LIFE OF BLESSED BERNO, FIRST ABBOT OF CLUNY.
A.D. 928.
CommentaryBerno, Abbot of Cluny in Gaul (St.)
From various sources.
§. I. The family of Blessed Berno, his monastic formation, his government of Baume.
[1] Of what family or of what parents Blessed Berno was born is by no means ascertained. William Paradin, On the ancient state of Burgundy, chapter 12, calls him Bruno, and the son of King Chilperic, who on the precipices of the Jura mountain and among its pathless rocks began and completed a monastery most celebrated in the whole world, in honor of Ovantius and Lupicinus. Paradin's opinion on the father of Blessed Berno refuted. How enormous is this confusion of things and times! This monastery was built by Sts. Romanus and Lupicinus, who were succeeded by St. Eugendus, commonly St. Oyend, and to Paradin Ovantius. His life we gave on January 1; theirs we shall give on February 28. To them King Chilperic ordered the provisions necessary for sustaining the monks to be supplied from the treasury. He had his seat at Januba, which by later generations was called Geneva, being himself King of the Burgundians about the year of Christ 460, as we shall show more fully elsewhere. Others have said that this Chilperic was King of the Franks, and younger by a whole century. So thinks Baronius, volume 7 of the Ecclesiastical Annals, at the year 579, number 30, and in the Notes on February 28, where he asserts that he reigned about the year of the Lord 565. That St. Berno could have been begotten in the ninth century by neither of these, everyone sees.
[2] William Gollut, book 4 of the History of Burgundy, chapter 16, and elsewhere, writes that St. Berno was born of the mother Iva, Countess of Burgundy, Likewise Gollut's opinion on his mother. who greatly helped William, Duke of Aquitaine, in endowing the monastery of Cluny. This Iva is the same who is called by others Eva, Ava, Avia, Avana, Anna, Alba, and Albana, the wife of Warin, or Guerin, Count of Mâcon and of Chalon, as André du Chesne is the authority, in the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis, in the Notes on the testament of William, and in book 1 of the Vergys, part 2, chapter 1, where he establishes this married pair as the first progenitors of the illustrious family of Vergy. Aubert Miraeus, in the Belgian and Burgundian Fasti, on this 13th of January, calls Ava the wife of Duke William. But Ingelberga was his wife, as William himself testifies in his Testament. This Ava, or Iva, or Avana, du Chesne conjectures to have been William's maternal grandmother, who, besides Theodoric, Count of Mâcon, bore Ermengard, afterward married to Bernard, Count of Bourges and of Auvergne, and Marquis of Nevers, whom St. Odo, very dear to William himself, as John the Italian, Odo's disciple, witnesses in his life, writes to have been the father of William, in book 1 of the Life of St. Gerald, Count of Aurillac. Baronius's opinion on the grandmother. Baronius, volume 10 of the Ecclesiastical Annals, at the year 912, number 18, says that Berno founded the monastery of Cluny out of the goods of his grandmother the Countess, and cites Sigebert: wrongly; because some interpolator had added to Sigebert's Chronicle, at the year of Christ 895, that Cluny was built from the gift of the Countess Ava. Did Gollut perhaps slip on a similar occasion when he called this Iva, or Ava, Berno's mother?
[3] Berno's family, Others, finally, do not state the names of his parents, yet assert that they were illustrious in family. For he is said to have been born of a certain most illustrious family of Counts in the Chronicle of Chronicles printed in the year of Christ 1493, and in the supplement of Jacopo Filippo of Bergamo. From a Count a monk, according to Baronius above, and to Bouchet, part 3 of the Annals of Aquitaine, chapter 1, who calls him Breno and Bruno. From a Count an Abbot, according to the Chronicle of Sigebert above, the Chronicle of Limoges at the year of Christ 890, Vincent, book 26, chapter 53, St. Antoninus, part 2, title 15, chapter 16, Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau at the year 892, and others. Bouchet will have it that he originated from Belgium, native land, others that he was a Burgundian by native land, or that he was renowned in Burgundy. Francis de Rivo in the Chronicle of Cluny, Arnold Wion in his Notes on January 13, Miraeus, and others call him an Abbot from the Counts of Burgundy. Werner Rolevinck, in the Fasciculus temporum, wrote "William, Count of Burgundy, and Berno, Duke of Aquitaine"; preposterously. So much on Berno's family and native land; the rest that follows is more certain.
