ON SS. BERTARIUS AND ATALENUS, MARTYRS,
NEAR FAVERNEY AMONG THE SEQUANI.
IN THE YEAR ABOUT 764 OR 767.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The cult of the Saints; Relics; the time of their life and death; two manuscript Acts; the observations of others concerning them, whether they were Martyrs or not.
Bertarius, Martyr, among the Sequani (S.)
Atalenus, Martyr, among the Sequani (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
The parents gave Bertarius to the world from the province of Aquitaine, and probably the same tract of land gave Atalenus, nephew of Bertarius by his sister; although I know nothing certain committed to writing concerning this last; the county of Burgundy furnished the arena of [his] virtues and death. The sacred cult from the Martyrologies Moreover, as ancient and certain as is the glory of our Saints, so marvelous is it that they have hitherto lain buried under the obscure night almost of murky oblivion, and that a very sparing, or no, mention of them is found among the writers of Burgundian affairs. In the Usuardine Codex of Mont-Saint-Michel they are recorded in this manner, on 6 July: The natal of SS. Martyrs Bertarius the priest, and Atalenus the levite. Peter Francis Chifflet, our confrere, a curious investigator in the few matters of antiquity, from the manuscript Martyrology of Luxeuil thus announces both: On the day before the Nones of July, of the Saints Bertarius and Atalenus, Martyrs, who were slain by the Allobroges. Quite the same announcement, expressed in the same words, is read among the supplements of Usuard, not long since illustrated. Castellanus inserted both in his Universal Martyrology, thus speaking on the aforesaid day: At Menulsi Menoux near Faverney commonly Faverne in the county of Burgundy, the martyrdom of St. Bertarius the presbyter and St. Atalenus the deacon, whose relics are honored at Florida Vallis Florival in the duchy of Luxembourg.
[2] Nor indeed less excellently did P. Christopher Wilthem carry on the affair of the holy Martyrs, and by the testimony of P. Christopher Wilthem. when, on the occasion of a jubilee running out into the villages and tracts lying round Luxembourg, kindled with an apostolic zeal for souls, he at the same time hunted out some sacred monuments, exceedingly accommodated to the present purpose, concerning which he writes thus to Bollandus, in a letter given at Luxembourg on 21 August 1655: On the occasion of the jubilee, which our most holy Lord lately gave, I ran out along the bank of the Moselle, and then through the borders of Lorraine and of our Duchy, toward the Meuse. Among other monuments, both profane and sacred, I found the passion of the holy Martyrs Bertarius and Atalenus, who suffered on the day before the Nones of July, and are venerated as secondary patrons in the village of Florenville, situated on the river Sesmarus, commonly called Semoy, which rises near Arlon. That village is distant from Arlon seven leagues, or hours about, and is now of the Luxembourg dominion, by the confiscation of the goods of Robert, count of La Marck, whose ancestors brought these holy Relics from Burgundy, and venerated them on the festal day, and even now the parishioners venerate them, as above, on 6 July.
[3] Relics; Thus he of the public veneration of our Saints, adding the following concerning the relics severally: There are preserved, he says, still relics there in a case, which expresses the figure of an arm. There is a part of a bone of the thickness of an egg, which the pastor of the place, a man of note both for learning and for probity, asserts to be of one or the other, either Bertarius or Atalenus; who also communicated a manuscript, comprising a shorter life of the Saints, concerning which the discourse will recur a little after, where we shall treat of the manuscript expressly. Lahier, in a letter given at Pont-à-Mousson to Bollandus on 13 January 1649, writes: SS. Bertarius and Atalenus, Martyrs, are venerated in the bishopric of Toul, in the village of Breurey.
[4] But now let a progression be made from the sacred cult to the age in which they flourished both in life and in death. The age of [their life and death] The Acts to be given here presently by us, at once even on the very threshold, with these words: In the days of Pippin, the most glorious king of the Franks, express a distinct note of time, in which SS. Bertarius and Atalenus flourished, namely toward the middle of the eighth century. For the rest, as for what concerns the year of their birth, I have nothing either from the life or from elsewhere, from which I may define [it]. Greater light shines upon me as to the day of death, which probably seems to have fallen in the space about the middle of time which intervenes between the year
764 and 767 or 768. This very thing I take to be proved in this way. The Saints ceased to live at that time in which they gave themselves to the Roman pilgrimage, since on that journey, not yet having gone out from the borders of the county of Burgundy, they underwent death from a robber, as is said in the life chapter I. So it is necessary that both the aforesaid journey and their death happened before the year 767 or 768.
