Gildas the Wise

ON S. GILDAS THE WISE, ABBOT IN ARMORICAN BRITTANY.

Sixth century.

Gildas or Gildasius, Abbot in Armorican Brittany (S.)

BHL Number: 3544

From various sources.

Section I. The date of S. Gildas the Wise.

[1] Several persons named Gildas are mentioned by writers, some celebrated with some praise. We are inquiring about the Saints. The English bring forward two from their own nation, the Armorican Bretons two, S. Gildas the Wise besides S. Tremorius, who was also called Gildas. We do not hope to remove every obscurity: but we shall certainly pursue the safer paths. Therefore we shall first treat of the Writer, whose twin booklets exist in the Library of the Fathers; if he was not a single author, afterward divided into two by copyists: the first contains a sharp reproach of the British nobility and common people, the other of the clergy.

[2] Albertus Magnus de Morlaix, in his History of the Saints of Armorican Brittany, establishes two persons named Gildas in such a way that he would have the first present at the funeral of King Grallo in the year 405; yet he also makes the same man the author of that book against the crimes of the British nobility, he did not flourish in the fifth century, or On the Ruin of Britain, even though the author himself professes to be far more recent, as we shall presently say. Bellarmine in his book On Ecclesiastical Writers and Jacobus Gualterius in his Chronographic Tables place that Writer at the year of Christ 495. But he was then only two years old.

[3] He himself indicates his own age and the precise year of his birth. "From that time," he says in his booklet On the Ruin of Britain, "now the citizens, but born in the year of Christ 493, now the enemies were victorious, so that in this nation the Lord might test the present Israel in his accustomed manner, whether it loves him or not; up to the year of the siege of Mount Badon, and nearly the last and not the least slaughter of the gallows-birds: which is the forty-fourth year, as I know, now beginning, one month having already elapsed, which is also the year of my birth." The Saxons came to Britain in the year 449, as Bede writes, book 1, chapter 16; and in the forty-fourth year after that, namely the year of Christ 493, they besieged the city called by more recent writers Bathonia, by modern Englishmen Bath, by themselves at that time Bathancester, by the Britons Caer Badon, by Ptolemy Hydata Therma, and by Antoninus Aquae Solis: but when Aurelius, that great-spirited King, came upon them, they occupied Mount Badon and were slain in very great numbers. That mount, where the Saxons were slain, as Camden testifies, is now called Bannesdowne, and it overhangs the hamlet of Bathstone, near the city of Bath, and still shows its ramparts and earthwork. The same author attests that those words of Gildas are read thus in the Cambridge manuscript: "up to the year of the siege of Mount Badon, which is held not far from the mouth of the Severn." Rightly so, for not far from Bath the Avon, on which it stands, empties itself into the estuary of the Severn. Concerning that defeat of the Saxons, which some would have occurred elsewhere, Ranulph of Chester writes thus in book 5, chapter 4, at the year 493: "In this year also a great slaughter of Saxons was made at the siege of Mount Badon, by the British commander Aurelius Ambrosius, namely in the forty-fourth year from the coming of the English." But the Huntingdon chronicler attributes this victory to Arthur; to which we do not subscribe.

[4] We have, therefore, the year of Gildas's birth. In what year he wrote that book, he himself also indicates, writing thus: "Of so abominable an atrocity not unaware is the tyrannical whelp of the lioness of Dumnonia, Constantine, he wrote in the year 543 who in this year, after the horrible sacrament of an oath by which he bound himself that he would by no means practise deceits against his countrymen -- God first and his sworn oath, then the choirs of Saints and the Mother accompanying them -- in the bosoms of two venerable mothers, that is, of the church and of his own flesh, under the holy Abbot Amphibalus, cruelly mangled with accursed sword and spear, as if with teeth, the most tender sides or entrails of two royal boys and likewise of two of their guardians, between, as I said, the very sacrosanct altars." Thus Gildas: and the Westminster chronicler writes that these deeds were performed in the year after Arthur's death: "In the year of grace 543," he says, "the two sons of Mordred (whom Arthur had defeated and slain in battle when Mordred had allied himself with the Saxons) rose up against Constantine, King of the Britons, wishing to avenge their father; who, having allied themselves with the Saxons, waged many battles: whom at last Constantine, pursuing them after they had been put to flight, slew one at Winchester, in the church of S. Amphibalus, before the altar; but the other, hidden in a certain monastery of friars at London, he condemned to a cruel death." Whether the Britons still held London at that time, let others inquire. What appears in Gildas as "under the holy Abbot Amphibalus," Camden reads as "under the abbot's amphibalus," that is, as he interprets it, a sacred garment shaggy on both sides. S. Amphibalus is indeed venerated on 25 June, but he was not an Abbot, nor do we know of any other Abbot Amphibalus; although, on the sole authority of this passage, Bale fabricates an Abbot Amphibalus of Winchester, a man of proven learning and approved life, and says that he addressed to Gildas a letter concerning that slaughter of the royal youths, and flourished under Maglocunus about the year 560. Let whoever wishes believe it, on the authority of Bale: whom Pits followed too rashly.

[5] Gildas therefore wrote that booklet in the second year after Arthur's death; ten years, as the author of his Life below, chapter 3, number 21, reports, after he had withdrawn from Britain. Or rather, after eighteen or twenty years: for he is said to have withdrawn when he was thirty years old, about the year 523 or 524. "In that book," says the same author, "he rebukes five Kings of that island, entangled in various wickednesses and crimes": and sharply indeed he rebukes them -- Constantine, whom we have already discussed; Aurelius Conanus, Vortiporius, Cuneglasus, Maglocunus -- reproaching each with the gravest crimes. In Gaul, an invective against five Kings of the island of Britain. Whence it is reasonable to conjecture that he was not then on the island of Britain; for those cruel tyrants, infamous for so many murders, would not have tolerated such freedom of speech from a single monk living within their dominions. And besides the author of his Life, Gildas himself seems to indicate this, for he professes that what he is about to bring forward he has drawn not so much from the writings of his fatherland and the records of its Writers (since these, even if any existed, either burned by the fires of the enemy or carried far away by the fleet of citizen exiles, are not to be found) as from an overseas account. And further: "What will the citizens conceal, which not only the surrounding nations know, but also cast in their teeth?"

[6] Moreover, most writers on British affairs would have these Kings, whom Gildas rebukes, to have successively presided over the entire British state, with the same authority as Aurelius Ambrosius before them. And thus writes Ranulph, book 5, chapter 6: "Arthur, dying, granted the diadem of his kingdom to his kinsman Constantine, who was the son of Cador, Duke of Cornwall; who fought many times with the sons of Mordred and at last destroyed them; not reigning successively; and so after ten years of his rule he died. After him Aurelius Conanus held the kingdom for three years. After him Vortiporius for ten years. After him Malgo the Fair, a vigorous and munificent man, but infected with the Sodomite plague, reigned for some years." If these things are true, it would be necessary that Gildas, who at first in his booklet had rebuked only Constantine, then as the years passed, as he heard of the crimes of his successors, had also inserted a reproof of them. And he could indeed have done so, for, as Pits relates, he died a nonagenarian, or as others say, at least very old.

[7] But why did a man of keen and ready style not rather write a new invective to each of them separately, or at least publish one against them? Did he so carry that offspring of his before his eyes that he thought his countrymen would re-read it from time to time, if only some additional paragraphs were appended? But simultaneously in different provinces. More probably, therefore, more recent scholars judge that all these petty kings at the same time, in various provinces of Wales, claimed for themselves the royal title and authority, and thus utterly wore down by civil wars whatever remained of British valor; when they could, if an offended Deity and their own perverse minds had not stood in the way, and if a commander like Aurelius or Arthur had been granted them, perhaps have expelled the Saxons from the entire island. Gildas himself mentions civil wars, and implies that these kings ruled not over the entire British nation but only over individual provinces, when he calls Constantine the "tyrannical whelp of the lioness of Dumnonia," and Vortiporius the "tyrant of the Demetae." The Dumnonii formerly held the province of Britain extending farthest to the west, which is called Cornwall and Cornubia by more recent writers. Over this province Cador had presided as Duke under Arthur: Constantine usurped the royal title. The Demetae, on the other hand, are placed by Ptolemy in that part of Britain which is now called West Wales, that is, western Wales, and comprises the Carmarthen, Pembroke, and Ceredigion districts. Here Vortiporius held sway. Let these things concerning the age of Gildas, drawn almost entirely from his own writings, suffice.

Section II. Were there several persons named Gildas? Their writings.

[8] We have not yet presented the Life of Gildas, though it was not carelessly written. What more recent English writers, Two persons named Gildas devised by the Britons, the Albanian and the Badonic, and with what reliability, have reported concerning Gildas and his writings, it will first be worthwhile to set forth. John Bale and John Pits published quite lengthy catalogues of British writers; each professes to follow the notebooks of John Leland (which we have not seen): and Pits does so perhaps in better faith as an Orthodox Catholic, and certainly with greater modesty; Bale, who together with his cowl had cast off his sense of shame, besmirched all his writings with the most stupid abuse. Both establish two persons named Gildas: the first surnamed the Albanian, the other the Badonic, and they make the latter the author of that book On the Ruin of Britain. We shall give the words of Pits. He writes thus concerning the Badonic:

[9] Gildas Badonicus, who was also surnamed the Wise, a Briton by nation, Encomium of the Badonic Gildas from John Pits, a disciple of S. Iltutus of Glamorgan, after traversing the whole of Britain for the sake of learning, crossed over to Ireland, where both learning humbly from his elders and diligently teaching his juniors, he profited much in both respects, both to himself and to others. Thence returning to his fatherland, he placed himself under the tutelage of Cadoc, a man at that time most celebrated for his reputation of holiness and learning, at the monastery of Llancarfan. Then in the most famous monastery of Bangor he took the monastic habit. There, having obtained leisure, he briefly reviewed once more the humane letters and philosophical sciences. To which studies he afterward bade farewell; and, that he might better teach the people, he devoted himself entirely to the reading and meditation of Sacred Scripture. Since moreover he had a singular grace in preaching, in the performance of that office he greatly advanced the good of the Church. He was truthful in speech, sincere in action, upright in life and morals, keen in rebuking vices, lavish in praising virtues; he exercised both capacities to the utmost, especially with regard to the Clergy and the condition of his own time, and with freedom. Nor did he spare even Kings or Princes in the secular estate. Indeed, he taxed them by name for their excesses, sharply rebuked them, and with his own colors graphically depicted each of them. He severely reproved Constantius Cador, Aurelius Conanus, Vortiporius, Cuneglafius, Maglocunus, and others, as may be seen in his epistle On the Ruin of Britain. With great sorrow he saw many evils come to pass which Gildas the Albanian had with enormous dread predicted were about to happen. book 1, chapter 22. The Venerable Bede, as if by antonomasia, pointedly called this man the Historian of the Britons. And he is indeed an ancient author, and no ordinary writer. For from his writings it is gathered that he was born in the forty-fourth year after the Saxons, called to the aid of the Britons, came to Britain, which was the year of the restoration of human salvation 493. He wrote On the Immortality of the Soul, one book; On the Ruin of Britain, an epistle; Against the Clergy of His Time, one book; A Certain History, one book; A History of the Deeds of the Britons. At last this glorious Confessor of Christ, a nonagenarian, most holily ended his days in the monastery of Bangor, and received burial on the fourth day before the Kalends of February, about the year of the Messiah 583, while Maglocunus still held the helm of the collapsing British empire. His Life (by what author I know not) is said to be extant in manuscript at Cambridge in the College of S. Benedict. John a Bosco also, in the book he compiled from the ancient manuscripts of the library of Fleury, has not insignificant fragments of his Life. See our Catalogue of the Apostolic Men of Britain.

[10] Thus Pits. The things that John Bosco has concerning the Life of Gildas are certainly not to be despised, as Pits rightly acknowledges, examined, but they differ greatly from what he himself reports. Who would believe that Gildas traversed the whole of Britain, which was then entirely ablaze with wars and in great part already occupied by the Barbarians? That he studied under S. Cadoc at the monastery of Llancarfan, that he embraced the monastic life at Bangor, that he devoted himself to humane letters there -- we have neither the inclination to refute, nor does the testimony of any ancient writer present itself to confirm it. Bangor, or Bongor, was a most celebrated and very large monastery on the River Dee, in the County of Flint, on the borders of Chester, on the very site where the city of Bonium once stood. Now let us see what Pits writes concerning the other Gildas:

[11] Encomium of the Albanian from the same Pits. S. Gildas the Albanian (the Historian, as Matthew of Westminster calls him at the year 186) was born in Britain of the royal blood of the Britons, and was at one time a disciple of S. Patrick. After he had perfectly learned humane letters in his fatherland and had begun to taste the liberal arts, still a young man he crossed over to Gaul for the sake of his studies, partly to escape the tumults of war, partly also because in Britain the teaching of some was still suspect on account of the contagion of the Pelagian heresy. Living therefore in Gaul for some years, he accurately learned both the language and philosophy and all the sciences, both sacred and profane. Returning to his fatherland, together with his manifold learning he brought back an abundant supply of books; and that he might more freely devote himself to God and the contemplation of divine things, he went into the wilderness, where he daily mortified himself with fasts, prayers, vigils, and hairshirts. Many, however, moved by the fame of his virtues, flocked to him from every quarter, that they might learn from him gravity of morals and sincerity of religion, together with good letters. For he taught all the best things both by word and deed. Endowed also with a prophetic spirit, he predicted many disasters which afterward came to pass. He wrote various things with great erudition, some of which are said to be extant in manuscript at Cambridge in the public library of the University. He composed, moreover, on the testimony of Matthew of Westminster and others, Concordances on the Four Gospels, four books; The Acts of SS. Germanus and Lupus, one book; On the First Inhabitants of the Island, one book; A History of the Kings of Britain, one book; On the Victory of Aurelius Ambrosius, one book; Verses of Prophecies, one book; On Knowing the Sixth, one book; On the Same Sixth, one book; and many other things. He is said to have most holily ended his days on a certain island not far from the River Severn, on the fourth day before the Kalends of February, in the year of the Lord 512, in the reign -- or rather amid the struggle with the Anglo-Saxons for the kingdom -- of Uther Pendragon. His body is said to have been afterward translated to the monastery of Glastonbury and there honorably buried. See our Catalogue of Apostolic Men.

