Launomarus

ON S. LAUNOMARUS, PRIEST, ABBOT OF CURBIO IN GAUL.

SEVENTH CENTURY.

Launomarus, Priest, Abbot of Curbio in Gaul (S.)

From various sources.

[1] The Durocasses were a people of Celtic Gaul, in a middle region between the Seine and the Loire, which is now called Beauce; neighbors of the Carnutes, and perhaps, when Gaul retained its liberty before Julius's campaigns, their clients; mentioned frequently by Antoninus in the Itinerary. The district of the Durocasses. They are now contained within the narrow boundaries of the territory of the Carnutes, with the title of County: the capital of the people is now Drocae, commonly Dreux, on the River Blaise, believed to be the seat of the ancient Druids, and perhaps the Durocasis of Antoninus, or the Durocases, or the town of the Durocasses. The rest is the forest of Particus, which is now the territory of Perche, commonly Le Perche, divided into Upper and Lower. Here is the Corbionense, or Curbionense monastery, called by others Carbonis, and erroneously Turbionis, built by S. Launomarus in the sixth century, In it the Corbionense monastery: during the reign of Chilperic, son of Chlotarius, grandson of Chlodoveus the Great; which Claudius Robertus also mentions in his Gallia Christiana. The Martyrologies place it in the district of the Durocasses, others Dorcassinus, others erroneously Dorcaffinus, Dorecalinus, Trecassinus; others Cornotinus; Ferrarius in the district of Dreux.

[2] The feast of S. Launomarus (whom the French commonly call Lomer, or Laumer) is observed on 19 January, on which day Usuardus writes: In the district of the Durocasses, S. Launomarus the Priest. The same is found in the edition of Bellinus The feast of S. Launomarus, its founder: published at Paris in 1521, and in many manuscript Martyrologies. Molanus in his Additions to Usuardus, and certain older manuscripts: In the monastery of Curbio in the district of the Durocasses, S. Launomarus the Priest, whose illustrious deeds are recorded. Nearly the same in Galesinius and Maurolycus. Benedictus Dorganius: S. Launomarus the Abbot, who, filled with the spirit of prophecy, distinguished coins unjustly acquired through usury from others. Nearly the same in Hugo Menardus and Wion. The Cologne Carthusians in their additions to Usuardus and the German Martyrology: In the district of the Carnutes, S. Launomarus the Priest. This Launomarus, as a little boy tending his parents' flock, distributed his food to the poor and to pilgrims, often extending his fast until sunset himself. Then, having been committed to the liberal study of letters, and having become a priest, he went to the desert. Where, among other wonders of virtue, he healed a lame man, extinguished the force of fire with the sign of the cross placed against it, and transplanted an aged oak by the power of the same cross to the place where he wished. Saussaius also treats of him at length. The name. His name moreover is wonderfully varied in different manuscripts: shall we say corrupted? For Launomarus is called Launoniarus, Launomarcus, Lamouiarus, Launomarius, Launomacus, Launoniaricus, Lauriomarus, Lounomarus, Landomorus.

[3] An ancient author, and (as one may conjecture, and Surius judged) nearly a contemporary, composed his life, a monk of Corbio. This he himself implies in the Prologue: The life, by whom written. whose examples have edified us, and by the outcome of whose manner of life we have been delighted. And more clearly in chapter 4, no. 17: As one who wishes to know can fully find in the archives of this holy monastery. And chapter 5, no. 25: From there assist us with continual patronage, that in this fold, which you illuminated by your examples and adorned with your virtues, there may be continual peace, etc. Because he mentions only Ragnobertus, When written. or Regnobertus, as Abbot (who in the life of S. Batildis the Queen is called Legobertus, and in Surius Lagobertus), it becomes probable that he wrote this life under him. Whence published. Surius had published this life, but in a more polished style: we give the genuine text from an ancient codex of S. Maria de Ripatorio and another trustworthy one.

