgin, already clinging without parting to the embrace of your bridegroom, so long desired. For you are counted in the number of the one hundred and forty-four thousand who, wherever he goes, according to the Apocalypse, follow the Lamb; because you knew no stain upon your snowy modesty, purchased from the first-fruits of men. Apoc. 14:4. Be present now and receive the suppliant voices of those who pray, The author invokes her. an efficacious intercessor for our sins before God. Have mercy on us, that Christ, appeased, may incline his favorable ears, and not impute all our offenses. If we rightly venerate with mouth and heart the festive day sacred to you, if in the joy of yours we prostrate ourselves at your footsteps, glide hither for a moment, bearing the favor of your servants — of the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity, to whom be honor and power and dominion through infinite ages of ages. Amen.

[20] After the completion of the triumph of her most glorious contest, praiseworthy through all ages — by which, having laid aside the garments of the flesh, St. Gudila attained the prize of unfading glory — the merciful Lord did not wish to remain hidden among us as to how great the merit and how great the sanctity she possessed, which was not hidden from him; but that it should also become clear to both neighbors and strangers how great the pomp with which this Saint is attended in heaven, to whom he grants the performance of such miracles and wonders on earth. For on that very day On the day of her burial, a tree sprouts at her tomb. on which she was committed to the bosom of the earth, at the foot of her very tomb a small tree was seen to sprout, which, gradually extending into the breezes with the turning cycles of the days, growing in height, occupied no small space of air with its lattice of branches and density of foliage. Is it not recognized as being divinely administered, both for protection and for shade, so that the body which, as long as it lived, was kept inviolate by the deliberation of its own will, might now be guarded unharmed by heavenly care from the heat and the crash of rains? Whether, therefore, for a reason of this kind, or for the praise of his name and for the honor of virginal chastity, the sublime power provided this — you, O Reader, if you eagerly pursue what follows, will perceive in this tree both the evidence of divine power and the admirable glory of so excellent a virgin.

a Understand that torches and tapers were customarily employed for the pomp of a funeral. From Bede, book On the Reckoning of Time, chapter 24, it is clear that "pharos" means vessels of fire, or lamps, such as are accustomed to hang from the ceilings in churches to honor the birthdays of the Martyrs. On which passage Joannes Noviomagus says: He calls "pharos" those crown-shaped fixtures in which the circuits of lamps from bottom to top are so arranged that the successively higher ones, narrower than the lower, display the form of a pyramid or tower, such as are suspended from the ceilings of sacred buildings, or such as are lit at sacred funerals.

b Molanus, in his Index of the Saints of Belgium, thinks this is the village of Flanders not far from Dendermonde; but how can that be said to be ten miles from Morsella? Nor is there any memory of St. Gudila there, as the Pastor of that Church told me. More correctly, Aubertus Miraeus asserts that it is a village of Brabant, one mile from Vilvoorde. For very many estates are called by this name in Teutonic Belgium, which in the old Saxon language signifies a house, or habitation, or estate.

c In the other Life, which we shall presently give from Surius, the tree is said not to have sprouted at that time, but to have suddenly put forth leaves, contrary to the condition of the winter season.

d That is, "glory."

CHAPTER VI.

One who violates her tomb is punished.

[21] Wherefore, let it suffice to have touched upon these things only. Now let us see, meanwhile, what great punishment threatens violators of tombs. It happened, while the most holy body was being buried in the recesses of the tomb, that a certain man given over to the most cruel depravity was present — accustomed to nocturnal thefts, skilled at emptying the storerooms of the rich by clandestine tunneling, and at stuffing his own purses with shameful gains. He, rolling the orbs of his eyes this way and that, and traversing the entire body with furtive glances, saw it being buried with distinguished ornaments, as befitted a person of most illustrious lineage. This man therefore stood there as long as it took until it was closed up with all diligence. Already that day and another had passed, and the horses of Phaethon were carrying the third dawn, when he turned over in his memory those things he had seen. Then the itch of his habitual covetousness began to titillate his breast, and, consistent with his accustomed vice, he gaped at the plundering of the jewels he had seen. Nevertheless, fearing to satisfy his desire by day, namely because he dreaded his own detection, he thought it best to wait for the approaching night, marked by the authority of the Lord's man, that is, of Christ: "He who commits sin," he said, "hates the light, lest his works be reproved by the light." John 3:20. At length, as Hesperus brought on the star-bearing shadows, [A certain man steals the necklaces and other ornaments with which she had been buried.] black night, conveyed on its chariot, darkened the earth. Then indeed, drinking in the deed of his execrable greed with his whole breast, he burned to quickly accomplish what his unspeakable meditation suggested. O sacred hunger of gold, to what do you not compel mortal hearts? For weary bodies were enjoying peaceful slumber in the silent night: but this man was not released in sleep — ah, demented and wretched in soul — but, forgetful of holy religion and oblivious of himself, he broke every right, approached the Saint's tomb in silence; and having dug it up, he seized whatever of the most precious ornament he found: that is, necklaces from her neck, crescent pendants from her breast, earrings from her ears, rings from her hands, bracelets from her arms — all of gold and silver; moreover, purple garments embroidered with gold thread in their weaving, a snow-white mantle, belts gleaming with studs. Having thus despoiled the most holy remains and covered them again with heaps of shoveled dust, the thief withdrew immediately to his own quarters.

[22] The crime is discovered. Not many days afterward, however, girls were dancing in the square and clapping their hands while leaping and singing together. Among them, playing with her companions of the same age, there was the daughter of that same thief, wearing on her arms the bracelets of St. Gudila, scraped from her tomb — part of her father's plunder. A certain virgin who had been a companion of St. Gudila while she was still living in this world, scrutinizing these most keenly, after the most reliable signs of recognition, cried out in public that she had seen those very bracelets placed with the body of the holy virgin when she was entombed. The latter began to affirm it, the former to deny. Then, while all were searching for the perpetrator so as to expose so savage a criminal, she could neither be compelled by threats nor induced by blandishments or promises to confess these things as they were, fabricating falsehoods in place of truths. And so, when the perpetrator was removed, the truth of the matter was nevertheless revealed.

[23] St. Emebertus excommunicates the perpetrator and his accomplices. Now as this report flew about in every direction, swift news was brought to the ears of St. Emebertus, who presided over the see of Cambrai — the brother, as we said at the outset, of St. Gudila. He, therefore, touched with grief deep within his heart at the enormity of this most atrocious sacrilege, on a certain feast day when the Christian people had filled the walls of the church, as he stood at the midst of the altars arrayed in the vestments of his office — inasmuch as that place where the theft had been committed was assigned to his diocese — separated both the perpetrators and the accomplices of this most unspeakable crime from the body of the entire holy universal Church, and condemned them under the interposition of a terrible anathema, both universally and perpetually. To which excommunication he also added this: "Let both the authors and the consenters and the accomplices of this most detestable sacrilege, and all who shall descend from their stock, be punished with the mark of the following penalty: A horrible and enduring punishment for the sacrilege. that both sexes shall perpetually limp with a faltering knee; and moreover, let goiter disfigure the females." And so the men and women of that generation remained and remain punished to this day, as the sentence of the holy man decreed. Is it not clear, even to anyone with very little knowledge, that this is done to augment the glory of this Saint, so that she might be held in honor and reverence by men on earth, to whom the inhabitants of heaven in the heavens applaud and defer as to their companion?

a That is, "to his desire."

b Others call it maphorion, maforte, and mavorte. It seems to be a covering for the head, or certainly a flowing veil with which a Virgin would wrap her head and shoulders. Concerning the various meanings of this word, consult the Onomasticon of our most learned Rosweydus in the Lives of the Fathers.

c It is now in the diocese of Mechlin, established in the preceding century.

d Elsewhere it is called gutturnositas; in the Brussels Breviary, gutturia. It is a disease of the neck, as is evident from the Life of St. Ursmarus on April 18, by Ratherius of Verona: "The holy Bishop," he says, "had a niece in the aforesaid monastery of Maubeuge, whom he himself had commended as a small child to St. Aldegundis. When she had grown up, a certain severe infirmity arose in her neck which is called gutteria in the Gallic tongue." These things, as is clear to the reader, are said not of St. Aldegundis (as Colvenerius wrote on chapter 16, book 1 of the Chronicle of Cambrai) but of her pupil.

CHAPTER VII.

The relics are translated to Morzelle, not without miracles.

[24] After this, the relics of the holy virgin began to abound with miraculous powers, The translation of the body of St. Gudila is discussed. and the place of her burial began to shine with frequent miracles. Wherefore, after very many years had elapsed since her passing, the faithful, comparing with one another those things which they had individually seen, said that it was necessary to seek what counsel should be taken in such matters, and what ought to be done. And after weighing their judgment for a long time in every direction they could, they finally came to the decision of this counsel: that she ought to be translated from there, since it was not fitting that the treasure of so great a pearl should be concealed in the corner of a most humble village, but should be placed in a celebrated location, where a gathered throng of Christian people might through her direct their prayers to Christ.

[25] When this was pleasing to all, with the assent of the Bishop of that parish, a company of priests assembled at the tomb of the Saint, joined by representatives of the other ecclesiastical orders, and likewise by throngs of the laity and palatine nobles. Then, applying their pious hands, they reverently removed the holy relics from the seat of the tomb and placed them honorably on a bier. Then they set out to carry them toward Nivelles: but by no effort were they able to raise the bier. Therefore, as there were present many holy Bishops, Archdeacons, Deans, It cannot be moved to be carried to Nivelles, Mons, or Maubeuge. clerics of holy perfection, and devout laypersons, the question was raised and they debated to what place this most holy body should be conveyed for repose. The choice of all those judging was that either Mons or the monastery of Maubeuge should be its destination. For the holy Waldetrudis and Aldegundis, foundresses and governesses of both monasteries, had been — as was said at the beginning — related to St. Gudila by blood. Therefore the bearers, laboring with all the effort of their bodies to raise the bier, spent their strength in vain: it remained so immovable as if it were rooted fast in the ground. Attributing this to human weakness, others and yet others pressed forward in turn; but the bier was so weighed down that it could not by any means or by any number of men be moved.

[26] Here indeed you might see a cold sweat running from them all, from excessive amazement. What chiefly should they attempt, or where should they turn? Only this remained: either they must cease from their undertaking, or earnestly beg from God that they might know his judgment on this matter. Now there was present there a certain man whose hair was sprinkled with white, worn out with declining old age, to whom the holy virgin Gudila had been well known — and at the time when she had departed from this corruptible life, he had been in the bloom of youth. He, therefore, turning over the records of former days, said: "Hear, O faithful, and add your prayers. This Saint, when living in the flesh, had a voluntary custom, interrupted by no necessity, of always visiting the basilica of the Holy Savior in Morzelle with the most devout devotion, and there persevering in constant prayers: believe me, with these eyes I saw it. Let us therefore examine whether she wishes to rest in that same oratory." At length, when all heard this, they were prevailed upon and asked that the power of the Lord would declare whether he wished that most holy body to be placed in that same little church. And behold, the bier was moved with such ease that the bearers cried out that they felt no weight. And first they praised the fountain of mercy with one voice; She is transferred to Morzelle. then, bearing in their hands the standards of the holy Cross and candelabra, along with various kinds of incense, they directed their abundant gift with a choir of psalm-singers to the place which divine foreknowledge had designated. Indeed, along the entire journey, how great a crowd do you think was gathered by their competing zeal! From all the fields and villages they came running, and from the nearest towns as well people arrived: the bent plowman in the midst of his work left his plough fixed in the ground; the swineherd and oxherd and shepherd too, leaving off their watching, rejoiced to accompany the holy procession.

[27] Meanwhile the overflowing kindness of the eternal Benefactor, denying nothing to any petitioner and not delaying his gifts, openly revealed to all with how great an honor this Virgin was exalted mightily in the heavenly realms, she who had served him on earth humbly. For among those packed thousands of the crowd there had come a man indeed invalid in body, but robust in heart. For an excess of illness had long ago blocked the passages of his ears: and already a great length of time had passed during which he had diminished his great wealth so that, by manifold medicinal treatments, the deafness might be lessened at least somewhat, or wholly removed; and with his household exhausted and the remedy proving useless, he had lost his own fortune together with his hearing. But when a rich faith boiled up in his sound heart, believing that he could be aided by God through the intercession of his handmaid, plunging into the midst of the throngs, he began to go along under that pious burden being carried. There, with ready hope and bold confidence, he poured forth the tearful prayers of his weeping devotion: "O you who are of singular mercy after God, come to my aid, wretched as I am. I flee to the harbor of your help; do not repel me who am in need of salvation. Show that you have the breasts of maternal charity, and may he receive through you the offerings of my prayers — he to whom, chosen before every age, A deaf man receives his hearing during this translation. you are now joined as bride without end. O most merciful Lady, tear away the bars of this most dense deafness, and direct the path for perceiving voices." What then? The Saint of God did not delay in hearing the prayers of her poor one. For when the space of nearly one hour had elapsed, his hearing, long shut off by the obstruction of deafness, purged every thick obstacle with barriers burst open, and became permeable to whispers and capable of hearing those who spoke. Wherefore he leaped forth into the densest crowds, announcing what and how great things had befallen him. Immediately, with voice raised on high, he paid jubilant praises to God and his most holy Virgin, together with grateful lauds; and thereafter he followed the bier, exceedingly joyful. Then that entire assembly raised their mouths on high in the praises of Christ, who had granted them to see his mighty works. The canticles were redoubled: with astonished hearts, suppliant prayers were again stirred up. When this became known, those dwelling all around gathered more and more, burning with the love of religion to hasten their rapid journey after the holy relics, and they strove to rejoice together in honor of God and his Saint. Thus a divine visitation did not fail those united by the fervor of holy desire, which did not allow their labor to be in vain. For Christ himself promises this to his faithful in the Gospel, thundering thus in apostolic ears: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst." Matt. 18:20. And if he is in the midst of two or three, how much more is he in the midst of so many peoples gathered in his name!

