ON BLESSED WILLIAM, CONFESSOR, ABBOT OF HIRSAU IN SWABIA.
IN THE YEAR 1091.
A PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
William, Abbot of Hirsau (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
§ I. His sacred cult, a Hymn, the day of his death, his epitaph, the external appearance of his body, his virtues, elogia.
How with full mouth Blessed William is to be praised, on account of the eminent virtues and miracles by which he grew famous, and also on account of the primitive vigor and spirit of the monastic institute propagated far and wide, the instruction of many disciples, the building of several monasteries, The public cult of Blessed William and above all on account of the constancy, proved by hardships and unshaken, by which in the most difficult times he ever proved himself a genuine son of the Catholic Church, and excellently devoted to the Chair of Peter; so much is it to be wondered at, that no honors have hitherto been decreed him by public authority. Before all things therefore I think this must be done by me, that I may prove his sacred cult. Among the more recent writers who treat of our Blessed William, is Dorgan in his Kalendar, commemorating his translation on this day, and his feast on the fifth day. On this fifth day also Wion and Menard report him in the Martyrology, and Bucelin in the Menology; which last pursues him with a long elogium. His translation also is mentioned on this fourth day by Ferrarius in the Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology. Add, from Mabillon, Benedictine Acts, 6th century, part 2, page 725, that the writers of German or Benedictine affairs treat of him everywhere. Stengel, in his Notes to his life, brings forth a hymn in honor of Blessed William, copied from a manuscript codex of the Viennese monastery of the Blessed Virgin at the Scots Schottenstift.
[2] This hymn Stengel and Mabillon subjoin to the life of Blessed William, it is established. which we judge must be transferred hither, to establish his cult. Thus therefore the aforesaid hymn sounds:
Hear, O God, the prayers of thy suppliants hymning, of those keeping the solemnities of thy holy Confessor.
Notable for wondrous acts, he shone here also with virtues, a lamp shining to all dwelling in the house of God.
Founding in Christ very many convents of monks, he raised walls from heaven, using living stones.
He was a living victim, through all the spaces of his life, he slew the vices in himself, bearing the marks of the Cross.
By whose merit, O Christ, thy glory is now made a victory. Through his suffrages give us the joys of life.
We praise thee, God the Father, together with the only Son, and the Paraclete Spirit, now and through all ages.
The aforesaid hymn Stengel, in his Notes to the Life of Blessed William, affirms was subjoined to his epitaph.
[3] Among other things usefully and praiseworthily done by blessed William in the monastic matter, The year, day of death, age, time of rule the Author of the life reviews a new monastery finished by him within nine years, and whose church in the tenth year was dedicated; and that in this very year William departed from life, nine weeks after the aforesaid dedication, the same Author of the life is witness, namely in the year 1091. Of the dedication Trithemius hands down the following: "In the same year 1091, on the XX day of April, which was the festive Octave of the Lord's Resurrection, the new church of the aforesaid greater convent, at the insistence of the most blessed abbot William, was consecrated with due solemnity by John, Bishop of Speyer, in honor of our Lord Jesus Christ and his most blessed Apostles Peter and Paul." The said day of the month agrees with itself, and rightly accords with the Octave of the Lord's resurrection of the preceding year 1091; since at that time the paschal solemnity fell on the XIII day of April. Of his death thus the same Trithemius: "William happily rested in the Lord on the IV Nones of July, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1091, in the XIV Indiction, under the Emperor Henry IV, and Pope Urban II, in the 22nd year of the government he had undertaken, but in the 65th of his age."
[4] Bertold, the continuator of Hermann Contractus, is copious in commemorating the affairs of St. William, are determined for Blessed William. especially at the year 1091, in which he marks his death, but in determining the day of death he differs, and judges that he departed from human affairs, not on the IV, but the III Nones of July; which difference, though small, is by no means to be admitted, but adherence must be given to the author of the life, to be preferred to all the other writers; as an eyewitness, who in express words hands down that the blessed Abbot, before midday of the IV Nones of July, was performed i.e. accomplished his blessed end. By which same assertion of his the opinion of the more recent writers is now sufficiently refuted, namely of Dorgan, Wion, Menard, and Bucelin, inserting the annual memory of our Blessed William into the Catalogue of the Saints on the V, or III Nones of July. But since we have fallen into discourse of the year and day on which William paid the debt of mortality, this seems to be the proper place for producing his epitaph, as Stengel and Mabillon testify, appended to his tomb.
5] Composed in Leonine verses, savoring of the style of that age, it is read in these words: [His epitaph,In this writing, father William, thy life, as a mirror to all, the life of good men shines forth, that anyone learned may hence correct his own acts, discerning what is to be avoided, or what to be done; in the manner indeed of a mirror the pious life of blessed father William, illustrious with the light of virtues, radiates. Let Bavaria exult, mother of such offspring, let Swabia rejoice to have so great a patron. Whom Bavaria bore as offspring, him Hirsau bore as father, happy through such a spiritual pastor, father of many begotten through doctrine. He was excellent in morals and kindly in virtues, he consecrated to the Lord a perfect people and a temple, building for you, Aurelius, Peter, Paul, venerable fathers, a cell, founding [one] for you, Gregory, and you, George, and disposing more places of other Saints, he built and instructed, because he led by a right path, repairing the long-collapsed life of the monks. In the art of the quadrivium he surpassed the ancient masters, he reduced the various error in chants to art, searching the bounds of the earth, and the hours of time. And he saw the numbers of the abacus with mind so sagacious, that in these arts scarcely anyone could be likened to him. What he taught in words, he proved by the virtue of his works. For the poor, widows, lame, blind, pilgrims, sick, sound, burdened with any grief whatever, he provided prosperity, removed all adverse things. Simple and upright, at once made all things to all, living to thee, O Christ, truly crucified to the world, after through many contests he sweated for thee, he completed the year one thousand and ninety, on the fourth Nones of July, here seeking the depths of the tomb. Thus dead, he now lives happy with thee forever, that venerable Father, to be entreated with all praise. Renowned father William, crowned with virtues, now by kindly prayer bring it about that we be freed from the sad death of body and soul, we here devoutly serving God, walking about the tomb prepared for you to be venerated on your part, that good things be there given, whence our minds be purged, where, awaiting Christ with us in sweet sleep, Christ the supreme, about to come, and to give the good things of life to the just. Oh! may the life of the abbot William join us to the Blessed. But granting me afterward to see thy brightness alone, the choir with the throng, who are heavenly above the stars, after their manner praising God, and jubilating with sweet sound, through the meadows of Paradise, rolling forth ample songs, to the King of kings, the Lord, who there sits on the throne on high, may the voice of praise avail, forever, to those about to remain. Amen.
[6] Stengel's observation on it; Thus sounds the epitaph. Certain minutiae about the various reading observed by Stengel I neglect. More worthy of note is that the author of this epitaph in that verse: "He completed the year one thousand and ninety," omitted one year, which would have agreed with more difficulty with the meter, although in the other verses no measure is thereafter kept. And this perhaps threw into the said Stengel the thought of observing, that the later verses seem of another Author and age, the style in most differing from the former; that some nevertheless, a few little words being transposed, can easily be recalled to the metrical law, so that thus they may seem to have been corrupted by an excessive fault of the copyists. "Nay," he says, "in the copy of the monastery of the Blessed Virgin at the Scots at Vienna, they are altogether not held on the parchments, so that I may easily suffer myself to be persuaded that they were added by
some pious man indeed, but not sufficiently learned." The word "quadrivium," born to detain the reader at first sight, you have explained in the annotations to the first chapter of the life, letter d.
[7] the external appearance of his body; William's external appearance, voice, gesture, countenance, and the conformation of his whole body, and, before all, the powerful persuasiveness of his speech, graphically represented the internal endowments of his soul by fitting lineaments. This, received from ancient monuments, Trithemius thus exhibits in the Chronicle of Hirsau: "In stature indeed of body," he says, "as we have received from the monuments of the ancients, tall, in the front part of the body bald, having thin hairs in the rest, his face of a bluish color mixed with whiteness, beautiful and somewhat elongated; and the fingers of his hands of beautiful distinction, long and slender, and his whole body of due proportion, as it were a certain vessel adorned with virtues, rightly disposed. His voice was great and manly, such as, with a certain natural ornament of words, is wont to make every best orator: whence in exhorting he availed much; so that, most modestly excelling by the sonorous sweetness of his voice and a certain authority of speech, he seemed in a manner to have the minds of his hearers in his power, while whatever he wished to say, with wonderful facility and ornament, he could persuade his hearers." The skill of speaking commended nature in him, so that he easily allured by persuading whomsoever he wished by the sweetness of his speech.
[8] his virtues; Mabillon, after the writer of the life, instills into us a great idea of the blessed Man's virtues, comprising a few of many, especially from Bertold and Trithemius. "It is not," he says, "at leisure to report all the testimonies of authors which have been written in commendation of William." That he was most closely joined to St. Hugh, abbot of Cluny, will appear from the life below. His humility together with his charity blessed Ulric praises, chiefly in the preface of the third book of the Customs of Cluny, where he calls him "the chief lover of all religion." His charity shone forth chiefly in receiving the exiles, who, the dissension between Pope Gregory and the Emperor Henry raging, being compelled to leave their own sees, fled to the monastery of Hirsau, as to a safe port. And the wonderful hospitality of the blessed Abbot toward those who fled to him he proves from the following passage of Trithemius: "Many good men, fearing God, counts, barons, soldiers, noble and ignoble, clerics and laymen, rich and of middle rank; who wished to keep their souls unspotted from the communion of the schismatics, their castles, houses, and churches being left, had come to the monastery of Hirsau, as to a certain city of refuge, of whom several, the habit being changed, were made monks, and several in their former habit served God and the monks of the holy congregation until death."
[9] But how great the celebrity and veneration of his name, a great esteem of him; and the authority of his most abundant virtues of life, and a certain sacred awe joined with the opinion of holiness, was at that time among all, is clearly established from this, that at that time in which the other Abbots and Bishops were agitated by dire persecution, compelled to migrate from their sees, as is wont to happen in such a disturbance of affairs and times; yet no one came to such daring as to attempt to eliminate William from his monastery. And this seems the more to be wondered at, that he not only firm and unshaken persisted in the obedience due to the Vicar of Christ against Henry and his followers; but that he confirmed the wavering, raised the fallen, recalled the deviating, and at last wished his monastery to be a refuge to all, in which solace, counsel, aid, food, and all things conducing both to the sustenance of the body and to the confirmation of the soul, without any respect of persons, might be liberally supplied, as far as could be done; all which things must be admitted as consequences of the passage just premised from Trithemius. So great an opinion and esteem of himself had the great Man aroused even among his most bitter enemies.
[10] For, as Trithemius testifies, "that holy William, servant of God, reverence of the Apostolic See; could never be induced to consent even in a small matter to the schismatics disturbing the Church of God, or to communicate with them." On the contrary, he must be reckoned to have set up as many defenses against the impugners of the Roman authority as he built monasteries. That he built very many will afterward be said one by one. Now let it suffice to have excerpted only some things in passing from Trithemius and Bertold. "This is," says Trithemius, "the Abbot William, most holy servant of Christ, who studied to restore and reform the order of our divine father Benedict, in his time nearly collapsed in Germany, and deformed by the insolence of the monks, and recalled more than a hundred monasteries, both by himself and through his own disciples, to the former observance of regular discipline. This William, finally, thrice and four times most holy Abbot of Hirsau, founded eight convents of monks of our order in various provinces."