[4] Berno's most faithful companion in the monastic life in the monastery of St. Martin was St. Hugo, whose life we shall give on April 20. That monastery at Autun, moreover, Aimoin writes, book 4 of the Deeds of the Franks, chapter 1, was founded by Queen Brunechild, wife of Sigebert, King of the Franks in Austrasia, by the counsel of St. Syagrius, Bishop of Autun. But, overthrown by the incursion of the Normans, it was restored by Count Badillo, with the assent of Charles the Bald, and Badillo himself afterward became a monk there, together with his nephew Badillo. That it might not, however, be inhabited only by novices, the monastery of St. Savin sent men to the number of eighteen, and those the most religious of monks, from the Diocese of Poitiers. Among these, as outstanding above the rest in holiness of life, are named St. Hugo, Oddo the most gentle, and John the most humble. Arnulph was appointed Abbot, the religious life at Autun, under whom, as the fame of the good works of that place spread far, many, leaving the vanities and pomps of this world and taking up the path of the commandments of everlasting life, were converted there. These things are told at greater length in the Life of St. Hugo. Berno was also there already then as a monk; but on what occasion he was called by God is not stated. Certainly he applied himself to virtue with such kindled zeal, and with such repute for religious prudence, that he was judged worthy to preside over other monks, and those indeed leading a laxer life. "Then, therefore," says the Author, "throughout various lands, far off and in neighboring monasteries, they humbly besought and asked that there be given to them, for the government of their people and the correction of their conduct, persons from among the monks of that same monastery: since they knew that they excelled all in the holiness of religion. The monastery of Baume, then, was at that time destitute of all regular strictness; and invited to its government, the aforesaid recruits of Christ by common counsel chose one, most strenuous in the tenor of his regular vigor, and endowed with holiness, named Berno, who, as the outcome of events showed, proved to have been chosen by God. He, appointed Abbot in the government of the aforesaid monastery, The government of Baume. always keeping before his eyes the things that are of God, intent rather on the gains of souls than on transitory things, in a short time gathered together a manifold flock of the fold of Christ. To him also, as was his wont in other things, Dom Hugo proved in all things a most faithful helper, who, like a most shrewd mariner, strove to increase the talent entrusted to him by the Lord." Thus he. Baume was already before this reckoned among the richer monasteries, as we said in the Life of Blessed Euticius.
§. II. Discipline restored at Baume.
[5] Berno embraced the monastery of Baume with such charity and diligence, and added to it so much adornment and splendor, that even not many years after his death he was held to be its Founder. For John the Italian, in book 1 of the Life of St. Odo, writes thus of Baume: He receives St. Odo into that monastery. "It pleased Adhegrinus, the companion of St. Odo, to go to Rome. Having at length set out on the journey, he came into the borders of Burgundy, and arrived at a certain valley which was called by name Baume. For in it there was a monastery lately built by Abbot Berno: and he turned aside there, and was received by him most dutifully, according to the rule of St. Benedict, within the guesthouse: and there he wished to stay for some time in the manner of a guest, not, however, because he needed anything of theirs, but so that he might come to know the manners of the inhabitants and the customs of the place. Now the founders of that place were imitators of a certain Father Heuticius."
[6] That Blessed Euticius was the founder of Baume, and that under him Berno took up the monastic institute, is written by more recent writers, de Rivo, How he was an imitator of St. Euticius. Wion, and the others cited above, relying only on these words of John the Italian just quoted. Perhaps, by the counsel of St. Euticius, if he had not died so long before, Berno either began the monastic life at Autun, or, roused by a holier discipline, migrated from Baume to there; and afterward was for that very reason given to the monks of Baume as Abbot. Yet he will be amply said to have become his imitator if, prescribing to the monks of Baume the customs which the other had collected into one volume from the various rules and institutions of the holy Fathers, he roused them to their former zeal for virtue.
[7] What difficulties he broke through while undertaking this the same John describes in these words, when about to set forth the patience of St. Odo: "There were," he says, "in that same monastery of Baume certain Brethren, whose life and manners you will find in the following narration. They, hearing that Dom Odo had come there for the sake of the monastic life, pretended to make inquiry. And so, when they had received an answer from him about what they were asking, they spoke, saying: 'We are all seeking to flee this community, so that we may be able to save our souls, and do you, on the contrary, wish to lose yours here?' When he had answered them, why did they say this, they added again: 'Do you know the custom of Abbot Berno?' And he said: 'Not at all.' And they: 'Alas, alas! if you knew how harshly he knows how to treat a monk! Blows follow his rebuke, and again those whom he beats he binds with fetters, subdues with prison, afflicts with fetters, wears down with fasts. And having endured all these things, not even so can the wretch obtain his favor.' Dom Odo, hearing this, began little by little to waver about entering. The aforesaid Adhegrinus, observing him, at once leaped forth into the midst and said: 'Father Odo, do not be afraid; these words are not of one who speaks, but of one who is at work; take note that it is the devil who speaks from there through their mouths.' At once they, confounded, went back. For Father Odo, with Adhegrinus his colleague, submitted their necks to the most sweet yoke of Christ."
[8] Dom Adhegrinus, as is said in the same place, shut himself up in a single little cell, and with the permission of Abbot Berno remained in it for three years: for upon Father Odo, who was a scholarly man, they imposed the laborious mastership of the school. In this office, having been seen by some not to have observed the customs of the monastery, which we gave in the Life of St. Euticius, he was vehemently rebuked in Chapter. He proves Odo's patience. Nay, his Abbot Berno, wishing to prove his patience further, "pretended to be angry, and pronounced a sentence joined with excommunication, that on that day he should ask no further pardon of him. He, however, going away, threw himself at the feet of the Brethren and asked them to go and ask pardon of the same Abbot on his behalf. And this was done. At length Abbot Berno, marveling at so great a patience of constancy in a young man, soon called him, and according to the custom of the Rule healed the disturbance itself with a blessing, and from then on he became dearer to him"; especially after this miracle, which St. Odo was accustomed to tell of himself as though of another.
[9] "There was," he used to say, "in that same community under St. Berno a certain Brother who had this custom: Odo's obedience, and his reverence toward Berno, made illustrious by a miracle. for when he sat at table he occupied his whole mind with the reading. One day it happened that, when he had gathered up the crumbs as was the custom, before he could eat them, the aforesaid Abbot put an end to the reading. But he did not know at all what to do: for he did not dare to eat them after the reading was finished, nor to let them go, lest by chance they should perish. With his fist closed, he judged it fitting that, when they had returned from the church after the Verse, they should be kept for the Father of the monastery. And it came about that, as soon as they had returned from the oratory, he prostrated himself at the Father's feet. When he was asked why he was asking pardon, and he wished to show with open hand what had been done, all the aforesaid crumbs had been changed into the appearance of pearls. Glorifying the Lord, therefore, they were wonderfully astonished. Then, by the Father's command, they were set into a certain ornament of the Church itself."