[28] At length they arrived at the village of Morzelle, ten miles distant from the village of Ham. Therefore they brought the holy bones into the basilica of the Holy Savior, and with great joy and honor, and with the singing of hymns, and with the light of candles and the most sweet odor of spices, they placed them with their coffin behind the sacred altar. Gudila is venerated as a Saint. When these things had been arranged according to the will of the Bishop, they justly inscribed the name of St. Gudila in the roll of the other Saints. They prostrated themselves on the ground, and murmured to the most holy virgin what they feared and what they sought. She heard their prayers and ratified those that she saw to be worthy. And when they had celebrated the solemnities of the Mass, they returned home joyful, the honor having been completed, proclaiming the most famous name of St. Gudila the virgin, and magnifying God who is wonderful in his Saints, to whom be honor and dominion forever and ever.

[29] On this very day on which the body of the most blessed virgin was translated into the basilica of Morzelle, the power of the Most High, for the praise of his name and for the amplification of the honor of his virgin, revealed a demonstration of his power: which indeed he displayed upon that very tree of which we made mention above — the one, namely, which in the village of Ham had begun to grow at the feet of the most holy virgin on the day of her deposition. For the eleventh hour was already revolving with the sun in decline, and a twelfth part of light remained on the descending axis, when behold, with swift descent a single bird came flying, cutting the air with its wings, and settled on that tree, making sounds with its cries and beating the oarage of its wings, to such a degree that it stirred the community of the inhabitants of that place to wonder. Meanwhile the sky turned and the sun passed to the other hemisphere: and when the yellow Dawn was gleaming in her rosy chariot, bringing on the twilight of the succeeding day, the people of Morzelle, enriched with the privilege of so excellent a pledge, rose swiftly from their scorned beds, accustoming themselves to invoke the intercessions of the holy virgin and to celebrate festive days in her honor with public and private gatherings. I am about to tell wondrous things. As they approached the little chapel The tree is miraculously transferred from Ham to Morzelle. to which the deposit of so precious a pearl had been entrusted, they beheld that same tree of towering crown standing before the doors, with the aforementioned bird brooding upon it: and at first, standing back at a distance, they stood frozen with the very fear; then, with their alarm removed, they gathered around the tree in one cluster. The matter came into doubt whether, in the silent night, the very tree which had sprouted at the village of Ham had been moved there with trenches dug by human cultivation, or whether another of the same likeness and size had sprung up in a moment with happy branches toward the sky. But when the report grew that the one at Ham had been torn up by the roots, and that nowhere in that vicinity had it been transplanted; and that at Morzelle truly no signs appeared that this had been done by human labor; and moreover that the earth had not been turned where it plunged so deeply with its root into the depths; and that, standing firm in the middle, it sustained an immense shade by extending strong branches widely — unmoved, solid in its strength, as if it seemed to have conquered many generations of men by growing in that very place from the beginning — then at last it became clear to all that the holy virgin had wished through this to demonstrate the signs of her presence. For this tree, once appointed as the most faithful guardian of the holy remains, did not fail in its service, not even in their translation. That this was done by angelic ministry at the command of almighty God, he understood who believes that all things are governed by divine providence. This tree is commonly called a poplar. Why, then, should human hesitation waver in this matter? Behold, we have fresh miracles from ancient examples, as I see. For certainly we know by the testimony of Scripture that when the prophet Habakkuk was carrying a meal to the harvesters, his hair being seized by angelic hands, laden as he was with full baskets, he was lifted from Judea and suddenly set down in Chaldea; and with that meal he refreshed Daniel, who was enclosed in the lions' den, and found himself suddenly again in Judea. Dan. 14. The Psalmist also, rebuking the mad falsehoods of men, says: "O sons of men, how long with a heavy heart? Why do you love vanity and seek falsehood?" Ps. 4:3, 4. "And know that the Lord has made his Holy One wonderful." For the Lord was showing his handmaid to be wonderful on earth, whom, glorious in merits, he had made equal to the angels in heaven.

a Concerning Nivelles, which is also called Niviala, commonly Nivelle, a celebrated town of Brabant, we shall treat on March 17 in the Life of St. Gertrude.

b The bier, or the casket in which the sacred body was enclosed. For the sarcophagus or little bed on which the dead were carried out was called libitina, from Libitina, the goddess presiding over funerals, in whose temple the things pertaining to funeral pomp were sold. Tertullian, in his book On the Crown of the Soldier: "For the rest, even brothels and latrines and bakeries and prisons and the arena and the amphitheaters themselves and the very spoil-rooms and the very funeral biers are crowned by the age." Sidonius, book 2, epistle 8: "But when all, even strangers, weeping, were grasping, holding back, and kissing the funeral bier."

c That place is celebrated for its convent or college of virgins founded by St. Waldetrudis, enclosed within the city of Mons, the chief city of Hainaut. A great part of the old castle is still visible, as we shall describe more fully in the Life of St. Waldetrudis on April 9.

d Concerning the convent of Maubeuge and its town, see January 30, in the Life of St. Aldegundis.

CHAPTER VIII.

Charlemagne venerates the tomb of St. Gudila.

[30] On the same day, moreover, the rumor of this event spread in every direction, and flitting on the lips of all, reached even to the palace. At that time the most victorious and most pious Augustus Charles held the scepter of the Imperial monarchy — he who, from his frequent trophies and conquered nations, was surnamed the Great, who widely extended the territories of the kingdom of the Franks and amplified the glory of Christ within his borders. And so, as swift rumor spread abroad, people from both afar and nearby competed to come there; and they burned to behold the miracle that Christ had displayed for the glory of his Virgin. Ranks of men and women were led in long processions: the various roads resounded on every side with the joyful clamor of those who came and, contemplating what they desired, bathed their faces with tears of joy, and entering pressed kisses upon the relics of the Saint, and departing adorned the tree with garlands of blooming flowers. But so that the power of the Lord might be especially magnified in so great a miracle and his virtue made known, Charlemagne visits the body of St. Gudila. the greatest part was played by the most illustrious Prince, the aforesaid Charles: who, upon hearing these things, sprang from his royal throne, and together with the chief men of his court came to inspect this miracle and to visit the body of the Saint; and marveling at the power of the Lord, he magnified his virtue, praised his mercy, and blessed his glorious name because he had deigned to display such things in his days: and, moved by exceeding joy, amid pious thanksgivings he shed tears drawn forth by gladness; and likewise did each one who came.

[31] Meanwhile the memorable King vowed the greatest gifts to the holy virgin there, He bestows many things there. and assigned them: namely golden and silver vessels, and palliums wrought with foreign workmanship. He also handed over to the holy Virgin the estate of Morzelle itself with all its resident household, reckoning within himself that this would please the Saint, since she had especially chosen this place above all others for her bones. All of these he set down in a testament, and assigned them with the subscription of witnesses, and bequeathed them to the Church in which the Saint lay, as a perpetual inheritance. Beyond this he gathered there a flock of nuns He founds a convent of virgins. who would serve Christ and his Virgin there spiritually, and perform the customary offices ceaselessly day and night: and lest, being destitute of anything, they should stretch out their hands in want and fall away from their holy purpose, he strenuously ensured that nothing necessary for life should be lacking. Here we see the words of the Savior fulfilled: "Everyone who has left house and father and mother, etc., shall receive a hundredfold and shall possess eternal life": for since this Saint, as long as she was nourished by the vital breeze, holding no idle hope of these promises, renounced earthly things, she now both obtains the fruit of a hundredfold reward on earth and enjoys perpetual life in heaven. Matt. 19:29.

[32] After this, the aforesaid King Charles, devoted in the royal manner to the exercise of hunting, was driving savage beasts from their haunts through the surrounding forest: on a certain day, He hunts in Brabant. when he was encircling the pathless lairs with the most zealous pursuit, and driving the woodland beasts of various kinds and colors toward the nets and snares with his clamor, behold — among the manifold game, the keen-scented force of the hounds roused from its hiding place a bear of immense body and most violent ferocity. The King immediately pursued it as it roamed, with his cavalry and the shouting of his men, the sound of horns, and the barking of the fiercest dogs: some soldiers blocked the crossroads with drawn swords; others dashed about on foaming horses, with bows bent and javelins at the ready; some, with a vast spear, braced themselves against tree trunks, so that if some chance should hurl it headlong before them, they might attack it with broad-bladed hunting spears. But all this was in vain. For it was protected by your patronage, O most gracious Virgin. What need is there for circumlocution? Each man, as he could, girded himself for its capture. But it fled through places thick with thorns and brambles: it shattered bushes, rolled aside rocks in its path, and rushed forward in blind terror wherever the noise and trembling, wherever fury drove it: its wildness inflamed it, its momentum carried it; it sought the steep and rough places, it leaped over the heights. At last, having escaped the obstacles of the woods and extricated from the bristling thickets, it furiously hurled itself into the open fields, where the village of Morzelle was nearby. Then you might see the hunters exult with spirits raised, as if they already held it freely captured. Wings of horsemen pursued it; they hurled clouds of weapons with strong arms — all to no avail. Meanwhile, already overcome by the great distance, when there was no escape with the fields lying open on every side, and the death that hung over it was being repeatedly delayed by its frequent turnings as it was about to be caught at any moment (I believe it was divinely inspired with this cunning), it swiftly headed in a straight course for Morzelle, burst into the church of the Holy Savior, and hid itself beneath the bier of the holy Virgin. There, suddenly forgetful of its ferocity, with neck bent [The bear, fleeing to the Virgin's altar, escapes the hands of the hunters and becomes tame.] and head humbly lowered, it began to lick the feet of the approaching nuns, and to fawn upon everyone in the manner of playful puppies. Whence it openly gave to understand that it had been defended by the patronage of the handmaid of God, and was henceforth ready to serve in her service. When this was reported to the King, weighing in his mind the nature of the matter, he immediately perceived that this was done by the Lord through the merits of the holy Virgin. For which reason he at once desisted from the pursuit and decreed by edict that no one should harm that bear; but that it should be allowed to remain in the service of her who had been its patroness in so great a danger — which was also done: the bear remaining gently like a little lamb in the congregation of the Sisters until the last day of its life. Throughout that entire region, then, what had happened in the church immediately became known: men and women ran together, both noble and common alike; they saw the bear, its bestial fury laid aside, dwelling among the Nuns, going back and forth quietly like a domestic animal. And they sang together with one voice to God and his Virgin. Who would not be amazed at such signs of the dead, which are done for the awakening of the living? Let us contemplate your power, O Christ, even in this matter — you before whom everything that is brute has understanding, before whom everything that rages is gentle: this is your power; that title is full of your name. For whenever in ancient times a tempest of persecution shook the young Church, and tyrants destined your worshippers to be torn apart by savage beasts in bloody jaws, the ferocity of the wild animals suddenly became tame, and falling down they licked the feet of your witnesses.

a If Charles was truly Emperor — with which dignity he was adorned in the year 800 by Leo III — he who was in the bloom of youth, as is said above, at the time when St. Gudila departed from this corruptible life, must have been at least a centenarian. But perhaps Hubertus here used "Imperial monarchy" for the kingdom of the Franks, which Charles held from the year 768.

b We have observed elsewhere that the Kings of the Franks delighted in the pursuit of hunting.

c The word "forestis," or "foresta," or "forestum," which signifies a wood or thicket, migrated from the Teutonic idiom, as Tillius and Nicotius acknowledge, into the Gallic and other languages: and it is also said of waters, as they teach; and more explicitly our Bazelinus in his Gallo-Flandria, book 3, chapter 2, from various royal diplomas.

d Much concerning this word you will find in the Onomasticon of Rosweydus.

CHAPTER IX.

A royal maiden healed: a parent with his kingdom converted.