[5] For since it was with the good leave and consent of Waifar, under whom as Lord Bertarius, his domestic, was subject, probably deduced, against Castellanus. as is gathered likewise from chapter I, that they seized the Roman journey, disclosing their purpose to Duke Waifar, and asking of him license of the journey, as thou hast ibid. n. 5; and since the same Waifar died, as is signally narrated ibid. n. 3, having enjoyed no longer than about three years his paternal power and likewise malice against the king, his Lord Pippin, his father, the Duke of Aquitaine, having withdrawn to a monastery; since, I say, he died in the year 767, or according to the Labbe reckoning, in the year 768; it remains, that they began their meditated Roman journey not before about the year 764 or the next following, nor after the year 767 or the near 768; therefore it fell in the intervening interval between this time. On what foundation then does Castellanus in his Universal Martyrology place our Martyrs about the year 715?
[6] Of our manuscripts have thus. The life, to be subjoined to this Commentary, Our manuscripts and many annotations has its origin from the manuscript codex of St. Mansuetus of Toul, as Peter Francis Chifflet noted with his own hand in our said manuscript, who first sent it to Alexander Wilthem: and then from the same Wilthem it came to us on 14 May 1661, as I find noted by the hand of Bollandus. To this accords another of our manuscripts, come from the literary furniture of the Illustrious Man the Chancellor of France Séguier, which was so far of use and aid to us, that it was studiously collated by me with the Toul manuscript of St. Mansuetus, which we are presently to give, and the one could be corrected and emended from the other. There is in [our] hands another smaller manuscript life, sent by the same P. Alexander, before promised by P. Christopher Wilthem in the epistle produced above, in these words: The manuscript of the Passion the pastor praised above communicated, in an old character, of a hundred and more years, yet on paper. It begins thus: "In the times of Pippin and Waifar, of whom the first ruled the kingdom of the Franks, but the next was duke, etc." And it ends thus: "But the day of their passion is celebrated on the 6th of the Nones of July, by whose merits may the Lord snatch us from the snares of the enemies, to whom [be] praise and dominion through infinite ages." But if your Reverence have not a copy, I will describe and send [it], for nothing is more pleasant to me than, for my slenderness, to co-operate with the most noble labor undertaken by your Reverence for the glory of God and the Saints.
[7] Meanwhile I judge it superfluous to exhibit that copy here reprinted, whence [they were taken.] since it does not seem to merit any such thing on account of the poverty of new light. Add, that it is not without defects, as when it asserts Atalenus to have been born of the sister of Bertarius in the fortieth year of Pippin. Besides, when it says the holy Martyrs set out for Rome in the time of Pope Leo. The first error is so gross that it falls of its own accord; the second is refuted from what has been said. Of the name of the writer, or the age in which he lived, I have found no trace, much less anything certain or ascertained, whence I may instruct the reader. As for what pertains to the annotations, added at the end of the chapters in the accustomed manner; the Peter Francis Chifflet, to be praised more than once, was of no mediocre aid to us, from whose epistle given at Dijon 4 January 1661 we gleaned some observations. Another epistle also helped us, written by some Religious of our Society to Christopher Wilthem, comprising the notes of the same Chifflet, consulted on the present subject, which after the death of the aforesaid Christopher, was transmitted by P. Alexander Wilthem on 9 May 1659 to Bollandus. Moreover scarcely anyone could here shine before us better than the said Peter Francis, since to his skill in other, and especially Burgundian, affairs and places was added the fact that, by nation a Burgundian-Sequanian, by home a man of Besançon, and by habitation a man of Dijon, he was, and so not much removed from the places which he was illustrating.
[8] Whether our Saints were Martyrs in the strict name. My mind does not bear to inquire at more length whether our Saints were Martyrs in the strict name, or otherwise. I suppose it known to anyone, from what kind of cause death ought to be inflicted, that it may be reckoned raised to the little crown of martyrdom. But since I find no cause of that kind in the whole course of their life, in which they are reported to have been taken out of the way by a robber in hope of prey; I cannot but marvel that the author labors with so great a work, contends with so great effort, various examples being adduced, but not all equally and equally strongly urging, for martyrdom of the strict appellation, that he may associate them, thrice blessed, to the laureled choirs of the Martyrs. These things notwithstanding, we have called them by the name of Martyrs, by which name we have found them called.
ACTS
Written by an Anonymous author.
From the manuscript Codex of St. Mansuetus of Toul, collated with another manuscript of Séguier.
Bertarius, Martyr, among the Sequani (S.)
Atalenus, Martyr, among the Sequani (S.)
BHL Number: 1272
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
CAPUT I.
The birth of St. Bertarius; his holy life among the wicked; the attempted Roman journey with his nephew Atalenus; death inflicted on both by a robber.
Bertarius' birth, In the days of Pippin, the most glorious King of the Franks, who by a triumphal war crushed the tyranny of Aistulf, prince of the Lombards, once and a second time a, and twice freed the Roman Pope Stephen b from his violent oppression; there flourished a certain priest of laudable life, by name Bertarius c, by origin of stock from Aquitaine on both parents' side. Of what merit and sanctity this man was, his holy conversation proves, by which he shone forth, a good [man] among the evil, since among thorns he sprouted like a rose. And as a certain theologian of divine contemplation says, that it is of no great praise if one lives well among the good, but if one lives well among the evil, so he lived in the nefarious house of Waifar d, Duke of the Aquitanians, like a new Lot in the midst of the Sodomites, whom the blessed Apostle Peter commends by his testimony, when he thus mentions of him in his epistle: And the Lord delivered just Lot, oppressed by the injurious conversation of the nefarious. For in sight and hearing he was just, dwelling among those who from day to day vexed the just soul with wicked works. But because it is written, As the father of a family [is], such also [are] his domestics; it seems it should be made known in few words, who this Waifar was, that we may more fully admire the patience of this Saint.