[11] With these agrees Bertold, by the following elogium inserted into his annals: elogia, "William, of pious memory, abbot of Hirsau, most fervent in the cause of St. Peter, and most zealous in the monastic religion, as being the father of many monasteries, on the III Nones of July migrated to the Lord. He first wonderfully exalted the monastery of Hirsau, both in its buildings and in its regular disciplines, and freed it forever by a privilege of the Apostolic See under Pope Gregory. He also constructed several monasteries entirely everywhere; two indeed in the Black Forest, one of St. George, the other of St. Gregory … Likewise another at Zwiefalten near the Danube; likewise another in the bishopric of Würzburg, in the place which is called Comburg. The monastery of Schaffhausen also, and that of Petershausen on the bank of the Rhine, already long built, he instituted in regular disciplines. But also very many others in various regions, both by himself and through those subject to him, he both made anew, and instituted those already made in regular disciplines." And after a few words: "Before all things in him the zeal of monastic strictness prevailed, in which he so wholly boiled, as if he had never had any other zeal at all. For he was of wonderful holiness, of holy simplicity, of most fervent charity; living to God and crucified to the world, whom the Lord recalled in a good old age to the eternal fatherland; whom he himself from his youth in this pilgrimage served with untiring labor."
[12] On the VI day of January, the life of St. Erminold, whose master William was, reports that he, Erminold, so expressed in his morals the manner and form of the life of Blessed William, then abbot of Hirsau, so studied to imitate the footsteps of his perfection, that now, "as the father, so the son appeared, and the master seemed to be seen in the disciple; and there could now be no doubt that upon this Elisha the spirit of Elijah had rested." But the same venerable William, at the church of St. Emmeram the martyr in the city of Regensburg, under Ramwold, then abbot of that same monastery, had been Prior; growing famous far and wide not by deceitful fame only, but by the truthful herald of his merits, [and] was elected to the church of Hirsau, in which blessed Erminold, as has been said, thus exercised the first trials of the spiritual warfare under the same William.
§ II. Elected Abbot of Hirsau, how excellently he presided over his own.
William was not Prior of the monastery of St. Emmeram under Ramwold. Of William's birth and education in the monastery of St. Emmeram the Life speaks in chapter 1, and nothing else worthy of note occurs, besides those things which are there handed down; unless you except the error of Trithemius, asserting that William, before he was called from the monastery of St. Emmeram to Hirsau, had exercised the office of Prior in that same monastery under holy Ramwold or Ramuold the abbot; whereas nevertheless it is sufficiently established that he departed from life long before, that is, at the beginning of the eleventh century, as Mabillon hands down in part 2 of the 6th century of the Benedictine Annals, in the notes to the life of St. William. But already long before Mabillon this error had been noted by Alexander Wilthem, in a letter given on this matter in these words: "I consulted your Reverence at another time, what you think of the priorate of William, abbot of Hirsau, under St. Ramuold, abbot of St. Emmeram? Trithemius in the Chronicle of Hirsau writes, from Heimo, as it seems, but perhaps corrupted; that William died in 1091, in the 65th of his age. But St. Ramuold died in the year 1001. In what way therefore could William be prior under Ramuold; which the author of the life of St. Erminold (of whom there is a bad and calumnious mention in the Chronicle of Lorsch) has divulged? Certainly from the introductory letter of Heimo to William, which exists in his little work (which I have in manuscript) on the joys of the heavenly fatherland and the fear of punishment, it is held that William, from the palace, being now already adult, was made a monk; so that he must have died far more than a hundred years old." On the back of the sketch, in which the cited words, written by Wilthem's hand, are read, the aforesaid anachronism Bolland also insinuates, sending the reader to the VI of January, where in the life of St. Erminold, chapter 1, number 6, the author is deceived, asserting that William, master of St. Erminold, was Prior under St. Ramuold. Finally, that St. Ramuold died, as has been said, in the year 1001, but not, as others judged, [in] 1007, you have in the Life of St. Ramuold on the XVII day of June. It would be a long and by no means necessary labor to weave here a prolix enumeration of all the deeds by which, created abbot of Hirsau, he profited both his own monastery and, moreover, very many others in temporal and spiritual matters; but it is fixed with me to cull certain few of them, untouched by the writer of the life, and so to be here elucidated from elsewhere.
[14] Those things which preceded the dignity of abbot conferred on the merits of the blessed Man, In what year he came thence to Hirsau. and those which presently followed it, Mabillon compendiously expedites to this effect: "William therefore, chosen as abbot by the people of Hirsau, after the deposition of Frederick, his own abbot consenting, came to Hirsau in the year 1069, on the XXVIII day of the month of May. He entered upon the possession of the abbey on the IV Nones of the following June. But he was ignorant," says Trithemius, "of the injuries which had been inflicted on Frederick; which when he had learned, he began to exhort Count Adalbert, that he should restore the innocent man to his dignity, whose place, while he lived, it was permitted to no one at all to occupy. Already therefore the holy Man was preparing his return, lest he should make himself a partaker of such a crime. But nevertheless afterward, compelled to yield to the prayers of all the brethren, he so remained, that, Frederick living, he never received the benediction from the Bishop, nor wished to occupy the place of abbot." This was the state of Hirsau up to the following year, in which, Frederick being dead, William was solemnly blessed as abbot by Henry, Prelate of Speyer. That this was done on the IV Nones of May on the feast of the Lord's Ascension, Trithemius writes; but these chronological marks do not cohere among themselves. For from the year 1050 to the end of this century, once only the Lord's Ascension fell on the IV day of May, namely in the year 1060, which could not be the year of William's ordination. Certainly Frederick was not yet then abbot. The author of the life writes that the blessed Man was placed on the seat of abbot on the very day of the Ascension, the IV Nones of June; which can suit no year but 1071." Thus Mabillon.
[15] Then, pursuing the thread of his narration, he sets forth
that the blessed Abbot found the monastery in so slender a condition, The monastery of Hirsau vindicated into liberty that its resources scarcely sufficed for the feeding of fifteen monks; who so far depended on the arbitrary will of Adalbert, Count of Calw, that they scarcely dared anything in their own monastery without his permission. That the most pious Abbot did not bear this, he subjoins, and it is established both from the Life and from Trithemius (Bertold also making mention of this matter, as is clear from the passage to be cited presently) that, many labors being overcome, he at length vindicated his monastery into liberty, the same Count granting and consenting, as you have in the life, chapter 1; which liberty, established forever, he confirmed by a diploma of the Emperor and of the highest Pontiff. Both the diploma of the Pontiff and of the Emperor is read in Trithemius in the old and new edition of the Chronicle of Hirsau; both, re-printed, Stengel inserted into his Commentary on the life of blessed William; which whether they be genuine, whether the same which the Author of the life praised, we leave in the midst undecided.
[16] and wonderfully promoted by him That the most blessed Man usefully presided over his own, we have also from elsewhere. Brief is that saying of the often-mentioned and to-be-mentioned Bertold, that "he wonderfully exalted the monastery of Hirsau both in buildings and in regular disciplines, and freed it forever by a privilege of the Apostolic See under Pope Gregory." Mabillon continues and narrates that, things being so placed, our Abbot turned all his efforts both to feed his flock and to restore the buildings of the monastery; that the church, begun by Adalbert's care ten years before, was in the year 1071 finished and consecrated by the Bishop of Speyer, the Count himself promoting the matter, from a disturber of the monastery being made its defender and benefactor. That the resources of the monastery also grew much, the number of monks increasing.
[17] in spiritual and temporal [matters.] To make faith of which, he adduces these words of Trithemius: "William had merited from the Lord a singular grace of gaining souls, by whose working he converted many and almost innumerable persons to the service of Christ into the monastery… The temporal substance of the household affairs also, from the oblations of the faithful, he in a short time augmented very much in many respects. He always had a hundred and fifty monks in the monastery of Hirsau, and as often as, for the sake of reformation, he had sent any to other monasteries here and there, being asked, he immediately gathered others in their place, newly converted from the world. So that from that time in which he had once begun to have a hundred and fifty monks in his convent, renewing their number daily, he had not fewer."
[18] The religious discipline; But what discipline flourished among the monks under that great head of the convent, how great the fervor, how accurate the observation of the monastic life, I subjoin from the same Trithemius, who in the new edition of the Chronicle of Hirsau, at the year 1070, thus speaks: "These were ever given to the divine praises, and continually intent on prayer, meditation, and the reading of the holy Scriptures. Those who seemed less fit for the contemplation of heavenly things were assigned to necessary labors of the hands, that no time should pass idle among them. But the holy Father, praiseworthily taught by experience, knowing the reading of the divine Scriptures to be the necessary food of the mind, appointed twelve of his monks as the best copyists, whom he charged to write out the books of divine authority, and the treatises of the holy Fathers. There were besides these also other copyists without fixed number, who with equal diligence bestowed their labor on writing volumes. And over all these presided one monk, most learned in every kind of the sciences, who might enjoin on each some good work to be written out, and correct the faults of those writing more negligently. continual occupation, Thus diligently and zealously the pious Abbot knew how to apportion continual labor and occupation among his own, to the proper utility of the monastery and of others too." Then the same Author continues in these words: "The brethren wrote out many volumes in the course of time, of which nevertheless the smallest part remained in this monastery of Hirsau. For the holy Father, who ever preferred the gain and utility of souls to all the things of the world, as often as he destined brethren for reformation to other monasteries, gave books, and whatever seemed to him necessary, willingly and of spontaneous will. O Man praiseworthy in all things, who preferred souls, redeemed by the blood of Christ, to the conveniences of passing gain, and, consulting the utility of others, by no means sought the perishing riches of the world. Truly that virtue is of few, that abbots should denude their own monasteries of their ornaments or codices, and succor the want of others."
[19] It remains that we produce into the midst certain things about the Convert brothers, the Convert brothers; whence no small harvest of praises accrued to William. I do not here delay over a certain schismatic poetaster, who in a certain satire to Henry the fifth, King of Germany, petulantly attacked the said Converts, as Stengel noted in his often-cited commentary, concerning whom see our Jacob Gretser in the Annotations to the commentary of Paul of Bernried on the life of Gregory VII. It is well to hear about these Converts Trithemius in the place cited: "Above the mentioned number of a hundred and fifty monks, he had also very many other Bearded brothers outside the order of the clerics, whom by another name we call Converts, who, insisting on the labors of the hands, might carry on the care of temporal things according to the precepts of the elders, and provide the necessaries of this life for the monks given to contemplation."
[20] Then, reviewing their manifold skill in various mechanical arts, their crafts, offices, and rules. he reports that among them were most skilled operators of all the mechanical arts whose use seemed necessary in the monastery; who all finished the structures of the whole convent with their hands, with the highest diligence. For there were carpenters and smiths, quarrymen also and the best masons, who constructed the monastery together, and the whole building of the churches (as is seen today in the carving of the towers) with beautiful disposition. Clothiers also, tanners and shoemakers, and whatever craft is required for the use of the cloistered, not seculars, not hirelings, not hired servants; but Converts or Bearded monks, are all recorded to have been. But this order of Converts holy William himself first instituted in Germany, aided by whose labors he founded so many monasteries, and praiseworthily fulfilled all the necessities of the monks. To these the Man of God handed down statutes conformable to the holy rule, by which he inflamed their minds with continual instruction to the contempt of the world and the love of heavenly things. Of whom this was the sum of the instruction, which I judge superfluous to transcribe hither; since the Life treats of it from number 33 about the middle.