[33] We, however, returning to the annals of our Virgin which lie before us, see that it must not be passed over in silence with how great a name the maker of all things glorified that same handmaid of his throughout the lands across the sea. For there a certain King ruled his peoples in placid peace, who had received a daughter from his lawful wife. Now to this daughter the first day of birth had given the beginning of life together with the ruin of her limbs. For over all the parts of her body weakness reigned, but especially over her hands, which a knotty arthritis had bound. What shall I say — that she could not stand, who could not even rise in her bed, either to sit up or to recline on the other side by herself; and that she was unable not only to bring her hands to her mouth, but even to raise them a little? And so from her earliest age she had reached the flower of youth with this coeval ailment, and no hope remained of obtaining health; because that entire province, given over to the worship of idols, was defiled with fanatical rites. O how often desperate remedies help the afflicted, [A certain royal maiden, being ill, is divinely admonished to visit the tomb of St. Gudila.] and prosperity, concealing itself behind sorrowful beginnings, comes with joyful outcomes to answer our prayers! On a certain night, therefore, as most pleasant sleep crept through the limbs of that maiden, she seemed to herself in her sleep to see a woman of beautiful countenance and serene aspect standing before her, soothing her with gentle speech: "You have been afflicted, O maiden, with long calamities, but more mercy must be shown to you: therefore be confident, because the revolution of time is at hand when you shall be healed by the God of the Christians, to whom you must devote yourself from this day, having abandoned the error of the pagans. Nevertheless you shall not obtain health unless you visit the tomb of the virgin Gudila." Having said this, she returned to the heights. But she, awakened from sleep, immediately told her father and mother what she had heard and seen. The King, when he heard it, was at first alarmed: then he did not suppress it with his lips, but burst forth into these words: "Our kingdom has never been relieved by such miracles: alas, why do we venerate mute stones, which profit nothing? This is the one great and true God alone, before whom sickness and health yield. But which of my faithful shall be found who knows the tomb of so great a virgin, Gudila?" Already this flying report had filled the royal halls: all were present, congratulating their Lord: this alone was lacking, that no one's knowledge was able to say who this St. Gudila was, or where she had been laid to rest. Meanwhile the King throughout that entire day was tossed by a great ferment of cares, turning his divided mind now this way, now that, through every consideration — namely, pondering what end the vision of his daughter might seek.

[34] After this, night fell; the maiden fell asleep on her bed; again the aforesaid woman of venerable appearance stood before her in a vision She is confirmed again. and instructed her with these admonitions: "Be strong in spirit, my daughter: do not stray from the service of Christ, so that the divine visitation may deign to be present to you." When the vision was taken away, the maiden awoke, and obeying this exhortation, she renounced the worship of idols and constantly dedicated herself to Christ. In this alone was she sad: that the tomb of the glorious virgin Gudila was unknown to her. For this reason she spent the portion of the night that remained in supplications and vigils, and joined the entire following day with assiduous prayers, asking of God that he would bring a fruitful outcome to these visions, and would openly reveal to her in what place his handmaid, namely St. Gudila, lay buried at rest. Nor did this hope disappoint her, which was confirmed by the faith of her inmost heart. For thus says the Lord in the Gospel: "If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain, 'Move from here,' and it would move." Matt. 17:19. For when the sun had set and the chaos of the shadowy night had descended, and the King's daughter herself relaxed her limbs in rest, behold — in her dreams the oft-mentioned woman was present to her now for the third time, and strengthened her with this certainty: "Why are you consumed with such great groaning, O maiden? What end will be set to these sufferings? She is taught where Gudila is buried. Certainly, if so insuperable a desire torments you, that the resting place of St. Gudila the virgin be made known to you, receive then these my words and fix them in your mind: This Gudila, a virgin of most noble eminence, was born across the sea, from Brabant. While she lived, she cast away all the pomp of the world and clung to the Lord alone in virginity and the other virtues. After her departure from life, she was first buried in a village called Ham; but afterward she was translated to another village, named Morzelle, where now most frequent miracles are worked through her merits, and there a most devout congregation of nuns serves her. Awake; act, and inform your father." So she spoke, and disappeared from the eyes of the dreamer.

[35] But she was roused from sleep, and related everything to her parents, as the order of the vision had unfolded. The King, upon hearing these things, was rendered exceedingly cheerful. Without delay, therefore, he ordered a ship to be prepared; he loaded it with provisions and soldiers, and sent his daughter, commended to their care, honorably to the place she desired, as befitted royal munificence. And they set out from the harbor station, traversing the immense sea in a hollow vessel; the desired breezes blew, the swelling waves were calmed for the duration of that voyage, so that it was perfectly clear to the sailors that they were being guided by the helm of St. Gudila. At length, having landed on the longed-for shore, they sought out Morzelle, which they reached as directed by the local inhabitants. They disclosed to the nuns the reason for their journey: and the nuns received the maiden Brought to Morzelle, she is healed on the third day. and led her to the shrine of St. Gudila, and there, for the recovery of her health, they devoted themselves to continuous prayers for three days. A wondrous thing: for on the third day, as they persevered in prayer, a powerful remedy suddenly leaped forth; all the sinews of the maiden were restored to the harmony of their proper accord, her hands and feet freely performed their function, and indeed all her limbs grew strong both within and without. The maiden therefore raised her palms together with her face to heaven, and blessed Christ and his Virgin. Likewise did everyone who saw and heard this.

[36] Accordingly, the soldiers resolved not to linger there any longer, but immediately embarked on the ship with their lady — that is, the King's daughter — and, having recrossed the sea, they returned to their lord and related to him everything as it had happened. The manifest proof of the deed stood before him: his daughter restored to health. What joy then arose for the King, and for his magistrates, and for the entire realm! What exultation through all the cities! What dancing through the streets! The King also, being wise, The King is converted with his people. weighing the magnitude of the portent, immediately burst forth into this counsel, reasoning thus prudently: "O most wretched madness of our paganism, which worships images that neither draw in voices with their ears nor return them with their mouths, and, being without sensation, feel nothing! Are these the gods hewn from rocks, cast from metals by the craftsman's labor, whom their own makers fear? Alas, how much expense we have foolishly wasted in fabricating them, and — what is greatly to be feared — we are guilty! For they are the effigies of demons and drag us with them to the infernal darkness. Wherefore, now, now, O best companions, let us spurn our former errors and serve God alone, the maker of all things." O the most courageous devotion of this King, who became the preacher of his own people! The assent of all was given; they approved the King's counsel. He comes to Morzelle. The King himself, therefore, first of all and a model for the rest, surrounded by a great army, crossed over to the village of Morzelle: there he offered to St. Gudila an abundance of precious ornaments. After this he caused both himself and his wife, and his recently healed daughter, to be purified in the water of holy baptism: and after the mystery of the sacred washing, he gave to St. Gudila a silver vessel, both very large and most precious, He is baptized. in which thereafter the community of nuns offered their oblations. Then, returning to his own kingdom with several ministers of the Word of God, he brought the peoples who inhabited his dominion into the bosom of holy Mother Church, regenerated in the sacred font; he reduced the idols to dust by smashing them; he had the temples, purified with the waters of sanctification, dedicated to the memory of the holy Cross and the Saints; he established the offices of clerics. Finally, he permitted no one to serve in his kingdom who would rebel against the kingdom of Christ through paganism. Thus, therefore, through the health of one small body, the salvation of many souls was brought about. The cause of all these things, moreover, is your merits, O St. Gudila, most worthy virgin — truly, if I may say so, the Apostle of the peoples across the sea, worthy of great praises. But our frailty already succumbs, unable to recount all your virtues. For what pen would suffice to write how great the benefits you provided to the infirm? All who took refuge under the wings of your mercy — whether struck by dire pleurisy, or weakened by paralysis, or consumed by the black bile of fever, or beset by a thousand diseases — having recovered their health, all returned joyfully to their homes.

a Whether he means a chronicle of the monastery of Morzelle, or the deeds and miracles of St. Gudila arranged according to the order of years, is not clear: whatever it is, it seems to have been lost.

b Whether this King was perhaps of the Picts in Britain, or somewhere in the North, it is not easy to conjecture.

c The ms. had "artetisis," corruptly.

d I think he meant to write "pleuritide," that is, pain of the side, or the disease of the ribs.

CHAPTER X.

Morzelle devastated; the body of St. Gudila translated to Brussels.

[37] After many and great miracles had been displayed in the village of Morzelle by the dispensation of the Lord, and the congregation of nuns had been established there in honor of Gudila, the virgin beloved of God — when the wickedness of the peoples had multiplied, the cunning of the devil disturbed the happy and prosperous state of affairs. For that adversary of ours, who envies the good and always delights in evils, while he goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, if any traces of virtues still remained on the earth, strives to abolish them with every contrivance of impiety; so that he might the more freely send forth the darts of his cruelty outwardly through the bodies — alas, grief and crime! — he first poured his poisons inwardly into the soul, all the more gravely the more abundantly. Thus, as we said, when the cry of the wickedness of Christians ascended to the Lord, Barbarians ravage Belgium. so that they might find a punishment matching their ways, a pagan nation invaded the borders of Lotharingia. There were frequent incursions, constant plundering, manifold and extraordinary acts of impiety; the sanctuaries were turned to derision, the possessions of the inhabitants to plunder. And so, with peace disturbed, the insatiable greed of the adversaries gradually plundered the property of the monastery of Morzelle. But Otto the Elder, who was then Emperor, burdened with heavy cares and occupied with the manifold affairs of the kingdom, while the censure of royal severity did not restrain those who opposed — he gave even greater and more grievous license for committing injustices, even to his own people: and while he could not expel foreigners from the kingdom, the churches of God felt enemies among their own countrymen.

[38] Therefore, after such and so great outrages of the kingdom, when the pagans had withdrawn, a certain Wenemarus rose up against the church of St. Gudila, Wenemarus plunders the goods of the church of Morzelle and harasses the nuns. more cruel than any wild beast, and a Christian in appearance but not in deed, surpassing the very pagans in excessive cruelty. He quite boldly presumed to claim the ecclesiastical goods for his own uses and the wages of his men, and compelled the handmaids of Christ, driven by injuries and want, to flee, and to wander about in every direction like sheep without a shepherd. If, moreover, death claimed anyone from the number of those serving God, the avarice of Wenemarus refused to fill her place: but this was no wonder in one who also denied their own goods to those still living. At length, when this man was condemned by the just judgment of God to the death of both soul and body, the Church grieves that he left sons behind, one of whom, Ermenfridus, did not fear to take up the properties of the aforesaid Church, unjustly seized, upon his father's death, and he held them for several years without any contradiction or defense. For in that time, as the truth of Scripture cries out, there was neither King nor Duke in Israel, but each one walked in the way of his own heart. So great, finally, were the perils of other evils that grew, so great the hardships of adversities on every side, and so great besides the negligence of the princes or the powerlessness of the defenders, that for the properties of the churches in those regions to be diminished or plundered by anyone was now considered a trifle. Judg. 17:6.

[39] After this, when Otto the Second held the Empire, Charles, the son of Lotharius, King of the Franks, obtained the Duchy in the kingdom of Lotharingia. He, grieving that the state of the empire was being disturbed in many ways, Charles, Duke of Lotharingia under Otto II. turned his attention skillfully to the improvement of many affairs. Whence, among other things, he strove to wrest from the party of the invaders the properties taken from the church of Morzelle, and to restore them to those serving St. Gudila. But anyone can easily know how difficult it is to correct things that have become customary through long delay. The industry of Duke Charles wished to restore their property to the holy place; but the greed of the invader stood in the way, one who feared neither God nor reverenced man. Unjust witnesses arose, and iniquity lied to itself. All of Ermenfridus's party clamored that he was his father's successor and the heir of his father's goods. But when the Duke's power prevailed, Ermenfridus and his accomplices, lovers of earthly things and despisers of heavenly ones, having taken counsel, retained the invaded lands for themselves, He obtains the body of St. Gudila. and gave the precious pearl, worthy of being purchased at the cost of all things given — namely, the body of St. Gudila — to the good merchant, that is, to the glorious Duke Charles. O wretched and pitiable in every way! Who, after the manner of brute animals, gazing at the earth with stooping breast and obeying the belly rather than God, judged themselves unworthy of so great a gift: and just as they rejoiced that their father's capacity had come to them by inheritance, so, as if pierced by an eternal sword, they testified that the fate of their father's destruction had befallen them. For it is known that all the co-heirs of that same possession came to their end by an unheard-of and pitiable death.

a The ms. of Rouge-Val reads "Danorum" of the Danes.

b Otto I, who is also called the Great, was anointed King of Germany at Aachen in 937, Emperor at Rome in 962. He died on May 7, 973. Moreover, something seems to be omitted here. For the Life in Surius reports much about the devastation of the Belgian provinces.

c This seems to be Wenemarus the Advocate, who subscribed to the diploma of Arnulf the Great, Count of Flanders, by which he restored various estates to the monastery of Blandin in 937.

d Otto II, crowned King of Germany in 961, Emperor at Rome in 967, finally succeeded his father in the administration of the Empire in 973; he died in 983.

e Rather, he was the brother of Lotharius, the son of Louis IV, called Transmarinus, King of Gaul, and of Gerberga, sister of Otto the Great; who, when Lotharius died in 986 and his son Louis V the following year, seeking to reclaim by arms the paternal and ancestral kingdom occupied by Hugh Capet, was captured by him in 990 and died the following year in prison at Orleans.

f The Duchy of Lotharingia was given to Charles by Otto II in 977, both so that he himself would desist from insolence, and so that he would oppose the movements of his brother Lotharius. Sigebert.

g Miraeus in the Belgian Chronicle, Haraeus in volume 1 of the Annals of Brabant, and Baronius in volume 10 of the Annals, at the same year, number 4, write that the translation was made around the year 978. The latter, however, errs when he says that Charles, fighting against Hermenfredus, received from him the body of St. Gudila. Charles wished to restore what had been taken from the church of Morzelle, but was unable to achieve this — either because justice was crushed by the wicked testimony of the impious, as is here indicated, or because he was hindered by the power of the Counts of Flanders and of Ghent, who favored Hermenfredus, from employing force.

h The church of St. Gaugericus (Bishop of Cambrai, who is venerated on August 11) still exists at Brussels, one of the five parochial churches — not the one into which Charles brought the body of St. Gudila, but another, more august, built by Lambert II, Count of Louvain, Charles's son-in-law, as Miraeus reports in the Belgian Chronicle at the year 948. Not far from that church Charles had his palace on an island in the river Senne.

i Gerberga, daughter of Charles, married to Lambert II, Count of Louvain, son of Raginier II, Count of Hainaut, bore Henry, Baldric, Raginier, and Matilda. Henry I was killed at Louvain in 1038. His son Otto succeeded him; and when Otto died in his youth, his uncle Baldric, who is also called Lambert the Bearded, succeeded — he who established a college of seven Canons at Louvain, built the church of St. Michael at Brussels, and translated the body of St. Gudila into it.

k Something seems to be missing here. For it is not likely that the author, so verbose in other matters, would have ended this history so abruptly.

