Odo

ON ST. ODO, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, OF CANTERBURY IN ENGLAND.

IN THE YEAR 961.

A PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. P.

§ I. His birth, conversion from paganism, education, journey to Rome, episcopate, and the monastic profession premised to it.

Canterbury, a most celebrated city of England, metropolis of the province of Kent, and the ancient see of the great Apostle of the English, St. Augustine, is not moderately illustrated by the virtues and merits of St. Odo, whom it had as Archbishop. St. Odo's birth, That he was sprung of noble but pagan parents, not otherwise than a fair little flower from thorns, is read in his life, and also in the legend accustomed to be attributed to Capgrave. The year of his birth is nowhere expressly stated there; yet it can be gathered from this, that he is said to have had his race from that impious multitude of the Danish senators, which formerly accompanying the most wicked pirate Inguar, was carried by a naval force into the kingdom of the English. Using without doubt this chronological mark, Maihew, in the Benedictine Trophies, reports that his parents infested England in the reign of King Alfred, about the year of Christ 880. Alford places the birth of St. Odo after the year 870, namely about that time in which, King Edmund being dead, the Danes rested in the eastern province.

[2] Of our Saint's conversion from paganism to the Christian faith, his education under Duke Athelm, and his instruction in Greek as well as Latin letters, the life treats. The praised Alford judges conversion, education, journey to Rome, priesthood, that Odo, being seventeen years old, could accompany the same Athelm setting out for Rome; which if it is true, it must likewise be said that he was already then initiated into the priesthood, following the life, in which, chapter 1, after the presbyterate he is narrated to have sought Rome together with the Duke. But the difficulty is that he was before made very skilled in the Greek and Latin tongue, so that he could compose poems and continue prose. "After these things, reborn by the Sacrament of baptism, adorned with the clerical tonsure, he was led even to the ministry of the subdiaconate"; in which grade it is gathered that he stopped for some years, to be advanced to the higher ministries of the Church. And "then at last, his immature age being objected, he resisted the priesthood as much as he could, which he afterward accepted." Thus therefore the life records that he proceeded gradually to the priesthood. But now compare so many grades with the priesthood, and with the 17th year of age, and I think all things can hardly be combined; especially since, from the time he was a priest, both the Duke himself and nearly all the other Princes of the royal palace are reported to have opened to him the secrets of their ill-led life, and to have gladly trusted to his counsel about amending these. Which do not suit a priest of so slight an age. Athelm, of whom here we treat, the said Alford thinks was that very Count of Wilton through whom King Alfred sent alms to the city of Rome in the year of Christ 888. Besides, the same Author accuses Capgrave of error, because he inconveniently named the King, with whom Athelm was of favor and authority, Edwin: for he understands Edwin, who first reigned thirty years after, grandson of Edward now he understands the year 920 reigning, by his son Edmund; whom Odo, afterward Bishop of Canterbury, rebuked for his crimes, as the Life narrates, chapter 2.

[3] St. Odo was first Bishop of Ramsbury, Sherborne, the bishopric of Sherborne Salisbury, and Wilton. But it must be observed that by these three surnames only one and the same bishopric is designated, as is proved partly from the life, chapter 1, number 11, where it is said that the episcopal see was vacant, which at that time was at Sherborne, but now is at Salisbury, over which St. Odo is there narrated to have presided; partly also that identity is understood from Malmesbury, book 1 on the Deeds of the Pontiffs of the English, page 200, in these words: "Then Odo, holy Bishop of the Wiltonians …

besides those five Bishops of Wessex whom I said Plegmund consecrated in the time of Edward the Elder, not much after there was added a sixth, who should have his see at Ramsbury, a diocese in the district of Wilton, the Bishop remaining at Sherborne." There now offers itself a chronological question about the year in which our Saint first entered upon the said bishopric. Alford judges that those seem to need correction who consecrated Odo Bishop of Wilton under King Ethelstan, son of Edward; and Harpsfield in the first place, whose words he brings forth; adding that this reckoning of time is contrary to the reckoning of the ancients, who said the Bishop was named by King Edward; and he cites the Collector of the Fasti after Malmesbury, marking the beginnings of the pontificate in the year 920, reigning not Ethelstan, but Edward; and Athelm governing the see of Canterbury, as Harpsfield himself confesses. To these he brings forth the Westminster chronicler, who writes that in the year 920, after the death of Helmstan, Bishop of Wilton, Odo succeeded. So indeed Alford establishes.

[4] But the manuscript life, to be illustrated by us afterward, contradicts him. when it was entered upon by Odo, For it hands down in the first chapter, in most distinct words, that the insignia of Sherborne were conferred on St. Odo, not under King Edward, but under Ethelstan, successor of the said Edward; not Athelm, but his successor Wulfelm presiding over the pontificate of Canterbury, as is there narrated at length. And so if we insist on this reckoning, St. Odo was not raised to this bishopric before the year 925; since in that year, according to the Saxon Chronicle, Wulfelm took up the archbishopric at Canterbury. I am mistaken if, this being seen, Alford would not have thought with us. This epoch of the begun bishopric of Sherborne being admitted, it can also be understood how long he presided both over this and over the Canterbury [see], to which he afterward passed; that we may subjoin some things also about this second pontificate of his.

[5] Mabillon holds the torch before [us], in the life of the venerable Plegmund, how long administered, both this and the Canterbury [see] Archbishop of Canterbury, in the 5th century of the Benedictine Acts, page 40, where, various donations from the book of Evidences for the church of Canterbury being related, he subjoins to our purpose that in the year 941 King Edmund, and Eadred his brother, and also Edwy, son of the same Edmund, restored certain things to the church of Canterbury, in which year Edmund was raised to be King, and that Wulfelm, Archbishop of Canterbury, subscribed to the royal letters. From which it is understood that not before the year 942 did Odo succeed him. For King Ethelstan died in the year 941, and indeed on the VI Kalends of November, as the Saxon Chronology testifies in the praised Mabillon, in the Notes to the life of St. Odo, in the cited volume, page 291. Therefore before this year Edmund did not succeed him in the kingdom. And under this Edmund our Odo was promoted to the see of Canterbury, as is to be seen from chapter 2 of the Life. Therefore the promotion of St. Odo to the insignia of Canterbury is rightly fixed in the next following year, namely 942. Further, since the same Saint departed from life in the year 961, it follows that he ruled the first see for about seventeen years, namely from the year 925 to 942; but the second for nineteen or twenty years, the twentieth perhaps being begun. The reckoning of the see of Canterbury thus defined by us is sufficiently conformable to William of Malmesbury, who in book 1 on the Deeds of the Pontiffs of the English establishes that our Prelate shone in the bishopric of Canterbury for twenty years.