[4] The era of S. Launomarus needs to be elucidated. To the Chronicle of Sigebertus at the year 495, the following has been added in the edition of Laurentius de la Barre, which however Miraeus noted is not by Sigebertus: At this time flourished Launomarus of Chartres, founder of the monastery of Curbio, and Maximus of Orleans, founder of the monastery of Micy; whose disciples were the Abbots Carilefus and Avitus. The time of his birth. But the author of the life records that he was born under Chlotarius I, began the monastery of Corbio in the second year of Chilperic, and died shortly before Bishop S. Malardus. Chlotarius succeeded to a fourth part of the kingdom with his brothers in the year 511, and having finally survived them all and their children, obtained the monarchy, and died in 562, having divided it fourfold among his sons. To Chilperic fell the kingdom of Soissons, and after the death of his brother Charibertus in 570, part of the kingdom of Paris; he was murdered in 584, leaving behind a four-month-old son Chlotarius. The second year of Chilperic was therefore either 564, if you count from the death of his father, The year the monastery was built. or 572, if from Charibertus's death. Launomarus must then have been not much less than thirty, having been long since ordained to the priesthood with the highest praise, and having for a considerable period managed the economic affairs, either of a monastery, or, as Yepes thinks, of a college of clerics (for this is not clearly distinguished: and Marchantius testifies that it is handed down among the people of Chartres as a tradition from their ancestors, that he presided over the house of the wardens of the principal basilica, and over the common treasury of the clergy); and having then in the very desert established a monastery, and fled from it because he detested the celebrity of his name. Therefore he had been born well before the year of Christ 550.

[5] But he lived until the time of S. Malardus, Bishop of Chartres, and, if we are not mistaken, his last years. Sebastianus Rouillardus writes that Malardus died in the year of Christ 615, having held office for fourteen years. Nor does he deny that he attended the Council of Chalon; which was celebrated on the eighth day before the Kalends of November in the sixth year of Chlodoveus II, the year of Christ 650. The same Malardus, or Malehardus, subsequently subscribed to the Privilege of liberty which Landericus, Bishop of Paris, granted to the monastery of S. Dionysius, in the year of Christ 658; and to the Precept of King Chlodoveus concerning the same liberty in the year 659. His predecessor Bertegisus attended the Synod of Reims in the year 630. But Rouillardus makes many errors in the chronology of the Bishops of Chartres, and disturbs their order; for he says that the sixth after Malardus was Pappolus, from the year of Christ 657 to 664. But Pappolus attended the second Council of Macon, which is known to have been held in the year 585, The time of his death. and the fourth Council of Paris in the year 573. It is now clear how far those erred who wrote that Launomarus flourished around the year of Christ 495, since he appears to have died, more than a hundred years old, not far from the year of Christ 650; unless one posits two Malarduses, which is perhaps not improbable.

[6] Who else have written about him. Baronius also treats of him in volume 7, year 567, no. 22 and following. Vincent of Beauvais, book 21, chapters 83 and 84. Petrus de Natalibus, book 2, chapter 104. Trithemius, book 3, on the illustrious men of the Order of S. Benedict, chapter 251, although perhaps one might doubt whether, at least in the beginning, he adopted Benedictine statutes and bound himself and his followers to them. Marchantius writes that Wulfrada and Crenulfus wished to place monks of the Order of S. Launomarus at Ebritnogil. And the Order of S. Benedict was scarcely yet known, and certainly not widely propagated, when he undertook the monastic life: other institutes of ascetics flourished in Gaul. Nevertheless he could later have embraced the Rule of S. Benedict, outstanding for its discretion, and prescribed it for his followers. Antonius Yepes in the Benedictine Chronicle, century 1, at the year 567, narrates his deeds, but does not indicate which order he belonged to. At Blois on the Loire there is a Benedictine monastery of S. Launomarus, noble and wealthy.

LIFE

By an anonymous monk of Curbio, from two ancient manuscripts.

Launomarus, Priest, Abbot of Curbio in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4734

By an anonymous author, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] God is to be praised in His Saints. David the Prophet, when he had urged all creatures to the praise of their Creator and Governor, at the beginning of the hundred and fiftieth psalm, says thus: Praise the Lord in His Saints: in those, that is, whom He has glorified, and made to overflow with diverse gifts by the great grace of His favor. And therefore I think it a worthy undertaking, if those things are treated by faithful narrators which the soldiers of Christ each severally wrought in their own cells: or rather which the Author of all wonders Himself wrought in them and through them, from whom all holiness and the sum of faith proceeds. For He Himself says: Without me you can do nothing. John 15:5. Which the faithful servants and ministers of the grace of God also confess, and always keeping before their eyes the overthrow of Satan, whom the Lord saw falling like lightning from heaven, they attribute to Him whatever good they do, from whom they have both the will and the power: nor do they presume upon their own strength for a moment, All good things are to be ascribed to Him, lest while they enjoy the field of evil liberty, they incur the pit of unforeseen damnation. We therefore praise the Lord, the guarantor and giver of rewards, in His Saints, while we bring to the knowledge of very many what He gloriously administered through His servants, how they lived both inwardly by the virtue of continence in their own persons, and outwardly enlightened others by the lamp of good works. After the glorious combats of the Martyrs, therefore, we recall the illustrious merits of the Confessors. For they too, bearing off the victory over the ancient enemy, because for them to live was always Christ and to die was gain, were made heirs of the heavenly Jerusalem. Behold, on every side the camps of Christ's soldiers shine: everywhere that singular King has set up the standards of His Martyrs and Confessors, through whose lifeless ashes He triumphs over the enemy of the human race. Finally, from among the numerous host of athletes we have chosen him by whose examples we have been edified and by the outcome of whose manner of life we have been delighted, namely the Blessed Launomarus, that we might hand down to posterity something useful in memory concerning his holy manner of life and miraculous deeds; so that the zealous may have something to emulate, and the negligent something by which, through divine inspiration, they may be aroused to the fervor of good action.