ANOTHER LIFE

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

From Laurentius Surius.

Gudila, Virgin, at Brussels in Belgium (St.) BHL Number: 3685

By an Anonymous Author, in Surius.

CHAPTER I.

The birth and religious education of St. Gudila.

[1] In the times of King Sigibert, who was the son of King Dagobert, St. Gudila's parents. there was a certain Count named Witgerus in the region of Brabant, praiseworthy in his character; to whose marriage bed a most worthy wife was joined, whose name was Amelberga, born of the sister of the illustrious Pippin, Mayor of the Palace. Both alike obeyed the divine precepts. While they were living piously in the world, the Lord bestowed upon them a holy and just offspring. For from that same stock came St. Emebertus, Her brother. the glorious Bishop of Cambrai, admirable in life and distinguished in merits; Her sisters. and his sisters, similarly praiseworthy in holiness, were the most holy Reinildis and Pharaildis, distinguished in character.

[2] The almighty Lord, then, still blessed the mother of these children — flourishing as she was with so happy a joy of offspring — with a most worthy child yet to come. And as she was already, in the manner of those about to give birth, tossed by a storm of anxiety, he who "consoles his servants" deigned to refresh her with the following consolation. It was night, and sleep held mortals upon the earth, when the same mother of the household, given over to slumber, Her holiness is foretold to her mother. beheld an angel, speaking these words to her: "Release the fear from your heart, for you have been made fruitful with precious offspring. For the King of heaven himself commands me to bring you these consolations. You have conceived faithfully; you will give birth happily, O most illustrious mother of a venerable daughter, who from her very girlhood will devote herself to divine observances; and persevering in these until the bounds of her brief life, she will receive the palm of eternal life." Having spoken thus, the angelic vision left her when the speech was completed, and vanished into thin air. But she, cheered by such visions, snatched her body from the bed, and stretched her hands together with her voice toward heaven, and preparing a believing heart for the responses delivered from the heavens, rendered thanks to the bestower of all good things.

[3] This virgin was born indeed in the territory of Brabant, as was said, of parents both religious and noble, at the time when the blessed Gertrude lived, most famous in the things of God. Received by St. Gertrude from the sacred font. When, therefore, the aforesaid parents of the virgin resolved to have their daughter regenerated in the sacred font, they sought the presence of the aforesaid virgin, and implored her with every entreaty that she would become the witness of her regeneration. The blessed Gertrude gave her assent to so pious a request, and not only attended the regeneration of the virgin Gudila, but also sanctified her with the purity of her own hands and raised her from the sacred font. Whence it came to pass that a virgin became through the spirit the mother of a virgin, and thereafter kept her suspended at the breasts of her teachings to be nourished.

[4] The holy sisters Aldegundis and Waldetrudis were also kinswomen of this holy virgin, abounding with the flower of good works. Therefore, when the blessed virgin Gudila was already being nourished within the enclosures of the monastery with the milk of sacred Scripture, and was being fed by her holy kinswoman and spiritual mother, upon hearing the sayings of the Gospel — not without aptness — she began to raise her mind to the desires of the heavenly homeland, and to burn abundantly toward the blessed and eternal life. She is encouraged in the pursuit of virginity. For the blessed virgin of Christ, Gertrude, ceaselessly stirred her spirit to preserve the inviolate palm of sacred virginity, so that when the Bridegroom came knocking, she would not remain at the door with the foolish virgins, but would happily possess heavenly glory with the wise.

[5] Kindled, then, by these and very many other admonitions of this kind, the blessed virgin, renouncing the pomp of this world, surpassing her age in character and suspending her holy mind toward the stars, reduced herself in a wondrous manner entirely to the service of God, from whom she sought an everlasting reward. Whence it came to pass She flourishes in virtues. that she always became better from day to day, and surpassed her tender years in understanding: because, according to the teaching of the Wise Man, she chose learning rather than money, and discipline more than gold. Indeed, as her age increased from day to day, she grew in the excellence of her character, as was befitting a handmaid of God. Prov. 8:10. She was indeed uncorrupted in body, chaste in mind, lovable to all, affable to everyone, shrewd in prudence, great in fortitude, serene with the reins of temperance, stern with the vigor of justice, praiseworthy in patience, excellent in gentleness, inexpressible in piety, fervent in twofold charity, steadfast in robust faith, patient in unshaken hope. The commerce of all these virtues was augmented in her soul by that wisdom which disposes all things.

a Hence it may be conjectured that a preface was attached, which is here omitted.

b He ruled the Austrasians from 639 to 654.

c Surius in his second edition has "Bracbantensi"; in the third, "Brachantensi."

d In the third edition of Surius, "Amulberga."

e We shall give the Life of Pippin of Landen on February 21.

f The Brussels Breviary reads "fluctuante."

g In the third edition of Surius she is perpetually called Gudula. In the second, and in the Brussels Breviary, and more commonly, Gudila.

CHAPTER II.

Private life. The snares of the devil.

[6] After, therefore, her spiritual parent — namely, the most holy Gertrude — She returns home. had passed from the pilgrimage of this world to her homeland, and from the wailing and valley of tears to the court of heaven, where she enjoys the face of her desired bridegroom, the gracious virgin of Christ, Gudila, deprived of the consolation of so great a kinswoman, returned to the dwelling of her parents, bearing a heart thirsting yet filled with the draught of wisdom; henceforth subject to her parents, according to the precept of the Apostle. Eph. 6:1. Now there was in the vicinity a village called Morzella, distant from their dwelling by an interval of two miles, in which an oratory had been built and dedicated in honor of the Holy Savior. Col. 3:20. The virgin of God, loving this place, frequently sought it out, removed from her family, avoiding being a burden to them in even the smallest matters, and desiring to be free for the contemplation of the divine alone. She devoted her days to prolonged prayers and continued through the nights as well, spending the night in vigils, diligent in psalmody, At Morzelle she leads a most holy life. practiced in fasts; she offered herself as a holocaust to the sight of Christ, to whom she had devoted her entire self from her childhood years; and while she was here only in body, daily she passed in spirit to eternal things. Her speech also was, according to the Apostle, seasoned with salt: most frequently adapted to genuflections, with tears and compunctions of heart she besought the Lord that whatever she might meditate or do would be acceptable to his sight. Col. 4:6.

[7] Who could explain how many snares of his deceits the devil stretched against the virgin of God on account of this manner of life? But the virgin of God was protected by as many divine supports She is variously harassed by the devil. as the enemy of all employed traps against her: and she resisted him the more firmly the more she saw him pressing on to lay his ambushes. On a certain night, therefore, while she was making her way to that same oratory of the Holy Savior which we described above, so that in the contrition of her spirit, sighing for heavenly things, she might there spend the night, behold — the enemy, who lay in wait at the heel of Eve, the first mother, attempted to ambush this virgin with whatever fraud he could. For since the night denied light, the virgin of God had a lamp with her, which her attendant happened to be carrying at that time. The enemy extinguished this — not without detriment to himself — hoping that he might by his fraud overcome the virgin of God and call her back from the journey she had begun. But the virtue of Christ in the virgin frustrated the fraud of the enemy. For the virgin of God, in order to shatter the snares of the devil's fraud, took up the shields of her prayers: and that the lamp extinguished by the devil might be relit, she knelt and implored God. God heard the prayers of the virgin, She relights the extinguished lamp by her prayers. which she poured forth for the recovery of light: and the darkness which the prince of darkness had brought, he dispelled with the light of his mercies. Seeing, therefore, the lamp relit without the hands of one lighting it, and the extinguished light restored to her service as in the twinkling of an eye, she gave thanks to God.

[8] She had joyfully completed the journey she had begun, and had arrived at the oratory toward which she was heading, and had spent the rest of the night in supplications and vigils. And when the dawn was breaking into the morning light and restoring color to things with its countenance, she was now continuing into the day, with long sighs, the prayers and vigils with which this virgin had spent the entire night. For on account of the mortification of her flesh and spirit, and to avoid popular favor, attended only by her personal maidservant, she was accustomed to frequent the shrines of the Saints on bare feet during the nocturnal hours. She visits sacred places at night on bare feet. By day, however, so as to avoid human favor, she wore such — and, so to speak — half-shoes, so that the upper part of her feet appeared covered: and thus, burning with the love of God, she walked with the lower part left bare.

[9] But while she wished what she piously did to remain hidden from men, the matter became public which she did not wish to be made known. For, prostrate on the ground and with her hope and spirit raised to the heavens, the bare soles which she did not wish to be seen she left, not without forgetfulness, to the sight of passersby. The Priest also had seen this, who had come to celebrate Mass, and wondered more than enough at what the reason might be in this matter. He indeed, struck with awe at so great a deed and moved with compassion at her cold, waiting for a very long time, after she rose from prayer, immediately drew the gloves from his hands and went to place them under her feet, so as to honor with a pious service a maiden of such illustrious merit. The virgin received these humbly in her hands, and when the Priest withdrew, turning aside in the other direction, she desired to throw them far from her: but by the working of divine mercy, they remained suspended in the air for the space of nearly one hour. The gloves hang suspended in the air. At which astonishing miracle, encouraged again, she gave immense thanks to almighty God; not attributing it to her own merit, but to him who is always present to his faithful.

a Rather, if what is reported in her Life is true, that St. Amalberga received the veil from St. Autbertus, the parents had already renounced the world.

b Surius reads "iunior," and in the margin, perhaps "iunctis" with joined knees.

c In Surius the sentence is changed here. "You might see, therefore," he says.

d So the Brussels Breviary; but Surius reads "calceis" shoes; Garnevelt restored "subtalaribus" half-sandals. Perhaps "sotularibus," which word is used elsewhere for shoes.

CHAPTER III.

Miracles of Gudila during her life.

[10] When at length the solemnities of the Mass had been completed by the Priest, in which the holy virgin had offered her contrite spirit as a sacrifice to God, she returned to the threshold of her own dwelling. Already nearly half the journey had been traversed, and behold, she met a certain woman whom prolonged grief and long-lasting calamity were tormenting. For she was carrying her son on her shoulders, who had fallen into this light with a congenital ailment from the womb of his own ill-birthing mother: She heals a boy afflicted with various diseases by her prayers. and already the sun was revolving the ninth year since she had seen that same boy weakened by a threefold affliction. For he was contracted, bent over, with a downcast countenance, and stooping, gazing only at the ground. Having the passages of his voice obstructed, his tongue had moreover become mute. Furthermore, a terrible gout of the hands had crushed the joints of his hands, to such a degree that he could not convey food to his mouth unless placed there by the help of another's hand. At whose misfortune, the virgin of God was made faint-hearted with compassion and piety, and was stirred to tears from the very depths of her mercy — as if by the token of her tears she were thought to have given birth to him and were believed in all respects to be his mother. She approached, therefore, and received him onto her shoulders, and wept a little before the Lord for the sake of his recovery. Her prayers soon reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and found their swift fulfillment. For already the bonds of the boy's voice and limbs were being loosened, and were being fully roused to their proper function: his limbs were being strengthened for the use of movement, and his tongue was being distinguished for the function of speech. And this was his first utterance, with which, joyful, he thus called out to his mother: "Mother, come! Mother, come!" The blessed Gudila marveled at the power of God displayed through her: the boy's mother also rejoiced at the mercy of God wrought through the blessed virgin upon her.

[11] The miracle is spread abroad. Both rejoiced, both were amazed, and perceived that the Lord's mercy always surpasses judgment. But the humble virgin, wishing this deed to be overshadowed by the cloud of silence, forbade the woman that it should ever be spread abroad through her doing. But she acted far differently than the virgin of God entreated: because, on account of the unexpected healing of her son, she was unable to keep silent about the mercy of the Son of God — not as one who scorned the words of the virgin of God, but as a devoted worshipper of the Lord's benefits. This miracle was carried to the people dwelling all around, and has been celebrated up to the present day.