[10] Having then received leave from St. Berno, he visited his parents: on his return he brought with him a Virgin, who was about to be forced into marriage against her will. When Berno had heard what he had done regarding the Virgin, The zeal for souls of both. with a troubled countenance he began to rebuke him severely for having presumed to do these things without leave. At once he threw himself on the ground, and, prostrate at his feet, begged pardon. After this, raised from the ground at the Father's command, after the question had been repeated, he answered, saying: "Lord Father, since you deigned to receive wretched me, so far as I have been able to observe, you have never had any other care than the winning of souls. For the other Abbots strive after this, how they may abound in things and please men. But you, relying on piety and mercy, busy yourself to please God alone, for the sake of the gain of souls. Wherefore I desired to be your imitator, and therefore I wished to win this Virgin to the praise of your name. For although her tears overcame me, even if slowly, I did not forget your rebuke, which I knew most certainly I could not escape. But I preferred rather to be struck by the scourge of a loving Father than to be found guilty for her soul. Would that I could have won all the women dwelling in this province who are held by the carnal bond, and that you had had to scourge me for each one, after your most loving manner." With these and similar words he soothed the Father's agitation; but he nevertheless at once enjoined upon him this obedience: "Go, and as you knew how to rescue her from the world, so know how to nourish her daily and instruct her with holy admonitions, until within a few days, so that she may not at some time repent and return to the world at the devil's persuasion." And after this Father Odo began to bring her food every day, and to instruct her with the examples of the Fathers who had gone before, until within a few days he brought her to a certain monastery and joined her to the sacred Virgins, where she is related to have died holily.
§. III. The praise, situation, and origin of Cluny.
[11] The Author of the Life of St. Hugo of Autun says: "This monastery, then, of Baume, being filled at home and abroad with various abundances of good things, very many monasteries, after its example, either newly founded or reformed for the better through the same men, St. Berno and St. Hugo, became renowned." Then he describes the origins of Cluny. The praises of Cluny, Cl. Robert gathers from various diplomas of the Pontiffs and from the writings of the Saints the wonderful praises of this monastery, and of the Cluniac congregation propagated from it into various regions of the world: that it is asserted to have produced rich fruits of virtue from sea to sea: that it is called a Paradise, watered by the four streams of the Gospels, and a spiritual field in which heaven and earth meet: that it is compared to a fountain of living water, which most fully washes those who come to it in the piety of true religion and serve God there: that it is called the mirror of the monastic religious life; the Pattern of religion for many provinces; the Common asylum of piety; the Nobler member of the kingdom of France; a Court in which sacred praises resound to God; the Laver of souls; the Garden of God; an Order in which God has placed the mystery of reconciliation and the business of salvation; a City of strength, from which go forth thousands into Bishoprics, into Abbacies, into kingdoms and the crowns of Princes. That from it have come forth four Supreme Pontiffs, and Prelates almost without number; that, finally, it has been the head of more than two thousand monasteries. Consult Robert himself, and Wion in the Lignum vitae.
[12] Glaber writes, book 3, chapter 5, that this monastery is situated in the district of Mâcon on the river Grauna, called by others Grona; situation, which, as Papirius Masson witnesses, continuing to flow from there toward the North, flows into the Saône a quarter of a league from Chalon. Such, moreover, was the size of the monastery and of its church size, that, as the same Robert relates from a certain manuscript Chronicle, Pope Innocent was received there as a guest with 12 Cardinals, 2 Patriarchs, three Archbishops, 15 Bishops, while there were present at the same time the Emperor of Constantinople, the King of France with his mother, sister, and brother the Count of Artois, the son of the King of Castile, and the son of the King of Aragon, the Duke of Burgundy, six Counts, and many other Princes and Barons, with an infinite multitude of knights: and yet the monks never lacked their dormitory, refectory, cloister, Chapter house, Infirmary, cellar, kitchen. About two hundred and sixty monks were accustomed to live in it, as is clear from the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis. Certainly two hundred and twenty seats of the monks are seen in the choir of the church. Paradin describes the regal adornment of the church. holy Abbots. We, passing over these things, look to that chief glory, so many Prelates and monks conspicuous for holiness, whose memory has long since been consecrated both by the piety of the Christian people and by the authority of the Roman Church. Saussay inserted about forty in the Gallican Martyrology. We celebrated on the Kalends of January St. Odilo, the sixth Abbot; on this 13th we honor Blessed Berno, the parent of all; the others we shall bring forward each on his own day.
[13] Jacques Severt, in his book on the Bishops of Mâcon, observes from Bugnon that Leduard, the 13th Bishop of Mâcon, received from Charlemagne (whose Archchancellor he calls him, from the royal letters themselves) Cluny, Whose possession it had been before. that is, the estate on which the monastery was afterward founded, as an increase of the endowment of the Cathedral Church of St. Vincent. Leduard having died in the year of Christ 793, his successors held that possession up to Hildebald, the 18th Pontiff of the same See. He, exchanging the villa of Cluny for certain other possessions and goods situated in the district of Nevers and of Auvergne, made it over to Warin, Count of Mâcon, and to Avana his wife. The Emperor Louis the Pious, in the 12th year of his Empire, confirmed the exchange by his diploma, which du Chesne gives in full. Then, Warin having died, Avana granted whatever she possessed at Cluny to William, Duke of the Aquitanians, by testamentary right, as will presently be said in his testament. Hence perhaps Bugnon, Paradin, Saint-Julien, Severt, and others thought that the monastery of Cluny was built before by Warin and restored by William.