[21] Now of the Oblates, as they were called, whom William had in his monastery, take briefly from Trithemius the condition, occupations, offices. "The Man of God William also instituted, after the example of the Cluniacs, the Oblates instituted by him; their offices, the custom of Oblates, whom he permitted by sacred constitution to remain in their former habit; by whose ministry he was reasonably wont to use in many things, especially in those which seemed to have to be performed in the midst of seculars, whither it was not lawful to send Bearded monks or Monks. Whose office was, for the buildings and other necessaries, to bring wood into the monastery together with stones, to burn lime, to carry water and sand from the river, to make mortar for the masons, and to minister all necessaries to those building. These served the poor and sick in the hospital, and whatever necessary work was enjoined on them, they cheerfully fulfilled. They likewise had their own Master from among the monks, and a place of refreshment, separated at all times from the monks and Converts; so that in their own order in silence they might proceed to labor, and might not disturb the monks."
[22] and number. He says the Oblates were fifty in number; but the Bearded, sixty; to whom he adds the Monks, a hundred and fifty; and so "the sum," he says, "of those serving God in the monastery of Hirsau, of two hundred and sixty men under the government of the most holy Abbot William, is commonly recorded to have been." But that the holy Man turned all his cares to this, that he might adapt fitting constitutions and laws to the disciples of all those orders, his most earnest solicitude proclaims in scrutinizing the pious customs of the more celebrated monasteries, that, a mature choice being made, he might adopt from them those things which he judged more useful to himself and his own.
[23] Choice fittingly made in prescribing customs, In confirmation of which Mabillon brings forth the very words of William in the prologue to the Customs of Hirsau: "I have established," he says, "with myself, that wherever I should perceive anything profitable for forming the morals of the brethren, by sight or hearing, or certainly by the reading of the sacred books, I should confer all this, as living stones, to the fabric of the spiritual structure." Nor indeed in a matter of so great moment did he stand by his own judgment alone, nor lack helpers. For, as is in Mabillon in the preliminary observations to the life, the holy Abbot was much aided in this matter by Bernard, abbot of Marseilles, at that time legate of the Roman Pontiff in Germany, who, on account of the disturbed peace between the priesthood and the empire, was compelled to spend nearly a whole year in the monastery of Hirsau. He, when he had noticed that the brethren of that same place burned with a most ardent zeal of living justly and holily, admonished William the abbot that, if he wished perfectly to know the institutes of the monastic conversation, it was necessary to borrow them from the monastery of Cluny, which at that time among the convents of Cisalpine Gaul was chiefly eminent for the number of most holy monks and the accurate observation of regular discipline. William thereupon omitted nothing to have the manner of life of the Cluniacs perceived. Wherefore, when some time after Ulric, a monk of Cluny, long joined in friendship with William, being sent into Alemannia, had turned aside to Hirsau, the pious Abbot obtained from him that he should accurately describe the customs of the monastery of Cluny, which afterward Ulric in fact executed.
[24] monks being therefore sent to Cluny The same Author narrates that, to disentangle difficulties in matters of this kind, two monks were sent by William to Cluny, a little after two others, finally again two, to inspect with their eyes and search out all the institutes of the Cluniacs, so accurately that their very masters affirmed that never had any disciples of that spiritual school more fully or more truly comprehended the art of their instruction; who adds that Bernard, returning to the Gauls, earnestly commended the monks of Hirsau to Hugh, abbot of the Cluniacs, at whose command William, the counsel of the elders being gathered, adopted those customs which better agreed with the custom of his country and the disposition of the places, propagated both by his own disciples of Hirsau and by the rest of the monks of the same institute throughout Germany. He is reported to have composed on that matter two books, called "On the Customs of Hirsau," which, as Trithemius testifies, flourished in most monasteries of Germany up to the Bursfeld reformation, by whose constitutions nearly all, as Mabillon says, the institutes of Hirsau were abolished. There may also be seen those things which Stengel heaped up to the present matter in his often-mentioned commentary, which nearly coincide with what has been said thus far. And these things are enough, that we may conclude that our blessed Abbot excellently presided over his monastery of Hirsau in spiritual as well as in temporal matters.
§ III. Monasteries reformed, built, and restored by blessed William; his more celebrated disciples.
There was in William a greater capacity of mind; a greater skill in managing affairs, a more roused
spirit, The monastic discipline than could be confined within the limits of one monastery of Hirsau. Like fire it burst forth outward, and, knowing no slow endeavors, diffused itself far and wide in every direction into other monasteries; easy to be driven, difficult to be restrained, so that he either reformed them, or built them anew, or restored them. Let it first be said of those which he reformed, and this in the words of Trithemius, who in the old edition of the Chronicle, after he had reviewed some of his miracles, thus concludes: "But I shall scarcely insist on narrating these miracles, since the greatest of all miracles is his restoration of the monastic order and regular discipline. For he is the one who studied to reform our order, wretchedly collapsed in almost all the provinces of the German kingdom, and in many convents also wonderfully reformed [it]. For all the monks whom he could, by words and example, kindled with the most fervent ardor of the Holy Spirit, he recalled to the observance of regular discipline, and with the highest zeal desired in a wonderful manner to lead back to the monks of his time that former fervor of spirit with which our holy fathers, Benedict, Maurus, Placidus, Columban, Gall, Aegidius, Gregory, Boniface, Lull, and the rest almost innumerable, formerly burned toward God."
[26] Then he treats of the monasteries erected anew by blessed William or his disciples, wonderfully propagated by William throughout Germany. of which also the Author of the Life treats. Then he reviews, in each edition of the Chronicle, those which pertained to the congregation of Hirsau, the names of the abbots being added who contributed their labor to promoting the constitutions of Hirsau in those places. Among the convents built by William, the same Trithemius attributes the primacy to the New Monastery of Hirsau, of which in the Life, number 35. For the greater elucidation of the matter, I heap up, both of this and of the following convents built and restored by William, those things which Mabillon inserted into the Benedictine Acts, 6th century, part 2, from page 720. The said monastery therefore was begun in the year 1082, and elaborated chiefly by the Monks and Bearded brothers of that same place; the expenses supplied by noble men and neighbors, allured by the odor of the holiness of William and his disciples. Among whom the wife of Hermann the marquis claims for herself the chief place, after he, from the desire of a more perfect life, withdrew to Cluny, where, unknown, and set to the guardianship of swine, under the discipline of blessed Hugh the abbot, he led and closed his life. Of the temple joined to the finished buildings of the monastery, by whom and when it was dedicated, the Life speaks in the same number 35.
[27] That the first monastery built by him was that which is called the Cell of St. Gregory, He founds a monastery at Reichenbach; the Author of that same life committed to writing, number 30. About which observe with Mabillon that this was done in the year of the Lord 1083, in the 14th of his rule, in the place of Reichenbach. The tables of the foundation Trithemius published; which may be seen in him in the Chronicle of Hirsau, most recently published, page 255. Several other priorates, founded by William, afterward raised into abbeys; others gradually withdrawn from the obedience of Hirsau; others which Trithemius writes obeyed in his time the immediate jurisdiction of the abbot of Hirsau, namely this priorate of which we have just treated, and also that of Schönrain in the diocese of Würzburg, and the provostship of Roth in that of Augsburg, I willingly pass over for the sake of brevity.
[28] The second monastery constructed by him, as the Writer of the Life testifies, likewise [that of St. George;] was that of St. George the Martyr, situated in the Black Forest, in the diocese of Constance, the estate being granted, as Mabillon writes, by Hezilo or Hazilo, a noble, rich, and pious man, at the exhortation of Hesso; and giving the expenses together with his estate for the construction of the monastery, which William undertook, promoted, furnished with a building, brethren of his own convent, most excellently instructed, being placed in it; and set over them an Abbot, by name Henry, most approved in virtue. Whereby again you see the proven endowments of the blessed Man in promoting religious convents.
[29] Of St. Martin, and that of Erfurt; The third monastery, of which also the Author of the Life makes mention, was constructed by the care of our Abbot in honor of St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, and was situated in Bavaria, in which, as Trithemius says, he placed monks and an abbot from the convent of St. Aurelius, certainly most excellent men, and most approved in the observance of regular discipline, for a long time. Then the same Trithemius thus continues, and briefly illustrates the monastery of Erfurt, mentioned in the fourth place by the Author of the Life: "He founded therefore that monastery in Thuringia, in the town of Erfurt, in honor of St. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, on the western mount of that city, with magnificent work, constructing the church according to the form and disposition of the greater church of Hirsau, [and] placed there learned and most religious monks of his own convent. But the care of the monastery he committed to Giselbert, from a monk of the convent of Hirsau then Abbot in the neighboring monastery of Reinhardsbrunn, until he should send them a fit abbot." Mabillon adds that after the blessed Abbot's death, by Gebhard his successor, in the 11th year of his rule, twelve monks were sent thither together with Burchard, whom he set over them as abbot. That the aforesaid convent owes its origin and structure not to Dagobert, King of the Franks, but to our William, you will find proved by more than one argument in Trithemius, against the monks inhabiting that same monastery in his time, who contended that Dagobert was its founder.
[30] That of Zwiefalten Of the fifth monastery, built under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Zwiefalten At the Double Water, in the German tongue, by the blessed head of the convent, in Swabia, of the diocese of Constance, on the Danube, as Bertold warns, these things Trithemius again inserted into his Chronicle, and says that William likewise placed in it monks of his own convent, over whom he constituted as Abbot Notger, a very venerable monk, who vigorously governed the flock committed to him by word and example at all times. Notger Bucelin inscribed in his Martyrology on the VI day of March, where he is recorded to have died in the year 1095. The sixth monastery blessed William constructed in the village called Wilheim; of whose various changes and fortunes Mabillon will instruct you from Trithemius.
[31] Of the seventh finally and last monastery constructed by the Blessed William, That of Lavant. Trithemius treats briefly: "He constructed," he says, "a monastery in the duchy of the Carinthians, which is called Lavant, to which he both gave monks of approved religion, and an abbot likewise from his own; by name Wezilo, a learned man, and venerable for the merits of his life and illustrious for many virtues, he set over [it]." These things about the monasteries built by Abbot William. Now let it be said of those restored.
[32] The Author of the Life reviews three which our Blessed William, now almost destroyed, Monasteries reformed by William. That of Schaffhausen repaired, namely those of Schaffhausen, Petershausen, and Comburg. The first foundation of Schaffhausen, situated in Swabia, Trithemius refers to about the year 1050, in the St. Gall or most recent edition of the Chronicle of Hirsau, speaking of it in these words: "In these times also Eberhard, a certain Count in Swabia, his wife, by name Ida, cooperating with him, desiring to constitute an heir of his goods, founded a monastery of our order which is called Schaffhausen, which he endowed with many estates and possessions for the sustenance of the servants of the Lord: in which convent afterward, by the course of time, many most learned and most holy men grew famous under the rule of St. Benedict the abbot. From which also several new monasteries of our order had monks and their first abbots as inhabitants at various times." More of this monastery see in Mabillon in the Benedictine Acts, 6th century, part 2, page 338, on the occasion of the mentioned Eberhard, there from a Count made a monk.
[33] Petershausen, or rather Petroburg, that is, the house of Peter, That of Petershausen was founded in the tenth century by Gebhard, Bishop of Constance, as Mabillon hands down: but restored and renewed, it owes to the blessed Abbot the vigor of religious discipline; to which he gave as abbot a venerable man, notable in morals and knowledge, Diethericus or Theodoric, a monk of his own convent; who was a fervid cultivator and restorer of regular discipline, and led many by word and example to the contempt of the world, as Stengel writes in the aforementioned commentary. Read also those things which the same Mabillon has [in] the Benedictine Acts, 6th century, part 2, page 722; where you will find more about the foundation of the aforesaid convent. It is situated moreover in Swabia, opposite the city of Constance, on this side of the bridge of the Rhine, on its right, on the bank of the Rhine issuing from Lake Constance.
