Ulphia

ON ST. ULPHIA, VIRGIN, AT AMIENS IN BELGIC GAUL.

Eighth century.

Ulphia, Virgin at Amiens in Belgic Gaul (St.)

From various sources.

[1] The Ambiani, a people of Belgic Gaul (whose city is washed by the Somme, or Summa, whence it was called Samarobriga by the ancients, or Somerbrigge, or Samerbrugghe — which in the Teutonic tongue means "Bridge of the Somme") venerate on January 31 St. Ulphia, Feast of St. Ulphia, Virgin, a Virgin. On that day the Carthusians of Cologne in the additions to Usuard: At Amiens, of Vulfa, Virgin. The manuscript of St. Lawrence at Liege, the manuscript Florarium, Molanus in the additions to Usuard: In Gaul, at the city of Amiens, the passing of St. Wulfia. The manuscript of St. Lambert has the same, but calls her Vulsia. Ferrari also calls her Vulfia. Canisius: Likewise at Amiens in Gaul, the elevation of the holy Virgin Vulfia. Saussay: At Amiens, the passing of St. Vulfia, Virgin, who in the twenty-eighth year of her age, having been clothed with the sacred veil by Christianus, Bishop of that city, withdrew into the desert, where, confirmed in her purpose by the advice and example of the hermit St. Domitius, and by his wondrous work as well, schooled in devout practices, after drinking deeply of the waters of divine consolation, she completed the course of an angelic life on earth; and, like a dove silvered in the paleness of gold with the whiteness of purity, she flew rejoicing to heaven.

[2] The Life of St. Ulphia from a manuscript Legendary of the collegiate church of St. Wulfram in the town of Abbeville on the Somme was formerly sent to Heribert Rosweyde, which we give here. Adrian de la Morliere, book 2 of the Antiquities of Amiens, indicates that another Life exists — and perhaps a more accurate one — Life. since he cites a manuscript Life of St. Ulphia in which Christianus is said to have held the See of Amiens in her time, of which there is no mention here. In the Life also of St. Domitius, a Canon of Amiens, which we shall give on October 23, much is narrated about St. Ulphia that is lacking in this her own Life; some of which, because they properly pertain to her, it seemed good to transcribe here.

[3] At the time when the holy Virgin Ulphia was accustomed to go with her holy Father in Christ, the hermit Domitius, to Vigils at night in Amiens — and she had only recently begun to go — it happened on one of the summer nights that after Compline and the fervent urgency of prayers, Wearied by the voices of frogs she laid her head upon her haircloth bed, clothed as she was, so that the hour of going to Vigils might find her readier and more vigilant when St. Domitius came for her. And behold, as soon as the holy Virgin inclined her head, the frogs — of which there was always an abundant supply there — in their accustomed manner, not newly, made a powerful assault with their singing around the cell of Ulphia; and they had not merely continued as usual, but on account of the exceeding warmth of the air had raised their song much louder, as if celebrating a joyful festival — so that by the tumultuous sound of their voices they could perhaps cause no small annoyance and even fear to some. But when the depth of night and the harshness of the cooling dew had gradually and finally entirely suppressed the voices of these little creatures and imposed silence upon them, and the holy Virgin herself had been kept awake far beyond her custom by this clamor, and the hour of rising and going to Vigils was drawing near, the Virgin, greatly fatigued, fortified herself with the sign of the holy Cross and thus fell asleep more quickly and more soundly than usual.

