Genulphus

ON ST. GENULPHUS, BISHOP, AMONG THE BITURIGES IN GAUL.

Third Century.

Genulphus, Bishop in Gaul (St.)

From various sources.

[1] The Cadurci, a people of First Aquitaine, venerate St. Genulphus as the first Bishop of their city on January 17, as William de la Croix, the Jurist, attests in his history of the Bishops of Cahors. Was St. Genulphus a Bishop of the Cadurci? He confirms this by the tradition of the elders, and by the authority of the ancient Lectionary and the Martyrologies of that Church. What is said in the Acts which we shall presently give — that he initiated the Giturnicensian, or as he writes Gituriensian, people into Christian mysteries — he interprets as referring to the Cadurci, and advises that it should be so corrected. But since the Cadurci are in First Aquitaine, why is it said in the second life, chapter 5, number 25: After this the holy men, bidding farewell to all the brethren of that (Geturnicensian) Church, departed thence and made for Gallic Aquitaine, and indeed when they had spent only three months there? In the first life, it is far more perplexing still whether the city of Giturnicensis is to be placed in Gaul. For chapter 7, number 31, states thus: Having therefore confirmed all in the service of the Lord, they both departed thence; and after some stretches of laborious travel, they came to the lands of Gaul, to a little estate called the Cell of the Demons, situated on the small river Naon and located in the territory of Bourges.

[2] This too can be objected, if he was truly Bishop of that city: how was it lawful for him to abandon that Church after three months? At least an Apostle. It seems (as was the custom in that age and long afterward) that he was made a Bishop by the Roman Pontiff of no fixed See, but for performing the Apostolic ministry wherever it was most suitable, and for ordaining to the priesthood whomever he found fit. But when a Cathedral was later erected in the city of the Cadurci, and the citizens remembered that they or their forefathers had received the faith from St. Genulphus the Bishop, they wrote him first in the catalogue of their Bishops. This can certainly be observed in very many Churches, as we have said elsewhere and shall say concerning the people of Tongres and of Cologne in our Belgium of Gaul.

[3] Moreover, certain Martyrologies support the tradition of the Church of Cahors. His feast day. For Molanus in his Additions to Usuard, and Galesinius, write thus: On the same day, of St. Genulphus, first Bishop of Cahors and Confessor. Ferrarius: At Cahors in Gaul, of St. Genulphus, the first Bishop of that city. He is also listed by Claudius Robertus and John Chenu among the Bishops of Cahors. Andrew Saussaius on this day recites a lengthy encomium of him, but does not expressly call him Bishop of the Cadurci: he does write this, however, in the index and on November 13. Maurolycus, although he cites that author de la Croix for this view, has only: Likewise, of Genulphus the Bishop. The Cologne Martyrology and the Carthusian supplement to Usuard at Cologne: Of Genulphus, Bishop and Confessor. He appears to be Gengulphus, of whom the manuscript Florarium on January 16 says: On the same day, of St. Gengulphus, Bishop and Confessor. For the St. Gengulfus venerated on May 11 was a Martyr, not a Bishop: nor have we yet found another Saint of that name.

[4] William de la Croix believes that St. Gundulphus, who is recorded in the Roman Martyrology on June 17, is the same as Genulphus; because in the Breviary of Bourges the same Acts are recounted for Gundulphus on June 17 as for Genulphus on January 17 in the Breviary of Cahors: and that therefore on the former day his Translation is celebrated, on the latter his feast day. For where the book of Miracles, chapter 5, number 19, says the Translation was made on June 20, he believes it should be read as Translation June 20. June 17. But the first life, book 2, chapter 2, number 13, expressly has in all manuscripts "the twelfth day before the Kalends of July." On which day Bellinus of the Paris edition of 1521: On the same day, of St. Genulus, Bishop and Confessor. Maurolycus: Likewise, of Genulphus the Bishop. A certain more recent manuscript: Translation of St. Genulus, Confessor. and June 17. But on June 17, Usuard: In the territory of Bourges, of St. Gundulphus, Bishop and Confessor. The Roman Martyrology agrees, and Felicius, Maurolycus, Bellinus, and most manuscripts: but by others he is called Gundolphus, Gondulphus, Gondolphus. Galesinius: In the district of Bourges, of St. Gundolphus, Bishop and Confessor: whose piety shone forth wonderfully both in other duties of religion and in the redeeming of captives. Ghinius says the same of him, as does Ferrarius, and Canisius; but the latter makes him a Bishop of Bourges, who, however, as Ferrarius rightly observes, does not appear in the registers of Demochares, nor of John Chenu or Claudius Robertus. There is, moreover, in the territory of Bourges both the ancient Cell of St. Genulphus on the Naon, and the celebrated monastery of St. Genulphus on the Anger, or Indre, river.

[5] James Breulius, book 1 of the Antiquities of Paris, enumerating the relics preserved in the cathedral church of St. Mary, writes the following about St. Genulphus: A reliquary of St. Gendulphus, or Genulphus, a Roman, who was made Bishop by St. Sixtus I (rather II), Relic at Paris. and sent into Gaul to preach the Gospel to the nations, suffered much there, and was even cast into a burning furnace, whence he emerged unharmed, as is related in the second part, or summer part, of the new Parisian Breviary on November 13. He had built a monastery in the territory of Bourges, where he died on the same day (rather January 17). His body and head were afterward carried to Paris to the basilica of St. Mary, where his feast is celebrated annually with a double rite. De la Croix writes the same, and attests that in the old Parisian Breviary the acts of St. Genulphus are commemorated in nearly the same arrangement and almost the same words as in the Breviary of Cahors.

[6] On that day the Carthusians of Cologne in their supplement to Usuard: At Paris, of St. Gundulphus, Bishop and Confessor. The same had been added in another hand to the most ancient copy of Usuard which is preserved there in the monastery of St. Germain-des-Pres, and was found in another copy written about 400 years ago: in the latter, however, he was called Gendulfus, in the former Gandulfus: he is lacking in our other Martyrologies of Usuard. But in the Paris edition of 1536 and the supplement of Molanus to Usuard, it reads thus: At Paris, the passing of St. Gendulphus, a Bishop ordained by the Blessed Sixtus: Second Translation. at whose command a pagan raised his dead son. His head rests in the great church of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Paris. Canisius has the same in his German Martyrology; he must be corrected, however, in that he writes that on this day not the Translation but the dormition, or deposition, is celebrated. The manuscript Florarium: On the same day, of St. Gendulphus, Bishop and Confessor. From the day of his ordination until death he did not drink wine; nor did he eat anything but barley bread, and he wore the roughest hair-shirt: and thus his life was far different from that of other men. Saussaius: At Paris, the reception of the precious body of St. Genulphus, also known as Gendulphus, Bishop of Cahors, from his Cell in the territory of Bourges, where he died a most holy death after giving proofs of Apostolic grace, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of February. From the Cell in which he died, he was first translated to the territory of Nevers, to the church of St. Peter, and then to the monastery of the Holy Savior of La Strade, called from him St. Genulphus; and finally from there to Paris. Ferrarius: At Paris, of St. Gendulphus, Bishop of Paris. He cites Molanus and Canisius, who report that he was ordained by Pope St. Sixtus and sent thither. But the latter do not report this; nor was he a Bishop of Paris, as is clear from what has been said.

[7] The first to commit to writing whatever he could learn at that time about the deeds of St. Genulphus and St. Genitus was St. Sebastus, three years after the death of St. Genulphus, Acts written by St. Sebastus: and what their disciples endeavored to make known by faithful narration; as is stated in the first life, book 2, chapter 1, number 5, and in the second life, chapter 6, number 33. Indeed, he even wrote the deeds of those Saints, which he had learned from Leontius and the other disciples. Whether that life survives anywhere, we do not know. We give another, written after the year of Christ 900, from the manuscript codex of Ripatorio, another: collated with the Norman manuscript, which we received from Frederick Flouet of our Society. Nicholas Belfortius, a Canon Regular of Soissons, transcribed the same, but less complete and less correct, from the Longpont codex. Another was published by John Boscius of Paris in the Floriacensian Library, to which he appended a book of miracles. Whether this was written by the same author, or by another, likewise another. Book of Miracles. is not easy to determine. One can sometimes detect a similarity of style, as in the fact that he inserts verses and half-verses: but he repeats many things previously said differently, from which you might rightly suppose a different author. The author of the book of miracles was certainly a professed member of the Benedictine order, as is clear from chapter 4, number 13, and indeed in the very monastery of St. Genesius on the Anger, as he indicates in many places, especially numbers 16, 29, 37, 39, 41, 47, and he lived after the year of Christ 990, as is evident from chapter 12, number 50. We have divided the chapters more aptly, omitting the titles which appeared to have been added by a more recent hand, perhaps by Boscius himself. We have, however, printed the numbers of the earlier division in the margin.

LIFE

from two ancient manuscripts.

Genulphus, Bishop in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 3357

By an Anonymous Author, from manuscripts.

BOOK I.

PROLOGUE.

[1] The wondrous virtue and wisdom of Christ is to be wondrously adored in His Saints: which, while it always promises to the unjust the consideration of mercy, It is profitable to praise the Saints. crowns the just with glory and honor. In order that we may be counted in their number, it ought to seem a great thing to us that to such great sinners in such great misery it is granted to praise Christ in His faithful Saints. For they shall praise the Lord who seek Him. And although praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner, let us turn to some Saint, so that while the blackness of our crimes discolors us, the mantle of frequent praise may daily invite them to our aid. For if we recall the riches of God's mercy, He does not wish to defraud us of His grace, for whose example He sets forth the wondrous life of His Saints, who, now by various temptations, various persecutions, and manifold torments, seize heavenly joy in return for the labors they have endured. Passing over many, lest they be multiplied beyond the sand, we turn the service of our pen to the feast day of the holy Father Genulphus: and let the young with the elders see and judge, and the less credulous with those already more perfect, what they may hope from Him whom the Most High made wondrous from his mother's very womb, filling him with the endowment of all virtues. For before he was brought forth from his mother's womb (because persecutors of God's holy Church are never lacking), in those times the persecution of the Emperor Decius blazed forth exceedingly against Christians, especially in the city of Rome, to such a degree that confessors of Christ's name were compelled to sacrifice to idols, suffering the pains of various tortures and punishments for having annulled the superstitions of the demons.

CHAPTER I.

The parents and youth of St. Genulphus.

[2] In this time there was a certain man, named and meriting the name Genitus, a most fervent lover of the Christian name and venerable for the nobility of his distinguished blood, whom the consummate nobility of mind and body had made commendable to Christ under the hidden garb of divine religion. St. Genulphus, of pious parents, Who, like a most prudent bee, had made himself pleasing to God in his heart by the varied blossoms of virtues, aiding the poor with a devoted heart, sustaining widows and orphans with a compassionate heart through almsgiving; so that by giving alms, the dwelling places of his soul might be clean. Spurning the foul allurements of debauched pleasure, for the sake of begetting children he took to himself a companion similar in character, sprung from the most excellent lineage, named Aclia, who, submitting to the teaching of Christ, was greatly beloved by Him.

[3] Living therefore through many lustra of years in God-loving discourse of mutual fellowship, long childless. and abiding according to custom as two in one flesh, while they daily offered new offspring of the soul to God, they appeared for some time to have spent the time barren and without children of the flesh. Walking therefore, both of them, in the justifications of the Lord and keeping His will in heavenly commandments, at length after a short time they resolved in common to beseech the Lord's clemency to permit the barren womb to be filled with sacred seed; so that from the ark of the womb, filled with good will, He might pour forth into this light one who would be profitable to the needs of many and would be an example and model of all goodness. For they had heard: Those who instruct many to justice shall shine like the sun for all eternity; and they rejoiced, indeed they desired, that the harvest of Christ might increase through them and theirs with the fruits of a hundredfold multiplication. Dan. 12:3. obtained by prayers, Christ therefore deigned with His accustomed condescension to visit those servants burning with so great a spiritual desire, and granted to the most blessed Aclia conception for their endeavor. The blessed father Genitus, perceiving this with joyful eye, with grateful heart returned innumerable thanks to the heavenly hearer, turning over a twofold feeling in his mind, knowing both that God was propitious to him and that he had been able to merit a son by his prayers. he is born: At length, when from the palace of the maternal womb a most illustrious offspring had been poured forth into this light, his parents with unspeakable joy gathered an assembly, and the threefold immersion of the sacred font made the second birth render him beloved and dear to God by the hands of his parents, and they arranged that he be called Genulphus.

[4] Growing in spiritual exercises, and from his very cradle avoiding the hazard of this fleeting world and spurning headstrong impulses; all marveled with astonished hearts at the manifold elegance and promising beginnings of this kind in the boy, as at something unwonted. For at the age of five he was entrusted by his parents to the Blessed Pope Sixtus of Rome, He is instructed by St. Sixtus II. who under the aforesaid accursed Decius later suffered punishment for the heavenly Lord, and with many prayers they committed the boy to him to be imbued with sacred training; so that, worthy of heavenly instruction, with an observant heart and the circumspect devotion of faith, he might run without stumbling the way of God's commandments: so that in evil times and in days of famine for the words of God, he might set himself as a wall for the house of Israel; and with the bread of the words of heavenly wisdom and knowledge, he might refresh the hearts of the hungry. The most holy man, therefore, admitting him through the harbor of gentle adoption into the garden of spiritual plantations, nourished the storehouses of his tender infancy: until after a little while the bread of knowledge so strengthened the first stirrings of his senses endowed with a remarkable memory: that his childhood retained the Old and New Testament in his teachable memory. The clemency of the Lord, the teacher of all, strengthened the senses and heart in the boy, so that you might see flowing from his childish breast the streams of all learning, and a mature heart rooted in the boy with authentic character. It was beautiful to behold the aged patience of the frail boy, while from his peers he endured a thousand insults, from his elders frequent blows, from those younger he was pushed about as far as they could manage with injury: exceedingly patient. and yet all these and many other things he bore patiently with great joy for the name of the Lord.

[5] The aforesaid most prudent and memorable holy Bishop Sixtus, considering his great holiness, radiant with the fair victories of patience, a temple truly worthy for the Lord to inhabit, purified by fasting and made most pure by prayer, conferred upon him the grades of Ecclesiastical administration. He is made Bishop, And afterward, furnished with the insignia of the Episcopate, he shone fittingly in the midst of the Church, a Priest in a blossoming stole. While this holy youth was in his first boyish years and was laboring as much as he could in scholarly disciplines, his mother Aclia, beloved of God and men, departed from the world, his mother having died. whose memory is in blessing before God always.

[6] Therefore grief-stricken sorrow so filled his father that he would scarcely admit consolation, bewailing the loss of the half of his soul in which he had found rest, in whose friendly companionship was the solace and repose of his soul after God. At length, coming to the Blessed Sixtus for the refuge of consolation, to whom he had already entrusted his son of good hope, he laid before him, with sobbing lament, the elegiac and tearful complaint about the loss of his wife. St. Sixtus consoles the father. The aforesaid Bishop, bringing forth new and old remedies of consolation from the spiritual treasury, dried the mournful heart, cast down with grief upon the ground, with the hand of consolation, so that it could not bear any delay without interruption of consolation in receiving comfort: but returning innumerable thanks to the Most High, what had been causes of mourning began to be occasions of joy; deeming it unworthy to weep further for her whom the Heavenly One had taken to Himself in eternal rest, since it is written: Rejoice, for your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20. And so he was now more solicitous for himself, and began to bewail more attentively in the exile of worldly joy the pilgrimage from the heavenly fatherland, and to sow in tears that he might reap in joy.

CHAPTER II.

The Apostolate in the Gauls.

[7] In these times it happened that the aforesaid Emperor Decius came to Rome, armed with the devices of malignant fury: While Decius rages, and drawing a thousand sighs from his black breast, with fierce countenance, with disordered state of mind, and raging with the whole spirit of malignity against Christians like a roaring lion, wherever he found those confessing the name of Christ, there was one irrevocable decree: either to be enslaved to profane worship, or to be deprived of the goods of this life, and to perish with torment and suffering; not thinking, the wretch, what it profited to condemn souls to mute metals, and to worship a bird, a base ox, a twisted serpent, and a half-human dog, that a full human being should bow down in supplication. Commanding therefore Dukes with Counts, and vicars with soldiers, they deliberated in common about the unjust persecutions of Christians. And so great was the fury of his indignation that unless he was causing harm, he believed himself dead.

[8] Both are sent by St. Sixtus into the Gauls. Therefore the report of so great a calamity, flying about in every direction, could not remain hidden from the Blessed Sixtus, and calling St. Genitus he summoned him to his presence. Among many other gifts of divine discourse, he unfolded profitable and useful precepts to him, saying: O my most delightful brother, Genitus in Christ by the integrity of your character, do you not consider how the one who is forgetful of all goodness is daily busied around the folds of the Lord's sheepfold, not to save but to kill, and to destroy with universal ruin the name of the Savior from the land of the living? You are not unmindful, as I believe, of the Lord's commandment, which says: He who loves father or mother, and much else that follows, more than Me, is not worthy of Me. Matt. 10:37. This it is necessary to embrace with a faithful mind, and it must be considered, lest while all, out of love for an unconquerable profession, direct the steps of their mind to the palm of the heavenly calling through martyrdom, there be lacking laborers for the Lord's harvest: especially since we can be Martyrs by will alone, resisting vices and pleasures, ever wrestling in the arena of the flesh with the unwearied arms of faith. For we are also commanded, if they persecute us in one city, to yield to their fury. Matt. 10:23. Wherefore, my beloved, fulfill the Lord's commandment, and going, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and seek the regions of the Gauls with unwavering faith, and you will have Genulphus as the staff of your most holy and praiseworthy mission. For in those regions the word of God was already bearing fruit, and the praise of the Angels was on every lip.

[9] And while he was instructing him with these sacred admonitions, and repeating many similar things from the heavenly commandments, he directed the most holy man Genulphus to celebrate the sacred solemnities of the mysteries with great honor. And when the mysteries were completed, the Blessed Sixtus bade them farewell, again and again repeating much concerning the love of Christ, and gave St. Genulphus authority to preach the saving command with free power, and to exercise the plow of preaching throughout all the regions of their journey. They give their possessions to the poor. Immediately upon leaving the city of Rome, according to the words of the Gospel they sold all their possessions, and placed the price in the bosom of the poor, orphans, and widows, reserving nothing for themselves from all their goods, so that their righteousness might remain for all eternity. At length, therefore, after many winding turns of a rough road, they began to enter the unknown regions of Gaul. They arrive in Gaul. Into whatever house they found lodging, they said: Peace be to this house. May the Son of peace be with those departing, and peace with those entering: and so, having offered peace beforehand, they took care to impart to whomever they could the remission of sins.

[10] To the Blessed Genulphus, after the function of the sacred order, the camel provided a rough covering, St. Genulphus's austerity in clothing and food. except that at the time of celebrating the mystery he would be clothed in soft linens and the other resplendent ornaments which pertained to so great a mystery: and again, when the mystery was completed, he would put on again a most rough garment made of hair. From the day of his ordination also until the day of his death, the taste of wine remained unknown to him, except what he tasted in the chalice at the celebration of the sacred Masses. Barley bread likewise was taken, not to the point of satiety, but more sparingly, always constraining and attenuating his noble body for the love of God.

CHAPTER III.

A demoniac freed. Many converted.

[11] When they entered the city of Geturnum at the same pace, they were received by a certain widow, for the sake of hospitality. Where how great was the mourning, how great the tears, it is not ours to say. For the only son of that very widow was being mourned, whom a hideous demon of the human race had possessed to such a degree that he was restrained from biting people only by the fetters of chains and the hard clamps upon his arms, and he tore apart those who came near, and mangled them with lacerated hands. He terrifies the demon in the demoniac, The holy men, entering this wretched house, first preached peace; and they were moved to grief by the misery of the boy himself, bound, murmuring to each other certain wonders of the Holy Spirit, touched inwardly with sorrow that the reins of the demon were so loosened that Christ permitted His creature to be battered by the manifold insults of possession. What shall I say? Without any delay of even an hour, the demon, resuming through the boy's mouth the office of speech, tightened his voice in the throat, and through the organ of another's voice, in his rage, he thundered forth this response of most wretched lamentation: O merit of faith! O beautiful pearl of holiness! O St. Genulphus, lover of all virtues, why do you pursue me? Why do you, a stranger and pilgrim, expel me from my own seat? O what have I deserved? O what is so great a boldness of the soldiers of the Lord? Let be, O Saint, the souls of my own; let me inhabit the place I have taken.

[12] The mother and all the servants heard the boy crying out these things most wretchedly at the instigation of the demon, and they began to marvel, and to say to one another with gentle tone of voice in a plaintive manner: Who taught this unknown person's name beforehand? Who do you think this is, who is a man of such imperious authority in the service of so great a divine power? Saying these things, they looked on attentively for the great and wondrous outcome of this matter. On one side stood the parents with tears, on another the boy with the demonic portents of indescribable shapes, on yet another the holy Confessor, armed with the armor of God and the sword of the Spirit, and fortified with the shield and helmet of salvation: who, in the sight of all, turning to the boy, said:

O perverse fraud of the devil, most wicked, Darkening the whole race of descendants With black stains at the first creation,

do you again seek out this creature of the Lord, and thus with undue right claim for yourself the wretched entrails of this boy, and dragging him about through various places do you not allow the creature to serve its Creator? In the name, therefore, of Him who made all things from nothing, he drives it out. leave the place you have seized, and do not henceforth have the audacity to return: and let your binding be in the lowest hell, and be henceforth far from the fellowship of all Christians. Then, crying out with the terrific bellow of its accustomed howling, it abandoned the poor man whom it had been tormenting; and groaning, it fled indignantly beneath the shades: and the boy fell as if dead, brought back to life, remaining speechless and tongueless for a little while without a voice. The Blessed Genulphus, however, applying hand to hand, raised him from the ground, safe and sound, blessing the Lord Most High in His Saints.