CHAPTER I.

The youth and priesthood of S. Launomarus.

[2] When S. Launomarus was born. After the Frankish nation had occupied the Gauls, and brought the kingdom, the cities, and the territories under its dominion on all sides; and had now passed from the impurities of idolatry to the worship of the Christian religion; at that time when Clotharius, son of Chlodoveus the elder, who was the first among the kings of that nation to receive baptism from B. Remigius, Bishop of the Remi, administered the kingdom of the Franks; his country: within Gallia Lugdunensis, Launomarus, a citizen of the territory of the Carnutes, was born of most Christian parents.

[3] He tends his father's flock. While he was still being reared as a little boy in his father's house, he began to tend his father's flock in pasturing, like another Jacob, or one of the other Patriarchs. Among these occupations this boy, dear to God, showed the beginnings of good promise: generous to the needy: because whatever the solicitude of his parents provided for his daily sustenance, he himself distributed either to the poor and pilgrims he encountered, or to his companions of the same age performing the duties of shepherds. And although he did not yet possess knowledge of the divine precepts, yet the divine grace shining in him had rooted a mature heart in his childish body. For while he burned with such love toward his needy companions and the poor, even in childhood he already devoted himself to the practice of frugality. Overflowing also with the depths of charity, he was solicitous for the poor, and, kind, though still a little boy, he afflicted his body with excessive fasting. He was not harsh or difficult to his companions; but affable in speech, gentle in character, cheerful in countenance, and most outstanding in charity according to his means. He did not yet know the Gospel, devoted to fasting: but he rejoiced to bear the mortification of the cross, often extending his fast until sunset.

[4] When his parents saw him in the first flower of youth neglecting the care of his body, breaking the luxury and allurements of pleasures by the rigor of abstinence; they began to marvel in astonishment, whence such gravity of character had suddenly grown in the boy. But secretly and gradually testing the boy's manner of life, because he indicated that his mind was raised above the defilement of the world, they also took care to clothe him in a suitable habit. He is trained in letters and virtue: And so during his boyhood years he was committed by his parents to literary studies, and entrusted to a certain Priest of venerable life named Cherimirus, who, serving the Lord within the town of Chartres, was held in celebrated repute for his religious life. Receiving the little boy, he tenderly nurtured him, and gradually encouraged him toward the knowledge of letters and the norm of holiness. But the divine grace, which had produced the maturity of mind from childish limbs, seemed to have established in the adolescent the diligence of learning that usually requires years. The aforesaid Priest, observing in him the desire for religion growing along with his advancing age, and the capacity of his mind becoming greater for learning, congratulated himself, prompted by the signs of good hope, because he believed that through him the salvation of others could be procured in the following age. Which the truth of the matter proved not long after.

[5] Indeed as soon as he had grown to the years of understanding, the most blessed man, hearing the voice of the Savior with the ear both of body and heart, he renounces all things: that which the divine power had inspired through the unknowing solicitude of his parents, he himself renounced all his possessions, so that in the land of the living he might merit a portion subject to no end. Nor did he wish to return to worldly tumults, because as the Lord says: No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62. Meanwhile the servant of God, thirsting for the food of doctrine and the heavenly word, adorned his youth with its constant meditation and chaste morals. Already at that time set aflame with the fires of divine love, he had begun to desire the solitude of the desert. He becomes a Priest, and steward of the Brethren: Therefore concealing for a time the purpose of his mind, while he still remained in the same city, he obtained the priestly office with divine grace accompanying him. Not long after, he was appointed there by the brethren, with whom he aspired to heavenly things, as steward of their temporal goods, and carefully provided their substance and entire storehouse; and with the greatest discretion and paternal affection he ministered the bodily necessities to all the brethren, so that he diminished the due portion of no one by even a small amount, nor lavishly wasted it on anyone. For founded by long training in spiritual exercise, this man served God worthily in his priesthood. Taught also by the example of the Apostles, he strove to imitate the pattern of the primitive Church, of which it is written: distribution was made to each one, as each had need. Acts 4:35.