[6] against the Westminster [chronicler.] Hence Matthew of Westminster must be corrected, who in Maihew, in the Trophies of the Saints, says that St. Odo was assumed to the see of Canterbury in the year of Christ 934. The said Maihew did not wander from the truth, when he said that he was not promoted thither before about the year of Christ 938; who besides hands down that an anonymous heretical author, treating of British antiquities, writes that he received the pallium from Agapetus II, who began to sit in the year 946; but the donation of the pallium seems to be deferred wrongly so long; since it is not understood to what the delay of four years can look. Let us now come to examine that which the Sectaries seem to admit reluctantly, whether St. Odo truly was a monk before he undertook the government of the see of Canterbury.

[7] Whether St. Odo [was first a monk] That this is true is clear from chapter 2 of the life, where it is narrated that, the Archbishop of Canterbury Wulfhelm being dead, King Edmund pressed our Saint to pass from his see to the Canterbury [one]. He resisted vigorously, but in vain; pretending that it was not lawful for him to leave his first spouse, the sanctions of the church being safe: in vain also he said he would not do it, that he, not a monk, should ascend the see of Canterbury, occupied hitherto by none but monk Archbishops. The matter done is set forth in the life, in the chapter cited, and in William, from whom Mabillon reports that Odo resisted, as one who had not yet put on the monk, lest he should seem to disturb the custom of his elders by his ambition. For no Archbishop up to that time had there been who was not clothed in the monastic garb; which therefore he put on. Godwin in Mabillon, and Parker in Alford, according to their affection toward the monastic state, will have it that priests not monks presided over the see of Canterbury before Odo. But they are refuted by both authors, as may be seen more fully in them.

[8] than archbishop. The monastic profession of St. Odo Mabillon places about the year of Christ 938. But why this happened four years before he entered the see of Canterbury, Wulfelm being still alive, whom we said above died in the year 942, I altogether do not understand, nor do I see in what way Mabillon here is sufficiently consistent with himself. For since it is clear both to him and to us from the life, that Odo was not destined for the government of the often-mentioned see, except when Wulfelm, pontiff of Canterbury, obtained the end of life due to all mortals; after whose death, lest so great a see should lack a pastor longer than is fitting, the King approached the reverend Odo, urging that he should succor the desolate church by the taking up upon it of the pastoral care; and since then and not otherwise he resisted the King, pretexting the authority of the canons about not deserting his first spouse, and said: "Since the first Fathers of that church, who also brought Christianity to the kingdom of the English, and all who succeeded them up to the present, were monks, as is clear to all; should I change, infringe, annihilate a custom so ancient, so holy, so acceptable to God, and strengthened by the authority of so great Fathers?"—calling to witness all Britain that he would not do this, because he had not put on the monk; we gather that Odo did not think of embracing the monastic state before the see of Canterbury had become vacant by the death of the same Prelate Wulfelm, that is, not before the year 942, which, as we premised, Mabillon also assigns to Odo himself, and so not the year 938, but the year 942, namely a little before he began the archbishopric, seems, on Mabillon's principles, insisting on the narration of the life, to be assigned to St. Odo's monastic profession.

§ II. The year and day of his death; how his cult was begun and propagated; his relics; his elogia; his surname; certain memorable things passed over by the author of the life.

The Authors vary among themselves about the year in which St. Odo the Archbishop passed to the fellowship of the heavenly ones, The year of his death which neither Capgrave nor our manuscript states. Florence of Worcester, Roger of Hoveden, and Matthew of Westminster in Mabillon say that the year of his death was 958; with whom agree Baronius, Maihew, and Alford, the last of whom adds that all agree that he died in this year. Pits, on the Illustrious Writers of England, establishes the following year. I settle the controversy, following Mabillon, from the Saxon Chronicle, in which at the year 961 it is read: "In this year died Odo, that good Archbishop." Menard therefore hallucinated, writing that St. Odo flourished about the year one thousand and seventy-four.

[10] Nor do the writers disagree less about the day of his death. Bucelin reports Odo on the VII day of February, and the day, saying that on this day he passed to the eternal homeland. The sixth of the same month is reported by Ferrarius, as is already noted in volume 1 of February in the Passed-over. But in the second volume of the said month, on the VII day, he is said to be reported here by Molanus, Greven, Saussay in the Supplement of the Gallican Martyrology, Menard, the manuscript Florarium, in which he is called Abbot; and that he died not on this day, as Charles Saussay wrote in book 4 of the Ecclesiastical Annals of Orléans, chapter 8, but on the IV of July, on which day his life is there promised to be given. In volume 1 of June, in the Passed-over, from the second day, on which he is marked by Richard Whitford, he is transferred to the IV day of July, on which day he in truth put off mortality, we have from the Life in Capgrave, our manuscript keeping deep silence about the day of death.

[11] Not incongruously the often-praised Alford seems to have referred the beginnings and propagation of the cult to St. Dunstan, moved by the token of a dove, the beginnings of the cult, of which Capgrave and our copy treat, chapter 3. "Hence," says Alford, "grew the opinion of his sanctity, which fame carried even to foreign nations. Whence the Germans ambitiously sought the relics of his body. Thus Bruno, Bishop of Cologne, who had familiarly known him alive, venerated him dead, his bones being translated to Cologne." Aubert Miraeus in the Belgic Fasti, page 320, on the occasion of a miracle wrought for the confirmation of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist at the prayers of our Archbishop, thus institutes a discourse of the same: "The bones of this blessed Man Blessed Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne, to whom Odo had formerly been familiar, translated to Cologne; and thence some were brought to Boxtel by the noble man William Mærhem, Lord of Boxtel, then in favor at the imperial court." The same things Raiss testifies in the Auctarium of Molanus. Our Otho Zylius, in a letter given on the XXIII of January to Rosweyde, about the relics of Odo mentioned, observes the following: "They were," he says, "up to this day utterly unknown and unhonored; which now a certain canon has undertaken to adorn according to [his] desire."

[12] his elogia, Now, what I had proposed, I collect a few elogia of the most holy Man. Osbern is copious in his praises in the Life of St. Dunstan. It would be prolix to transcribe all things here verbatim. Let it suffice to have culled certain points here and there. Now therefore by the praised Author he is called "the highest Pontiff of the English," now "the highest priest of God"; now he is said to have been "led by the hands of the Angels to paradise, Odo the Prince of priests, a man illustrious in wisdom, and praiseworthy in virtue, and, unless Dunstan succeeded, ever to be bewailed by the whole world of the English." William of Malmesbury, adorning the elogia of St. Odo, thus briefly concludes, that he shone endowed with such great gifts, that it is established that no Archbishop of that age was equal to Odo in such matters. Brief is that of Saussay in the Supplement, on the VII day of February, saying of Odo, that "he governed his church with apostolic virtue; a most keen avenger of vices; a corrector of Kings, a vindicator of chastity, and a fervid emulator of the divine law, whose tenor he ever held by an unspotted path, and took care with ever-intent mind that it should be kept by Kings, priests, and people."