§. IV. The diploma of Duke William on the building of Cluny.
[14] There still survives the diploma of Duke William (he calls it a testament, as was common in that age) on the building of the monastery of Cluny, drawn up in the 11th year of Charles the Simple, of Christ 910, in the 13th Indiction. We give here some part of it from the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis, in which it is read in full:
"To all who live in the unity of the faith and implore the mercy of Christ, who are to succeed them and to live until the consummation of the world, be it known that, for the love of God and of our Savior Jesus Christ, I hand over things of my right to the holy Apostles, namely Peter and Paul, from my own * dominion, namely Cluny, which is situated on the river which is called Grauna, with the court and the demesne manse, What William gave, and the chapel which is in honor of Mary, the holy Mother of God, and of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, with all things pertaining to that villa: namely villas, chapels, serfs of both sexes, vineyards, fields, meadows, woods, waters and watercourses, mills, exits and entrances, the cultivated and the uncultivated, in all their entirety. Which things are situated in the County of Mâcon or round about, each enclosed by its own boundaries.
[15] For what purpose. And I, William, and my wife Ingelberga give all these things to the aforesaid Apostles, first for the love of God, then for the soul of my lord King Odo, of my father and my mother; for myself and my wife, namely for the salvation of our souls and bodies; no less for Avana, who granted me these same things by testamentary right; for the souls also of our brothers and sisters, and of our nephews and of all our kinsfolk of both sexes; for our faithful men who adhere to our service; for the state also and integrity of the Catholic religion. Finally, as all we Christians are held together by one bond of charity and faith, so let this donation be made for all the Orthodox, namely of times past, present, or future. I give it, moreover, on this condition: that at Cluny a regular monastery be built in honor of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and that there monks living according to the rule of Blessed Benedict be gathered, who shall possess, hold, have, and order these same things for all time. Only so, that there the venerable house of prayer be faithfully frequented with vows and supplications, * and the heavenly way of life be sought and longed for with all desire and inmost ardor: and that assiduous prayers, petitions, and supplications be directed to the Lord, both for me and for all, according as their memory has been set down above.
[16] We direct, moreover, that this our donation be a perpetual refuge above all for those Who are chiefly to be admitted. who, going out from the world poor, bring nothing with them but good will, so that their abundance may become our supply. Let these monks, with all the things written above, be under the power and dominion of Abbot Berno, who, as long as he lives, shall preside over them regularly according to his knowledge and ability. Free election of the Abbot. But after his decease let the same monks have power and license to elect as Abbot and Rector whomsoever of their order they shall prefer, according to the good pleasure of God and the rule of St. Benedict promulgated; so that they be not hindered by the opposition of our power, or of any power, against a religious election only. And every five years the aforesaid monks shall pay ten solidi at Rome, at the thresholds of the Apostles, for the furnishing of their lights; and let them have the protection of the Apostles themselves and the Roman Pontiff as defender, and let the monks themselves, with full heart and mind, build up the aforesaid place according to their ability and knowledge. We will also that in our times and those of our successors, as the opportunity and possibility of that place shall allow, Works of mercy. works of mercy be shown daily with the greatest care to the poor in need, to strangers, to pilgrims," etc. ….
[17] "Done publicly in the city of Bourges. I, William, have asked that this authority be made and confirmed, and have strengthened it with my own hand. Subscriptions. Seal of Ingelberga his wife. Seal of Madalbert, a sinner, Archbishop of Bourges. Sign of Adalard, Bishop of Clermont," and of thirty-nine other illustrious men. Finally this clause is added: "In the eleventh year of the reign of King Charles, in the 13th Indiction. I, Odo the Levite, in place of the Chancellor, have written and subscribed."
[18] That monastery committed to the Pope. Orderic Vitalis, book 11 of the history of his time, writes the following of William, which du Chesne also quotes from him in the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis: "It is established, and, inserted in charters, it is plainly clear to those who read them, that G. of Aquitaine built the monastery of Cluny on his allod, and, going to Rome, most devoutly committed it to the Roman Pontiff. Nor did he wish this to be done in vain: for he himself then offered the Pope 12 gold pieces, and decreed that the same number be given every year thereafter," etc.
Annotations* Perhaps donatione.
* conversatioque.
* promulgatam.
* continuanda.
§ V. The monastery of Cluny is built.
[19] The Author of the Life of St. Hugo of Autun records the building of Cluny thus: "There was then," he says, "at that time William, Duke of the Arverni and of the Aquitanians, the most liberal of the chief men of the Celtic province: Berno's hospitality. whose household knights very often frequented that place of Baume, and were affectionately received by the aforesaid Abbot and also by the Brethren of that same place. And they, returning to their Lord, reported to him most diligently whatever good or honorable thing they had seen there. And he, being a man conspicuous for every goodness, began to consider in his mind whether he might in some way be able to find a place suitable for the uses of such a religious life. Sending at once to the man of God Berno, he bade him come to him as quickly as possible. He, hastening at once to meet him, came to him at the place truly chosen beforehand by God, the bestower of all good things, and predestined for eternal salvation, called by name Cluny: to which he came, having with him the most illustrious Hugo, by whose counsel he did all things.