[4] But as soon as Ulphia fell asleep, those little creatures — which had already ceased their clamor and were silent — seemed to make such a noise to her even as she slept, she sleeps more deeply and does not go to Matins: that she could attend to nothing else in any way. For at that very instant and moment, St. Domitius arrived, and knocking with his staff on the bolt of Ulphia's cell, as was his custom, standing outside and listening, he heard nothing within. Wherefore, raising his voice more loudly along with the blows of his staff, once and twice, he said: Ulphia, rise. When the holy old man heard no answering voice, he cried out as loudly as he could with the highest voice: Ulphia, Ulphia, rise, my daughter, for the second watch of the night has already passed. But when all his cries failed with vain effort and no response from within refreshed his hearing, Domitius, supposing that Ulphia had already gone to Vigils and had risen at the proper hour for the services, rebuked himself for his own drowsiness and detested his own torpor — that the tender Virgin had so fervently anticipated him to Vigils while he, detained by sloth, had rested longer. Setting out on his way and believing he was following her who had gone ahead, he strove eagerly to catch up, touched with great shame, drenched with excessive sweat, his whole body soaked. But when he arrived at the church and the first bell for Vigils had scarcely been rung, and he had looked for his daughter Ulphia here and there through the church many times and had by no means found her, departing secretly from the church he would not stay his feet — nay, even if he had wished he could not — until, sad, anxious, and sweating, he came to Ulphia's cell and found her coming out of it; for she had only then awakened and had opened her little door.

[5] Ulphia, seeing her holy Father Domitius flushed from excessive fatigue and drenched with sweat, feeling compassion for him and speaking gently and softly, said: May God forgive you, Lord Father, that today you did not call me as you went to Vigils and did not rouse me from my excessive sleep. To this the old man replied: On the contrary, I called you five times and more, but hearing no response from within your cell, I supposed you had already gone to Vigils. And the old man, sitting down on the ground, very tired, therefore she imposes eternal silence upon them, narrated to Ulphia in order everything that had happened to him that night. The holy Virgin therefore immediately understood that through the noise of the frogs and their immoderate chattering, her hearing had been, as it were, phantasmally impeded, so that she could not hear or understand her Father calling and rousing her. And immediately, bending her knees to the ground and stretching her joined hands toward heaven, she prayed to the Lord, saying thus: O Almighty and Eternal God, strike down the garrulity of these frogs; stop up their throats so that they may never again chatter in this place, cause no tumult, and be silent from henceforth forever — these that are present, and also all others born hereafter from these, and those born of their offspring, and who shall be born from them: the great, the middling, and the small. And turning to them she said: Because you, most vile worms, have grievously disturbed us this night and deprived us of the good of devotion and peace by your tumultuous sound, I, trusting in the gift of God, impose perpetual silence upon you, and I make this pact with you: that all like you who come here in the future, I subject to this interdict. O powerful curse! O interdict thus spoken by a holy and virginal mouth — a miracle in no way fictitious. which they observe in that place For with St. Domitius answering, Amen, from then until now this sentence has endured, and God has thus exalted the merits of both; for when we made a most diligent inquiry — not only with many people, but also with nearly all the neighbors — all say with the clearest voice that they have never heard the singing of frogs there.

[6] La Morliere writes that she was prevented by the noise of croaking frogs from hearing the voice of St. Domitius, with no mention of sleep. Moreover, he testifies that in the entire, quite ample precinct of the Paraclete — where Ulphia had lived — a monastery was later founded (of which more below), even to this day: and that there are indeed very many frogs, for the nature of the place seems most suited to breeding them; but their noisy voices are entirely suppressed by this ancient miracle. The author of the Life of St. Domitius continues:

[7] The holy Domitius, sensing that his death was imminent shortly before his passing, set a most excellent end to his good work, striving to fortify both body and soul with the salutary Viaticum. For on the following night, she understands from St. Domitius that he will soon die, when she came with her holy daughter to Vigils as was her custom, and when morning came, he approached one of the Priests who was preparing to celebrate Mass and asked him to administer the most holy Host to himself and to the holy Virgin during that Mass. Having received it, they came to Ulphia's cell that day, and the holy old man, sitting down, began to address her thus: Do you know, Ulphia, my daughter, why I have had us both fortified today with the sacred Host? Ulphia said: I dare not answer anything certain about this, holy Father; I make no pronouncement, except that I conjecture that you believe and hope to go to God shortly, and to depart from this light. To which the Saint said: Excellently, daughter, have you thought, and you have striven to conjecture carefully and prudently, pondering this very thing in your mind; for before the first cock-crow of the coming night, unless I am mistaken, my spirit shall dismiss the clod of flesh... When Ulphia heard her holy Father Domitius make such mention of his departure, she could not contain herself from most copious tears, and went with him to his cell to be present at his death. And entering the oratory, they chanted the canonical hours together...