[13] The mother, seeing the wonders of so great a power and her only son praising the Lord for the health restored to him, He converts the demoniac himself and his mother. and embracing the feet of the Saint; terrified beyond belief by the unwonted miracle, she fell at the feet of the Saint, and crying out she said: My lord, Confessor of the Lord, I seem to see in you as it were the face of an Angel: you are filled with the speech of pleasing charm: your voice is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb. Wherefore you will be blessed in all tongues and peoples, and blessed is the mother who bore you. I beseech you through the omnipotence of Christ's name, that by the washing of the spiritual font you may cleanse me from the filth of ancient contamination, so that the blessed mother Church, having neither spot nor wrinkle, may present me, renewed into a new person, who was created according to God, through you to my own Maker; and that instructed by your saving admonitions, I who was a teacher of error may become a disciple of truth; because until now I have served vanities and things which are not. Wherefore I beg to be cleansed from my sins, that I may be justified in your words. In truth I have recognized that it was the will of God to lead these regions back through you, His faithful ones, to the way of salvation: so that for such and so great things your name may be blessed in future generations.

[14] The most holy Priest, admiring the faith of so great a matron, addressed the holy Father Genitus with these honeyed words: O my Father, do you not consider how great are the benefits of heavenly gifts? Certainly whatever the Lord wills, He does in heaven and on earth,

He who numbers the stars, whose names He alone knows, He knows their signs, powers, courses, places, and times,

the founder of exultation. He gives thanks to God. For in every nation, whoever works justice is acceptable to Him, and He Himself knows the hearts of the children of men, and patiently looks to see whether there is one who understands or seeks God. We, truly, as I believe, have been sent to these parts by His will, whose grace will guide us with all good things and will not allow us to be separated from Him by any temptations, until we taste and see how sweet the Lord is. We ought, moreover, to extol and venerate His greatness with thanksgivings, who through our ministry deigns to unite some to Himself who desire the milk of God's word, that in it they may grow unto salvation. Again and again repeating: Truly I recognize that we have been presented to this place by a heavenly nod, in which the peace of the Lord has already begun to dwell. Wherefore it must be resolved in our minds no longer to fear harsh and hostile things: but if there is a persecutor in these places, behold, he has us confessing the ceremonies of the Lord. Let us stand with our breast fortified by the shield of justice, and let our feet be shod in preparation for the Gospel of peace, lest we seem to be like the timid, who in the day of battle prefer to give themselves to flight rather than to raise weapon against weapon.

[15] Having spoken these things, turning to the woman whose son he had freed from the demon, he said: Have you now resolved to believe what you promise with your mouth? She answered: Why, Father, do you doubt the grounds of my faith? Could an unbeliever have confessed the darkness of her crimes? Or do you perhaps blush at the burden of sins of a wretched sinner? Apply, I pray, a remedy to my wounded breast, and it will be yours to command, After a three-day fast, he baptizes them. and mine to carry out your commands gladly. The holy Father Genulphus, moved by these words of excellent confession, appointed a fast of three days. And when the third day was completed with all patience, he baptized her together with her son, whom he had freed from the demon, and the entire household, cleansed by the purification of the washing, appeared purer than glass, whiter than milk, and the number of them was twenty-eight, all of whom were baptized by the Blessed Genulphus.

CHAPTER IV.

Other wondrous healings.

[16] Some perhaps doubt that these great wonders of divine marvels are true. Is the hand of the Lord too weak to work far greater things? O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Who comprehends it? Who will search out His way and number His paths? O man, whoever you are who do not believe what we have said, or will not believe that what we shall say is true, attend to yourself. The plausibility of what has been said. You do not derogate from the holy Confessor, but rather you proclaim God to be powerless, in whom they can do whatever they can, in whom they are what they are, in whom they rejoice always to look, in whom they have always to live blessedly. But that this stain of iniquity may be wiped from the heart, may the Lord turn hearts, that they may no longer think such things, but rather may confess and say: I know my iniquity; sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed. But since it is said, Signs are for unbelievers, not for believers, the hard unbelief of unbelievers is to be converted by miracles: so that if they do not believe words, they may believe works, and may honor and love the memory of this holy Father, the faithless together with the faithful. 1 Cor. 14:22.

[17] We add therefore another miracle, which the Lord deigned to work through this holy Father of ours, whose fame almost the entire world had already heard. A certain man named Aglibertus, prompted by this report, came to him with devoted zeal: and prostrated on the ground at his feet, he kissed his knees, repeating these words again and again: O renowned servant of God, O my dear Lord, I beseech the bountifulness of your magnificence to turn aside to my house. For I, your servant, have an only daughter, whom illness itself has rendered helpless: and the grief is no small thing for me, her wretched father, and from day to day as I behold her, I bewail a double calamity; one, the loss of my dearest daughter, and the other, the affliction of a father's spirit, always inclined to tears: by which two things I am most vehemently tortured. If therefore you have compassion on my calamity, Genulphus heals a sick girl and baptizes both her and her parents. I will gladly believe in your God; on this condition, that when my daughter rises from her bed, I will bend my neck beneath the yoke of Christ. Then the Saint of the Lord hastened together with him to the bedside of the ailing girl: and directing the well-known arms of faith serenely toward Christ, through the intercession of his holy merits he soon restored her, healthy in the name of Christ, to her own father. When the father saw her safe and sound, immediately the fruits of hope began to spring forth, and he himself was baptized by the Blessed Genulphus together with his wife and daughter, with the divine grace of the merciful God.

[18] Hearing this, many who were given over to infirmities — namely, the wonders which the power of the Most High was working in His prudent servant — began to flock from everywhere, so much so that a person watching would say the bees had left their hives. He heals very many of the sick: They joined hand to hand, and each one, as he was able, aiding another, also needed help himself. A seeing person drew one who could not see, while infirmity rendered both lame: and they stood by the holy man without envy, whom the clemency of the Lord was healing so that they would not be envious. You might have seen there many with knotted hands, many with half-burned legs, many lacking the use of the tongue, and many with bodies covered in pustules, blind, lame, withered, deaf, and many demoniacs. It would be long to tell how many were healed by him in the name of Christ. He helps the wretched. Concerning the daily expenditure of mercy, I pass over in silence — with which he sustained widows, refreshed orphans, comforted wards, clothed the naked, visited the sick, and consoled those placed in prison; so that God was all things in all things to him. All these things this most holy Father was able to do in the Lord Jesus Christ who strengthened him.

CHAPTER V.

Beatings and other tortures endured.

[19] Meanwhile, while these things were being done — the gains of spiritual works — a certain man, persisting in the anger of malignant wickedness, came and announced to Count Dioscorus that two most cunning magicians had arrived from the regions of Romania, He is accused before the Governor. who trample upon your rites with the foot of annulment, count the most unconquerable gods as nothing, preach the destruction of their temples, mock the ceremonies and ancestral laws with the cackle of a petulant spleen, and moreover uproot all the decrees of ancient custom by some invention or other. For they preach one God, whom they affirm to be omnipotent, and they persuade whomever they can that He alone is to be worshipped, He is to be venerated, He is to be loved with the whole heart, and they openly proclaim with free voice and steadfast heart that they are His servants.

[20] The Count, receiving these things from the mouth of the envious informer, shaking his head and furrowing the brow of his forehead, like a terrible lion, hissed many things from his polluted mouth against those accused in their absence, and with a grave voice summoned the accursed executors of crimes from his lofty seat: Ho, he said, most valiant soldiers, whose hands are the avengers of our salvation and our empire; what does it profit to have lived with praise and gladness while the honor of the gods is despised and their worship is emptied? What use is empire while our gods are overturned by certain profane men, whom the confidence of the magical art puffs up? Bring therefore the accused before me that they may sacrifice: and if they refuse, let them perish by various punishments. The impious ministers, executing the Count's orders, with swift speed set the holy men in the presence of the aforesaid Count. Who, having spoken at length about the annulled worship of his gods, He is brought before him, with his father: said among other things: Are you the Christians whom that art called magic has armed against the divine cults? Are you the ones who are subverting our city with false assertions? What is so great a boldness, O rebels? About to be put to death shortly by the most shameful death, give answer to our interrogation.

[21] He answers boldly. To these words the precious Confessor remained undaunted, and trusting in the omnipotence of Christ, St. Genulphus thus thundered forth with a golden voice: Why do you charge us with so great false accusations by your perverse plectrum, and believe us to be imbued with the enchantments of a nefarious art? Learn, wretch, to become a disciple, and you will be able to learn how great is the power of God. Certainly, protected by the mercy of our King and God, we trample upon all the sorceries of demons: by whose command earthly things are governed, by whose nod the ages were created; in whom we can do all things, by whom, whether you will or no, your power is disposed. O if you would return within the innermost recesses of your soul, you could surely know that the images of demons which are worshipped are nothing, since it is said, Fear first made gods in the world; but that there is one God in the heavenly seats, in whose hand remains your breath, you who know how to use reason, to see with your eyes, to touch with your hands, to walk with your feet: and it is exceedingly shameful and unworthy to venerate and adore handmade idols and phantoms, especially since they have eyes and see not, they have ears and hear not, they have noses and smell not, nor shall they cry out in their throat. Those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them.

[22] Then the Count, rising ever more into anger, said to them: Unless you give assent to my will, and recall all those whom you have led into error by vain persuasions back to the sacred worship, I will kill you with various punishments and blot out your name from the land of the living. Then the Saint of the Lord, Genulphus, answered: Why do you threaten such things, Count? Do not ever believe that we fear your torments. He who is above is powerful to snatch us, if He wills, from punishments, He who always aids His athletes in the contest. O how many Saints before us have suffered mockeries, beatings, chains, prisons, clubs, fires, stonings, cuttings; and yet, having overcome all these, they died by the slaying of the sword! Do you think us degenerate? Behold, you have those whom you may strike: condemn, slay, that you may crown. The Count, moved by these replies, orders them to be beaten with clubs. But they, while being beaten, Both are beaten with clubs: feeling nothing, blessed the Lord who brings enemies to nothing.

[23] Seeing them safe and sound, and that nothing of the punishments reached them, he ordered them to be thrown into a burning furnace, so that from their charred remains the dust might be scattered into the wind. Therefore the most holy Confessors, shut up like gold in the furnace of testing, cast into the fire, unharmed; an Angel comforting them: praised the Creator on high with glad hearts. And immediately from on high the Angel of the Lord descended, and comforting them with many words, cooled the fire and the flames of the furnace, so that the oven immediately became as dew and provided refreshment, not burning; love, not terror. The people, seeing such great powers of God, began to cry out and to say such things as these: Lord God of all the earth, who is like You among all the nations? You are the salvation of the ages, the glory of the Angels, the creator of the waters: and You alone are the God of the Christians, whom Genulphus and Genitus proclaim with their voice. Who, do you think, among the idols of the nations so hears the prayers of those who cry out to him? Who has ever heard such a thing? Who has seen anything like this? Behold, the flames still crackling send forth sparks mightily, and yet these Saints — how cold they are! O how great are the merits of these men, whom the mercy of the Lord assists! Glory to You, Lord, who thus aid those who confess You.

[24] Then the aforesaid Count, seized by much madness, was not even so put to shame: and he ordered the holy men to be taken out of the furnace, gnashing his teeth because the fire had been unable to harm them at all. They are thrown back into prison: Again wishing to contrive something for the destruction of the Saints, he applied iron rings and tightly bound their arms: and he ordered them to be confined in prison until the morrow. The Count therefore remained vigilant through the whole night, devising grievous punishments so that, while wishing to destroy the Saints of the Lord, he might rather crown them. But as they were being led to prison, a voice came from heaven, saying: Be strong, O holy men, and take courage in the Lord, and be not terrified. Behold, the Count plots many things against you, that he may more quickly tear your flesh: they are confirmed by a heavenly voice: but Christ the most powerful King watches, that He may more quickly make your name known in all ages and nations. For on the morrow all the inhabitants of this city, through your exhortation and preaching, will believe in Christ who rules all things. The people therefore began already to become the Lord's flock, and to beseech the blessed Father to confirm them with all speed in the fear of God and to bestow the washing of the holy font for the remission of sins. Having therefore received water, with praise and gladness he consecrated it in the name of the Trinity: and on that day through baptism he begot children for Christ, more than three hundred men, not counting small children and women, whose number was not reckoned. To so great a white-robed company he preached, as he was able, the word of God, commanding them to love peace and truth.

CHAPTER VI.

The conversion of the Governor and very many others.

[25] The Governor's son is suffocated by a demon. On that very night, while the precious soldier was thus arming the sheep of Christ with the sign of salvation, the son of Dioscorus was seized by a demon and soon breathed out his spirit, by the Lord's permission. Seeing this, the father now thought nothing of condemning the Saints, but with torn garment and bared breast, on account of excessive grief, he began to weep inconsolably and to say: O dearest son, O my beloved, why have I lost you to so sudden an illness? Woe is wretched me! Woe is unhappy me, who could survive! It would be sweeter to die rather than to live, when I have lost my only son, when I have lost the lord of my kingdom. O soldiers, weep with me.

[26] But his wife, recognizing the causes of his death, said to her husband: Why do you weep in vain? Why do you torment yourself with weeping? I know and hold firmly in my heart that your fury has merited this, on account of the men whom you ordered to be received into prison. The Saints are led out of prison. Send therefore swiftly and command them to be brought, and beg pardon for your great madness, and seek with prostrate humility that the sins which you have committed against the Saints with bestial fury may be forgiven you, and promise to believe in their God, the Lord of heaven and earth, whom they proclaim without ceasing, on the condition that they raise our son. For with my whole soul I believe that these Saints are blessed by God, and they know how to repay good for evil, because they are meek and humble of heart. Wherefore, if you give credence to my words, whatever you desire you will be able to obtain from them. Touched therefore in heart by these words, through the Lord's clemency, he who had been savage began already to be gentle, and the wolf was changed into a sheep. And immediately he sent swiftly to the prison, where the holy Confessors were praising Christ, and ordered them to be brought before him, and said to the Blessed Genulphus, having already become a lamb from a wolf: What the power and omnipotence of your God is, I would like to know, and why you say that He alone always lives. For you say that God is one, and that He grants to those who believe in Him whatever they ask. If these things are so wondrous and great, since I am unable to understand them, if I knew them to be profitable for me, I would wish to hear them through you.

[27] Then the blessed Father Genulphus, drinking in the words of so great a man with joyful ears, raised his head higher and began a discourse on the heavenly commandments. Then all fell silent and with intent faces held their attention. Genulphus explains the mysteries of the faith to the Governor: While they were silent, he began in a clear voice: My God, whom I confess, is the one Creator of all things, who always was and always will remain, who encloses the earth in His palm, who sustains the throne of the heavens and beholds the abysses: who formed man in His own image; whom, when He had placed him in the pleasant gardens of Paradise, by the malignant persuasion of the devil He placed the whole human race in this world's turmoil. But God the Father sent His Son, who redeemed us with the price of His own blood and freed us from the most wretched underworld. He endured also the reproaches of the faithless — the cross, the spitting, the blows, the crown of thorns — He, the peaceful one, bore the lance, and those whom He had come to save He had as hostile persecutors: and thus death was dead when life died on the wood of the cross: and on the third day He rose gloriously from the grave, that He might give us the entrance of rising from death to life.

[28] The Count, perceiving these things with attentive ear, said: Your words will be shown to be true from this: if what you always preach, you now demonstrate upon this my dearest son: and I with all my people will proclaim His power, and He shall be my God and Lord, whose power remains for all eternity. Then the holy Father said: If you have resolved to believe with a full confession of faith, go and present yourself to your son, and taking hold of his hand say: In the power of the heavenly King, through the Governor himself, now believing, he raises his son. whom Genulphus and Genitus confess, arise sound and stand upright upon your feet. Saying this, draw out his hand, and if he rises, you must gladly believe. And when the father did this, the boy arose, healthy and sound, while his father wept for joy and blessed the Lord; and holding the hand of his son, he fell at the feet of the Saint. Crying out, he expressed penitence for having unjustly punished the Saints, and with tearful voice he begged pardon thus: My most holy Fathers, have mercy on me; let it not be charged to wretched me that I provoked you, that I offended you, that I afflicted you in various ways; because I did not know myself while until now I worshipped a demon. But since I have now believed, I beseech you: grant me pardon and forgiveness of my sins — I who did this in ignorance — and clothe me in the baptism of purification, and baptize my wife with my son and all the people in Jesus Christ our Lord. For Him I truly know, Him I confess; Him I adore, Him I bless, who knows all things and can do all things. What did it profit me to have worshipped things made by hand? I marvel and am amazed at the Lord's patience, who daily receives injury from the contempt shown to Him, and yet at some time even promises rewards to those who come. Do not cease therefore, O Saint of God, to open for us the ways of life, by which we may become heirs of heaven and return from the prison of this exile to those things which He has promised to those who love Him, which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have they been able to ascend into the heart of man.

[29] The Blessed Genulphus, gladdened with manifold joy of heart at the prudence and responses of so great a man, first in the accustomed manner of his habit offered immense praises to God from his breast — who looks upon the lowly and knows the exalted from afar, to whom every heart lies open and every will speaks. After a three-day fast, He therefore appointed for them a three-day fast, conveying many remedies of divine confirmation, by which they might daily progress to better things: and he moderated the measure of penance, lest by a fast of excessive length the vital powers of the inner breast should grow weary, and he was cautious and considerate in his commands, whether according to God or according to the world; always uniting to Christ those whom discretion, the mother of virtues, attracted without ceasing and with moderation. All, animated by the confidence of good hope, desired — the city populace and the rural folk alike, and the little ones together with the elders — to receive from the mouth of so great a Confessor the measure of penance: so that they might not be burdened too much, if something were imposed upon them that they could not carry. He examined therefore the character and life of each, and having assigned penance, he daily exhorted them to make progress in holiness. The aforesaid Count, embracing the appointed three-day fast with humble and prostrate devotion, awaited with joy the third day, on which he would merit to receive the garment of holy regeneration, by which the members clouded with the darkness of vices might be covered; so that with the festive proclamation of praises he might merit to be present in the company of the Angels.

[30] He baptizes them. When the third day of the fast had run its course, the most holy Confessor baptized him with all his people, and likewise his wife together with their son: and he built for them with a most firm foundation a church, which he consecrated in honor of the holy Mother of God, Mary, and also of all the Apostles of Christ: and he instructed them with all spiritual teaching, teaching them not to love the perishable things of this world, He consecrates a church. not to desire earthly things, but rather to pursue faith, to embrace charity, to love justice, and to make themselves well-pleasing by persevering in every good work. He did not cease throughout a continuous period of three months He teaches the neophytes. to contribute all the best things from the divine mysteries, already caring to impart the word of life in other places as well. At length, therefore, putting an end to his discourse, he more attentively commended them to the Lord with a word of blessing, that by the protection of His defense He might save them from the attack of visible and invisible enemies: lest the devil should triumph over any of them unduly, since like a lion he always goes about seeking whom he may devour.

CHAPTER VII.

Demons put to flight. A monastery founded. The death of St. Genitus.

[31] He departs thence. Having therefore confirmed all in the service of the Lord, they both departed from there, and after some stretches of a laborious way, they came to the lands of Gaul, to a little estate called the Cell of the Demons, situated on the small river Naon and located in the territory of Bourges. Seeking there a resting place for their stay, they received from the inhabitants of that place this reply: What is it about the pleasantness of this little spot that delights you, when the means of dwelling is lacking? For if you wish to know this more certainly, that place lacks a human inhabitant; because demons dwell there, and their legion, in terrifying apparitions, drives away the human presence. A place infested by demons, Such a name had given this place its designation, because before that province had received the seedbed of the divine word, the base perversity of men had established a temple of Diana there with the worship of superfluous superstition, and there they sacrificed to demons and not to God: and so for a very long time that place was a snare and ruin of many men. But at length, after the honor of Christian veneration had grown, even the inhabitants of that place began to believe in Christ and to venerate and worship the one most high Lord, the Founder of heaven and earth. Which the old inhabitant, the demon, bitterly resented, and from that time, preparing many things treacherously with the goads of his malignity for those who dwelt there, and badly terrifying many: on which account even a single night's rest after labor was forbidden to the faithful servants of the Lord, lest they be suffocated by those very demons suddenly.

[32] The man of God, not at all moved by their responses, rather invited them not to be faint of heart, he cleanses it with the cross and holy water: and never to despair of the most merciful goodness of God, who is faithful in His words and holy in all His wonders. Remaining steadfast in such constancy, and deliberating within himself for about three hours on this matter, he brought forth the arms of the saving sign, and with an attentive heart he sanctified water under the invocation of the divine name, and sprinkled it throughout the entire spaces of the house, and signed his forehead with the sign of the holy cross, while the neighbors of that place watched and marveled. And when he had placed this standard upon himself and upon all who were with him, together with the Lord's prayer, he rested there in peace that night, not feeling even the slightest mockery of demonic temptation — he who bore beneath his breast the endowment of holy rest, sleeping with a vigilant heart in peace in that very place, because the Lord established him singularly in hope. At length, when the rosy sun came forth, hurled with its flame-bearing splendor of light, and quenched with its brilliance the nourishment of stars belonging to the dark night, people from the borders of that place were immediately present, bowing down; they desired to know what had happened. Seeing them presented to the day, safe and sound, without any trouble of terror, and that the demons had been unable to contrive anything where the congregation of the Lord's servants rested, they marveled at the sudden transformation of the place and glorified the Lord Jesus with no small cries — He who does great and inscrutable things, and wonders without number, who powerfully powerful liberates His servants and slaves, justly just justifies them, wondrously wondrous glorifies them. Raising up with reciprocal jubilation the mighty deeds of the Most High, they henceforth held such men and Confessors of Christ in great esteem, and showed them deference with no small honor, and rejoiced that by their coming they had been visited by the clemency of the Lord, through whom the supreme power had driven the machinations of demons from their own borders.