[20] The occasion of building Cluny. And at once, when the aforesaid Prince had received them with the greatest love, he disclosed to them the desire of his mind, namely concerning the building of a monastery, which he wished to accomplish if the Deity would grant it to him. And when they had looked keenly at the places round about on every side, they found no place so fit for such a purpose as Cluny. But when the same Duke said that it could not be done because of the disturbance of the hounds of the hunting establishment, which always stayed there, the Abbot, being a most prudent man, is said to have given the Duke this answer wittily and pleasantly: 'Take the hounds away from there,' he said, 'and put monks in. For you yourself know well what reward awaits you from the Lord for hounds, and what recompense for monks.' And he, rejoicing with the greatest exultation, received the words of the man of God and said: 'You have prudently used, Father, a sounder counsel, and without the coloring of pretense: now too let it be done, Christ cooperating, as your kindness urges.'
[21] Then the work was at once begun, and in a short time completed, and then consecrated in honor of Peter, Prince of the Apostles. Yet at first a very small little community of Brethren was established in that same place, since the same Prince did not have at hand a domain Slender beginnings. which he might give. But how vast and abundant a harvest grew up, proceeding from that very small seed, is known, it is certain, to God alone, not to any of mortal men: yet the excellent fame of the place is gloriously known to
the Belgian and the Celt, the Aquitanian, the West and the South."
Thus the author, a contemporary of St. Odilo the Abbot, with whom Glaber, also his contemporary, agrees, book 3 of the History of the Franks, chapter 5: "At last also," he says, "the aforesaid institution, namely (of the order of St. Benedict), now almost exhausted, by God's authority chose for itself a seat of wisdom, where it would gather strength and bear fruit with manifold offshoots, namely in the monastery called Cluny, Whence the name. which obtained such a name from the sloping and low situation of that place: or else, which suits it better, it is named from cluere; since we call growing cluere: for that same place, from its beginning, obtained day by day a remarkable increase of various gifts. The aforesaid monastery, then, was first built by the Father of the monks of the monastery of * Balinensis, called Berno, at the command of William, the most pious Duke of the Aquitanians, in the district of Mâcon, on the little river Graona. This monastery, too, is said at first to have received as endowment no more than fifteen farms of land, yet twelve Brethren in number are recorded to have assembled there. From whom, as from the best seed, the stock having been multiplied, it is known to have filled a great, innumerable host of the Lord of hosts. And since they clung unceasingly to the things which are of God, Increase, namely to the works of justice and piety, they therefore deserved to be filled with all good things, and moreover left a wonderful example to those to come. For after the aforesaid Berno the most wise Abbot Odo took up the charge of government."
[22] Odilo himself also, in the Life of St. Maiolus his predecessor, attributes both the beginnings and the increase of Cluny to Blessed Berno: "With the favor," he says, By the example and merit of Berno. "of William, the most Christian Prince of the Aquitanians, an Abbot of blessed memory, Berno by name, in the parts of Burgundy, on the soil of Mâcon, in the district which is called Cluny, began to build a monastery, and strove as far as he could to labor in that building, and by laborious struggle brought the affection of his pious devotion to a praiseworthy effect. For by his merit and example many, seeking the tranquil harbor of the monastery, are converted from the world."
[23] Blessed Peter the Venerable, Abbot of Cluny, IX. Letter 17, book 6, calls St. Odo the first Father of the Cluniac order. The same is called the first Abbot of Cluny by Sigebert, in the book on Ecclesiastical writers and in the Chronicle at the year of Christ 937, by Rolevinck in the Fasciculus temporum at the year 914, by Trithemius in the book on Ecclesiastical Writers, and by others. He, not St. Odo, was the first Abbot. Because, of course, Odo completed what Berno had begun, and recalled very many monasteries of the Benedictine order to the norm of Cluny and to their former discipline. In the Chronology of the Abbots of Cluny it is said that "in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 910 William, Duke of the Aquitanians, built a venerable monastery at Cluny to the venerable Peter and Paul, and there ordained the most holy Berno Abbot, who, as God granted and he himself was able, ruled the community committed to him quite vigorously as long as he lived, in the reign of King Charles." And soon after: "The same Father Berno is ordained by St. Gedeon, Archbishop of Besançon." The same is related in the Chronicle of Francis de Rivo.
[24] But what is said about St. Gedeon seems less clear. For there was only one Gedeon, and he much more ancient than Berno, By whom he was ordained. who is said by Aubert Miraeus, on August 7, in the Belgian and Burgundian Fasti, by Chifflet in his Vesontio, and by Cl. Robert in the Gallia Christiana, to have been the 36th Bishop of Besançon, and to have sat in the year of Christ 773, in the time of Charlemagne. He was succeeded by Bernuin, by whom, by a similar error, St. Odo is said in the Chronicles cited to have been ordained. Chifflet shows that it is established from the ancient records of the people of Besançon that this man implored in person the help of Constantine VI, Emperor of the Romans, to relieve the poverty of his Church. Now Constantine reigned with his mother Irene from the year 780 to 790, alone thereafter to 797. The same Bernuin, as Einhard is the authority, subscribed the testament of Charlemagne in the year 811. Chifflet therefore judges that St. Odo was both initiated into the priesthood and consecrated Abbot by Berengar, the 41st Archbishop (of whom more in the Life of St. Maimbod on January 23), and that in place of B. or Ber., the abbreviation of Berengar, the name of Bernuin was substituted. "And since it was either held by conjecture, or established by some certain testimony, that Berno had been inaugurated Abbot by that Archbishop of Besançon who had immediately preceded the consecration of St. Odo, it was easy to write Gedeon, the predecessor of Bernuin, in place of Theodoric, who immediately preceded Berengar. For it is probable that Theodoric consecrated Berno (who was Abbot of the monastery of Baume in the diocese of Besançon before he was Abbot of Cluny) as Abbot in the year 910." Thus Chifflet. But it is established that Blessed Berno was Abbot of Baume long before this year. And Theodoric himself presided over the Church of Besançon for many years. For in the year of Christ 876, in the 9th Indiction, under Charles the Bald, he took part in the synod of Ponthion: twenty years later he obtained for the Church of St. Stephen the villa of Pauliacum from Zwentibold, son of the Emperor Arnulf, King of the Lotharingians: as the same Chifflet relates from a manuscript codex.