CHAPTER II.

The solitary life. The founding of the monastery.

[6] After some years had elapsed from the time of his ordination, what he had long concealed and conceived in his heart as the vow of his desire, he fulfilled with the Lord as author and helper. At last in the dead of night, he seeks the desert: while all were sunk in deep sleep, he took his staff in his hands, and casting off the duty of managing earthly goods, he flew to the coveted desert. And when he was in a place where his mind could find delight, and as it were fix the foot of transitory rest, with the ardor of impatient zeal he spurned the world with its luxuries. And trampling underfoot the waves of the world, withdrawing himself from the company of men, he resolved to seek the fellowship of Angels through the heights of contemplation. Just as the Prophet Elijah once, dwelling in the cave of solitude, after he had seen the Lord passing by, and the earthquake shaking the mountains and the fire melting the rocks, yet testified that the Lord was not in these things; he was able to feel this rapture in the whisper of a gentle breeze, that is, raised above himself by the subtlety of contemplation. 3 Kings 19.

[7] For he withdrew far from the city, and shut himself up in the most remote solitude of the forest called Particus, and there with the whole intention of his heart and with the very marrow of all his thoughts he more intimately commended himself to the Lord. Where, in a hut woven with branches, while one night amidst the blind silence he was rendering hymns to God in devout meditation, he is long sought in vain by robbers, he perceived the hostile fury of robbers, who endured long wanderings of the way that night in order to reach his death. For they thought he was keeping some money in the desert. But when dawn came, they suddenly saw themselves in the sight of the one they had so eagerly sought: he exhorts them, divinely struck, to repentance: and struck with divine fear at the sight of him, they fell at his feet, crying out: Spare us, man of God, spare us; we recognize our guilt, and therefore we ask pardon. And the man of God, astonished at this, said: What, brothers, what is it that you ask of me? Or what reason has driven you all the way to us? And they confessed what they had planned, and what they had resolved against him. Then the man of God said to them: I was not ignorant of your plots, sons. May the Lord have mercy on you. Return in peace, and cease to sin. Desist from robbery, and restrain your hand from plunder, that you may be worthy to find the mercy of the Lord. For I have no money on earth. Our wealth is Christ. And they, edified by his words, scarcely returned to their own homes after three days.

[8] From then on the name of the blessed man became famous: and many began to flock to him, he instructs disciples: desiring to be renewed into the new man, who was created according to God, by his examples and teaching. Not much time had passed, and behold, in the form of a monastery, they placed dwellings in the midst of the vast and dense desert: where through His servant the almighty God performed very many miracles. He builds a monastery. For many by his prayers and the help of his intercession were relieved from the affliction of bodily infirmity; many, recalled to the health of the inner man, he is renowned for miracles: learned within the camps of God to fight bravely against the fiery darts of the ancient enemy.

[9] For on a certain day a man from the neighborhood offered his lame son to the Saint for healing at the gates of the monastery, he heals a lame man: and he himself, prostrate at his knees with tears, said: Man of God, have mercy on me, and restore to this boy his former health by your prayers; or at least while he lives, let him be fed here at your expense for the sake of the work of mercy. Then the man of God said to him: Whence is it mine, O man, to restore health to your son? This is the work of the Creator, not of a creature. Yet God is able to grant to your faith what you ask. Wait a little, and together with the child receive a blessing; afterwards return together by the way you came. When the Priest of the Lord had interceded for the health of the boy during the sacred offering of the Mass, after the solemn prayer was completed, he refreshed the father with a fragment of blessed bread, and healed the son of his disability, and sent them back to their home.

[10] He opens the doors of the church by his prayers. At another time the venerable Father was working with his monks to cut down the forest, so that he might prepare some flat ground suitable for sowing seeds: but by chance it happened that the doorkeeper of the Lord's house lost the key to the oratory. When the servant of God, withdrawing from the Brothers for the sake of prayer, with his attendant accompanying him, sought the oratory and did not find the key, he prostrated himself on the ground before the doors and prayed for a while. And immediately the door opened of its own accord for him. Having entered the oratory, he continued his prayers to the end. And when he had risen from prayer, he charged his attendant not to reveal to anyone during his lifetime what he had seen; and orders it to be kept silent: following the example of the Lord his God, who forbade those whom He healed by His own power to tell anyone.

CHAPTER III.

His various miracles.

