ON BLESSED HABERILLA, OR HABRILIA, VIRGIN, AT LAKE CONSTANCE.
Seventh Century.
CommentaryHaberilla or Habrilia, Virgin in Germany (B.)
From various sources.
[1] Lake Constance, also called the Brigantine, Bodanic, or, by Walafrid Strabo in his Life of S. Gall, the Potamic, commonly called der Bodensee, is in Swabia, forty thousand paces long and six thousand wide. On it many towns are situated: Brigantium is very ancient, near which the river Brigantius flows into the same lake not far away. Near the very mouth of the river is seen a most delightful monastery of the Benedictine order, In the Augia Brigantina commonly called the White Augia Brigantina, and the Greater Augia, in German die Mehrerau, which means the greater island. This was, if Gaspar Bruschius and Martin Crusius are to be believed, formerly a double house, one of monks and another of nuns; but after the latter were abolished, monks alone thereafter inhabited it. Indeed the nuns alone seem to have dwelt there at first, though perhaps some monks from the noble monastery of S. Gall were present to attend to the sacred rites. And there is still shown, as the same Bruschius attests, an oratory of S. Gall not far from there, namely an altogether humble and small chapel, situated in the mountains above Bregenz, where caverns cut into the rocks are still seen in our age, in which the venerable old man is said to have lain. So he writes.
[2] Blessed Haberilla is venerated; The Augian monks venerate, as a special Patroness, S. Haberilla, or Habrilia, not indeed with the solemnity of sacred rites or an Ecclesiastical office, but nevertheless with public devotion; and they observe her feast on the 30th of January. The Chronicle of Constance says of her: S. Haberilla, a virgin hermitess, was ordained Abbess of the Brigantine Cell (from which in the course of time the modern monastery of Bregenz grew) by S. Gall of the order of S. Benedict, over her many nuns. The things we shall subjoin about her were communicated to us, along with much information about other Saints, by our Daniel Feldner, who, after teaching Theology at Freiburg in Breisgau and Ingolstadt for several years, died at Constance on 21 February 1641, at the age of fifty-two, consumed by hectic fever, leaving behind outstanding examples of piety, modesty, and patience. He himself had received what he contributed about S. Haberilla from the Most Reverend Abbot Placidus of the Augia Brigantina, an exceptional patron of our order, and from the most devout Prior Francis Ransperger.
[3] Blessed Haberilla therefore lived in the times of S. Gall the Abbot, and prompted by his example (and perhaps previously instructed in piety by his admonitions as well), she resolved to lead a life withdrawn from the society of men, She lived there in holiness, near Lake Constance, having erected a cell: in this she lived in such a manner that she kept the eyes of body and mind perpetually fixed on Christ Crucified; intent on prayers day and night, burning with a vehement and constant love of God. Her food was altogether meager, and the rest of her ascetic practice was of such a kind as to excellently fortify the virginity, which she always preserved inviolate, against all the snares of the flesh and the devil.
[4] As happens, the fragrance of her holiness spread from her humble and hidden cell, and attracted many Virgins to her, who embraced the same exercise of virtue. Placed over nuns. When S. Gall learned of this, having given thanks to God, he ordained Haberilla as Abbess, placed in charge of this community of Virgins. After she had formed them in all holiness by her example and words, at last, laden with the merits of her virtues, she departed to heaven: in what year, is not established. S. Gall, as we shall say in his Life on 16 October, lived to the times of King Dagobert.
[5] The sepulchre of Haberilla is now seen in the greater basilica of the Augia Brigantina, dedicated to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, At her sepulchre to the right of the altar of S. Catherine the Virgin and Martyr. It is covered by a stone resting on six small columns. They report that her life was once described briefly on the neighboring wall: the writing has been so obliterated by age that it can no longer be read. Those who had read it reported that its content was as follows: Blessed Haberilla, a hermitess, and afterwards Abbess of her Cell under the order of S. Benedict, served God with many consecrated Virgins. She received the habit from the hands of S. Gall, who at that time was dwelling at Bregenz with other disciples and companions; and she is buried here and is renowned for many miracles. The same things are narrated about her in other documents of the Augian monastery.
[6] Many flock to her tomb, even from remote places, and very many miracles were wrought both in former times and continue to be wrought daily; fever, Diseases cured, headache, ophthalmia, vertigo, ulcers, wounds, colic, paralysis, and other diseases are most frequently cured. The holy Virgin especially extends her aid to sick infants, who are frequently brought there by their parents, Especially of infants, particularly on every Friday, and are passed three times beneath the sepulchral stone in honor of the most holy Trinity, and after prayers have been addressed to the Saint, they are freed in a marvelous way from nearly all the diseases to which that age is commonly subject. Indeed, pilgrims are accustomed to carry away with them earth dug from the sepulchre, wrapped in linen, and to place it beneath ailing infants, or at least to apply it to the affected limbs: and when health has followed, And by dust taken from there, they bring it back to its original place, as a witness of the cure. Those of more advanced age also are accustomed to crawl three times beneath the sepulchral stone, and to sprinkle earth on their ailing limbs, and very many profess that they were freed from all pain on that very spot. The same Feldner attested to us that he had twice visited the tomb of the glorious Virgin, and had learned of the marvels that God works through her patronage.