[25] Berengar, or whoever consecrated St. Odo Priest, is called in the Life of St. Odo a companion and friend of Father Berno, At his command Odo writes books, and becomes a Priest. with whom he obtained that by his command Odo should compose three little books from the prophecy of Jeremiah. For the same Bishop went to the monastery of Baume for this reason. The same familiarity of the two is hinted at in the consecration of St. Odo: "Father Berno, therefore, foreseeing" (they are the words of the same writer) "that Odo would be a most honorable man, promoted him. And having sent for the Bishop, he had him consecrated Priest without his own wish."
Annotation* Balmensis.
§. VI. Other monasteries are built or reformed.
[26] That very many monasteries, either newly founded or reformed for the better by Blessed Berno, became renowned, has already been reported above from the Life of St. Hugo. Among them most reckon Gigny, situated in the diocese of Lyons; wrongly confused with Baume by Antonio Yepes, volume 4, at the year 910. Whether he reformed or founded Gigny. The Chronicles of Limoges and of Sigebert, the Chronicle of Chronicles, Vincent, St. Antoninus, Trithemius, and Wion, cited above, say that Berno, from a Count, was Abbot of Gigny, a monastery founded by himself: nay, that he afterward built the monastery of Cluny as a cell of Gigny. In the Life of St. Hugo it seems to be reckoned among those reformed: "Meanwhile," says the author (Cluny, namely, having now been founded), "Gigny, and also Vézelay, and very many others having been brought under their rule and vigorously amended, Hugo, namely, and Berno advanced eagerly in the divine worship." But below, in §7, Berno himself seems to assert that it was built by him in honor of St. Peter, unless he says so because he had adorned it with buildings and discipline. Of Vézelay, amended by Hugo and his companions, we shall treat on April 20 and elsewhere. Berno, in his Testament, of which in the following §, orders Wido to succeed him in the care of the monasteries of Gigny, Baume, Æthice, and the cell of St. Lautenus. Claude Robert observes that 16 lesser cells were subject to Gigny: whether some of them were built by Berno, and he was for that reason called Founder of Gigny, we leave in doubt. Gigny itself, in the lapse of time, began to be reckoned only by the title of a Priory, subject to Cluny: yet there were (the words are transcribed from the catalogue of the Abbeys and Priories of Cluny) "counting the Prior, thirty-two monks, but by a definition made in the year of Christ 1266 they were reduced to the number of 25, and three Masses must be celebrated there continually with chant, and there are there 10 perpetual cloistral officers."
[27] The monastery of Baume also was assigned to the jurisdiction of Cluny by the Pontiffs Eugene III, Anastasius IV, and Adrian IV, as the last confirms in a diploma of the year 1155, because "the Brethren gathered there, through whom it ought to have shone and flourished both with the odor of good repute Baume afterward subjected to Cluny. and with the beauty of religion, were following the old man with his deeds, and therefore, at the devil's persuasion, it wasted away in their sins." The Emperor Frederick also confirmed by his diploma the right given to the monks of Cluny. Yet there was afterward no little controversy and enmity between the monks of Baume and those of Cluny, and between the Abbots of the latter and the Archbishops of Besançon. All of which, as well as the possessions of the monastery of Baume, the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis reviews. Claude Robert relates that in that monastery, according to the statutes of Cluny, forty monks ought to be maintained. We have noted above, in St. Euticius, from Miraeus, that it still flourishes.
[28] Berno had charge of other monasteries, and at his death handed them over to St. Odo; namely Massay, and Déols, which others call Bourg-Déols. This, situated in the diocese of Bourges on the river Angeris, or Indre, presides over forty-five Priories, The monastery of Bourg-Déols. and appoints parish priests to many Churches. It is related to have been founded by Ebbo, who is called by others Abo and Eblo, and was the younger brother of William, Duke of the Aquitanians and founder of Cluny, as Claude Robert will have it. The diploma of donation was drawn up in the city of Bourges on the fourth day before the Nones of September, in the 29th year of the reign of Charles the Simple, of Christ 920. It was subscribed by Ebbo and Hildegard, husband and wife, Gerontius, Archbishop of Bourges, and the Bishops Blessed Turpin of Limoges, of whom on July 26, and Arnald of Clermont. Mention is made of this monastery in the Life of St. Genulfus, book 2, chapter 17, below on January 17, and on November 4 in the Life of St. Lusor.