[12] Bale has much the same. But by what authority do they prove him to have been a disciple of S. Patrick? Discussed. How could he have avoided the tumults of war in Gaul, which was itself then most grievously troubled by the incursions of barbarian peoples? Capgrave indeed writes that he dwelt on a certain island near the mouth of the Severn, but that when he was harassed by pirates he betook himself to Glastonbury, and not far from that most ancient monastery and abode of Saints he built a church, and there he led a hermit's life and at last died on the fourth day before the Kalends of February and was buried at Glastonbury. But Capgrave has other things, or whoever the author of that Life may be, neither sufficiently attested nor even credible; and the same person seems to have written the Life of S. Cadoc which we gave on 24 January, paradoxical and by no means approved by us.

[13] A single S. Gildas, called both the Albanian and the Badonic. For our part, however, the Gildas who is called both Badonic and Albanian appears to us to be one and the same person: not a hearer of S. Patrick, but of S. Iltutus and others, and perhaps of the disciples of S. Patrick; who, born of a father who was a King of Albania, was thence called the Albanian by more recent writers, and the Badonic because he mentioned the battle fought at Mount Badon. So judge other learned men, and most recently Aubert Le Mire in his Bibliotheca, and Gerardus Joannes Vossius, book 2, On Latin Historians, chapter 21, who however do not reveal where they learned that he was Abbot of Bangor. That there was a single Gildas will appear more clearly if the books attributed to each of the two are examined.

[14] Books attributed to the Badonic. Bale reports that Gildas Badonicus wrote: On the Ruin of Britain, one book; Against the Clergy of His Time, one book; Biting Sermons; A Certain History, which begins: "Alboin, King of the Lombards"; On the Immortality of the Soul, one book. Pits adds A History of the Deeds of the Britons, which is said to be extant in manuscript. But of these six books, the first two are beyond dispute. The book On the Deeds of the Britons appears to us to be the same as that On the Ruin of Britain. The Biting Sermons are perhaps certain extracts from those two earlier epistolary treatises. As for that History which begins "Alboin, King of the Lombards," who would believe it was written by Gildas, who in the year that Alboin came to Italy, namely the year of Christ 568, was already in the seventy-fifth year of his age? Perhaps someone read that History written in the same codex in which Gildas's book also was, and believed both to be the offspring of the same author. The same may be suspected of the other book asserting the immortality of the soul. Not that we do not think that a man of the keenest intellect may well have written many things; but we do not wish rashly to attribute to him works that are uncertain, unseen, and attested by the authority of no older writer.

[15] To Gildas the Albanian Bale attributes these: On the First Inhabitants of the Island, one book; And to the Albanian. A History of the Kings of Britain, one book; On the Victory of Aurelius Ambrosius, one book; Verses of Prophecies, one book; The Acts of Germanus and Lupus, one book; On Knowing the Sixth, one book; On the Same Subject of Knowing, one book; Commentaries on the Gospels, four books. But that the first three books are none other than the book of Gildas Badonicus On the Ruin of Britain is plain to the reader. They had read somewhere that Gildas was cited concerning the first inhabitants of the island: they invented another book, different from those commonly known, and another author. It is one and the same person, and he writes about the first inhabitants of the island: "This island, with neck erect and mind, from the time it was first inhabited, now against God, sometimes against its citizens, at other times also against overseas kings, ungratefully rises up," etc. Polydore Vergil, citing this passage, book 1, adds the following: "Here Gildas implies that the first inhabitants of the island had knowledge of God," etc. By exactly the same reasoning, when mention was made somewhere of the victory of Aurelius Ambrosius and of the ancient Kings of Britain, with Gildas cited, those who had not read Gildas's book On the Ruin of Britain invented another book and another author. Concerning the Acts of SS. Germanus and Lupus, we have nothing to pronounce: those which are in our hands were composed by other authors; let those acts be produced, or at least the testimonies of the ancients concerning them. Let the same judgment stand for those Commentaries on the Gospels. For as to On Knowing the Sixth -- what was written, or by whom, or what it means, we cannot divine.

[16] We hear that a booklet of prophecies exists, but we ourselves have not seen it: Polydore, Vossius, Le Mire, and others reject it. These are the words of Polydore: "There also exists another booklet (that we may timely warn the Reader of a nefarious fraud) which is most falsely inscribed as a Commentary of Gildas, the prophecies of this man were fabricated by an impostor, doubtless composed by some charlatan, to bolster the invention of a certain new man. Assuredly that most impudent rascal who ever lived, in summary fashion whitewashed that work from the flour of such a new author, with frequent mention of Brutus, which Gildas never dreamed of: and to deceive his readers more cunningly, he added certain things of his own, so that you might believe either that there were two persons named Gildas, or that this booklet was an epitome of the earlier work of Gildas. Yet so far is either of these from being accepted by the learned, that every moderately educated person can easily detect the trick and regard it as a fraud." Thus Polydore. Vossius recites and approves the same from Polydore, absolutely denies that there were two persons named Gildas, and rightly reproves Buchanan for having erred in manifold ways concerning the age of Gildas.

[17] Another Gildas is furthermore cited, a Briton by race but with an Irish father, who published certain most inept writings stuffed with old wives' tales, Another Gildas, a fabulous writer, which we have neither seen nor would have the leisure or inclination to read. It suffices that the vanity of this idle impostor is rejected by learned men. Vossius mentions him, book 2, On Latin Historians, chapter 36. Nicholas Harpsfield, book 1, chapter 23, speaks ambiguously there about that Albanian Gildas and his prophecies. The writings of that third Gildas are ambitiously catalogued by Bale and Pits: and Pits indeed praises the man's erudition but reproves his license in fabricating. The same authors praise another Gildas, famous for his writings, who dwelt at Rome indeed from the time of Augustus to the age of Juvenal, Martial, and Valerius Flaccus, that is, the reign of Domitian -- a sufficiently long period that some ancient writer might have mentioned him. But enough of persons named Gildas. We acknowledge and venerate a single one.

Section III. A single Gildas in Gaul, and he a Briton.

[18] Let us sail to Gaul with our Gildas; but with a better vessel and rowers than some would assign him. The western coast of Gaul between the Aquitanians and the Belgae is inhabited by the Armorici, who are now called Britons or Bretons, either because they originated from the island of Britain, or because from them, as some maintain and Bede agrees, colonies were first led to that island. The Rhuys monastery of S. Gildas. Among these Gallic Bretons there are many peoples, long celebrated for their seafaring and for their military prowess. Among these, on the southern side, closest to the Ocean, whence the Armorican name, are the Nannetes, the Veneti, and the Curiosolites. The region of the Curiosolites was called Cornouaille by medieval writers, and its city Corisopitum, which they themselves call Quimper, or Quimper-Corentin, from S. Corentinus their patron. The city of the Nannetes is commonly called Nantes, situated on the River Loire. Between the Nannetes and the Curiosolites are the Veneti. Among these, on the left bank of the River Blavet, is the monastery of S. Gildas, which is commonly called Saint-Gildas-de-Rhuys, or by others Rivense, Ripense, Ruyense, Ruitiense, or Reum-visii.

[19] That it was founded by S. Gildas, or Gildasius, is universally agreed. But some make two persons named Gildasius, of whom the first built it and the other restored it. Albertus Magnus de Morlaix not founded about the year 400, says that the first of these was an Irishman by race, Chancellor of Grallo I, King of the Armorican Bretons, and that having received the castle of Rhuys as a gift, he converted it into a monastery; that the same Gildas, already then Abbot of Rhuys, was present at the funeral of the same Grallo in the year of Christ 405, together with S. Winwaloe, of whom we shall treat on 3 March; and that this is established from ancient documents. But he adds that this Gildas died at an advanced age, since he wrote the book On the Ruin of Britain under Vortigern. How much credence should be given to those documents, which he cites elsewhere as well, let others examine: this is certain, that the author of that book On the Ruin of Britain was born long after the death of Vortigern and composed that work only about the year 543, as has been proved above. Nor is this author entirely consistent with himself, since he also attributes that book to the other Gildas.

[20] It is indeed said in the Breviary of the Church of Nantes that Grallo, who ruled over the entire province of Armorica, moved by the fame of Gildas's holiness and merits, built a monastery for him and his followers on the island of Rhuys and enriched it with many revenues. But if there was no Breton King or Duke named Grallo from the year 405 to 800, as the same Morlaix contends, we shall say that there is an error in the name of Grallo there, since in the same passage are added as Gildas's companions in literary studies SS. Samson and Paul, whom no one records as having been born before the age of the elder Theodosius, but all acknowledge to have been a full century younger; namely the time when that Gildas also lived, whom Morlaix would have to have restored that monastery, in the time of Weroc, Count of the Veneti: whom the Rhuys monk, who, as we shall presently say, wrote the Life of S. Gildas about 600 years ago, describes not as the restorer of that monastery but as its first founder. But in the sixth century. "Coming therefore to a certain castle," he says, "on the hill of Reum-visii, situated with a view of the sea, there he constructed a monastery of superior workmanship, and in it he completed cloisters in the cenobitic manner." Nor does he anywhere indicate that a monastery had existed there before.

[21] Andrew du Saussay also recognized two persons named Gildas in his Gallican Martyrology on this day; but at least one of them different from either of the two just discussed. Concerning the first he writes thus: "In Lesser Brittany, in the territory of Vannes, of S. Gildas, Encomium of S. Gildas from Andrew du Saussay, or Gildarius, Abbot and Confessor, who, born of the royal blood of the Britons in Greater Britain, of most noble parents, was handed over to be educated in piety and letters by the Blessed Iltutus the hermit, pupil of S. Germanus, Bishop of Paris; already from his tender years he shone forth, great in faith and excellent in religion: no less afterward illustrious for the splendor of his learning, he so devoted himself to prayer and austerity of life that he inspired in his most religious master and fellow disciples, by his intense fervor for divine worship, a great love and admiration of himself. Then, while still a young man, in order to escape the tumults of war by which his fatherland was being shaken and the contagion of Pelagianism still sprouting in those places, and to drink the purer streams of divine wisdom, he crossed over to that part of Gaul which is called Armorica, where, having fully imbibed the theory of Christian philosophy, he attained such glory of holiness and learning that he displayed a great splendor all around of the manifold grace with which he was divinely distinguished and endowed. Thence, now adorned with the priesthood, returning to Greater Britain to bring aid to his fatherland suffering from diverse plagues, he undertook to combat heresies and pagan superstition not yet wholly rooted out there, both by word and by holy deeds and miracles. He powerfully freed the Irish especially from the snares of impiety and error, and from the destructive bonds of vices disgracefully raging among them, and happily led them into the path of truth and piety. Having won these precious gains of souls for the Lord, in order that he might more freely devote himself to divine worship and heavenly contemplation, he withdrew into solitude; where, having built a little hut, mortifying himself with fasts, prayers, and vigils, he displayed a pattern rather of angelic than of human living. Many, however, moved by the fame of his virtues, flocked to him from everywhere to learn from him sincerity of religion together with good letters; wearied by so frequent a concourse, he again crossed over to Gaul, where, in a tranquil and fixed abode in the territory of Rhuys, he rendered pure service to God up to the very end of his mortal course. At last, enriched with the sheaves of righteousness, distinguished by the spirit of prophecy, and illustrious for the many monuments of divine wisdom he had published, putting off the burden of mortality, he passed over to the joys of the desired immortality. To his venerable memory, the monastery likewise built as a cairn of testimony, conspicuous to this day for his name and relics, has perpetuated the celebration of sacred worship in that place. This is also most solemnly observed on this very day in the cathedral church of Vannes, which also relies on his protection and glories in his merits."

[22] Thus du Saussay. But that first journey to Gaul, the return, and the hermit's life established in his homeland examined are not sufficiently proved to our satisfaction. In making S. Iltutus a disciple of S. Germanus of Paris, he either suffers a lapse of memory or has scarcely examined even cursorily the age of Gildas and Iltutus. S. Germanus died about the year of Christ 577, nearly an octogenarian, when Gildas, if he was still alive, was in the eighty-fourth year of his age.

