ON ST. GOAR, PRESBYTER AND CONFESSOR,
AT ST. GOAR IN THE TERRITORY OF TRIER.
6TH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Goar, Presbyter and Confessor, in the territory of Trier (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
§ I. The place of deposition, the ancient cult, the age in which he lived.
The glorious Confessor of Christ, St. Goar, set out from Aquitaine into the territory of Trier, that, his paternal house, friends, and kinsmen being left, he might lead a solitary life: exceedingly aware that he lived well who lay well hidden, he inhabited a cell built there by himself. The place of deposition, Near this cell, says Cointe in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, volume 3, page 208, grew up a town not ignoble, whose name today [is] from St. Goar, commonly S. Guuer. It is situated on the left bank of the Rhine, between Upper Wesel and Boppard, towns of the diocese of Trier. The same tract of land is by others called Trichoria, by a nomenclature, unless I am mistaken, derived from the Greek word χώρα, region, and τρὶς, thrice; because, on the testimony of Brower, it is a region of triple soil, namely triangular in respect of the Moselle and Rhine, and a little region of Upper Germany, and lying between the rivers on the banks of the same rivers.
[2] For the rest, the memory of the holy Confessor is everywhere more celebrated, both among the most ancient and among the more recent Martyrologists, the ancient cult. than that it be necessary to spend effort in heaping up several announcements or elogia concerning him; especially since the things which pertain hither can be abundantly seen in Usuard, illustrated a few years ago. Yet what forbids to glean one or another announcement? The metrical Martyrologist Wandelbert, on 6 July, has thus: And then Goar is venerated, servant of Christ and sacred. Hear Usuard: In the district of Trier, of St. Goar, presbyter and Confessor. I forbear more things, which are everywhere at hand. I cannot pass over in silence, that there is preserved among us an ancient legend, of which there is treatment below n. 20, in which, after the life of St. Goar and his miracles, written by Wandelbert, there is subjoined a proper Office and Mass of the same Saint, the time not being added, at which they first began to be used. The antiphons at first Vespers, Matins, and Lauds consist of hexameter verses, consonant or similarly falling in their middle and last part, which we commonly call Leonine; and this, if it be permitted me to indulge conjecture, seems to be an indication that the said Office savors of about the eleventh century, in which that kind of verses is said to have most flourished. That the feast of the Saint is celebrated in the archdiocese of Trier with a semi-double rite; but in the diocese of Speyer with the rite of a lesser double, I learn from a writing sent hither.
[3] Of various [authors] In determining the reckoning of the time in which St. Goar lived, it is not so agreed among the authors as concerning the place where he ceased to live. It will help first to bring into the midst the opinions of others, than to define anything certain. Let Sigebert lead the band, in the Chronicle on the year 600, speaking thus to our purpose: St. Goar, coming from Aquitaine, is illustrious in Gaul. With Sigebert accords the Utrecht manuscript of St. Salvator, of which below, in these words: In the seventeenth year of the emperor Maurice, St. Goar, coming from Aquitaine, is illustrious in Gaul. Cointe in the Annals of the Franks volume 2 places the departure of St. Goar into Austrasia to have happened in the year 618; and so seems to suppose that he took his first birth toward the end of the sixth century. But now, at what time he made the aforesaid departure, namely in the 35th year of King Clothar the second, the same author judges that Felicius administered the government of the See of Trier, to whom he makes the next successors in the archbishopric Sebaudus and Medoaldus (of whom a little after) and after these two he places Rusticus, the moderator of the same See, that very one before whom our Saint, of a false crime by calumniators
accused, and cited to plead his case and clear himself, appeared, and strenuously proved his innocence, by a miracle most worthy of the memory of all subsequent posterity, given before a frequent assembly of ecclesiastics, concerning which there is treatment in the life presently to be given, chapter 1; the event of which miracle Cointe combines with the year of Christ 640; finally elsewhere recording the death of our holy Confessor in the year 647 under Sigebert, son of Dagobert king of the Franks.
[4] Thou hast Cointe's chronological reckoning of the age in which St. Goar lived; of the age in which St. Goar lived, in whose footsteps Baillet nearly treads in the life of St. Goar, when he places him to have been born in the year 585, but died in 649, according to the more plausible opinion, as he himself affirms. Others, he says, remove him somewhat later, others advance [him] to the year 647. Others, who recede from these fixed points, slip by a manifest error. So he, in his manner, affirmatively and critically enough; whether so truly and solidly, will afterward be seen. To Cointe's chronological epoch Mabillon subscribes in the notes to the life of St. Goar, which that he may reconcile with the characteristic note of time, expressed by the most ancient author of the life, in these words: In the days of Childebert, king of the Franks, son of Clovis, there was a venerable man, by name Goar, he thus notes: By the name [of] son understand a great-grandson. For this place is to be understood of Childebert, son of Sigebert the elder, which Childebert ruled over Austria and part of Aquitaine after his father from the year 575 to 596, as Charles le Cointe on the year 597 n. 10 has already observed. For that St. Goar died when Sigebert, son of Dagobert the elder, was reigning in Austria, will appear from the following.
[5] Then, that he may reconcile a certain authority to his opinion, he proceeds in these words: This text Wandelbert rightly explained below: the opinions are reported. "But he was in the days of Childebert king of the Franks, who arose from the stock of the most famous king Clovis." But now what is the reason, that that king, under whom St. Goar lived beyond seven years, by name Sigebert, as he is recorded at the end of the life next to be subjoined, was Sigebert, son of Dagobert the elder, king of Austria, and not another? The reason Mabillon suggests in a note, toward the end of the Goarian Life: Since Sigebert, born of Theuderic, obtained the name of king for a few days, we refer the death of St. Goar to the year about 649 … Certainly Sigebert before the year 640 [was] too young for that deed with St. Goar to seem able to have been done by him. And this epoch of time Mabillon judges must be admitted in fixing the age of St. Goar.
[6] Our Christopher Brower, most deserving of the literary world by his published Annals, The opinion of Brower seems to be preferred and an accurate investigator especially of Trier affairs, dissents much from the chronological reckoning of the above authors, and judges that the series of time must be ordered in this manner. He places the beginnings of the Trier solitude frequented by St. Goar in the year 519; Vibicius being prelate of the church of Trier; since, he says, Wandelbert reports in the memoir of St. Goar that he lived when Childebert, son of Clovis, brother of Theuderic, was reigning. Where however the name of Felix, which no ancient indices of bishops receive, we think must be obliterated, the genuine name of Fibicius, as later writers read, being substituted. The illustrious miracle wrought before Rusticus, bishop of Trier, an infant of three days being bidden to speak, of which above, he conjectures to have fallen in the year 566, which was the 48th of the age of Rusticus, the third of the Trier episcopate, at which time Sigebert reigned in Austrasia. Finally the death of St. Goar the same Author fixes in the year 575.