[2] For a malignant [one] burst forth from the malignant, a worse from the worst, of [his holy life among the wicked] the son of Duke Hunald, of him namely who frequently rebelled against his lord, the aforesaid King Pippin, and, frequently by defection brought to the despair of himself, in a manner quite congruous to his soldiery, became a monk. When he had seen his son Waifar grow up in enormity of body, and vigor of strength, and by the acumen of subtle counsels to transcend his paternal arts for perverting all things, recalling indeed evil things of himself against the King, but reckoning worse things, glad, of his successor son: for in comparison of the cunning and fortitude of his son, counting his own attempts as nothing, he chose to slacken freely for him the reins of the faculty, that he himself might lie hidden idle in a monastery, and that the son might assail the king, warlike: whence he wished thus to substitute him as heir of the dukedom to himself, that no one on account of nearness of kin could go against him. Therefore, cunningly calling to himself his own brother Hatto, he tore out his eyes, and, supported by these merits, entered a monastery.
[3] But Waifar, having enjoyed for about three years his paternal power and likewise malice, the integrity of [his life] having attempted many things with vain effort against the king his lord Pippin, first of all by the vigor of Austrauld and Galeman, Counts, destitute, his forces of Pippin being lost, his mother too being captured, with his two sisters, and brought into the royal power, he himself is slain in the seven hundred and sixty-seventh year e from the Incarnation of the Lord: which Hunald his father hearing, straightway f to leave the monastery, and returning to the vomit, like a dog, arms being resumed, and his wife received, resolved, as once, to rebel against the King, not now as before against Pippin, but against his son Charles; for he had already died. But his forces being made vain, turned to flight, and captured by his pursuers, and led back as a fugitive before the King's presence, there, deprived of all power, he lost his obstinacy, compelled and unwilling.
[4] Let anyone see, whether in so great a pestilence a place could be given to sanctity, and of [his patience.] where there was a seditious kingdom, a perjured lordship, the right of faith corrupted, the state of the soldiery conspired against right against the King, an army animated against God's ordinance, a house within most evil, a court worse without, secretly nefarious counsels, openly most wicked commands; behold it is clearly given to understand how patiently that Saint lived among so many whirlwinds, who could say according to the Psalmographer, All thy high waves and thy floods have passed over me. Whence it came about, that even Waifar, a man of insane mind, honored him with a vehement reverent mind, and embraced [him] with a special love. For it was consequent, that he should be lovable to mortals, whom almighty God had made gracious by the merits of sanctity.
[5] But he had a nephew by his sister g, Atalenus by name, joined with Atalenus, his nephew by his sister, he seeks Rome, whom he himself, washing with sacred Baptism, had imbued with the Sacraments of the Catholic faith. This one, from his very infancy instructed in twofold knowledge and profiting in it in morals and life, cultivated his uncle as a father continually, and clung to him by obeying, who, promoted through the several grades by ecclesiastical tradition, had now received the office of the diaconate at the altar of God. At some time therefore by equal counsel they decreed, that under the pretext of prayer, they should visit blessed Peter at Rome. Disclosing this too to Duke Waifar h and asking of him license of the journey, thus it was answered them: Grievous, friends, seems your labor, so far a way, but more grievous your absence: remain, I pray, in this province, lest your removed presence bring affliction upon us. The vow (he says) of this way we have offered to God, which we in all ways dread to break. And he: Go, he says, with good fortune; the Lord be with you in the begun journey, and direct his Angel in your company.
[6] But they, as holy and religious men, since they had obtained the faculty of going, resolve first of all to tend to Tours, to the thresholds of St. Martin, St. Martin's tomb at Tours being saluted; and there, prostrate before the tomb, implore with all their hearts the holy Confessor, that he would entreat the Lord for their sins, so that he might both relax their offenses to them, and be present, a propitious prosperer, to their way. Thence they move their step toward the city of Orléans, and there, entering the venerable temple of the holy Cross i, they pray
to be fortified with the seal of the same holy Cross, by whose mystery they believed themselves redeemed. Then, visiting the holy places contiguous to their way, and commending themselves to God through each, at last they direct their journey toward the southern region, that with expedited foot they might hasten to Rome.