[34] Of the monastery of Comburg take these things briefly from Trithemius, at the year 1079: "In the tenth year of St. William, in the 2nd indiction of the Romans, on the XXV day of the month of April, That of Comburg, and several others. Burghard, Count of Rotenburg, began to destroy his town of Comburg in the diocese of Würzburg, and in that same place to build a monastery of our order, to which Almighty God sent a faithful cooperator, having many riches, Wignand by name, a citizen of Mainz, who, by the consent of Adelheid his wife, faithfully cooperating with the said Count, expended a notable sum of moneys in the construction of that same monastery, with cheerful countenance for the honor of Christ. By the counsel of this Wignand Count Burghard offered the monastery of Comburg to St. Martin, and subjected [it] to the Archbishop of Mainz by right of defense forever, in manifest token of which subjection the Abbot of the said convent every year on the feast of St. Martin was bound to offer one pontifical mitre and two corporals upon the high altar of the church of Mainz. Eight years were labored in the construction of this monastery, and in the ninth year it began to be inhabited by the monks of Hirsau." Not to be longer, I send the reader to what he has of the same monastery at the year 1088. Finally, commemorating its destruction, "the monks," he says, "at last in our most recent days, following the devil persuading within, withdrew from the holy order which they had professed, wishing to live without a rule, [and] were made in name and conversation secular Canons." To the monasteries brought back by blessed William's work to a better form of regular discipline, and commemorated by the Author of the life, Trithemius reckons others, which may be seen in him in the most recent edition of the Chronicle of Hirsau, from page 268. In the same place besides, page 266, the said Chronologer reviews the Bishops, disciples of St. William, who went out of the monastery of Hirsau to conduct greater affairs for the glory of God, the utility of the Church, and the splendor of the Benedictine order. To these he subjoins Abbots notable for their merits. We, lest by reviewing similar things, not properly pertaining to our purpose, we exceed measure by excessive prolixity, are content to have assigned the place in which a fuller treatment of them may be found. Mabillon also can be consulted on these things in the preliminary observations to the Benedictine Acts, 6th century, part 2, page 723.
§ IV. The Blessed William's writings; the Author of the life; the Editors.
[35] That William was of a genius capable of managing affairs is abundantly established from what has been said; The singular erudition of William nor will it appear less from what will be said in chapter 1 of the Life, number 2, where the author in a few words adorns him with many praises of his singular genius and his elaborated little works. To this accedes the testimony of Trithemius, who in the cited edition of the Chronicle of Hirsau, page 222, thus speaks: "In every kind of the sciences he turned out most learned, and in a short time made loftier than his teachers, he penetrated all the arts which they call liberal. In philosophy he was a most acute disputant;
in Music he was of singular erudition, as one who composed both many and various chants in praise of the Saints. In Astronomy, Mathematics, and Arithmetic, how skilled he was, his volumes testify. On these faculties he elaborated much. For, to prove the genius of so great a Man in few words, let us bring forth into the midst his lucubrations. He wrote therefore on Music one book. On the ecclesiastical computus two books. On the correction of the Psalter two books; the Constitutions of Monks, or the Customs of Hirsau, two books; several epistles to various persons; and he wrote certain other things which we have not seen." Which in sense somehow agree with those things which Bertold transcribed from the mentioned writer of the Life.
[36] "This man," he says, "left us many monuments of his natural genius: it is proved from his writings; for he devised a natural horologe after the exemplar of the celestial hemisphere. He showed [how] to find the natural solstices or equinoxes, and the state of the world, by certain experiments. All which things a certain familiar of his also took care to commit to letters. He also disentangled many questions about the computus by most approved reasonings. He was most skilled in music, and elucidated many subtle points of that art, unknown to the ancient doctors. He also corrected to art, reasonably enough, many errors detected in chants. In the quadrivium indeed he seemed to excel nearly all the ancients." But time, the devourer of things, as it gnaws or utterly consumes many other things most worthy to survive; so it also snatched from us nearly all our Abbot's little works, and Mabillon testifies that nothing of them survives, in the preliminary observations, number 13 at the end, except his books on the Customs of Hirsau, which even today occur everywhere in various libraries of the monasteries of the order of St. Benedict in Germany. Their prologue you have published from the Weingarten codex in volume 4 of the Old Analecta, page 465.
[37] The book on music, of which he is handed down by the writer of the Life to have been most skilled, which of them survive. written by him, Stengel is the author that it was formerly preserved in manuscript in the library of the monastery of SS. Ulric and Afra of Augsburg among the Benedictine monks. But the same writer makes faith that this same book in his time perished, and that in that same place there were most ancient manuscript treatises of that kind; and Mabillon hands down that the aforesaid book on music exists in the manuscript codex of Villingen with other writers of the same subject. Besides, Peter Wagner, a monk of the monastery of SS. Ulric and Afra, now more than two hundred years ago, as we gather from Stengel, left it thus noted in his book which he entitled "A Collection of Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict."
[38] "William the venerable monk, besides many other little works, Of the Dictionary which he wrote. published a chief and notable work, namely a Dictionary book, in which he proceeds according to the order of the Alphabet, and of any word makes a beautiful discourse. Very great and huge is that book, and applicable to every matter of the world"; and, unless I am mistaken, it is that which custom has obtained to be called the Book, or William, on the Universe.
[39] Stengel, in his commentary treating of the author of the Life of Blessed William, The Author of the Life confesses that he does not know who he was; although he suspects it was Heimo; that very one who under Gebhard, the successor of this St. William, performed the office of claustral Prior. More affirmatively speaks Mabillon, prefixing to the life published by himself the name of this Haymo as author; relying without doubt on the passage of Trithemius, comprising the praises of Heimo or Haymo; in which he is handed down to have been exercised no less in verse than in loose prose; in morals also composed, mature, and most religious, who preceded the brethren in all purity of regular observance; [and] to have written, among his other little works, the life, conversation, and miracles of the most holy Abbot William in a twofold volume, which afterward a certain brother abbreviated.
[40] Contemporary with the Blessed. That Haymo was contemporary with Blessed William is established from number 14 of the following Life, where it is treated of a canon of Strasbourg freed from paralysis, in these words: "But neither do we think this worthy to be covered by silence, which we saw and beheld with our own eyes." Besides, the same Author sufficiently openly signifies that he was present at the last admonition of Blessed William, given to his own in chapter, four days before his death, number 36 thus speaking: "And when we were all astonished, namely the blessed Abbot with mournful and querulous voice bringing forth certain things beyond expectation, etc." The said Author without doubt was of great aid to Trithemius in the matters pertaining to Blessed William, and reviewed in the Chronicle of Hirsau. Nay Mabillon observes that most of the things which pertain to him were thence taken. Finally note from Trithemius that the genuine name of the Author was Haymo; "whom," he says, "some, wishing the fifth letter, by the custom of the Saxons, called Heimo for the first." His diligent industry, the examples and incitements which he gave to promoting among his own the studies of letters, and the most furnished library, he himself striving for it, you will find commemorated in the same Trithemius.
[41] The Editors: As to what concerns the life to be here given by us; that it, never yet published, together with the life of St. William of Gellone, was drawn out from manuscript Codices, and illustrated with a commentary and notes by Stengel of the Order of St. Benedict, is written in the title prefixed to each said life, and published at Augsburg in the year 1611; whence afterward it passed to the Benedictine Acts of Mabillon.
LIFE
By the Author Haymo, monk of Hirsau, contemporary and disciple of the Blessed William,
Published by Carolus Stengelius from manuscripts, and then inserted by Mabillon into the Benedictine Acts.
William, Abbot of Hirsau (S.)
BHL Number: 8919
FROM MANUSCRIPTS AND BY HAYMO.
CHAPTER I.
The birth, education, monastic life, erudition, abbatial dignity, virtues, and miracles of Blessed William.
William's homeland, monastic life; The most reverend Abbot William, sprung of the stock of the Bavarians from religious parents, by the aspiring grace of Christ grew up with a pious disposition of mind, which made him lovable to all. But in boyhood age, offered by those same honorable parents to God in the monastery of St. Emmeram a the Martyr, like a prudent bee, he plucked the flowers of virtues from the divine Scriptures, and from the examples of spiritual elders, and stored them in the hive of his breast. And although the vigor of monastic religion in that same convent grew somewhat lukewarm, he nevertheless, through the grace of God, ever advanced for the better in that same religion; whence also by the incautious and negligent he was greatly feared: by the good and pious, on account of the sincerity and purity of his life, he was exceedingly loved. Finally, the divine clemency accompanying him, he excelled in such great eminence of genius, that with the eminence of honorable morals he at the same time eminently excelled in the study of the various arts b. Of which he left us many monuments of his natural genius: for he devised a natural horologe, after the exemplar of the celestial hemisphere, [and] showed [how] to find the natural solstices or equinoxes and the state of the world by certain experiments, all which things also he took care to commit to letters.
[2] He also disentangled many questions about the computus by most approved reasonings. erudition; the chastisement of the body; He was most skilled c in music, and elucidated many subtle points of that art, unknown to the ancient doctors. He also corrected to art, reasonably enough, many errors detected in chants. In the quadrivium d indeed he seemed to excel nearly all the ancients. But desirous of pleasing God alone, and undertaking to crucify his flesh with its vices and concupiscences, he macerated his body with fasts, vigils, and also the roughness of a haircloth. Thus therefore, firmed in faith, strengthened in hope, rooted and founded in charity, and adorned with all probity of morals, the providence of Almighty God destined [him] to the convent of Hirsau e as provider, for the solace of many. Finally the brethren, serving God in that same convent, when they had already been destitute of a rector f, delighted by his sweet report, directed honorable legates g to call him. But he, the matter being known, did not lift himself up into pride, but, being free for fasts and prayers, spiritual men being joined to himself, resolved that the will of the Lord in this matter must be sought. At length, leave being received, although all good men congratulated [him] on the conferring of the honor, yet they grieved for themselves, that they lacked the most sweet solace of his familiarity and discourse.
[3] But he, not seeking the things which are his own, but the things which are the Lord's, elected abbot, and on what condition he was made. professed that he would by no means h consent to the election, unless first that same convent were restored to its entire liberty. Therefore, because Count Adalbert, advocate of that same place, with his kindred had reduced this same monastery into their own right and almost destroyed [it], the constancy and magnanimity of the Man of God being learned, he pretended that he would obey him in all things. For with that same blessed Man he went to the royal court i, and with secular cunning composed a written document unfaithfully (he suspecting nothing sinister, from his dove-like simplicity), and obtained that it be confirmed with the royal seal. At the coming therefore of the Lord's Ascension, which in that year fell on the IV Nones of June, a multitude of clerics and laymen being convoked, by the common vote of all, this venerable [man] was elected, praised, and, with a very great inundation of tears, placed on the seat of abbot.
[4] Which dignity being undertaken, he began to burn the more with the fervor of heavenly zeal, His virtues. the more he recognized himself set before the rest for the sake of example, and turned his sagacious zeal above all things to the observation of the monastic religion. He was eager in exhorting, severe in correcting; envious of none, poured out in charity, and munificent in largess. With gravity a sweet affability was in him, through which he sweetly flowed into human hearts. The business of each he esteemed as his own. Pilgrims and the poor he cherished with paternal affection, very often, stripped of his own shirt and other garments, he covered the limbs of the wretched.