[7] the opinion of Brower And this last reckoning of time, ordered by Brower, as more probable and truer, so far at least as I have been able to attain, the opinions of the other authors being left, I judge must be embraced. Let us briefly discuss the weights of the reasons which persuade it. Four chronological points are expressed by the ancient writer of the Life, on which, as on a hinge, this whole question, which is in hand, turns; namely Childebert King of the Franks, son of Clovis, besides Fibicius archbishop of Trier, in whose time our Confessor placed the beginnings of the solitary life; moreover Rusticus, likewise archbishop of Trier, in whose presence he gave forth the famous miracle. Finally Sigebert king of the Franks; while he lived, St. Goar is recorded by the writer of the life to have migrated to the saints above.
[8] That those four fixed points of time aptly cohere among themselves, receive in few words. as resting on four chronological points. The aforesaid Childebert began to reign in the year 511, ceased in 558; but Fibicius presided over the See of Trier in the year 519, as is marked in the Chronological Index of Trier affairs in Brower. So Childebert and Fibicius lived at the same time, and rightly is St. Goar said in their times, about to begin the solitary life, to have turned aside, Aquitaine his country being left, to the territory of Trier. But the above-mentioned Rusticus ruled the See of Trier in the year 564, laid it down by the intervention of death in the year 573, on 14 October, as is noted in the same Chronological Index: St. Goar gave forth the memorable prodigy before him in the year 566, as I said above, which again accord very neatly.
[9] The palmary difficulty concerning Sigebert, born to be objected A greater difficulty occurs in Sigebert, King of the Franks, in whose reign St. Goar is reported by the writer of the life to have paid the debt of death, and before to have refused the archbishopric of Trier offered to him by that king, of which there is treatment in the Life from n. 19. This point of time, as far as I conjecture, may have led Cointe, and perhaps his followers, into error; and given a handle for disturbing the whole chronological series, in wrongly reckoning the bishops of Trier, and in applying a contorted interpretation, understanding by Childebert son of Clovis, most expressly expressed in the life, Childebert great-grandson of Clovis. Namely the said author wished to recall to Sigebert, son of Dagobert the elder, who began to reign in the year 636 up to the year 663, all the other chronological notes expressed in the life of St. Goar, thinking, as I judge, that he had finished the matter, because Sigebert born of Theuderic obtained the name of king for a few days, and so there survived no other more accommodated for fixing the reckoning of time.
[10] is weighed and dissolved, So another Sigebert must be found, distinct from the former two. I do not think another can here be understood, than Sigebert king of Austrasia, the youngest of the four sons of King Clothar, which Sigebert was called by the author of the life king of the Franks, either because he was the son of a king of the Franks, or because he obtained a part of the kingdom of France, divided among four brothers after the death of Clothar. Unless thou prefer that, either from the author's error, or by another's interpolation, the adjoined particles "king of the Franks" crept in hither. However it be, if this our conjecture please thee less; do thou see that thou find a better, by whose support thou canst combine the four points of time, above proposed by me.
[11] But lest this interpretation seem drawn merely from my own sense, I adduce Wandelbert, of whom the discourse will recur in the paragraph next following, according to the sounder epoch of the Bishops of Trier, manifestly standing with us, when in the beginning of the life written by him, he says holy Goar remained, that is lived, up to Sigebert the king; whose son at last? Of Dagobert the elder king? By no means at all; but of that one who had the seat of his kingdom in the city of the Mediomatrici Metz. What clearer could be said for our purpose? What else is it to say, that he fixed the seat of his kingdom in the city of the Mediomatrici or of Metz, than that Sigebert, of whom here we treat, was king of Austrasia? To this is added, that the circumstances seem to conspire, the manner of speaking and acting, and finally the very words, concerning which consult the end of the life presently to be produced, which seem not obscurely to indicate Sigebert, who urges Goar to accept the episcopate of Trier, who, twenty days of deliberation being granted to him hesitating, dismisses him in peace, and again bids [him] return to himself, that time being fulfilled, to the city of Metz; who sent two priests, Eusebius and Agrippinus, being asked this by St. Goar, that they might render offices to him struggling with his last hour, with death; these things, I say, seem not obscurely to indicate that Sigebert was not monarch of the whole Frankish kingdom, but only king of Austrasia.
[12] But now it was my purpose, not to deviate even a nail's breadth from the epoch of the bishops of Trier, ordered by Brower. as it is woven by the praised Brower, the other writers being bidden farewell; for this reason, that that author seems to me to have more expressly, as they say, treated of Trier affairs, and so the chronological series of the bishops of Trier, and examined them, than others who treat matters of this kind incidentally, not rarely transcribing their own from others.
[13] These things thus established, now it pleases to weave the series of the whole Goarian life according to the above chronological computation. The chronology of the life of St. Goar is woven. Since I nowhere read how old St. Goar was when he migrated from Aquitaine to the territory of Trier, let us suppose he had about 24 years, and so began to draw the light of life about the year 495, since in the year 519, as we said, he came into Germany. After 47 years spent in solitude, he was called to Rusticus, to prove his innocence against calumniators. Finally, after the episcopate offered, but refused with heroic constancy, a space of 20 days for deliberating being asked and obtained, worn down by a strong fever, about seven years after, he exchanged mortal life for happy immortality, in the year 575, as is to be read in the Chronological Index in Brower. The sum therefore of the whole life of St. Goar is established at about eighty years, [he] dying, as the author of the life hands down, in a good old age, Cointe dissenting from us, who attributes to him only about two years above sixty. To the number of years of life, thus determined by us, there is superadded by Wandelbert, to the last seven years already mentioned, three years with three months. But, if we believe Mabillon, in the notes to the life of St. Goar, written by Wandelbert, from the mind of the primary author, the three years in which St. Goar was of afflicted health, are to be computed among those seven years.
§ II. On the various manuscripts treating of the deeds of St. Goar.
[14] No scanty supply of copies treating of the deeds done by St. Goar is at our disposal. There is one among the rest, taken from the Utrecht manuscript of St. Salvator, which could here perform the function of a compendium; but for this reason, that it teaches the reader nothing singular, but that it may be had more explained from other lives a little more prolix, I have judged it not worth the while to subjoin its argument in print. There is besides another, which by notes added in the margin indicates its origin in this manner: From the manuscripts of Mount St. Mary, and of the monastery of Accinctum, and of Vallis Lucens Clairlieu. Another is at hand from the manuscript of the monastery of Bonnefontaine. To which add two others expressed on parchment of larger form, bound from two volumes, of which one is ascribed to have been of the monastery of Vaucelles, of the Cistercian Order.
[15] What other copy should I involve in silence? which is preserved among us, which we have and which is noted to be transcribed from the manuscript of St. Omer, in whose upper
part Bollandus left noted, that there existed in the manuscript of the Queen of Sweden, n. 13, a Life of St. Goar agreeing with none of ours in all things; more however with this, so that it seems described from these, the context of the words being changed, the phrase for the most part retained, sometimes the words changed, some sometimes omitted: Finally in the last place I subjoin another copy, whose genesis Rosweyd marks in the margin with these words: From a very ancient Bertinian manuscript.