[13] his surname That I may say a few things about his surname; it is reported that it was double, some calling him Odo the Good, others the Severe. On what occasion

the surname of "Good" clung to him, we have from chapter 3 of the Life, where it is narrated that a dove, seen upon the tomb of the deceased Odo, was held in such reverence by Dunstan, that he never after this passed before his tomb without bending his knees. By the surname of "Good" also in the maternal tongue he was accustomed to call him, namely "Odo Segode the Good," which is interpreted "Odo the Good": by which surname even to this day he is called by the English, but especially by the men of Canterbury. Nay, that he was called by the same surname also in the Saxon Chronicle, is evident from its words above, number 9. About the other surname, by which he was called "Severe," it does not seem to be so certainly established; for although that word is found once in Capgrave, it is doubtful to me whether the Author wished to express by it a surname, or a simple epithet, accommodated to the sense, when he thus wrote of our Odo: "For presently, the pallium being received, the Severe [one] rises up against the most savage King." And hence, if I conjecture rightly, the said surname of "Severe" (if indeed it ought truly to be reckoned of this kind) passed to other Authors; of whom Maihew: "That he had the surname of Severe, some worthy of faith hand down"; by which he is also called by Pits and a more recent French Biographer.

[14] About to supply the silence of the Author of the Life as to some memorable things, certain memorable things and honorable to our holy Prelate, I take my beginning from the education of St. Oswald, his nephew by a brother. The matter Maihew records in these words: "Nor indeed does he deserve the least praise thence, that he had St. Oswald, first Bishop of Worcester, then also Archbishop of York, as a nephew, and took care that he should be instructed so notably in piety and educated in good letters, that he turned out a notable man and a singular ornament of the English church." It has been treated of St. Oswald on the XXIX day of February, whose first formation to virtue and letters, as the forerunning rudiments of the holiness that afterward followed, we ought to reckon as received from his uncle Odo, well knowing that the color which the tender years imbibe is not easily washed out.

[15] Among other deeds of Odo, passed over by our Biographer, passed over by the author of the Life. not the lowest seems the translation of the body of St. Wilfrid, Bishop of York, to Canterbury, about which it is well to bring forth the words of Malmesbury, book 1 on the Pontiffs, page 200: "Odo," he says, "mature in age, and ennobling his gray hairs by his old age, bore of no unequal friendship the favor of Edmund and Edred; because they held forth to him nothing in their morals against which episcopal rigor ought to be aimed. Nay rather, he set out with them into Northumbria, not to make battles, but to carry off the sacred ashes of the Saints, of which that soil had formerly been fertile: whence it came to pass, that, sorrowfully beholding the tomb of the most excellent Father Wilfrid ruined by the Danes, at the church of Ripon, the ruins over the mausoleum being cleared away, he reverently translated the relics to Canterbury, and, that he might bring forth the most illustrious light of his homeland into a watchtower, he ordered his life to be woven in heroic meter. A certain Fridegod executed that office in verses not so much to be disapproved, except that, hating Latinity, he loves Grecism, and frequently uses Greekish words; so that to his sayings may deservedly be fitted that Plautine saying: 'These things, except the Sibyl, no one will read.'" The said translation Wilson inserted into the English Martyrology on the XII day of October. Alford, refuting some who place it as done in the year 959, and others in the year 957, partly on account of the death of St. Odo, which he thinks happened in 959, against what we proved above; partly on account of the death of Edmund and Edred, dead before the year 957, thinks it must be placed in the year 941, since, Anlaf being wonderfully dead, Edmund, Edred, and Odo are recorded to have been in Northumbria. But how can this translation be placed in this year, in which Odo had not yet ascended the see of Canterbury, promoted to it first in the year 942, as we said above, number 5. The said Alford warns that the circumstance of time in the life of Wilfrid in Capgrave must be corrected, who marks the often-mentioned translation about the year 959, since Edmund and Edred, under whom this translation is narrated to have happened, had about three years before departed from life.

[16] That Odo vigorously resisted the lusts of King Edwy, you have in the life, from number 33. Malmesbury, book 1 of the Pontiffs, reports that the Archbishop went so far as to suspend him from Christianity, and to interrupt the concubinage of his harlotry, first by expulsion, then by the cutting of the hamstring. Spelman seems here to carp at Odo, when in volume 1 of the Councils, page 431, he warns that it must here be seriously noted that "the Archbishop cut the hamstring of Elfgiva, lest she should quickly return to her paramour; whereas to touch a member with iron was against the custom of ecclesiastical censure." But I answer with Alford, that the words of the Authors are not to be taken in that sense, that either Odo touched the iron, or ordered the women to be touched; but only permitted the secular arm to cure a disease which he himself could heal by no kind of medicine. And these things about certain deeds of St. Odo, passed over by the author of the life.

[17] His writings, Besides these it remains that we make mention of some writings of Odo. Created Archbishop of Canterbury, the province being surveyed and the morals of the clergy, monks, and citizens perceived, he prescribed decrees to be observed for the good of his subjects. They exist in Spelman under this title: "The Constitutions of Odo (otherwise Oda), Archbishop of Canterbury, passed in the time of King Edmund, that is, about the year of the Lord 943"; in which it is provided about the office of the King, the Magistrates, and the Clergy, and about the rights of the Church rightly to be conferred. Let a very brief synopsis of them suffice for the reader. A hortatory preface is premised, treating of the cause which impelled him to establish certain decrees. There follows an exhortation to their observance. Then is subjoined chapter I on the immunity of the Church; chapter II, on the office of secular Princes, and the obedience to be rendered to Bishops. Chapter III, on the office of Bishops; IV on the office of Presbyters; V on the office of clerics; VI on the office of Monks; VII on prohibiting unlawful marriages; VIII on preserving concord in the Church; IX admonishes to keep fasting with almsgiving cautiously and vigilantly, etc.; X and last treats of tithes to be rendered. Finally there follows a synodal epistle to the Bishops his suffragans, which Malmesbury, book 1 on the Deeds of the Pontiffs, adducing, says was written after a synodal council, in the time of King Edmund. The same thinks Mabillon. And to me the matter seems beyond doubt, from these words of Odo in the epistle: "These divine points apices I have decreed to write for the utility of you all, that the most august King, by an excellent name Edmund, with all his people may rejoice to imitate what he hears in us and from us." Which words, "These divine points," do not seem to be referred to anything else than to the synodal constitutions mentioned above.

[18] attributed to St. Odo, Pits, on the Illustrious Writers of England, attributes other writings to him, namely for his nephew Oswald one book; on the real presence of the body of Christ in the Eucharist; on the Life of St. Wilfrid; of Synodal Statutes; (of these it has already been treated) of Epistles, where he says there is the epistle of which above; of various poems, a book of single pieces, one, and very many others. But whether all those writings truly belong to Odo, who could vouch? For indeed the little book on the Life and conversation of St. Wilfrid Mabillon ab-judges from him, adding that without doubt it is no other than the poem of Fridegod, the epistle of Odo being premised in some codices, apt to lead someone into error about the Author, through these words: "Therefore the most venerable relics of the blessed Confessor of Christ, Wilfrid, moldering in the unseemly situation of a bilge-like abyss, nay (which is also fearful to say) neglected by the horror of the Prelates, when certain men had translated them thence, God favoring, namely from the place of his tomb, I reverently received, and placed within the precinct of the metropolitan church, over which by the grace of God I preside. And so, wishing to adorn them with the vicinity of so great and so God-worthy an affinity, and with an editor a shrine, and with flowerets excerpted from the book of his life, I thought it worth the trouble to grace them with a new poem," that is, says Mabillon, through Fridegod, Eadmer, and perhaps some others attributing this to St. Odo.