[23] The same du Saussay, in the Supplement to the Martyrology on this very day: "In Lesser Brittany, of S. Gildas, Abbot, Was there a younger S. Gildas, disciple of S. Philibert? a disciple of S. Philibert, the cenobiarch of Chartres, by whom, reborn to Christ, abandoning his former ways, crucified to the world, in the very flower of youth he put on the form of perfect old age; and illustrious for obedience, humility, chastity, and austerity of life, he departed to the joys of blessed immortality." "On the same day, of S. Germanus, Confessor, who with S. Philibert, burning with apostolic spirit, having crossed the sea, dispensed the word of the Lord to the western peoples, and having reaped an abundant harvest, laden with the sheaves of the divine sowing, he attained to eternal rest through the grace he had received." Of this Philibert, du Saussay makes mention only in the topographical Index of his Martyrology, with these words: "Philibert, Abbot of Chartres, in the Supplement, 29 January," namely where he had treated of him in the encomium of Gildas and Germanus, which we have already given. There is no mention of this Philibert, or of his monastery among the people of Chartres, in Sebastian Rouillard's History of Chartres, in the Gallia Christiana of Claude Robert, in the Chartres Breviary, or in the Catalogue of Benefices of Gaul. In the manuscript Life of S. Gildas, from which, as we shall say in the following section, the Lessons of the old Breviary of Quimper seem to have been drawn, there is mentioned the Blessed Philibert, Abbot of Tonnerre, on the island of Oya. Du Saussay seems to have read "of Chartres" for "of Tonnerre."

[24] It is worth asking (if indeed it is worth the labor to know the causes of errors) what came into the mind of the author of that Life to connect Gildas with Philibert. On what occasion was it fabricated? Below, in the Life of S. Gildas written by the Rhuys monk, it is said that the Blessed Gulstan led a hermit's life on the island of Ossa, and was then made a monk in the Rhuys monastery; afterward, sent on business to the castle of Beauvoir, he there came to a holy end in the house of the monks of S. Peter of Maillezais; whose body, made illustrious by heavenly miracles, the monks of S. Philibert carried off to their church. What was that monastery of S. Philibert? For the Maillezais monastery, which was afterward elevated to an episcopal see by John XXII, was founded in Poitou by William IV, Count of Poitou, not many leagues from La Rochelle, as Baronius testifies from a fragment of the History of Aquitaine, at the year 1024, number 3. Between Maillezais and Nantes we observe from geographers a body of water called Grand-Lieu, and nearby the town of Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu. But the manuscript Life places S. Philibert on a certain island of the Ocean. And his monastery is not far from the castle (which is now a town) of Beauvoir, commonly called Beauvoir. That monastery therefore is evidently the one which The monastery of S. Philibert on the island of Her S. Philibert, Abbot of Jumieges, as is said in his Life on 20 August, and Ansoald, Bishop of Poitiers, by the Lord's bounty, established on the island of Her in the sea -- Ansoald by his labor and generous almsgiving, Philibert by religion, learning, works of mercy, and the gathering of monks: to which place divine honeys went forth from the jeweled honeycomb of Jumieges with a living swarm; which the apostolic man Ansoald enriched from his own resources with great gifts, having also made an exchange of estates with the Church of Poitiers. Concerning this monastery Papirius Masson writes in his book On the Rivers of Gaul: "The island of Her also, dependent on the monastery and town of Tournus on the Saone. Now it is called Ner, not Her, commonly Ner; that monastery also the sailors call 'white,' because from afar there appears a poplar grove, whose leaves are white on one side and green on the other: and on that island is a small town of eight hundred houses."

[25] After the Normans had devastated this monastery in the ninth century, Charles the Bald, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of April, in the thirty-fifth year of his reign, gave to Abbot Geilo the castle of Trenorchium (which others call Tournus) and the abbey of S. Valerius the Martyr, subject to Tournus, in the district of Chalon on the River Saone, or Arar, as is clear from the diploma of Charles himself, which Pierre de Saint-Julien cites in his Antiquities of Tournus; and he reports that a priory was left on the island of Her, called Noirmoutier, or Nermontier, that is, the Black Monastery, subject to the monastery of Tournus. Hence, therefore, the occasion for the author of that manuscript Life -- whether from some old wives' tale or for some other reason -- to fabricate that to S. Philibert, who lived at the end of the seventh century, during the tyrannical domination of Ebroin over the Franks, the young Gildas came, who was more than a hundred years older than Philibert. But he could have confused Tonnerre with Tournus, and the island of Oya with Her: for Oya is more to the south and adjoins the island of Re.

[26] Since, therefore, neither that more ancient Gildas, whom Morlaix makes a contemporary of the elder Theodosius and his children, nor the more recent disciple of S. Philibert, is established by the authority of any ancient writer, S. Gildas was a single person, we shall posit a single Gildas in Gaul (besides S. Tremorius, the grandson of Count Weroc, who was also called Gildas, a disciple of Gildas the Wise himself, not of Philibert), whom the island of Britain also venerates as born among them and imbued with learning and piety. And it would indeed be strange that so many persons named Gildas, as many as others have invented, should all be said to have died on the same day, the fourth before the Kalends of February.

[27] Our Gildas was born, moreover, as will be said below in his Life, of a father named Caunus, a most noble man. His homeland was Arcluta. Capgrave makes him a son of Can, King of Albania, and reports that his brother Howel was killed by King Arthur: which was perhaps the occasion for Gildas's migration both to Ireland and then to Gaul, lest he suffer some harm from Arthur who held power; and lest Arthur (as ambition is always suspicious), fearing that some disturbance might be raised by Gildas, should on his account alone make trouble for the other monks; although a divine oracle also intervened, by which he was commanded to go to Gaul. What Capgrave called Albania by the general name as Gildas's homeland, the Rhuys monk who wrote his Life calls Arcluta. Arcluta, commonly Arcluid, or Alcluid, in the Life of S. Columba called Petra Cloithae, by others Petra Cluid, is a most strongly fortified citadel of the Britons, and the seat of a lesser kingdom. For in the Life of S. Columba, Roderic son of Tothail is said to have reigned there, and whether he was a Scot or a Briton is still unknown to us; we rather think him a Scot, because in the Life of S. Kentigern, 13 January, chapter 6, number 31, these things are said of him: "At length the Lord raised up a King, by the name of Rederech, who had been baptized in Ireland by the disciples of S. Patrick." Which is now in Scotland. Arcluid is now called Dumbarton, that is, the town of the Britons, and by a certain metathesis Dunbarton, and is even now a strong fortress of Scotland, at the confluence of the Rivers Leven and Clyde, below the episcopal city of Glasgow. This region was part of ancient Albania, and is not far removed from the modern Scottish province of Albany. Albania is now inhabited by men especially warlike, the genuine offspring of the ancient Scots, who, as Camden testifies, call themselves Albinnich and Scotland Albin.

[28] Whether Caunus, the father of S. Gildas, was a Briton or a Scot, we do not inquire: Whether he was a Scot or a Briton. it may be suspected that he was a Scot, because his son Coelus, or Cuillus, or Howel, is said to have been killed by Arthur, King of the Britons. And indeed the first settlement of the Scots at Arcluta is attested by Bede: "There is," he says, book 1, chapter 1, "a very great arm of the sea which of old separated the British nation from the Picts; which from the west breaks far into the lands, where there is a most strongly fortified city of the Britons even to this day, which is called Alcluith. To the northern side of which arm of the sea the Scots (of whom we spoke) came and made a home for themselves." It is indeed surprising that Gildas is not numbered among the Scots by David Camerarius, who with such great effort claims even certain Saints of other nations for his own fatherland. But because Arcluid, even in Bede's time, belonged to the Britons, and because Gildas is said to have been sent by his parents to Cambria for the sake of his education, it seems more probable to us that he was a Briton. But certain writers wrongly say he was born in Cornwall, which is at an immense distance from Arcluta.

Section IV. By whom the Life of S. Gildas was written.

[29] Caradoc of Llancarfan, a contemporary of Geoffrey of Monmouth, The Life of S. Gildas written by Caradoc, is said by Pits, Bale, Vossius, to have flourished about the year of Christ 1150 with the praise of his learning, and to have left among other monuments of his talent a written Life of Gildas the Albanian, whose opening is: "Nauus was a noble King of the Picts." We have not yet seen that Life, and we cannot pronounce whether it deserves more credence than the History of Geoffrey.

[30] Somewhat earlier, a certain monk of Rhuys, another (which is published here) by an anonymous author, that is, from the monastery of S. Gildas, had written a Life of S. Gildas, which John Bosco the Celestine published from very ancient Fleury manuscripts in his Bibliotheca Floriacensis: from which we give it here. Where and when the author lived, he himself indicates. For in chapter 7, number 43, he writes thus: "Nor should it be passed over in silence, by a Rhuys monk, what troubles and of what kind our predecessors endured from the enemy of the human race in this sacred monastery at the same time." And in number 42: "The companions of the sick man, when they had come to the holy place, asked me to send a horse on which they might carry him: which I did. He was therefore brought there, but because he could not stand, he was placed in the guesthouse."

[31] He indicates his own era as follows: in chapter 6, number 35, he narrates that the monk Felix was sent in the year 1008 by Goslin, Abbot of Fleury, to Count Geoffrey, to restore the monasteries of Brittany. Then in number 38 he writes that sixteen years later, in the eleventh century, namely 1024, Felix returned to the monastery of Fleury; but was sent back again and at last began to restore the monastery of S. Gildas. And he adds in chapter 7, number 40: "There was moreover in the same place, at that very time" (namely when Felix was repairing the monastery) "a certain servant of God, leading a solitary life, named Ehoarn," etc. He narrates that Leopard, the murderer of this man, was seized by a demon, and then adds: "For we saw him for twenty years covered by no garment," etc.

[32] This Life was therefore written about 600 years ago, by a trustworthy and serious author, worthy of credence, who diligently examined the ancient written records, and briefly reviewed what had happened in his own time, and perhaps wrote more than was published by Bosco, for the Fleury manuscripts were mutilated; and perhaps, just as he related the deeds of Gingurianus and Gulstan, so too the author pursued the deeds of other illustrious monks of that monastery. That he had read, or at least in some way investigated, what survived concerning S. Gildas, he shows in chapter 5, writing thus: "For on a certain night when he was, as the ancients affirm, on his beloved island of Horat," etc.

[33] Papirius Masson in his book On the Rivers of Gaul shows that he had another copy of this Life, and perhaps a fuller one; for he writes thus: Cited by Papirius Masson. "And in the Life of S. Gildas, chapter 13, I find these things concerning the same river (the Blavet): 'Above the bank of the River Blavet, cutting between the towns of Pontivy and Hennebon, the river, nowhere fordable, in the very territory of Vannes flows into the Ocean.'" These words appear thus in the edition of Bosco, likewise chapter 13, below in this volume (for we change the division of chapters, unless it is certainly established to have been made by the author, as seems fitting, since manuscript codices vary very often) chapter 3, number 17: "Then he built a small oratory above the bank of the River Blavet, beneath a certain overhanging rock," etc. What Papirius adds was perhaps added by some copyist; not by the author himself, who seems not to have set forth things before his eyes, as if known to all, in such detailed fashion.

[34] Besides this, we received from Rouen from our colleague Frederick Flouet another Life of S. Gildas, copied from an ancient codex, Another exists in manuscript, whose author is unknown to us and whose trustworthiness is suspect, both on account of what was said in the preceding section concerning SS. Philibert and Germanus, and because it records other unusual and portentous prodigies, of which presently. Nevertheless, the Lessons of the old Breviary of Quimper reproduced that Life, and Morlaix mixed it with the narrative of the Rhuys monk, nor did du Saussay reject it. It seemed good to give the beginning of that Life here, and to run through the main points of the rest of the narrative cursorily. It reads as follows:

[35] "Happily instructed by the teaching of the Lord's commandment, with the utmost devotion, innumerable hosts of Saints Its opening traverse all the lands of the earth: for the radiant Word of the Lord has filled the whole world: from which all the Saints spring forth like roses and lilies sprung up in the grassy meadow of a garden; purified by the saving washing, redeemed by the most precious blood of the side of Christ. From their number the Blessed Gildasius came forth, On the education of S. Gildas, born of a renowned family of the British nation; who, born of a nobler race, quickly blossomed forth, and was carried by his venerable parents to the Blessed Philibert, Abbot of Tonnerre, on the island of Oya, to be purified by the water of holy baptism. This aforementioned Abbot, together with the Blessed Germanus, had crossed the sea to dispense the words of divine eloquence to the peoples of the western region. Receiving the holy boy, namely Gildasius, he took care to purify him with the water of holy baptism, and had him handed over to be instructed in sacred letters. And seeing him endowed with the beauty of an elegant form, and most lovingly intent upon the study of liberal letters, he cherished him with fervent desire and allowed him to enjoy and be strengthened by his holy companionship. The Blessed Gildasius, therefore, placed under magisterial discipline in the schools of divine service, monastic life, and likewise perceiving the line of distinction between human skill and condition, preferred to imitate the form of divine contemplation, altogether abandoning the reputation of human opinion, rather than to pursue the nobility of this transitory gentility. For as a most valiant athlete and soldier of Christ, dwelling in the monastery, he took up the most powerful arms of obedience, abandoning his former ways, and transferring the age of blooming youth into the form of old age."