[33] Observing, therefore, the situation of the pleasant little estate, that it would be suitably close to their wish and fitting and most beautiful for performing the worship of God, they decided to fix the goal of their pilgrimage there: giving the greatest thanks, Basenus gives it to them, along with other things. since after the wide spaces of a manifold journey, a tranquil place had offered itself of its own accord through the omnipotence of God — to them who were pilgrims, to whom the face of a foreign kingdom was unknown. Inquiring therefore who and of what kind was the lord of that place, they learned without delay that Basenus, a prudent and most Christian man, held this very small estate under the authority of his own right; and employing a bearer of their wish, they sent a messenger to ask if perhaps they might be allowed to have a dwelling there, where after their laborious pilgrimage they might recline their weary bodies, and henceforth, secure, might serve the Lord until the end of their life. When the faithful messenger reported the wishes of the Saints to the aforesaid Basenus, he swiftly ran to their lodging, and with a willing heart granted what was asked, and by testament bequeathed much more, by which he handed over everything of his — possessions, fields, whatever he appeared to have there — and resolved to devote himself entirely to their discipleship, and he prudently vowed to be a helper in times of need and in tribulation, should calamity threaten. He then committed to their most holy and praiseworthy care his only son, to be imbued with sacred letters and confirmed in the divine commandments, justly and religiously thinking of the future, so that while there was opportunity and while he was in the body, he might run and accomplish what would benefit him in perpetuity.

[34] The Blessed Genulphus, therefore, taking care for future generations, with voice, heart, St. Genulphus gathers disciples. and mouth alike called back to the grass of the flowering turf those whom he saw bending their course along crooked byways, and seasoned them with the salt of heavenly wisdom. And wishing the place of perdition and uncleanness to be a place of prayer and reverence, he built there an oratory in honor of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles. He labored in season and out of season, day and night, augmenting the necessities of sustenance, lest those whom he had joined as recruits in the teaching of Christ should remain in want for any necessary thing, and after the dissolution of his frail body should more negligently put off their service and their servitude to Christ, and it should be charged against him as a sin.

[35] At this time his dearest father Genitus, after many notable works of virtue, St. Genitus dies: after the warlike contests of worldly toil, which he daily waged by resisting vices and desires, departed in peace to the Lord on the third day before the Kalends of November. The Blessed Genulphus grieved greatly for a time and dissolved entirely into tears, wailing with much weeping that he now remained an orphan and was losing so sweet, so gentle, so kind a father. Rising after the tears, with his own holy hands he washed the body, he is buried. arranged the garments, also decently wrapped it in clean linen cloths; and with a large company and fitting honor of the faithful he buried him not far from the oratory of St. Peter, which he himself had fittingly completed with so firm a foundation, as means allowed, and which was upon the stream of the Naon.

CHAPTER VIII.

Various virtues and miracles of St. Genulphus.

[36] Many adhere to St. Genulphus, who lives austerely. From this point on, the most holy Priest attended more straitly to the divine commandments, and forestalled by divine grace, he sighed ever more and more in spirit toward the things above. He wore down his body with fasts, and by frequent affliction and strong mortification he so diligently shaped it in the service of God that on this very account he was held as wondrous by those who saw him. And religious men, hearing what a strait and arduous life he led, desired to be counted through the loftiness of his simplicity in the lot of the children of God, and coming with devoted obedience they submitted themselves to his instruction, and they renounced the world, and whatever they were able to possess — estates, fields, properties, and whatever else was theirs — they committed to his direction and disposal. For many in that place resolved, on account of the Lord's name, to have the hair of their head tonsured, and desired to be, as far as possible, imitators of him, and to run the ways of life in all spiritual desire.

[37] For as we have inserted above, from the day of his ordination until the day of his departure, nothing that could intoxicate His abstinence, touched his mouth, nor did he desire it eagerly, except that he tasted the Lord's sacrament in the chalice at the celebration of the sacred Masses; in his daily food he maintained barley bread, and in his clothing he constantly wore next to his bare skin a hair-shirt other virtues. woven most roughly from the hairs of camels. Isa. 52:7. Rom. 10:15. If perchance he perceived any stained by the blemish of discord, according to the words of the holy Gospel, Blessed are the feet that bring peace, he took every care that the sun should not set upon their anger, rejoicing when those in discord returned to peace before sunset, and always admonishing them never to despair of God's mercy, nor to give place to the devil. There are very many things that could be said of him, but fearing the laziness of a fastidious reader, we pass over very many things that could be told.

[38] But to return to what we had begun, what shall I say of such a great man? For his life was far different from that of others, and by his angelic manner of life he was set apart from the rest of mankind. Christ worked through him the wondrous miracles of His power, for which his venerable paternity remains honored today in heaven and on earth. He cultivates a garden. For on a certain day, when the most holy Confessor himself was keeping constant watch over his work, lest want should afflict those whom Christ had gathered in that little place, for the purpose of cultivating the land where a garden was to be made, he went out with his disciples. He raises chickens. In which place he had gathered a very great multitude of hens, so that from them he might provide for the hunger of many, whether of pilgrims, or guests, or even of the sick Brothers. In this very place, while, as has been said, he had already consumed a certain part of the day in the work of his hands, a certain deceitful little beast, commonly called a fox, which always lies in wait for birds of this kind, appeared, and snatching one of them with gaping jaws, it passed boldly before the holy Father with its prey. The venerable Father, seeing this, said: O cruel little beast, The fox, at his command, brings back the stolen hen: always given to plundering, why have you come to defraud the Brothers of their small store? Did I gather these for you? Therefore you shall have no permission to carry off what is ours any further: but rather carry the little bird, which you have seized with a biting theft, back to its proper place once more, and leave it unharmed. At the voice of so great a Father, the little beast halted in its tracks, and obeying the command of the servant of God, it swiftly retraced its backward steps, and returning to the place from which it had seized the hen, it released it unharmed. But again, resuming the path of its way, it falls down dead. when it had passed the doors of the church with the greatest haste, suddenly it appeared as if bound, trembling violently, and there, paying the penalty for the theft it had committed, it fell to the ground and expired in the sight of all. And it was a wondrous and truly remarkable thing that from that time to the present, no beast of this kind has been seen to exercise its plundering in such a matter in that place. Foxes do not harm the hens there. Which is clearly shown to have been done by the merits of the most holy patron Genulphus, whose command the cruel little beast so feared that henceforth none of its kind could despise the command of the holy man. Small indeed are the things we relate, and as it were of little account, but all the more should the power of Christ be praised, who even in a small matter did not allow His beloved to be saddened, but in small things and in great was ready to hear His little servant.

[39] But perhaps some deceitful and incredulous person will say: I do not doubt that so great a Confessor, who was able to do the least things, was also able to do greater things, but the writer is to be blamed, The writer makes a tepid excuse for narrating small things and omitting others. who, while he related lesser things, passed over greater ones. Therefore, lest we seem to have passed over his foolishness without examination, I address him briefly, by which he may confess that he has discredited the writer's office; for he indeed passed over much in order to avoid tedium. For what is dearer than a human being, what more precious than the soul? Those who in their earthly habitation feel diverse things — the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and the flesh indeed rejoices in earthly things, while the spirit rejoices in spiritual things. But the weight of earthly frailty depresses and snatches the eyes of the heart from heavenly contemplation. Whoever therefore does not wish to be overcome by evil, but desires to overcome evil with good, let him suppliant seek the tomb of this excellent man, and he will be able to know in himself the great miracle which he seeks. For everyone who seeks him with the whole heart, bound by whatever fault, will by his intercession obtain pardon from the Lord. And it is no small thing, but very great, that what infidelity has blackened, his intercession may restore to Christ whiter than snow. Many are the things which, with the Lord granting it, we desire to relate from his wonderful deeds according to our measure; but it seemed good to pause a little, and concerning those things which we were able to learn up to his calling, we have completed the first little book in rustic speech; and here we have made an end of speaking.

BOOK II.

On his passing and translation.

CHAPTER I.

The death and burial of St. Genulphus.

[1] After many miracles performed in his lifetime, knowing through the heavenly grace dwelling in him that the day of his death was imminent, St. Genulphus foretells his death: on which he would be transferred from this light, that he might receive joys worthy of his merits, the devoted Father summoned all his disciples and foretold the sad news concerning the time of his departure — that on the fourth day he was to depart from the carnal prison of this world to the Lord in eternal rest. Having therefore called together the Brothers, as we said, the kindly paternity and love with which he instructed them was such that they should in no way be saddened by his death, but rather should rejoice, and should run the ways of life with an unoffending step of the mind, and at all times should prefer to serve as soldiers of Christ with heavenly arms.

[2] Very many were the things with which he admonished them concerning divine instruction: and now, with his body exhausted by excessive infirmity, amid the exhortations of pious admonition, he commanded them under the charge of a testament that they should in no way bury his poor body in the church. For he deemed it unworthy that the food of worms and the decay of bones should be enclosed within the doors of the heavenly tabernacle; lest at some time he might seem to act contrarily, while God requires the sweet fragrance of holy works, he orders himself wrapped in a hair-shirt and buried outside the church: and abhors the stench of carnal works: especially since the place cannot make one worthy, but merit can. He further commanded that they should not wrap his body in linen cloths, but should cover the nakedness of his bodily frailty with the roughest covering of a hair-shirt, always repeating this: O dearest sons, although the flesh be clothed in precious soft garments, what is it other than flesh? Certainly it is fitting for a Christian to die in ashes and hair-cloth. Behold, even now my body is dissolving and is rushing headlong to death. Be perfect, Brothers, in all goodness. Behold, I die, and I commend you to the hands of God: and if you have seen in me the example of any good, hold fast to it in the Lord, love it in the Lord: and do not be troubled on my account, but consider what you are and what you will be: for man born of woman lives indeed a short time and is filled with many miseries. Job 14:1. For it is good for me to die in the body and to reign with Christ in the heavens. Wherefore do not be saddened or grieve on my account.

[3] The disciples standing around, hearing these things, began to weep inconsolably on account of excessive grief; and raising their voices to heaven, they kissed his hands and feet, and said with tears: O Father, why do you abandon us? O holy Shepherd, to whom do you leave us desolate? O sweetest Father, why do you dismiss so quickly those whom you so loved? O wretched, all of us abandoned by you shall be lost, and ravening wolves will invade your flock. Holy Confessor, pray that the span of your life may be prolonged; do not leave weeping for you those whom you believe love you. The most holy Genulphus, therefore, moved by these tears of the disciples, He consoles his own. comforted them with a tranquil breast, saying: What does it profit, O brothers and sons, to be so troubled? Such is the condition and limit of human life, which cannot be passed by. Do not weep therefore, dearest sons, do not be saddened over me. For I commend you to the Lord: have hope and the firmest faith in Him, and with all the devotion of purity and the modest gentleness of a sincere heart, as you have begun, serve Him: and hold fast and love that which, through the example of our humility, the divine bounty has made known to you. For if you do this with humble devotion, I know and am confident, and I want you to know and be confident, that the Lord God will always be with you, and will not fail you nor forsake you, until He blesses you, and causes His face to shine upon you, and has mercy on you. But if any misfortune of tribulation should occur, bring forth consolation from the holy treasury of your heart, and with great joy endure for the name of the Lord, and be always mindful of good things in the day of evils, and in the day of good things mindful of evils, thinking on His own words, who says: Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise; and the world will rejoice, and you will be saddened, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. Apoc. 3:19. John 16.

[4] And now, as the fourth day approached, the Blessed Apostle Peter appeared to him as a messenger of the divine calling, saying: St. Peter appears to him. How long, beloved of God, do you delay, and intent on the tears of your disciples, are you solicitous for them? For instructed by your fatherly admonitions and teachings, they will happily depart to Christ when the time of each one arrives, and your love and kindness, for whomever they shall beseech God, will without doubt obtain their requests. Hasten therefore, servant of God, hasten and do not delay in coming: receive the crown which the Lord has had prepared for you from the beginning of the world. The holy Confessor, strengthened by this heavenly calling, with joy and veneration commanded the holy solemnities of the Masses to be celebrated before him. And when, fortified with the sign of salvation, He dies. he received the body and blood of human restoration, and had already completed the exhortation of his disciples, at last bidding them farewell, he departed to the Lord on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of February. And immediately at the very moment of his departure from the body, Angelic voices are heard. voices were heard on high, resounding with songs in the Angelic choir, to such a degree that all who were present at so great a funeral were overwhelmed by the drowsiness of sleep on account of the sweet melody. The disciples, therefore, bearing that holy little body He is buried: and washing it according to custom, arranged his limbs in the roughest hair-shirt, and buried him beside the blessed Father Genitus: who lay interred near the oratory of St. Peter, which was built above the river Naon. The name of that place, moreover, was changed by the faithful devotion of Christians, and is now commonly called the Cell of St. Genulphus, which before his arrival was called the Cell of the Demon.

[5] When three years had elapsed after he departed in peace from the vessel of his bodily habitation, by the Lord's command, He is translated by St. Sebastus. a certain one of his disciples, named Leontus, came to the Blessed Sebastus and announced the death of his holy master Genulphus, and faithfully reported his faithful resolve in Christ Jesus and his wondrous and austere life, and set it forth in due order. Hearing this with an attentive ear, St. Sebastus returned great thanks to God, who works such great wonders in His faithful ones. Inflamed therefore suddenly with the fire of divine love, he came in haste to the place where the bodies of SS. Genulphus and Genitus were contained, and prayed with the greatest reverence; and then, having brought many candles and lights, and with a great company and attendance of faithful men, he raised the most precious pearl of holiness, and translated the bones of both into the cell of St. Peter, whose vault they themselves had built from the foundations with their own hands, and he laid St. Genulphus on the right side, and the body of St. Genitus on the left side — which is the left for those going out and the right for those entering. After he had committed their bodies to burial with great honor, he built individual crypts over each, and so he returned to his own place whence he had come, blessing God. Their life is written by him. He also committed to writing whatever he could learn about their deeds in that time, and what their disciples had endeavored to make known by faithful narration.

CHAPTER II.

The incursion of the Normans. The translation of St. Genulphus.

[6] Since we have spoken briefly about his passing, it seemed fitting to relate henceforth, with the Lord's help, his wondrous Translation, and those things which he accomplished after death. The Normans devastate the Gauls. At the time when the nation of the Normans was devastating all the Gauls, King Charles governed all of Francia. But he was unable to resist them from devastating the borders of his kingdom far and wide, these Marcomanni. They had a king over them named Rollo, by whom the Christian people were sorely afflicted. Who, after the many plunderings and persecutions which he carried out, began violently to afflict the district of Bourges. At length, therefore, arriving at a certain monastery, built in honor of the Holy Savior on the bank of the Anger, They burn the monastery of the Holy Savior. devastating everything, he even burned the little monastery with flames: but he could find no inhabitant. For on account of his cruelty all had fled to safer places. After he had devastated everything and laid waste the entire region according to his will, his cruelty now sated, withdrawing to his own borders with his men, he postponed for many years harassing these parts with wars.

[7] Therefore, after the departure of the enemy, the Abbot of that place together with his Brothers began to be greatly saddened over the buildings of his monastery burned by fire. Conferring with one another, they devised a holy and beneficial plan: to send to the Lord King Charles to give them permission to transfer the body of the most holy Bishop Genulphus to the church of the Holy Savior: so that through his glorious intercession the Lord might henceforth save and guard his place. For the place where he rested was very near to them, to such a degree that it was no more than four leagues from the monastery. The aforesaid Abbot therefore rising, with the unanimous counsel of the whole congregation, Charles the Bald permits the body of St. Genulphus to be transferred thither: taking two Brothers, sought the court of the Lord King Charles, and carefully set forth the matters for which he had come, and humbly requested him concerning the translation of the aforesaid Confessor. When the King asked him who this Saint was and whence he came, and from what parts he had arrived, he replied that he had been a disciple of St. Sixtus, and had come with his father, named Genitus, from the city of Rome to the Gauls. King Charles, hearing this, was made glad beyond what can be believed, and gave permission for them to transfer the holy Confessor Genulphus, and to leave his father Genitus, lest the place of their burial should ever become of little account.

[8] Then the Abbot, made happy, having received permission to return, sought the monastery and announced to the Brothers what he had found. Greatly cheered by this news, they resolved to approach the Bishop of Bourges on this matter, and said they wished to transfer the holy body with his prayer and blessing. The Bishop of Bourges forbids it. Rendered exceedingly sad on this matter, the Bishop in no way wished to give them his assent; but remaining harsh like Pharaoh, he forbade it by his episcopal authority. Hearing this, the Brothers were afflicted with excessive grief and did not know what should be done. At length, therefore, they returned to the King's palace and with tearful voice reported the harshness of the Bishop, and asked his counsel on what they should do in such a matter. Then the King commanded The King advises it be done secretly, that they should contrive a blessed theft with all caution, and returning should watch for every opportunity, if perhaps they might by some means fulfill their desire. And he said that he had a small oratory of St. Peter fittingly built between two rivers, the Loire and the Allier, to which they could flee for safety, he offers them another church. and keep the holy body, until the anger of the Bishop should subside and he should permit them to hold so great a treasure in peaceful tranquility.

[9] The Brothers, therefore, returning from the King's court, reported everything in the monastery — both the King's counsel and his wonderful desire for its accomplishment. And they began to encourage one another and to seek who could diligently carry this out. At length, two were found who undertook to attempt this work with willing spirit. Coming also to the place called the Cell, Two monks secretly carry away the body; where so precious a pearl was contained, they had lodging within the house of the Priest who served that place, and invited him with many entreaties and promises to consent to their desire and to show them the holy Confessor and to labor with them in this work. While he refused greatly and was unwilling to consent, suddenly touched by the divine clemency, he himself even began to encourage them of his own accord, and showing the little spot, he was the first to begin digging. Lifting therefore the holy treasure into saddlebags on the necks of horses, they began to return with the greatest speed to the aforesaid place. Obtaining thus what they had long desired, with the greatest haste they sought the place which King Charles had mentioned: and with great fear, day and night, they strove with untiring horses to complete the journey they had begun.

[10] The lord of the place pursues in vain. When this became known, the lord of that place began to be greatly troubled, and was affected with much grief and sadness over the relics stolen by the theft of the Saint, and mounting horses he hastened with all speed to pursue, and along a road by which they had not gone, he began in vain to pursue the fugitives. His horses and all his household at length exhausted, he returned with much grief and wailing to his own home, and so the bearers of the holy relics completed what remained of the journey with swift course.

[11] When they had arrived at the city of Bourges, where the aforementioned Bishop presided, from whom the fraud committed was hidden, behold, before them a demon began to cry out through the mouth of a man, saying: St. Genulphus, can I flee from you? Why do you pursue me even in these places? Is it not enough for you that you drove me from the region of Geturnum and forbade me to inhabit the Cell? Why, taken away by theft, do you pursue me? A demoniac is freed at the presence of the sacred body. Woe is wretched me! Saying these things, the demon immediately left the man whom it had invaded, sound and healthy. The divine mercy wrought this through His most beloved servant, lest the Bishop should in any way discover it, and lest the fear which those carrying the body had conceived at the cries of the demons should be driven from their hearts. At length, therefore, they arrived at the desired place, the oratory of St. Peter, which was mentioned above; and there, guarding the holy body with all diligence, they remained for some time.

[12] Those monks are excommunicated by the Bishop: When, by the spreading of the report, the aforesaid lord of that place from which the members of the holy Confessor had been secretly taken away learned of this, sad and mourning, he approached the aforesaid Bishop and tearfully announced what had happened to him and how the relics of the holy Bishop had been taken away. Then the Bishop, wasting away within himself with anger — namely, that monks had stolen the members of the holy Confessor against his prohibition — bound them with a grave excommunication until they should present themselves before the Bishop's audience and should give satisfactory answer to whatever questions were put to them. Therefore those Brothers came forward who had perpetrated this theft, and lied, saying they were not guilty, with a crafty excuse. They said therefore to the Bishop: They craftily obtain absolution. Why, Lord Shepherd, are you so troubled, and have you excommunicated those Brothers? For one of them has already died, and the other, detained by a grave illness, has left us uncertain of his life. Let mercy therefore triumph over judgment, and absolve those Brothers who perpetrated this theft from the motive of devotion, not from contempt of you. By these and other crafty excuses they surreptitiously obtained absolution from the Bishop, and so they returned whence they had come.

[13] While they were still on the road, they encountered a certain Cleric who was familiar to them: and dealing with him, they implored him to speak with the Bishop, so that he might permit the holy relics to be transferred to the basilica of the Holy Savior. Then the Cleric, coming to the Bishop, said: Why, Lord Bishop, did you allow the monks who came into your presence to go away? Certainly they are the thieves of the holy treasure, and they swear that in no way will they return what they have taken away. If, however, I knew it would please you, I would give counsel in this matter. For their place is near to you. Wherefore, if it were agreeable, I would judge this to be useful: that what the royal authority has granted them, your munificence should not destroy: With the Bishop at last consenting, but should release to them the holy body, so that prayer may be made to God on your behalf, and our region may be honored with so great a treasure, and not strangers, without your authority. Corrected therefore by the inspiration of God, the Bishop gave his assent to the Cleric, and said to him: Since you seem to speak the truth, behold, I will willingly do what you have said, provided the holy Brothers remember me in their prayers, and I will gladly confirm what the royal authority has permitted. Let them rise fearing nothing, with the blessing of God and our permission, and let them carry back the holy members to the place which they have chosen, with all honor and reverence. The Brothers, therefore, rising, decently arranged the holy members on a bier, and from the oratory of St. Peter, the body of St. Genulphus is transferred. in which they had remained for a very long time, they transferred it on the twelfth day before the Kalends of July to the monastery of the Holy Savior. What great miracles the Lord wrought in that place through the holy Confessor would be long to investigate: but yet what we have learned from the mouth of the faithful, we have deemed it worthy to write.