[19] Of the Life which we give, take these things in a few words. It is indeed anonymous; yet not so, the life, which is here given, but that it can probably be established about the author. Bolland described it, and appended this marginal note: "The author Osbern, according to Pits and Vossius." Vossius, book 2 on the Latin Historians, reports that the life of St. Odo was written by the said author both in prose and in verse, making faith from this, that he read in Thomas James that it exists in manuscript at Cambridge in the college of St. Benedict. There agree as to the author of the Life, Molanus in the Annotations on the VII day of February, adding that he flourished in the year 1074; and Maihew in the Benedictine Trophies of the Saints, who adds that that manuscript Cambridge life had not yet been published. Finally Mabillon, "although," he says, "the writer of this life savors of antiquity even from the manuscript codex itself, yet the Thuano-Colbertine codex, from which we described this life, marks neither his name nor his age. That author seems to me to be Osbern, a monk of Canterbury under Archbishop Lanfranc; and for this opinion he cites Pits." Thus he, in the 5th century of the Benedictine Acts, page 288; whose copy most perfectly agrees with ours, diligently collated by me with the former; though transmitted hither to Bolland from elsewhere, namely, as he himself left noted, at the same time indicating its origin: "From a manuscript," he says, "on parchment, sufficiently ancient, [one] of the four which D. Ludovicus Moretus granted me in October 1632, from the monastery of St. Mary of Bonnefont, as I think." Whence it is evident that the same is the original source of each copy.

[20] Mabillon doubts whether William of Malmesbury had the life of Osbern (let it be permitted so to call him) before his eyes, when he wove the elogium of St. Odo, book 1 on the Deeds of the Pontiffs of the English. the metrical elogium, He founds his doubt on this, that the one differs from the other in some matters of lighter moment, as he himself shows in the 5th century of the Benedictine Acts, page 287. To the life, printed by Mabillon, are subjoined the following little verses, which are lacking in our manuscript, as also in the life in Capgrave.

As a rose from thorns, so Odo came forth from pagans, Drawing no marks of perfidy from any parent. Against the vows of his Fathers embracing the plow of faith, Like a good husbandman, he plowed the soil of the heart. Sublime in blood, more sublime in the order of his morals, Illustrious in lineage, more illustrious in speech he was. A man pure of crime, he confronted the criminal, Studying to enlarge the kingdom of the highest Father. And the phalanx of virtues, guarding his heart, Suffered no vice to hold a place in him. He, prayers being poured forth, put to flight the weapons of the enemy. He who seeks us with his tooth, this man smites the boar with prayer. Thou who art renowned above the stars, O Odo, be entreated for us, Who are set in a region of manifold slaughter.

[21] Whoever compares the life which we here give with the collation of our life with Capgrave that which is in Capgrave, will clearly perceive that it is too much

the phrases, discourse, and style of each agree among themselves, than that they can be judged to have flowed from a different source. Meanwhile the Capgravian one is briefer than ours, contracting the discourse here and there, and passing over some things which are narrated in ours, as is to be seen from number 17; where Odo is reported to have restored, by his prayers, safety and victory together with his sword to King Ethelstan, disarmed in the most fervent heat of battle by a broken sword, most desperately imperiled in his life, and now on the point of being cut down by the Pagans; of which no mention is made in Capgrave. These things being elucidated through this preliminary commentary, the next place claims for itself

THE LIFE

By the author, as it seems, Osbern, a monk of Canterbury.

From a manuscript on parchment, ancient, of the monastery, as is thought, of Bonnefont, collated with the Lives which exist in Capgrave and Mabillon.

Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury (S.)

BHL Number: 6289

FROM MANUSCRIPTS

CHAPTER I.

His birth, education, baptism, sacred orders, the bishopric of Sherborne, and the victory obtained for King Ethelstan.

Odo born of pagan parents, The venerable Confessor of Christ, Odo, sprung of noble but pagan parents, flowered as a rose from thorns, or as it were a precious aroma proceeded from vile little vessels. For he is reported to have had his race from that impious multitude of the senators ^a, which formerly, accompanying ^b the most wicked pirate Inguar [*], was carried by a naval force into the kingdom of the English. Having obtained these as the princes of his birth; and, transferred by their most careful education to his boyish years, he hastened unceasingly to go to the little assemblies of the Christians; to hear with great delight of mind the divine sermons which were spoken by them; and returning home, diligently to pour into the ears of his parents what he had heard.

[2] To the Christian rites, Upon which beginnings of good studies the impious father, impiously irritated, forbade him to name Christ at all, or to change the paternal institutions by veneration of the Christian religion. But he, utterly despising the command of the one forbidding, more and more wore ^c the threshold of the church, and received the seeds of the divine word with intent mind, and what he had received [*] announced at home without fear. Hence again the father, exasperated beyond human measure, afflicts him with a most grievous chastisement; and withdraws the right of inheritance, which ought to come to him by the law of the firstborn.

[3] and in liberal studies Then the boy, exulting in the Lord that he underwent such a proscription on earth for his name, on account of which he trusted he should be enrolled in heaven; his parents and his parents' riches being dismissed, naked and deprived of all worldly honor, fled. Having therefore gone to a certain duke, by name [*] Athelm ^d, who in the time of King Alfred ^e was both most Christian and, among the other Optimates of the kingdom of the English, one of the more eminent, he asked to be defended by his power and authority from the fury of his parents. Who, rejoicing in the good disposition of the youth, and judging it by no means worthy that such an ornament should be enslaved to pagan rites under the command of his father, received him with paternal affection, fortified him with his defense, and cherished him with aids both necessary and unnecessary.

[4] Then he handed him over to masters to be taught in the Greek and Latin tongue; he is instructed, and baptized: of which tongues there was at that time a use among most of the nation of the English, derived from the disciples of Theodore ^f the Archbishop of blessed memory. And he was made very skilled in each tongue, so that he could compose poems, continue [*] prose, and set forth in most brilliant speech absolutely whatever should sit in his mind. After these things, reborn by the Sacrament of baptism, adorned with the clerical tonsure, he was led even to the ministry of the subdiaconate by the admonition of his lord. In which grade he for some years so excelled in holiness of life and sincerity of preaching, that whoever recognized him doubted not that he was a temple of the Holy Spirit, and by the testimony of all was worthy to be advanced to the higher ministries of the Church, although his age, so far as regards the institutes of the canons, forbade this.