[5] He obtains liberty for his monastery, Amid these exercises of virtues therefore he was proved rather than assailed by a certain temptation, which proof profited indeed him to a crown, but the convent of Hirsau to its establishment and defense. For he learned of k the aforesaid written document of liberty, unfaithfully composed, the wife of the aforesaid Count secretly intimating [it] to him, and, under the pretext of the aforesaid liberty, that nothing had been diminished of the former violence and unjust subjection of the cloister of Hirsau, but rather increased and strengthened. But somewhat moved by such a disturbance, on account of the state of the place, with assiduous prayers and tears he entreated the Lord that he would snatch from the yoke of earthly power the place which for his love he had undertaken to rule. And so the merciful Lord, who, according to the voice of the Psalmist, "is near to all who invoke him in truth," unexpectedly surrounded that same Count with so great adversity, that he almost despaired of being able to find any way of escape. Thus constrained, with all devotion he sought the counsel and aid of spiritual men. Who said that he would not otherwise escape so great perils, unless with all faith he restored to liberty the place of Hirsau, which he had unjustly possessed. Acquiescing in their counsels, with entire faith he abdicated all right of property of that same place, and caused the written document to be composed with all diligence, according to the counsel of those fearing God, the former written document being utterly deleted and cast away. But after the venerable father William had by his own labor and industry most zealously composed a new written document,
he himself offered it to King Henry, to be strengthened with the royal seal.
[6] Sick at Rome, healed by the help of the Mother of God. This being completed according to his wish, he resolved also to approach the Apostolic See, and to acquire a privilege for the monastery of Hirsau, according to the decrees of the canons. Then, setting out on the journey, with prosperous course he came to Rome. There, benignly received by the Lord Apostolic, Gregory l of blessed memory, the causes being made known for the sake of which he had come thither, Gregory most willingly assented, as was fitting. For he delivered to him a privilege full of Apostolic authority, and, for the safeguard of the monastery of Hirsau, one written document received from him he deposited in the archives of St. Peter. Tarrying therefore there some while, he fell into a most grievous infirmity. For he was held oppressed by a horrible swelling of the belly, so that he could nowhere move a step. And when he had long labored under this infirmity, and his recovery was despaired of even by the most skilled physicians, on a certain day he commanded himself to be led to the altar of St. Mary ever Virgin, and, laying his wounded belly against the altar, with inmost prayers he besought the remedy of the most holy Mother of God: so great hope and faith did the grace of God, [and] the love of his most sweet Mother, obtain. For suddenly, against the hope of all, he began to convalesce, and to refresh himself with food, and after no long time returned to his own place, all congratulating [him].
[7] His charity; At that time the Catholic Church was rent by a wretched and detestable schism m by the enemies of Christian unity. But because this [man], truly worthy of God, had wholly glowed with the fire of divine love, and boiled with zeal for souls, by wholesome counsel he animated each to hold and preserve unity. And because with a simple and pure eye he insisted on such a business, whatever he did pleased the minds of all the religious; whatever he said delighted the hearts of all good men with an inmost affection of love. With dove-like simplicity there flourished in him so much serpentine cunning, that by the prudent of this world he seemed to surpass all in prudence, and by the wise in divine things he was wonderfully cherished for the innocence of his pure mind. He overflowed with so great benignity of charity, that he failed no one desiring to devote himself perfectly to the divine service, on account of his poverty, [and] refused no one on account of unskillfulness.
[8] Noble and ignoble, rich and poor, men and women he incited to the contempt of the world, fruitful in many virtues; and kindled each to the love of the heavenly life by word and example. Much he distributed to guests, much to the poor, nor yet did he postpone the care of those committed to him; but with paternal solicitude and with great affection of charity he administered the necessaries to all. But if any want of household resources pressed on, this he made not only tolerable, but welcome to himself and his own, by a gentle and manly admonition; saying that this was the probation of the beloved of Christ, and that, if patience were present together with the giving of thanks and the frequenting of prayers, without doubt a manifest consolation would soon come from God. Which certainly was often declared by evident tokens; while the Lord deigned to open to him, in every strait, the door of his mercy, as he knocked with faith and prayers. The report therefore spreading his praiseworthy acts, from every side the faithful flowed together to him, as to the good odor of Christ. Some indeed desiring to use his most wholesome counsels, others commending themselves to his prayers, very many also, the secular burden being cast off, chose his mastery. For the ministry of the divine office he was unwilling, out of humility, to be clad in vestments which were adorned with gold embroidery or the interweaving of any precious metal. He also detested the kissing of the hand and knees of the Abbot, and would altogether have cut off such a custom, had not the elders scarcely compelled him to receive this reverence from them.
[9] In whatever place, following the convent of brethren going before, and diligently inspecting them, contempt of himself and lowliness, with groaning and weeping, and lifting his eyes with his heart to heaven, he prayed for them the more attentively. At table, if anything more choicely prepared was offered to him, he signed to the offerer, asking whether it were set before all in common. If the answer was yes, he tasted a little thereof; but if not, he immediately distributed [it] to the weaker. The diversity of delicacies and feasts, which are the fomentations of luxury, he despised: he was content with small and middling things; since, wherever necessity required him to go, he was not delighted by a proud horse, but was carried on a mare, or on the back of a cheap little ass. Bright garments and those of precious fleece he shuddered at, especially sleeves or cowls, which even under threat he cut off, and with most bitter execration forbade the utensils of various things to be adorned with superfluous and pompous ornament.
[10] Whoever, an obedientiary, or any other, tempted or weighed down by sadness, affability, and trust in God, came to him, not by spurning or detesting him when saddened, but by soothing and coaxing, with consoling words he softened his grief, and dismissed [him] from himself glad and rejoicing: for a lamp burning and shining lay not hid under a bushel, but stood forth upon a candlestick, and therefore he studied to be made to all an example of living well. Among these therefore and other virtues, with how sincere and perfect a faith he prevailed, no discourse can fully unfold. For with this virtue, as with a breastplate clad, with manly spirit he vanquished all adversities; and very often, having attacked some difficult things, and to many almost impossible, with the Lord aiding, he brought them to a happy issue. For, that I may commemorate a few of many, while on a certain day the holy Father was treating of household matters with the brethren who provided for the external affairs, among the other things which were conferred, they announced that, for a certain unavoidable necessity, five pounds of silver were necessary. But since he had them not ready at hand, nor could they acquire them even by an authorized loan, and the imminent necessity urged to pay out that same money without any delay, straitened by such disturbance, they knew not how they could disengage themselves. But the pious Father, trusting in the Lord, with consoling words studied to animate their pusillanimity, saying that in no way was God's mercy to be distrusted.
[11] by whom money But they receiving his consolation the more lukewarmly for anxiety, and affirming that they had been straitened not for themselves, but for the common loss, he rose from the assembly, and, while they awaited his return, went forth outside, imploring the aid of the Lord. And without delay, the benign Lord was present to his faithful servant. For unexpectedly a certain unknown [man] coming up bestowed on him the whole quantity of the money. Soon therefore returning, he brought forth from his hand five pounds of silver, and charitably rebuking the brethren, said: "Lo, the money is present, for which you were made pusillanimous. Learn therefore now to despair no further of the manifold goodness of Almighty God."
[12] and provisions are supplied. Likewise the God-beloved Father, setting out on a certain day at dawn from the monastery, not far off met a certain poor little man with his wife and eleven little children, earnestly demanding his alms. But the brethren who accompanied him had carried with them from the cellar a few loaves, which could scarcely suffice a few for one dinner; for in a certain meadow they were about to dine. The Man of the Lord therefore invited the poor little man with his wife and children to dinner. But when all had sat down, unexpectedly there was present a not small multitude of common horsemen and also of the poor. And so, for the smallness of the food, the companions of the blessed Man being troubled, and at the same time suffused with blushing, the Man full of God with cheerful countenance said to them: "The five loaves with which the Lord fed five thousand men, as long as they remained whole, were neither multiplied, nor was anyone of them fed; but when they were broken by the Lord, then indeed were they multiplied, and more fed from them." Saying these things, with ready spirit and bounteous hand he distributed to the multitude which was present the small foods, which by his faith and merits were wonderfully multiplied by God to the sufficiency of all. Truly, many admiring his faith and liberality, from the few provisions were all abundantly refreshed. Each therefore returning to their own with joy, the Man dear to God retained the aforesaid poor little man with his wife and children, and, for a long time expending the necessaries of sustenance, led them on to the harvest of the new crops.
[13] At a certain time also, while he crossed over the bridge of the river called Nagold n, there met him a poor man, He heals a lame man; who for many years lying in the almshouse could not otherwise move a step, unless he were sustained by two staves under his armpits. When therefore the poor man met him in the middle of the bridge, the venerable Father by force took away from him one staff, and, having gone forward a little beyond, standing with fixed step with that same staff, commanded the needy man to come to him. But he denied that he could walk without the support of the other staff; and on the contrary the Elder, "Certainly," said he, "I shall not depart hence, until you come to me." The poor man, obeying his command, drawing himself little by little, with effort came to him where he wished. Then, every support being cast aside, safe and unharmed in his whole body, with firm feet he walked.
[14] But neither do we judge this worthy to be covered by silence, he cures a paralytic; which we saw and beheld with our own eyes. A certain canon o of the church of Strasbourg, sprung of most noble birth, came to the monastery of the Man of God, and, devoutly received, lived more devoutly. Who soon, in the beginning of his conversion, was dissolved by paralysis in his whole body, so that, except the tongue, no member remained in its conjunction. For this same man was excelling in a certain sharp constancy of genius, the prerogative of knowledge and eloquence, and it was necessary that he be bridled by the pious scourge of the Lord; lest perchance (as the mind of man is ever prone to evil) he be lifted up by some wind of elation, and soon slip into a monstrous precipice. With which infirmity he was thus sick more than a year, that he could not reach his hand to his mouth, nor change his side except by the help of others, but, as has been said, lacked every office of the members. Now the time of pitying him had come, now the Lord looked forth from on high, and behold the vigor of his strength began to return, he began to sit for the sake of eating and reading, [and] to frequent movement by creeping; but the office of the hands was altogether denied, since this was reserved for the greater glory of the Lord.
[15] On a certain day the Man of the Lord William enters his cell for the sake of visiting [him], and exhorted [him] that he should obtain from the Lord by prayers the use of his right hand and his contracted right hand.. He refused with the highest detestation, affirming that he altogether esteemed the health of his body as of little worth. But the pious Father, wholly full in the bowels of compassion and mercy, taking hold of that hand, blesses [it], kisses [it], and enters the chapel of the holy Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, where, a little while prostrate in prayer, he visited the sick man again, [and] his right hand is found recovered. After a few days, the wife of his brother came for the sake of seeing the monastery and himself, and he is carried to her in a portable chair, where, amid discourses of edification and familiarity, the memory of his healed right hand fell into the conversation. Which she, with womanly affection, kisses, but soon it returns into its former rigidity. As soon as he felt this, having saluted her and dissembling his misfortune, he betook himself into his own cell, grieving somewhat over this which had happened. Whom the Man of God soon following in his footsteps, and taught by the Spirit of the Lord what had happened, asks the cause of his sadness. Which he, with sufficiently simple and humble
confession disclosed. To whom the Man full of God rendered words of consolation, and, taking hold of his right hand, blessed [it], and restored [it] to its former health.
ANNOTATA.
CHAPTER II.
Hidden things detected; a weak arm healed; a fortunate catch of fish; grain multiplied; corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
Hidden things At another time thereafter he visited the cell of certain brethren, living by his permission in the lower hermitage almost after the manner of hermits, to whom nevertheless he announced his coming the day before. Whence, gladdened beyond what can be believed, as at the visitation of a most loving Father, and as if worthy of the visitation of an angel of God, they prepared all things which were necessary for so great a Father, and suitable for those accompanying him. That same place was apt for catching fish, and a certain younger man among those dwelling there was practiced in works of this kind. Him the brethren most earnestly beseech, that he would render service to himself and them, and bestow all his industry in catching fish. He praised the plan, did what he could, but the matter had no success. For when he labored the whole night, and profited nothing at all according to his wish, overcome at once by his promise and by shame, he presumed a theft upon the fish of his own companions, and brought to the brethren in the morning a trout a of unusual size, and departing left them in no small admiration.