[29] We have not yet been able to ascertain with certainty the situation and origins of Massay. Du Chesne places it in Aquitaine, Massay. and is of the opinion that it was built by the Emperor Louis the Pious. Perhaps this too was restored by Berno to a holier discipline. A contemporary author mentions it in the Life of the Emperor Louis, volume 2 of the writers of Gaul: "And indeed," he says, "many monasteries were repaired by him in his dominion, nay built from the foundations, among which the monastery of Massay is numbered tenth."
§ VII. The Testament of St. Berno.
[30] "Since the divine dispensation established after the flood that man should be set over man, whoever, according to God, both in the old testament and in the new, have presided over others have taken care, as far as was possible, that provision should be made for their subjects in the future. That Blessed Benedict and very many other instructors of our order did this, and chose successors for themselves while they were still living, many documents prove. Wherefore let both the royal power and the priestly authority, and also the loftiness of Princes, and the whole body of the rest of the faithful whom it may chance to hear this writing, * pardon it; that I, Berno, Abbot, the last of all Abbots, recognizing that my last day is now drawing near, have delegated two of our brethren, namely Wido, my a kinsman, and Odo, equally beloved, together with the consent of the Brethren, to succeed me. And I have commanded that after my decease they discharge my office, God granting it. Namely in such a way that our beloved aforesaid Wido shall preside regularly over the monastery of Gigny, of Baume, of Æthice, with the cell which is called b St. Lautenus, [Blessed Berno appoints Abbots as his successors in various monasteries, with the assent of the Brethren.] and with all the things pertaining to the aforesaid monasteries, except the villa which is called Alafracta, and certain things which belonged to Dom Samson situated in the same district; and the fourth part of the salt-pans which are situated in the place which is called c Leodonis, and half of the meadow which belonged to Dom Saymon. But our dearest brother Odo shall receive Cluny and Massay, and the monastery of Déols, with the things pertaining to those same places, God favoring, in such a way that he may order them regularly according to his strength. These things, therefore, having been so disposed, I beseech you, by the reverence which you owe to the holy faith and religion, O Princes and lords, whoever you are that are judges of earthly things, that you willingly hear this writing, speaking in my stead, in any of our assemblies; and, as the divine law commands, that you be in agreement with the good, and consent that both the aforesaid Prelates and the monks, and the places with the things pertaining to them, remain in that state in which they were long since established both by royal precepts and also by Apostolic privileges, and which has now been decreed by me. And if any controversy should perhaps spring up, whether among themselves or from elsewhere, which is to be decided by us, uphold justice and repress false accusation; so that there may come about what is inserted in our authorities, that of all the good things which are done in the aforesaid places, as you have been helpers, so also you may be sharers. And the villa which is called Alafracta, with all things pertaining to it there, and the fourth part of the salt-pans which we have at Leodonis, and also the half of the aforesaid meadow, I hand over to Cluny, on this condition, that every year a rent of twelve denarii be paid to Gigny for the investiture. Nor should it seem unjust if I assign these things to Cluny, since I have placed my burial there, and the place itself, like a posthumous child, by the death of Dom William, once the renowned Duke, and now by mine, is left d unfinished. And certainly it is poorer in possessions, and in a numerous brotherhood. And to add this: if, after the earlier sons and the earlier place, for which I made my Testament, the divine bounty has deigned to enlarge for us another place and other sons, it ought to seem right that the later sons be not disinherited; but that some part of our inheritance should profit them, who, although in another place, are nevertheless going to serve the same Lord, that is, Blessed Peter, in whose name we built both places.
[31] For the rest, I beseech both the Prelates and all the Brethren, namely present and future, by the mercy of God who looks upon the present, He exhorts them to the observance of discipline. that unanimity may so persevere among you that you keep from now on the manner of life retained hitherto, both in psalmody and in the observance of silence, and also in the quality of food and clothing, and moreover in the contempt of private property, if not better, at least as you have done hitherto. But if, which God forbid, anyone of them should have gone obstinately astray, we command by the authority of the holy rule that the Priors of both places assist one another mutually to correct the error. And if anyone, which God forbid, should break this our institution in any point, let the divine voice deter him which says: Cursed be he who removes the boundaries of his neighbor, that is, the institution of his Teachers; and let his attempt be wholly frustrated. Deut. 27:17. But let our disposition, which, as I believe, desires through charity that provision be made for both places, remain unshaken, God disposing and Blessed Peter protecting. Sign of Berno the Abbot, who asked that this charter be made and confirmed. Sign of Wido, the present Abbot, who consented to this. Sign of Odo the Abbot. Sign of Geoffrey. Sign of Wandanbert. In the fourth year of the reign of King Radulph."
Annotations* Or cognoscat?
§. VIII. Berno's death; his sanctity celebrated.
[32] Aubert Miraeus enters Blessed Berno in his Fasti on this 13th of January; but he says that he died at Cluny in the year of Christ nine hundred and ten, the year, namely, in which he remembered that the Testament of Duke William on the building of this monastery had been sealed, and perhaps he wished to write this. Rather it might be doubted whether William himself died in that year, on account of the Testament then drawn up. That he certainly died before Berno is established from the latter's Testament. Ademar, in the Chronology of the Abbots of St. Martial of Limoges: When Duke William the Pious died: "In the nineteenth year of this Abbot" (he is speaking of Fulbert VI) "died Duke William, Count of Auvergne, who built the monastery of Cluny." In the sixth year of the same Fulbert, on the witness of the same Ademar, St. Gerald died at Aurillac on the third day before the Ides of October. On his life, described in four books by St. Odo, du Chesne observes that the death of St. Gerald and the sixth year of Abbot Fulbert fell in the year of Christ 907. The death of Duke William and the 19th year of the same Fulbert, therefore, end in the year of Christ 920. The Chronology of the Abbots of Cluny refers it to the preceding year, or at least to 918.