[11] He extinguishes a fire with the sign of the Cross. At the same time, something similar happened in the monastery of the man of God through negligence. For when after the harvest the sheaves of the new grain were to be stored in the barns, the monks, driven by necessity, placed what they had harvested on a frame made of wicker, and applied fire to it; which gradually gaining strength, while all were attending to other things and no one was concerned about this, suddenly the fire seized both the grain and the building. When the man of the Lord learned of this, he threw himself with all his soul and body against the violence of the fire. Thus the man of the Lord Launomarus prevailed against the fire, and making the sign of the Cross against it, he overcame the force of the fire with his prayers. What shall I say? For he immediately extinguished the crackling fire as if with a violent rainstorm.

[12] On the following night, when he had risen early for prayer, during the sacred vigils the envy of the devil tried to disturb him, for he who had fallen from the heavenly light a lamp extinguished by a demon, three times relit by his prayers: three times extinguished the light of the lamp. But he felt that the soldier of Christ had prevailed against him. For as often as the enemy of the human race removed the light from that dwelling, the servant of the Lord did not desist from his duty, but rather pouring forth prayer before the Lord, through the true and eternal light, Christ, he restored the rays of the lamp. Clearly a Confessor of great faith, whose birthday we have received with devout minds, to whom it was granted that, just as other Saints by faith conquered kingdoms, so also he by the firmness of faith might command created things. Heb. 11:33. For thus the Lord of hosts glorifies His Saints, who serve Him with their whole heart, so that through Him they may triumph over the one who once held the principate among the choirs of heavenly dignities, and that the creature may serve them at will. For the venerable man in one case extinguished the harmful balls of flame, and in another rekindled the fire: and thus in both the author of darkness was confounded, and he who was preeminent in his manner of life was shown to be venerable also in the power of signs. That this may appear more clearly, I shall relate yet another thing that he did at a subsequent time.

[13] A certain man, named Sicaptus, born of noble stock, and very wealthy in the ample possession of estates, he heals a demoniac anointed with sacred oil, was tormented by the black impulse of a demon, insomuch that, persuaded by the devil, if he could lay his hand on any weapon or club, he would immediately attack either himself or others, whomever he encountered. When he had for a long time raged with such madness, and was most atrociously shaken by the furies of Satan, he was shackled by his servants, his neck and hands burdened with chains, and dragged with great roaring and clamor into the presence of the man of God: and immediately in the sight of the most holy Father, he began to rage and gnash his teeth, and his face to change to pallor. But when the man of God looked upon him, recognizing the wiles of the ancient serpent, he groaned, and immediately had recourse to the familiar weapons of prayer: and having completed the prayer, anointing the wretched man with sacred oil, he poured it over his entire body. And when the man of God laid his hands upon him, he emptied him of the unclean spirit, and said to the crowd of companions who accompanied him: Remove from him the weight of chains, and allow him to depart unharmed. God is powerful, whose creation this is, to put the demon to flight, and to rescue the wretched soul from the power of the dire plunderer, so that you may rest from such labor. In that very hour the man was made whole, and with a sound mind he turned the horror of his countenance and the grinding of his teeth into gentleness; and as if awakening from the sleep of death, he said to his own: Why do you vex me with these bonds? Release me, and return to your homes: for I shall spend some time with the man of God, who has healed me. And he exhorts him to fasting and prayer. They therefore released him and returned each to their own homes. And B. Launomarus kept the man, and exhorted him to apply himself to fasting and prayer. He, obedient to the Father's precept, after some days returned to his own home in health.

[14] The holy man exercised this work of piety not only toward men, but also toward wild and brute animals. He drives away wolves by his word; a doe rescued, then released. For one day, while walking near his monastery in the solitude and silently considering something from the Scriptures, he encountered a doe fleeing from the harassment of wolves. When he saw them, like one who sympathized with the beast, the man of the Lord cried out: Away, most savage beasts, always rapacious, cease to pursue this little animal: and go to the places of your solitude: and alluding to the meaning, Behold, he said, a most wicked and harmful kind of beast. For just as these never cease from plundering, but always devour the flesh of others with their bites, so also the devil, the most ferocious wolf, going about daily seeks whom from the Church of Christ he may destroy and strangle. At this word of the man of God, they immediately turned their course from pursuing, and entered the not unfamiliar concealment of the forest. The doe, however, fearing to go back the way she had come, accompanied her rescuer, and entered before the oratory itself. The man of God stroked her with his hand for about two hours and then sent her back to the places of her solitude. O Lord Jesus, here too in the spirit of His gentleness You so glorified Your Saint, that even the ferocity of beasts obeyed him, through the terror of Your name.