[17] There was among the brethren one of loftier and more perspicacious genius, detects them; who, admiring the unwonted size of the fish, began more diligently to examine about it. First (as the kind of such men is wont) he denies and abominates the theft with the highest detestation; but when by sweet words and the reason of the truth and by the thing itself he is convinced, he simply confesses his fault. Then you would have seen those brethren not a little saddened, and placed in a doubt, because he had committed the theft [of] an abominable fish, and because what should now be set before the coming Father was not at hand. Then, charity cloaking [it], they decreed by common counsel to set the fish before the Father, and resolved that that excess must be abolished secretly among themselves by fasts and prayers; [but] they exceeded the limit of justice, when they kept not measure in love. Now the day growing toward evening, the desirable Father arrived: he is met; he is received; he is led to prayer. Then the most beloved Father, with full pleasantness, admonished his dearest sons that, because he labored under an unusual hunger, they should the more quickly set out whatever of pottage they had.
[18] Then they recline and that fish is set forth, and with the highest diligence it is observed what the Man full of God is about to do. That man is taught by God the interior host; and although, as has been said, he suffered no small hunger, yet, with wondrous abomination execrating what was set before him, and tasting nothing at all, he is snatched as it were into an ecstasy of mind. None of the disciples, either of those coming or of those remaining there, dares to interrogate the Man's sudden change, but the newcomers were in the highest admiration, the inhabitants in the greatest fear. On the following day, with the greatest devotion of a contrite heart they confess their fault, and, clemently received by the most pious Father, they are admonished under strict threat that they should not thenceforth presume anything of this kind.
[19] At that time the Man of God sent from the monastery one brother, a weak arm by name Benno, with certain peasants, hired for wages, that they should convey eleven cartloads b of wine with wagons; which wine a certain citizen of Mainz, by name Wignand, transmitted to the monks of Hirsau by the office of charity. But on the way by which they were coming with that same wine, robbers rushing in by night offered them violence for the spoils, but they, God protecting, escaped unharmed with their goods, except that the right arm of the aforenamed brother was so weakened by the adversaries striking [him], that he bound it to his neck with little bands, and despaired of ever recovering its use. After this they fell also into another misfortune. For one of the casks full of wine, which was specially deputed for alms, the wagon tilting, fell into a ditch, and the wine, poured out, flowed down almost entirely into the ditch. Which being drained by the peasants, and the empty cask lifted upon the wagon, they who sustained the loss held on the begun journey with great sadness. But the aforesaid brother, his companions being left, ran ahead to the monastery, and, lamenting, set forth to the Man of God the injury of his arm, with the loss of the wine which had happened.
[20] To whom he cheerfully and constantly responded with the words of blessed Job, he restores; saying: "The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, as it pleased the Lord, so is it done, blessed be the name of the Lord." Consequently, signing his arm with a blessing, he restored [it] to its former health. Then he commanded him that he should diligently inspect all the casks of the conveyed wine, the lids being lifted, and whatever he found fuller than the rest, this whole cask he should impart to the poor. Which he the more quickly fulfilling the commands, all who were present seeing, at once stupefied and rejoicing, the cask before empty, as we believe, through the merits of the Man of God, so overflowed with wine that none of the rest could be found so full. And when the aforesaid brother, glad and exulting, related this too to the Man of God, he immediately received a command from him that he should reveal this to no one. Which by others who were present was everywhere divulged. But to the peasants, who before wished of their own accord to pay one pound of silver for the wine lost by their negligence, he ordered one shilling to be added, over the agreed wage of their labor, and, sumptuously refreshed with food and drink, they were sent back to their own with joy.
[21] he increases the catch of fish, But when the Saint was once stationed at the village which is called Wile, the oft-mentioned brother Benno, who was there the procurator of the monastery's affairs, at the hour of refection offered him a few little fish, saying: "For his coming he had labored long and much in fishing, and could catch nothing more besides those." Who immediately commanded him to return to the pool for the sake of fishing, and to distrust nothing of God's mercy. Which when he hastened maturely to fulfill, the net being let down into the water at the word of the Man of God, he immediately caught eight quite large pikes, and with them, still wrapped in the thread of the net, hastened back to the Man of God. Then the most benign Father ordered all the poor who could be found in that same village to be invited to dinner, and those same fish, prepared for their refection, to be set before them.
[22] and multiplies grain; Likewise, when on a certain day the Man of God ordered the almoner to prepare the doles for the poor more largely than usual, he heard from him that very little grain remained for making bread. Who, ordered by him to look more diligently how much grain had remained, the chest being opened, inspected [it] carefully with another brother, measured [it], scarcely found one bushel, and indicated the truth of the matter to the Man of God. But morning being made, when the almoner, about to fulfill the commands of the Father, opened that same chest, by the manifest power of God, declaring the faith and merits of his faithful Servant, he found [it] full of grain to the very top; which chest was so great that it was wont to hold twenty bushels. For because the holy Man was ever studious and intent on this, that in all things he might perfect the will of God, and might provide useful things rather for his neighbors than for himself, therefore the merciful and just Lord was present to his pious petition, in every necessity and strait, clemently and effectually.
[23] fugitive brethren, These things, which pertain to miracle, being partly commemorated of the holy Man, for a testimony of so great his faith and holiness, now certain other things are to be narrated of him, not so much wondrous as pleasant and useful to hear, and possible to human frailty to imitate. For we are not bidden to imitate in the Saints of God signs and marvels, but the exercises of good works, and, the Scripture of sacred authority witnessing, mercy, compassion of the wretched, and zeal for souls please God more than sacrifices; and the knowledge of God more than holocausts. And so this Friend of God, continually, as has been often said, insisting on works of mercy, on a certain day received from the monastery called Hasungen c more than seventy brethren fleeing to him, and imploring his wholesome counsel and faithful solace. For the Bishop of Mainz, elected and ordained by the schismatics d, because that same convent was subject to the church of Mainz by right of property, was endeavoring to subdue those same brethren to his sway by threats, persuasions, and blandishments, and to contaminate them by participation in unlawful communion.
[24] But they on the contrary, with fixed sentence keeping faith to the unity of the Church, whom cling to the Church, he treats hospitably; as with deaf ears spurned him coaxing, and according to the counsel and command of the pious Father William, all things being left, betook themselves to him. And this happened about the month of August, before the harvest of the new crops, and although in that same year and in the following, for the greatest part the grain bought with money was administered for the daily sustenance of the brethren, yet, presuming with great trust in God, and glorifying the Lord for their coming, as if all the barns were full of grain, he commanded the usual quantity of bread to be increased, saying: "Because the Lord has increased the number of his servants, we too ought to increase their provision." Retaining those same brethren with himself for some time, and every humanity being shown them, afterward he assigned them the cell of St. Gregory with all things which pertained to it, for as long a time as they wished.
[25] At another time also he was then making a journey to a certain cell, which at the request of a certain Count he had constructed beside the Danube. the ignorant he instructs and nourishes; And now he had begun to approach thither, and behold, on the borders of the forests, he espies a certain hut, and, one of the travelers being taken with him, the rest pursuing the begun journey, delays not to make his way thither. Coming therefore to that same little house, he found a very poor little woman, and entering and forgetful of his dignity, forgetful of his accustomed rigor, sat by the fire, and commanded her too to sit. Then amid
the words of sacred edification, casting his eyes hither and thither, he inquires of her in what manner she lived with her husband, since she had nothing in the house whence they might obtain the stipends of temporal life. She confesses that nothing but a wretched life remained to her, that she lived on bread and water, and these she scarcely prepared by the daily labor of her hands. Meanwhile the husband returning from the field, he asks of them whether they know the Catholic faith, without which no one can obtain eternal life. Who simply confess that they are utterly ignorant what the faith is. But he, groaning more deeply, and grieving from his inmost bowels for their twofold want: "What wonder," he says, "if in outward things you seem needy, who within (wretched to say!) are empty of God, who furnishes us all things abundantly to enjoy?" After this he briefly expounds the faith to them, as far as they could grasp [it], and, instructed for the time, he enjoined that they should follow him to that same cell. On the following day, coming thither, he received them benignly, retained them benignly for some while, and relieved their necessities not a little. And so it came to pass that he both fed the want of their mind with the word of sacred erudition, and wonderfully alleviated their bodily penury.
[26] When at a certain wintry time he was making a journey through the borders of Bavaria, he met two poor men, asking of him a support of clothing against the harshness of the cold. he divides his cloak among the poor Who, soon remembering St. Martin, who bestowed half of his cloak on a shivering poor man, withdrew apart from the travelers with one servant, and divided into two parts the mantle which was wont to be spread under him, whether riding or sleeping, and to each poor man bestowed each part, with which they might protect themselves from the cold. Something of the blessed Man I shall relate, which regards the proving and loving of the purity and simplicity of his mind, and the detesting and condemning of the vanity of many of his name.
[27] as also a coverlet or rug. A certain Abbot was given to precious garments, more than became such a person and so arduous a purpose. Whom the Man of the Lord loved for many other good qualities granted him by God; but in this, according to the zeal of the Lord, he rather often sharply rebuked him, although it profited little. At a certain time, as if for a blessing, that same Abbot offered him a very precious bedcovering, and asked that he would receive [it] for the memory of mutual love. Which the Man full of God received with much simplicity, and attended not to the duplicity of the offerer. The offerer indeed intended this, that in this he might somewhat cover his own vanity in the pursuit of precious garments, namely that if one so praiseworthy and perfect in every monastic profession used things of this kind, he in another similar thing would not much be marked. For that Abbot had formerly been professed under the Man of God, and by him advanced to such an honor. But for one night only does the Man of God use that bedcovering. On the following day a certain one of the brethren, more devoted to his service, secretly approached him, [and] warned that he had been circumvented. Which being heard (incredible to say!) he was affrighted and shuddered at his own deed, and soon divided the ill-received bedcovering into a support for ten poor men.
[28] His commiseration, This too, worthy of all praise, had that Beloved of the Lord, with his other good qualities: for from whatever of men he heard anything good in admonition, he received [it] with all devotion, as if sent from heaven. I am compelled to bewail the lofty eyebrow and singular horn of pride of many of his name. This [man], the virtue, this [man], the mirror of all uprightness, chose from every man the judgment of correction, and honored the truth from whatever man. But compassion so natural and vehement was in him, that he showed it not only toward men, but even toward brute animals. Hence it is that in a certain winter, when from the abundance of snows the force of cold pressed on more than usual, that same Father, moved with the bowels of piety, the Provost being called, with a querulous voice said to him: "The birds perish from cold and hunger; take sheaves of oats, and fix them about the hedges, that they may find whereon to feed." But he responded: "Lord, our sheaves of oats have failed us." To whom he: "Have you," he says, "sheaves of rye or of wheat?" "I have," he says. Then the pious Father: "Therefore," he says, "sell those and buy oat sheaves." He, obeying the command, enjoined his helper that, going out in the morning to the manor, he should fulfill the enjoined works. That same night, when on the following morning he was about to go, the grace of the Lord remunerating the benignity of his Servant, the harshness of the ice was softened by a gentle mildness of the air.