[5] Whence, persuaded by his lord to allow himself to be transferred to the priesthood, he is initiated into [holy orders.] that from him he might daily hear the divine office, whose most chaste life, and hands full of purity, he had recognized, he, his immature age being objected, resisted as much as he could. But afterward, overcome both by reason and by the authority of ancient examples, he yielded to the religious desire: he put the levitical stole about his shoulder: and a little time having elapsed, he approached also as consecrator of the highest mysteries.

[6] From which time both the Duke himself and nearly all the other Princes of the royal palace set out for Rome held him in the highest veneration, opened to him the secrets of their ill-led life, and gladly trusted to his counsel about amending these. Meanwhile the Duke suggested to the King that he had a desire of setting out for Rome, and there entreating the holy Apostles; and presently, endowed with royal leave and munificence, the venerable Presbyter Odo being joined to him, he set out with a great retinue. But when they had performed a little of the journey, touched by a bitter infirmity, he began sharply to be ill, so much so that he could scarcely breathe the air of reciprocal breath.

[7] And when for six continuous days both his languor received increase, Duke Athelm, and his provision detriment, on the seventh he bids the whole crowd proceed on the begun way, Odo alone being retained with him, of whose help in the present peril he most greatly stood in need. Whom, called to himself with a tearful voice after those had been left, he begs to pour out prayers to the Lord for his liberation, saying that he undoubtedly believed that the divine piety would deny him nothing, whom from a boy he had held received in great favor.

[8] Then the venerable Odo, his mind raised to God, dangerously ill, falls prostrate on the earth with his whole body, and pours out great showers of sobs to the divine clemency: and rising from the ground, he asks a cup filled with wine to be brought to him; over which producing the sign of the invincible Cross, he humbly offered the wine to the man; and faithfully admonished him to trust in the Lord through all things. And so the man drank what was in the cup; and at the same moment, as he returned the cup, he felt every kind of remedy restored to him.

[9] he restores him whole to his own. Thereupon bowed to the knees of the Presbyter, he renders thanks, and mounting his horse, swiftly follows the companions sent ahead: whom, treading the way with swift course, on the following day he too reaches with tireless flight. But he being seen, all pour out tears for joy; but recognizing the author of the health granted, they marvel the more. Having therefore proceeded even to the city of Romulus, and thence happily returned to their native homes, they afforded immense gladness at their coming both to the King and to the others dwelling in the palace.

[10] After some days, the Duke ^g himself, and after the Duke the aforesaid King ^h, being taken from the present life, Edward, son of the same King, succeeded to the kingdom, He is esteemed by the king, and ruled it most prudently for many years. In whose days the venerable Odo administered the grade of the Presbyterate, distinguished in office as well as in holiness of life; known to the King, and acceptable to him and admirable to all, poured out toward all in kindness and gentleness, tempering himself to the morals of all, according to the Apostle; that he might gain all for Christ. But when King Edward set the limit to this life ⁱ, Ethelstan, his son, obtained the reins of the kingdom. But the admirable man Odo, leading a life of virtues in all things, as we said, was held great by all the people. For neither a city set upon a mountain, nor a lamp shining on a candlestick, could be hidden.

[11] he is made bishop Hence it came to pass that the fame of his holiness, magnified by daily increasing, was carried even to the ears of the excellent King Ethelstan, with wonderful exaltation of praise. Who, having called the man to himself, and most certainly recognized him to be truly a servant of God, joins him to his friendships, and makes him, before the rest, privy to his secrets. Meanwhile, the episcopal see, which at that time was at Sherborne, but now is at Salisbury, was widowed of its Pastor. Knowing therefore the King the life of Odo, most worthy of the Pontificate, he began with great zeal to entreat him, resisting, to interpellate him about undertaking the bishopric, and to acquiesce to be made the Apostolic pastor of God's sheep in the place of the deceased.

[12] of Sherborne. Why do I delay? At length, overcome by the prayers of the Church and of the King, which he testified to be too grievous for him, he consented, being made pontiff, to administer the Pontifical office in the aforesaid church of Sherborne. There presided in these days, in place, dignity, authority, and office, over the church of Canterbury a good and vigorous man, Wulfelm ^k by name, who, giving his assent with a willing mind to this election of the King, Clergy, and people; consecrated him with due honor, by his right, into that dignity of the Pontificate to which he had been elected.

[13] His gifts, But consecrated, and pontifically invested with the priestly insignia, how glorious a dwelling-place he offered himself to God; how solicitous he was for the gains of the souls committed to him; I know not whether anyone can worthily express it, endowed with however great sagacity of wit. Whence what the simplicity of a pure mind can perceive of these things, I am unwilling to write: only I propose to be considered by them the works of the merciful God, which he deigns to work at his good pleasure in his servants, cleaving to a simplicity pleasing to him.

[14] Meanwhile in the year of the Lord's Incarnation nine hundred and thirty-eight; for King Ethelstan but in the fourteenth of the reign of Ethelstan, the most victorious King, there was gathered against the kingdom of the English an immense army of pagans, wishing to enervate by subjugating to their profane laws, and by enervating to annihilate, the most sacred laws of the Christians which the English kept. Against whom the named Prince, thronged with a strong band of armed men, meeting them, gave himself to battle, and it was fought most long and most fiercely on both sides. But the King had led with him into the battle-line holy Odo, trusting much more by his merits than by the forces of the soldiers that he would conquer the enemy.

[15] While therefore on this side and that a most grievous and toilsome slaughter raged, nearly overcome by the pagans, a mournful thing happened. For where the King himself was fighting, his sword was broken near the hilt, and exposed the King as it were unarmed to the enemies. Meanwhile Odo, removed a little far from the battle, stood, entreating Christ with mouth and heart for the safety of the Christian army, and untiring stretching his face, hands, and eyes to the heavenly ones for this very thing. What therefore the King could do in such an event, he wavered: to disarm any of his own, that he might arm himself, he judged a wickedness.

[16] The part therefore of the adversaries, when it perceived the King to stand unarmed with a broken sword, but snatched from perils, undertakes to avenge the flight which it had begun to enter upon, its faces being turned to the battle, with fiercer slaughter. Then suddenly the air thunders with the cry of the multitude, crying out that God should succor, and that the venerable Odo should run up with swift step. He flies up, and, weary, asks what the King wishes to be done by him. He hears, and immediately thus says to the King: "What is this? Whither do you intend? Your sword hangs whole at your side: and you complain that it is broken. Return to yourself: extend your hand to the sheath; draw it out; and behold the right hand of the Lord will be with you. And fear not, because the setting of the sun shall not come before either flight or destruction enfolds the adversaries of your Lord, who have risen up against you."