CHAPTER III.

Other translations of St. Genulphus. Miracles.

[14] After very many years, again the treacherous race of the Normans left their own borders, When the barbarians invaded again, and began to afflict Gaul a second time. Terrified by this rumor, the monks of the Holy Savior again transported the body of the most holy Bishop Genulphus to the fortified place whose name is Lucas, and entrusted it to the Clerics who dwelt there. When it had remained there for some length of time, the Abbot Elias of most holy memory commanded it is transferred elsewhere: that they should place the holy body on a bier and restore it to its own place. When the Clerics had placed the holy relics upon the bier, they placed the text of the Holy Gospel, which is in the monastery to this day, upon a peasant; and so, going ahead and leaving the peasant behind, it is carried back home, they departed with the relics on their way. And behold, suddenly a violent storm arose, and a flood filled the entire land. Seeing this, the man began to be greatly distressed, not knowing where he might keep the text of the Gospel safe. While he stood in one spot by himself, he waited to see if perhaps the deluge of so great a flood might pass by. the rain being held back. And so it happened by a great miracle that no rain fell upon the man, nor upon the text of the Gospel, and he came to the monastery which is built in honor of the Holy Savior upon the river Agneris, blessing Christ with a loud voice.

[15] When, moreover, on account of a certain persecution by enemies, St. Genulphus was being carried to the fortified place He provides for those destitute of grain. which is commonly called Palutellus, and the hour of dinner had already arrived, the Brother who was transporting him by boat began to complain to the Saint, saying: You see, O St. Genulphus, that the dinner hour has passed, and those who are with you remain fasting. Surely, if you wished, you could give food to your servants. When he had said this, immediately a fish of marvelous size, which we call a pike, threw itself with a leap into the boat beside the Saint. Having seized the fish, they arrived with great rejoicing where they were heading, praising God with a magnificent voice in His Saint.

[16] At another time, a certain mother of a household, coming from the regions of Brittany with her only nursing son, had lodging in the monastery of St. Gildas. In which place they remained so long until the little boy himself reached manly age, and he served in the necessities of the Brothers. At length it pleased both, namely the mother and the son, that they should return to their own land, and for the sake of praying should come to the tomb of St. Martin. When they had arrived there, so great an infirmity suddenly seized the young man that he despaired of life. Lifted indeed onto a horse, he undertook the return journey with his mother, and with the greatest labor reached the estate of Godore. Now this estate is adjacent to the monastery of the Holy Savior. When he had entered it, worn out almost to the point of death by an excessive contraction of his limbs, he inquired what monastery it was that was situated not far before him. When he heard that it was the place A certain sick man fortified with the Sacraments, where the Holy Savior together with the most Blessed Genulphus the Confessor was venerated, he sent to the monastery, that for the love of God they should send him the Lord's Body and Blood. When this had been announced to the Brothers through the Cantor of that place, named Wido, they sent him what he had requested; and they earnestly admonished him to attend to his funeral. Therefore, having received the sacred mysteries, he hastened quickly to where the sick man lay languishing, and giving him the most sacred mysteries and appointing guards, he returned to the monastery.

[17] But behold, suddenly wondrous voices were heard, which all who were present heard. For an army of demons stood by, he is assailed by demons, and they were contending over the soul of that man, to see if by some means it might fall to their share. When behold, three most holy men appeared, namely Paul, Machutus, and Samson, and they armed themselves with solemn speech against the legions of demons, saying thus: What do you malign spirits await here, and what share do you seek in this man? Surely he is ours through the Lord's mercy. For he arrived here as a pilgrim from our regions, and it is fitting he is aided by the Saints, that he who was a servant in body to those whose servant he was, should be raised up by them to eternal rest. While the malign spirits contradicted, and the aforesaid Saints on the contrary affirmed, the people attending the funeral indeed heard the voices, but saw no one. While there was a fierce battle between the Saints and the demons, suddenly the holy Confessor of the Lord, Genulphus, appeared among them, and sitting at the head of the sick man, he turned and beheld the demons standing by: What, he said, are you doing here, you bloody beasts? Behold, the bosom of Abraham shall receive this man. When he had said this, all that assembly suddenly vanished. And he said to Saints Paul, Machutus, and Samson, extending his hand in friendly fashion to their breasts: What are you waiting for here, my lords, and what reason has invited you to this region of ours? When they replied that they were the lords of that sick man, and Bishops of Brittany, and had come here for the purpose of leading him to heavenly rest, the most blessed Bishop Genulphus said: You have indeed done well in this, that you care for your own. Wherefore return, and remember to visit those whom you have left behind; but know that this man shall be ours by the grace of God. For he received sacred communion by the ministry of my monks: especially by St. Genulphus. and it is fitting that I, who have guarded him until now, should offer him to the Lord Jesus Christ. As the most holy Bishop Genulphus said these things, those three most holy men withdrew, namely Paul, Machutus, and Samson. And immediately the sick man opened his eyes and revealed to those standing by that these were the voices which they had heard, and he himself disclosed the names of the Saints. When he had done this, closing his eyes again, he departed to the Lord; and his body was carried to the monastery and was honorably buried by the monks with a great concourse of people.

[18] A certain mute man from overseas regions sought his holy tomb; and as soon as he entered the church, A mute man through him receives his voice. he merited to receive there the function of his tongue, which he had never had, in the sight of all, through the merits of the holy Confessor.

[19] A demoniac woman is freed. A certain woman, moreover, from the district of Bourges, filled with diabolical fury and having lost her senses, as soon as she entered the church, merited to be set free.

[20] A certain man, moreover, from the estate which is called Arfolia, Another demoniac. filled with a demon, was led to the monastery with his hands bound. When the Brothers had washed the relics of the Saints and offered them to him, immediately the demon went out through his mouth with blood, and so he returned to his own home.

ANOTHER LIFE

By an anonymous author, from the Floriac Library of Jean du Bois.

Genulphus, Bishop in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 3358

From the Floriac Library.

CHAPTER I.

The parents, birth, and education of St. Genulphus.

Chapter 1.

[1] Therefore, in the two hundred and forty-seventh year of the Incarnation of the Lord, When St. Genulphus was born. the thousandth year from the founding of the city of Rome was completed. At which time the Emperor Philip, the twenty-fourth from Augustus, together with his son Philip, had completed the third year of his reign. He is reported, on the testimony of faithful writers, to have been the first of all the Emperors to be a Christian, through the preaching of the Blessed Martyr Pontius. While he, therefore, together with his son, held the Augustan dignity, Decius was conducting the administration of the Caesarean office from the Consulship. For from its very beginnings, the Roman Empire always stood under a twofold administration.

Chapter 2.

[2] In these times, therefore, there was a certain man sprung from a distinguished lineage of Roman nobles, who raised the glory of his race by yet more illustrious titles when he became a son of Holy Mother Church, His father Genitus, called Genitus both in name and in merit. Now he, wholly Catholic in faith and adorned with upright morals, resolved, with God's help, to fit himself for all the virtues. Having been instructed in the divine commandments, he most earnestly desired to have as the beginning of virtue the supreme precept of divine commands, namely charity, by which he might love God and neighbor. The most grateful fruits of this supreme virtue the blessed tree of Paradise did not cease to bring forth as long as he survived in this present life. Indeed, out of love of God, a pious man; practicing continual frugality, he himself lived most temperately. Out of love of neighbor, moreover, coming to the aid of the wretched with continual compassion, he fed their hunger, gave drink to their thirst, covered their nakedness, warmed their cold, visited the sick, and sustained widows and orphans with a compassionate heart. Thus indeed, abounding in the bowels of mercy, he relieved the want of others with his own abundance.

Chapter 3.

[3] Meanwhile the blessed man, because he was full of the faith of the holy Fathers, his mother Aclia, who, since they had foreknown through divine oracles that true salvation would come to the world through the posterity of their race, had therefore entered into lawful marriages; he too, not from lustful desire but rather with a view to pious succession, obtained a wife altogether similar to himself in birth and character, named Aclia. This venerable woman, supporting her devout husband in all works of piety, similar to her husband, strove to be not a detriment to his virtue but always an increase to his holiness.

[4] When they had spent some time together without offspring, they resolved in common to implore the mercy of the Lord, that He would fulfill the desire of their holy love and grant them the fruit of a good marriage: one who, free from the corruption of all wickedness, would be acceptable to Him in purity of heart and body, and would provide the faithful an example of innocence and holiness. To their petition the supreme Divinity graciously deigned to assent. They obtain a son through prayers. The venerable woman therefore conceived and at the proper time brought forth her child. And so the venerable father, having obtained his desire, poured forth from his inmost heart innumerable thanks to God, the most high author of all good things, for the grace bestowed upon him. Therefore their kinsmen and relatives, with the affection of kinship, came together with equal congratulation and rejoicing, and in holy baptism they named the child beloved of God, Genulphus. Thus the venerable boy, like another Samuel, sought from God by devout parents, just as they recognized that he had been granted to them as a gift of divine grace, so also was he devoutly raised by them.

Chapter 4.

[5] Therefore, while he was still engaged in scholarly disciplines, his God-beloved mother Aclia, leaving behind the earthly burden owed to nature, He is bereaved of his mother. happily departed to the land of the living, to behold and enjoy the good things of the Lord, as she believed. Whence the holy man Genitus, after her funeral rites had been worthily performed, although he knew he should rejoice because he was aware she had been received into heavenly joys, nevertheless so greatly afflicted himself with grievous lamentations over the loss of so great a consolation, fearing it a detriment to the work of piety, that scarcely after prolonged tears, with the Blessed Bishop Sixtus exhorting him, did he at last restrain his weeping.

Chapter 6.

[8] Indeed the Reverend Pope, observing in the blessed boy Genulphus the most humble gravity of character and his abstinence from wine, He is promoted through ecclesiastical grades to the episcopate. by which he labored with all his might to overcome the wanton impulses of youth; and moreover, considering his admirable life in all holiness, he perceived that he would truly be a worthy temple in which the Lord might dwell, and therefore judged him worthy to be applied to the offices of holiness. Committing to him, therefore, all the grades of ecclesiastical administration, and at last deeming him to be of assistance to himself for the care of the Church, if the opportunity of time should favor it; and also foreknowing that he would be useful to future believers, he resolved to ordain him Bishop.

[9] Although he had until then led as strict a life as possible, His abstinence and other virtues. from that time on he strove in a wondrous manner to lead one even stricter. For from the day of his ordination, without the consumption of wine, except what he received in the celebration of the divine sacrament, and without linen garments, which he wore only in the sacred offices, he spent the remaining time of his life. Abstaining also from more sumptuous foods, using only barley bread or whatever was cheaper, he strove to satisfy nature. Thus the devout boy, directing his youth through the threefold way of faith, hope, and charity onto the path of God's commandments, and most zealously avoiding the perilous byways of this world, thenceforth walked happily along the path of righteousness. The sacred companion virtues attended him, which, by the inspiration of God's grace, he had both conceived naturally in his own disposition and had received as hereditary arms, as it were, from the pious examples of his parents and the teachings of his holy master, strong weapons against the opposing forces of vices. For against the pride of the ancient enemy, by which he had cast down the first-created man, that most holy humility by which the Word of God was made flesh for the salvation of mankind armed him manfully. Patience, moreover, by which the same Son of God endured the fury of the Jewish people even unto the passion of the Cross, always fortified him powerfully against anger. Distinguished also by exceptional chastity, always girded about the loins and illustrious in the vigor of modesty, triumphing over the pleasures of the flesh which he had vanquished, he obtained the flourishing palm of virginity. With these and the other sacred virtues joined to him, throughout all the days of his life he always maintained the indivisible covenant which he had made with them.

Chapter 7.

[10] Meanwhile the Emperor Philip, having held the empire for seven years, was slain in a military tumult together with his son Philip — not indeed in the same place, but one in one place and the other in another. It is established that this was contrived by the machinations of the Caesar Decius out of hatred for the Christian religion, as the tradition of ancient writers holds. Decius persecutes the Church. For he, having been made Emperor after him, reigned for less than three complete years. Therefore at that time, coming to Rome from other parts of the Empire, he incited the most bitter persecution of all previous ones against the Christians, namely the seventh from that which took place under Nero, crueler than all the most cruel. Having therefore dispatched orders to all authorities in every direction, he spread cruel edicts throughout the world: that for those who despised the idols, every kind of torment should be prepared both privately and publicly, and should be horribly inflicted upon the Christians to their very last breath. In these times indeed the Church of the faithful, which throughout the world stood divinely established in its own places, like a shining lily among the dense brambles, like the beauty of a blushing rose among the thorns of briars — so amid the savagery of the unfaithful Gentiles, both shining with the grace of pious confession and glowing red with the shedding of sacred blood for the truth, it was fragrant to God with the odor of sweetness.

Chapter 8.

[11] But the blessed Bishop Sixtus, at the arrival of the cruel beast Decius, raging terribly over the sheepfold of Christ, St. Sixtus strengthens his flock: as a pious shepherd gathers together the flock entrusted to his care. Fortifying them with divine exhortations against the snares and wars of the raging wolf, he both clothed them with the armor of faith, and strengthened them with the hope of heavenly reward, and confirmed them in the charity of divine love. When indeed as a glorious leader he had incited many to the palm of martyrdom along with himself, among whom that illustrious Deacon Lawrence shone forth, others equally adorned with commendable holiness he resolved to remain in the rank of confession, to strengthen the minds of the faithful in the constancy of sacred faith. For indeed our King Christ, singularly mighty of hand, delights to distribute equal portions of rewards after the victory both to those fighting in battle and to those prudently remaining with the baggage — that is, to those toiling in the constant watches of good works for the protection of themselves and their own. For He Himself, having vanquished the tyranny of the Prince of this world, after the glory of His resurrection, is believed to have decreed two orders of the faithful in His Church, namely that of martyrdom and that of confession, when He commanded Peter to follow Him by the Cross, but openly declared that He wished John to remain thus — namely, that he should end his life in the peace of the Church. He sends Saints Genitus and Genulphus to the Gauls.

[12] Having moreover exhorted all in the faith with many words, calling the blessed father Genitus to himself, he said: My brother Genitus, whom the pious disposition of sacred religion and the sure renown of holy virtues manifestly declare will always keep faith with our King Jesus Christ: I beseech you to yield to my prayers and obey my commands. You see indeed that the battle of the unfaithful presses against the faithful, to the detriment of the sacred faith; in which contest the battle line of Christ's soldiers must be drawn up by us according to His own authority, so that by denying ourselves and taking up our cross and following Him — thus, namely, that just as we fight when opportunity arises, so also, but with the faith of our King preserved, we should yield when opportunity arises, according to His own command saying: If they have persecuted you in one city, flee to another. This is to be observed by us not to the detriment of His warfare, but rather to its increase. Matthew 10:23. So that our embassy of the eternal King and Emperor, directed in every direction, may always strive to choose and gather for Him the most zealous and most faithful recruits. Therefore, not marking you with the stain of cowardice, but consulting the growth of God's Church, we commit to you and to your only son, our most dear Genulphus, the mandate of Christ: that, namely, having distributed to the poor all that you possess, you should fearlessly withdraw from the present fury and make for Gaul, where, by God's providence, the seeds of the divine word are already bearing fruit. For there the opportunity to devote yourself to God will be freer, where the impiety of the faithless now less constrains the wall of faith. Henceforth, moreover, with the preeminent prudence of your most beloved son, our Genulphus, going before, with our authority, according to the grace given to you, strive to sow the salutary seeds of faith in suitable places and times, so that at the time of harvest, when the tares are delivered to be burned, you, rejoicing, may happily carry sheaves of righteousness to the barn of the Householder, destined to receive from Him an everlasting reward. When the holy men had therefore reverently acquiesced to such admonitions of the Pope, he immediately commanded that the Blessed Genulphus celebrate the solemn rites of the sacred Mass with solemn ceremony. When these were completed, having greatly exhorted them in the faith, he bade them farewell with the grace of his blessing.

[13] Having received the blessing, they forthwith, having disposed of all the honors with which they had until then seemed to prosper according to their nobility, They give their possessions to the poor. distributed the entire value of their estates and patrimony to the needy. Thus they purchased that poverty which is so rich and stored up in heavenly treasures, that from them they might deservedly become those whom the Lord Christ beatifies, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3 Trusting therefore in this wealth, by which they knew that nothing is lacking to those who fear God, the servants of God undertook the pilgrimage decreed for them into Gaul.

CHAPTER III.

Apostles of the Gauls. Miracles of St. Genulphus therein.

Chapter 9.

[14] In these times of Decius, moreover, others are reported to have been likewise sent from the Apostolic See to the Gauls. Among them the most eminent and most holy Saturninus was the first Bishop of the city of Toulouse, who after some time from his arrival shone forth there as a glorious Martyr. Marcellus also, who at the fortress of Argentomum fought manfully for Christ so long until he gloriously obtained the palm of martyrdom as a victor. They arrive in the Gauls. Now the Saints Genulphus and Genitus, with divine grace accompanying them, hastening toward Gaul, according to the Lord's command, offered peace to every house where they turned aside, saying: Peace to this house — so that when their peace, by divine inspiration, should rest upon the children of peace, they might thereafter minister to men of good will the good things of eternal life by preaching peace. Luke 10:5. And so, having crossed the Alps, they reached the Gauls.

Chapter 10.

[15] Now Gaul, which once thriving with warlike inhabitants is reported to have been more hostile to the Roman name, the ruler of the whole world, than all other nations, but at length subdued by Julius Caesar, thenceforth obeyed the Roman Empire; and in its greatest cities the Legates of the Emperors, by their decrees, administered the laws of the provinces of Gaul. But after those times also came which had been preordained by God the Father, in which His Only-begotten, coeternal with Him, our Lord Jesus Christ, deigned to come humbly from the lofty citadel of heaven, to subject the world's pride to Himself, and to subject the whole world to His laws through His chosen ones, He directed the Princes of His warfare, Peter and Paul, to the sublimity of Rome, by whose virtue and industry the whole Republic might be subjected to Him. They therefore, zealously pursuing the task committed to them, through the best of their own people likewise attacked Gaul as well, to subject it to the Emperor of heaven and earth. Among whom were Austremonius and Martial, who were sent by Blessed Peter; The first Apostles of the Gauls. of whom the former was afterward given as a glorious Martyr to the Auvergne, and the latter as a most illustrious Confessor, renowned in signs and virtues, to Limoges. By the Blessed Apostle Paul also, Paul was ordained Bishop for the people of Narbonne, and Trophimus for the people of Arles, from whose fountain of preaching all Gaul is reported to have received the streams of faith. By these therefore and by many others, who had drawn more abundantly from the living fountain of God's delights, with the holy Apostles offering them drink, Gaul already stood partly irrigated by the streams of faith, as was said. For at that time the river of God, filled with sacred waters — namely, of baptism — was in every way held back by the barriers of idolaters, lest it should flow more freely. But with the grace of Christ prevailing, it could by no means be entirely prevented from both gladdening the city of God — namely, the holy Church, bathed in the saving font — with the verdure of faith, and from powerfully strengthening it with the increase of virtues for enduring the fierce storms of the Gentiles. But now we must return to the point from which we seemed to have digressed a little.

Chapter 11.

[16] When the holy men had arrived at the city which is called Geturnicensis, they had betaken themselves, having first offered peace according to their custom, to the house of a certain widow, to find lodging. Upon this widow and all her household there lay an exceedingly heavy grief. For that rival of all good, envious of heavenly peace, and the most ancient enemy of human salvation, had seized her only son, whom he was cruelly tormenting with terrifying apparitions and horrible convulsions, most wretchedly afflicting him. Indeed he raged so wildly against people that he tore apart those who came near, and furiously ripped them with bloody hands. Bound therefore with heavy fetters of stocks and his arms tied with harsh ropes, he was at last kept from not so much the biting as the killing of men. The demon from a possessed boy Meanwhile the servants of Christ, seeing the boy crushed by such outrages of demonic fury, moved by deep pious compassion, lamented to each other that the reins of the demon were so loosened to the destruction of Christ's precious work. While they were conversing thus in complaint, behold, suddenly the wretched boy, driven more fiercely by the demon's impulse, looking at the Saints of God with savage eyes, was hurling horrible words of this kind with great gaping mouth, crying out: O immense faith! O magnitude of holiness! Alas, what great power is yours! Why do you, O holy Genulphus of God, why do you persecute me? O heavenly authority! Does a foreigner thus drive out an inhabitant from his own home? O power of Christ, which thus compels me!