[7] Having measured out by journeying the borders of all France, but falling upon a robber, they drew near with quick step to the bounds of Burgundy: and having entered the county of Port [k], they got in the village of Manaore l a lodging, where dwelt a certain horseman only by name Servatus Saved, but in the enormity of all crimes lost. For he was a most wicked murderer, and a notable robber, who, infesting the ways with assiduous ambushes, carried off booties, and lived by rapine. To this most wicked lord there was a worse servant, who performed for him all the evils commanded more wickedly, whose name, interpreted, is consistent with his morals; for he was called Agenulsus, that is, faithful to none in acting agendo nulli. To whom his lord said: When in the morning time by the ray of the sun the darkness shall be put to flight, go as quickly as possible to survey all things near or far, and if anywhere thou find something for plundering, thou shalt hasten with swift return to announce [it]. And he, active, morning being made, takes the road, giving his eyes to the golden woods and fields, and, courses being driven on both sides, at last struck upon the place where holy Bertarius was with Atalenus.
[8] Now the holy men had departed from the aforesaid village, and having proceeded somewhat far, they had met a certain fountain, and, the little ass being relieved of its burden, they had chosen for it the grass [*], for themselves the fountain. Then a tin cup being drawn out from the little box, and reclining beside the fountain, they began to drink. O egregious cupidity, how illustrious eyes thou makest, whom thou invadest! for Agenulf, thou acting, thought the tin cup silver, and esteemed the holy Orators to be merchants, and, intent on the little bundles, believed himself to have obtained plenty of gold and silver. Then he studied cunningly to inquire the region, home, means, causes of the journey, and moreover added: Whence, if you deign, I will procure for you a fit house on this night. But they answered: Where the Lord shall grant, we follow, and with thee whithersoever thou lead, we accompany thee. And he led them into the house of his lord, where they found Servatus, with his mother, by name Boblia, at that time in those parts a woman of especial fame, who, conspicuous for goodness, especial in hospitality, feared God as a suppliant, but for whom sterility would have been better than an unhappy fecundity of an evil offspring.
[9] Again the interrogation is turned round, and the same questions which had been asked by Agenulf are curiously repeated, the mother of the said robber vainly resisting, They answer that they, Aquitanians, gone out from the House of Duke Waifar, had entered upon the way of the Roman journey; of the two, one a Deacon, the other a Presbyter; and that the Presbyter indeed [was] called Bertarius, but the Deacon Atalenus: at this the woman, moved to compunction, recognized the servants of God, since the piety of a most clement heart sounded from the gentleness of their speech. Then she piously entreats her sacrilegious son for them, that they might suffer nothing evil from him. Then she asks the holy Presbyter, that with the Deacon he would deign on the morrow to visit her house, for she dwelt in a neighboring village, which was called Rauserias m, where a basilica had been built in honor of St. Valerius n. And on the following Lord's day they began to wish to go whither the woman had invited. Therefore Agenulf, entering to his Lord, with furious voice complaining, upbraided him, because he had given the Saints an escort of departing, and Servatus said: My mother's prayers restrain me, that I put not hand on them. The mother, says Agenulf, gave womanly counsel, that thou shouldst today take upon thyself an irrecoverable loss. For whence do they seem thus wearied, except from the unbearable weight of gold and silver? Wherefore let us swiftly pursue them, before they be supported by the protection of the village.
[10] At this Servatus is seized by hunger of gold, by which vehemently agitated, both are beheaded he pursues the Servants of God, and soon leaping upon his horse, is borne at a rapid pace, than whom no slower Agenulf is joined with united front, and, relying on equal course, they overtake the Saints of God. Whose onrush when holy Bertarius had seen, what that course portended he conjectures forthwith, and says: Behold, most beloved son, how suddenly from friends enemies have burst forth, who strive to assail us gratuitously. Whence, if it is possible, let us attempt flight, that we may free ourselves from death, nay rather by that very flight free them from homicide. O death, when thy bitterness threatens, how bitter thou art felt, and horrible, especially when one, safe and lively, is constrained by thy nearness by a sudden incursion! Whence it happened that the holy youth Atalenus, forgetting a little his purpose, tried to bring against them holy hands, though unarmed with weapons, yet with armed spirits. For from a neighboring hedge, an ash stake being seized, with his whole effort he was hurried to battle, which when holy Bertarius had seen, with sad mind, trembling, he cried out forthwith: I command thee by our Lord Jesus Christ, that thou lift not thy arm against them, but fix in the ground the staff, and receive martyrdom. For far be it, far be it, most beloved, that our devotion be stained by blood shed in turn, since he who said, In patience souls are possessed, can consecrate our martyrdoms by the present patience.
[11] But he, fixing the stake in the ground, awaits the last hour. I am about to say marvelous things; the dry wood lost its dryness, and put on greenness, and, a succulent root being sent downward, greenness succeeds through the arms of the branches, a notable miracle preceding. which, clothed with bark, thrust forth leaves without: hence the staff snatched up becomes a great tree, a most beautiful ash, which stands, having obtained, [as] a witness of the Saints' victory. Then, swords being drawn, the robbers beheaded the glorious Martyrs there. And when they gaped for the prey, and tore the little bundles, they found nothing except a priestly vestment, a Genesis book, a missal, and the passion of St. Eugenia o: but upon them only the relics of the Saints, of gold too and silver they found absolutely nothing. Then, clothed with confusion, and terrified with fear, and all hope of counsel being lost, and moreover terrified by the coming of the above-named Count Galeman, they chose one only defense, that the heads, tonsured in clerical manner, they should thrust into the river Lentana [p]. For he knew that of clerics a greater inquiry would be made, and a more numerous exaction of penalties.