[16] them being compared with each other, which and why they are given here, The manuscripts of St. Omer and the Bertinian agree most perfectly. Attribute the very slight discrepancy to the copyists, otherwise scarcely worthy of consideration. Moreover it has seemed good to destine these copies for the press, as pure and genuine. Not a little do they seem, in my judgment at least, to conduce to proving the primitive simplicity, namely the things which in the notes we observe concerning some words, of which [see] at the note letter 1 chapter first, and letter c chapter 2. And indeed in instruments of this kind it is incredible how much the native candor of speech, and the simplicity of speaking, not sought, much less affected, but spontaneously offered, excels in degrees. I hope indeed it will be, that so many different copies of one life may serve for the correction of the life, which we shall presently give, as will be to be seen in the annotations.
[17] Wandelbert, deacon and monk of Prüm, most well-known by his metrical Martyrology, the life written by Wandelbert being passed over, by command of his abbot Marcuvard wrote two books on St. Goar, in the former indeed comprising the life of our Saint, which, the argument of the ancient writer being retained, he filed and polished; but in the latter pursuing the miracles wrought after the Saint's passing, which the said ancient Author, as far as we know, had left unmentioned. Let the praised Wandelbert be heard, speaking thus in the prologue.
[18] Since therefore you compel me, holy and most loving father Marcuvard, inasmuch as [it is not the most ancient of all.] to put my hand to a new work, that I should more accurately explain the acts of the holy Confessor of Christ Goar, which hitherto have stood in a quite mean style and speech, offending the hearing of many; I briefly satisfy those whom these my writings will perhaps be able to move, saying that I neither presumptively assume the authority of correcting that work, to which the studies of my elders have yielded, nor arrogantly apply literary labor to composing a new writing; but that I may simply keep the debt of obedience, [and] weigh what I put at the beginning, that, according to Scripture, it is glorious to narrate the works of God, and to commit the deeds of the saints, about to profit the age of men after us. I excerpt the things which to the same purpose the cited Author has at the end of the first book, where he signifies sufficiently that he consigned his life from an ancient anonymous Author: These things, he says, I had of the life of the holy man Goar, which I might commit to writing, received from old and very ancient copies; following the truth of which deeds narrated with entire fidelity, I strove to correct only the simplicity of the speech, which could offend the learned not a little.
[19] As for what pertains to the time in which he wrote; it seems that may somehow be gathered from the book on the miracles, When it was written and on what testimonies it rests in these words: These things concerning the miracles deservedly shown and exhibited of blessed Goar, I have digested in brief and open speech, as far as I could, bringing the narration to the year 839 of the Lord's Incarnation. But that he may reconcile greater authority to his narration of miracles, the same Author thus proceeds, and says he did not report all, but only those, he says, (as I noted at the beginning of this little book) committing to writing the things which I learned by the report of faithful men, and which I found to be held most well-known not only to those who reported them, but to almost all frequenting the place. Although I have not written all things which were reported by those very [men], to whose faith I thought special credence must be given; otherwise I should either have exceeded the measure of the undertaken work, or been to my hearers longer and more prolix than just … Wherefore it has pleased [me] also to subjoin blank parchments to this little book, that, the present work being published, in the times to come after these, whatever some prudent person shall esteem to be inserted, he may opportunely be able to insert.
[20] The miracles therefore which, as is put in the title prefixed to them in Mabillon, a little book by the same author on the miracles, were done at the memory of St. Goar, from the time his church happily began to be built, under three consecutive abbots of the monastery of Prüm, namely Assuerus the first, Tancradus the second, and Marcuardus the third, abbot of the said monastery, wrought, narrated by Wandelbert, and passed over by the more ancient Author, we shall give after the life. To say briefly some things of the ancient author, what his name was, what institute of life he professed, in what year he wrote, is hitherto hidden from me, and was hidden from Mabillon, who calls him anonymous, and an ancient writer, and, according to his epoch, fixing St. Goar about the year 649, younger by at least one century than Wandelbert was, who otherwise would not have called the writings of the anonymous Author old and very ancient copies. Meanwhile, the chronology of St. Goar, above ordered by us, standing, it seems the age of the author must be further removed, that it may be understood that he was nearer to St. Goar, whose deeds he committed to writing, if it be true, that, as Mabillon says, he was nearly contemporary with him.
[21] To the things which have hitherto been said of the various copies, in which [is the division with the following titles.] let there be woven, by way of corollary, a list of the ancient titles, as they are found in the second little book of Wandelbert on the miracles of St. Goar, in Mabillon.
The other little book begins, on the miracles which were done at the memory of St. Goar, from the time his church happily began to be built.
I. On the Translation of the body of St. Goar.
II. On the wine which grew in the cask under the abbot Assuerus.
III. On the wine which, the little conduit of the cask being opened, remained.
IV. On the lame servant of a certain Wido, healed.
V. On a certain Freculph, out of his mind.
VI. On Waltarius, a noble man possessed by a demon.
VII. On Reginarius, the uncle of the same Waltarius, punished for pride.
VIII. On the fishes, divinely given on the feast of St. Goar.
IX. On Count Heriwin, admonished by a divine scourge.
X. On the abbess Eufimia, similarly amended.
XI. On the Emperor Charles, endangered for dissimulation. On queen Fastrada, healed there.
XII. On him who, walking upon the ice, was endangered and saved.
XIII. On a certain Isenhard, procurator of a royal village, beaten and healed.
XIV. On the excessive flooding of a stream and the marvelous saving of a little tower.
XV. On a certain woman of the Scottish nation, healed there.
XVI. On the maidservant of a certain Hadebald, twice healed.
XVII. On another blind woman.
XVIII. On the little son of a certain maidservant, blind and mute.
XIX. On a lame woman from the city of Mainz.
XX. On potters punished for contempt.
XXI. On the infant who was carried on a horse across the Rhine unharmed.
XXII. On a certain Willigelm, delivered to a demon, and afterward rescued.
XXIII. On a certain presbyter Wolvo.
XXIV. On a merchant, by name Badoard, dead on account of a beaten servant.
XXV. On the servant of a certain Humfrid, marvelously loosed from bonds.
XXVI. On the abbot Maximinus, endangered for dissimulation but saved.
XXVII. On a certain Frisian, similarly nearly endangered.
XXVIII. On a merchant's servant marvelously rescued from peril of water.
XXIX. On the light divinely kindled in the lamps of the church.
XXX. On the Emperor Louis, there relieved of pain of the feet.
XXXI. On a Scottish woman, there healed of lameness.
XXXII. On an infant possessed by a demon at the memory of St. Goar, a bee being promised by the father, cured.
XXXIII. On the light twice kindled in the lamp divinely.
XXXIV. On an infant lame and deaf, and likewise a blind girl, there healed.
XXXV. A commemoration how and by whom his Cell of St. Goar was associated to the monastery of Prüm, begins happily.
§ III. On the relics of St. Goar; the translation; the posthumous fame.