[29] Truly the poor in the almshouse, or the peasants lying sick in the little villages, he humbly visited, and corporal and spiritual works of mercy. and cherished with pious consolations. Finally the dying he committed with diligent care to burial. But of those who suffered insanity of mind, he disdained to receive none. For either with the whole convent of brethren he recited psalms and benedictions over them, or with certain brethren fulfilled those things which suited such a business: the mercy of God following, with the health of mind and body, they returned glad to their own homes. The monastic religion also e, which had grown cold almost throughout the Teutonic provinces, in those who pretended the habit of religion, by the zeal of this Blessed Father began to grow warm again and to be recovered. But not only did the monastic institution profit by his emulation, but also the several grades of the ecclesiastical order were instructed by his examples. For he instructed monks in humility, charity, fervor, and religion; he promoted Bishops, presbyters, or any clerics whatever, by doctrine and authority. Laymen he taught by conversion and subjection; virgins, widows, and married women he formed in cleanness and chastity; he taught the poor of Christ and pilgrims to be content with little, and to have the world under their feet; and he dissuaded all its glory by words and works. The several faithful of Christ fled to him, as to the bosom of a mother, and much profited through him in God.
ANNOTATA.
CHAPTER III.
He founds various monasteries; first institutes the lay converts; receives the last Sacraments of the Church, and piously dies. After his death he proves himself the defender of his monasteries, and the fosterer of the poor; a vision, commending his holiness.
Various monasteries built by him Now at length I shall come to narrating that which was, among all his works, the chief, and about to profit for the saving of the souls of many, up to the end of the world, through the conventual life. For he was a most zealous founder of new convents and restorer of the old. In short, seven convents a, both by himself and through his disciples, he constructed from the foundations in various places. Of which the first was the Cell of St. Gregory, which properly pertains to Hirsau. The second that of St. George the Martyr, both in the Black Forest. The third in Bavaria, in honor of St. Martin. The fourth in Thuringia, which is called Erfurt.* The fifth at the Double Water in honor of St. Mary. The sixth in the village of Wilheim, which was afterward changed into the monastery of the mount of St. Peter. The seventh in the province of the Carinthians. But three others, that is, Schaffhausen, Petershausen, [and] Comburg, now almost destroyed, he restored.
[31] how he governed them. In the government of which this was for him, with daily solicitude, no small difficulty, namely to find in the congregation of brethren such persons as should be useful and fit for gaining souls. For according to the Lord's saying: "The harvest indeed [is] much, but the laborers few"; since those who ought to preside over others must be proved both in work and in speech, and instructed no less in secular knowledge than in spiritual. But because very few are found who prevail in both; yet more there are who possess one without the other, that is, either a good life without the knowledge or eloquence of doctrine, or the word of doctrine without a religious conversation; those that wise architect studied to promote as it were squared stones, wherever they appeared, in the spiritual building, namely those whom he knew to live praiseworthily with polished morals, even if the other necessary qualities were less at hand.
[32] That the pious man is to be preferred to the erudite, is proved by an example. In this he was following a memorable deed of Pope Gregory the Seventh. For to him the clergy and people of a certain church presented two [men] elected to the episcopate, and asked that any one of the two be ordained bishop for them. But the Pope, knowing one of these to be a good teacher, yet not religious; the other on the contrary religious, yet not skilled in the necessary erudition, doubted which of the two he should prefer, and obtained that this be manifested to him divinely by the prayers of a certain servant of God, in this manner. For that same spiritual man, when he vigilantly commended this, enjoined on him by the Pope, to God, and through the intercession of the holy Mother of God Mary intently besought that the will of God be revealed to him, blessed Mary the Virgin appeared to him through a vision, and showed her rings, of which one seemed to be pure gold, the other a translucent gem, and to him asking which of the two he should choose; "The gem," she said. Who, awaking, narrated his vision to the Pope, yet uncertain what, as to the aforesaid cause, either the gold or the gem might signify. Immediately the Pope, because he was of perspicacious genius: "There is no doubt," he says, "that, the sacred eloquence witnessing, by gold wisdom, but by the gem the simple and pure life of a man is signified; and therefore from the very judgment of the most chaste Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary, he who lives chastely, justly, piously, even if the gold of wisdom or eloquence be lacking to him, deserves to preside over the people for an example of living well; for his tongue is silent, [his] life teaches. It behooves in an election of this kind above all things that the sanctions of the canons be observed, and that ever to the government of souls not any common persons, but only regular persons be promoted."
[33] Instructed therefore by this example, the faithful and prudent servant of the Lord, in certain of the aforesaid convents [set] appointed abbots, He institutes lay converts: in certain [set] priors, [and] deputed religious monks together with lay converts. For indeed the lovable Father, fervent with zeal for souls, first instituted b that the monks should use the faithful ministry of the lay converts in administering the exterior affairs, and in turn that those same laymen should obtain from the monks what pertains to the care of souls, and should imitate their claustral discipline, as far as in them lay, outside the cloister in correcting their morals. Of whose conversation, according as the oft-mentioned Father, God inspiring, ordained, it is worth while
to commemorate certain things, of which we are certain that, as at the present time, so also in the future, many can profit. For the nocturnal vigils all convene in the church, for whom nevertheless, on account of the enjoined daily labor of work, the Matins are chanted briefly: afterward, those who wish return to their beds; others persevere in the church, until the Nocturns are finished by the monks. In the early morning they hear Mass, then convene at the chapter, there they beg pardon for their various excesses, and receive fitting discipline from the master. Which being done, and the confession of sins following, for those to whom it is necessary, each turns aside to the work enjoined on him. For to them are enjoined the several offices to be discharged within or without the cell, which they treat and administer so faithfully, honorably, and diligently, as if committed to them by God. Nothing of their own do they possess, but, as is read in the Acts of the Apostles, all things are conferred in common; to each one, as he has need, is [it] distributed.
[34] In transacting business they not only avoid quarrels and disputes, their discipline. but even restrain themselves from idle speech. They obey their prelates; without whose permission they do not even make a longer journey outside the cell; always on the Lord's day they communicate, so that half of them on one, the other part on the other Lord's day reverently receive the body and blood of the Lord; but on the highest festivals all together. He who is about to make a journey communicates on that same day, if nevertheless he does not hope to return before the next Lord's day. Returning from the way, they beg pardon for the excesses committed on the way. In serving in the kitchen, and preparing food both for themselves and for the monks and guests, they perform their weeks in turn, [and] take food together, which they set before one another mutually. To the daily hours they do not come to the church, except those to whom there is leisure for this. At Compline, as at Nocturns, all, or almost all, are present: afterward with silence they turn aside to their beds.
[35] For the observance of this spiritual life the holy Father William constructed a fitting habitation in that same place of Hirsau; Intent on good works, he falls into sickness. namely a new monastery c in honor of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of St. Aurelius the confessor, toward the southern quarter, by the hands of those warring under his obedience. Which, finished within nine years, was dedicated in the tenth d. Finally that same temple, before it was dedicated, he filled with the poor round about, from the upper part to the doors, and, the gates being closed, ministered to them by himself; at that same time and thenceforth up to his death he expended stipends on the needy more than usual. After the aforesaid dedication he survived nine weeks; and now, the birthday of the Apostles Peter and Paul being at hand, a languor invaded him. At the nocturnal vigils and the daily ministry, though weak, he was present; on the morrow he celebrated a private Mass at the principal altar. On the following night, when for the trouble of his body he could not rise, through a vision he received consolation divinely, and it was said to him that SS. Peter and Paul were present, ready for his aid. At dawn, when he could scarcely move a step, he ordered himself to be led into the oratory, and things to be prepared for celebrating Mass. And, sustained between hands on either side, upon the altar of the Apostles Peter and Paul he immolated the sacrifice of the living victim, and, as if about to set out to the Lord, the words of St. Paul, which, his dissolution now impending, he was saying, and which also suited his own cause excellently, he chanted on their festival, which are thus: "I know whom I have believed, and I am certain that he is able to keep my deposit unto that day, the just judge." Thus was his last celebration of Mass.
[36] He exhorts the brethren; On the fourth day he came into the chapter to see and admonish the brethren. But whatever he had hitherto been teaching them, this he began to repeat one by one and to exhort, that they should from day to day profit for the better; first of all concerning the continual love of God, concerning the fervor of the monastic religion, concerning the observance of mutual love, concerning the following of hospitality, and its being bestowed with all solicitude, concerning the loving of alms and the giving of them voluntarily, and many things similar to these he persuaded; afterward with a querulous voice he brought forth: "One thing there was which greatly exasperated and grieved me, which lamenting I shall disclose to God and to you." And when we were all astonished, he said: "Certain brethren have conversed with you according to the prudence of the flesh rather than according to spiritual simplicity, and by their speeches or counsels rather often disturbed me, and resisted the simplicity set forth. But Almighty God has separated them from us man by man, and removed them from the cloister." These things being said, he immediately subjoined: "Henceforth, dearest ones, I shall hold no chapter with you. Therefore, little sons, hear the last sentence of your father, and retain by memory the things which you have heard and seen."
[37] fortified with the last Sacraments of the church, The chapter finished, he betook himself into his humble little dwelling, and after the wonted manner granted access to all wishing to approach him. Then on the third day he ordered himself to be carried into the oratory of St. Mary, and there, the convent of brethren celebrating Mass for him, with the unction of the oil of the sick, and the reception of the body and blood of the Lord, he fortified his departure, begging indulgence of all, and himself making indulgence to all, and, kissing and embracing each with paternal affection, he bade the present a last farewell; charging the absent with his inmost charity; at once beseeching and adjuring all, that in the unity of the Church and subjection to the Apostolic See, as it had been handed down to him, they should inviolably remain up to death. At the last, his hands being lifted, in a brief discourse before all he thus concluded: "I invoke God as witness, that always up to now I have acted benignly and faithfully toward you." Which being said, being carried from the oratory, one by one all flowed together to him with groans and sighs.
[38] he piously dies. To whom he said a word worthy of memory: "The death of a just man is not to be called death, but rather a change, because he is changed from mortality to immortality, from earthly to heavenly things." On the following day, he being carried into the house of the sick, and the convent of brethren gathered thither, before midday, all wretchedly weeping and mourning, on the IV Nones of July, having accomplished [his] blessed end, he rendered to God his soul full of happy merits, and, snatched from the Egypt of this world, went to the land of the living, there to dwell perpetually. Two Bishops therefore and five Abbots e convening, and not a few clerics too with a multitude of either sex, after the obsequies celebrated through five days, he was buried in the midst of the church of the Apostles with due veneration. But not long after his death, as it were after a night of sadness, which had oppressed all, there shone upon us a day of consolation, from the coming of the Lord Gebhard, then Prior, but afterward the successor of the deceased Father in governing the monastery, bringing the relics of St. Peter the Apostle, namely of his hairs, transmitted by the most reverend Hugh, abbot of Cluny, for which William the father had directed him before his death: these the monks of Hirsau ought to embrace with inmost affection and venerate above all gold and precious stone, for the reason that we have learned them truly to be of the hairs of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles.
[39] For in ancient time, before the bodies of the Apostles Peter and Paul were separated from one another f, and laid in the safest places where they are now buried, there was a guardian by reason of the church, by name Oddo g, who, renouncing the world, sought the Cluniac convent, in which he was afterward made abbot, and among the other relics of the Saints, brought with him some hairs of St. Peter. That from these were taken those which he transmitted to us, the aforesaid abbot of Cluny, the most ardent lover of our congregation, testified with most certain assurance, together with aged elders. This therefore we have judged necessary to note here, lest anyone should be moved by any scruple of doubt over those same hairs, but that it be true which is established to be confirmed by so great and such witnesses. But those who brought the aforesaid relics, before they arrived at Hirsau, using provident counsel, commended them to be kept by a certain religious presbyter dwelling in a neighboring village, up to the feast which is called St. Peter's in Chains. On that same day indeed, the abbots and other religious men being assembled, the aforesaid relics were received in the monastery of Hirsau with the greatest exultation of monks and people, and first laid upon the tomb of the blessed father William, [and] to him, to whom they had been specially transmitted, in this manner were as it were presented by the pious affection of [his] sons. Finally, amid the pleasant proclamations of divine praise, kissed with suppliant veneration by all who were present, they were laid up in a little silver shrine, where up to now they are reserved.