[15] At another time a certain man of noble birth, named Leudocramnus, when he was afflicted with the most grievous paralysis, he heals a paralytic with the sign of the Cross and sacred oil, so that all his limbs refused their function and the motion of their vigor, was placed by the hands of his servants upon a vehicle drawn by horses, and conveyed in a litter to the man of God. What shall I say? He lay nearly lifeless in every part, except that in his breast alone he seemed to gasp for breath. But when the holy Father signed him with the standard of the holy Cross and anointed him with sacred oil, at the touch of his hand suddenly, as the man himself used to testify under oath, he was sprinkled with such an excess of cold from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, that he marveled within himself at what had happened to him. For with a sudden shiver his whole body trembled, and he expected nothing other than approaching death, since his innards scarcely provided even the smallest portion of vital warmth. Then, as his limbs gradually grew warm again, the paralytic immediately regained his former health, and lived many more years. He himself afterwards governed the cell called Carbonaria, and through him this miracle was made known.

CHAPTER IV.

The monastery of Curbio. Miracles performed there.

[16] He withdraws to another place. It happened after some years, when the fame of his virtue had spread far and wide, that the holy man, always fleeing human praise and desiring to be hidden and unknown to mortals, leaving his cell, withdrew with his fellow soldiers to another place, which the hands of former inhabitants had once built up, but which the growth of dense foliage and briars had now entirely covered.

[17] At the same time there was in the same province an illustrious man, very wealthy and possessor of very extensive estates, named Ragnosointhus. When he saw that the soldier of God was undertaking something in the roughness of the aforementioned place which would be profitable to posterity in future times, having investigated the reputation of his holiness and his indefatigable service in divine matters, he began to venerate the man of God and to embrace him with all his desire. Thenceforward, touched by the fire of his love, which he perceived more deeply as he venerated the man of God more closely, he handed over to him the very place of which we speak, into which the holy man had entered, and from his own right transferred it perpetually to him and his successors. He also marked it out on all sides with its own boundaries in the best way, as anyone who wishes to know can fully find in the archives of this holy monastery. He builds the monastery of Curbio. Where the man of the Lord began to labor, and aided by the protection of the Divine Majesty, endeavored to clear the place, the former name of Curbio remaining, and he established an oratory there, and with huts for dwelling he sketched with his followers the form of a monastery. In those days Chilperic, son of the aforesaid Clotharius, was in the second year of his reign.

[18] On a certain day therefore, to build the oratory, the monks of the venerable Father felled an aged oak with repeated blows. But when the regular hour admonished them to withdraw to take their meal, the man of the Lord dismissed them, but he himself, keeping his attendant with him, continued in the labor. He transfers an immense oak by his prayers. Now the tree itself was not in a suitable place where it could be hewn or cut up by the Brothers. But the servant of the Lord, having recourse to his customary secret place of prayer, trusting in divine aid, by the power of the Cross transported the tree of immense bulk to where he wished: for where human power was lacking, he merited to have divine assistance. For the same tree was said to have been of such weight that it could scarcely be carried by forty men. Then he commanded his attendant to tell the Brothers when they returned that passers-by had given them the help. He skillfully conceals the miracle. For in all his works he shunned the eyes of men and the swelling of boasting, and admonished that God alone should be praised, whose was entirely whatever good he had merited to do. And therefore rightly, O Lord, You gave to Your servant the rest prepared for him, who in the power of signs assigned nothing to himself, but always proclaimed You as wondrous and the author of all grace.

[19] There was after this a noble man, Ermoaldus by name, who, having reached the end of his life, was in peril from the anguish of death. He recognizes and rejects money unjustly acquired. He sent to the man of God forty solidi, earnestly requesting that he would come to the aid of him who was now nearly dying, so that by the merits of his intercession, the hope of salvation from the Almighty might be granted to him. But the devout soldier of the Lord refused to accept it. Finally, with the bearer insisting, he accepted the money: and entering the oratory, he poured forth prayer, that the offering of the man might be acceptable in the sight of the Lord, and he placed the money upon the altar: and with great care he weighed each coin, turning it over by hand, and frequently bending his knee, he prayed. After much examination, he retained for his own use one solidus, which he recognized in spirit to be clean and not acquired by plunder. The rest he handed back to the bearer, and said: This money, O man, is unjust; it cannot change the Divine sentence, nor extend the span of life, he predicts the death of the donor: nor obtain the remission of sins. For it is written: The sacrifices of the wicked are abominable to the Lord; the prayers of the just are pleasing. Prov. 15:8. Hence the Prophet reproaches, saying: Offer up leavened bread as a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Amos 4:5. He offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving from what is leavened, who prepares a sacrifice for God from plunder. Therefore, brother, hasten to announce to your master, that he should labor for himself, and restore what was unjustly taken. For by this very illness he will end this temporal life. We, with Christ being propitious, abound in all good things, and if we are not weakened in faith, nothing will be lacking to us. And after this he said: The Lord be with you, my son, go in peace. And he, having received the commission, returned to his master, and found him still living; but as the sickness grew worse, he was taken from this light.