[22] The town, which has from St. Goar its founder the name of Goar, raised from small beginnings, The rage of the Lutherans, in the lapse of time little by little increased, frequented by a huge concourse of comers, then illustrated by frequent prodigies, did not always flourish in the primitive cult of religion and piety; but there too (alas the grief!) the mournful and tragic heresy of the raving Luther, as in very many other places of Germany, played its parts, and there was a time in which the said town, groaning under the domination of a heterodox prince, so diminished, if it did not utterly abolish, the memory of its author and founder, continued through so long and lasting a series of years, propagated far and wide by so constant a succession of sacred veneration, transmitted to posterity with so great a bent and signification of a grateful mind, that it endured no relics of the sacred deposit to be preserved and honored among it.
[23] Let Brower be heard in the Annals of Trier on the year 846, hostile to the cult of St. Goar and his relics; speaking pathetically to our purpose, in these words: In this our most depraved age, the place, seized and occupied by the whirlwind of errors (the discourse is of the town of St. Goar), as it once exalted itself by sanctity and the fame of miracles, so now, torn from the rest of the still sound body, is squalid and grows wild, content with its own tares. For that of so many heavenly virtues miracles St. Goar once adorned that town by his prodigies, who there, I ask, now remembers? Or what relics [are] there of the old cult and hospitality? Or what even slender trace of ancient sanctity clings impressed? Not otherwise is the matter, that from the time when blessed Goar could not protect even his own bones in the town whose patrimony he had built up, whose felicity he had increased, the ancestral faith and holiness at the same time migrated far from those seats. Nor would the Saint bear this condition in silence, who, in place of a most just complaint before God, would wish the same to be inscribed on his cenotaph which Scipio Africanus the elder wished on his sepulchre, having experienced injuries for benefits: Ungrateful fatherland, thou hast not even my bones. an arm is preserved at Coblenz The same Brower writes in the cited place that the arm of St. Goar is preserved at Coblenz, thus speaking: The basilica of St. Castor at Coblenz preserves the venerable arm of the renowned Confessor, drawn from silver by a skilful hand, in which two excellent bones are seen, with this epigraph: It is laid open to the ignorant, that these are the bones of Goar. See the things which are had below n. 27.
[24] As for what pertains to the translation of our holy Confessor, On the translation of the body from the Martyrologies and Wandelbert; it was already long since noted by our predecessors on 25 May among the passed-over and rejected to other days, that the translation of St. Goar the presbyter is inscribed in the manuscript Florarium, the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck, printed in the year 1490, and the supplement of Greven. Why should not that translation be understood, which was made in the time of Charlemagne, and of Assuerus, first abbot of the abbey of Prüm, three Bishops laboring at it, namely Lull, archbishop of Mainz, Basil, bishop of Speyer, and Mehingod, bishop of Würzburg (as he is called by Wandelbert) or of Herbipolis? See its description among the miracles, collected by Wandelbert,
from n. 5. Basil among the Bishops of Speyer I do not find in Bruschius. For Basil, in our Mainz Codex is written Basinus, who is also read inserted in the Catalogue of Bishops of Speyer in the said Bruschius, the time of his episcopal creation and death being suppressed; there however he is reported to have presided not under Charlemagne, but in the times of Charles Martel, seven years, eight months. When he departed from this age, or in what year he began to preside, is unknown.
[25] Another translation, and that more recent, P. Jacob Frantzen taught me, and from the manuscripts. a priest of our Society, from the town of St. Goar, in which the same Society has a Residence, writing on 17 May 1719, that he had collected in haste, in default of several other documents which he had hoped [for], the things which he could collect either from books or from instruments concerning the translation of St. Goar to Darmstadt; which instruments so manifestly teach the said translation, that concerning it, he says, I cannot doubt. Likewise he writes that he scarcely doubts that the relics of St. Goar are still today preserved at Darmstadt; although to the Most Serene Prince and other counsellors nothing is known of this. I subjoin an extract, communicated by the aforesaid Father, from a letter of John Henry Loskeul (for whom perhaps must be read, the same Father advises, Loskanten), cellarer of Reichenberg, to the Lord John Wolfgang de Weitelshausen, called Schrauttenbach, Chamberlain of his Sacred Imperial Majesty, supreme satrap of the lower county of Katzenelnbogen. The exordium or rather inscription of the letter, rendered from German into Latin, thus sounds: Letter of the cellarer Loskandten to the arch-satrap Schrauttenbach; concerning the body of St. Goar, which he carried away to Darmstadt … dated 21 December 1626. The sense of the extract of the letter could thus nearly, as is added, be rendered into Latin: According to your Strenuousness's command, on Friday, the 15th of this month, before our most clement Prince and Lord, George Landgrave of Hesse, I most submissively presented myself; the letters of your Strenuousness committed to me I delivered into the hands of the high-mentioned most clement Prince, together with St. Goar, etc. At Darmstadt 21 December 1626.
[26] The vicissitude of the town of St. Goar. In the copy of the aforesaid Letter some things are noted, which are not alien from the purpose which we treat, and therefore not here to be passed over; namely, that in the year 1626 the Prince of Darmstadt snatched the castle of Rheinfels, together with the county of Katzenelnbogen, from the power of the Hesse-Cassel line; which Hesse-Cassel line in the year 1647 again recovered the same castle; at which time Ernest, Landgrave of Hesse, was colonel of a cavalry legion, to whom a little after, by the pacts of the family, the said castle together with the county was ceded. The same Ernest in the year 1652 embraced the Catholic religion. Finally after these various and other vicissitudes, that the Roman-Catholic religion is in the best state among the people of Goar, the holy Founder patronizing [it], as we piously believe, thence appears, that after difficulties not slight and controversies, as to possession stirred on both sides, at last the Hesse-Cassel line, by command of his Imperial and Royal Majesty Charles VI, five or six days before, from this district, as Frantzen writes on 17 May 1719, had to withdraw; he himself grieving that he cannot communicate more concerning St. Goar, because the archive in the year 1693 or the following was carried thence by the Cassel [men] to Cassel.
[27] Where the relics are; The same P. Jacob Frantzen writes to me from the town of St. Goar, that some Rev. Father Superior (of the Residence without doubt, which the Society of Jesus has there) noted the relics of this place under this title: A list of the sacred relics which the Most Serene Landgrave of Hesse Charles deposited in our sacristy on 16 June 1675; the following being added at the end of this list: Of the sacred body of St. Goar, our patron; then mention is made of the translation of the body to Darmstadt, by command of the Landgrave of Darmstadt George, of which above; and among 21 points, proposed to the same Prince, at the twenty-first, which pertains hither, that he himself answered in German, which in Latin sounds to this sense: For the transported St. Goar the most clement Prince wishes to order, that to the Lord chief prefect be restored what he expended in that matter. In confirmation it is added, that it so stands in the original response of the Cellarer, which, given at Darmstadt 15 December 1626, is preserved in the Chancery of Rheinfels, which the above-mentioned anonymous Superior writes was communicated to him in friendly wise, by the most ample Lord John Nicholas Trarbach, director of the Chancery, on the feast of St. Anne 1675.