[40] It is read of St. Gregory and St. Gall, that after their passing from this life they shone with many tokens, William, even after death, protects his monastery, namely that the monasteries which they had constructed in honor of God, they defended with their patronage against many adversities. Some things also of this kind, done in our times concerning this Saint of God, we have learned from known and approved persons, which for the commendation of his holiness we have taken care to note by the office of the pen. There was a certain abbess in the province of Noricum, given to pious works, by whose counsel the pious Man of God had formerly been made prelate of Hirsau, because she had much loved him for the merits of his life. To her, after his departure, it became known by report that many men of the sinister part had conspired in this crime, to destroy the convent of Hirsau from the foundations. Whence she, affected with continual griefs, importuned the propitious Deity with assiduous prayers, that with the aid of his protection he would avert so great a wickedness, and would bring the new plantation of his faithful servant to increase. And when her heart was straitened with such pious anguish, and she instantly besought the Lord for the imminent peril, on a certain night, as she rested, the Man of the Lord appeared to her in sleep, and, beholding her mournful with a cheerful countenance, gladdened [her], saying: that there had indeed been many who longed to perpetrate so great a wickedness, but that it had been altogether resolved by God that it should not be done. Then, as she solicitously inquired who had prohibited this from being done, he responded: "The good Angel of the Lord." And immediately the vision of the one speaking vanished.
[41] upon his persecutors For truly, as the Psalmist says, "the Angel of the Lord sends himself into the circuit of those fearing him, and delivers them." But although, by the same Psalmist's attestation, every just man abides in the protection of the Lord, yet the more evidently and severely have they experienced the vengeance of God, who by command of King Henry, the fourth of that name, endeavored to exterminate the monks of Hirsau, for the reason that they were unwilling to consent to his heresy against the Roman Church, nor in any way to contaminate themselves by his communion; inasmuch as he was most wicked, and, of all whom the earth sustained, most flagitious. By his instigation, therefore, a certain bishop of Strasbourg, by name Werner, with a military band undertook to devastate Hirsau, but on the very day on which he was about to commit so great a crime, mailed, he mounted his horse, [and], forestalled by a sudden death before he put off his hauberk, expired, and living descended into hell h. Alive, I say, as it is written, he descended into hell, who, prudent and knowing, labored to act iniquitously, who longed to destroy the innocent servants of God, which even to those same soldiers who
unwilling were compelled to his aid, seemed so abominable, that they dissuaded him and refused to lend aid to such a crime. But this happened long before the death of the Man of God. But thenceforth it struck into all everywhere a fear of presuming any such thing against the holy place and its inhabitants.
[42] paying the penalties It is worth while here to subjoin consequently another thing, not much unlike this, which also avails to terrify and repress the invaders of the substance of Hirsau. A certain man, by name Wintheir, of the village called Allmendingen, renouncing the world, took the habit of holy conversation under Abbot William, and from his own goods delegated by lawful donation a certain estate, situated in the aforesaid village, to the use of the brethren of Hirsau. But after both, namely Abbot William and the aforesaid man, migrated from this life, a certain youth, by rash daring, usurped the estate, as if transmitted to himself by hereditary right. And when on one day he was violently carrying off two cartloads of wine, and other things of this kind, from that same possession, on the very journey one foot of the oxen which drew the plunder was broken. The youth himself also, from the horse on which he sat, as if suffering a lethargy, fell headlong, and, made senseless, lost even the use of speech; he was taken up in the hands of others: but in the course of time, his strength of mind and body being gradually recovered, [and] returned to himself, he began to consider with himself that he had endured such a scourge, such as he had never before experienced, not without the just judgment of God, and, deliberation being held with himself, he had himself carried to the monastery of Hirsau, and there changed his habit together with his secular mind; he faithfully devoted himself to God, and after a few years happily ended the present life in holy conversation.
[43] Behold we, hearing these things, and considering so terrible and so tremendous a judgment of God upon these two, by the inscrutable judgment of God. of whom one was suddenly hurried into death; but the other mercifully reserved to a better life, can fittingly with the Psalmist admire and say: "Come and see the works of the Lord, how terrible in his counsels over the sons of men." From the same consideration also we are compelled to proclaim with the Apostle: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how incomprehensible are his judgments, and unsearchable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or why does he have mercy on whom he wills? And why does he harden another, that he be not saved?" Wherefore, because according to the saying of Solomon, no one knows whether he is worthy of hatred or of love, but all things are reserved for the future; let us, fearing, venerate, and, venerating, fear the uncertain, hidden judgments of God; and while we are in this body, according to the Psalmist let us serve the Lord in fear, and exult before him with trembling.
[44] How much, as we said, holy William, now reigning with God, bears care for his monastery, Appearing has been shown clearly enough through another vision also. Which, as we have learned from the report of a certain elder, an innocent and simple man, to whom that same vision was made from heaven; we have judged [it] necessary to transmit by writing to posterity, because through it the monks of Hirsau, both future and present, are admonished that they diligently observe the statutes of the oft-mentioned Father, especially in the dispensing of the poor and guests, in the observation of claustral discipline. It had been established by him, by the common counsel of the elders, that some of the lay brethren, who come to conversion, should serve in the house of the poor under a lay habit, and yet be sustained not from the alms, but from the common food and clothing of the brethren. This custom his successor i so changed, that the aforesaid brethren obtained the necessaries of the body entirely from the alms which they administered. From which occasion happened a thing much to be lamented, that the wonted mercy was withdrawn from pilgrims and other poor, so far that the needy, shut out through the rigid nights of winter, from hunger and cold, resounded in the street with a wretched cry, so that they often disturbed the brethren resting by night.
[45] Concerning which trouble the abbot, frequently admonished by the brethren, to a certain elder when he neglected to amend these and many other things of this kind; on a certain night, on which the Lord's Ascension is celebrated, one elder of that same monastery, proved in life and morals, through a nocturnal vision saw himself lifted up, and as it were set upon a mountain incomparably lofty, where all things were full of the splendor of an immense light, the wondrous fragrance of an unwonted odor, and the sweetest concert of the blessed dwelling there. With which he himself, exceedingly delighted, and desiring continually to be present, among the other things which he there saw, recognized also Abbot William, formerly most familiar to him, shining with a snowy aspect and habit. With whom seeing also two men adorned with pontifical habit, but unknown to him, he asked of him who they were. And he heard that one was St. Ulric, bishop of Augsburg; but the other Conrad of Constance, an equally holy man, and formerly a Bishop. And when Abbot William, responding, satisfied him inquiring also about the others seen there, at the last he enjoined these things to be notified by him to the monks of Hirsau: "On the part," saying, "of the highest majesty of God, I charge you that you tell the abbot and prior, and the rest of the brethren of Hirsau, that, according to what they received from us, they serve the needy and guests with all affection of charity, correct their morals and life according to the rule of St. Benedict, and, above all things casting away anger and indignation, hatred and detraction, with which they assiduously offend God, together with all malice, keep sincere and continual love toward one another. Which unless they observe, let them know without doubt that they will experience the divine vengeance."
[46] These things being said, leaving him to whom he said these things, he himself with the others who were present penetrated certain higher secrets of heaven. he urges the care of the poor. But that elder, to whom these things were revealed, since he dared not by himself, through a certain other elder intimated all to the Abbot. Who indeed ordered the former constitution of abbot William concerning the alms to be observed, yet the rest, by which he had disturbed the monastery, he dismissed uncorrected. Wherefore, according to the aforesaid threatening of the blessed Father William, almost nothing prosperous befell. For a little while after, stripped of the government of the monastery, and clad with the pontifical mitre at Speyer, he stirred up the hatreds of all against himself by his inept morals; but death, intervening maturely, cut him off from the midst.
[47] Are visions to be believed? But it must not be negligently passed over, but diligently considered, with how great veneration the most holy Father William is worthy on earth, who, according to the aforesaid vision, enjoys in heaven the fellowship of so great prelates, namely those whose glorious memory the faithful people of the holy church solemnly recall with annual devotion. But if anyone, doubting through his own incredulity, should say that a vision of this kind is not to be observed, but to be reckoned among vain dreams; let such a one indubitably know that nowhere in the hagiographers is it written, nor was it ever heard, that any man ever, by the suggestion of demons, either openly or secretly, was forewarned to decline from evil and do good, as was here done through the most benign Father William. It is established also that the illustrious and chief doctors of the Church, blessed Gregory and Augustine, inserted into their little works some visions even of secular persons, for the edification of the faithful, to which nevertheless they apply no other testimony than that certain persons by name testified that they had seen them through a dream. Finally, that we may conclude all these things which we have set forth about the holy Man with the seal of the purest truth, we shall yet bring forth one testimony, by which we prove him to have been assumed, by divine authority, into the work of the ministry, in which so faithful and prudent a servant labored in the house of the Lord, and truly, according to the purpose, to be called holy, [him] to whom, loving God, all things cooperated unto good.
[48] When the holy Father was vexed with a grievous infirmity, namely that in which he is known to have paid the debt of Adam, An apparition made to William, he was visited by many of the greater persons of the province, that they might both satisfy their devotion, with which they always wonderfully honored the man of God, with a good end of perseverance, and commend their souls to the departing soul of so holy a man. Therefore among the first, the chief and most devout lover of the blessed Man was present as visitor, the Bishop of Worms, who was ever most familiar to so simple a soul, and to whom the Beloved of the Lord rather often opened his secrets, the excessive familiarity of the Bishop compelling. To this so excellent and proved person in the church, therefore, amid other discourses of familiarity, he opened, and confirmed under the attestation of the divine name: "When," he said, "I was still at Regensburg in the monastery of St. Emmeram, on a certain night there appeared to me a man of full age, of wondrous beauty beyond the human measure, addressing me with a cheerful countenance, and holding forth in his hand most beautiful grapes, which also he offered to me, saying: 'Take, my beloved.' Struck by the novelty of which gift and by the affability of so great a man, I confess I remained a long while wondering with myself, stupefied.
[49] Then he: 'I have taken care to institute a school, over which I have predestined you, before all ages, to be set; which if you rule according to my good pleasure, he commends his holiness. you shall be remunerated with a good reward forever. Doubt nothing, friend, the same is cooperator, who is also remunerator.' Awaking at these words, I revolved many things with myself, and rather often re-revolved the same, and when my mind was stretched with many meditations, at length I fled to the safest port of the great mercy of God, and committed to my Lord all my affairs, as intimately as I could. And behold, on that very day our brethren from the monastery are present, bring letters with manifold prayers, and, tearing away my littleness by a certain most powerful force from monastic quiet, compel [me] to preside over them, and, with the protestation of the divine name, force [me] not to refuse the things demanded. Unwilling, I confess, I undertook the yoke of the Lord, overcome by prayer so unanimous. In which office, if I have done anything pleasing to God, to him, without whom nothing [is] valid, nothing holy, to him, I say, from whom all good things proceed, be, for these and all his mercies and benefits, praise, honor, and every kind of giving of thanks, through all ages of ages. Amen."
ANNOTATA.
6, page 738, that credence must be given to the writer of the present Life, who either was present at the deed, or at least could be sufficiently instructed of the same. See what is said of the Author in the preliminary Commentary, §4.
* Erfurt.