[8] The holy Domitius, giving immense thanks to the Priest and to the faithful of Christ gathered there because of his death, and commending to them his holy daughter in Christ, the Virgin Ulphia, opened to them and clearly revealed the order of that Virgin's life, the cause of his coming to those parts, she is present at his death: and the vision shown to him by an Angel concerning the Virgin herself, and how St. Ulphia was miraculously consecrated by the Bishop. And having said these things, and having saluted all who stood around with a holy kiss, he breathed forth his soul, full of virtues, and returned it pure and clean to its Creator on the tenth day before the Kalends of November. Seeing this, the holy Virgin Ulphia, shedding tears copiously and stricken in spirit, cried out with a great shout and said: Alas, I, wretched and unhappy woman! What shall I do henceforth? Where shall I endeavor to turn? she mourns the dead man: For I have lost my holy Father and patron, by whose fiery prayers the demons, scorched, so often and so often retreated from me in confusion. I behold him dead, by the removal of whose protection from our midst I almost entirely fail, and therefore I am wholly afraid, I loathe myself. Yet in this alone I rejoice: that I trust he lives with God. I also trust that through his merits I shall by no means depart hereafter from the path of holiness, but shall always advance from good to better. And when the holy Virgin had for a long time brought forth these and other words in bitterness of spirit, with sobs interrupting her tearful voice and with wringing of hands, and had uttered her groans and grown a little quiet, approaching the holy body, she kissed his hands with bent knees reverently.

[9] The date of St. Ulphia may be gathered from this: that Christianus, the Bishop when she lived. from whom she is said to have received the sacred veil, is placed in the catalogue of the Bishops of Amiens between Dominicus and Rimbertus, or Raimbertus, of whom the former is recorded to have been present at the translation of St. Lambert in the year 709, and the latter is named in Epistle 6 of Pope Zachary to various Bishops of Gaul and Germany, dated in the year 744.

LIFE

from the manuscript of the church of Abbeville.

Ulphia, Virgin at Amiens in Belgic Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 8371

From manuscripts.

[1] In former times, when by the will of God the fervor of persecution against Christians in the parts of Gaul was subsiding St. Ulphia, Virgin and the vigor of the Christian religion was increasing not a little, there was a certain maiden born of parents distinguished by worldly standards, named Ulphia. excellently mannered, This Virgin was lovable for the beauty of her body, remarkable for her comeliness, inimitable in her chastity, elegant in countenance, simple in appearance, imbued with fruitful manners, and endowed with gracious gestures in all things. And though she was such that she was held in veneration in the eyes of all, pious, yet thinking humbly of herself, she frequented the church as often as she could steal away from the sight of her parents, and there, with prayers, sighs, and tearful sobs, she most devoutly offered herself as a sacrifice before God; and offering her virginity to Jesus Christ, the Spouse of Virgins, chaste, she most earnestly and attentively beseeched Him to preserve her pure, chaste, and unharmed from all defilement of flesh and spirit.

[2] Meanwhile, Ulphia's parents, wholly ignorant of the devotion and intention of her salvation, accumulated a great heap of gold and silver and placed and stored it more carefully in safe-keeping, to be expended upon her nuptials should anyone suitable present himself who might ask for the aforesaid Virgin to be joined to him in lawful marriage. Talk of this sort ran swiftly and was quickly sown among the public ear: that Ulphia's parents, sought in marriage by many, in order to give her in honorable marriage, were gathering an infinite sum of money. Soon she was most fittingly sought by not a few men of worldly distinction, not so much on account of the quantity of money or furnishings as also on account of the venerable probity of her manners. The holy Virgin grieved in mind and body, and sighed more frequently, that she had found such great favor among men — she who had learned to seek only the grace of God — and she anxiously strove to consider within herself how she might escape these snares.