[28] The same P. Frantzen observes in his writing, transmitted to us, falsely are they said by a modern [writer to have been carried into Spain.] that those things are false, as far at least as pertains to the relics of St. Goar, which John Judocus Winckelman writes, in his volume on the Principalities of Hesse and Hersfeld, published by himself in the German idiom in the year 1711, where on page 116 he treats of the town of Goar. And in the said author it is read, that in the year 1626, when the town of Goar was taken by storm, the Spanish soldiers with the monks and priests whom they had with them, opened the sepulchre of St. Goar, and the relics found there, together with a most elegant library, which had been in the sacristy, carried off with them, and sent into Spain. Which are abundantly confuted by the Darmstadt translation, above established with many enough words.
[29] In so great a penury of ancient monuments concerning St. Goar, the things which we have concerning his sepulchral stone are not to be neglected, Of the Saint's statue, bearing some note or other of antiquity. Papebroch sought a delineation of the said stone, and at last obtained [it]. To the notice of which will serve the notice of the Goarian statue, of which from St. Goar Nicholas Grass, of the Society of Jesus, writes to him the following, and thus they sound: On the statue, set in the wall of the temple of the same Society, no characters are found, except these few, which mention the translation from the chief temple, which he writes was then frequented by non-Catholics, to ours: and they are the following, which in the same letter he expresses: The statue of St. Goar, in the fifth century of Christ Apostle of these regions, translated from the crypt of the greater church in the year 1654; and these letters were set above the head of the aforesaid Saint.
[30] But of the sepulchral stone itself it is written in a letter, given at Cologne on 10 December 1694, the sepulchral stone; to Papebroch: At last at some time I receive a delineation of the sepulchral stone of St. Goar, which, delineated in his presence, D. Servatius Noethen the bookseller of this city testifies, is in all things most like its prototype. Being asked its measure, he said it was of a common sepulchral stone, and seems raised from the ground in the wall toward the north in the middle of the church. These trifles however your Reverence will easily learn from the Rector of the same place. The coils which are seen under his feet seem to be of the infernal serpent. Above the head of the Saint two heavenly genii hold a castle; by which is doubtless indicated the town of Goar, which owes its foundation to the Saint, whose name it bears. By the chapel, which he carries in his left hand, is indicated the cell commonly called of St. Goar, in the time of Charlemagne peacefully restored to the monastery of Prüm; as Wandelbert narrates, treating of the miracles of St. Goar at the end; by the Angels, raising a vestment or chasuble, the sacred ministry of the priesthood, which he constantly discharged; by the serpent which he treads underfoot, I understand envy, so gloriously overcome by the holy Confessor by the most illustrious miracle wrought; of which above already several times; as also below in the Life, n. 14. It is of no use here to describe the said stone at more length, whose figure, cut in copper engraved, I exhibit to be viewed.
[31] The few things which can illustrate the posthumous glory of the holy Confessor, the same Frantzen, and the posthumous glory. of whom I have spoken already several times, described from the said Winckelman, sent to us, which here I report. The author, having spoken of the death of the Saint, which he fixes in the year 611, alleging the inscription which is in the temple of Goar near the cathedra: St. Goar, a Gallic monk, died 611, writes that the chapel, built by St. Goar, was afterward changed into a monastery of Benedictines; and at last in 1137 into a chapter, in which twelve Canons and seven Vicars, sustained though with slender expenses; and he adds, that these revenues, the reformation following, were expended on the sustenance of parish-priests, schoolmasters, and poor students. The temple of Goar was built in 1441; but the tower was built in 1469, as appears from this inscription:
aUrora MartIs … sanCtI festa JoannIs InCLIta baptIstæ pILa LoCata fUIt. [The dawn of Mars (Tuesday) … the illustrious ball of the feast of St. John the Baptist was placed — a chronogram yielding the year.]
On two bells this inscription is said to be:
Holy Goar, Confessor of the Lord and gracious priest, Be thou propitious to us sinners. May the drawing sound of this voice drive off the acts of the demon.
To the praise of God, [and] of blessed Goar the Confessor, patron of this church, renowned, in the year of the Lord 1406 [1506] I was cast by Wilhelm Rode. On another bell is this German inscription, sounding thus in Latin: I am called Mary, I pray for all sinners, in the name of God I sound: I drive off every evil air; Wilhelm de Rode cast me in the year 1506.
VITA
By an Anonymous Author, perhaps nearly contemporary.
From a very ancient Bertinian manuscript, collated with other manuscripts.
Goar, Presbyter and Confessor, in the territory of Trier (S.)
BHL Number: 3565
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
CAPUT I.
The birth of St. Goar; his religion toward God; his solitary life; hospitality; his innocence proved by a miracle.
In the days of Childebert, King of the Franks, son of Clovis, there was a venerable man by name Goar, an Aquitanian man, whose father was called George, The birth of St. Goar; and his mother Valeria. This was a glorious man, and comely of aspect, humble in mind, chaste in body, perfect in faith, egregious in work, in virtue supreme, in prodigies illustrious, a knower of heavenly secrets, foreknowing of future things a, who, insisting with continual fasts and prayers, deserved to foreknow the future sacraments mysteries. And he, coming into the towns of the Germans upon the river Rhine within the boundary of Wesel b, in the suburb of Trier, where a little river was called Worica c. And there the Man of God himself, together with the consent of the Bishop who at that time was known to be Prelate of Trier, religion toward God and the heaven-dwellers: who was called Felicius d, made a little church, and placed there the relics of many, that is of holy Mary the mother of the Lord, and of the holy Baptist John, and of the twelve Apostles of Christ, and of many other Saints: and there the man of God himself, holy Goar, serving God day and night in fasts, vigils, in much patience, in longanimity, in chastity, in pure preaching, in assiduous prayer, in charity not feigned, according to the apostolic precepts e, on the right and on the left, in the virtue of God.
[2] For to this [man] the Lord deigned to grant so great a grace, the conversion of souls. that many also of the pagans, through his word, came to the salvation of their souls, which however is assiduously manifested in the place where the same man of God holy Goar rests in the body. For there the blind are enlightened, the deaf receive hearing, demons are put to flight, and many are cured of fevers or of other infirmities, and many other illustrious and great virtues miracles are there shown through the servants of Christ, who guard
the precepts of the Lord, according to the Prophet saying in the psalms: Thy friends, O God, are exceedingly honored, their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
[3] This custom too the venerable servant of God holy Goar had, He gives himself to the Mass and the psalter daily. that every day except Good Friday he celebrated the solemnities of Masses, and completed the psalter every day. Pilgrims too, who passed there by that path, he gladly received f, and fed them there voluntarily, with cheerfulness according to his strength, from what the Lord ordained for him, according to the Lord's precept: As long as you did to one of these my least brethren, you did to me. And while the servant of the Lord was exercised in these or other virtues of this kind, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ helping, the devil, envious of all, greatly disdained in this, that so precious a gem, or pearl, should stand in a town of the Germans, or by his word should assiduously take from him so many souls, and recall them to the worship of God; he brought upon him many and great tribulations, like a roaring lion. But the man of God holy Goar in no way feared these, because he considered the apostolic precepts, that through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[4] For it happened at a certain time, by the snares of the enemy, that certain legates of the Bishop of Trier, The demon envying, who was called Rusticus g, came to the little cell of the man of God Goar, not with simple heart, but as spies, that they might there be able to find some new h or vain thing. Whose names are these: one of them was called Albuinus, but the other Adalvuinus i. Who came there not for the love of God, but for a vain opinion, that they might be able to find some accusation in the Servant of God k. For they said that they sought lights candles for the parts church of St. Peter at Trier, but in themselves they had darkness rather than light. But blessed Goar, who did all things for no other thing than only for the love of God, began according to his custom, as he was wont, in the morning to complete his course, and to celebrate the solemnities of Masses, and with pilgrims and poor, not for any gluttony, but for the love of God, to make perfect and God-acceptable charity, according to what the holy Apostle John said: He who abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him, and perfect charity casts out fear.