[20] Once thieves came to the cell of the same Father, and entering by night, which is always their friend, they loosed an ox from the manger and led it away. When the monks learned of this early in the morning, he consoles his own about a temporal loss, they brought the complaint to the most holy Father. To whom he, fearing lest on account of some temporal inconvenience the state of their minds should be shaken and they should break forth into impatience, said to them: Preserve patience, brothers, and do not corrupt for a perishable thing that which God made in His own likeness. For B. Job also, when he had lost all his outward substance, and after the death of his sons had at last himself been struck with the most cruel wound, as it is read: In all these things Job did not sin with his lips, nor did he impute anything foolish against God, but said: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done: blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1. But neither should prosperity, if outward wealth is at hand, exalt us; nor should earthly loss cast us down, so that we may be like him of whom the Psalmist says: As is his darkness, so also is his light. Ps. 138:12. Now the robbers persevered the whole of that night and the following day in their wandering labor, and could nowhere find an exit by which to extract themselves from the trackless solitude. The thieves, after a long wandering, return with the stolen ox. On the second night, worn out by the extreme wandering of body and heart, they discovered that they had been brought to the place where they had committed the crime of theft, and at the sound of the monks singing psalms, struck with amazement of mind, they murmured to one another, saying: What is this that has happened to us? Behold, we are in the very place from which we removed this animal. When they saw that their hope had been frustrated, and that what they had attempted was not succeeding, they chose one course, to return the ox to its masters. When therefore the matins hymns had been completed by the Brothers, the man of God went out according to his custom to make his rounds about the cell. The men came to meet him, and revealed the cause of their crime both by their words and by showing it with their hands. The man of the Lord granted the pardon they sought, and said to them: He gives them food. You have done well, sons, that even after great labor you have come to the recognition of your guilt. Henceforth refrain from such things; and because you have labored, refresh your bodies, and so return more quickly to your own homes. But take care not to show yourselves to the shepherds or monks. After they had departed, he consigned to the Brothers that very ox which they had anxiously sought: and dissembling, he did not reveal the truth of the matter to them, but, as if it had strayed in the forest through the shepherds' negligence, he pretended that he had found it wandering before the gates. He conceals the miracle from his own. This, however, was made public by his attendant after his blessed death, to whom he used to confide many things in familiar intimacy.

[21] There was likewise a certain matron, distinguished by the title of nobility, he heals a paralytic woman with the Cross and chrism: named Wulfrada, who within her years of adolescence was wasting away from a most grievous infirmity and the destitution of all her limbs, so that the vital warmth of the spirit seemed to pulsate only in her little breast; and, as she herself reported, she could not stand upon her feet, being nearly lifeless, broken as she was by a long bodily affliction. Raised therefore in the arms of her servants, she was brought to the man of God for the purpose of healing. When he had anointed her with the blessing of chrism, impressing the standard of the holy Cross upon her, he restored her to her former vigor. She afterwards, by the Lord's mercy, prolonged her days in peace for a long time, and after the passing of the venerable Father, nobly enriched his cell with her property as a gift. And so she gave, with the consent of her husband Chramnulpus, from her estate the estate of Lontueus, and Brituogilum, with this vow, that a rule of monks and servants of God be established there, and the place be made renowned in divine praises. From whom various things are given to that monastery and to another to be built. And so it was done. For in the governance of Christ's flock, the memorable Father Launomarus had as his successor a most modest man, named Ragnobertus, who from the community of the same congregation sent Brothers well suited for this work, and by God's grace going before, brought the desire of the aforesaid couple to fulfillment. The devotion of the same couple also added, for love of the most holy Father, an estate situated across the River Loire, which is called Fagia, so that through the intercession of B. Launomarus it might be for them a perpetual remedy of the soul, and according to their hope, a full remission of sins.

CHAPTER V.

His death and that of S. Malardus.