[3] with the approval of her parents she preserves her virginity: The Virgin is therefore addressed by her parents about arranging a marriage, and is kindly entreated with paternal admonition to give her willing consent to this. The blooming Virgin excuses herself with a sweet word, and asks that she be permitted to love her sweet Spouse Jesus sweetly and to serve Him devoutly with her virginity intact, and that they make no further mention to her of a carnal husband — asserting and protesting that she had long since humbly consecrated her virginity, offered to Jesus Christ, with fervent devotion. Both parents are pleased by so devout a devotion, and they rejoice that she has joined herself to Jesus Christ in virginal union. But those who aspired to carnal commerce with her were greatly displeased; they pressed therefore with blandishments, with terrors, and with threats. In this struggle many years passed. At length, however, at the instigation of the devil, they schemed to carry her off even against her parents' wishes. she is divinely taught to evade the stratagems of her suitors: When this became known, the holy Virgin gave herself to most fervent prayer, and as her tears fell upon the floor where she was lying in prayer, having tasted a little sleep, she arose joyful and, in that sleep, had been divinely instructed as to what she should do afterward.

[4] With God, to whom Ulphia had thus wholly commended herself, arranging all things gently, she feigns madness, being most shrewd and most solicitous for the salvation of her soul, she feigned madness of mind, derangement of heart, and insanity of head; and going about, she fled here and there, with a face pale from fasting, bareheaded, with her hair loosed and scattered over her shoulders, as if deranged, so that at least by this contemptible game she might deform her beauty and repel from herself those who lusted carnally after her. O strong woman! O noble Virgin and praiseworthy maiden! For other girls and virgins, easily inclining their minds and bodies to the pleasures of flesh and blood, paint themselves with the utmost care, adorn their faces, arrange their eyebrows, confine their curled hair with silken garlands and bind it, so as to please in every way the purveyor of carnal concupiscence. But this woman with all her might deforms herself outwardly, so as to please only the Lover of Virgins; and with a sober mind, fleeing an earthly husband, she eagerly undertakes to seek a fitting place where she might remain alone and unknown to all, and easily and attentively serve God.

[5] Therefore Ulphia, having taken a simple and lowly garment, with her face — though beautiful — greatly disfigured, she comes to the district of Amiens: wisely departing from her land and kindred, and secretly abandoning her homeland, parents, and all the riches of the world, the delights of the flesh, and the blandishments of friends — reckoning and esteeming all these as dung, that she might gain Christ — she set out wherever her will bore her, guided (as is believed) by the Holy Spirit. Nor did divine grace permit her to halt her steps until, coming to the district of Amiens, about four miles from that city, near the stream of the Noye, she found by divine direction a small spring in a place full of dense brambles and thickets, and remote from the habitation of men. Not far away, however, dwelt the holy hermit Domitius, she serves the hermit St. Domitius and is instructed by him: with whom — joined by spiritual kinship — Ulphia made some stay before her cell was built beside the aforesaid spring; and the young Virgin attended the old man, now declining into decrepit age, in the capacity of a servant, and revered the same holy elder from the depths of her heart with the greatest humility, always calling him her Father and Lord. The same Saint in turn, holding and loving her as a daughter, venerated her most affectionately for the excellence of her probity and sanctity, and exhorted her to advance always from good to better.

[6] There was indeed so perfectly in these two holy persons — having one heart and one soul in Christ — a chaste fellowship of hearts and bodies between father and daughter, no variance of understanding, no contrariety of affections; the conscience of each savored nothing discordant with variety; the knowledge of neither grasped anything consonant with vanity; and the violence of their fervor and devotion, according to the Savior's words, did violence to the kingdom of heaven and eagerly seized it. Matt. 11:12. After some days, when the hermit cell had been made and completed beside the aforesaid spring, she dwells in a cell beside the spring: Ulphia, withdrawing herself entirely from the storm and tempest of the world, so as to gather thence the honey of inward sweetness, entered within — shorn for Christ, so as to be hidden there, a bride pleasing to her Spouse. Every night, St. Domitius, at the hour when he was accustomed to go to Vigils, came by way of her cell, daily she goes with Domitius to Vigils, and thus, going together, when Vigils were finished, they both returned to their cells at the same time. The faithful of Christ — tillers of the fields, plowers, farmers and vine-dressers, herdsmen and shepherds — saw these Saints returning from Vigils each day in the deepest silence; and until the Saints had passed by them, venerated by all: those same countryfolk would leave off their work, standing reverently and slightly bowing their heads as the Saints passed by.