ANNOTATA.
g. Otherwise Athalenus.
Saussay in his Gallican Martyrology on 22 October, writes "Portus Buxinus," not "Bucinus," and says it is situated in the territory of Langres, where is celebrated the passion of St. Valerius the Martyr, and of blessed Desiderius, bishop of Langres, likewise a Martyr, [his] disciple. Mention of the county of Port is found in several inscriptions, having an antiquity of 600 years and more. Not far off was, from the Saône, and the metropolis of Burgundy, Port-sur-Saône, which in my judgment is Portus Bucinus, or of Abucinus in the Province of Maxima Sequanorum, illustrious by the martyrdom of St. Valerius, archdeacon of Langres, at which time Desiderius was bishop of the said city. So Peter Francis Chifflet, of whom there is treatment in the preliminary Commentary. Another Chifflet (the forename is not added), writing at Brussels on 15 February 1665, thus comments on the aforesaid words of Peter Francis: "Portus Bucinus" is on the river Lupa, which is also called Lupus Loup, nor is it far from the city of Dole, metropolis of Burgundy. "Portus ad Ararim" Port-sur-Saône, he says, is on the river Saône, very remote from the other. So there cannot be a single port, but two.
p. The river commonly called Lentene, or Lantaine, is not far distant thence, namely from the place named under letter m. So Chifflet.
* otherwise "Hunnaldus."
* otherwise "ubi."
* otherwise "reverenti."
* otherwise "of a far way."
* otherwise "omni."
* otherwise "germen."
* otherwise "itidem."
* otherwise "commeatum."
* read "erecta."
* otherwise "ipsos."
* otherwise "mergerent."
CAPUT II.
The finding and recognition of the Saints' bodies; a translation attempted in vain; an altar erected. Whether they are to be reckoned in the number of martyrs.
In the place therefore which the inhabitants called Artanum, there they sank the heads of the Saints. On the same day a certain fisherman, gone out from the village Finding of the bodies; which is called of the Burgundians a, received in his boat, sank his nets for fishing, and at last came to the spot where the deep had rendered up the heads above the waters. Which, when he saw carried above the waters, struck with huge dread, he trembled, and, his steps turned to flight, with all effort betakes himself to the fields. But, returned within himself, and revolving with himself what the cause might be, of what he had seen, he retraced his way, whence he had taken the beginning of his flight. So, returned again to the water, he is armed with the standard of the holy Cross; then, about to draw out the heads, he enters the boat, and, the nets being straightway cast, there enters a very great abundance of fish with the holy heads [*]. Which heads, being assigned to the necessary uses, he reverently carried to the village. Now the fame had flown through all the neighborhood, that two, with throats cut, lay near the village Rauserias. Weaving therefore wicker baskets, the people of Bourguignon carried back the heads, where the bodies lay, and, according to the signs of the incision, took care to restore to each his own head.
[18] There dwelt in the castle of Faverney b a certain woman consecrated to God, by name Goidila c, in the monastery of St. Mary appointed to the service of Christ. recognition Who, the martyrdom of the Saints being discovered, one of the priests of the monastery being directed thither, gave effort diligently to inquire whether they lay in the domain of her power. The priest did as was commanded, and reported that they were far from the possession of the monastery, about twelve stadia. But when the woman consecrated to God had learned that they were not far enough from the monastery, she ordered the priests and other clerics to proceed with her thither, and, if opportunity were given, to translate them to Faverney. Then it was come to the bodies of the Saints. But the nun-woman began to be anxious with grievous grief, since she was not able to inquire who they were, or whence they had come, or by what names they were called. At last she heard a response of this kind from the bystanders: There is a woman in the village which is called Rauserias, who spoke with them at the house of her son, she is said to have inquired of them both their country, and the cause of the way, and their names.
[14] through the robber's mother So the woman consecrated to God ordered the woman to be brought, and began to inquire concerning the Saints the truth of the matter; but she, whom a wretched conscience terrified for her wicked son, feared to make public the order of the matter. Thereupon the nun, her eyes cast to heaven, with tearful groans implored almighty God: Thee I invoke, most high creator, who art wont to hear those asking just things. Let the prayers of thy handmaid enter, I pray, within the sanctuary of heavenly compassion, that thence I may divinely obtain the grace of a manifest hearing; so that, the names of these Saints being known, we may know whom we ought to venerate, entreat, cultivate, and honor. Then, turned to Boblia, I adjure thee (she says) by him who redeemed thee, Jesus Christ, break that pernicious silence, and unlock so harmful a taciturnity, unto the glory and praise of the Saints; and as thou hast learned from them, so, indicating plainly, report to us who desire [it]: tell who they were, whence they came under clerical habit, of what grade or order, or by what names they were called. But the woman, the affection of her most wicked son being rejected, published the naked truth in naked words.