[17] The wretched mother and all who were present were astonished at the boy raging in this way, and were the more amazed at how knowledge of unknown men had come to him. They were therefore astounded, awaiting the outcome of so great a matter. Meanwhile Christ the heavenly King, to make known His power to those who did not know Him and to declare the merits of His servants who were present, girds them with the armor of faith for the storming of the enemy. Since indeed this battle was of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, He resolved to triumph over the ancient enemy through the recruit of His sacred army, namely the youth Genulphus, of beautiful and blessed character, adorned with the dignity of the priesthood. Approaching the raving boy steadfastly, he said to the minister of iniquity: St. Genulphus drives him out: In the name, he said, of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to loose the world from the bonds of your error, we command you, accursed Satan, to cease henceforth tormenting this boy, and to go into the eternal punishment due to you. When he had said this, immediately the most atrocious demon, filling the air with horrible howlings, left the man whom he had long tortured, half-dead. The blessed Genulphus, extending his hand to the one cast upon the ground, raised him up from the floor sound and well, and returned the son safe to his mother. She, now admiring the servants of God with greater understanding, prostrated herself at the feet of Blessed Genulphus with her son, praying and saying: I beseech you, O holy man of God, he converts the boy and his mother. to make me a partaker of so great a faith, whose beneficent grace you have displayed upon this boy. For I faithfully perceive that you are a minister of the great God above all things, whose power, so commanding, we have experienced through you. The blessed Bishop, gently congratulating her faith with a placid spirit, thereupon set forth the words of saving preaching to her and to all her household. When they had received them with a thirsting spirit, and he perceived them prompt in faith, he imposed a three-day fast upon them; which being completed, he baptized her with her son and all her household, twenty-eight in number. Just as it is written that certain persons pleased God by having received Angels as guests, so also upon this venerable widow the divine mercy seems to have bestowed its grace, so that through the service of hospitality which she piously rendered to the servants of God, both her son merited to be freed from the demon and she herself with her entire household from error. Hebrews 13:2

Chapter 12.

[18] The worshippers of Christ resolved to remain there for some days, certain without doubt that there were some there whom the mercy of the Savior would deign to win. On this account also, burning with zeal for the faith, they eagerly desired to endure all manner of adversities, so that just as they were confessors of the truth, so also they might be deemed worthy to be its witnesses. He heals a sick girl, And so, with the fame of this celebrated miracle now spreading about, a certain inhabitant of that place named Aglibertus approached these venerable men and, prostrating himself on the ground at the feet of Blessed Genulphus, prayed most earnestly, saying: Great servant of God, by that goodness with which you are seen to be piously distinguished, I entreat you to come to my dwelling. For I have a daughter laboring under a most grievous affliction, whom I believe with no uncertain hope can be saved by your help through the faith which you profess. For with this confidence, my Reverend Lords, presuming to summon you, I also vehemently desire to become a worshipper of your faith. When the man had said these things, Blessed Genulphus went with him; and by the attainment of sacred prayer and through the invocation of Christ's name, he immediately restored the daughter sound and well to her father. The father, marveling at the power of Christ, was soon baptized with his wife and daughter. Thus indeed the inner providence of God, disposing all things justly and providently by its inner judgment, mercifully allows various misfortunes to befall mortals so that they may obtain better things, so that the wondrous operation of His Divinity might be wondrously made known through the merits of His faithful, to the praise of His name. Many indeed, stirred by this report, whom various suffering of diseases had rendered infirm, and many others. or who had parts of their bodies deprived of their natural functions, hastened eagerly to this saving physician; receiving from him the salutary remedies of bodies and souls freely, they strove to renounce the superstitious cults of idolatry and thenceforth rejoiced to persist in the praises of Christ.

CHAPTER IV.

Torments endured. The conversion of the people of Cahors.

Chapter 13.

[19] Meanwhile, when so great a report of the virtues of the servants of God had been brought to the ruler of the city, named Dioscorus, by the agents of the military, he immediately sent men to bring them before him. When they were brought before him, he said: Are you the ones whom report has told of, The Saints are brought before the Governor: worshippers of a new doctrine, which, as I hear, you voluntarily offer to our citizens for their worship? To this the Blessed Genulphus replied: You indeed, relying on earthly power, consider none to be more exalted; when in truth the Divinity whom we worship is more sublime, and the power of God whom we serve surpasses every power which you think most sublime or believe most mighty. The Governor replied: Your answer seems supported by magical superstition, by which you think to more easily pervert the ignorant populace from the worship of the gods. But many torments will frustrate your efforts unless you come to your senses and sacrifice to the gods. To the Governor thus threatening, Blessed Genulphus replied: If you understood prudently, you could perceive us to be fearless on account of our confidence in Jesus Christ our Lord. For we both hold it as certain and faithfully believe that it is not permitted to any power to avail against His will. They are beaten with rods: The Governor, provoked to anger by these replies, commanded them to be beaten with rods. But they, rejoicing, glorified God, for the testimony of whose name they were suffering such things, and who also manfully encouraged them to endure even graver trials.

[20] They are cast into fire, unharmed: The Governor, seeing the servants of God steadfast in faith, inflamed with burning fury, commanded them to be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. When this was done, soon that same power of the Almighty which once wondrously assisted the three youths in the Chaldean furnace in the sight of the proud King, also glorified these His Saints with an equal glory of miracle, in the presence of the aforesaid Tyrant and the assembled people. For an Angel of the Lord descending from heaven so quelled the force of the furnace's fire that the furnace was most swiftly dissolved into streams of dew. Seeing this, those who were present said with immense admiration: Truly the religion of the Christians is wondrous! Truly their God is pious and wondrous, who so piously and wondrously stands by His servants that He protects them in such great flames and delivers them from perilous fires! Truly there is no Savior like Him, who appears so most powerful a helper of His own. While those present were thus crying out, the Tyrant raged rather than blushed with shame. He therefore commanded the Saints of God to be brought out of the furnace. Seeing them completely unharmed by the fires, he ordered their arms to be bound with iron rings, and thus to be shut up in prison until the following day.

Chapter 14.

[21] And so, when they were being led to prison, a voice came to them from heaven saying: They are encouraged by a heavenly voice: Be strong, holy men; act manfully in the Lord. For because you have offered yourselves to God as a most worthy sacrifice through fire, therefore by the prevailing merits of your holiness before God you have obtained this: that all the inhabitants of this city shall henceforth begin to become worshippers of Christ. When the holy men had therefore been shut up in prison, the people of the city now began to flock to them in custody, they baptize many. beseeching the Blessed Genulphus that they might merit to be purified by holy baptism. The Blessed Genulphus, rejoicing at the devotion of their great faith, gave thanks to God. On that very day, therefore, having grounded them in the threefold confession of faith and cleansed them by the threefold immersion of baptism, he offered to the one Trinity, the supreme and singular God, three hundred men, not counting a considerable number of children and women.

Chapter 15.

[22] On the following night, the aforesaid son of the Governor Dioscorus, seized by a demon, Dioscorus, after his son is suffocated by a demon, soon breathed his last by divine judgment. Immediately the father, seized with the most grievous sorrow, wept inconsolably for his only son. His equally sorrowful wife, seeing him afflicted with excessive lamentations, said to him: I know for certain that on account of those men whom you ordered to be shut up in prison, this misfortune of our son has befallen us; for unless they were servants of the great God, they could in no way have been delivered from that fire of the vast furnace. Therefore quickly order them to be brought out of prison, and implore their holy gentleness to forgive you, and to make us certain of the faith they preach, and to raise our only son for us. For I faithfully believe that this can be done through them. And having done this, whatever they shall henceforth preach concerning the faith of their God, you must not refuse. Thus at his wife's urging, the Governor sent attendants to the prison, he brings them out of prison: to bring the servants of God respectfully to himself. When this was done, he said to them: I now prove by certain evidence, O venerable men, that the power of your God surpasses all things and that He is a most powerful avenger of injuries done to His own. Now therefore, begging pardon for the crime committed against you, I readily yield to your counsel, so that the faith of the one true God which you preach may turn me from the many errors of false gods.

[23] He hears the mysteries of the faith: Most joyfully to these words Genulphus replied: Our God, whom we worship, is the God of all, the creator and disposer and almighty ruler of all things; from whom, and through whom, and in whom all things that naturally exist subsist in their own manner, and all living things live; by whose word the heavens were established, and by the spirit of His mouth all their power; whose wisdom founded the earth and created man upon it in His own image and likeness, and gave him life by the breath of life. When man had fallen from that lofty place of God's delights, where he had been placed and endowed with the glory of immortality, by the cunning of the devil — of him who had already fallen through his own pride — and had been exiled in the banishment of this world, and had made himself and all his posterity subject to the peril of death; at length, after many ages had thus passed, God, taking pity on the errors of mortals, sent His Only-begotten — whom we confess to be His Wisdom and His Word, through whom He had created all things in the beginning — born in a wondrous manner from the sacred Virgin, into the world: Jesus Christ our Lord, glorified by the power of His Divinity; who would lead back those who were wandering from the path of death by His own death, and recall them through His resurrection to the way of heavenly life. Who also would wash His faithful from the mire of sin in the wave of baptism, and fortify them against the Prince of death with the sign of life, and would always be present to all who justly sought Him. This is our faith, which we faithfully believe and constantly preach before every power.

Chapter 16.

[24] When these things had been said by Blessed Genulphus, he replied: I pray that the faith of these things which you have spoken may shine forth over the funeral of my only son. He raises the son in the name of Christ: Blessed Genulphus said to him: If you have resolved to believe in our God with your whole heart, go yourself to the funeral of your son, and taking his hand, say with undoubting faith: In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the true life of the living, arise, boy, to life, and stand upon your feet in health. Immediately the father carried out what was commanded, and his son rose alive from the ground. Astonished therefore by the immense wonder of the miracle, he prostrated himself at the feet of the Saints, begging pardon for the crime of the injury inflicted upon them. Behold, he said, behold, I truly confess and faithfully acknowledge that there is none like your God. Now therefore I pray that you make me, together with my wife and son, and likewise with all the people of my city, a partaker of eternal salvation and heavenly life. And so Blessed Genulphus, having received their pledge to believe, after a three-day fast he is baptized with his household. established a three-day fast for the Governor and all who were to be baptized with him. When it was completed, he baptized the Governor with his wife and son, and all the army, and all his people, believing in Christ and proclaiming His wonders, by which He is accustomed to provoke the hearts of mortals to the knowledge and confession of His name. After these events, they resolved to remain among them for three months, to strengthen their faith in God. During these days he founded churches for them for the celebration of God's praises, which he consecrated in honor of the holy Mother of God, Mary, and of all the Apostles; and he ordained them to sacred orders, and faithfully confirmed them all in the Catholic faith and in divine learning.

CHAPTER V.

Withdrawal to Bourges. Death of the parent.

[25] After these things the holy men, bidding farewell to all the Brothers of that Church, departed thence and made for Aquitanian Gaul. This region had already long since, through those whom we mentioned above preaching the word of God, received it in very many of its places. The men of God therefore, entering it more deeply [St. Genulphus purifies a place infested by demons with holy water and the sign of the Cross:] and traversing a great part of the district of Bourges, came to a certain place in which the ancient error of the Gentiles had once built a temple of Diana, which had then been entirely abandoned by the faithful, both on account of the execration of the shrine and also on account of the terrors inflicted by the demons. The men of the Most High therefore, betaking themselves here to dwell, heard from the neighbors that the machinations of demons lurked there. Not in the least disturbed by their words, but fortified by the saving sign of the sacred faith, they prepared water of purification for the cleansing of that building; which Blessed Genulphus consecrated by the invocation of the name of Christ and sprinkled throughout the entire space of the building. Then he fortified first himself and then all who were with him with the sign of the Cross, and so there with his company he rested that night. And indeed not without the astonishment of many who had known the peril of the place by many proofs. But when morning came, seeing that they had suffered nothing adverse from the accustomed furies of the demons, they glorified the wondrous Christ in His servants; and they commended with their praises the men of great grace in His sight, by whose merits they perceived the phantasms of malign spirits had been driven from that place.

[26] Now that place was situated above a small river called the Nahon, He inhabits it, having received it as a gift. quite pleasing to mortals by its attractiveness. The blessed men, surveying its agreeable situation and judging it most suitable for divine worship, resolved to end their pilgrimage there. At that time the place was possessed by right of ownership by a certain most Christian man named Basenus. The holy men, revealing their desire to him through a messenger, humbly requested that his authority would permit them to inhabit the place which divine grace had shown them to be suitable. He, having learned of their reputation for holiness, most willingly complied with their wish; and coming to them, he himself delegated the place to them with a manifold possession of estates, by a deed executed in writing. Also entrusting his son to them to be instructed in the divine disciplines, he committed himself and all his possessions to their holiness; and faithfully promised that he would henceforth provide them with all manner of support; and so he returned to his own home.

Chapter 18.

[27] When these things had thus been accomplished, thenceforth the most holy men strove to apply themselves to those things which would benefit the salvation of faithful souls. They soon built a church there, which the blessed Bishop Genulphus consecrated in honor of the Blessed Peter, the Prince of Christ's Church. Where thenceforth, leading their lives in prayers, vigils, and in the practice of other good works, they daily rendered to God the most worthy sacrifices of holiness. By holy preaching also and by all examples of piety, they both stirred the unfaithful to faith and always strove to encourage the faithful to the unanimity of peace. St. Genitus dies. After the holy men had established the aforesaid place as a suitable one for carrying out their service to God, at that time the blessed Father Genitus forsook this world's pilgrimage and happily departed to the heavenly inheritance of the Saints, on the third day before the Kalends of November. His most holy Bishop son, after the pious tears due to paternal affection, committed him to a fitting burial with worthy honor.

[28] Although the venerable man Genulphus had always endeavored to maintain without remission that affliction of his own body which we mentioned above, from that time on he strove to add to the rigor of his purpose rather than diminish it. For the more swiftly he perceived that all the perishable things of the world were hastening to their end, the more closely he labored to be deemed worthier to attain heavenly things. Whence it came about that many, moved by the reputation of his holiness, hastened to him, St. Genulphus gathers and instructs disciples. desiring to be both edified in faith and consoled in Christ by his pious words. Very many indeed, handing over their possessions to him, laid down the hair of their head there for the sake of God and bound themselves to his diligent service. As a pious teacher he always instructed them in divine teachings and admonished them to burn with the love of God and the love of neighbor, and to preserve the unanimity of peace. To them he not only ministered the nourishment of heavenly life, but also always procured for them temporal comforts with pious solicitude.

Chapter 19.

[29] On a certain day, while he was engaged in necessary work with the Brothers, a fox with the prey of a hen passed before him. The holy man, looking at it, said: In the name of the Lord, I command you to return and to lay down your prey in its place. Immediately the little beast obeyed and returned, and laid down its prey. Returning by the way it had come, when it passed before the doors of the church it trembled, and falling down there it expired. Which event at that time indeed most worthily, Hens are unharmed by foxes, with him as protector. and afterward no less wonderfully, commended the merits of the holy man, since no one saw such a theft by such a thief happen there ever again.

CHAPTER VI.

The death of St. Genulphus. Translation.

Chapter 20.

[30] When therefore the holy man, always girded about the loins in the service of God, He foretells his own death: had continually led a heavenly life on earth, and by his holy works had provided examples of light to his disciples, now his happy time was approaching in which the Lord would reward His well-watching servant with the freedom of heavenly glory. Perceiving this by the divine Spirit, having called all his disciples together, he foretold that he would depart on the fourth day. Hearing this, the disciples were greatly dismayed in spirit and dissolved in excessive grief, saying: O holy Father, who will henceforth provide for your servants with such great piety? Who will preserve hereafter those whom you have until now always cherished with your pious protection? Alas for us, wretched and desolate, whom the unspoken loss of our Father overtakes! The most pious Bishop, moved by these groans of the Brothers, said to them: He consoles his disciples: Why, my sweetest sons, why do you pour forth excessive tears over my departure? I indeed pass away, but Christ does not pass away. Remember, I pray, the holy doctrine which you have learned; and keeping faith with Jesus Christ your head, faithfully cling to Him, so that by keeping His commandments you may avail to become His members and may always deserve to be happily with Him — as He Himself said, adopting His own to the Father: Father, I will that where I am, they also may be with me. John 17:24. Remembering this foundation of your faith, take diligent care lest what has been faithfully built up in you should fall down badly. Let no distress, no tribulation, no persuasion ever separate you from the love of Christ. Moreover, consider it worthy above all things to bear the adversities of this world with equanimity for His name's sake, on account of His own words saying: Those whom I love, I rebuke and chasten. Revelation 3:19. And likewise: The world shall rejoice, but you shall be sorrowful; yet your sorrow shall be turned into joy. John 16:20. Remember His goodness and immense mercy, through which He resolved to save us undeserving ones by His gratuitous kindness, so that through His blood He might acquire us as a kingdom for God and His Father, to bestow upon us those things which eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him. In these things, therefore, my brothers and sons, fix the gaze of your mind; desire those things which Christ will bestow upon you in the glory of His Father and of the holy Angels, to reign with Him forever and ever.

[31] He makes provision for his burial: Having spent the three days in such admonitions, he then under solemn adjuration commanded them to wrap his body in sackcloth, not linen, and not to bury him in the church. Meanwhile the fourth day had now arrived, on which the prudent and well-provident servant, wholly intent upon spiritual things, was awaiting his Lord, that when He came and knocked, he might immediately open to Him. He was preparing meanwhile the holy aids of prayers, and the life-giving viaticum of the soul — namely, the reception of the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord — for undertaking the journey to the heavenly Jerusalem and for enjoying in perpetuity the vision of peace which is found therein. Now when he was happily prepared, behold, the very key-bearer of the heavenly kingdom, the most Blessed Apostle Peter, appeared to him saying: St. Peter appearing to him, he dies: Hasten, servant of God, hasten and come, that you may enter into the joy of your Lord and receive the crown which He has prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Thus the happy soul, freed from the flesh, is received in the most joyful embraces of the Angels, and is led with exultation before the heavenly King to be crowned; and because he was faithful over the few things committed to him, he is set over the many rewards of heavenly glory, and having been made a possessor for eternity of the eternal joy of his Lord, he rejoices.

[32] A heavenly harmony is heard at his death: At the very moment of his passing, voices of those singing psalms were heard, singing most sweet songs in turn with sweet melody, seeking the heavens; and all who heard, intent upon their sweetest modulations, were made as if in an ecstasy of mind, on account of the sweet melody. O how great, O God, is the multitude of Your sweetness, which in the present You indeed hide from those who fear You, that You may perfect it at the fitting time for those who hope in You, when You shall hide them in the secret of Your face and protect them in Your tabernacle; where they may bless You eternally, their God and Lord, because You have made Your mercy wondrous in them, in the most fortified city of Your glory, holy Jerusalem — of whose most joyful citizens You also made the soul of this Your servant a fellow citizen, and You willed to make this known to mortals still living through their most joyful jubilations, so that by hearing You might also kindle them with heavenly desires and make them heavenly from earthly, to bless You and praise Your name forever and ever! The most holy man departed, He is buried. the Bishop most acceptable to God, on the seventeenth day of the month of January; and as he had testified to his disciples, he was most fittingly buried by them outside the precincts of the church, beside his holy father Genitus. The place itself, which before the arrival of these saints was called the Cell of the Demons, after the death of this holy Bishop is called by all the Cell of St. Genulphus, the distinguished Confessor of Christ.

Chapter 21.

[33] Now at that time in that same region there was a certain man most esteemed for the merit of his holiness, named Sebastus. By St. Sebastus Therefore a certain one of the disciples of Blessed Genulphus, named Leontus, came to him and faithfully narrated to him the venerable life and death of Genulphus in all holiness, as well as that of his father. When that holy man had heard these things, immediately moved in spirit, he came to the aforesaid place of the Saints. The holy bodies are translated. Now the third year from the death of that most holy Bishop had already elapsed. And so with a great array of lamps and a sufficiently devout attendance of psalm-singers, he translated the bodies of the Saints into the oratory of St. Peter, which they themselves had built from the foundations both with their own funds and with those of devout men. He placed them there with the following arrangement: that for those entering, he placed the body of the holy Bishop Genulphus on the right side, and on the left he set the remains of the blessed Father Genitus. He also built crypts over each body, Their deeds. and carefully arranged for them to be devoutly venerated henceforth. He even wrote the deeds of these Saints, which he had learned from Leontus and the other disciples; and so, blessing God and bidding farewell to the Brothers, he returned to his own home.

[34] Many afflicted with various ailments were oftentimes restored there to their former health through the merits of these Saints, Miracles at the tomb. to the praise and glory of Him who alone is justly praiseworthy and glorious, and blessed by all His creation — God, who, looking with pity upon the misery of our mortality, mercifully displayed to us the bowels of His compassion, in which the Dayspring from on high visited us, God of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, true Light subsisting from true Light; which, ever existing in the Deity of the Father, of one essence and one will, willed piously and wonderfully to become man for us, in order to illuminate with the splendor of His grace those dwelling in the darkness of ignorance and the shadow of the death of sin, and to direct the steps of our mind into the way of peace, which leads to perpetual salvation and eternal life. He also, by providently disposing the ministers of His grace — namely, the holy Evangelists, the preachers of Himself, and the pious Fathers in holy religion — bestowed them upon His Church, widely spread throughout the world, for special patronage: so that they might always be held as a refuge and a timely help in tribulations against the assaults of this world for those committed to them. Therefore they ought to be venerated by the devotion of Christ's faithful all the more worthily, as they know them to be all the more assiduous intercessors with Christ for their salvation.

[35] Worthily therefore is the memory of this holy Father Genulphus, worthily is his celebration — who already rejoices in the eternal solemnity of the heavenly citizens — festively recalled by those devoted to him, whom the care of his patronage embraces. They rejoice that by God's providence they have merited so pious a patron, and they know that a preeminent intercessor has been divinely bestowed upon them for the protection of their salvation. For faithfully sought in times of need, he has been accustomed to assist those who devoutly call upon him to such a degree that undoubting faith always rejoices to have received health from infirmity, salvation from languor, joy from sorrow. Here indeed let faithful devotion consider with benign attention Why the Saints obtain present blessings for us. how immense is the mercy of Christ toward us, how pious is the sweetness of the Saints over the misery of human frailty. For they indeed, now reigning with Christ and anxious for nothing other than our salvation, therefore obtain from Christ the present aids requested for us, in order to kindle us to seek those things which they themselves already enjoy. So that, by their example, neglecting all solicitude for temporal things, we may be solicitous only for eternal salvation — as Christ the eternal King Himself, after He recalled His faithful from present anxiety, admonished them to hope for better things, saying: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Matthew 6:33 May He lead us to possess the noble things of that kingdom — He who is noble in the Deity and omnipotence of the Father, the Only-begotten of the Most High, yet for our salvation the son of man, that is, of the Virgin, and beautiful in form above the sons of men — and may He make us heirs with His Saints; who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, in the eternal glory of the Trinity forever. Amen.