[33] Baronius, volume 9 of the Ecclesiastical Annals, will have it that Blessed Berno died in the year of Christ 912. "In this same year," he says there, number 17, "Berno, Abbot of Gigny of the order of St. Benedict, founder of the monastery and institute of Cluny, dies." He cites the Chronicle of Sigebert, to which rather some interpolator added it. Both wrongly. Berno himself, surviving William, mourns his death in his own Testament. In the Chronology of the Abbots cited it is said that Berno died on the Ides of January of the year 926. when Blessed Berno died. De Rivo agrees in the Chronicle of Cluny, where it is recorded that he held the government of Cluny for sixteen years, having taken it up in nine hundred and ten, which Wion also transcribes from there in his annotations on January 13. Finally, the Testament, in which he not rashly foretells that his death is near, was drawn up in the fourth year of the reign of King Radulph. In which either an error must be recognized, or he did not die until the Ides of January of the year 928. For Radulph, or Rodulph, Duke of Burgundy, was not summoned and anointed King at Soissons before Robert, the usurper of the kingdom, had fallen fighting in battle against Charles the Simple. That battle took place, on the witness of Flodoard, in the year 923, on Sunday, the seventeenth day before the Kalends of July, as Odorannus writes. Peter de Natalibus, book 11, chapter 64, assigns the beginning of the Cluniac order to the year of Christ 912, the first of Abbot Berno, from which sixteen years ran on to 928.
[34] Of the death of St. Berno and the ordination of St. Odo it is read thus in the latter's life: About to die, he resigns his government and orders another to be elected. "About that time Blessed Berno began to lie sick with a deadly illness. At once he summoned the neighboring Bishops, and deposed himself from every rank: and moreover with a tearful voice he proclaimed himself guilty and unworthy to have presided in such a ministry. And amid these words he asked the Brethren to elect for themselves whom they would as Father. Then our Father was seized by the hands of the Brethren, and, as it were forcibly constrained, and with all crying out that he should be ordained, he was led by force before his Abbot; and when even so he would not yield and take the place of Shepherd, he was at length overcome by the consent and the excommunication of the Bishops. He having thus been ordained, within a short time Father Berno passed to the Lord, to whom be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen."
[35] And soon after, in book 2: "Father Odo, then, having been elected and ordained Abbot, at once the aforesaid veteran persecutors rose up against him. But he, preferring to give way and to rest blessedly rather than to live contentiously, leaving that same monastery, and the things that had been prepared there by Dom Berno the Abbot and handed over to him in fatherly fashion, went away to Cluny, On what occasion St. Odo moved to Cluny. and completed the monastery long since begun. And the seniors of that place followed him." What then? Was St. Odo first designated as Berno's successor in the government of Baume, nay even consecrated? Perhaps, because of the sedition of the monks that arose against him, Berno afterward changed what had been determined, and set Wido over Baume, but Odo himself over Cluny, as can be gathered from his Testament.
[36] The death and burial of Blessed Berno. Whether Berno died at Baume or at Cluny is doubtful. He placed his burial at the latter, as he himself says in the Testament, where he is related in the Chronicle of Cluny to have been buried in the old church behind the altar of St. Benedict. "Among the holy Abbots of Cluny," says Baronius, "St. Bernard (letter to William, Abbot of Cluny) His sanctity and learning praised. numbers Odo in the first place, and his successors Maiolus, Odilo, Hugo." However, neither was Odo the first, nor are only those listed related to have flourished in outstanding sanctity; but before Odo, Abbot Berno, whom Odo succeeded, is numbered first and praised. Berno is called in the Life of St. Hugo "most strenuous in the tenor of his regular vigor, and adorned with sanctity"; by St. Maiolus in the Life of St. Odilo "an Abbot of blessed memory"; by the author of the Chronicle of Chronicles, by Filippo of Bergamo, and by others, wonderfully praised for his sanctity and most illustrious learning; by Trithemius "a man of most upright life, a man most illustrious in faith and religion, distinguished by many virtues": and again "a man venerable in sanctity and religion, the glorious restorer of the order of St. Benedict in the monastery of Cluny." I omit the testimonies of others.
[37] Miraeus inscribed his name in the Belgian and Burgundian Fasti, Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology, His name inscribed in the sacred Fasti. and both style him Blessed, the rest Saint. A manuscript Calendar of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict, on January 14: "Of St. Berno, from a Count the first Abbot of Cluny." The printed monastic Martyrologies agree on this 13th of January, those of Hugo Menard, Benedict Dorgan, and Arnold Wion, whose words are these: "In the monastery of Cluny, of St. Berno, first Abbot of that place, a man of great sanctity." The authority of the Calendar of Cluny is alleged, which we have not seen. In the Chronicles of Cluny he is called Most Holy. Martin Marrier and André du Chesne, in the Bibliotheca Cluniacensis, constantly prefix the title of Saint to his name: as does Antonio Yepes too, but he is by no means sparing in bestowing that honor on men illustrious for piety: he adds here that Berno's relics are held in great veneration at Cluny. Ferrarius also writes thus: "At Cluny in Burgundy, of St. Berno, Abbot." Peter de Natalibus counted him among the Saints whose feast day he did not know, and in book 11, chapter 64, wove a brief epitome of his life.