[15] made to the abbess Goidila, Today, she says, the third day is rolled out, since I saw them sound and unharmed, saying that they wished to tend to Rome. Of whom this elder, Bertarius by name, indicated himself a priest; but the younger, that is Atalenus namely, his nephew, he pronounced a deacon, and each betrayed himself [as] sprung from the Aquitanian region. A deep grief pressed her down as she said such things, whence, drawing profound sighs from the bottom of her heart, at last with raised voice thus wailing in groaning she lamented: Alas me, more unhappy than all mortals! whose devotion, turned into ruin, precipitated those martyrs of God into death, whom, while I invited them to my lodging, I, wretched, delivered to the destruction of beheading. I knew not at all, that my pestiferous tongue would bring forth these deaths, while in my own house I thought to prepare for them charitable services, and thus the way itself was the occasion of their end. Her, lamenting herself with these and like goads of griefs, the handmaid of God, not enduring, began to console her with these admonitions: It is not fitting, most beloved, that thou be so greatly troubled, because before God the sentence of the judge stands not on the outcome, but on the choice of the will [*]: moreover believe me for certain, that from this thou wilt not only be free of fault, but also wilt receive the reward of good will; and although thou didst by no means fulfill in them the good works which thou wishedst, yet good will is believed to suffice, [by] the sentence of the holy Fathers.
[16] Meanwhile the monastic household came, that, by command of the abbess, as she vainly attempts to translate them to Faverney; lifting the bodies of the Martyrs from that place, they should translate them, to be buried, as they thought, at Faverney. Which being lifted from the earth and the bier being placed under their necks, thus the bearers, by the heavenly virtue of the Saints, are fixed to the ground, as if stones stood in the way in the place of men, with immovable position. Of all there was one outcry, an impulse of striving, an exhortation of departing: thence others and others ran together, rushed in, and, not knowing what they suffered while carrying, upbraided those delaying. These, hands being given and received, going before, drew; those pushed the backs of the followers with propped palms; but where the heavenly nod is wanting, in vain the mortal effort labors, pressed by the burden they failed, and what they were not able to carry, with wearied neck they let go, and in the place where they had received martyrdom, there they buried the Saints, and a dwelling being established over them, astonished they departed. These things were announced to Boso d, abbot of Luxeuil e, who commanded these same things by letter to the Pontiff of Chrysopolis Besançon f, and coming likewise where the bodies rested buried, and inquiring and learning the signs of sanctity, in honor of the holy Mother of God, at the head of the burial they built an altar.
[17] From that day, in that place Christ the Lord showed for them many virtues miracles, curing most celebratedly [*] the blind, lame, an altar erected; miracles. mute, energumens, and those beset by various languors. Nor does it seem to be passed over in silence, what remedies the sick received from the mentioned ash, which holy Atalenus had fixed in the ground, blessed Bertarius commanding. Whosoever are overrun with pains of the head or of the teeth, as soon as they covered the head with the fronds of this tree, the pest being put to flight, without delay are refreshed. And a very slender point being taken from the same wood in the manner of an awn ear of grain, and then a little blood being drawn out, forthwith all anguish is calmed, and into the pristine quiet every scourge there, peace being made, is changed.
[18] Perhaps some unskilled person will try to mutter with himself, The Cross and patience, that such a killing is to be reckoned not martyrdom, but a mere accident: but thou, who contendest to interpolate i.e. deny a martyrdom of this kind, look diligently at the error by which thou art blinded; which perceived, forsake what thou wrongly thinkest, and embrace that whence thou canst be taught. See first, whether thou wilt be able to take from these blessed Men the crown of martyrdom, who, before they were beheaded, were Martyrs through patience: where has that saying of the Apostle slipped from thee: But they who are Christ's, have crucified their flesh with its vices and concupiscences? Certainly where he names crucifixion, he designates passion. Which also by experiment a certain most vigilant instiller of blessed mortification had proved, when he said to his hearers: Participating in the passions of Christ through patience, that we may deserve to be partakers of his kingdom.
[19] I will pass over for a little the greater things, and come to the lesser. St. Augustine being witness In these which I wish to bring forth, hear, believing, a master, not me, poor and small, but a holy doctor, blessed Augustine. Whatever, he says, is divinely avenged before that last judgment, whether through the wicked, or through the just, whether through the ignorant, or through the knowing, whether secretly, or openly, it is to be believed to avail not to the destruction of men, but to their medicine. Which medicine namely they who shall spurn, are prepared for the last punishment. But if it is so, nay because it is so, where he named vengeance, he did not designate the saints through sinners; if they who are constrained by the guilt of sins obtain medicine through any scourges, and unless they spurn [it] through impatience, thence obtain pardon; what is to be said of those who live most innocently and holily, when according to the body they patiently perish by the swords of the wicked? O with how great a summit is the height of patience raised on high! which the Lord erects with so great a peak of loftiness, that in it he says the possession of the soul is placed.