[17] At these things all who heard, astonished with great amazement, he gives victory. with eyes turned down saw

the sword hanging at the King's side, which they had not seen before: which the King, comforted in God, seizing, either weakened, or put to flight, or utterly delivered to death, all who ran against him, with right hand and left. And so, according to the word of the servant of God, it came to pass that both the sun set and victory over the enemies came to the King. What thanks hence, what praises, what vows were paid to God through his faithful servant Odo, through the King, through the victorious army, through the whole kingdom, to which the greatness of that victory was carried, who could relate? The magnificence of the deed will teach those who hear, that not easily any one ^l.

ANNOTATIONS.

* alternatively Hynguar.

* alternatively "he had received" perceperat.

* alternatively Ethelelm.

* perhaps "compose" concinnare.

CHAPTER II.

St. Odo, made a monk, is created Archbishop of Canterbury: a miracle for the Eucharist; another miracle; the lust of King Edwy punished; the bishopric of St. Dunstan.

Edmund compelling him But the glorious Odo was thenceforth held in great admiration by all, and proved a true and illustrious Israelite. A few years after this notable victory, Ethelstan ended the present life with a good end ^a; and his brother Edmund, made King, obtained the place of the deceased. Hence, emulating in good the footsteps of his brother, he loved all good men with the highest zeal, and, they being made familiar to him, listened to them in those things which became a Christian King, with a sincere and willing mind.

[19] to the see of Canterbury, Illustriously therefore among others blessed Odo obtained his familiarity, and was loved by him with a pure mind. In these days Wulfelm, Pontiff of Canterbury, obtained the end of life due to all mortals. Lest therefore so great a see should lack a pastor longer than is fitting, the King approached the reverend Odo, urging that he should succor the desolate Church by taking up upon it the pastoral care. He resists, nor gives any assent to the one urging. For he says both that he is unworthy of so great a matter; and that, if the dignity should in some measure breathe upon him, yet that it is forbidden by the authority of the canons that a Pontiff, his church being left, should migrate to another.

[20] Against which, and his probity known to all, he resists the King discourses; and proposes in brilliant speech that the blessed Prince of the Apostles Peter was translated from Antioch to Rome, and that many others, according to the ancient monuments of the books, changed their sees, reason compelling. And he added: "Of this matter too we have among us a sufficiently fit and clear example, namely holy men, Mellitus ^b I mean, Prelate of London, and Justus of Rochester, [who] were translated to Canterbury by a like reason to that by which we persuade you to change your see."

[21] Overcome in these, the holy Pontiff opposes another argument of his contradiction. unless first he be "Since the first Fathers of that Church," he says, "who both brought Christianity to the kingdom of the English, and all who succeeded them up to the present, were monks ^c, as is clear to all; should I change, infringe, annihilate a custom so ancient, so holy, so acceptable to God, and strengthened by the authority of so great Fathers? Far be it: nay let all Britain know, and all the islands which lie adjacent, that I will by no means ever consent that I, constituted in clerical habit, should preside over the church of Canterbury through the pontificate, over which no one before, who has not been a monk, is known to have presided.

[22] Nevertheless, because, as is given to understand, not you alone, a monk. but many call me, to become Pontiff there; nor is it mine, by resisting, utterly to contradict them, lest I offend God, who dwells in them; commending my conscience, empty of all ambition of this honor, to God, I shall take up, on this occasion at least—that it may meanwhile be so thought—the holy purpose of the monastic religion, which from my early age I desired, and which, various causes hindering, I did not deserve to attain.

[23] But afterward, concerning the pontificate about which you treat, It being asked and obtained let him, to whom all the secrets of hearts lie open, act, and constitute in it him whom his wisdom proves fit for this." By this opinion of the Man the King, not a little cheered, praises his holy purpose, praises the constant virtue of his mind; praises the admirable and inimitable [*] example of his great humility. There are therefore after these things directed with speed messengers to the abbot of the convent of St. Benedict of Fleury, to seek the habit of holy religion for the use of the Bishop according to the prescribed business.

[24] For indeed the fame of the most religious conversation which was reported in those days of Fleury in every land, in monastic habit, altogether fervent; and on the contrary the zeal of that same religion, which, on account of the manifold chances of various events, had everywhere begun to cool in England; persuaded that messengers should be sent thither, and that from there the effect of the desired religion should be fulfilled. Which also was done. For the Abbot of that place, the message being heard, is made most joyful: and taking with him some of his Brethren, carried over the sea with prosperous course ^d, entered England. He eagerly goes to the Prelate Odo, studying to please God in all things: and most devoutly hands over to him the garment of the holy purpose which he desired. The notable Pontiff Odo, therefore, made a monk in habit, who already of old had been adorned with the sacred acts of the monastic life, could no longer refuse to take up the yoke of the Lord over all England, invited, nay compelled, by the King and kingdom—made Prelate of Canterbury.

[25] he is created Archbishop of Canterbury. In what manner therefore he used the office of the government undertaken, those who desire to know can perceive, as I judge, from his life, which and what sort he was before the priesthood and in the priesthood, which we have digested above in a few words. For he was both praiseworthy in holiness, and admirable in wisdom, and singular in constancy. But King Edmund being maliciously killed in his own house ^e, his brother Edred ^f, having taken up the dignity of the Empire, was anointed King by the glorious Odo, highest Pontiff of Canterbury, with sacred unction ^g.

[26] he anoints King Edred, In these days a man of eminent probity, Dunstan ^h, most worthy abbot of the convent of Glastonbury, was held great with the King and honorable by all the people. But blessed Odo, aged in morals and years, excelling in religion and industry, outstanding in authority and modesty, most prudently ennobled the whole kingdom with Christian laws. The King himself, fearing God, cherishing all good men with a special sweetness of love, but strongly pressing the wicked lest by their tyranny they should disturb those doing well, followed the morals and acts of a good Prince. About this time certain Clerics, seduced by a malignant error, tried to assert that the bread and wine, which are placed on the altar, after consecration remain in their former substance, and are only a figure of the body and blood of Christ, not the true body and blood of Christ.

[27] the adversaries of the Eucharist Blessed Odo, desiring to destroy their enormous perfidy, while on a certain day in the sight of all the people he attended devoutly to the sacrosanct solemnities of the Masses, with tears expressed asked that the clemency of Almighty God might be present in his ministry, which, to drive off the errors of men, should declare the substantial property of the divine mysteries. And when the breaking of the life-giving bread had been reached (O the ineffable compassion of God! O the present manifestation of the eternal majesty!) immediately indeed between the hands of the Pontiff, holding the fragments of the body of Christ, blood began to flow down drop by drop.

[28] by a miracle And so the Pontiff, standing, and pouring out abundant tears for joy, beckoned to the attending ministers that those especially should approach nearer, who lately had wavered in the faith. Called therefore, they are swiftly present, and, terrified in the consideration of such great matters, with trembling voice cry out: "O you most happy among all men today, to whom the Son of God has deigned to reveal himself in the flesh!" And again: "Entreat," they say, "Father of Prelates ⁱ, entreat the majesty of the Lord, that the present blood be changed into its former appearance, lest divine vengeance follow us on account of the error of unbelief."