[12] There is still something for us to admire in the virgin of God, something which we confess in faith was wrought through her from the high dwelling place of heaven. For, as was her custom, on a certain day she was performing her allotment of prayer in her cell, and was suspending her spirit in heavenly contemplation: when behold, a certain leprous woman approached, who came there not without faith that her healing was soon to come. She heals a leper by her prayers. The putrefaction from her long-standing infirmity had nearly consumed her flesh into worms, and had brought her to the point of death, had not the precious medicine already come to her aid through the virgin, by divine mercy. Moreover, on account of her deformity, she had been exiled (so to speak) from the presence and sight of men to such a degree that she could scarcely find any trace of companionship with anyone. But the blessed Gudila, drenched within by a contrite and humbled spirit, showed compassion upon her and conversed with her at length, and addressed her by name, and took care to admonish her not to lose faith for the sake of her recovery: "O Herenfrida," she said, "let your mind fix the anchor of its faith in him who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds." She therefore redoubled her accustomed prayers, offered with the aid of sighs and groans — that he who, when ten lepers were cleansed, found the faith of only one foreigner and praised the one who returned to give thanks, might also look upon this woman's faith, and minister to her with the remedy of his mercies. Luke 17. The Lord heard her prayers and wiped away all the leprosy with the hand of his compassion, so that not even the marks of scars were left upon her by which traces of the leprosy might be noted. With what joys she indulged on account of her sudden well-being, anyone can easily gather from similar instances.

a The Brussels Breviary reads "obstrusa."

b That is, moved to pity. A Teutonic idiom: "Weemoedich," as if "Ween-moedich," that is, prone to tears, and faint-hearted.

CHAPTER IV.

Death, burial, miracles.

[13] These and other innumerable things — and certainly more than human knowledge could gather — divine power worked through his handmaid. These things escaped the notice of mortals because by divine judgment they were not made public. Those things, however, which it was possible to know by the report of the ancients, and to which the writings of our forebears lent credence, let them suffice only for the faithful and satisfy them as to the holiness of the Virgin. It pleased the Lord, therefore, that she whom he had granted to live justly and blamelessly during her life should shine forth with miracles. Accordingly, in her present and inimitable life, frequent divine miracles declared what her merit was: which are far too extensive to write, but from these few her other works are also known. When she was released, therefore, from the prison of the body, many miracles, greater and more admirable than those before, followed: because even if she does not live bodily, she lives spiritually with him who is glorious in his Saints and magnificent in all his works. O truly Blessed one, worthy of many praises, in whom there was no deceit: judging no one, condemning no one, rendering evil to no one for evil, but living justly and holily before God and men. Persisting, then, in this constancy of mind — not to speak of each individual day, but even in each moment of the hours — she burned with the ardor of her interior desire to see the God of Gods in the heavenly Sion; by whose vicissitudes she was not hindered from the petition she had made, that she might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of her life, She dies piously. and she was not defrauded. For, when the happy and final end of her present life intervened, surrounding herself on every side with the viaticum of the Lord's Sacrament and strengthening the spirit about to go to the heavens — while the elder Pippin was then ruling the monarchy of the kingdom — on the sixth day before the Ides of January, as the throngs of the faithful wept and the companies of the citizens of heaven rejoiced, that holy soul, destined to be joined to the assemblies of the Saints, departed from the mockery of the world to Christ, from whom she was to receive the palm of eternal happiness — to whom be honor, virtue, and glory forever and ever.

[7] Who could explain how many snares of his deceits the devil stretched against the virgin of God on account of this manner of life? But the virgin of God was protected by as many divine supports She is variously harassed by the devil. as the enemy of all employed traps against her: and she resisted him the more firmly the more she saw him pressing on to lay his ambushes. On a certain night, therefore, while she was making her way to that same oratory of the Holy Savior which we described above, so that in the contrition of her spirit, sighing for heavenly things, she might there spend the night, behold — the enemy, who lay in wait at the heel of Eve, the first mother, attempted to ambush this virgin with whatever fraud he could. For since the night denied light, the virgin of God had a lamp with her, which her attendant happened to be carrying at that time. The enemy extinguished this — not without detriment to himself — hoping that he might by his fraud overcome the virgin of God and call her back from the journey she had begun. But the virtue of Christ in the virgin frustrated the fraud of the enemy. For the virgin of God, in order to shatter the snares of the devil's fraud, took up the shields of her prayers: and that the lamp extinguished by the devil might be relit, she knelt and implored God. God heard the prayers of the virgin, She relights the extinguished lamp by her prayers. which she poured forth for the recovery of light: and the darkness which the prince of darkness had brought, he dispelled with the light of his mercies. Seeing, therefore, the lamp relit without the hands of one lighting it, and the extinguished light restored to her service as in the twinkling of an eye, she gave thanks to God.

[8] She had joyfully completed the journey she had begun, and had arrived at the oratory toward which she was heading, and had spent the rest of the night in supplications and vigils. And when the dawn was breaking into the morning light and restoring color to things with its countenance, she was now continuing into the day, with long sighs, the prayers and vigils with which this virgin had spent the entire night. For on account of the mortification of her flesh and spirit, and to avoid popular favor, attended only by her personal maidservant, she was accustomed to frequent the shrines of the Saints on bare feet during the nocturnal hours. She visits sacred places at night on bare feet. By day, however, so as to avoid human favor, she wore such — and, so to speak — half-sandals, so that the upper part of her feet appeared covered: and thus, burning with the love of God, she walked with the lower part left bare.

[9] But while she wished what she piously did to remain hidden from men, the matter became public which she did not wish to be made known. For, prostrate on the ground and with her hope and spirit raised to the heavens, the bare soles which she did not wish to be seen she left, not without forgetfulness, to the sight of passersby. The Priest also had seen this, who had come to celebrate Mass, and wondered more than enough at what the reason might be in this matter. He indeed, struck with awe at so great a deed and moved with compassion at her cold, waiting for a very long time, after she rose from prayer, immediately drew the gloves from his hands and, wishing to place them under her feet, went to her, so as to honor with a pious service a maiden of such illustrious merit. The virgin received these humbly in her hands, and when the Priest withdrew, turning aside in the other direction, she desired to throw them far from her: but by the working of divine mercy, they remained suspended in the air for the space of nearly one hour. The gloves hang suspended in the air. At which astonishing miracle, encouraged again, she gave immense thanks to almighty God; not attributing it to her own merit, but to him who is always present to his faithful.

a Rather, if what is reported in her Life is true, that St. Amalberga received the veil from St. Autbertus, the parents had already renounced the world.

b Surius reads "iunior"; and in the margin, perhaps "iunctis" with joined knees.

c In Surius the sentence is changed here. "You might see, therefore," he says.

d So the Brussels Breviary; but Surius reads "calceis" shoes; Garnevelt restored "subtalaribus" half-sandals. Perhaps "sotularibus," which word is used elsewhere for shoes.

CHAPTER III.

Miracles of Gudila during her life.

[10] When at length the solemnities of the Mass had been completed by the Priest, in which the holy virgin had offered her contrite spirit as a sacrifice to God, she returned to the threshold of her own dwelling. Already nearly half the journey had been traversed, and behold, she met a certain woman whom prolonged grief and long-lasting calamity were tormenting. For she was carrying her son on her shoulders, who had fallen into this light with a congenital ailment from the womb of his own ill-birthing mother: She heals a boy afflicted with various diseases by her prayers. and already the sun was revolving the ninth year since she had seen that same boy weakened by a threefold affliction. For he was contracted, bent over, with a downcast countenance, and stooping, gazing only at the ground. Having the passages of his voice obstructed, his tongue had moreover become mute. Furthermore, a terrible gout of the hands had crushed the joints of his hands, to such a degree that he could not convey food to his mouth unless placed there by the help of another's hand. At whose misfortune, the virgin of God was made faint-hearted with compassion and piety, and was stirred to tears from the very depths of her mercy — as if by the token of her tears she were thought to have given birth to him and were believed in all respects to be his mother. She approached, therefore, and received him onto her shoulders, and wept a little before the Lord for the sake of his recovery. Her prayers soon reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth and found their swift fulfillment. For already the bonds of the boy's voice and limbs were being loosened and were being fully roused to their proper function: his limbs were being strengthened for the use of movement, and his tongue was being distinguished for the function of speech. And this was his first utterance, with which, joyful, he thus called out to his mother: "Mother, come! Mother, come!" The blessed Gudila marveled at the power of God displayed through her: the boy's mother also rejoiced at the mercy of God wrought through the blessed virgin upon her.

[11] The miracle is spread abroad. Both rejoiced, both were amazed, and perceived that the Lord's mercy always triumphs over judgment. But the humble virgin, wishing this deed to be overshadowed by the cloud of silence, forbade the woman that it should ever be spread abroad through her doing. But she acted far differently than the virgin of God entreated: because, on account of the unexpected healing of her son, she was unable to keep silent about the mercy of the Son of God — not as one who scorned the words of the virgin of God, but as a devoted worshipper of the Lord's benefits. This miracle was carried to the people dwelling all around, and has been celebrated up to the present day.

[12] There is still something for us to admire in the virgin of God — something which we confess in faith was wrought through her from the high dwelling place of heaven. For, as was her custom, on a certain day she was performing her allotment of prayer in her cell, and was suspending her spirit in heavenly contemplation: when behold, a certain leprous woman approached, who came there not without faith that her healing was soon to come. She heals a leper by her prayers. The putrefaction from her long-standing infirmity had nearly consumed her flesh into worms and had brought her to the point of death, had not the precious medicine already come to her aid through the virgin, by divine mercy. Moreover, on account of her deformity, she had been exiled — so to speak — from the presence and sight of men to such a degree that she could scarcely find any trace of companionship with anyone. But the blessed Gudila, drenched within by a contrite and humbled spirit, showed compassion upon her and conversed with her at length, and addressed her by name, and took care to admonish her not to lose faith for the sake of her recovery: "O Herenfrida," she said, "let your mind fix the anchor of its faith in him who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds." She therefore redoubled her accustomed prayers, offered with the aid of sighs and groans — that he who, when ten lepers were cleansed, found the faith of only one foreigner and praised the one who returned to give thanks, might also look upon this woman's faith and minister to her with the remedy of his mercies. Luke 17. The Lord heard her prayers and wiped away all the leprosy with the hand of his compassion, so that not even the marks of scars were left upon her by which traces of the leprosy might be noted. With what joys she indulged on account of her sudden well-being, anyone can easily gather from similar instances.

a The Brussels Breviary reads "obstrusa."

b That is, moved to pity. A Teutonic idiom: "Weemoedich," as if "Ween-moedich," that is, prone to tears, and faint-hearted.

CHAPTER IV.

Death, burial, miracles.

[13] These and other innumerable things — and certainly more than human knowledge could gather — divine power worked through his handmaid. These things escaped the notice of mortals because by divine judgment they were not made public. Those things, however, which it was possible to know by the report of the ancients, and to which the writings of our forebears lent credence, let them suffice only for the faithful and satisfy them as to the holiness of the Virgin. It pleased the Lord, therefore, that she whom he had granted to live justly and blamelessly during her life should shine forth with miracles. Accordingly, in her present and inimitable life, frequent divine miracles declared what her merit was: which are far too extensive to write, but from these few her other works are also known. When she was released, therefore, from the prison of the body, many miracles, greater and more admirable than those before, followed: because even if she does not live bodily, she lives spiritually with him who is glorious in his Saints and magnificent in all his works. O truly Blessed one, worthy of many praises, in whom there was no deceit: judging no one, condemning no one, rendering evil to no one for evil, but living justly and holily before God and men. Persisting, then, in this constancy of mind — not to speak of each individual day, but even in each moment of the hours — she burned with the ardor of her interior desire to see the God of Gods in the heavenly Sion; by whose vicissitudes she was not hindered from the petition she had made, that she might dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of her life, She dies piously. and she was not defrauded. For, when the happy and final end of her present life intervened, surrounding herself on every side with the viaticum of the Lord's Sacrament and strengthening the spirit about to go to the heavens — while the elder Pippin was then ruling the monarchy of the kingdom — on the sixth day before the Ides of January, as the throngs of the faithful wept and the companies of the citizens of heaven rejoiced, that holy soul, destined to be joined to the assemblies of the Saints, departed from the mockery of the world to Christ, from whom she was to receive the palm of eternal happiness — to whom be honor, virtue, and glory forever and ever.

[14] She is buried. The funeral rites of her body were administered honorably, and as befitted a maiden of such great nobility, they were made celebrated by no small gathering of the people: at which her virtues, which she had most abundantly exercised as long as she lived, extorted tears even from the unwilling, and scarcely permitted anyone to refrain from them. Certainly all the nobles who were present mourned her — for whom her humility and supreme subjection had been an example of living. The orphans and the poor also mourned, displaying the tunics and garments with which this second Dorcas had clothed them, and had nourished them with daily allowances of food. Acts 9:39. She was buried in the village of Ham, which today is known to be called by that very same name. Nor were the mighty works of divine glorification lacking at her tomb, which had always been present to her while she lived. For on the one and the same day of her burial, when the sun was placed in the sign of Capricorn A tree miraculously becomes green at her tomb. (for now the declination toward the south produces winter), a tree — which they call a poplar — was suddenly seen there to grow green, and what the nature of the season did not possess, it was formed into sprouts and put forth leaves, in testimony of that same virgin, flourishing in the house of the Lord like a palm tree. For it spread out with such great abundance of foliage and branches on every side that it was thought to have surpassed every grove of the summer season. A great rumor therefore arose on the lips of all regarding this miracle, and a twofold astonishment spread through them all: that the tree had grown both unexpectedly and unseasonably. For it was not enough to have marveled at either one alone. For it was wonderful that a tree had suddenly appeared: but it was more wonderful still that it had blossomed in the winter season — which, as was said, nature does not produce. God did these things by the service which he knew and willed: he also did them by the power with which he prevailed — he who in the beginning of creatures commanded the earth to bring forth green herbs and seed according to their kind. Then, on account of the wonder at this miracle, people ran together from every direction with exultation, and beseeched God in so illustrious a virgin, and spread abroad everywhere among the nations the miracle they had seen.

a The Brussels Breviary reads "immutabili" unchangeable.

b This is not the blessed Pippin of Landen. For he did not rule the monarchy of the kingdom, even though as Mayor of the Palace in the kingdom of Austrasia he was a man of the greatest distinction both at home and in war. But the son of his son-in-law Ansegisel, Pippin of Herstal, first in Austrasia and then also in Neustria Mayor of the Palace, commanded both the kingdom and the Kings themselves. He is called "the Elder" with respect to his grandson Pippin the Short, the first King from his family.