[20] In your patience, he says, you shall possess your souls. Did he say in fasts, in vigils, in these or those virtues souls are possessed? But because patience holds the perseverance of all virtues, therefore in it souls are given to be possessed. This these holy Martyrs offered to God for the greatest gift, since, hope being placed in the heavens, they delivered their bodies to the executioners like sheep to be torn. Hence it is, that we assert [it] a true martyrdom, which is agreed to have been consummated by patience. But perhaps thou wilt not acquiesce, unless I exhibit to thee witnesses: Abel is not read to have struggled; yet, slain by his brother, he is honored as a true martyr in the church.
[21] But thou wilt say, that he had good works, which his brother's envy could not bear: I answer, it is a martyrdom, that these had greater works, who, following the apostolic commands, as heirs of God, and coheirs of Christ, proved in faith and life in the Church, were constituted holy ministers of the altar, having obtained the true consecration of the body and blood of the Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world. Whose martyrdom if thou wilt still annul, it is now necessary for thee, that thou contend to void the blood of the innocents, shed according to thy notion of outcome by the sudden fury of Herod. If the divine goodness consecrated as martyrs those slaughtered for Christ without understanding, without reason, without speech, without confession, by the example of other Martyrs for this only, that the nativity of the boy Jesus was the occasion of their death; would these be excluded by thee from the laurels of victory, who, when they could perhaps have manfully defended themselves, chose for the name of the Savior to offer their own blood through endurance? Wilt thou take from God the vigor of his piety, and so order martyrdom by thy nods, that unless they defended Christianity before the Deciuses, Valerians, Diocletians, and Maximians, the highest goodness cannot crown any saints whatever embracing beheading through patience?
[22] Will, according to thee, the crown of Lambert [g], Pontiff and Martyr, perish in the Church, the author proves our Saints to be martyrs. whose blood the insane insolence of his enemies shed gratuitously? Or does the palm of Gengulf h of Langres, withering, wither away, whom an adulterous cleric immolated, lest the sword destined to it by the holy Man with just vengeance should cut him off? These the holy Church venerates in the number of martyrs, and thou, I pray, do not steal, under the name of mere outcome, the crowns of such, because to robbers of this kind that lamentable closing of the gate is not opened, where it is said not to thieves, but to the foolish virgins: Amen I say to you, I know you not. But now to the miracles let us turn the point of our style, which commend their holy martyrdom after their glorious death, that, convinced by signs and prodigies, thou mayst give with us glory to God in the holy Martyrs.
ANNOTATA.
support, remained suspended in mid-air, at the same distance from the ground, Chifflet communicated to us three lessons, which do not pertain hither.
* otherwise "omnibus."
* otherwise "judicii."
* otherwise "creberrime."
CAPUT III.
The robbers punished in their descendants; a woman, thrice admonished by the Saints in a vision, translates their bodies; a temple built for them by a cleric.
[23] The descendants of those who slew the Saints, Therefore all the posterity of those who slew the Saints of God expose a daily prodigy by their punishments, under the eyes of all, even silent. Which that I may recite more plainly, I will bend my style a little to the burial of the Saints. The place in which they were first committed to the earth, was, as it is even now, woody with dense forests. Whence it happened, as we said in the series of the passion, that a first basilica, on account of haste, was built of wood over them, where the peoples, invited by assiduous miracles, the walls of that first oratory being cast down, built a stone [one] with beautiful work, and, on account of the flood of those coming, established there a market. In the cemetery therefore a large fountain rises, which thence with quick course extends into a stream. There on the day of their solemnity, while the fairs of saleable things are celebrated, the fountain itself furnishes abundantly to the thirsty a grateful drink. Then if by chance it happen, that any one of that mentioned evil offspring should thrust himself in there, not only the stream, but even the very vein so retreats into its inmost recesses, that they who just now with laden hands drew out an immense bath of water, suddenly can scarcely wet a spoon.
[24] how and how marvelously punished. Which miracle from that time is so heavenly extended even to us, that [if] anyone by chance be bitten with some hesitation over this, going thither, has proved these things true. Under the eye of this sun it is possible to see the misery upon the progeny of such wretches: in their first increments, their adolescence grows strong with crude vigor, corpulence is formed, substance abounds, lively prudence flourishes, but all these things thence shaken, in the sinking age, so does mendicity bury them in ignominious oblivion, that it can scarcely be believed that happiness ever had them. By such beginnings they seem to indicate what they could have been, if their forebears had wished to restrain their hands from the killing of the Martyrs, since the subsequent vengeance indicates how great judgments of the slain rise up over them.