[36] Thereafter, concerning his virtues and his zeal for winning mortals to Christ, the same Life recounts nearly the same things as the Rhuys monk; then it runs through the remainder of his life in approximately the following order. When S. Brigid the Virgin requested some memento, he cast into the waves a bell he had himself cast, which was carried straight to Brigid standing on the shore: she recognized the gift and displayed it to the virgins committed to her care. Pilgrimage. Thence Gildas sets out for Rome, visits the basilicas of the Apostles, cures a man with dropsy by his word: he obtains by heavenly power that the earth at the Tarpeian Rock should swallow a dragon whose breath was deadly to the City. Miracles. At Ravenna he restores sight and the faculty of speech to a man blind and mute. Robbers plotting his destruction are held fast by divine power and cannot lift their feet from the ground until he himself, having escaped from their hands, gave his consent. In the city of Tournon he meets S. Philibert. Returning to his homeland, he leads a solitary life on the island of Rhuys: he works many miracles. "Then afterward he built for himself a very small oratory on the shore of a certain waterway called the Blavet, on a certain more prominent rock: and in the lower part he made a mill, into which he once put grain, which superabounded for many years; a mill, and he generously provided food to all who came to him, and healed all their sick."

[37] Thereafter, having built a monastery, he made excellent glass from stone: he turned water into wine; invited by four demons dressed in monastic garb to the funeral of S. Philibert, he boards a ship prepared by them; he sails toward Oya with them rowing at great speed; but while he recites sacred prayers on bended knees, both the ship and the rowers suddenly vanish from sight; he himself arrives at Oya upon his cloak, a voyage, his casket with the Book of the Gospels swallowed by the waves. He finds S. Philibert prospering in good health: about to return home, he is cast by a contrary wind onto the Irish shore. There he heals a paralytic: he recognizes his casket, recently lost, found by royal fishermen inside an enormous fish, the lost Book of the Gospels recovered, placed on an altar with the relics of the Saints; having proved it to be his, he receives it back and opens it in their presence. He then converts many in Ireland, England, and elsewhere. He stands surety for a tyrant who murdered his wife: when the tyrant's house, after he had violated his pledged word, is swallowed by a gaping of the earth, he raises the slain wife from the dead; she, having been born again, baptizes a son named the younger Gildas, and educates him in letters and piety.

[38] Such are the things told there about our Gildas. Certain miracles perhaps deliberately omitted by the Rhuys monk, because even though received from his predecessors, Those miracles are not entirely incredible, he judged they would lack credibility, or they were certainly fabricated by others. They are not, however, of such a kind that similar deeds are not read as having been performed by other Saints, especially those of Britain, Scotland, and Ireland -- whether because those first heralds of the faith, by their immense confidence in divine help, merited an unusual and almost incredible favor from the Deity, or because the ingenuous simplicity of the peoples was most apt for things to be granted to them which would never have occurred to the wise, who dared ask for nothing much beyond the established forces of nature and the ordinary course of heavenly providence: although very many things have been committed to writing by unskilled men from the narrative of some old woman, or perhaps sometimes fabricated with monstrous wickedness. Nevertheless, what caused us to reject this Life as a whole, yet not approved by us, was the narrative interwoven concerning S. Philibert, now as Abbot of Tonnerre, now of Tournon on the island of Oya. For we do not suppose there was some Philibert unknown to other writers (even though a monastery existed on the island of Oya, as is established from the Life of S. Amandus on 6 February), and why, because, as was said in the preceding section, S. Philibert of Jumieges lived for some time on the island of Her, in the same Aquitanian Ocean, not far from Oya, but a full century after Gildas. Why the author added Germanus as Philibert's companion, and who he was, as written above, we cannot divine. There were many most holy men of that name in Gaul. The one whom others call Golvinus, du Saussay in the Appendix of his Martyrology writes was Germanus, Bishop of Leon in Armorica. This man, as we shall say on 1 July, is reported to have lived in the time of S. Philibert of Jumieges. Did the author of that manuscript Life perhaps take his occasion for error from this? The journey of S. Gildas to Rome (but with the pestilent breath of that dragon sent far away) will easily be believed by anyone who remembers the most ancient custom of pilgrimaging among the Britons, Scots, and Irish, attested in very many histories of the Saints.

[39] Another Life in Capgrave, rejected. Capgrave has another Life of S. Gildas, but a very brief one; which seems to have been written by the same author who wrote the Life of S. Cadoc on 24 January, or at least by one no more skilled; who both cites the same Life, and writes that a bell was sent to Pope Alexander, who at that period did not exist; and reports a prophecy concerning the holiness of S. David of Menevia, uttered when Gildas fell silent in the middle of a sermon while David's mother, still pregnant, was present: while others would have David and Gildas to have been fellow-disciples. We shall examine both matters at the Life of David on 1 March.

[40] Another in French. Finally, Albertus Magnus de Morlaix, of the Order of Preachers, published a Life of S. Gildas in French, as also of other Saints of Armorican Brittany.

Section V. The commemoration of S. Gildas in the sacred calendars and elsewhere.

[41] To a very ancient manuscript Martyrology, which, having been copied by the monk Lawrence of Echternach, The name of S. Gildas in Martyrologies, is usually cited by us under the name of S. Jerome, by which it is prefaced, there is likewise appended a very ancient Calendar, in which these entries appear on this day: "At Trier, the birthday of Valerius the Bishop, and of Lucy the Virgin, and of Gildas the Wise." The Carthusians of Cologne in the Additions to Usuard: "In Britain, of Gildas the Abbot." Molanus in the Additions to the same Usuard: "In Britain, of Gildas, Abbot and Confessor." A manuscript Florarium: "In England, of the Blessed Gildus, Confessor." Canisius: "Likewise in England, of S. Gildas the Abbot."

[42] He is also recorded by John Wilson in his English Martyrology on this day, also in the English Martyrology, not without errors, and in the first edition he is said to have been Abbot of Bangor in North Wales, to have published many books, thence to have led a severe hermit's life in the mountains of Cornwall, and to have died about the year 581. Among the Cornish, who as said above were the ancient Dumnonii, otherwise called the Corini, he is held in outstanding veneration, and his writings especially are commended, and many temples and altars are there dedicated to him. In the second edition (citing in the margin the Flowers of the Saints of the Order of S. Benedict, Harpsfield, and Capgrave's Legend), he writes that Gildas spent seven years in the study of letters in Gaul; thence set out for Rome; afterward, returning to Britain, strenuously contended against the Pelagians: at last, having undertaken the anchoretic life in a small oratory near Glastonbury, he spent the rest of his life in the utmost abstinence, intent on constant prayers and the contemplation of heavenly things: finally he departed this life about the year 512 and was buried at Glastonbury. Most of these things have been refuted by us above.

[43] Ferrarius corrected concerning the monastery of S. Gildas. Philip Ferrarius philosophizes wonderfully about Gildas, or the various persons named Gildas, in the General Catalogue of Saints. "At Quimper," he says, "in Lesser Brittany, of S. Gildas the Abbot." He adds in the Notes: "He lived about the year 860. There exists a monastery of S. Gildas near Quimper in the district of Neobrigiensis." He cites Molanus, the English Martyrology, and the Monastic calendar. We have given the words of Molanus: he is silent on the date; the English Martyrology assigns a different one. We have already written that the monastery of S. Gildas is among the Veneti, from whom the Curiosolites are separated by the River Blavet. The city of the Curiosolites is now called Quimper, and their region Cornouaille, or Cornwall. Hence the occasion for Ferrarius's error: Wilson in the first edition of his Martyrology writes that Gildas spent the last part of his life in the province of English Cornwall, or that of the Dumnonii; Ferrarius interpreted this as Armorican Cornouaille. But what even in this region is the "district of Neobrigiensis"? Wilson had cited in the margin William of Newburgh, so called from the monastery of Newburgh or Neuburg in the diocese of York, where he was educated. Hence Ferrarius located a district of Newburgh in Armorica near Quimper. Unless he meant to write "the district of Rhuys": and that indeed is near the borders of the Curiosolites, but at least 40,000 paces from the city of Quimper.

[44] As for the Monastic Martyrology that Ferrarius cites: Menard indeed, citing in the margin the Bibliotheca Floriacensis, writes on this day: "In Lesser Brittany, of S. Gildas, Abbot and Confessor." But Menard's Martyrology, published in the year of Christ 1629, had not been seen by Ferrarius, who published his Catalogue in the year 1625. Wion in his Martyrology and appendix does not mention Gildas (although Morlaix cites him), but in book 2, chapter 68, writes thus: "Brother Gildas, the fourth Briton, a Benedictine monk of the Bangor congregation, who flourished in the year 860, different from the Gildas surnamed the Wise, wrote a Breviary of Histories and other historical works." This is that Gildas, and the date, or some other author assuming the name of Gildas, whose credibility we said above is shaky. Hence, therefore, Ferrarius learned the date: but by what argument does he prove that this man is held to be a Saint?

[45] The same Ferrarius adds in his Notes: "There was another Gildas, himself also an Abbot, Was S. Gildas a Benedictine? a disciple of S. Eltutus, about the year 660, concerning whom see Trithemius, book 3, chapter 47; and another surnamed the Wise, in England, who in an entire book bewails the ruin of Britain." Not 660 but 600 Trithemius writes that S. Gildas flourished, in book 2, On the Illustrious Men of the Order of S. Benedict. It is certain, however, that he did not reach the year 600, much less 660. Whether he embraced Benedictine observances in Gaul is hidden from us. It is certain that the monastery of S. Iltutus was not of the Benedictine Order when Gildas was educated in piety there at the beginning of the sixth century, since that Order had not yet been founded, and was not propagated to Gaul, much less to Cambria, before the year 540.

[46] Besides the authors already cited, many others have mentioned Gildas. William of Newburgh in the Proem to his History: "The British nation had before our Bede their own historiographer Gildas, as Bede himself testifies, praised by William of Newburgh, inserting certain of his words into his own writings, as I myself verified when some years ago I happened to read the book of the same Gildas. Since, however, he is exceedingly unpolished and insipid in style, few trouble to copy or to possess him, and he is rarely found. Yet no small proof of his integrity is that in declaring the truth he does not spare his own nation, and while he speaks very sparingly of their good deeds, he laments many evils in them, and does not fear, that the truth may not be concealed, to write as a Briton about Britons that they were neither brave in war nor faithful in peace." Mention is made of the monastery of S. Gildasius in the Life of S. Genulphus, 17 January, book 2, chapter 16. In the Life of S. Paul of Leon, 12 March, it is said of Gildas: "whose keenness of intellect and industry of mind is reported to have been admirable." There is also treatment of S. Gildas on 8 November in the Life of S. Tremorius, of whom mention is made below. Anthony Yepes also treats of him in the Benedictine Chronicle, century 1, at the year 562, chapter 2. Bertrand d'Argentre, History of Brittany, book 1, chapter 28. Benedict Gonon, book 1, On the Lives of the Fathers of the West, and others cited by Morlaix.

LIFE. By an anonymous Rhuys monk, from the Bibliotheca Floriacensis of John Bosco.

Gildas or Gildasius, Abbot in Armorican Brittany (S.)

BHL Number: 3541

By a Rhuys monk, from Bosco.

CHAPTER I. The lineage, education, and miracles of S. Gildas.

[1] The Blessed Gildas, born in the most fertile region of Arcluta, begotten by his father Caunus, a most noble and Catholic man, S. Gildas born in Britain, from his very boyhood strove to follow Christ with all the affection of his mind. The region of Arcluta, being a part of Britain, took its name from a certain river called the Clut, by which it is frequently watered. Among other things which S. Gildas himself wrote concerning the miseries, the transgressions, and the ruin of Britain, he also prefaced this about that land: "Britain," he says, "shines with twice ten and twice four cities, and is adorned with not a few castles. Described here in his own words. It is also not implausibly equipped with constructed fortifications of walls and towers, barred gates, and even houses whose roofs, stretched aloft with threatening height, are seen in a firm structure. It shines also with fields broadly spread out and with hills situated in a pleasant position, adapted for an excellent culture; with mountains also most suitable for the alternating pastures of animals, which are rendered pleasing to human sight by flowers of diverse colors, like a chosen bride adorned with various necklaces. It rejoices in frequent and clear springs, from which rivulets creeping with a gentle murmur bestow a sweet pledge of sleep on weary travelers. It is also improved by the mouths of two noble rivers, namely the Thames and the Severn, like two arms, through which overseas delicacies were once conveyed to Britain by boat, and is watered by the infusion of other lesser rivers." Having shown, therefore, the situation and advantages of the place and region from which the aforesaid venerable and holy man came, let his life, with the Lord's help, be set down.

[2] Caunus, his father, is reported to have had four other sons besides him: Cuillus, namely, a man very valiant in arms, who after his father's death succeeded him in the kingdom; Maeloc also, who, having been entrusted by his father to sacred letters and well instructed in them, he had brothers and a sister, left his father and renouncing his father's possessions, came to Lhuyhes in the district of Elmail, and there building a monastery, in which serving God diligently in hymns and prayers, fasts and vigils, illustrious in virtues and miracles, he rested in peace. Egreas, however, with his brother Allec and his sister Peteona, a virgin consecrated to God, likewise having left their father's possessions and renouncing worldly pomps, withdrew to the farthest part of that region, and at no great distance from one another each built their own oratories; placing their sister in the middle, with whom on alternate days one or the other celebrated the daytime hours with Mass; illustrious in holiness and miracles, and after vespers, having taken food with her and giving thanks to God, before sunset they returned to their own oratory. For each of them celebrated vigils separately in his own oratory. These men, therefore, whom we have mentioned -- the blessed and holy men Maeloc, Allec, and Egreas, with their blessed sister, having spurned, as was said, all the riches and delights of the world, striving with all the force of their minds toward the heavenly fatherland, commending their life in fasts and prayers -- at last, called by God, received the reward of their labors, and are preserved, buried in the oratories they had built, glorified and celebrated with constant miracles, and destined to rise in glory.