CHAPTER V.

The violator of her tomb is punished.

[15] It happened that while the most holy body was being buried, a certain thief was present at her funeral rites, and had contemplated certain ornaments with which she was being committed to burial. On the third night, intoxicated with the deadly poison of avarice, he hastened to accomplish in deed the wickedness he had maliciously conceived in his heart. O abomination! He approached the tomb, uncovered the glorious pearl, and like a wolf at its prey, so the shameless wretch rushed to plunder the glorious sepulcher. For, as the noble and holy virgin had been of illustrious lineage and had sprung, as we noted above, from most powerful and very wealthy parents, her most sacred little body had been — not by her own premeditated intention, but rather by the arrangement of faithful friends — honorably adorned with gold and silver Her tomb is plundered. and precious garments. All of which that man carried away with him and plundered, leaving only the sarcophagus with the sacred virgin's remains. When this was done, by the will of him before whose eyes all things are naked and open, divine vengeance immediately followed. For not long afterward, the daughter of that same wicked thief, inserting herself among the dances of women and running about singing and leaping here and there through the streets, a certain woman was present there who had been familiar and friendly with the most holy virgin. She, scrutinizing the daughter of the aforesaid thief most carefully, most certainly recognized on her arms the very same bracelets which she had left on the arms of the sacred virgin when she was being buried. The matter is revealed. Moved therefore by such great astonishment, she revealed this forthwith to those standing by.

[16] The perpetrator is excommunicated and his descendants punished. When they marveled at this, such things were immediately brought as quickly as possible to the brother of the most holy virgin — namely Emebertus, already mentioned above. He indeed, touched with grief deep within his heart at the enormity of this most atrocious sacrilege — inasmuch as that place where the theft had been committed was assigned to his diocese — rising wholly in canonical authority against the guilty parties of the theft, he hurled the javelin of his curse against them and, separating them from the bosom of God's holy Church and the fellowship of the faithful, condemned them. When they were thus so justly punished, just as if a tree has been cut from its own trunk, all its branches immediately dry up and lose their former greenness, so all that progeny, flowing from so detestable a stock, was afterward afflicted with severe and various infirmity. For no person of this generation departs life without limping or being afflicted with some disability of the feet, or even being struck by terrible goiter, in expiation of the past crime. For thus from the beginning up to the present, such an infirmity persists in such people after this fashion. Whence it is given to understand that, by the intercession of the sacred virgin, it was granted them by God to do penance in time, lest most unhappy guilt should burn them perpetually in unquenchable fire — which is far worse.

CHAPTER VI.

The relics translated: miracles.

[17] When, moreover, as signs grew daily at her tomb, the fame of her virtues breathed its fragrance upon all, it pleased the faithful, by the counsel and disposition of the Most High, to raise her from the place of her sepulcher and to translate her to a place more befitting her honor. It was arranged that, by the common consent and assembly of worthy persons of both sexes, a definite day should be appointed for the translation of the relics of blessed Gudila, which, by the counsel of those who had gathered, it was proposed to transfer to the monastery of Nivelles — The body of St. Gudila cannot be moved for transfer to Nivelles. since it was not fitting that the treasure of so great a pearl should be concealed in the corner of a most humble village, but should be placed in a celebrated location. But the human plan, though fortified by the divine, was frustrated in its very attempt. For when they tried to move the bier, prepared for the reception of her remains, so that it might be transported to the place mentioned, it was fixed there with such great weight as if it were held bound by insoluble chains. What indeed they ought to do, Nor to Mons or Maubeuge. they hesitated on both accounts, out of amazement and anxiety: because they knew not what to do where they had nothing to presume about the hidden judgment of God. It came therefore into the minds of certain devout kinswomen of the blessed Gudila — Aldegundis and Waldetrudis, virgins of Christ — that perhaps this virgin wished her remains to be transferred to where either of the aforesaid virgins had the seat of her repose. For the places that then served as repositories of the relics of those same virgins of Christ were: Maubeuge, that of blessed Aldegundis; and Mons, that of St. Waldetrudis. They intended, therefore, to transfer the remains now to one place, now to another: and likewise they lost their strength in trying to move them. For this attempt was in every respect reduced to nothing. They could be wearied, but could not move the holy remains.

[18] When individuals were succeeding one another in vain at this weight and failing in the very attempt, divine mercy was unwilling to keep in suspense any longer those whom it had wished to rouse to this work by its inspiration. By the counsel of an old man, she is transferred to Morzelle. For there was present at this venerable elevation a certain man of advanced, indeed decrepit age, who had lived to a great old age up to that time, and who alone survived from the days of St. Gudila, and had been more advanced in age and experience than the rest. The divine inspiration soon stirred his spirit and inspired him as to where the virgin of God ought to be transferred. For, bursting forth into these words, he said: "It seems to me that she has already chosen the seat of her repose in the oratory of the Holy Savior, in which, as long as she lived, it was clear that she devoted her spirit to God with constant sighs." Then the gaze of all hung upon the old man's nod, and the consent of all who were present responded to his judgment. And approaching the bier, they found as great a facility in carrying it as the difficulty with which they had labored in vain to move it before. That venerable body is therefore to be conveyed to the prescribed place of Morzelle, with peoples of both sexes accompanying it with praise and rejoicing, and with miracles following from divine glorification. Of these, those which we have learned by the report of the faithful, we shall narrate, that they may be known to posterity.

[19] When half the journey had been traversed by the people following the holy body with hymns, and the singing populace had already drawn near to the church toward which they were hastening, behold — a certain deaf man, whose ear passages had been closed by a long infirmity, had drawn nearer to the sacred body for the remedy of his affliction; and, as is the custom of the faithful in conveying the bodies of the Saints, he had considered it a pious act to walk close to the relics of the sacred Virgin. His faith was immediately followed by a sudden restoration of health, which the merit of the blessed Gudila bestowed as its medicine. A deaf man receives his hearing. He had drunk in sound with his ear, and thence the chorus of peoples was amazed. He indeed gave thanks to God and the holy Virgin for the benefit of the health he had received, and following the most sacred body, he completed the rest of the journey, and together with the peoples, raising their voices on high at the novelty of the event, he arrived at the appointed place of the holy body. Therefore they brought the holy bones into the basilica of the Holy Savior, and with great joy placed them behind the sacred altar, and justly inscribed her holy name in the roll of the other Saints. And when they had celebrated the solemnities of the Mass, with the honor completed, they returned home joyful, proclaiming the most famous name of the holy Virgin and magnifying God who is wonderful in his Saints.

[20] On this very day on which the body of the Virgin was translated into the basilica of Morzelle, the power of the Most High, for the praise of his name and for the amplification of the honor of the holy Virgin, revealed a display of his omnipotence, which indeed he manifested upon the tree of which we made mention above — The tree is divinely transferred from Ham to Morzelle. the one, namely, which in the village of Ham had begun to grow at the feet of the holy Virgin on the day of her deposition. For this tree, once appointed as the most faithful guardian of the holy remains, did not fail in its service, not even in their translation. For on the following day of the same translation, that same tree had followed the remains of the sacred Virgin to the village of Morzelle, and was so wondrously rooted in the same place and suitably transplanted before the doors of the aforesaid oratory, as if it had begun to sprout and grow there from the beginning — although the two villages were ten miles apart from each other. Nor was it a small spectacle that the tree had suddenly passed from the place where it had once grown without the hands of planters, also without the hands of those who uproot. That this was done by angelic ministry at the command of almighty God, he understands who faithfully believes that all things are governed by divine providence.

a St. Waldetrudis, although the mother of several children, is called a Virgin (as others elsewhere are) because she was the superior of sacred virgins.

b So the Brussels Breviary; but Surius reads "lipsanas."

c Surius reads "Altitoni."

d Surius reads "eradicata" uprooted.

e Surius reads "putantium" of those pruning.

CHAPTER VII.

The tomb honored by Charlemagne.

[21] The rumor of this event spread in every direction, and flitting on the lips of all, reached even to the palace. At that time Charlemagne held the scepter of the Imperial monarchy, Charlemagne visits the tomb of St. Gudila and bestows various gifts there. he who from his frequent trophies was surnamed the Great. And so, as swift rumor spread abroad, people from both afar and nearby competed to come there, and they burned to behold the miracle that Christ had displayed for the glory of his virgin. King Charles, upon hearing of such wondrous miracles, came there devoutly, where the novelty of the aforesaid tree's miracle cast a spectacle before him, and from the spectacle added the grace of compunction. He, who had always been a lover of the churches of God, a strenuous defender, and most devout in all things, bestowed that same village of Morzelle upon the sacred Virgin by legal testaments, and handed over the aforesaid small estate of Ham, from which the tree had come, before several qualified witnesses: so that there the entire village should henceforth remain subject, where the tree had first proceeded by divine power. The aforesaid King Charles furthermore added at that place a gathering of nuns, and by royal decrees assigned them a sufficiently suitable provision for serving God. All of these he set down in a testament, assigned them with the subscription of witnesses, and bequeathed them to the Church in which the Saint lay, as a perpetual inheritance. This endowment remained in force up to the time of Wenemarus, through whose unjust usurpation that same village passed, not without divine displeasure, to his descendants.

[22] After this the aforesaid King Charles, devoted to the exercise of hunting in the customary manner, was driving swift beasts from their haunts through the surrounding forest: among which he pursued a bear of remarkable size, which, already overcome by the great distance and having no escape — A bear, fleeing to the Saint's tomb, becomes tame. with the fields lying open on every side — repeatedly delayed the death that hung over it, about to be captured at any moment, by frequent turnings. It headed in a swift course for Morzelle and burst into the church of the Holy Savior. Then it happened that an event occurred which was easier to marvel at than to describe. For God, who, as it is written, "saves both men and beasts," Ps. 35:7. in a certain manner transformed the bestial sense of the bear and formed in it a kind of rational understanding. For it was seen to have admitted itself near the relics of the sacred Virgin, and under so great a protectress, now secure from the clamor of its pursuers, to have lain down. There, suddenly forgetful of its ferocity, with neck bent and head humbly lowered, it began to lick the feet of the approaching nuns, and to fawn upon everyone in the manner of playful puppies. Whence it openly gave to understand that it had been defended by the patronage of the handmaid of God, and was henceforth ready to serve in her service. When this was reported to the King, he understood, together with his men, what was being divinely done in the beast: and embracing the mighty works of God in the virgin, he withdrew — without indeed any harm to that same bear, but not without admiration for the thing he had witnessed in the bear. That same bear, moreover, ceasing to be a creature of the wild, began to be a domestic one, and for the rest of its life it lived among the nuns of that place in no other manner than the judgment of all who remained there prescribed for it.

a "Regio" royal seems to be missing.

CHAPTER VIII.

A king across the sea, his daughter healed by the aid of St. Gudila, is converted with his people.

[23] It seems to me well worth not passing over in silence [A royal maiden is three times divinely admonished to visit the tomb of St. Gudila.] how the maker of all things glorified that same handmaid of his throughout the lands across the sea. For there a certain King ruled his peoples in placid peace, who had received a daughter from his lawful wife. Now to this daughter the first day of birth had given the beginning of life together with the ruin of her limbs, which a coeval ailment had brought about through weakness. In a vision, a female personage of remarkable countenance and stature appeared to her, and informed her that the signs of her recovery at the tomb of the Virgin Gudila would soon come to pass. When she awoke, she reported to her father and mother what she had seen, and struck them with amazement: at which the vision increased their joy, but since they did not know the place, their anxiety gave rise to sadness. Then on the following night the same vision appeared to the maiden, and admonished her to be intent upon good works. When she was aroused from sleep, she spent that night and the following day in lamentations, until on the third night the same woman who had appeared before presented herself, and first entering the way of consolation, informed her from what region the blessed Gudila had sprung, where she was buried after death, and to what place she had been afterward translated — adding also that a company of nuns had been gathered at the place of her repose and pledged by the sign of faith to her service.