[29] he converts. The Priest therefore prayed; after the prayer he looked toward the altar; and where he had let down blood, he found the accustomed appearance of wine. But the heavenly Sacraments being received, all rejoicing who were present at such spectacles, the Pontiff commanded, for a testimony of so great a wonder, that all the poor from every quarter be gathered, and a solemn banquet be prepared for them. But he himself with his own made gladness in great thanksgiving; because all error about the Lord's body had been abolished in the breast of his own; nor did they any longer distrust that the bread placed on the altar was the true body of Christ, who had beheld true blood flow thence.

[30] He did also truly another divine miracle in the Church over which he presided; Another miracle nay he himself did it not, but he who alone has divinity did it in him. For the roof of that same church, decayed by excessive age, hung with half-broken parts throughout. Which he, desiring to renew, and desiring also to raise the wall to a more extended height, the workmen being gathered, commanded both that what hung loose above be utterly taken away; and ordered that what the wall lacked in height be raised. But because the Clergy and people could not be without divine service, and no temple of such great magnitude was found which might seem to suffice to hold the multitude of the numerous people, the Pontiff besought the Lord that, until the begun work should be completed, no infusion of rains, or force of winds, should descend within the walls of the church, which might avail to hinder them from the divine work.

[31] And it came to pass that in the three years in which

the walls of the church were being extended on high, the whole fabric lay open above, in the restoration of the temple. nor yet did rain ever descend—I do not say within the precinct of the church alone, but not even within the walls of the whole city—which might either hinder the Clergy standing in the church from the office, or in any way restrain the people running to the church from what they had begun. And it was a thing worthy of a spectacle, when you might see all the environs of the city drenched with waters, and its walls wetted by no inundation of rains ^k.

[32] When therefore King Edred had exchanged the transitory life for life perennial ^l, Edwy [*] his son, King Edwy son of the above-mentioned King Edmund, was elected King. Who, in morals and age a youth, soon began to use the counsels of the young men whom he had associated to himself as companions and attendants, the old men being spurned, whom it was established to be endowed, in life, morals, and age, with great industry and authority. Whence, rebuked by the most valiant soldier of Christ, Odo, he for a while tempered himself, fearing lest, if he did not in every way listen to him, he should defer to give him the blessing of royal dignity beyond his wish. But when he had obtained the same blessing, immediately, as if made unbridled, he followed all the affections of his heart.

[33] He became therefore a lover of pleasures rather than of God, lustful of luxury rather than of sobriety, of lusts rather than of chastity. He went therefore according to the desires of his heart, and, doing iniquitous things, was blessed by his own. Above these, on the day on which he bore the crown of the kingdom on his head in the sight of the whole Church, he heaped upon so great a glory and upon himself the mark of grave infamy. For when after the ecclesiastical office he sat, having already dined, together with the Archbishops, Bishops, Abbots, and the other Princes of the kingdom, suddenly he leaped up, and the fellowship of all being left, betook himself into a more secret chamber, kindled with the ardor of the debauchery of two women there awaiting him, seeking an unspeakable fellowship. Which thing cast down the minds of those sitting by with the sorrow of great shame.

[33] But counsel being held among them, what needed to be done, then Dunstan there was sent by the Archbishop and the Chief men he of whom mention has been made above, the venerable Abbot Dunstan, to draw the King away from the unlawful embraces, and to recall him to the royal seat among the Princes. Which also was done. Wherefore the King, disturbed by vehement fury, condemned Dunstan, despoiled of all his goods, to exile, and drove him out of England across the sea. He did also innumerable other evils, which, since they have been elsewhere more amply digested, though not all, I have thought it enough here to have touched only in a few words.

[34] then Odo himself Which the soldier of Almighty God, Odo, not able to bear with equanimity, became the public enemy of his iniquities. For indeed when he saw that he would acquiesce neither to his admonitions, nor to his entreaties, nor to his rebukes, so as to correct himself; using pontifical authority, one ^m of the aforesaid women, whom both an ampler power and a more obscene shamelessness dishonored, and had made more notorious to men, and whom the King with too contumelious embraces more frequently abused, soldiers being sent, he violently led away from the King's court, in which she dwelt; and, her face being disfigured and marked with glowing iron, thrust her into perpetual relegation of exile into Ireland.

[35] he tries to correct, Who nevertheless, when after some interval of time, the form of her body now closed into a scar, [but] the deformity of her unchaste mind still gaping, having left Ireland returned to England, and came to Gloucester, imbued with the darkness of a blinded heart. Where, seized by the men of the Servant of God, and, lest she should further run about wandering after the manner of a harlot, hamstrung ⁿ, after some days she was by an evil death taken from the present life. For the highest Pontiff Odo was a man supported by the strength of virtues, and the maturity and constancy of old age, and an inflexible adversary of all iniquities. Neither the allurement of any secular joy, nor the threats of men, nor the endurance of any loss, could deter this man from rectitude.

[36] but in vain. Wherefore, because he neither hoped for anything, nor was terrified, he disarmed the anger of all the powerless. But King Edwy (if he is to be named King, who knew how to govern neither himself nor others), Edwy, I say, the King, being eliminated ^o from the kingdom for his crimes, and condemned to a wretched death [p], the royal throne over all England was confirmed to his brother Edgar. He, preceding nearly all his predecessors in probity of morals, repressed, overturned, and, as far as he could, reduced to nothing all the iniquities which had emerged in the days of his brother.

[37] Dunstan recalled from exile, Besides, as soon as he obtained the kingdom, he recalled the reverend Abbot Dunstan from exile [q], and promoted him to the bishopric of Worcester. Who, elected Pontiff, to be consecrated into the grade of the honor undertaken, came to Canterbury according to custom; and sought to be consecrated by the Prelate of that very see, namely blessed Odo. He himself willingly assented. But, that it might come into doubt to no one that the holy Bishop excelled in the spirit of prophecy, he promoted the man, who had come to be promoted to the Pontificate of the Wiccii Worcester, to be Pontiff of Canterbury, by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

[38] he consecrates a bishop Upon which, asked by the bystanders why he acted thus; "I know," he said, "sons, I know what God works in me. And this man indeed the province of Worcester, while I live, shall have as Pastor; but all Britain, when I am dead, shall rejoice in the same as ruler. For the gift of the Holy Spirit is not bound by law." Which prophecy, how true it proved, the church of God, which by his government, as the holy Bishop foretold, long afterward gloried, and even today is fortified by his most sacred intercession, well knows.