[5] by the legates of the Bishop of Trier These things with furious mind those ambushers thinking, within themselves they began to utter in words what they revolved in mind, and publicly said, that they ought to accuse him to their Bishop, which also they did, thinking, wretches, that they could gain or acquire something of his substance, saying that they had even seen him eating or drinking in the morning without moderation. For what the man of the Lord did spiritually, this those most wretched [men] esteemed him to do by an evil custom. The legates therefore, returned to their Bishop, narrate to him all things which they had fabricated with venomous mind, and at the same time assert that they had seen other and other many reprehensible things in him, or that to the part of the parish of Trier he had profited nothing except to a bad example: but false and vain was their talk. Hearing these things, the Bishop of Trier, at once and without delay bids those legates return to the man of God, and commanded the man of God holy Goar to be presented to him with all speed, saying that he wished to make an inquiry concerning him, for what cause he did these examples in his parish. Who, coming to the man of God, say to him deceitfully: Our Bishop Rusticus commands these greetings to thee, as if they could have some occasion concealed, adding also these things: He commands thee to go hastily to him at the city of Trier, that he may be able to speak with thee.
[6] Hearing these things, the servant of the Lord, holy Goar, craftily accused and cited, with joy said to them: May the Lord grant, he says, that without delay I may be able to fulfill the obedience which my Lord Bishop commands. But that night he made for them a little banquet according to his strength, and himself remained in the praises of God, as he was wont. But in the morning, after he had completed the psalter, or his course, he began also to celebrate the solemnities of Masses. When he had his whole Office completed that day, he said to his boy: Son, make for us of our little poverty l something, whence these legates of the lord bishop may make charity together with us, because they are on a journey, and perhaps God will bring us some poor [man] or pilgrim, that he may make charity with us. Which those who had been sent hearing, with furious mind could not hide the malice which they bore in heart, saying to him: Neither dost thou do well who so actest, nor shall we be consenting to thee in this. Holy Goar said: Evil is the house in which the lord is not feared. If you feared God, perhaps you would not refuse charity. Meanwhile, these things being spoken to one another, the boy came, and said: Behold, a pilgrim stands at our royal door m. Which when the servant of God had heard, with joy he said: Call him. Who, when called he had come, he said: Behold how good and how pleasant, for brethren to dwell in one place, and behold another n pilgrim came, and he made charity with him. These things those legates seeing, with great gladness saddled their horses, saying within themselves deceitfully: Now we manifestly see what we can announce to our Bishop. And they began to ask that some viaticum be bestowed on them on the journey to eat, or to drink; which with joy the man of God commanded to be done.
[7] Which when it was done, they with clamor began to compel him, He seeks Trier; that they should hastily journey. But the man of God, when he had heard these things, at once and without delay saddled the ass, and with his little pack o bade them saddle his mule, and they began to walk. But while they walked, the man of God meditated in psalms and hymns. And when they had walked at the sixth milestone, where Paul's Field is called, Albuinus said to Adalvuinus: A strong hunger is upon me, and excessive thirst occupies me. And Adalvuinus said: If I do not drink more quickly, perhaps I shall die presently. Saying these things within themselves, they hastily began to go to a stream, that they might be refreshed there. Who, when they had come to the place where the stream ran down, found not a drop of water, put their hands to their little bags [p], to seize something to eat, and found nothing, and there were fulfilled the apostolic words: Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord. But if thy enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink. For doing this, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil in good.
[8] But blessed Goar, following their footsteps, little by little saw their vain labor, and this sentence within himself silently considered. his hungry accusers on the way Meanwhile their labor grew less effective, and more prolonged. And Albuinus said to Adalvuinus: Such thirst and hunger I have never had. And saying this, he fell from his horse as if dead, and Adalvuinus said to the man of God Goar: Succor us, pious priest, because by hunger and thirst we are now about to die. Holy Goar, when he had heard these words, said to him: Son, one ought to remember, that God is charity, and he who abides in charity, abides in God, and God in him. Today, sons, when you saw me, unworthy and a sinner, make charity, you ought not to have excused yourselves. But now the Lord does these things to correct you.
[9] he feeds and refreshes [them miraculously.] Meanwhile, these things being spoken to one another, there came three hinds, of wondrous size, as it were prefiguring the holy Trinity, which stood afar off. Which when the man of God holy Goar had seen, and had invoked the holy Trinity, he bade them stand, and when they had stood, he seized his little vessel and milked them. Which when it was done, he bade them go, and with that milk anointed their limbs, and at once they felt no pain in themselves. They put their hands to their little bags, and found things to eat and to drink, up to abundance, and water likewise, and began to feast. But they marveling, and fearing, the man of God holy Goar said to them: Sons, what is the device, or what is the cause, for which the Bishop bids me come to him? For I know, that this which has been done, which you have seen, is not without cause, or that which the Lord today has shown us through the beasts, unless perhaps it be done for an example of the credulity of those who trust in him; because the Lord is able to prepare a table in the desert. But they, struck with fear, dared not give him a response, but thought that they would perish by a sudden punishment of death.
[10] Standing before the Bishop of Trier And they began to walk, and came to the city of Trier. But the man of God holy Goar, praying, went about the churches of the Saints, as he was wont, and those legates hastily came to the Bishop, and found him in the city, sitting on his throne, together with the clergy, and announced to him all things which had happened to them, or what they had seen done concerning that holy Man. Which when he had heard, with wrath he began to say: This is no other cause than gluttony [q], that one who thus eats in the morning, and milks beasts; we ought to inquire what is the cause or religion, that he does these things: whether it be done from the part of God, or of the adversary. And when he had finished these words, behold, the man of God holy Goar entered into the house where the Bishop sat.
[11] a notable miracle being given forth, Who, when he had entered, began to look out for a place where his disciple could stand, or where it might be permitted to hang or hide his cape; and he saw, from the corner of the house through a little window, a ray of the sun go out, and it seemed to him even with his little pack [r] as if it were an oaken staff, and there he hung his cape, and bade his minister stand there. Which when Rusticus the Bishop had seen, together with his clergy, he said: See now what he is going to do? This cause is not from God. If it were from God, he would not have eaten or drunk so early, because the former Saints entered into the kingdom of God through alms and fasts, and were made friends of God. But now what this cause is, I know not. In the morning he eats and drinks, milks beasts, hangs his cape on a ray of the sun. Let him approach nearer and give account, whether he does these things from the part of God, or of the adversary.