[24] In the morning, therefore, when she had publicly recounted the things she had seen, and her father and mother had been stirred to joy on their account, she was placed on a ship together with a band of soldiers; having crossed the sea, she was conveyed to the place where the virgin of God had chosen the seat of her repose. There, received by the nuns She is healed there. and placed near the relics of the sacred Virgin, she was sustained by the urgency of their prayer for three days: and at length she merited the health which she had learned by the oracle she would receive. And so, strengthened in the function of her limbs and stirred by incredible joys over this, although she was still held in pagan rites, she professed God, resplendent with miracles in so great a Virgin; she returned to her homeland and publicly proclaimed the God of the Christians. Her recovery gave astonishment, joy, and faith to the King and his people: astonishment, by the novelty of the thing; joy, in the recovery of his daughter; faith, in the confession of the one God. Her parent is converted. At length he himself also was brought to the convent of the sacred Virgin, having traversed a sufficient expanse of land and sea, together with very many men of his kingdom, and having offered certain of his possessions there, he obtained baptism. After receiving it, he bestowed upon the same blessed Virgin a silver vessel, which the generation of those remaining there afterward preserved for a long time in conveying oblations to the church. Meanwhile, returning to his homeland, he revisited his people and issued a decree that all the men of his kingdom should be washed in the font of baptism — which, being widely promulgated, caused them to believe in the one God. Finally, he permitted no one to serve in his kingdom who would rebel against the kingdom of Christ through paganism. Thus through the health of one, the salvation of many souls was brought about. Nor ought one to doubt how great the glory of signs shone among the surrounding peoples — she who also illuminated with miracles peoples far removed. Truly great is her glory in heaven and on earth, and equally great her efficacy in obtaining from God what she asks; through whose prevailing merits the knowledge of the true God was given to the peoples across the sea: not to those whom they call the English — for they had already believed in Christ under the teaching of Augustine, whom, on the initiative of the admirable man Gregory, they had merited as their teacher — but to those, to be sure, who were far more remote, wallowing at that time in the mire of unbelief.

a Concerning him, see May 26.

b He is venerated on March 12.

CHAPTER IX.

Belgium devastated: the relics of St. Gudila carried to Chievre-Mont.

[25] It was indeed established that the religious life of the nuns had flourished there, and up until the irruption of the Huns. But how it went with those nuns, Barbarians invade Belgium. and how the aforesaid religious life failed in the village of Morzelle, the following account will declare. After many and great miracles had been displayed in the village of Morzelle by the dispensation of the Lord, and the congregation of nuns had been established there in honor of Gudila, the virgin beloved of God — when the wickedness of the peoples had multiplied, the cunning of the devil disturbed the happy and prosperous state of affairs. For that adversary of ours, who envies the good and delights in evils, while going about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, if any traces of virtues still remained on the earth, strives to abolish them with every contrivance of impiety. So that he might the more freely send forth the darts of his cruelty outwardly through the bodies — alas, grief and crime! — he first poured his poisons inwardly into the soul, all the more gravely the more abundantly. Thus, as we said, when the cry of the wickedness of Christians ascended to the Lord, so that they might find a punishment matching their ways, a nation of the Danes invaded the borders of Lotharingia. The sanctuaries were turned to derision, the possessions of the inhabitants to plunder. And so, with peace disturbed, the insatiable greed of the adversaries gradually plundered the property of the monastery of Morzelle.

[26] During this tempest, driven by fear of the pagans, the body of the most holy virgin Gudila was carried from the aforesaid monastery to a place called Chievre-Mont. The relics of St. Gudila carried to Chievre-Mont. Meanwhile the pagans, extending the cords of their impiety more widely and thirsting more and more for the fuel of plunder and devastation, destroyed whatever they could to the point of utter consumption, and did not even withhold their hand from the monastery of Morzelle. For it was burned by them with fire and rashly assaulted with irremediable ruin: so that they left no trace for our present time — as the Lord's voice testifies to us in the Gospel: "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation." Luke 11:17. King Louis of the Austrasians unjustly invaded the borders of the Franks against his brothers. When a pact was made among them and oaths were given, as he was returning, the aforesaid King, who had ruled the Austrasians, encountered the Northmen — who had advanced as far as the Carbonarian Forest — at a place called Timnim. He engaged with them without delay, and with God's favor, struck down the greatest part of them with the sword. The rest, scattered in flight, fortified themselves in a royal estate; then they fled by night and directed their steps to their fleet.

[27] Afterward, entering the river Waal, they landed at Nijmegen at the royal palace, and there pitched their camp. Various devastations by the Northmen. When this was brought to the attention of Louis, he came without delay with his army and shut up the fortification under siege. Having engaged with them in combat for several days, he did not sufficiently prevail: because the palace, of immense size and wondrous construction, provided the enemy with a most secure place of refuge. Finally, the King, having received a promise that if he ceased from the siege the Northmen would immediately withdraw from his kingdom, departed with all his forces. When he withdrew, the pagans, burning the palace together with its fortification, boarded their ships, and having gathered in greater numbers, with an inestimable multitude of infantry and cavalry, they settled in a place called Haslou, near the Meuse. And in their first attack, devastating the neighboring places, they burned the city of Liege, the fortress of Maastricht, and the city of Tongeren. In a second incursion, pouring into the territory of the Ripuarians, they laid waste everything with slaughter, plunder, and fire; they burned Cologne, Bonn, and the cities with their adjacent castles — Zulpich, Julich, and Neuss — with fire. After this they reduced to ashes the palace of Aachen, and the monasteries of Inden, Malmedy, and Stavelot. Running through the Ardennes, they entered the monastery of Prum on the very day of the Epiphany of the Lord; having killed all whom they found there, they consumed the monastery with fire, and loaded with plunder, they returned to their camp.

a In the Lives of the Saints, mention is frequently made of the irruption of the Huns (for St. Reinildis, sister of Gudila, is also remembered as having been killed by them), either because the common people called all foreign pagans Huns, or because some of their bands were summoned into the Belgian provinces by various Dukes — auxiliaries hateful to God and ruinous to subjects. But that certain northern peoples, inhabitants of Norway, were also called Huns is evident from the Deeds of the Normans published by Andrea du Chesne.

b The Danes began to infest the coasts of Gaul under Louis the Pious, which under his sons they afterward more foully ravaged. When the relics of St. Gudila were carried from Morsella to Chievre-Mont can be conjectured from the Deeds of the Normans written by an anonymous author, who reports at the year 847 that, when Frisia was devastated by the Normans and the churches plundered, the Bishops and Abbots of Flanders and neighboring cities fled with the relics of the Saints to St. Omer, because its enclosure was fortified by divine providence with a strong wall and towers. Then in 850, "The Northmen," he says, "ravage Frisia and the Batavians, and coming to the town of Ghent, they burned the monastery of St. Bavo." At which year the old manuscript codex has: "Rorich, nephew of Heriold, who had recently defected from Lotharius, taking up armies of Normans with a multitude of ships, devastates Frisia and the island of the Batavians and other places along the Rhine and Waal. When Lotharius could not suppress him, he receives him into his allegiance and bestows upon him Dorestad and other counties. Some of the rest plunder the Menapii, Taruisii, and other coastal peoples, etc."

c It was a town of the diocese of Liege, excellently fortified, commonly called Chievremont, and in a diploma of Otto I in Miraeus, in the Notice of the Churches of Belgium, chapter 55, called Keuermunt. Bishop Notger in 980, because it was a nest of rebels, captured it by a notable stratagem and utterly destroyed it.

d Son of Louis the German, grandson of Louis the Pious, King of Germany and Lotharingia, up to the year 882. He defeated his uncle Charles the Bald, who was unjustly invading his borders, in battle at Andernach on October 8, 876. But when Louis the Stammerer, son of the Bald, died, he invaded his kingdom and forced his sons Louis III and Carloman to cede a portion of it to him.

e Rather, the sons of his father's brother.

f The Carbonarian Forest was chiefly in the tract now contained in the County of Hainaut. Regino reports this defeat of the Northmen at the year 879, and Sigebert briefly; Bucherius at 880. What place Timnim is, we have not yet ascertained.

g By another name it is called the Waal, or Wahalis. At the Schenk fortification the Rhine divides into two rivers and forms the island of the Batavians; one retains its name for some distance, the other is called the Waal: on the left bank of this stands Nijmegen, a famous city. Moreover, what is narrated here is transcribed almost verbatim, with a few omissions, from Regino.

h Regino writes that they departed, and then returned in the month of November.

i So Sigebert, Haraeus, and others. Regino, as published by Pistorius, has Haslou; the manuscript used by our Rosweydus has Achslon; the Annals of Pithou have Ascloha (Haraeus reads Aschola), on the bank of the Meuse, 14 miles from the Rhine. The Chronicle of the Deeds of the Normans, published by Andrea de Chesne, has Haslac. Certain more recent writers, when they recall this irruption of the Normans, intentionally omit this place. We believe it was a fortress on the right bank of the Meuse which is still called Elsloo; and that perhaps Aschola or Ascloha was written for Aschlio or Alsloa.

k Ripuaria was the name formerly given to the region between the Rhine and the Meuse, as is evident from this, and the people were called Ripuarii and Ribuarii.

l Commonly Zullich or Zulpich, a town of the diocese of Cologne, at which Clovis in 496 won a victory over the Alemanni, having previously vowed that he would become a Christian.

m The published Regino has Vilipiacum; the ms. has Vilpiacum. We suspect that Juliacum was originally written, but that the copyist read Viliacum and added the letter p, to match the ending of Tulpiaco. Thus Aquisgra reads, chapter 9; Petrus Beka, in the margin. Juliacum is an ancient and fortified town from which a very ample Duchy takes its name. Others prefer to understand the village of Wulfenich.

n The ms. reads Niusam; the published Regino, Nuis. Commonly they call it Nouesium Neuss.

o Surius reads "inde." The published Regino reads the same. It is a celebrated monastery and town between Aachen and Limburg, commonly called the monastery of St. Cornelius. The Annals of Fulda on this disaster, at the year 881: "But they, with their army renewed and their number of cavalry increased, devastated very many places in the region of our King, that is, Cambrai, Maastricht, and the district of Hesbaye, and all of Ripuaria; also the principal monasteries among them, that is, Prum, Inden, Stavelot, Malmedy, and the palace of Aachen, where they made a stable for their horses in the King's chapel. Moreover they burned the cities of Cologne and Bonn with their churches and buildings. Those who were able to escape from there, whether Canons or Nuns, fled to Mainz, carrying with them the treasures of the churches and the bodies of the Saints."

p Concerning Malmedy and Stavelot, we shall treat more fully on January 25 in the Life of St. Poppo, and on September 3 in the Life and miracles of St. Remaclius.

q On the 13th day before the Kalends of December, according to the Annals of Fulda; or in September, as Regino reports.

r On the Nones of April, as Regino, the Annals of Fulda, and others have it, on which the Lord's Supper fell in the year 882. Whence it is clear that these things were not done after the barbarians heard of the death of Louis: but when they had first devastated Trier and Metz, and returned to Elsloo to their fleet, they learned that King Louis had died, and pursuing his army sent against them, they laid waste everything as far as Koblenz — as the same Annals of Fulda relate.

s Walo, or Walah, according to the celebrated Robertus Valla.

t Regino names Bishop Bertulfus and Count Andalhardus (the ms. reads Adachardus).

v Charles the Fat, son of Louis the German, grandson of the Pious, crowned Emperor at Rome in 880, after the death of his brother Louis, fruitlessly besieged the Normans at Elsloo, and dismissed them from the kingdom on certain terms. They nevertheless afterward invaded it again. Charles died on January 13, 888.

x Sigebert at the year 938: "The Hungarians, having consumed many cities with fire and sword through Austrasia and Alemannia, crossing the Rhine at Worms, lay waste Gaul as far as the Ocean." The same at the year 955: "Conrad, Duke of the Lotharingians, a deserter of God and Emperor, betaking himself to the Hungarians, led them into Lotharingia as far as the Carbonarian Forest, and by the power of God displayed against them at Lobbes, they were forbidden to advance further and returned with impunity." Consult on these matters Miraeus in his Chronicle at the year 955, and the Chronicle of Folcuin on Lobbes.

y The battle was joined at the river Lech in the year 955. See Miraeus in his Chronicle and Sigebert the following year.

z Sigebert says that three of their petty kings were captured and perished by hanging.

CHAPTER X.

The relics returned to Morzelle, then brought to Brussels.

[30] Therefore, after such and so great outrages of the kingdom, when the pagans had withdrawn, the body of the blessed Gudila returned to the aforesaid monastery, which had now been reduced to nothing by the Danes. Although it was degraded by the irruption of enemies and its own destruction, the body of the blessed Virgin was nevertheless preserved there, The goods of the monastery of Morzelle unjustly seized. and was venerated with whatever reverence the poverty of that place could afford — until a certain Wenemarus entered, who, like a second plague, usurped that same place with an unjust desire to possess it, and more cruel than any wild beast, a Christian in appearance but not in deed, surpassed the very pagans in excessive cruelty. He quite boldly presumed to claim the ecclesiastical goods for his own uses and the wages of his men, and compelled the handmaids of Christ, driven by injuries and want, to flee, and to wander about in every direction like sheep without a shepherd. If, moreover, death claimed anyone from the number of those serving God, the avarice of Wenemarus refused to fill her place: but this was no wonder, since he also denied their own goods to those still living. At length, when this man was condemned by the just judgment of God to the death of both soul and body, the Church grieves that he left sons behind. One of whom, Hermenfridus, did not fear to take up the properties of the aforesaid Church, unjustly seized, upon his father's death, and held them for several years without any contradiction or defense. For in that time, as the truth of Scripture cries out, "there was neither King nor Duke in Israel, but each one walked in the way of his own heart." Judg. 17:6. So great, finally, were the perils of other evils that grew, so great the hardships of adversities on every side, and so great besides the negligence of the princes or the powerlessness of the defenders, that for the properties of the churches in those regions to be diminished or plundered by anyone was now considered a trifle.