MIRACLES OF ST. GENULPHUS.

By an anonymous Benedictine author, from the Floriac Library of Jean du Bois.

Genulphus, Bishop in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 3359

From the Floriac Library.

CHAPTER I.

The geography of Gaul. The origin of the Franks.

Chapter 1.

[1] The territory of Gaul has on its eastern side the mountain ridges that form the border between it and Italy. The geography and boundaries of Gaul: On the south it has the Mediterranean strait, flowing past the province of Narbonne. Further, to the west, the Spains and the Ocean, which is called the Gallic or British Sea. Thence toward the north it extends as far as the waters of the Rhine, which flowing down from the aforesaid Alps of Jove, divides Gaul from the Germans; and Gaul is reported to be thus encompassed by these boundaries. Its division, a twofold division. which was once tripartite according to Julius Caesar, is now, according to modern writers, more carefully considered on account of various subsequent events. From the Rhine to the Seine is Belgic Gaul, which is now called France from the Frankish nation. Thence to the Loire is Lugdunese Gaul, the upper part of which, on account of the arrival of that nation, is called Burgundy, and the lower part Neustria. From the Loire to the Garonne is Aquitanian Gaul, which extends from the Rhone on its east to the Ocean on its west. Its upper part also seems fittingly named Celtic, from the loftiness of the mountains by which it stands out. From the Garonne to the Mediterranean strait or the Pyrenees mountains is Narbonese Gaul, which is now partly called Gothia and partly Gascony. In all of Gaul there are sixteen provinces in number, of which the happiest and most fertile is Aquitaine.

Chapter 2.

[2] Most valiant colonists long held Gaul, who nearly wore out the Romans, Subdued by the Romans, conquerors of the whole world, in many wars, and were more hostile to them than all other nations. But although they so conducted themselves for a long time, at length under the aforesaid Julius Caesar it too was subdued, just like the other kingdoms of the entire world. From which time up to the last days of the Emperor Valentinian, for about four hundred years and a little more, the Romans held sway in Gaul. In those times also, foreign nations from various parts of the world afterward also by barbarians: thrust themselves into the Gauls. For the Vandals and the Huns, after afflicting the land, departed to other territories; but the Suevi, Burgundians, Goths, and Sicambri, after these, claimed their own seats therein. In those times very many churches of the Gauls and ancient memorials of the Saints were nearly destroyed and left desolate.

Chapter 3.

[3] The Sicambri were indeed the race of those who came from Troy, a city of Asia, which, worn down by the Greeks in a ten-year war on account of their cruel wars upon their neighbors, was finally conquered in the four hundred and fourth year before the founding of the City. The fugitive citizens from Asia into Europe — one part under the leader Aeneas sought Italy, By the Sicambri at last, or Franks: and another part under Antenor, through the Maeotian marshes and the river Tanais, sought Pannonia. But those who went to Italy afterward became the founders of the city of Rome. Those who went to Pannonia founded the city of Sicambria within its borders, from which they were called Sicambri, in which they also remained tributaries of the Romans for very many ages, up to the times of the aforesaid Valentinian, who was the seventh from Constantine, whom the holy Pope Sylvester baptized. This tribute was remitted to them for ten years, on condition that they should take up war against the Alans, who were making frequent raids from wooded and marshy places into Roman territory. Undertaking this war, they so utterly destroyed the whole nation that from the innumerable multitude not even one survivor was left. When the decade had elapsed, they refused to pay the customary tribute demanded, on account of the victory obtained over the Alans. Wherefore Valentinian, having mustered a great army, attacked the Sicambri in war and conquered them. Made cruelly savage by this misfortune, they began to invade the territories of the Romans all around. These who had been Sicambri until then were from that time called Franks, either from a leader named Francus of that portion of the people, or rather from their fierceness. They at that time created for themselves their first King, named Pharamund, son of Marcomir; and under him they reduced to their own dominion all that the Romans possessed from the Sicambri to the Rhine. When he died, they placed his son Clodion on the throne after him. After this they crossed the Rhine, occupied the Gauls, and under the kings Clodion, Clodomirus, Merovingus, and Clovis, they seized from the Roman rulers everything from the Rhine to the Loire. Thereafter, when Clovis, through the preaching of Blessed Remigius, became a Christian with his army, they expelled the Arian Goths from Aquitaine — who had been stationed there by order of the Romans — nearly destroying them in war; and their most valiant kings, having become Catholics, claimed for themselves by divine aid all the provinces of Gaul.

CHAPTER II.

The Merovingian and Carolingian Kings of the Franks.

Chapter 4.

[4] And so Gaul, long buffeted by many storms both from the Romans and from foreign nations, afterward by the coming of the Franks, their Merovingian Kings, having cast off the Roman yoke from itself, raised the horn of its strength to its own freedom, so that from that time on it might flourish free and be distinguished by the crown of royal Majesty. When the aforesaid Clovis, the first of the Frankish Kings to be Christian, was reigning, the holy Father Benedict shone forth, illustrious in virtues. At the death of Clovis, his son Childebert reigned, together with his three brothers Theodoric, Clodomirus, and Clothar. In their time were St. Gregory the Roman Pope and Gregory of Tours. After Childebert, his brother Clothar reigned, who had St. Radegund in marriage. And after him his son Chilperic reigned, with his three brothers Caribert, Guntram, and Sigibert. In these times St. Austregisilus, Archbishop of the great Metropolis of Bourges, shone bright and illustrious in virtues. After Chilperic his son Clothar reigned. This Clothar begat Dagobert and his sister Blitild. At his death Dagobert reigned, whose Mayor of the Palace was Pippin, a man of distinguished nobility. In these times, under the Roman Emperor Heraclius, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross took place. After Dagobert, his son Clovis reigned; in whose time the body of St. Benedict was translated from Benevento to the Gauls. After Clovis his son Clothar reigned. He was succeeded by his brother Theodoric, whose Mayor of the Palace was Ebroin, who afflicted St. Leodegar the Bishop with martyrdom to the very end. After Theodoric his son Clovis reigned, whom his younger brother Childebert succeeded. And he had as his successor his son Dagobert the Younger. After this Dagobert the royal line declined in wisdom. And after him reigned Daniel the Cleric, his foolish brother, whom the Franks, changing his name, called Chilperic. After whom his kinsman Theodoric reigned; and he was succeeded by his brother Childeric, who on account of his incompetence was deposed from the throne, made a cleric, and sent to live in a monastery. Here indeed the male line of the descendants of Pharamund failed; but it continued through Blitild, the sister of Dagobert mentioned above, in this manner:

Chapter 5.

[5] This same Blitild was married to a certain most noble man named Ansbert, by whom she bore Arnold; and Arnold begat Arnulf, who married the daughter of Duke Pippin of King Dagobert, brother of the aforesaid Blitild, The stock of the Carolingians. by whom he begat Ansegisilus. This Arnulf, moreover, afterward renouncing military life, was made Bishop. His son Ansegisilus begat Pippin, who was called the Old or the Short. This same Pippin begat Charles, who was surnamed Tudis, that is, the Hammer, on account of his very great prowess in wars. This Duke Charles, in two great battles, expelled from the Gauls the Saracens who had at that time occupied the Spains. He himself begat Pippin the Pious and Carloman, afterward a monk. Pippin the King. This Pippin the Pious, a Duke born of Dukes — great-great-grandfathers, great-grandfathers, grandfathers, and a Duke father — tracing his royal lineage from the aforesaid Blitild, distinguished for many military virtues, after the deposition of Childeric, by the vote of the entire army together with the authority of Pope Zacharias, was elevated as King in the kingdom of the Franks, the first of his line. He was a devout worshipper of the Church of God, and proved himself a glorious conqueror over Aistulf, King of the Lombards, and over Waifar and Guainald, Dukes of the Aquitanians, as well as over other tyrants of the Gauls and Germans.

[6] He himself begat Charlemagne, who after his father's death, Charlemagne the Emperor. in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord seven hundred and sixty-nine, was elevated as King by the Franks. The Romans afterward chose him as Advocate of St. Peter, then as Patrician, and finally as Emperor and Augustus. From which time the Roman Empire separated from the Constantinopolitan. Now this Charles, from the greatness of faith with which he strove to live devoutly, and from the excellence of valor with which he laid low the strength of the Saxon nation and other peoples, and made believers in Christ out of idolaters, and stood unyielding against all opposing storms of war, and from the equity of justice with which he arranged and governed equally the territories of his entire kingdom and empire, and from the Augustan glory with which he ennobled the kingdom of the Franks, and from the power by which he held dominion from Mount Gargano to Cordoba, a city of Spain, and from the immense fame of his praise by which he was honored with the gifts of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the King of the Persians, and with the gifts, embassies, and treaties of all the Kings of all Europe — from these things surely, and from all that befit Royal or Augustan greatness, he was justly surnamed the Great. To the increase of his greatness, although he was involved in manifold difficulties of the Gauls, Germans, and Italians, yet from a motive of piety, to bring aid to the Christians laboring in Spain under the Saracens, with a great chosen military force, he approached the aforesaid region gloriously with a most powerful army; and compelled the infidels, by fear as well as by grace, both to fear of himself and to peace for the faithful. Returning thence, for the protection of his Gaul he set Counts over the cities of Aquitaine; and in other places neighboring Spain he stationed military garrisons against the incursions of the Saracens. At that time he appointed Rotherius as Count of the city of Limoges, He gave a portion of the Lord's Cross to the monastery of Charroux. who became the founder of the monastery of Charroux; which the glorious King Charles afterward consecrated with a precious portion of the wood of the saving Cross of Christ, and also most nobly enriched it from his own treasures and possessions, as the charters testify, made concerning these matters and marked with the impression of his ring. After he had happily reigned for forty-seven years, he died in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord eight hundred and sixteen, [Louis the Pious, first King of Aquitaine, then of all Gaul, and afterward Roman Emperor.] having left as his surviving heir the glorious Lord Louis. He indeed, having reigned in Aquitaine for several years during his father's lifetime with his father's permission, after his death received the sovereignty of the entire kingdom of the Franks and the Roman Empire. He also, having obtained children, arranged the kingdom and Empire for them during his own lifetime: he made the eldest, Lothair, King of Italy and partner in the Empire; Louis he decreed to reign in Germany, Pippin in Aquitaine, and Charles the Bald in France and Burgundy. This man, of most merciful nature, disposing to govern the Republic according to the gentleness of his character, sometimes suffered not a few difficulties both from his children and from the tyrants of the kingdom. But when all controversies were at last overcome, he strove both to live devoutly and to govern the kingdom and Empire wisely; he deemed the state of God's Church always to be advanced more highly above all things. He gave himself as a collaborator to all the pious in the construction of new or the restoration of old monasteries. He himself, among the many which he either built or restored, is also recorded to have built the monastery of Charroux. His son Pippin built these monasteries: namely Ingeriacum, Brantosme, and at Poitiers the monastery of St. Cyprian.

CHAPTER III.

The founding and privileges of the monastery of Stradense.

Chapter 6.

[7] In the times therefore of this Pious Emperor Louis, during which his son Pippin governed the Republic Count Wifredus of Aquitaine, there was a certain Count of Bourges named Wifredus. He, drawing his origin from that noble troop of Franks which the glorious King Lord Pippin, grandfather of the aforesaid Emperor Louis, had left in the city of Bourges to subdue the forces of Duke Waifar of Aquitaine, was also descended from the royal stock. His wife, of no less but equally noble lineage from the most illustrious race of the Franks, was named Oda. Whether they had any children besides a daughter, we have found out little. Their daughter, named Agana, was married to a certain Robert, a man of distinguished and honorable power, and the first man of the Palace of King Pippin. This Robert, in addition to the excellence of his own nobility, had also obtained a share in the royal lineage through his sister, whom the Lord Pippin himself took as wife, by whom he had the children Pippin and Charles, and as many daughters. With this excellent nobility, therefore, the aforesaid Count Wifredus was illustrious, and was also most renowned for the glory of his religion.

[8] He therefore, in his time enjoying the most ample honors as the Count of the chief city of Aquitaine, with a prudent mind considering what and how great are those things which are reckoned the first concern of mortals, and what misfortunes attend them, he founds the monastery of Stradense: and at the same time perceiving the advantages of his possessions, he resolved in his mind that from the temporal things which he justly possessed, he would prepare for himself things that would profit him eternally. And so, by the equal counsel and common vow of his venerable and ever-to-be-praised wife Oda, it was decided that for the celebration of the Creator's praise and the performance of the divine mysteries, he should found a Church on property in his own right, in the estate called Strada; and should endow it most abundantly from his own resources for the use of the ministers of the Church. What he planned he also efficiently accomplished, by the grant of divine mercy, in the fifteenth year of the reign of the Lord Louis, most Serene Emperor, with his son Pippin in the fourteenth year of his rule, which is the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 828. When the time came for the dedication of the church, he resolved that it should be dedicated in honor of the holy and ever-Virgin Mary and of all the Saints, and he solemnly adorned it with relics of hers and of other Saints. On the day of its consecration, which is the seventh before the Kalends of July, he granted and delegated by testament certain surrounding estates that were his by right, together with the servants dwelling there, whose number was not small. This testament is seen to attest to what we have said even to this day.

Chapter 7.

[9] After the most illustrious man had diligently accomplished these things, he made known to the Lord King Pippin the cause of the church he had founded. He then poured out suppliant prayers to him, that his excellent authority would deign to confirm what he had done. The King, graciously receiving his petition, in the presence of the chief men of the Palace and of the entire Nobility, decreed that the request of so great a man should be granted. Therefore he set forth an edict which he wished to be known to those present and those to come, and established by his command that the same place, namely Strada, should remain immune from the disturbance of all powers, he secures it with a privilege of King Pippin: and that no judge or tax-collector of any power should presume to exercise judgment or any exaction in that place, or in the market which he had permitted to be held there for the conducting of useful business for many — except the rectors of that place. In order that this might remain forever inviolate, he commanded it to be committed to writing by his notaries and the document to be marked with his own ring, in the assembly of the Nobles, in the palace of Joguntiaco, in the seventeenth year of the reign of the Lord Louis, most Serene Emperor, his father, and the sixteenth year of his own reign. Having received this royal authority, the distinguished man and his most devout wife thenceforth cultivated the place with frequent visits and worthy reverence. Therefore from that time on, by the devotion of the faithful, the worship of sacred religion prospering there, the same place began to be fittingly and honorably venerated not only by the venerable married couple but also by other devout mortals. And the growth of the resources of this church proceeded so far that it was numbered among the other members of the Mother Church of Bourges itself. Thus the devout couple, having obtained their desire, spent the time of their lives now in divine praises, now in the administration of military service, faithfully.

Chapter 8.

[10] At a certain time, when one of their servants whose duty it was to watch over the horses in the pastures adjacent to the flowing stream was keeping watch in the usual manner, on a certain day as dawn was breaking, a mist of fog, as is customary, covered the surface of the earth. As it gradually dissipated, a certain fresh form of a building in the shape of a church seemed to rest in the plain next to the river, and for a space of several hours, Moved by a divine portent to found it, until it vanished by the strength of daylight. Marveling at the strange sight, he first disclosed what he had seen to his lady. She, pondering this in her mind, and faithfully believing, as a woman of faith, that it was of divine origin, humbly entreated the Divinity that by a repetition of such a vision He would make her more certain of the decision of His plan. It pleased the divine goodness to make her the possessor of her desire. When she too had perceived the same form in which the first man had seen it, she immediately disclosed it to her venerable husband. He, giving thanks to God for what he had heard, himself also merited through divine prayers to behold the same form after some days, together with those who had seen it. In this manner, then, the plan of God, drawing the minds of the venerable couple to a more advanced impulse of good action, thenceforth encouraged them even to the construction of a monastery. When an opportune time presented itself, they immediately made a testament concerning the properties to be assigned to that place, and approaching the presence of the Lord King Pippin, they conveyed their vows and committed the place decreed to them by testament to his power, so that it might be protected by his authority and the providence of the Kings of the Franks thenceforth. These things having been granted to them by the King according to their desire, they quickly completed the work begun. After they had completed it fittingly and conveniently, they had it consecrated in honor of the supreme Savior, and of His holy Mother, the ever-Virgin Mary, and of the holy Apostles, and then of all the Saints. Illustrating the place also with most sacred relics — namely, from the sacred pall of the great Pope Gregory, He adorns it with relics. divinely stained with blood through his merits, as is read in his deeds — and also with the pledges of very many Saints, they strove to adorn it fittingly with various gifts and ecclesiastical ornaments as well. Then, having arranged dwelling places for the devout cenobites, they committed the monastery to them, whose Father, a man of venerable life, was named Dodo, that they should always govern it devoutly according to the rule of the most Blessed Father Benedict, and possess it through succeeding ages.

Chapter 9.

[11] Now the same place is in the penultimate part of the district of Bourges, toward the West, delightful in its very pleasant situation. For nearby, the course of the river Agneris presents itself, which by its convenience is of the greatest benefit to the inhabitants of that place. Then all around the soil is fertile with every crop, both by its own fruitfulness and by the labor of the farmers. Furthermore, the properties pertaining to the place are for the most part quite close by. The aforesaid church of the holy Mother of God, moreover, is distant a stadium's space to the south. This church itself, with the properties assigned to it through the aforesaid testament, was also granted to the same monastery.

Chapter 10.

[12] After the sacred Order had already duly prospered in this same monastery under the care of the devout Father Dodo, the same most noble couple, desiring with a thirsting spirit to increase still further the possessions of the place itself, added certain other things beyond what they had previously bestowed, and together with the church called Cildracus, likewise by testament conferred them upon the aforesaid place, in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of the Emperor Louis, and the twenty-fourth of his son Pippin, King of Aquitaine. These properties appear to be situated in the upper parts of the district of Bourges, or in the vicinity of the city of Bourges, as we are informed by the testament itself of these same properties.

CHAPTER IV.

New privileges and expansion of the same monastery.

Chapter 11.

[13] When these things had thus been arranged by the most devout couple, for the rest of their lives their vigilance was such that the same place might always be advanced to better and higher things. Their material building indeed, constructed in the name of Christ Jesus the cornerstone, grew into a holy temple in the Lord, The monastery flourishes. as the cenobites dwelling therein, walking through the ordinances of God's commandments and along the regular path of our most holy Teacher Benedict, and living by the examples of the other holy Fathers, were co-built one by another into a dwelling place of God, in the Holy Spirit. For that such as these, and all good people, living for God rather than for themselves, are a dwelling place of God Himself, there is the most true pledge of Truth, which says: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him; and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. John 14:23. The Apostle Peter also, exhorting the faithful, says: Coming to the living stone, be yourselves also as living stones built up into spiritual houses. 1 Peter 2:4-5. Since these things are thus with regard to the faithful, these most faithful spouses are deservedly believed to be partakers of that grace, who strove to labor with this intent: that those might enter into their labors whom the pious condescension of the Divinity had deemed worthy of His own habitation. For all of which, after they departed from the earthly house of this habitation, they are worthily believed to have merited a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Their bodies, Death of the founder Wifredus. according to their own arrangement, were at that time indeed buried near the entrance of the aforesaid church of the Blessed Mother of God, namely on the right side of those entering; but afterward, by the action of the devotion of the Brothers of the aforesaid monastery, they were translated thence and deposited with worthy honor on the right and left of the altar of that beautiful Virgin Mary; and the day of their deposition is recalled annually on one day, namely the tenth before the Kalends of September. Around which time, the Lord Pippin also, King of Aquitaine, two years before his father's death, met the last day of his life and was buried at Poitiers at St. Radegund's. The Lord Louis, after many excellent measures for both the Church and the Republic, by which, always using divine aid in adversities, he governed the state of his kingdom and Empire equitably, happily died in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord eight hundred and forty. Wars among the sons of Louis the Pious. After his death, his three sons, quarreling with one another over the kingdom of Aquitaine in which their brother Pippin had reigned, strove to settle it by war; and this took place at Fontenay, a place in Burgundy. Lothair, the eldest, and superior in the Augustan dignity, with the army of Italy, against his brothers Louis and Charles, who was surnamed the Bald — and they in turn against him with the Franks and Aquitanians. And Lothair indeed prevailed in the first attack, but was soon routed by Duke Warinus of Toulouse and the Aquitanians when they rallied their forces. And indeed deservedly: for he, from desire for the Empire — though not without the consent of his brothers or of certain wicked men — had decreed to strip the pious father, detained in custody, of his diadem, had not the sounder judgment of the Dukes and the authority of the Bishops frustrated his efforts. After his flight, having laid aside the diadem, moved by penitence for his crime, he betook himself to a monastery to live privately thenceforth. After Louis also passed from human affairs not long after these events, Charles alone, who was called the Bald, nobly and vigorously governed both the kingdom of the Franks and the Roman Empire.

Chapter 12.