[12] And when the man of God holy Goar had been questioned, he said: God, just and strong judge, thou knowest all things, he answers to the objections. thou knowest that with the part of the adversary
I consent nothing, nor desire to consent, nor do I know my cape to be hanging on a ray of the sun, but on an oaken staff. And those beasts I milked by no evil arts, but at that very hour passed, the Lord ordained them for me, that he might show his miracle to those incredulous [men] whom thou sentest to me. But concerning this, that I ate or drank in the morning, the Lord, who is the inspector of hearts, knows that I did this not for gluttony, but for charity, for he himself knows, who judges all things.
ANNOTATA.
p. Elsewhere it is had: They put their hands to the provision-bag sitarcia and to the wineskin.
q. So the two copies which we here give, and the manuscript of Bonnefontaine. Elsewhere it is: The custom of that pertinacious man.
r. The manuscripts of St. Omer and the Bertinian agree; others do not have the word "manipulo"; which we think crept in by mistake for "discipulo" disciple.
CAPUT II.
St. Goar proves his innocence by a repeated notable miracle; he constantly refuses the archbishopric of Trier offered to him; his last sickness and holy death.
Which things, another egregious miracle being wrought These things too the man of God saying, there came a boy of the clergy of Trier, by name Seobgisus, carrying in his arm an infant, three nights old, who was cast into that marble basin concha before the door of the church, as is the custom of the people of Trier, that poor women are wont to cast their infants. But this was their custom, that when any man seemed to enumerate those cast-out infants, whom they call nurslings nutricarii, from those registrars matricularii of St. Peter, they ought to present that infant to the Bishop, and afterward the authority of the Bishop confirmed that man over that nursling. But Rusticus the Bishop, seeing that infant carried, said: Now we can find whether the wisdom of Goar, or the virtues which he does, is from God, or from the part of the adversary. If it is from God, let him make known to us who was the father of this little infant, or let him declare to us its mother, and we believe that his cause is not malign. And if he cannot do this, let him be turned from i.e., subjected to a capital sentence. Yet meanwhile, that we may know what is his cause, let him give us account. For he did not say this for this cause, that he himself was then a judge of himself; but because his principal crimes or offenses could now no longer lie hidden.
[13] he gloriously washes away Who said to the holy [man] of God Goar: Goar. Who answered, Behold I am here. He says to him: Many things of thee we have heard, and likewise seen: not I alone, but also all the people gathered here. Now show us, whether thy works be true or false: if it is true, by true obedience I command thee, that thou make this infant make known to us its father, likewise also its mother. If thou canst do these things, we believe thee, and thy virtues. But if not; we have nothing to believe thee. Which the man of God blessed Goar hearing, sighed grievously, and shed tears without ceasing, wondering why his Pontiff had commanded him to do so vain and inept an obedience, and said: Christ, Son of the living God, who didst empty thyself, and didst deign to take the form of a servant, do with me, though thy unworthy little client, thy mercy, that this Bishop or his people may know that I love thee, adore thee, desire to serve thee, my Creator and redeemer.
[14] And saying these things, he approached that person who carried that infant in the arm, commanding the three-day-old infant to name its parents. and said to that person: How many nights old is this infant? He answered, Three. The man of the Lord holy Goar said: Holy Trinity, I invoke thee, and thee, infant, in the name of the Trinity I conjure, that thou disclose to me the name of thy father, likewise also of thy mother. And the infant answered [and] said: This is my father, Rusticus the Bishop, and my mother is called Aflaia b. Which Rusticus the Bishop hearing, fell at the feet of holy Goar, saying: Now I know truly, that Goar is a holy man, for I thought these crimes to be so hidden, that no other man should have to know them, except me and that woman, and one of my boys. Which the man of God holy Goar hearing, stood astounded, and, placed in an excess of mind, said: Alas! my Lord, why through me, most wretched, art thou made public c? Better had been the confession before hidden, than this principal making-public. For the divine word cannot be changed, where he said: Nothing is covered which shall not be revealed, and hidden which shall not be known.
[15] But now acquiesce in my counsels, and receive a hard and prolix penance d, he exhorts the Bishop to penance, that it be not only in words, but hold a firm root in thy heart, that the devil, who rejoiced at thy hidden malign works, may groan enough at thy public confession and worthy penance. Be not despairing, but confidently attend to the Lord's precepts, who deigned to say: I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance. Therefore hear my counsel, and consider the sentence which blessed John the Evangelist said: Do penance and do thy former works, and dismiss the latter. And the Lord through the prophet Ezekiel said: In whatever day the sinner shall be converted, all his sins shall be delivered to oblivion. The Lord is mild in forgiving us, yet we ought to be prompt to obey. a seven-year penance being taken upon himself. For I, according to my littleness, as far as the divine piety shall deign to hear me, God granting me life, desire to do penance for thee for seven years, or as much as be necessary, because I know that it is fitting for many and great men to do penance for thee, but I also consider what blessed James the Apostle said: Pray for one another, that you may be saved from your sins. For I desire so to do, Christ bringing me aid.
[16] This report finally hearing, Sigebert e, To King Sigebert the crime of the bishop King of the Franks, at once and without delay sent his legates, asking the holy Man of God Goar to come to him. Who, when he had come, questioned him in order concerning all things which had been done, both concerning the legates of the Bishop, and concerning the beasts, but also concerning the Bishop, and concerning the infant speaking: These things the king questioning, blessed Goar answered him nothing. Then king Sigebert, moved, said: By the obedience due to Kings, and princes or Bishops or priests, I charge thee, that thou disclose to me in order all things which were said or done between thee and the Bishop of Trier, whether they be true or not. Then answering, the man of God blessed Goar said: Christ, Son of God, who didst empty thyself and didst deign to be humbled, that thou mightest redeem us, and exalt [us], have mercy on me, though unworthy, yet not despairing of thy mercy. And approaching the King he said: What wilt thou that I tell thee, or whence dost thou bid that I render thee a response? But he answered: Concerning this, which I have heard happened between thee and the legates of Trier, or the things which happened to the Bishop himself.
[17] Blessed Goar said: Tell me in what manner it was told to thee, wishing to learn it, that I may hear, and by obedience concerning this which thou commandest I will give thee a response. Then king Sigebert set forth to him in order all things as they had happened, or had been done. Then answering, holy Goar said to the King: I ought not to neglect obedience, yet I am not going to tell thee anything else, except what thou thyself hast said. Nevertheless by others it is perceived to have been done, as it was told to thee. But the King marveling and telling all the miracles which had been done, all the people cried to the King, that he should constitute that holy man Goar Bishop in the city of Trier. Which the King hearing, with a willing mind wished to fulfill the will of the people or of the Clerics in the servant of God; and together with the consent of the priests, said to blessed Goar, that he should become Bishop of Trier.