[28] While these things were happening, King Louis died at Frankfurt. The Northmen, hearing of the King's death, exulted with exceeding jubilation, and now thought not of battle Further devastations. but of plunder. Therefore, with all haste they set out and seized the most noble city of Trier on the most sacred day of the Lord's Supper: in which, refreshing their bodies wearied from the journey until the holy day of Easter, they demolished the entire territory of the city on every side down to the ground. Then, burning the city with flames, they directed their forces toward Metz. When the Bishop of that city discovered this, having joined to himself other Bishops and Counts, he went forth voluntarily to meet them in battle. When the battle was joined, the Northmen were victorious, and with the Bishop slain, the rest fled. The pagans, abandoning the march they had begun, returned to their fleet with immense plunder and the greatest speed. In those same times Charles, the third of this name and dignity, although burdened with the heavy and manifold affairs of the kingdom, nevertheless, with God bearing aid, expelled the hostile Northmen from the kingdom.

[29] Afterward the nation of the Hungarians, having gone forth from its own borders, occupied the kingdom of the Bavarians and Lotharingia, Likewise by the Hungarians. devastated everything with slaughter, plunder, and fire, and ravaged with fire and plunder as far as the Carbonarian Forest. But Otto the Elder, who was then Emperor, hindered by the manifold troubles of the kingdom and of his own nobles, while his royal severity's censure did not restrain the hostile adversaries, gave even greater and more grievous license for committing injustice, even to his own people. Nevertheless, war against the Hungarians was undertaken and, with God mercifully dispensing and fighting on behalf of his own, was brought to a quite successful conclusion. The King of the Hungarians himself, together with his princes, was captured: the rest were slain and utterly destroyed.

a In the Lives of the Saints, mention is frequently made of the irruption of the Huns (for St. Reinildis, sister of Gudila, is also remembered as having been killed by them), either because the common people called all foreign pagans Huns, or because some of their bands were summoned into the Belgian provinces by various Dukes — auxiliaries hateful to God and ruinous to subjects. But that certain northern peoples, inhabitants of Norway, were also called Huns is evident from the Deeds of the Normans published by Andrea du Chesne.

b The Danes began to infest the coasts of Gaul under Louis the Pious, which under his sons they afterward more foully ravaged. When the relics of St. Gudila were carried from Morsella to Chievre-Mont can be conjectured from the Deeds of the Normans written by an anonymous author, who reports at the year 847 that, when Frisia was devastated by the Normans and the churches plundered, the Bishops and Abbots of Flanders and neighboring cities fled with the relics of the Saints to St. Omer, because its enclosure was fortified by divine providence with a strong wall and towers. Then in 850: "The Northmen ravage Frisia and the Batavians, and coming to the town of Ghent, they burned the monastery of St. Bavo." At which year the old manuscript codex has: "Rorich, nephew of Heriold, who had recently defected from Lotharius, taking up armies of Normans with a multitude of ships, devastates Frisia and the island of the Batavians and other places along the Rhine and Waal. When Lotharius could not suppress him, he receives him into his allegiance and bestows upon him Dorestad and other counties. Some of the rest plunder the Menapii, Taruisii, and other coastal peoples, etc."

c It was a town of the diocese of Liege, excellently fortified, commonly called Chievremont, and in a diploma of Otto I in Miraeus, in the Notice of the Churches of Belgium, chapter 55, called Keuermunt. Bishop Notger in 980, because it was a nest of rebels, captured it by a notable stratagem and utterly destroyed it.

d Son of Louis the German, grandson of Louis the Pious, King of Germany and Lotharingia, up to the year 882. He defeated his uncle Charles the Bald, who was unjustly invading his borders, in battle at Andernach on October 8, 876. But when Louis the Stammerer, son of the Bald, died, he invaded his kingdom and forced his sons Louis III and Carloman to cede a portion of it to him.

e Rather, the sons of his father's brother.

f The Carbonarian Forest was chiefly in the tract now contained in the County of Hainaut. Regino reports this defeat of the Northmen at the year 879, and Sigebert briefly; Bucherius at 880. What place Timnim is, we have not yet ascertained.

g By another name it is called the Waal, or Wahalis. At the Schenk fortification the Rhine divides into two rivers and forms the island of the Batavians; one retains its name for some distance, the other is called the Waal: on the left bank of this stands Nijmegen, a famous city. Moreover, what is narrated here is transcribed almost verbatim, with a few omissions, from Regino.

h Regino writes that they departed, and then returned in the month of November.

i So Sigebert, Haraeus, and others. Regino, as published by Pistorius, has Haslou; the manuscript used by our Rosweydus has Achslon; the Annals of Pithou have Ascloha (Haraeus reads Aschola), on the bank of the Meuse, 14 miles from the Rhine. The Chronicle of the Deeds of the Normans, published by Andrea de Chesne, has Haslac. Certain more recent writers, when they recall this irruption of the Normans, intentionally omit this place. We believe it was a fortress on the right bank of the Meuse which is still called Elsloo; and that perhaps Aschola or Ascloha was written for Aschlio or Alsloa.

k Ripuaria was the name formerly given to the region between the Rhine and the Meuse, as is evident from this, and the people were called Ripuarii and Ribuarii.

l Commonly Zullich or Zulpich, a town of the diocese of Cologne, at which Clovis in 496 won a victory over the Alemanni, having previously vowed that he would become a Christian.

m The published Regino has Vilipiacum; the ms. has Vilpiacum. We suspect that Juliacum was originally written, but that the copyist read Viliacum and added the letter p, to match the ending of Tulpiaco. Thus Aquisgra reads, chapter 9; Petrus Beka, in the margin. Juliacum is an ancient and fortified town from which a very ample Duchy takes its name. Others prefer to understand the village of Wulfenich.

n The ms. reads Niusam; the published Regino, Nuis. Commonly they call it Nouesium Neuss.

o Surius reads "inde." The published Regino reads the same. It is a celebrated monastery and town between Aachen and Limburg, commonly called the monastery of St. Cornelius. The Annals of Fulda on this disaster, at the year 881: "But they, with their army renewed and their number of cavalry increased, devastated very many places in the region of our King, that is, Cambrai, Maastricht, and the district of Hesbaye, and all of Ripuaria; also the principal monasteries among them, that is, Prum, Inden, Stavelot, Malmedy, and the palace of Aachen, where they made a stable for their horses in the King's chapel. Moreover they burned the cities of Cologne and Bonn with their churches and buildings. Those who were able to escape from there, whether Canons or Nuns, fled to Mainz, carrying with them the treasures of the churches and the bodies of the Saints."

p Concerning Malmedy and Stavelot, we shall treat more fully on January 25 in the Life of St. Poppo, and on September 3 in the Life and miracles of St. Remaclius.

q On the 13th day before the Kalends of December, according to the Annals of Fulda; or in September, as Regino reports.

r On the Nones of April, as Regino, the Annals of Fulda, and others have it, on which the Lord's Supper fell in the year 882. Whence it is clear that these things were not done after the barbarians heard of the death of Louis: but when they had first devastated Trier and Metz, and returned to Elsloo to their fleet, they learned that King Louis had died, and pursuing his army sent against them, they laid waste everything as far as Koblenz — as the same Annals of Fulda relate.

s Walo, or Walah, according to the celebrated Robertus Valla.

t Regino names Bishop Bertulfus and Count Andalhardus (the ms. reads Adachardus).

v Charles the Fat, son of Louis the German, grandson of the Pious, crowned Emperor at Rome in 880, after the death of his brother Louis, fruitlessly besieged the Normans at Elsloo, and dismissed them from the kingdom on certain terms. They nevertheless afterward invaded it again. Charles died on January 13, 888.

x Sigebert at the year 938: "The Hungarians, having consumed many cities with fire and sword through Austrasia and Alemannia, crossing the Rhine at Worms, lay waste Gaul as far as the Ocean." The same at the year 955: "Conrad, Duke of the Lotharingians, a deserter of God and Emperor, betaking himself to the Hungarians, led them into Lotharingia as far as the Carbonarian Forest, and by the power of God displayed against them at Lobbes, they were forbidden to advance further and returned with impunity." Consult on these matters Miraeus in his Chronicle at the year 955, and the Chronicle of Folcuin on Lobbes.

y The battle was joined at the river Lech in the year 955. See Miraeus in his Chronicle and Sigebert the following year.

z Sigebert says that three of their petty kings were captured and perished by hanging.

CHAPTER X.

The relics returned to Morzelle, then brought to Brussels.

[31] After this, when Otto II held the Empire, Charles, the brother of Lotharius, King of the Franks, obtained the Duchy in the kingdom of Lotharingia. He, grieving that the state of the Empire was being disturbed in many ways, turned his attention skillfully to the improvement of many affairs. Whence, among other things, he strove to wrest from the party of the invaders the properties taken from the church of Morzelle, and to restore them to those serving St. Gudila. But anyone can easily know how difficult it is to correct things that have become customary through long delay. The body of St. Gudila is given to Duke Charles. The industry of Duke Charles wished to restore their property to the holy place; but the audacity of the invader stood in the way — one who feared neither God nor reverenced man. Unjust witnesses arose, and iniquity lied to itself: all of Hermenfridus's party clamored that he was his father's successor and the heir of his father's goods. But when the Duke's power prevailed, Hermenfridus and his accomplices, lovers of earthly things and despisers of heavenly ones, having taken counsel, retained the invaded lands for themselves, and gave the precious pearl — worthy of being purchased at the cost of all things given — namely, the body of St. Gudila, to the good merchant, that is, to the glorious Duke Charles. O wretched and pitiable in every way! Who, after the manner of brute animals, gazing at the earth with stooping breast and obeying the belly rather than God, judged themselves unworthy of so great a gift! And just as they rejoiced that their father's rapacity had come to them by inheritance, so, as if pierced by an eternal sword, they were saddened that the fate of their father's destruction had befallen them. For it is known that all the co-heirs of that same possession came to their end by an unheard-of and remarkable death. Vengeance upon the sacrilegious.

[32] Duke Charles, however, counting the loss of lands as nothing, rejoiced in this happy exchange that he had received a heavenly treasure. The body of St. Gudila translated to Brussels. He brought it with due honor into the church of St. Gaugericus at Brussels, and eager to prove to his eyes what good had fallen to his lot, he opened — rashly, though devoutly — the reliquary of the Virgin. But wondrous to tell, a mist suddenly enveloped the entire church, and changing all the appearance of daylight into nocturnal darkness, the fog blunted the eyes of those present, and thus the providence of God drew all back from their rash undertaking. Meanwhile the aforesaid Duke, relying on sounder counsel, Inspected by the Duke. confined himself together with a considerable number of the faithful in the mortification of flesh and spirit for three days, so that what incautious rashness had prompted to be done, the supreme humility — which conquers all things — might obtain. And now the third day dawned, and the aforesaid Prince approached the coffin of the blessed Virgin with Priests and incense, opened it, and saw what he desired; and having invoked the divine majesty, he closed it again and sealed it with his seal. Afterward he handed over a certain part of the village called Molenbeek to St. Gudila, and added six households, and donated many other altar vestments. There, not without great veneration, the body rested until the times of Count Baldric, the grandson of Duke Charles.

[33] In the one thousand and forty-seventh year of the Incarnation of the Lord, the fifteenth indiction, while Damasus presided as Supreme Pontiff over the Apostolic See, and Henry II reigned, the church on the hill of Brussels was dedicated on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of December, to the praise of our Redeemer, in honor of the holy Archangel Michael, by Gerard, Bishop of Cambrai. Lambert, who is also called Baldric the Count, succeeding his brother Henry — by whose presence all things there were then fittingly arranged — on the same day raised that most holy body from the church of St. Gaugericus together with the Bishop and the rest of the sacred orders, Translated to the church of St. Michael. and with the highest honor placed it in the church of St. Michael. And with the consent of his wife Oda in all things — who was the daughter of Duke Gozelo — he established clerics there to serve God and St. Gudila the virgin, and legally conveyed to them that same church with its tithes, and many other things for their use. There now also, to display the merits of the glorious Virgin, many and great miracles are wrought. These few things only, out of many, concerning the Virgin have come to our notice, with very many doubtless omitted that have escaped us. But let our discourse concerning the Virgin here be closed, and may her intercession be opened to us, who may look upon me the writer and you, O Christian, the reader. Amen.

a Baronius and others think that Damasus did not begin to occupy the see until the following year. In the diploma of Count Lambert Baldric, found in Miraeus in the Notice of the Churches of Belgium, there seems to be a manifest error, when it says: "Done publicly at Brussels, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1047, Indiction 15, with Leo IX presiding as Supreme Pontiff in the Apostolic See, etc." For Leo was consecrated as Pontiff on the first Sunday of Lent, February 12, 1049.

b He was the second of that name as Emperor, the third as King. Wherefore in the cited diploma of Baldric it reads: "Henry the third Emperor reigning."

c Perhaps the 17th, which was a Sunday.

d The first of that name, a most praiseworthy man, who died on March 14, 1049.

e Rather, he immediately succeeded Otto, the son of Henry, who did not complete a full year in the principate.

f He is called by others Gozilo and Gothilo, surnamed the Great, Duke of Upper Lotharingia.