[7] When Ulphia was now of mature age, soon to leave this present exile, to forget her past labors, and to enjoy the delights of Paradise, she had no worldly care, so that her pure soul might depart from here; and therefore she left the body all the more joyfully as she was returning to her Creator. she receives Communion: Therefore, as the illness from which St. Ulphia finally suffered grew worse, on a certain day after the office of Vigils and Lauds, at Mass celebrated at dawn, she asked for and received the salutary Viaticum, and immediately, returning to her cell, she threw herself upon her little bed, soon falling ill, she takes to her bed. from which she did not rise again. The merciful Lord Jesus Christ did not permit His holy Virgin to be long wearied by bodily illness — she whom He had allowed to be tempted and proved by the enemy of the human race in a long struggle in the desert. For as the illness worsened, on the second night, the holy Virgin, knowing and foreseeing that the hour had come for her to pass from this misery to the Father, raised her eyes upward, drew deep sighs, and piously offered these words to God: she dies piously: Sanctify me, O Savior; confirm, preserve, rule, strengthen, and comfort me; and after the end of my days, lead me with you to everlasting joys. And when the two Virgins who were present had answered Amen, the holy Virgin Ulphia happily fell asleep in the Lord.

[8] At dawn, when her holy companion Aurea came to the cell of St. Ulphia, she found her body lifeless, her countenance fair after death; so gracefully arranged upon her breast with hands crossed in the form of a cross that she seemed not to have died but to have fallen asleep. Those standing around also contemplated and marveled at her serene brow, her pleasant countenance, and what seemed to be a kind of smile emanating from her, full of every joy. she breathes forth a sweet fragrance. And wretched indeed did every person call himself who had not been present at the funeral of the sacred Virgin Ulphia and who had not shared in that perfumer's fragrance which, issuing continuously from her body throughout the whole day, lavishly diffused itself all around those present; by which, sated, refreshed, and restored, they exulted in the praise and glory of the Redeemer of the human race.

[9] Here it does not detract but is profitable and sufficient to relate this alone, for the commendation and attestation of the fragrant sanctity and bodily purity of our sacred Virgin Ulphia: Her spring is now a well at Amiens. that in the cathedral church of the city of Amiens there exists a well, formerly a spring while the Virgin herself still lived in the body — in which spring, during the summer heat, she chose to bathe herself at times. From this well water is drawn expressly for all the Masses celebrated daily in that same church. For the Savior of the world does not disdain that the water of the vessel or pool in which His own Spouse, a most chaste Virgin, washed herself should be mingled with the Sacrament of His Body and Blood — she who, while still on earth, always strove to venerate this Sacrament with complete devotion. Nor would the holy See of Amiens esteem so highly the water of that well or spring unless it believed that the modesty of the holy Virgin had pleased God during her life.

[10] When, therefore, the sacred Virgin Ulphia had been buried and committed to the earth, her holy companion Aurea The bodies of her and of St. Domitius are transferred to Amiens: and all the other Virgins and the rest of the people returned to the city at the evening hour, leaving in that desert the relics of our holy Virgin until that time when, not long after — at the insistence and clamor of the devout populace — the bodies of Father and daughter, that is, of Saints Domitius and Ulphia, were carried with joy to the city of Amiens. And although a church was built in the place where St. Domitius had rested, covered with earth, no basilica was erected in the place where the virginal body of St. Ulphia had lain, until a time when scarcely any certain memory of the acts or deaths of those Saints survived — over a period of about two hundred years. Yet that place, though empty of buildings, was always notable to Christians for its sanctity, delightful for its pleasantness, and venerable for the devotion it inspired; and something great was expected of it in the future. It was also very frequently visited by the faithful, miracles at the place of her first burial, especially on the feast of the sacred Virgin — namely, the day before the Kalends of February — and there, at the invocation of the name of St. Ulphia, divine mercy lavished many healings upon the sick. At length, so that the dwelling-place of the Virgin Ulphia might be held in greater renown, by divine providence that noble monastery of sacred Virgins called the Paraclete was built and founded in this very place — by the grant of Him whose reign and dominion endures without end, world without end. a monastery is built. Amen.