[22] Meanwhile the venerable man, filled with these fragrances of virtues and grace, was governing the flock of monks in long peace, he exhorts his own to perfection: which he had acquired for the Lord by words and virtues. But hastening in his mind to other things, and concerned about his calling, he exhorted them daily to be more and more ready for the divine commands, and not to slumber, nor to slacken from the course begun through the relaxation of sloth, but to be watchful at every hour, so that they might be deemed worthy to flee the wrath of final damnation, and to stand before the Son of Man. With such admonitions of holy and unconquered exhortation he protected the sheep entrusted to him against the snares of wolves.

[23] At that time Malardus was Bishop of the Church of Chartres. Who, having learned of the fame of the man of God, and rejoicing at the merits of his faith, he is summoned by S. Malardus to Chartres: desired to be refreshed by the frequent sweetness of conversation with him. For this reason, summoned by him, the venerable man, knowing also that the end of his days was approaching, now an old man, hastened to the city for the purpose of visiting. Where, after staying some days, afflicted by the onset of fevers, he began to fall ill. He is visited by him while sick. When the Bishop of that place learned that he was gravely ill, he rose and hastened to the man of God, and accompanied the grief of his heart with tears, saying: Alas! Alas! venerable Father, and one to be recalled with the most brotherly affection, why do you desert your friend and companion in the faith of Christ, alone amid the shipwrecks of the world? Great indeed was your consolation to me, great the warmth of your love, by which I rejoiced to be relieved amid the buffeting waves of worldly cares, by whose pleasant and gentle conversation I restored my mind to heavenly things. He comforts him. Then the old man spoke thus to the Bishop: Cease, most blessed Father, and desist from weeping: such is the human condition and the end which cannot be passed by. I for my part look with joy and exulting mind upon the ineffable mercy of my God, that He may deign to open for me the door of His mercy, and to recompense the certain reward of His promise to my hope, which He has promised to all who love His coming. For how lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God! My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord: for one day in your courts is better than a thousand. Therefore my soul has thirsted for you, my God: when shall I come and appear before your face, O Lord, my hope and my strength, my life and my salvation?

[24] He predicts future disasters. But even if the option of remaining here longer were to be given, know, my venerable Father, that it is bitter to live here and to see the devastation of this region, to behold the deaths and torments of its citizens, and the holy places profaned by hostile nations. For all these things shall come upon this place, and hostile devastation will give understanding to men that they have grievously sinned against Him; by whose permission they will endure the harshest masters. It is therefore more blessed to die now than to see the destruction of our province already near at hand. For death is truly sweet, through which we hope to attain the glory of immortality. And the death of S. Malardus. But you, O man of God, do not be terrified: you will not see the evil which the Lord will rain upon the inhabitants of this land, because before the days of siege you will complete your life in good service, and you will be gathered to your fathers. But those who shall remain will see this entire city and the whole surrounding region laid waste. Behold a true Confessor of Christ, whom the grace of God had so filled, that in that same spirit by which he foretold death and plunder to the man offering silver, from which the money had been acquired, he also foreknew the hostile attack that would follow long after, and knowing it, predicted it. For the Holy Spirit, just as from the past He infused knowledge of absent things, so also from the future He touched his mind, so that he might discern with the eye of the mind adverse calamities coming from afar.

[25] When the duties of mutual friendship had been completed, the venerable Father awaited the day of his calling, trusting in the mercy of God, without fear. And as from day to day the force of the fevers weakened his body, he died in that same city, an old man and full of days. He dies piously. His soul entered the tabernacle of his God, was taken up with the Angels, called to the wedding supper of the Lamb, and reclines with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. For you have fought the good fight, O athlete of Christ, you always bore Christ in your breast, and therefore you have happily entered into His glory. O how blessed you are, pious Confessor! For the joyful chorus of Angels hastens to meet the one returning to his homeland. And because the Lord was with you, you have left this habitation secure, and penetrated even to the throne of the eternal vision. From there assist us with continual patronage, so that in this fold, which you illuminated by examples and adorned with virtues, there may be continual peace, the longed-for remission of sins, and the constant exercise of the Christian religion, through the help of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God through infinite ages of ages, Amen.

[26] S. Malardus dies. After those days the Bishop of that town also entered the way of all flesh. Then, according to the word of the man of God, the predicted desolation of the region came, and when a barbarous army besieged that same city, it diverted the water by which the citizens had been sustained through hidden conduits from its course. The city of Chartres is captured. And so it happened that the inhabitants of the fortress, overcome by the want of thirst, voluntarily opened their gates to the enemy, and surrendered themselves as prey to the hostile sword.

[27] The burial of S. Launomarus. The aged servant of God rested on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of February; and he was buried in the basilica of S. Martinus, where also B. Leobinus, Bishop of the same city, is interred.