[14] Meanwhile the aforementioned Dodo, the Abbas of outstanding probity of the monastery of Stradense, diligently procuring with watchful vigilance the welfare of those committed to him, always strove to provide wisely for both present and future what he judged would be best. He therefore, as soon as a favorable opportunity was found, approached the said King Charles and made himself known to him, together with the reason for his visit. Then, producing the authoritative edict of the most excellent King Lord Pippin, his brother, which he had granted for the liberty of the place entrusted to him, he declared that his request consisted above all in this: that by his example, and at the same time for the memory of brotherly love, he too would deign in royal fashion to grant a special decree for the perpetual protection of the aforesaid place against the tumult of the wicked. The privileges of the monastery are confirmed and expanded by Charles the Bald. The King, graciously receiving his petition, willingly assented to his wish. Therefore, having summoned his notaries before him, by the present writing he decreed that no person of any power whatsoever should have license to oppress or trouble this same monastery, or those dwelling in it, or anything that was its by right, or that which by God's favor was to be increased there in future times, by any art of wickedness; nor should anyone presume to impose any ill usage or to make any undue exaction in any manner in the entire domain of that place; for supreme tranquility was due to sacred religion, which desires to be devoted solely to God, nor should it be lawful for anyone's assault to oppose it. To this end, all things due to the royal treasury were also entirely granted by this privilege to the same place, for his own and his people's salvation and the welfare of his Republic. In the final clause of the written decree it was established that those inhabiting the place through succeeding ages should always choose their leaders from their own members, not from persons sought elsewhere, to whom the sacred governance of the place should be committed, by whom the administration of the entire monastery should be conducted with equal justice. And he decreed that this should be done not by the force of any mortal, but especially by the fraternal vote of the cenobites. These things thus established and committed to writing, he confirmed in the royal manner by the impression of his own ring, he now reigning in the fourth year of his kingdom.

[15] First Abbot: Dodo. Thus the Father Dodo of venerable memory, having been honorably received at the King's court with his company and having obtained his desire, returned home rejoicing. After he had lived happily and paid the debt of human nature yet more happily, he most happily merited to arrive at the rewards of a good life. In the governance of the aforesaid monastery he was succeeded by Mainardus, no less devoted in his life; whose zealous solicitude toward the aforesaid place is demonstrated by the preserved instruments of very many charters. Second: Mainardus.

Chapter 13.

[16] He therefore at a certain time, for reasons that pertained to him, sought the court of the Lord King Charles. There were present at that time in the palace Brothers from the monastery of St. Peter, which is situated in the territory of Nevers in a quite pleasant position, The monastery of St. Peter is bestowed upon him. between the two rivers, the Loire and the Allier, who seemed to have sought the Royal Majesty for the purpose of having a Father appointed for them. The King therefore, turning his attention to their consultation after other matters, summoned the aforesaid Abbot Mainardus and said he wished to grant that monastery to his paternal care. Although this seemed very burdensome to him on account of the length of the journey, when he had consented to obey the King, the King immediately confirmed by a present writing the royal command and strengthened it with his own seal: so that the said place of St. Peter should be perpetually possessed and governed by the aforesaid Abbot Mainardus and his successors, namely the rectors of the monastery of Stradense. But let these things concerning the construction of the monastery of Stradense suffice, as foundations laid for the building of the work. Upon these, desiring to build something higher, we have resolved, I confess, not to proceed with borrowed and uncertain materials, since this place of which we speak, by the gift of God's grace, happily abounds in the illustrious material of heavenly works. Therefore with the help of God's power, whose work it is that is known to be wondrously contained both outside and inside the compass of the heavens, we have attempted to undertake this: that for the veneration of the faithful there should be written down those things which the divinity of our Savior has wondrously wrought in this monastery to the praise of His name — through the merits, to be sure, of those Saints whose patronage the pious devotion of the faithful here has taken care to gather, by whose prayers also this place is protected until now and is hoped to be always protected.

CHAPTER V.

The body of St. Genulphus is translated to Strada.

Chapter 14.

[17] There was therefore not far from the aforesaid monastery of Stradense a place, namely six miles distant from it, The Cell of St. Genulphus, in which the memorial of Saints Genulphus and Genitus was contained; who in the times of the Decian persecution had been sent from the Blessed Pope Sixtus of Rome to the Gauls for the sake of preaching. Coming to the city of Geturnum, it pleased Almighty God to declare how great were their merits in His sight, when by their merits He freed a boy there from a demon and a girl from a most grievous ailment. Where, having suffered the cruel blows of rods for the truth of Christ, and afterward even cast into the fires of a burning furnace, they were freed from the vast heat of the flames by angelic protection. Then also enduring the iron chains of prison, but strengthened by an Angel, at length through the resurrection of the dead and the preaching of the divine word, all the citizens of that city were converted to Christ and baptized. Having founded churches for them and instructed them in ecclesiastical ordinances, after some intervals of time they departed thence and sought the above-mentioned place, which they resolved to choose for themselves as a dwelling on account of its suitability. Which also afterward, with divine grace favoring them, receiving it under their own authority from its possessor and founding a church to Christ there, they happily completed the course of their happy life there; illustrious for miracles. and by frequently displaying divine miracles, they thereafter made the place illustrious by their holy merits. Whence it also came about that at that time it was named by the inhabitants the Cell of St. Genulphus. In succeeding times, however, there were very many incursions of barbarians within the Gauls, as well as persecutions of the unfaithful, by which many ancient memorials of the Saints, as was said above, were laid waste and completely abandoned for many ages.

Chapter 15.

[18] It happened therefore at a certain time that the aforesaid Abbot Mainardus of venerable memory, of the monastery of Stradense, held counsel with the Brothers By royal authority, concerning the Translation of the aforesaid Confessor of Christ, Genulphus. When all were of one mind on the matter and embraced such a decision, they resolved also to approach the Lord King Charles on this business, so that what would result from that counsel should be done by his most celebrated command. The Abbot therefore, having taken some Brothers with him, sought the court of the Lord King Charles; when he had presented himself and disclosed the matters for which he had come, the King inquired of what time, place, and authority this holy man had been. When he had been informed by the Abbot about these things, he most willingly granted what he requested and commanded him to proceed freely. In this he particularly directed that the Abbot should translate the body of the holy Bishop Genulphus to the monastery, but should allow the remains of his blessed father Genitus to stay.

Chapter 16.

[19] When these things had therefore been granted by the royal clemency, the Abbot, having received permission to return, The relics of St. Genulphus are translated to the monastery of Stradense. went back to his own place and announced that he had obtained what he had gone for. The Brothers, gladdened by this news, relying on the royal authority, approached the Cell of the Saints with devout attendance. Because indeed the place itself was at that time held in less reverence than was fitting, this circumstance had all the more kindled the spirits of the Brothers to obtain the body of the holy Confessor. They therefore entered the oratory which had been consecrated in honor of St. Peter; they searched for the holy treasure. But lest it should then be uncertain how each Saint should be distinguished, the divine Providence had long ago, as can be believed, made provision for this future Translation. For as is contained in the little book of their life and death, the body of the holy Bishop Genulphus had been placed on the right of those entering, and the remains of his blessed father Genitus on the left side. Therefore, having found the gift of greatest value with this certainty, the Brothers with worthy reverence placed the holy body on a bier, and thus with divine praises they returned to the monastery; in which, setting down the precious burden on the twelfth day before the Kalends of July, on account of the arrival of so great a Confessor, they established this very day as most celebrated and solemn year after year. In which place thenceforth, through this His most beloved servant, Christ often deigned to lavish many wondrous healings upon mortals, to the praise and glory of His name.

CHAPTER VI.

The incursion of the Normans. The body of St. Genulphus is carried elsewhere.

Chapter 17.

[20] In that tempestuous time indeed, the provinces of the Gauls were worn down by most grievous calamities. For upon the death of the glorious King Charles the Bald, The descendants of Charles the Bald. the state of his kingdom also fell from its lofty position. For no one after him held the Roman Empire. His son Louis, surnamed the Stammerer, obtained only the kingdom of the Franks. Then the kingdom of the Bavarians arose, among whom the Roman Empire has stood until now. When Louis the Stammerer died, his son Charles, surnamed the Simple, reigned after him. Against him the Franks conspired and expelled him from the kingdom, and established Odo, Duke of Aquitaine, to reign in his place — who did not even remain in the kingdom for two full years. He was succeeded by his son Arnulf, already half-dead at the very beginning of his reign. In these times William, Count of Auvergne, was Duke of the Aquitanians, who founded the monastery of Cluny. The holy Gerald also, a man of great holiness and illustrious nobility, flourished in those times, who built the monastery of Aurillac. Then also Abo, a most noble Prince of the regions of Bourges, built the monastery of Deols. At that time too, bloody battle lines appeared in the sky, as a presage of the destruction of the kingdom and fatherland that was then imminent. For Charles, whom the Franks had repelled, having regathered his forces, recovered the kingdom; but was again repelled, and Duke Robert was made King. Charles therefore, having obtained aid from the Emperor Otto, engaged in battle with the Franks who had repelled him; and emerging victorious, he slew Robert and recovered the kingdom. Afterward, however, with the controversies of his opponents settled and treaties made, he granted the Duchy to Hugh, son of Robert, and thenceforth held the kingdom.

Chapter 18.

[21] Thus, while the kingdom of the Franks was tottering with secret evil, the Gauls were also afflicted by foreign nations. For the fierce barbarism of the Normans, The Normans devastate the Gauls. who seemed to inhabit the interior of the northern shore of the British Ocean, having selected an innumerable naval force from their own, seized the coast of Gaul, the sustenance of the vast sea. Starting therefore from those very shores, and then spreading by pervading everywhere, they began to depopulate the western Gauls, and especially Neustria and Aquitaine. The Normans had indeed attempted this very thing many times in previous years, but the warlike leaders of the places had often opposed them and had frequently repelled their constant attacks with the hand of Mars. But when these same leaders were also divided among themselves by prolonged war, and with the varying fortune of events now some now others falling, the land, stripped of its defenders, lay open quite easily to foreign invaders. Their madness, advancing lethally through everything wherever there was sight before its face, strove to slay any who resisted, to capture the conquered, to plunder all goods, to spare no mortal, to treat divine and human things equally as their playthings, to demolish holy places, and to fill everything completely with slaughter and fire.

[22] The relics of St. Genulphus are translated to the territory of Nevers: When they had already perpetrated the outrages of their cruelty through very many places of the Gauls, they began also to violently afflict the district of Bourges. The aforesaid Abbot Mainardus of the monastery of Stradense, together with his Brothers, having foreknowledge of the enemy's approach, had resolved to seek the refuge of flight at the aforesaid monastery of St. Peter. Having taken up all the things which they judged should be carried with them for the sake of saving them, they wished the body of the blessed Bishop Genulphus to be carried as well. When therefore they had completed the journey they had begun as far as the city of Bourges, behold, before them they put a demon to flight. a demon began to cry out through the mouth of a man and to say: O St. Genulphus, can I escape you? Why do you persecute me even in these places? Is it not enough for you that you drove me from the city of Geturnum and forbade me to inhabit the Cell? Alas for me, O holy man of God! When the wicked spirit had cried out with such words through the mouth of the insane man, without delay he left the dwelling he had invaded. Thus, the person having been freed through the merits of the most holy Bishop, it brought great joy to those carrying him, who blessed the Lord. At length therefore, arriving at the appointed place, namely the oratory of St. Peter, they deposited the bones of the Saint there and strove to guard them with all diligence.

CHAPTER VII.

Returned again to Strada.

Chapter 19.

[23] When the enemy arrived at the monastery of Stradense and found the place empty both of goods and inhabitants, The Normans attempt in vain to burn the monastery of Stradense: they consigned to devouring flames whatever was left in the buildings. But although the surrounding buildings were consumed by fire, the entire fabric of the monastery so stood unharmed, with the protecting power of the Lord Jesus, that no trace of burning appeared on it. Seeing this and sensing the divine power, the enemy withdrew from the place, and their leaders, having dug trenches around themselves, sat for some time on the bank of the neighboring river, until the entire surrounding region was devastated by them. Defeated in battle. And so, when through seven lustral periods of years the Normans, devastating Neustria and Aquitaine, had reached as far as the Auvergne, Radulf, King of Burgundy, summoned to the aid of the Aquitanians, hurried to meet them with a strong army. Joining battle with them in the place called Ad Destrictios, with God helping the Christians, the pagans were destroyed almost to annihilation and driven from Aquitaine. Those who were able to escape settled on the coasts of Gaul on the Ocean, namely in the cities which they themselves had desolated in their first attack, the King of the Franks permitting it on the condition that they become Christians. Those places are now called partly Normandy and partly Brittany on account of their inhabitants.

Chapter 20.

[24] After that hostile fear had departed from the province, the devotion of the Brothers soon took care to restore the holy members of the blessed Bishop to the monastery of Stradense. Therefore, when the place had been rewarded with the precious treasure of the sacred body of this Confessor of Christ, Some relics of St. Genulphus left at the monastery of St. Peter: the bearers of the holy pledges set forth with the blessing of the Brothers of that monastery. Coming to Nevers, they were reverently received by the citizens of that city and by faithful people known to them. There also, sought out by the Clerics of the Bishopric of that city as well as by the Nuns dwelling there, some given to the people of Nevers. that they might give them at least a small portion of the sacred body of the blessed Bishop, they granted them one of his ribs. When the Clerics and the Virgins consecrated to God had cut it equally between themselves, blood immediately dripped from both parts. Those who were present marveled and were greatly astonished; and they extolled with worthy praises the merits of the holy Confessor, truly living before God.

[25] Departing thence also, they directed their way to the territory called Sigalonium. When they had arrived there after some days, they had lodging at a certain place, where after their departure the surrounding country folk founded a church in honor of the same blessed Confessor Storms driven back by his merits. and consecrated it in his name. How great a grace God bestowed upon the inhabitants of that land by the merits of this blessed Bishop Genulphus seems pleasing to record. For the cultivators of the surrounding fields made it a votive custom that at sowing time each one should bring a portion of seed, as much as seemed good to him, to that church, and devoutly offer it to the holy Confessor for the use of the Priest who would celebrate the divine mysteries there, so that by his merits their crops might be preserved unharmed from lightning, storms, and adverse corruptions of the air. To their pious devotion the kindness of the Savior so assented, with the blessed Patron interceding, that from that time until now, for those who persevere in the same vow, the sought-for salvation also perseveres.

[26] Not a few gifts of healing were also bestowed during that same journey through the blessed Confessor upon those who came to him, with which he often gladdened his own, until they arrived prosperously at the monastery. Meanwhile Abbot Mainardus had already passed away. He had been succeeded in the governance by Amalricus, a vigorous and useful monk. To this Amalricus and his successors, a certain man of illustrious nobility named Laetarius delegated by testament, for perpetual possession, a monastery which he had built in the district of Wastinensis Other Abbots of Stradense. in honor of the Blessed John the Baptist and St. Genulphus the Confessor. When that man died, Aymo succeeded, who was the predecessor of Aericus. He, after those Norman times, governed the monastery of Stradense more closely. At the death of Aericus, Elias succeeded, who continued to an advanced age into the times of our forebears.

CHAPTER VIII.

The twofold incursion of the Hungarians. His clients aided by St. Genulphus.

Chapter 21.

[27] After some years again it happened that this same region was shaken by the incursions of the Hungarians. This news, when spread abroad, greatly terrified the hearts of the cenobites of the monastery of Stradense. Making provision for themselves therefore, they sought as their refuge in that necessity a certain fortified place called Lucas. The Brothers, betaking themselves there with their possessions and also with the body of the blessed Bishop Genulphus, preserved the holy members of the Confessor there during that time of fear. But after the fervor of those enemies had also cooled, the Brothers resolved to return to the monastery with the sacred relics. When they were therefore completing the journey they had begun, behold, suddenly the face of the sky was darkened by the density of clouds. The Brothers and the bearers of the holy relics began to be anxious at the prospect of coming rain. Then, with the most abundant rains pouring down, a violent flooding filled the surface of the earth. But it clearly pleased the divine mercy to declare at that time the pious merits of the holy Confessor. For from the violence of so great a flood the holy body and its bearers were so protected by heavenly power Certain persons untouched by rain through the help of St. Genulphus: that no rain fell upon them at all. Thus, relieved of that burden by the merits of the great Bishop, magnifying the Lord with exultation, they arrived at the monastery.

Chapter 22.

[28] In another incursion of the Hungarians, which occurred two years after the first, the relics of the holy Confessor were carried to the nearest fortification on the western side. When that disturbance also subsided, the Brothers placed the holy members in a boat food offered to the hungry. and began to row upward along the river Agneris toward the monastery. As they ascended with joy, one of the sailors cried out: St. Genulphus, surely if you wished, you could give food to your servants! Without delay, a fish of no small size, which we call a crayfish, having emerged from the deep whirlpool, threw itself with a leap into the boat. The sailors marveled and rejoiced that the holy Confessor thus most swiftly came to the aid of his faithful. And so with the most joyful spirits the return was made to the monastery.

Chapter 23.

[29] At a certain time also, a certain man who had departed from his native soil of Brittany had resolved, for the sake of prayer, to seek the relics of the holy Father Gildas, or the places of other Saints. After some days of his journey he was seized by illness. He nonetheless completed the journey with his companions as best he could, until they arrived at this place which is called the Estate of Godo, on this side of the river Agneris. There, completely exhausted, compelled by his sickness, he was laid down. At that time Elias, a devout man, held the governance of this place. To him therefore the languishing man directed suppliant prayers, that he would deign to send to him through the ministers of holy religion the mysteries of our Redemption, that they might communicate to him, now failing, the holy and life-giving mysteries, and commend his departure to the Lord. Immediately the Venerable Abbot, through the Cantor of the place named Wido, took care to send him what he had requested. When this same Brother had come to him in haste, he soon made him a partaker of the most sacred mysteries. He then, with closed eyes, was brought to his final moments. After some hours had passed, he again opened his eyes and reported to those standing by that he had been visited by the Saints of his province, who had contended against a throng of malign spirits for the salvation of his soul. While they were disputing, A dying man is defended by St. Genulphus against demons: behold, suddenly the holy Confessor of the Lord, Genulphus, intervened. Turning, he said to the demons standing by: What, he said, most wretched spirits, do you intend to do here? Behold, with the mercy of God granting it, the bosom of Abraham shall receive this man. When he had said this, the wicked assembly suddenly vanished. And turning to the Saints, he said: Well, O Saints of the Lord, you are solicitous with care for your own. But in the remaining matters, strive to remember your solicitude as is fitting; for know that the salvation of this man's soul has been granted to us by the goodness of God. For since here in the present he has been made partaker of the divine sacraments by the ministry of our Brothers, it is fitting that we assist with their prayers and take care for his salvation. When the sick man had disclosed these things to all standing by, closing his eyes again, he departed from life. Concerning him there can be no doubt, since he reported such things about the holy Bishop Genulphus, that by his merits he was placed in eternal rest. His body, therefore, carried to the monastery, was honorably buried.

CHAPTER IX.

The slaughter of a monk avenged from heaven.

Chapter 24.

[30] Concerning the Church of the holy Mother of God, Mary, there once arose a certain controversy between certain laymen and the cenobites of the monastery. The slaughter of a monk. This spread to such a degree that a certain Brother named Fredebaldus, who had been sent there by Abbot Elias to defend the Brothers' rights, was slain with a sword at the doors of that same church — with the knowledge of the local Priest named Godo, who seemed to be fraudulently favoring the other side. After this deed, the Venerable Abbot and likewise all the Brothers, greatly afflicted, resolved to seek the punishment of so great a crime from that Judge who is God, the Lord of vengeance, and who knows how to freely exact punishment from evil deeds, rather than from any Prince of this world. Now in that same company of Brothers there was a senior of venerable life named Ermenulphus, who at that time held the office of sacristan in the monastery. One night, when after completing his prayer in the oratory he had given himself to rest, he beheld first an immense brilliance of light filling the entire spaces of the temple; then a most resplendent and very great assembly of heavenly men, blooming with extraordinary whiteness, standing near a certain reverend woman of inestimable power, who, adorned with incomparable beauty, seemed to be seated near the altar of the supreme Savior. And behold, a certain Bishop of venerable gravity, Vengeance is obtained at St. Genulphus's request. in priestly vestments, standing closer to that Lady, was humbly seeking before her vengeance for the blood of the aforesaid Brother recently slain. She seemed to respond graciously to him thus: It is rather for me, Brother, that this crime must be dealt with. And she added, saying: Let Peter the Apostle come here. When he approached, she said to him: Behold, Brother, the execution of judgment for such an atrocity is committed to your power. When these things were said, that heavenly assembly vanished. After this therefore, heavenly vengeance from God swiftly followed upon the perpetrated murder, so that within the space of a very short time the agents of that homicide, together with their abettors and nearly all their relatives, perished of fatal diseases. Very few were left who were immune from that vengeance, who, remaining in the misery of their circumstances for the entire time of their life, arrived at extreme old age. Thus, with the glorious Mother of God, Mary, and the most holy Bishop Genulphus His servant acting as patrons, retribution was immediately rendered to the proud, just as it is written: Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord. Romans 12:19.

Chapter 25.

[31] Moreover that Priest, whom we said above was accessory to so great a crime, weighing the magnitude of his guilt, made the church of the holy Mother of God and the community of this monastery the heir from the possession of his own right. As he came to the end of his life, The relics recoil from the accessory to the murder. he asked that a certain casket, distinguished with the sacred relics of the Saints, be brought before him from the same church of the holy Virgin. When he was at his last extremity, this same casket, suddenly springing forth from the place where it had been hung before him, was carried away from his sight to another place. From this, both the immensity of the divine power, a great portion of which was contained in that casket, and the sentence of divine judgment pronounced upon him, are clearly understood.