[3] The Blessed Gildas, who is also called Gildasius, who was to be the honor and glory of his nation, was himself also handed over by his parents to the Blessed Iltutus to be educated. Receiving the holy boy, Iltutus began to instruct him in sacred letters. And seeing him resplendent with beauty of form and most earnestly intent on the liberal studies, he loved him with benevolent affection and took care to teach him with attentive zeal. The Blessed Gildas, therefore, he is instructed in sacred learning by S. Iltutus, placed under the discipline of his master in the school of divine Scripture and the liberal arts, beholding the teaching of both modes of expression, took care to be more thoroughly instructed in divine teachings; desiring to imitate the form of divine contemplation and altogether abandoning the reputation of human opinion: nor did he wish to pursue the nobility of his birth. In the monastery. Then that athlete of Christ and most valiant soldier, dwelling in the monastery, took up the most powerful arms of obedience; and abandoning his boyish ways, he transferred the age of blooming youth into the form of old age. For when he was in his earliest youth, placed in the apprenticeship of the eternal King, having left behind youthful ways, he furnished many examples of eternal salvation to both old and young, composing the ways of both ages. For he was illustrious in wisdom, assiduous in holy reading, always devoted to vigils and prayers, devoted with ineffable charity, joyful in action, fair of face and comely in his whole body, he who was crucified to the world and the world to him. With SS. Samson and Paul. In the school, therefore, of the aforesaid teacher Iltutus many sons of noblemen were educated, among whom the more distinguished, both in nobility of birth and in uprightness of character, were Samson and Paul; but the blessed Gildas surpassed even these in the wonderful keenness of his intellect. Of these, the most holy Samson afterward became Archbishop of the Britons; Paul, however, was Bishop of the church of the Osismii.

[4] The aforesaid Iltutus dwelt with his disciples At the instigation of S. Gildas on a certain narrow and confined island with parched and barren soil. To him one day the blessed boy Gildas came and addressed him, saying: "Lord Teacher, you have lately heard from the Gospel the words of our Savior preaching, in which he admonished his disciples to ask of God with faith those things that were useful to them, and that what was faithfully asked they would receive, saying: 'Amen I say to you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you will receive it, and it will be done for you.' Mark 11:24 Now therefore, best Teacher, why do you not ask our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who has the power to grant all things that are faithfully asked of him, to extend the boundaries and make fruitful the soil of this island?" When the Blessed Iltutus had heard these things, therefore, marveling at the boy's faith, having called his disciples together, he enters the oratory with them: and bending his knees to the ground, all pray, stretching his hands toward heaven, he prayed with tears, saying: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of Almighty God, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit created heaven and earth, and obtain the expansion and fertility of the island, the sea and all things that are in them, when they did not exist; and who commanded your faithful ones to ask God the Father in your name for whatever they might need, and their petition would be granted: in your name indeed we implore the mercy of the Almighty Lord, that he may command the boundaries of this island to be extended and fertility to be brought to its soil; so that for us your servants and our successors, by the bounty of your grace, it may abundantly provide food: so that, satisfied from your gifts, we may give thanks to your name, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign forever and ever." And when all had responded, "Amen," going forth from the oratory, they see that the island has been expanded on every side and is verdant all around with diverse flowers and herbs. Then the elder returns again to the oratory, and overflowing with tears for joy, together with his venerable flock of disciples, he chants in a clear voice hymns and the highest praises to the Lord, Creator of all things, who is near to all who call upon him in truth.

[5] Therefore, having begun to cultivate the island wonderfully expanded for them, the elder proceeded to commit seeds of grain to the acres to be made fertile. But when the joyful shoots of the harvest had begun to sprout, flocks of seabirds began to devastate them. Wild birds devastating the crop. When Father Iltutus saw this, he commanded his disciples to drive them away with great noise, and each of them to guard the crop on his assigned day. And when the day came on which the Blessed Paul was to guard the crop, a greater multitude of birds than usual came, cropping and devastating the harvest far and wide. But the boy Paul, of wonderful character, running hither and thither against them, strove with great shouting to drive them off, but could not prevail. At last, therefore, already weary, he calls upon his companions, namely the blessed Gildas and the venerable Samson, urging them with these words: "Help, brothers! Help, dearest ones! Avenge with me the losses of our master. For behold, a multitude of enemies consumes and devours the crops of our Teacher. The boys miraculously capture them. Let the relentless plunderer, therefore, who has laid waste the grain of our master, feel the due punishment." At his voice his companions come running, and invoking the name of Christ, gathering the multitude of untamed birds before them, filled with the power of God, the most holy boys drive them like flocks of helpless sheep. But when they had come to the elder's dwelling, as the captive and untamed birds were being shut in, they raised their voices to heaven. The elder, hearing their clamor and noise, came forth from the oratory, saw the power of God, and marveling not a little at so great a faith in the hearts of the boys, said to them: "Let them go, children, let the birds go free: let it suffice that you have thus chastised them. They release them, never to return. Let them go free, and in the name of our Lord let them not presume any further to harm our crops." Therefore, not daring to spurn the elder's command, the birds, released, withdrew far away and never again presumed to devastate the crops on that island: which island to this day is called Lanna Iltuti.

CHAPTER II. Conduct in youth. Priesthood. Zeal for souls.

[6] The holy Gildas, therefore, after having spent some years in the teaching of the Blessed Iltutus, S. Gildas completes his studies elsewhere, and having been excellently instructed by him in both secular and, as opportunity afforded, divine scriptures, in whatever had been entrusted to him by divine goodness, he bade farewell to his pious master and his venerable fellow-disciples and went forth, that as a curious investigator he might also seek out the opinions of other teachers in philosophical and divine letters. Therefore, having traversed the schools of many teachers, and like a most prudent bee having gathered the juices of diverse flowers, he stored them in the hive of mother Church: so that at the opportune time he might pour forth the honey-flowing words of the Gospel upon the peoples to be recalled to heavenly joys, and as a good servant might bring back to his Lord with profit the talent entrusted to him.

[7] Following therefore the Apostolic precept, lest while preaching to others he himself should be found reprobate, he chastised his body with fasts and vigils, spending nights in prayers, standing without any support. From the fifteenth year of his age, marvelously devoted to abstinence, throughout the entire span of his present life, during which he lived in this world, until the last day of his calling by the Lord, three times, as we have learned from a truthful report, in each week he took a most meager bodily meal. Any discerning person can indeed affirm without doubt concerning him that although the sword of a persecutor was lacking, he nevertheless did not lose the palm of martyrdom. For while he afflicted his body with frequent fasts and prolonged vigils; while night and day he resisted vices and, persisting in prayers, struggled against the temptations of the devil, torturing himself with voluntary martyrdom, and fighting against the pleasures of his body tormented himself; what else can be said of him except that he endured a long martyrdom? For he was himself his own persecutor, and he patiently endured the persecutions inflicted upon him for the sake of Christ.

[8] Ordained a priest. When, therefore, he had been promoted to holy orders and exercised the office of Presbyter, hearing that the peoples who inhabited the northern region of the island of Britain were still held in pagan error, and that even those among them who seemed to be Christians were not Catholics but were entangled by the various frauds of heretics; taking, according to the Apostle's precept, the armor of God, that he might be able to resist in the evil day and, having done all, to stand, He converts pagans and heretics, trusting in the help of Christ, he began to make his way thither. Ephesians 6:13. Standing therefore with the loins of his mind girded, among pagans and heretics, clad in the breastplate of righteousness, and with feet shod in readiness for the Gospel of peace; in all dangers he took up the shield of faith, with which he could extinguish all the fiery darts of the most wicked demons, and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Armed therefore with these weapons, Gildas, that illustrious soldier of Christ, preached the name of Christ to the pagans, showing by many proofs from divine law that what they worshipped was nothing. And setting against the heretics the word of salvation, he brought them to the way of truth, recalling them also from all their errors. For our Lord Jesus Christ had given him such great grace of healing also, that through his prayers the blind were enlightened, hearing was restored to the deaf, he heals various sick persons, and walking to the lame and disabled, demoniacs were cured, lepers were cleansed, and all the sick were healed. The most blessed Gildas therefore went about preaching the Gospel of Christ, teaching the true faith throughout all the provinces, and converting his nation to the true and Catholic faith.

[9] While the Blessed Gildas was doing these and similar things, all the people of the northern region began to flock from every side to the teaching of his preaching, so that, having abandoned pagan error and having received his admonition, they might be placed in the bosom of holy mother Church by faith in the Holy Trinity, he destroys idols, so as to be called and proved to be the bride of Christ. Accordingly the idols were being destroyed by those who had made them, together with their temples, and churches were being built in suitable places. Noble men were baptized, with their wives and children and households. When the Blessed Gildas saw the fruitful offspring of Christianity and holy religion sprouting everywhere, filled with unspeakable joy, he spoke thus to the Lord: "I give you thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, who have mercifully deigned to illumine this people, long wandering, by the grace of your holy name, and have caused them to come to the knowledge of you; and we who until now, wretched and dull, wandered in the region of the shadow of death, at last the light of your justice has shone upon us, and perpetual peace now reigns in us."

[10] When the Blessed Brigid, who at that time was distinguished while dwelling on the island of Ireland and presided as Abbess over a monastery of virgins, a renowned virgin, heard of the fame of the Blessed Gildas, she sent a messenger to him with words of supplication, saying: He sends S. Brigid a bell. "Rejoice, holy Father, and ever flourish in the Lord. I beseech you to deign to send me some token of your holiness, that your memory may forever endure among us." Then S. Gildas, having received the embassy of the holy Virgin, with his own hands made a mold by casting, and fashioned a bell according to her request; and he sent it to her by the messenger she had dispatched. She received it with joy, and gladly accepted it as a heavenly gift sent to her by him.

[11] At that time King Ammeric ruled over all Ireland, he is summoned by King Ammeric, who himself also sent to the Blessed Gildas, asking him to come to him, promising that he would obey his teachings in all things, if by coming he would restore ecclesiastical order in his kingdom: because almost all in that island had abandoned the Catholic faith. When the most blessed soldier of Christ, Gildas, had heard these things, armed with heavenly weapons, he set out for Ireland to preach Christ.

[12] It happened one day, while he was making his way to the King's palace, that a certain paralytic met him, whom his parents were dragging about everywhere, seeking sustenance from the inhabitants of the land. He heals a paralytic. When the Blessed Gildas saw him, he took pity on him, bent his knees, and poured forth a prayer to the Lord on his behalf; and coming to the wretched man's conveyance, he said: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, stand upright on your feet, and receive from the Lord your former health." Who immediately, having recovered his bodily strength, was made whole: and crying out with a loud voice, he began to magnify the name of the Lord and to offer magnificent praises to the holy man, saying that he would go with him wherever he wished. The Saint, not tolerating this, said to him: "See that you do not come with me, but return home; and do not cease to praise the mercy of the Lord, who has restored you to health." But that man burst forth more and more in his praise, and told all whom he met, saying: "Come, all of you, come and see the holy man of God, who has restored health to my body and soul." Then S. Gildas, unwilling to endure such favor and applause of the people, immediately departed from them and went away secretly, lest he be recognized, and hid himself.

[13] After a few days, however, having been found by certain noble men who had formerly known him, he was presented to King Ammeric. When the King saw him, he begged him with many prayers and, offering many gifts, entreated him to remain with him and, as he had previously charged him, to restore the ecclesiastical order in that same region; because from the greatest to the least, all had utterly lost the Catholic faith. Then S. Gildas, armed with the shield of fortitude and the helmet of salvation, he restores the faith and ecclesiastical discipline, traversed all the territories of the Irish, and restored the churches, and instructed the entire clergy in the Catholic faith to worship the Holy Trinity: he healed the peoples grievously wounded by the bites of heretics: he drove far from them the heretical frauds together with their authors. And now that the harvest of the multitude of believers was sprouting in the bosom of holy mother Church, and the thorns of the heretics having been pulled up, the ground long barren, made fertile by the dew of heavenly grace, brings forth more welcome fruits for the knowledge of the heavenly calling. For as the Catholic faith increased, the region rejoiced that it had deserved so great a patron.

[14] The blessed man thereafter built many monasteries on that same island, rearing in them not a few sons of noblemen, he builds monasteries, and forming them according to the standard of regular discipline. And, that he might offer more souls to the Lord, having now become a monk, he gathered monks with him, from both noble and poor, from wards and orphans: and he also mercifully freed captives ensnared in the tyrannical servitude of the pagans: and as a good shepherd, he took care to bring back joyfully to the Lord the talents entrusted to him by the Lord, faithfully doubled. He instructed by his example and taught by his preaching the entire nation of the Irish and the English, as well as of foreign nations. The peoples and nations of these lands honor and venerate his deeds and virtues to this very day everywhere.