[39] By such graces of good things therefore the notable man Odo, exalted by the Lord, by no means extolled himself on account of the merits of his works; but ever studied to advance to better things, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretched out to those which are before, following to the palm of the supernal calling of God, and daily irrigated the people committed to him, after the manner of fertile crops, with heavenly doctrine, as with the grace of rain; until the King should bring his soul into his chamber, and inebriate it with the torrent of his pleasure.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Baronius, on the occasion of the death of Edwy, or, as he himself writes, of Edwin the King, which he marks in the year 959, records that a son was born of the holy Queen, by whose prayers it came to pass that, penitent at the end of his crimes, he departed from this life: where also it is narrated that it was done by the prayers of St. Dunstan, whom he had afflicted, lest he should be utterly damned to hell.

q. That St. Dunstan was recalled from exile in the year 957, the Saxon Chronicle testifies.

* Mabillon reads "to be imitated."

* Alternatively Eadwic, Edwin, Edwis.

CHAPTER III.

The holy death of Odo; his successor archbishop simoniacally promoted, having dared to profane his tomb, is direly punished; a dove seen upon the tomb of Odo by St. Dunstan his successor; his metrical elogium.

He dies. Odo therefore, the most brilliant star of the city of Canterbury, snatched from this world, the English rejoicing, sought the seat of the supernal and most glorious city, where he rejoices with everlasting exultation, and contemplates the face of Christ with the sweetness of ineffable delight, now secure of his own reward, and solicitous for the salvation of his sons. But he died ^a in the presence of all the sons of the Church of Christ, to whom also, as they wept, he promised that the Lord would provide a good Pastor for them after his death.

[41] The Simoniac successor of Odo, After whose passing, Elfin, Bishop of Winchester, surnamed Lippe, obtained the place of the highest priesthood, money being given to the Princes who were first in the palace of King Edgar. For even before Odo he was driven by great cupidity to seize the priesthood, but was hindered by the constancy of good Bishops. Whence, when on the day of his coming to Canterbury he had been received with solemn procession, he approached the tomb of the Man of God; and standing over it, thus reproached the deceased with furious words, saying:

[42] insulting the dead, "Foolish one, behold you are dead, and lie rotting under the earth; and I, when I will, shall powerfully triumph over you. While you lived I could not be the highest Pontiff of the English, at your death I have become the very same, according to what I once coveted to be: and thence, evil and decrepit old man, have no thanks; because if you could have lived longer, you would have wished to grant neither to me nor to anyone even a share of the honor you held." Thus he said openly in the presence of those who were present; and striking the Saint's tomb with his staff, kindled with the foolish [*] fury by which he was held, withdrew thence.

[43] he is bidden in a dream But that same night, while rest was granted to mortals, blessed Odo appeared to the worthy keeper of the church of the Savior, having a milk-white face, but a garment of rosy color, thus addressing the man: "Do you sleep, or wake?" "I slept," said he, "venerable Elder; but behold I wake, you speaking." And he: "Go," he said, "to the elect—but not by God—Bishop Elfin, and carry to him this legation in my name: These things the servant of Christ, Odo, commands you. I am not dead, but I live to my King, Almighty God. And that you may most certainly experience this, know that, just as you, on my account while still living in the flesh, did not prevail to attain the Archbishopric of Canterbury; so through me, now living in the heavenly kingdom, you shall shortly lose the honor you have invaded.

[44] to be admonished Hear therefore what I shall say. Since yesterday

you reproached me with derisory words, and struck my tomb with your staff; I foretell to you that you shall cross the sea, ascend the Alps; but you shall by no means obtain the pallium of the patriarchate of the holy church of Canterbury; nor shall you ever sit in its Apostolic see." But he who had seen these things, fearing the Bishop's savagery, dissembled to announce them. On the following night the Saint of God appeared to him again, saying what he had said before. But not even then did the man dare to announce what he had heard.

[45] Likewise on the third night the Man of God, coming, crowned with pontifical dignity, and indeed for three nights rebuked the sloth of the aforesaid man, saying: "If you desire, being wise, to retain the prosperity of your life, I admonish you not to dissemble to reveal to your Bishop what you have now heard from me a second time. For if you do, in your punishment you shall prove that you have not done well." Then he, aroused and greatly terrified, morning being come, went to the Bishop, and bowed with his whole body before him, said:

[46] "There came to me, honorable Father, beautiful as an Angel of God, about your impending destruction, the glorious Odo, your predecessor, who commanded these things to be announced to you. 'Since,' he said, 'the day before yesterday you reproached me with mocking words, and struck my tomb with your staff; I foretell to you that you shall cross the sea, ascend the Alps, but you shall by no means obtain the pallium of the patriarchate of the holy church of Canterbury; nor shall you ever sit in its Apostolic see.'" Which being said, the Bishop dismissed from himself the reporter of the vision, making light of the words which he had heard, of an inept, as he said, threat. But some days having elapsed, all things came to pass which had been foretold by the Saint of God.

[47] For the sea being crossed for the sake of bringing the pallium, by which he wretchedly died. the journey being for some time prosperously performed, as soon as he ascended the mountains, dissolved by excessive cold, he ordered the horses which were in his retinue to be killed, and thrust his feet into their bellies, thinking that the excess of cold could be driven off by such a remedy. But the divine fury which tormented him not ceasing, the impious man blasphemed the majesty of the Lord; and thus breathed out his polluted spirit in the midst of the snows ^b. Thus the happy Odo showed himself to live to Christ, whom the unhappy Elfin dared to believe utterly dead.

[48] This man being thus dead, Birthelm, Prelate of the province of Dorset, To this man Birthelm, a man of exceeding piety and simplicity, is substituted into the pontificate of Canterbury. But when he was proved to be altogether less vigorous than was fitting in exercising the ecclesiastical disciplines, being bidden, he deserted the burden which he had undertaken, and, humble, returned to his own fold to rest. Therefore, that the sentence of the Lord and the prophecy of blessed Odo his servant might be proved to be truth; Dunstan, then already Pontiff of the church of London, is elected by the King and kingdom, and subrogated as most worthy successor to the glorious Odo in the patriarchate of all Britain.

[49] To Birthelm Dunstan succeeds. Of which Dunstan, and of this Father Odo of whom we treat, this among other things is no small token of recognizing their holiness and blessedness; that, Dunstan celebrating Mass on the holy day of Pentecost at the altar of the Lord the Savior at Canterbury, the Holy Spirit, who appeared over him in the form of a dove, the sacrifice being consumed, turned aside into the southern part of the altar, where the venerable Odo lay buried, and rested upon his tomb, many looking on.

[50] Which thing was held in such reverence by Dunstan himself, A dove upon the tomb that he never after this passed before his tomb without bending his knees. By the surname of "Good" also in the maternal tongue he was accustomed thenceforth to call him, namely "Odo Segode [*]," which is interpreted "Odo the Good." By which surname even to this day he is called by the English, but especially by the men of Canterbury.

[51] Of St. Odo. These things being thus described, the series of the deed done demands an end of narrating: which here indeed we set, and in it we praise God, who is the end and completion of all good things, with consonant voice, who so glorifies his name in every nation, that whoever fears him, and works justice, is acceptable to him. To him therefore be praise and thanksgiving, through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

* alternatively "three-forked."

* The good.