[25] A widow woman Bertarius finally and Atalenus, blessed Martyrs of Christ, in the progress of time appeared to a certain widow in sleep, admonishing [her], that she should go as quickly as possible to the place of their burial, and thence carry off their bodies with the sarcophagus, and bury them at the village of Bl. Lidericus, in the place which should be shown to her. But she, sleep being digested shaken off, waking, and as it were conjecturing by reason of the things she had seen, believed it could not be, that the holy Men should command impossible things to her. For she considered, that she, broken at once by age and ill-health, lacked human strength and aid, since there was no solace present except a little son, two cows, and one cart. By this conjecture excusing herself with herself, she began altogether to disbelieve the vision which she had seen. And behold, again the holy Martyrs, appearing to the woman, began to complain against her through a vision, saying: Why hast thou not given faith to our precepts, but, relying on thy heart, followest the things which thou ineptly conjecturest?
[26] To this she: Lords, she says, who am I, by the holy Martyrs or what authority of my power is there, that I, a woman quite vile, should dare even to weigh these things, how much more to relate them to any one not with impunity? Behold, first of all, aids are everywhere wanting, all the ways of that place a dense throng from every quarter treads day and night, and you say: Go, and translate thence our bodies. Shall I, reinforced by troops of soldiers, break the way by force, and, going and returning through the midst of so many peoples, take you up in the eyes of all? Or, going alone, shall I subject myself to the burden of very many oxen or men? Seek, I pray, Lords, someone to whom you may command such things, and thrust not a needy poor woman into impossible things. The Saints said: Fear not, but yoke those cows to the cart, and, the boy being taken, proceed thither, and follow securely the successes which we will exhibit to thee.
[27] Then awakened, and terrified with anxious spirit, thrice appearing to her in sleep, admonished, she gave faith indeed to the vision, but that she might be strengthened by a third revelation, she insisted with assiduous prayers. At last, appearing a third time, and rebuking the woman with horrific terrors, they command, that she perform without delay what was asked, lest the divine vengeance strike the slowness of this disobedience. Who at once tore herself from the bed, tied both cows to the cart, took the boy with her as quickly as possible, and came in haste to the place by night. They find a mass of a sarcophagus of such magnitude, that, ropes being applied, it could scarcely be carried by the necks of forty men. For in one hollowed rock there seemed to be two vessels, and a certain middle ledge divided the bodies lying there from each other, which by the industry of the artificer rose from the same stone between both. Then, dividing between themselves the weight of so great a burden by the head and feet, and feeling no difficulty at all, they placed [it] on the cart, and thus returned back, whence they had come.
[28] she translates the bodies in a marvelous manner. Let anyone weigh, why the Saints willed that great stone of two sarcophagi to be lifted by a little woman and a boy only, namely that by such a miracle glory might be given to God in the martyrs, and the presumption of sedition be calmed in those repeating [it]. It was added also to this notable deed, that in the space of so many thousands of paces no one met them in going or in returning, since, as was said above, all the ways were filled with a continual throng day and night by the flooding people. But the bodies of the Saints they placed where it had seemed good.
[29] A certain cleric A certain cleric, by name Merannus, very rich in family and wealth, at some time dwelling in the aforesaid village, was staying on his own property. It came into his mind, that he should build a more noble basilica, that he might place the holy Martyrs in it, as it were more augustly: which counsel he first thought worthy to be implored of God, and to be sought of the Saints, to whose service he had devoted himself. A place therefore being contemplated, in a middling place of the village, with the masons a and other workmen, he tried to set to the foundation, as soon as from that day the dawn should have poured back light to mortals on the morrow. Meanwhile, a supplication of prayers being made, having gone out from the shrines of the old basilica, darkness coming on, the day being turned into night, his limbs being given to the little bed, he is loosed into sleep. A valley lay above the hill, on whose height he was striving to erect the building, which even seemed accommodated by a fitter level ground to that structure, unless it were covered with thick mire with marshy sands.
[30] he founds a new temple for the Saints. But behold, there is shown to him in sleep as it were a wheel going out from the door of the oratory, bearing a taper lit on either side across the hole of the hub, which thence into the valley, driven with rapid course, by the bending of its circuit designated both the compass and the spaces of the future building. But, the ray of the sun breaking the mist of night, the presbyter Merannus calls together an assembly of the country-folk, and expounds to them the mentioned vision of the wheel: which expounded, he goes to seek, if it had left any signs of itself, and finds a worn track, marking from the door of the church a way, which the wheels of the cart alone had pressed, when from the slope of the mountain they had sought the level ground; which, pursuing with sagacious search, from the things which he had seen through sleep, he found nothing to be wanting. By which indications alertly certified, he commands the field to be cut through with the teeth of hoes. Then, instead of the marsh which he dreaded, there appeared most solid earth, and, the artificer being secure, he laid the foundations of the temple. O illustrious miracles of the Saints, whose virtues insensible things feel. The rock, forgetful of its weight, is lifted by a fragile hand, the marsh, turned into solid ground, received the building.
The rest is wanting.
ANNOTATA.
* otherwise "in editiori" on a higher (place).
* otherwise "omnibus."