CHAPTER III. Arrival in Armorican Brittany. Virtues. Monastery constructed.

[15] Having therefore left Ireland and Britain after these events, and having left behind... of beauty, some were trying to seize him, others to kill him. When he saw them approaching him, having invoked the name of Christ, He renders robbers immobile by prayer, immediately by the will of God he made their feet adhere to the ground, and the men themselves to stiffen like stones: and withdrawing from them, he held to the road he had begun. When, however, he had gone far from them, turning back, he raised his hand and released them: who, being freed, turned in flight, and afterward injured no one in those places.

[16] Then, when he was planning to return to his own country, God did not permit it, In Armorican Brittany he lives as a solitary, for he wished to magnify his mercy with us. For when by God's command he had come to the region of Gaul once called Armorica, but which was then called Letavia by the Britons who possessed it, he was received by them honorably and with great joy. He himself, however, shunning secular and fleeting honors, desired rather to lead the contemplative life. At that time, moreover, the affairs of the Kings and kingdom of the Franks were small. For Childeric at that time, the son of Merovech, given over to pagan error, ruled the Franks: which the prudent reader can learn from the deeds of the ancients. The holy Gildas, therefore, being thirty years old, came to a certain island which is situated in view of the district of Reum-visii, and there for some time he led a solitary life. But not long after, since the lighted lamp could no longer remain under a bushel but must be set upon a candlestick, so that neighbors and acquaintances both near and far might enjoy the light of his radiance, they began to come to him from all sides and to commend their sons to his instruction and teaching to be educated. Receiving them all gladly, he instructed them with spiritual learning. Coming therefore to a certain castle on the hill of Reum-visii, situated with a view of the sea, there he constructed a monastery of superior workmanship, and in it he completed cloisters in the cenobitic manner. Where his life so shone forth he builds a monastery that very many sick and disabled and lepers who were in the surrounding area, coming to him, were restored to health through his prayers and merits. Which the Almighty God does not cease to do to this present time in the same place, through his merits.

[17] Then he built a small oratory above the bank of the River Blavet, he miraculously obtains glass for his oratory, beneath a certain overhanging rock, hollowing out the rock itself from west to east, and erecting a wall on its right side, he made a suitable oratory, beneath which he caused a crystal-clear spring to flow from the rock. When, however, the Blessed Gildas wished to close the eastern window of that oratory with glass, and glass was lacking, prostrate on the ground he besought the Lord: and rising from prayer, he went to a certain rock, and from it, by the Lord's bounty, he took excellent glass. He erects a mill, celebrated for miracles. He also made a mill there, into which he put grain and turned it by hand, which is preserved in the same place to this day: and by the faithful who are sick, through the merits of the holy man working together with Christ, ailments are driven away at it.

[18] Nor should that miracle also be passed over in silence which the Lord performed through him. For, when he was staying one day in a cell with the Brethren, guests came to him: receiving them gladly, he led them to prayer, and then showed them every kindness: He turns water into wine for his guests. and washing their feet and hands, what he had he gave them with charity. But since he had no wine to offer them, having prayed, he ordered the wine-vessels to be filled with water, and having given a blessing over it, by divine command it was turned into excellent wine. All who were present, marveling at this miracle, gave thanks to Almighty God, who had promised in the Gospel to his faithful, saying: "The works that I do, they also shall do, and greater things than these they shall do." John 14:12.

[19] Although, however, he was such and so great that God performed so many miracles through him, His humility, he yet set himself above no one: but seemed humbler than all. Although indeed he held the place of Abbot, yet in order to show an example of humility to those subject to him, according to the divine precept which says: "He who is the greater among you shall be your minister," he himself also took care to serve all. Matthew 23:11. And lest he should be a deaf hearer of the Lord Jesus, who says: "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart," he strove to obey the Lord Savior's precepts in this also. Matthew 11:29. For as it is written of Moses, he too was the meekest of all men of his time. Numbers 12:3. He was wise both in teaching and in action, truthful in conversation, assiduous in prayers, passing the night in vigils, various virtues, mortifying his body with fasts, patient under injuries, affable in conversation, generous in almsgiving, conspicuous in every goodness.

[20] He also taught that heretics should be avoided after a first and second correction. Sermons. He preached that sins should be redeemed by almsgiving: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to visit the sick and those in prison, to bury the dead, to render evil to no one for evil, to love fasting, to persist always in vigils and prayers. Thus this excellent teacher instructed clerics, thus monks, thus also the laity: and he commanded nothing for others that he did not himself practice. And so, becoming all things to all, he wept with the weeping and rejoiced with the rejoicing. He was thus the father of the poor and of orphans, the comforter of the sorrowing, he recalled the quarreling to concord. Murderers, however, his manner of converting sinners, adulterers, the sacrilegious, thieves, and robbers, of whatever condition they might be, he rebuked, fearing no person. And first indeed, terrifying them with sayings from the Gospels, the Apostles, and the Prophets, then recalling them to repentance, he confidently promised them that they would obtain the mercy of God, if only they repented worthily.

[21] Again the holy man, asked by religious brethren who had come to him from Britain, ten years after he had departed thence, wrote an epistolary booklet in which he rebukes five Kings of that island, entangled in various wickednesses and crimes. How elegantly and concisely he recalled their sloth, and rebuked each one by name for his iniquities, the epistle On the Ruin of Britain, it has pleased us to add to this page: "Will the citizens indeed conceal," he says, "what not only they themselves know but the surrounding nations now cast in their teeth? For Britain has kings, but tyrants; she has judges, but impious ones, who often plunder and terrorize, but the innocent; who vindicate and patronize, but the guilty and robbers; who have very many wives, but harlots and adulteresses; who constantly swear, and constantly perjure themselves; who make vows and almost immediately break them; who wage war, but wage civil and unjust wars; who throughout the land zealously pursue thieves, but love and even reward the robbers who sit at their table; who give alms generously, but heap up on the other side an immense mountain of crimes; who sit in the seat of judgment, but rarely seek the rule of right judgment; who despise the innocent and the humble, but exalt, so far as they can, to the stars the bloodthirsty, the proud, parricides, adulterers, enemies of God -- those who together with their very name ought to be destroyed, if fortune, as they say, so wills it; who keep many bound in prisons, whom they crush by guile rather than by merit, loading them with chains; who linger entering between the altars, and a little later despise the same as if they were muddy stones." And what follows in the said Epistle.

CHAPTER IV. Resurrection of a woman long dead. Other miracles.

[22] Now therefore, with the Lord's help, let us return to the point from which we had digressed. There was in those days a certain tyrant named Conomerus, in the upper parts of that region, A tyrant accustomed to slaying his pregnant wives, seduced by perverse cruelty and diabolical fraud, who had this custom: that whenever he learned that his wife had conceived, he immediately slew her. And since he had already destroyed many women sprung from noble lineage, their parents began to be greatly grieved at this and to withdraw far from him. No man of any discernment, whether in conversation or for the sake of any business in any matter, associated with him, nor sent him messages, lest he become a partaker of his wickedness. Seeing therefore that he was despised by all, he sent word to S. Gildas to hear his petition. But the holy man, perceiving the cunning of his malice, in no way gave his assent, but kept far from him: lest in any way through parleying with him the nobles and princes of that region should be utterly deceived. But the aforesaid tyrant, unable to obtain what he sought, sent to a certain prince -- as many faithful witnesses attest -- named Weroc, requesting that he give him his daughter in marriage. When Weroc, Count of the Veneti, had heard this, he immediately replied to his intermediary, saying: So that the prince might betroth his long-refused daughter, "How can I give my daughter, to be slain by the accursed sword of your lord? Have I not heard of the slaughter he made of the women who had been joined to him? By no means will I do it: for my daughter shall not incur death while I can protect her from it."

[23] The messengers therefore returned to the aforesaid evildoer and reported what Weroc had said to them. But he, not desisting from what he had begun, sent word again and again to Weroc, saying: "Whatever hostages or sureties you wish, I shall give you; only do what I ask." To whom Weroc replied: "Your request is vain, and you labor in vain by asking. S. Gildas stands surety. Unless you give the blessed man Gildas as your surety, you will by no means obtain what you seek. For except through his hand, I will entrust her to no one." But the tyrant soon sent messengers to the Blessed Gildas, asking him to come as quickly as possible, receive the girl on his word of honor from her father's hand, and hand her over to him as a legitimate wife in marriage. The holy man, rejecting their words, replied, saying: "You know that your lord is most cunning and perverted with tyrannical savagery: if I give my consent and he puts me forward as surety and afterward kills the girl, I shall have fallen into grave sin before the Lord, and I shall have deceived her parents with the grievous bereavement of their offspring and delivered them to intolerable grief. But nevertheless I shall go with you, and I shall examine the wishes of both parties, namely of the parents and of him who directed you to me." Then, coming together with them, he found those princes assembled together for this very reason. And while they were speaking among themselves about this matter, the girl's father said to the Blessed Gildas: "If you will receive my daughter from your hand, I will trust you; I will hand her over to you. But if you refuse to receive her, he shall never have her." To whom the Blessed Gildas said: "Hand her over to me, and I, protected by the power of God, will restore her safe." The aforesaid tyrant therefore received her from the hand of S. Gildas, to be joined to himself in marriage. The Blessed Gildas then returned to his monastery, illustrious in radiant virtues.

[24] When the wedding had been celebrated, therefore, the tyrant began to cherish his beloved bride. And when he learned that she had conceived, he planned to kill her in his customary fashion: but fearing the oath he had made with the Blessed Gildas, he said to himself that he could not deceive the holy man. For he feared to incur the wrath of God, he grieves that the tyrant has killed her, if he should attempt to slay with his accursed sword a woman whom he had received from the hand of the holy man Gildas. But the devil supplied him with pretexts, asserting that he ought not to fear the holiness of the Blessed Gildas so much as to leave undone, like a timid man of no daring, what he had resolved to do, on account of a certain monk. Meanwhile, the woman, perceiving by many signs his furious intent against her because she was with child, terrified with fear, secretly escaped in flight. When her evil husband learned this, now inflamed with even greater anger, he pursued her. Finding her by the road, hiding under foliage (for she was weary from the journey), he drew his sword and cut off her head, and so at last returned to his home. Her father, therefore, hearing what had happened to his daughter, stricken with great grief, in great haste immediately sent word to the Blessed Gildas, saying: "Return my daughter to me, for through your intercession I have lost her. Know that he who received her in marriage from your hand has slain her with his own sword." The holy man, greatly moved at this, came quickly to a certain small fortress where the aforesaid tyrant dwelt, wishing to hear from him whether he himself had slain his wife, as rumor reported. But the tyrant, when he perceived S. Gildas approaching, commanded the gatekeeper of his house he casts down that man's dwelling by his prayers not to permit the holy man to enter in any way. For he knew that he had sinned against God and against the Blessed Gildas, in that he had killed his wife. But although he was not unaware of this, he yet disdained to ask the holy man that by his prayers he might obtain from God a contrite and humbled heart, for doing penance for the evil he had done. When, therefore, S. Gildas had long knocked at the tyrant's gate and no one opened to him, but he was rather mocked by those who were inside, he prayed to God that, if the tyrant's life was not to be changed for the better, he would deign to put an end to his wickedness. When the prayer was completed, going around the entire fortress in which the most wicked tyrant remained, he took a full handful of earth and cast it upon that dwelling, which immediately, by God's will, collapsed entirely.

[25] Then he went to the place where the lifeless body of the slain woman, bearing a child in her womb, lay, and prayed in this manner: "Lord God, he raises her from the dead, who formed man from the clay of the earth, and for his liberation from the power of the devil, into whose dominion he had cast himself by the free choice of his own will when he transgressed your commandment, willed that your Son, whom you had begotten before the ages from eternity, should die; I call upon you to hear me. Hear, I say, Lord, for I ask you in the name of your only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. John 16:26. For your Son, our master Christ Jesus, deigned to promise to those believing in him that if they asked anything of you in his name, you would not turn the ear of your mercy from their prayer." And having prayed, he took the head and it adhered to the severed body, and he said: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Trifina, I say to you, arise and stand on your feet, and tell me what you have seen." And she immediately arose, whole and unharmed from all corruption. And answering, she said to the holy man: "As soon as I was slain, I was supported by an angelic conveyance, as if to be carried and joined to the choir of Martyrs: but at your calling I have returned to you." He restores her to her father. Then the Blessed Gildas led her to her father, and taking her right hand, he gave her back to him, saying: "Behold the deposit that you entrusted to me. Guard her as a daughter, and the child that she carries in her womb, take care to have diligently reared when it is born, until it reaches the age of understanding." But she said under oath: "I will never leave you, Father." To whom the Blessed Gildas replied: "It is not fitting for a woman to follow a monk in any way: but remain for the time being in your father's house until you give birth, and when you have given birth, we will bring you into a convent of virgins, so that with the other virgins you may lead a life of chastity."

[26] Then the word of the man of God pleased her, and she remained in her father's house for a few days. After giving birth, he encloses her in a convent. Not long after, when the woman had borne a son, word was brought to the Blessed Gildas. He ordered the little boy to be baptized, and had his own name given to him. And when the child was weaned, he educates the son, he had him entrusted to the liberal studies of letters to be educated: and he caused his mother to remain in a convent of virgins together with the other handmaids of God. She afterward, serving God in chastity, leading a life of fasting and prayer, at last, called by the Lord, rested in a blessed end. Her son also, himself illustrious in virtues and miracles, completed with a blessed end the blessed life he had led. Both die in holiness. The Britons, therefore, to distinguish him from the other Blessed Gildas, call him not Gildas but Trechmor.