[32] Concerning his judgment, the following vision is reported to have occurred in the monastery. On a certain Saturday, as the hour of night was already approaching, when the Brothers were preparing to perform the duty of Compline, Wido, the sacristan of the church, had gone ahead to ring the bell. The same person appears three times in torments. When he had come to the place of the bell, behold, he beheld in a very well-known form the one he had known to be dead — that Priest — holding an unsheathed sword. Immediately terrified, he fled backward and collapsed at the threshold of the door as if lifeless. The Brothers were already there and thought he had fallen from some other cause rather than from fear. After a little while therefore, with his spirit revived, he rose from the spot and made known what he had seen to the Venerable Father Elias and the other Brothers — not being able to do so by words, but by signs. After all had therefore retired in wonder to their beds, behold, through the deep silence of the night, a voice of this kind sounded to Wido himself, calling him by name, saying: Rise, it said, rise. Awakened, he was again seized with excessive horror. To him, trembling and greatly frightened and fortifying himself with the saving sign of the Cross, the voice also said: Do not be at all afraid. Coming to the monastery you will see to what torment I have been assigned for the slaughter of Fredebaldus. And he, although trembling and fearful, nonetheless rose and went to prove what he had heard; and awaiting confirmation of the words before the altar of St. Peter, he fell asleep for a little while. And behold, in that restful sleep before the very altar of St. Peter, an immense vat filled with belching flames appeared to him, in which that Priest seemed to be plunging himself. Then a certain fiery sword, falling from on high and striking his head, was likewise plunged into the flame. The Brother, awakening, related all things in order with the greatest trembling to the aforesaid Father and the Brothers. Here then it is clear how great is the solicitude of the Saints, always watching over those who worthily serve them — namely, by removing those things which happen to them on the sinister side, and also by bestowing all manner of blessings upon those who piously seek them.

CHAPTER X.

Plunderers repeatedly repelled through the help of St. Genulphus.

Chapter 26.

[33] When Charles the Simple died, his son Louis reigned. His sons were Lothair and Charles. Lothair reigned after his father, and was killed by poison by his own Queen. His son Louis, surviving only one year, himself also perished by a malicious draught. His uncle Charles, when he wished to reign after him, was expelled by the Franks. And Duke Hugh, son of Duke Hugh, was elevated as King by the Franks. Charles, however, was captured in the city of Senlis, thrust into prison, and there begat Louis and Charles, and died. The last Carolingian Kings of France. And his sons were expelled by the Franks and were dwelling with the Roman Emperor. Thus, with the second line of Frankish Kings failing, the kingdom was transferred to a third line; in which indeed the first was Robert, who was slain by Charles the Simple, as was said above; and the second was the son of his son, the aforesaid Hugh, who was surnamed the Great, and who was also a most merciful defender of the Church of God.

Chapter 27.

[34] In the times therefore of this Hugh the Great, first Duke and afterward King, certain most noble chief men of Poitiers built a fortification in the place where the monastery of the Blessed Abbot Sigiranus stands, and fortified it most strongly. The lord of the neighboring castle, which is situated on the eastern side of the monastery of Stradense, bearing this exceedingly hard, was hastening to have their presumption entirely destroyed. Therefore, approaching the aforesaid Duke of the Franks on this business, he sought his support for this purpose. The Duke, favoring his request, having mustered many thousands of soldiers, began to lead his army where he had been summoned. And so, when they had arrived at the vicinity of the monastery of Stradense, the Franks, encamping there, pitched their tents. The country folk, disturbed by the unexpected fear, at first suspected that barbarous nations had arrived, as had been their custom in former times. But seeing that they were not intent on plunder (which they did cleverly), they were regarded as somewhat less suspiciously evil. But on the following day, striking camp, Soldiers who plunder the monastery's property are divinely punished: preparing for a future siege everything necessary for sustenance and whatever suitable things were found anywhere, they began to seize, plunder, and carry off everything. The cry of the mourning populace rose to heaven, invoking Christ the Savior and imploring the aid of the holy Bishop Genulphus. The compassion of the Savior was immediately present to the wretched through the merit of the holy Confessor. For those who had plundered the estates belonging to or near the monastery were so struck with heavenly vengeance that you could see some of them punished with the loss of their eyesight, and others miserably disabled in body by the contraction of their sinews.

[35] When the report of this heavenly punishment had reached the ears of the aforesaid Prince, he inquired about the matter and was informed. He immediately sent many of the chief men of his army from his side to the place to completely prohibit his men from invading the properties belonging to that place, or those who had fled to it, and to punish them if they refused. When they had come, they chose one of their companions to serve as a protector of the monastery's property for the entire duration of that siege. Moreover, those aforesaid wretches, punished by divine judgment, seeking the threshold of the monastery in the sight of all, they are healed through the merits of St. Genulphus. supplicated for pardon for their guilt and the aid of the holy Confessor Genulphus. But Almighty God, always making known His power among the peoples, so declared the merits of the holy Father Genulphus that He immediately restored them all to their former health. And Duke Hugh himself, together with the leaders of his army, always held that place and the Brothers who lived there under the devout Father Elias in the greatest veneration from that time on.

Chapter 27.

[36] When the aforesaid Duke, having now assumed the kingdom, was leading his army to the city of Poitiers — Count William being unwilling to submit to him on account of the rejection of Charles and the unjust assumption of the kingdom, as it seemed — a part of his army passed through the village of the aforesaid monastery of Stradense. A soldier who wrongs a poor woman is struck blind: While the rest were passing through, one man from the army snatched two loaves of bread from a certain poor woman. The woman began to cry out and to invoke the most holy Genulphus. Without delay, the horseman, having advanced a little, his horse collapsed, and being grievously bruised, was rendered useless. He himself was soon struck with blindness. Meanwhile his fellow soldiers, recognizing their comrade's guilt, quickly went back with him to the monastery. He is healed through the help of St. Genulphus. He confessed his offense; he begged pardon for his fault before the Saint. The woman too was present, to whom he had done the harm. Her he appeased with a worthy satisfaction according to the measure of his guilt. Then he submitted to beatings and pressed with all manner of prayers that, with his body thus afflicted, he might be loosed from that bond of heavenly vengeance. While the Brothers and the faithful who were present prayed to our Savior and sought the intercession of the blessed Bishop Genulphus on behalf of the wretched man, immediately the joys of light were restored to him. Those standing by were gladdened by the presence of so great a miracle, blessing Christ, who is always wondrous in His Saints. The soldiers, together with their companion, offering thanks to God and to the holy Confessor, departed rejoicing to where they had been heading.

Chapter 28.

[37] When famine was afflicting the neighboring region, a certain woman from a place near the possession of this monastery had run out of bread. Wherefore, seeking the monastery to provide for herself, she went praying that the piety of the holy Confessor would offer a kind response to her need. When she had therefore reached the sacred church and prayed, and after her prayer had gone out, she immediately met a certain man coming out of a nearby house. When she had spoken to him about her need, Loaves obtained by a miracle, he immediately and most willingly gave her a measure of grain proportionate to the price of her poverty. And so, having obtained her desire, she was returning rejoicing to her own cottage. But lest it should seem to some that this had happened by chance rather than otherwise, it was soon made clear by the evidence of a manifest miracle. For from a nearby castle two horsemen had also come at that time to buy bread for themselves. Having bought it, they had no means of carrying it. Therefore one of them, called Stephen, who was also said to bear the surname Rastri from his habitual practice of stealing, seeing the aforesaid poor woman departing loaded, a soldier plunders: followed her, unloaded her, poured the grain on the ground, and violently took her little sack and departed. Then the woman began to groan and to cry out with her hands stretched out toward the temple: Alas for me, O St. Genulphus of God! Behold, what I had asked of you, I was rejoicing to have obtained more by your grace than by my own payment. Why then am I thus disturbed? Do not, O holy man of God, do not allow the relief of my want to be taken away. When she had said this, he is struck blind: suddenly the wretched horseman stopped, in some way confused in mind. Then becoming more and more dull, he was soon also condemned to blindness. Thus, by the merit of the most holy Confessor, on account of the misery of the destitute woman and the groaning of the poor woman, the Lord then arose, namely by exacting vengeance upon the extortioner. All the more therefore what she had asked a little before, and was rejoicing to have obtained, was to be attributed to divine grace rather than to chance, because it is written: The Lord has heard the desire of the poor. Psalm 9:38.

[38] Indeed, at the woman's cry, many flocking to the place to learn the facts, he was asked by some what he could see. To them he replied that he could neither see anything nor know anything. Then by the mouth of all who were present, through St. Genulphus he recovers his sight. the power of the glorious Confessor's merits was extolled with innumerable praises. Therefore the soldier, immediately making satisfaction to the poor woman for the violence in the present moment, was led — not by his own but by others' eyes — to the sacred threshold of the temple. In which, seeking pardon for his guilt, when he had devoutly persevered before the Saint, at length by divine propitiation and through the intercession of the holy Bishop, he was restored to his former sight. He himself, having experienced such vengeance, became such a witness to his power that in whatever place at home or abroad he subsequently met the aforesaid poor woman, he always held her in the greatest reverence, and openly confessed to all that he had suffered such things at the hands of heaven on account of the injury done to her, but that through the patronage of the most blessed Genulphus he had been restored to his own health.

Chapter 29.

[39] Certain persons carrying goods for sale from the village of this monastery had gone to the upper parts of this district for the sake of trading. A plunderer's horse becomes immobile: On the journey they were met by certain horsemen who were striving to violently take from them the sum of their goods. But when they cried out for the aid of the supreme Savior and of the most holy Bishop Genulphus, those men utterly, as is the manner of such savagery, counted their outcry as nothing and did not desist from what they had begun; indeed, they strove to complete it. But most swiftly the help of the holy Confessor was present. For one of them, who seemed to be their leader, while he was striving to turn his horse aside, his horse so suddenly stiffened by divine power that it stood completely immobile. It could indeed be urged with spurs and made bloody, but there was absolutely no ability to move it. The soldier with his companions began to marvel at the unusual outcome of the matter. At length, therefore, perceiving the presence of divine power, he immediately forbade his companions to depart. Making satisfaction to those men together with his companions and making a vow to the holy Confessor, through the help of St. Genulphus, he is cured. he soon received his horse freed from the divine bond. This was also reported by one most well known to all in this place, who was personally present; upon whose testimony this was also inserted here.

Chapter 30.

[40] At the time of the siege of the city of Tours, three soldiers from the passing army were striving to carry off plunder they had seized here. Plunderers punished: But as they had advanced a little from the town, they were immediately disabled in the use of their limbs by a contraction of their sinews. They, immediately recognizing the fault of their guilt, went to the monastery to seek pardon from the holy Confessor. Therefore, by the accustomed compassion of the pious Bishop, healed. two were restored to health. They, rendering gifts of thanks to God and to the holy Confessor, departed; the third remaining in disability until the end of his life.

CHAPTER XI.

Benefits bestowed upon the wretched by the Saint.

Chapter 31.

[41] A certain mute man from overseas regions had once come here, who seemed to demand necessities for himself more by the noise of a shrill sound than by the sound of a voice. On a certain day, seeking the tomb of the sacred Bishop, as soon as he entered the church, the function of his tongue, of which he had until then been deprived, he merited to receive there, in the sight of all, through the merit of the glorious Confessor.

Chapter 32.

[42] A certain woman also, an inhabitant of this district of Bourges, filled with demoniacal fury and having entirely lost her senses, as soon as she entered the sacred building, merited to be freed from her insanity. Demoniacs healed. In this matter indeed — namely, against the wickedness of demons, inflicted upon unwary mortals by the ambusher through God's judgment many times — the commanding power of this most holy Bishop is well established. To which bears witness not only the great number of those who have experienced this power in themselves, but also of those who have seen it with their own eyes.

Chapter 33.

[43] For a certain man from a nearby place, likewise filled with the savagery of a demon, The holy washing with wine. was brought to the monastery with his hands bound. When the Brothers had washed the relics of the Saints with wine and offered it to him, immediately the demon went out through his mouth with blood. Thus, with God helping through the merits of this distinguished Patron, restored to his own health, he returned safely to his home.

Chapter 34.

[44] On a certain first day of the week — which, in the revolution of seven days, is always reckoned both the eighth and the first, and is most celebrated throughout the Catholic world on account of the glory of the Lord's Resurrection — a certain woman came devoutly, together with her little son who was deprived of the light of his eyes, and she merited to receive from our God and Savior the fruit of her devotion through the merits of our most holy Patron Genulphus, A blind person recovers sight. as follows: entering the oratory, while she persisted most attentively in prayer, her son was illuminated by God, the Father of lights. And freely beholding the upper spaces of the temple that were painted, he saw the painted figures above by looking up in wonder. Then he cried out childishly to his mother: My mother, who are these whom I see above? The mother, marveling beyond measure, replied: And what is this that you are saying, my son? When the boy had repeated the same words to her, the woman began to cry out and to render immense thanks to God, the Savior of all, and to St. Genulphus. At her cry, when this miracle was published among all who were present, Christ was glorified simultaneously by the voices of all — He who always adorns the sacred pledges of His servant with such distinguished signs of virtues. The certainty of this miracle we also learned from a person quite well known and worthy of belief by the merit of her faith.

Chapter 35.

[45] The equity of our God has always been accustomed to restrain the audacity of the common people, either by inspiring compassion inwardly, or by outwardly correcting with the manifest scourge of chastisement. For a certain woman named Tethberga, One who works on the Lord's Day is punished: while at harvest time on Saturday — as the evening of that day was already dawning into the first day of the week of the Lord's Resurrection — she was striving to bind a sheaf from the gathered bundles, suddenly, with her fingers bent into her palm and blood bursting forth, her bold and wretched hand stiffened. Seeing herself stricken by divine vengeance, she at last hastened mournfully to the church of the holy Mother of God, Mary, called Strada; and lying there, imploring health at the prompting of faith, by the intercession of the same Mother of God, Mary, with two fingers straightened, she rose up joyfully. Then seeking the monastery and lying prostrate before the venerable tomb of the holy Confessor Genulphus, she asked the Sacristan — who appears to survive to this day, elevated to the office of Abbot — to help her. She is healed. He, with a kind regard of compassion, gave to the supplicant a candle measured to her own height. When the celebration of the Mass was completed, the same Sacristan, approaching her and making the sign of the holy Cross over her weakened hand, and sprinkling upon it the dust from the holy tomb, received back the hand she had brought infirm, with the other two fingers straightened, now strong. Giving thanks to God and to the holy Confessor, she returned home rejoicing.

Chapter 36.

[46] At another time, as the feast of the holy Confessor was approaching, and very many were hastening to his most sacred tomb, bringing the gifts of their devotion, each as his means had provided; a certain servant of the monastery itself, poor in substance but rich in faith, said to himself with groaning: Woe is me, since the pressure of want prevents me from approaching your threshold, O holy Confessor, without my shame, for I have nothing from which to bring any little gift of my devotion, while the rest are hastening to celebrate your feast. Turning these things over in his mind with a sigh and going a little way from the house, he beheld an innumerable multitude of birds, which the common people call geese, roaming through the grassy meadows. Seeing them, he forbade them to depart A bird is provided for a poor man to offer to the Saint. until he could fulfill the desire of his poverty from among them. Saying this, and disturbing them so that he might catch one, while the others flew away, one of them, placed far from him, remained. Not detained by any ailment, not caught in a snare, but tamed by the power of the holy Confessor alone. The poor man, taking it up, placed it upon the holy altar in the sight of the people, openly showing how much faith deserves to obtain, and how swiftly the blessed spirit of true poverty is relieved even with present consolation from heaven.

Chapter 37.

[47] Another member of this monastery's household, likewise, while hastening to pray at the sacred relics of the holy Confessor, came upon a pair of turtledoves feeding along the path. At the sight of the man, their flight being checked by a certain divine impulse, they soon began to walk before him like domestic birds. Turtledoves allow themselves to be caught, to be offered to him. Observing this, he was keeping the memory of the holy Bishop in his heart and speaking it with his mouth. And those same little birds preceded him until he arrived at the place from which the monastery could first be seen; and there he caught them without any hindrance of a snare. These also he placed upon the altar, in testimony of the virtue of the distinguished Confessor and of his own devotion.

CHAPTER XII.

Other miracles. A new Translation.

Chapter 38.

[48] Another servant of the monastery likewise, certainly a man of good reputation, while once returning to his own house by night on some business of his, around the dead of night passed before the gate of the oratory. Singing is heard at night, and light is seen, in the temple. And behold, the voices of many, composed in wondrous harmonies and sweetly resounding, like choirs of those singing psalms, sounded in his ears; at the same time also a splendor beyond estimation, flashing from within the church through the windows, appeared to him. Seeing and hearing this, he marveled. When he had entered his house, which was considered quite close to the monastery, he asked his wife what feast of what Saint was being celebrated in the monastery, since psalms were being sung so festively therein. She replied that she did not know, and she also affirmed that the monks had not yet risen for the nocturnal vigils. Then, marveling all the more, he narrated to his wife what he had seen and heard. But she, more curiously desiring to know the matter, went out of the house and could perceive nothing of those things or anything else, except that all things were completely in silence. From which it is gathered that that harmonious concert was the visitation of those Saints whose care embraces this place. And that she was unequal to the merits of her husband, whose ears were unable to perceive that spiritual mystery.

Chapter 39.

[49] It happened at one time, by the judgment of God, that many mortals among the Christian people were imperiled by a certain fire of the flesh. Their multitudes, striving to seek the places of the Saints to beseech remedies for themselves, were also brought here in very great numbers, at that time by the compassion and support of the faithful. Lying stretched out near the entrance of the church, on account of their intolerable suffering, day and night they cried out with great shouts for the mercy of the world's Savior The sacred fire healed through his help. and the intercession of the holy Bishop Genulphus. It was a misery not only to hear their shrieks from the pain, and to see the burnt parts flowing from their bodies, but also an intolerable thing from the stench of the putrefying flesh. Many of them were consumed by this plague; but many also, sprinkled with consecrated water, were refreshed by the dew of God's mercy through the glorious merits of the Confessor of Christ, Genulphus, and were snatched from that peril of death. Of these, certain survivors are still found in the district of Limoges, paying their vows to this holy Patron at appointed times. Very many are the instances in which our Savior deigned to show this most holy Bishop Genulphus glorious in the first fabric of this monastery; and by which the supreme Divinity willed to frequently adorn this place, through the merits of this and other Saints whose pious relics are contained here, by bestowing His mercy upon mortals. But from the preceding miracles we hold without doubt a faith also concerning future ones, if the faith of those who seek should demand it, having most certainly learned that the most pious Bishop is always most piously present to all his faithful in all things.

Chapter 40.

[50] After therefore this same place had begun to be filled with the habitations of very many, and to be frequented by the arrival of many persons both of middle rank and noble, and to be enriched by their wealth, around the year 990 from the Incarnation of the Lord, the work of its first construction, because it seemed too narrow, The monastery of Stradense restored. was demolished, and began to be newly built on larger dimensions by the most energetic Father of the monastery, Robert. On a certain day, when many workers had been summoned to demolish the old work, the pinnacle of the temple, which was higher than the rest of the building, began to be cut down by two of them. When, standing on beams, they had partially cut through it, it suddenly collapsed with a great crash of its ruin, and threw down the beams and the men to the ground. Immediately all ran up, fearing for the men, Those who fell from a height are unharmed. believing them to be crushed beneath that ruin. But those men, for whose lives no one at all could have any hope in such a fall, by divine power and through the merits, as we believe, of this our Patron, freed from that peril of death, although somewhat affected by so great a fall, were yet found alive with complete integrity of their limbs. Which indeed should seem doubtful to no one as being of divine power, since we see many at times imperiled by the slightest falls.

Chapter 41.

[51] Meanwhile, with the new fabric of the monastery, the part that looked toward the East having now been built, The relics of St. Genulphus are translated. by the common counsel of the Brothers, the Father Robert of praiseworthy memory decreed that the blessed members of the holy Confessor should be most fittingly translated into the same new work of the monastery. Appointing a fixed time for accomplishing this, they meanwhile arranged to prepare all things that seemed appropriate for so solemn an office. And so the appointed day arrived, and an infinite multitude of people, having been forewarned, had assembled. Among the many who flocked to the place to seek the grace of their salvation, a certain blind man, an inhabitant of the city of Avranches, also arrived. He, prostrating himself most devoutly before the relics of the holy Bishop, entreated with an immense prayer that the grace of his merits from the Lord might be manifested upon him — namely, that by his intercession he might merit to receive back the joys of his lost sight. Repeating such prayers, he clung to the ground where he had cast himself down. The Brothers, therefore, lifting up the most holy treasure of the blessed body, transferred it from the old casket into a new one that had been most carefully prepared for this purpose.

[52] While this was being done, one of the bearers of the holy relics touched a bone to the eyes of that blind man, with the blind man himself faithfully praying for it. Then with choirs of psalm-singers and with a beautiful and sufficiently devout array, they carried the same holy relics to a place appointed outside the village, in which a church now appears to have been built for this reason in honor of the holy Apostle Andrew. There, therefore, showing the blessed bones of the holy body to the peoples who sought it, they made all certain of the presence of the pious Confessor. But lest a portion of doubt should remain in any, the truth of the matter was soon clearly demonstrated. The blind man is illuminated. For when the return had been made to the monastery with praises, immediately that blind man, the darkness of his blindness having been dispelled and his eyelids opened, merited to receive the grace of sight. And so the holy Confessor, through the illumination of that blind man, not only demonstrated his own presence but also openly declared that he shared in the joy of the devotion of his faithful. Then, in the prepared tomb, his holy members were deposited on the first day of the Kalends of December, and were laid to rest with worthy honor. He, moreover, for the grace of his restored sight, rendering immense praises and acts of thanksgiving to Christ and to the holy Confessor, was seen to continue in prayers there for several days. But many also, afflicted with various ailments, Many other sick persons healed. having been given drink from the wine in which the sacred relics had been dipped, were restored to their former health.