[27] And because through the miracles of the Saints, which are recited in the hearing of the faithful, the Creator of all things is praised and venerated, who, dwelling in his Saints, works wonders through them, we have deemed it worthy to record also the miracle which the Lord deigned to work through his servant Gildas in the parish of S. Demetrius. For in the aforesaid parish there was a lagoon, in whose inlet brigands resided, who stripped, beat, and often left half-dead those who came there. He closes the brigands' haunt by his prayers. The people dwelling in the surrounding area, therefore, vehemently distressed by their wickedness, since they could not expel them from that place by their own power, sought the aid of the Saint. Coming to the mouth of the lagoon, he besought the Lord to close the entrance of that lagoon. When the prayer was completed, from the sand a great mound arose where previously the place of the wicked for ambushing had been. Seeing this miracle, those who had come there with the holy man glorified God and thereafter held S. Gildas in great veneration.

[28] In the same region there is also an oratory which the inhabitants call Mons Coerlahem, which means in translation "Monastery of the Grove." When men who claimed to be heirs of that land often inflicted injuries on the servants of God leading the contemplative life there, asserting that they were cultivating more land around the oratory of S. Gildas than had been shown to them, the man of God, wishing all to lead a quiet life, went to the seashore, and with the Saints who accompanied him, bending his knees, he prayed more devoutly to the merciful Lord, who does in heaven and on earth all that he wills. Rising from prayer, the most holy man he obtains a spring pressed his staff, which he carried in his hand, into the ground, and so went around the precinct of his oratory. Psalm 73:1. O how good you are, God of Israel, and directs a stream, to those who are upright in heart! For a most clear spring rose at God's command from the place where the Saint had prayed, and to mark the most certain boundary of the precinct, it followed the footsteps of the Saint. The faithful who heard of this miracle, some of them witnessing it even to the present day, give no small praise to the Almighty Lord, who works wonders through his Saints.

CHAPTER V. Death. Submersion and discovery of the relics.

[29] When the merciful God was preparing to lead the Blessed Gildas forth from the labors and troubles of the world and to bring him to the eternal joys which he promised to those who love him, he deigned to announce this to him through an angelic vision. For on a certain night, when he was, From an Angel he learns the day of his death, as the ancients affirm, on his beloved island of Horat, where he had formerly led the hermit's life, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: "Hear and understand, friend of the Lord Jesus Christ, for God has heard your prayers and has seen your tears. And behold, on the eighth day from today, freed from the burden of the flesh, your spiritual eyes shall see what you have always desired from infancy. For you shall see in his majesty the desired face of the Lord your God. Therefore confirm your disciples in the fear and love of God, and instruct them in your accustomed manner to obey his commandments and to strive to fulfill them in their works; that they may attain to the eternal joys which he has promised."

[30] When morning came, therefore, having called his disciples together, he said to them: He exhorts his disciples to virtue. "Since I, most beloved sons, am entering upon the way of all the earth, it is expedient for me to be dissolved, that I may see God. Be you therefore imitators of Christ, as most beloved sons, and walk in the love of God, and be always mindful of his words. Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world: for the world passes away and the lust thereof. But love the Lord Jesus Christ and his words with all your heart, since he himself said: 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my words: and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.' See therefore, most beloved, how great a reward and how desirable a gain the truth itself, which is Christ, promises us. John 14:23. For he himself, as he said, is the way, the truth, and the life: he will therefore give himself to us. John 14:6. Let us not therefore neglect to have him, to possess him. Have also continual charity among you, for God is charity: and he who abides in charity abides in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:8. Strive also to have humility and to be meek: since the Lord says in the Gospel: 'Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.' Matthew 11:29. Remember also to have patience always, for in the Gospel the same Lord himself speaks: 'In your patience you shall possess your souls.' Luke 21:19. Be also obedient, as Christ also was obedient even unto death. Be merciful, as your Father is merciful. But abhor pride, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Colossians 3:5. Avoid also avarice, which is called idolatry by the Apostle. Flee also luxury and drunkenness and fornication, since as the Apostle says, neither drunkards nor fornicators shall possess the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:10. All vices, therefore, which separate men from the kingdom of God, are to be fled by you in every way. Be also sober and vigilant in prayers always, because your adversary the devil, like a lion, goes about seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, strong in faith. Strive also to uproot hatred and envy and sadness from your hearts, and in their place remember to have long-suffering, goodness, and kindness. Take care moreover to possess the four virtues, without which no one can be wise, that is, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance."

[31] He receives the sacred viaticum. With these and similar words, for seven continuous days, although as his illness grew worse the holy man seemed about to expire at any moment, he nevertheless did not cease to confirm his disciples. On the eighth day, he ordered himself to be carried to the oratory, and there, having prayed, he received the viaticum of the Lord's Body. Then he charged his disciples, saying: "Through Christ I admonish you, my sons, that you not contend over the remains of my body: but as soon as I have breathed my last, take me up and, placing me in a boat, set beneath my shoulders that stone upon which I was accustomed to recline. Let none of you, however, remain in the boat with me: He prescribes that his body be placed in a boat. but pushing it into the sea, allow it to go where God wills. The Lord will provide a place for my burial where it shall please him. I trust also in the Lord that on the day of resurrection he will cause me to rise with the rest. He dies. May the God of peace and love be always with you all." And when all had responded, "Amen," he gave up his spirit on the fourth day before the Kalends of February, an old man and full of days.

[32] His disciples, therefore, taking up his body, did as he had commanded them. But those who had come from Cornouaille, who were the more numerous, were trying to take him away and transfer him to their own country. While, therefore, they were conferring among themselves and planning to do this, by the will of God the body is submerged in the sea the boat with the holy body sank into the depths of the sea. They, searching for it here and there for many days, when they could by no means find it, returned to their homes.

[33] His disciples also, those who were from the monastery, for three months being unable themselves to find him, at last, having taken counsel, resolved to keep a three-day fast. When this was completed, it was revealed to one of them when and where he was to be found. Therefore, when the Rogation Days had come, and they had come for the sake of prayer to a certain small oratory by a divine revelation which he himself had built in honor of the Holy Cross, they found the boat in the estuary called Eroest, that is, House of the Holy Cross, he is found, with the holy body whole and unharmed, just as it had been placed by them in the boat. Seeing this, they rejoiced with great joy: and they placed the stone upon the altar of that place as a testimony; but the body of the holy man, with hymns and praises, they carried to his monastery, a very great multitude of people following with joy and great gladness, because they had found a patron and great advocate of their country and an intercessor with the Lord. That day, the fifth before the Ides of May, from that time to the present, and 11 May, is most solemnly observed and kept among the people of the Vannes region. The Lord is also accustomed to perform very many miracles on that day at his tomb, as we ourselves have seen with our own eyes. The body of the holy man was placed in the church it is deposited in the church of the castle of Rhuys which he himself had built in the ancient castle of Rhuys, on the same day as we have said. Where it was preserved for many courses of years and was venerably honored by the entire Breton nation, since innumerable miracles were performed there.

CHAPTER VI. The monastery of S. Gildas devastated, restored. Relics translated.

[34] After the pious King Solomon had been cruelly murdered by the impious, and the Bretons were quarreling among themselves and waging civil wars; and from without, the Danish pirates were devastating all of Brittany far and wide (for at that time With the Danes devastating Brittany that very nation was also laying waste the maritime regions of Gaul and crushing them as with a certain intolerable tempest of hail); and so Brittany, which had formerly been called Letavia, as we said, at that time was being cruelly devastated both by its own people and by foreigners: cities, castles, churches, houses, and monasteries of both men and nuns were being given over to fire, until by the judgment of God the entire region was utterly reduced to a wilderness and vast desert. At that time Alain and his brother Pasquetan governed the province of Vannes, which is called Brogueret after Guerec, because, having killed Duke Belpolenus with his army and also put to flight another Frankish duke, Ebracarius, they manfully defended that region. But after Pasquetan was captured by the Normans and ransomed, and afterward treacherously killed by a certain person, Alain alone with his sons governed that province as best he could. In that tempest two monasteries of monks, the monastery of S. Gildas is destroyed, Lochmenech, that is, the Place of Monks, and the house of S. Gildas, after their inhabitants had been driven out, were left deserted and destroyed. Their inhabitants, joined together, were compelled to seek foreign lands and to establish new homes in the region of Berry, carrying with them the bodies of Saints and the relics of the holy women, the relics are transferred to Berry, which at that time among the Bretons were venerated with festive devotion and exceedingly great affection.

[35] When, however, it pleased the Almighty Lord that the churches of the Saints in Brittany should be restored and that the Breton nation, which was miserably exiled in foreign lands, should return to its own homes, the Bretons again gathered their strength; and both those who had remained within the region and those who had been scattered through various lands, gathered together, they took up arms: To Brittany, restored to its inhabitants, they manfully attacked their enemies, put them to flight by land and sea, and expelled them from all their borders. At that time there was a Count in the city of Rennes, Juhael, who was also called Berengar. He had a son named Conan, an illustrious and warlike man, from whom was born Geoffrey, himself also a vigorous man at arms, who held the monarchy of all Brittany. He therefore asked Goslin, then Abbot of the monastery of Fleury, who afterward also presided as Archbishop over the Church of Bourges, to send him the monk Felix, The monk Felix is sent from Fleury, to restore the monasteries which had been completely destroyed in his territory. In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1008, therefore, Felix was sent by the aforesaid Abbot to Count Geoffrey: who received him honorably and gave him the aforesaid monasteries with all their appurtenances, asking and earnestly entreating him to rebuild them with all diligence; and he promised that he would bestow upon him many gifts when he returned from the journey he was hastening to make. For at that time the same Duke was hurrying to go to Rome for the sake of prayer. He went, therefore, but did not return: for he died on the journey itself. The Duke, however, before his departure, had commended the aforesaid Felix to his wife and to his nobles, and also to his brother Judicael, Bishop of Vannes, in whose diocese those monasteries were.

[36] But it is pleasing now to go back and relate the miracle concerning the Blessed Bishop Paul performed in that man. When this same Felix was in the aforesaid monastery of Fleury, in the time of Abbot Abbo, and was being weighed down by a grave illness, by S. Paul the Bishop and, having been given up by the physicians, was by no means believed likely to survive, the Blessed Bishop Paul appeared to him while he was awake and praying, standing before his bed with a great light, and said to him: "How are you, Brother, and where does this malady hold you?" healed of a fatal disease. And he replied: "Who are you, Lord?" "I," he said, "am Paul the Bishop, whom you were seeking." "Lord, behold," he said, "the malady has long held me in this side": and he showed him the place. But Paul, approaching, gently removed from his side with his finger a putrefied rib, and showed it to him by the light of the lamp, saying: "This will harm you no more." The putrefied rib extracted from his side. And saying this, he cast it away, and vanished from the wondering man's eyes with his light; but a most sweet fragrance remained the whole night in that same room. When, therefore, Felix was made well, no one anticipated him at the nocturnal vigils. All marveled that one whom they had expected to be already dead was alive, and they asked how he had been healed. He told them that the Blessed Paul had visited him, what he had said to him, and how he had extracted the broken and putrefied rib from his side. "And behold it," he said. And lifting it from the ground, he showed it to all. All marveled at the deed, and together rendered praises to the Lord with the sound of cymbals. But let us return to the order of the narrative.

[37] After the death of Duke Geoffrey, when Felix wished to return to his monastery, the Countess Hadigogis did not allow him to go, but with many prayers asked him to remain and complete what her husband had begun to do in restoring the monasteries. Detained therefore by the Countess and her counselors, and especially by Judicael, Bishop of Vannes, who loved him singularly, he first erected small dwellings in the aforesaid places. There were indeed churches there without roofs and partly ruined, and among their very walls ancient trees had grown, and had even blocked some of the doorways. There was no dwelling house there at that time, no human habitation, but even in the churches themselves there were lairs of wild beasts. He erects dwellings for ascetics. It seemed therefore to all very laborious and difficult to undertake so immense a work: but he, having confidence in the Lord, did not hesitate to take it up, nor was he disappointed in his hope. For within a few days, excellent and religious men gathered to him, he recruits religious, with whose help he both restored the churches and built houses, planted vineyards and orchards: by these also boys were reared in the service of God.

[38] About the same time the Bretons, turning again to sedition, stirred up wars. For the peasants, rising against their lords, gathered together. But the nobles, having joined Count Alain to themselves, attacked, slaughtered, scattered, and pursued the bands of peasants: since they had come to battle without a leader and without plan. Then certain of the nobles rose up against the Count, but did not prevail; since he was not a man without courage or knowledge. Amid these tumults, Felix, since he could not live quietly and peacefully, he returns to Fleury, resolved to return to his monastery, for it was the sixteenth year since he had been sent there by his Abbot. But the Countess Hadigogis forestalled his attempt. For she sent by a certain man named Filim, who was traveling with him, a letter to his Abbot, asking that he by no means retain him, but give him the Abbot's blessing and send him back to her again. Because her sons, Alain and Eudo, now grown up, were ready to carry out everything that their father had promised him.

[39] When, therefore, Abbot Gauzlin had read the letter, he called the monk Felix and asked him why he had come, and why he had left those places and the community which had been entrusted to him. Felix replied: "Because I can serve God there neither peacefully nor with quiet." The Abbot said to him: "Do you think you will have in your own country what Christ did not have in his? If therefore you wish to reach Christ, you must walk as he also walked. Acts 14:21. For through many tribulations, as the Apostle says, we must enter the kingdom of God. Ordained Abbot, he is sent back. Therefore bear patiently, dearest one, whatever troubles arise wherever you may be, and be obedient to us, as in your profession you vowed to God: and receive the care and blessing of the Abbot, so that with those over whom we have wished you to preside, you may be able to attain to eternal life." But when Felix excused himself and said that he could in no way do this, the Abbot, who was, as we said, also a Bishop, seized him unwillingly, led him to the altar, and promoted him to the office of Abbot on the fourth day before the Nones of July. Having therefore received, now as Abbot, the blessing both of his own Abbot and of the entire community, Felix returned, carrying with him letters of recommendation to the princes of Brittany and to the Bishop of Vannes. When, however, he was uncertain which of the two places he should establish as the seat of the abbey, he consulted Duke Alain and the Bishop of Vannes on this matter. He governs the monastery of S. Gildas. They, having called together noble men and also some bishops, decided on the site of S. Gildas, which was more ancient, and richer in the fertility of the land, in the abundance of wheat and wine and fruit-bearing trees, and at the proper seasons more plentiful in various kinds of great fish.

m He died 7 July 1037.

p By William of Jumieges, book 5, History of Normandy, chapter 5, she is called Haduis, daughter of Richard II, Duke of Normandy.

q Morlaix names several in the Life of S. Felix.

r William of Jumieges mentions both of them, as cited above.

CHAPTER VII. Miracles performed in the author's own time.

[40] There was moreover in the same place at that time a certain servant of God leading a solitary life, named Ehoarn, upon whom robbers fell by night and dragged him out of the house adjoining the church. An anchorite killed. One of them, surnamed Leopard, seizing an axe, dashed out his brains on the threshold of the church. He was immediately seized by a demon and fell to the ground, and when he had risen, the robber is possessed by a demon, snatching a knife, he wounded himself in the chest; and had he not been quickly restrained by his companions, he would have killed himself. Being bound therefore by them, he returned home, but never afterward recovered his senses. Insane. For we saw him for twenty years covered by no garment, neither tunic, nor shirt, nor shoe, for twenty years he wanders about naked, but in a wondrous way going about naked in summer and winter. If anyone out of mercy offered him some garment, and if he happened to sit under a tree or in any place, he would not leave until he had completely torn the garment to pieces. And if it was made of wool or linen, he unraveled it on the spot; but if of leather, he likewise reduced it to nothing. And so, as we said, going about naked for many years, he endured both the immense heats of summer and the intolerable cold of winter, both indoors and out. O ineffable mercy of Christ! O immensity of his goodness and compassion! O glorious merits of the Blessed Gildas, which thus in one and the same man both punish crimes and chastise the impious, lest they presume to do similar things, lest they be similarly punished! We believe, however, that that man, since God does not punish the same offense twice, was saved through the mercy of God.

[41] The feast of the most blessed Gildas, on which his body was translated from the sea, was approaching; A sick man brought to the tomb of S. Gildas, and people flowing in from every side were hastening to be present for the feast day. Then a certain man, who had long lain in bed held by a grave illness, when he saw his neighbors and friends hurrying to the feast day, cried out that they should carry him to the holy place. For he said that if he could merit to touch the tomb of the holy man, he would immediately be restored to health: he testified that this was his belief, that this was the faith he held. He was therefore brought there by his friends and placed before the tomb of the Blessed Gildas. While the vigils were being solemnly celebrated, and he lay before the holy tomb, suddenly stretching himself out, he stiffened in the manner of a dead man, he ceased to cry, his eyes were rolled back, his feet, hands, and chest grew cold, He was thought to have expired, and in his whole body he seemed to be dead. The multitude of people who had gathered around cried out: "Since he is dead, carry him outside." Therefore, as they were shouting and pressing more and more closely around him, and no one could either lay a hand on him or approach him on account of the crowd for nearly three hours, signed with his staff, at last one of the monks, named Junior, climbed up and, taking the staff of the Saint in his hand, signed him three times with the staff with the sign of the holy Cross. Immediately, to the wonder of all, he raised himself up and said: "Did you not see the Blessed Gildas standing upon this stone and raising me up with his own hand?" Then, in the sight of all, he rises again, well and rejoicing, he arose, and carrying a candle in his hand, he placed it upon the altar. And he who had been led, sick, to the holy tomb by the hands of others, returned home well on his own feet, rejoicing. When I afterward related this miracle to certain noblemen before the church of Ploemercat, that man was present and affirmed with an oath that it had been as I said.

[42] It is a most well-known fact, and spread through all parts of Brittany, that whenever a plague falls upon a parish or even upon some region, the inhabitants take refuge in this most holy place and without doubt await a remedy from God there. For the same reason a multitude of people came from Ilfintinc: but one of them, named Dongual, stricken by a sudden onset of the same plague, fell, and remained before the church of Sarthau. When his companions had come to the holy place, stricken by the plague, they asked me to send a horse on which they might carry him: which I did. He was therefore brought there; but because he could not stand, he was placed in the guesthouse. He was horrible to look at and was vomiting blood. No one hoped that he would live until the morrow, but was expected to die at any moment. The entire community came to visit him, and prayed to the Lord for him, he is freed, and anointed him with holy oil. From that hour, therefore, he gradually came back to himself and recovered his strength: and after some days he was completely restored to health. His companions, returning to their homes, told his wife that he was dead and had been buried at S. Gildas. She came, intending to make almsgiving for the soul of her husband, but the one she had expected to be dead she found not only alive but in perfect health. Thus, thus, O our God, you work in your Saints, and alone you do great and wonderful things. That man therefore returned with his wife, rejoicing and well, who had come sorrowful and at the point of death. I recently saw this man healthy and giving thanks to God and magnifying the miracles of the Blessed Gildas, who also remembers the things about himself that we have narrated.

[43] Nor should it be passed over in silence what troubles and of what kind our predecessors endured from the enemy of the human race in this sacred monastery at the same time. For when that ancient enemy saw that the servants of God had begun to inhabit the deserted place, and that they would have to expel him from the place which he had long possessed while it was deserted, he returned to his ancient arts, Demons terrifying the younger monks, and those whom he saw fortified by the power of God, he tried in every way to drive out with phantoms and nocturnal terrors. For one night, while the boy monks were sitting at table memorizing their psalms, the adversary appeared, playing with the light of the candle; and extending his hand frequently between two of the little boys, now drawing it back, now extending it again and again drawing it back, and doing this ceaselessly until the candle's light failed. The appearance of the arm and hand, which alone was visible, was black and bristling with hair. The boys were terrified with fear and greatly disturbed. One of the boys was called Ratfred, the other Mangis; the third, a young adolescent who taught them, was called Ranulf. The old man, therefore, who watched over them, named Jouethen, seeing what was happening and that the boys were terrified with fear, said to them: "Sign yourselves, boys, sign yourselves with the sign of the holy Cross, and chant the Psalms of David." But the wicked demon extinguished the consumed candle, and bursting into laughter, crashing through a heap of stones which was nearby, he struck immense terror by the noise of the stones. Then, moving and removing the bowls which were placed in the refectory all night long, he made the night restless for the inhabitants. A vessel, moreover, which had been placed nearby filled with wine, They are put to flight by holy water, when the servant looked for it, he found it empty; nor was any trace found where it had spilled on the ground. Felix had been away, and when he had returned and heard from the Brethren what phantoms they had endured the previous night, he took water, blessed it with salt, and sprinkled it around and within: and from that day, by the grace of God, the dwelling remained at peace.

CHAPTER VIII. The life and death of SS. Gingurianus and Gulstan, lay brothers of the monastery of S. Gildas.

[44] There was at that time among the seniors of this sacred monastery a certain monk named Gingurianus, a layman indeed, but full of the Holy Spirit and all virtues. When he had for some time served God in the monastery, leading an innocent and simple life, S. Gingurianus, a lay brother, and the Lord had decreed to test his patience through bodily affliction and to show it as an example to others, he deigned to reveal to him through the Holy Spirit the end of his life. He came therefore one day before Abbot Felix and the whole community, humbly making satisfaction he predicts his illness and asking pardon from all. When they had responded in their circuit, as to an innocent and simple man: "May the Lord forgive your ignorances and absolve you from all your sins," he said: "Know therefore, dearest Brothers, that from this day I shall be able neither to walk among you nor to remain. I ask your charity to commend me to God in your prayers and to anoint me with holy oil." All marveled that one whom they saw in good health should ask to be anointed. But he asked and insisted that he be anointed while he could still speak. He delivers to the Abbot the utensils entrusted to him. After Chapter, moreover, he brought all his utensils and tools and placed them before the feet of the Abbot, saying: "Lord, behold the charge which you commanded me to keep: commit it to one of the Brothers." For that blessed man had been the keeper of the apiary from the beginning of his conversion, having under his care very many vessels of bees.

[45] Then when Mass was celebrated, after the peace he approached the holy altar he receives communion and received Holy Communion from the hand of the priest. And then, drawing both hands to his breast, stretching himself out beside the step of the altar, he lay down: he is afflicted with paralysis and anointed, and being carried out in the arms of others to the infirmary, he was immediately anointed with holy oil, as he had requested from the Brothers. And from that day, just as he had predicted, for an entire year, stricken with paralysis, lying in bed, he could neither turn himself to the other side nor bring his hand to his mouth. After one year, however, the Lord deigned to announce to him through his Angel the day of his death. In the morning he called the monk Riaul to him, he learns the time of his death from S. Michael, and said to him: "Please tell, Brother, our whole community to give thanks always to God and to rejoice continually in the Lord. And let them know for certain that during the nocturnal vigils they had S. Michael the Archangel with them this night, who, before the vigils were entirely sounded, appeared to me in the likeness of a most beautiful child with a very great light, and told me who he was, and added: 'Do not fear,' he said, 'but prepare yourself, because with the dawn of this day you will depart from your body to a better life.' And then through the eastern window, with his light, he entered the church: and for as long as the vigils were celebrated, that brilliant light did not depart from the church. Now therefore, dearest Brother, announce to our Brothers what I have told you: and that I give thanks to their charity, because they showed me their care throughout this entire year. I beseech you, however, to bring me Holy Communion, he dies, and from the hour of vespers to watch for my death." Therefore, after Vespers, he called his attendant and said to him: "Call my Brothers to me, for I am now departing from this life." When therefore the whole community had gathered to him, he departed from this life to the Lord at the very hour he had predicted, on the fourth day before the Kalends of October.

[46] A man also of venerable life and worthy of remembrance, named Gulstan, shone in this sacred monastery in those same times. He too was a layman, but he did not cease chanting before God night and day the psalms and prayers The Blessed Gulstan practices every kind of virtue which he had learned by heart, spending the night in vigils, so that even in his decrepit old age you would scarcely have seen him lying in bed for three hours in summer or winter. In his adolescence he had been separated from pirates by Felix, who at that time was leading a hermit's life on the island of Ossa, not yet a monk: and the very life which he had learned from him at that time he always loved to lead until the end of his life; sparing in food and drink, assiduous in vigils and prayer. He is invoked by sailors even while still alive. The Lord deigned to make manifest the merits of this man even during his lifetime. For far and wide the praises and renown of this man resounded on the lips of all the seafarers of that region. For the Lord deigned to work through him very many miracles and wonders, so that scarcely anyone could recount or number them. He died on the fifth day before the Kalends of December, at the castle of Beauvoir, where he had come on business for his monastery, in the house of the monks of S. Peter of Maillezais. But when it was heard by the voice of the herald that the Blessed Gulstan had departed this life (for he had passed away at midnight), immediately the noblemen, leaping from their beds, after death, visited by a great concourse, together with their ladies and all who heard, vied with one another in hastening to go with candles and torches to pay their respects to the man of God, so that the house itself could scarcely contain the multitude.

[47] The monks of S. Philibert, therefore, seeing many ornaments, a plentiful amount of money, and a great variety of candles being gathered around the body of the man of God, persuaded all who had assembled the body is contested by various monks to carry the holy body to their church. But when the monks, in whose hospice the deceased had been, resisted, and the servants also objected, that he should not be moved from that house until they could bring him back to their own monastery, the others on the contrary, having stirred up the multitude, snatching him from that house with all his furnishings and lights, carried him off to their own church, and collecting the immense money that was offered for three days, after the third day they buried him. When, therefore, these things had been reported to his monastery, Abbot Vitalis went there and humbly asked that the body of his monk be returned to him. But they, not out of love for the holy man but rather out of love for the money which was being brought daily to his tomb from everywhere, gave no answer. He went to Isembard, the Bishop of Poitiers, bringing a complaint about the injury of his monk's body being taken from him. The Bishop, because those monks had been disobedient to his commands, A synod convened at Poitiers, ordered them with their Abbot to come to his synod, and also ordered Abbot Vitalis to be present. When therefore they had come, and each side had pleaded their case at the synod, the Bishop commanded the Abbots and noble Canons who were present that...