[18] what he answered. But at once, as the man of God heard this, he said: It is better for me to die, than, over a Bishop still living f, to receive his ministry and to sin in the sight of the Lord. Consider now, O King, the divine sentence, That the disciple is not above the master, nor the servant above his Lord. And if they called the father of the family Beelzebub, how much more his domestics? Now therefore let that bishop do true and perfect penance, or consummate [it], the Lord saying: Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you. Even if God constituted thee King of the world, know that thou hast an eternal King in the heavens. Therefore let Rusticus do penance for his crimes, as thou wishest that the Lord forgive thee thy deeds. These things the King hearing, and drawing a sigh from his inmost heart, said: By the safety of the Princes I will voluntarily obey thy counsels. For if our God had not willed these things, he would not have shown so great miracles through thee. And he added: Truly no other thing shall be done, except that thou be ordained Bishop of the city of Trier.
[19] The episcopate of Trier When the Man of the Lord had heard the words of the King, he sighed grievously, and said: Let me return to my little cell, and, returning to thee, I will give thee a response concerning this matter. Answering, the King said: Go in peace, and after twenty days, return again to us at the city of Metz. This too the King thought, that there he should ordain holy Goar Bishop;
but the Man of God thought otherwise. The Man of the Lord considered the divine sentence, He who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted. He proceeded therefore to his cell. And when he had come there, he began to be sad, and to afflict his body with a strong fever, day and night entreating the Lord, that the Lord would grant him help and aid, and rescue him from so heavy a yoke, which King Sigebert desired to impose on him. But the Lord heard the prayers of his servant Goar, and, since King Sigebert bade him come to him after twenty nights, he did not afterward see him for seven years. But seven years being passed, the said King commanded his legates concerning him, that they should make him come to him.
[20] He constantly refuses. But the man of God, blessed Goar, for himself and for others daily offered great and inestimable gifts to God, and daily made prayers or petitions for all men, and for Kings, who were placed in loftiness, that they might lead a tranquil and quiet life, in all piety and chastity. But those seven years being passed, he shed tears without ceasing, the prophet saying: They who sow in tears, shall reap in joy. For the Man of God did these things, because he knew that the day of his going-out drew near. Who said to the legates of King Sigebert: My little sons, tell your King Sigebert: These things Goar, the last of all the servants of God, commands thee, that he is not going to see my face any more; unless perhaps he come to our cell, because I am seized by a strong fever, and not yet so much as are my merits.
[21] These things finally the legates hearing, announced to the King all in order. Which the king hearing, His last sickness. began to say to them: This people is not worthy to have such a prelate, nor I to possess such a teacher. Again the King sent other legates, that they should ask him to come to him. But they found him much more, and more prolongedly, feverish, and persisting in the praises of God. Who said to them: My little sons, weary not yourselves, nor your Lord the King, because I will no longer mount either upon an ass, or upon a mule, or upon any vehicle. For I trust in the mercy of my God, that he will not lead me from this cell anywhere over the space of one mile, unless perhaps to my burial.
[22] These things too he saying, the legates who had been sent, Two priests being asked of the King, asked him what he wished, that they should ask the King on his behalf. Who answering said: My request and petition is this, that he acquire for himself from this place an enlargement in the kingdom of heaven. And when my last day and the end of life shall come to me, let him by his authority command Agrippinus the priest and Eusebius to be sent to me, to bury my little body, whensoever God shall will that he bid me migrate from this world. After these things the legates, returned to the King, announced to him all things which they had heard or seen from the same priest.
[23] And when the King had heard these, he groaned, and his face was changed, the ministers of his burial [being appointed, he dies.] and he bade Agrippinus and Eusebius the priests come to him, charging them, that with the utmost diligence they should have provided that which the man of the Lord Goar asked. And it happened after three years, and as many months, that the man of God himself was seized by a strong fever, and in a good old age, Agrippinus and Eusebius coming to him, with many other priests and servants of God, in that same town of the Germans, where he built his little cell, he died in peace on the day before the Nones of July. Whose holy body Agrippinus and Eusebius, and many other priests and servants of God, with the utmost honor buried in that place where the little river is called Uvoraca, above the bank of the river Rhine: and there our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, deigned to bestow benefits on all believing, and there asking, who with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATA.
MIRACLES
By the Author Wandelbert, monk of Prüm.
From Surius and Mabillon, collated with the ancient legend, published at Mainz in the year 1489.
Goar, Presbyter and Confessor, in the territory of Trier (S.)
BHL Number: 3568
By A. Wandelbert, FROM THE PRINTED [EDITIONS].
PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.
The author's prologue The things which of the life and acts of blessed Goar I have found somehow committed to writing by my elders, being now finished, and which by your exhortation, Father to be embraced in all things, I have striven, as I could, to correct, I see a new work must be undertaken by me: that, as I promised in the Preface of the former little book, I ought, by writing, to set forth to the memory of posterity the things which, concerning the miracles divinely wrought at the most sacred memory of the aforesaid Confessor, I have learned from the faithful: inasmuch as I perceive them to be so illustrious, that what hitherto, except to the very few whom it befell either to be present at them, or to have heard them from those who were present, has been altogether hidden from the rest a, I should believe must be reckoned to no light fault, unless this were excused by the penury of writers and that habit which crept in by the sloth and torpor of certain [men], whereby we have been wont too negligently to receive the divine works, and, like light things, to make little of the benefits granted to our times.
[2] and a selection in writing the miracles. But I, in describing these, most fully following the faith of those who reported these things to me, will comprise only those which they confirm either that they themselves, being present, saw, or received from those who saw: although those too are so many and so great, that if I should desire to commit all to letters, I see I should exceed the measure of a just volume. Whence we can easily estimate how great those miracles were, which through the long spaces of past times could have been wrought by the merits of that man and [his] virtue, since they have grown to so great a quantity, which are known to have been wrought within about seventy-six years more or less, and brought to our notice. For neither is it credible that the merits of the holy Man first began to shine in the exhibition of miracles in our days, and that in the former time the same benefits, which now are conferred on believers and the devout, were not conferred through him, although those who might hand them down to posterity in writing were wanting. This too I would have all know, into whose hands these things shall come, that in the assertion of these I have not accommodated faith to any persons whatever, but to men worthy of faith, and of whose truthful report you yourselves, venerable Father, have been the judge, and especially Herrad b, a monk and presbyter of your congregation, and Theodad c, a cleric of the Cell of St. Goar, who both were more mature in age, and from boyhood had dwelt about the place itself.
ANNOTATA.
CAPUT I.
Miracles wrought under Assuerus, first abbot of Prüm.
But that I may come to the narration, the Cell of St. Goar, many years after he himself had died, The Cell of St. Goar is delivered by Pippin to Assuerus, abbot of Prüm. since in it now both Clerics, who should perform the divine offices, were maintained by the stipends of the church, and the frequency of people daily increased greater, was committed by the religious Prince of the Franks Pippin, father of the Emperor Charles of august memory, to the venerable Assuerus, who then was first over the monastery of Prüm, which as the third from him, best Father, you now govern: that by his effort both the place might be improved, and the Clerics who dwelt in it might be taught in the cult and study of religion. Which he, received, desiring with all effort to cultivate and ennoble, began to build a basilica over the body of the holy Man, which both by its amplitude might suffice for refreshing the people, and by its beauty might be more congruous to the merits of the blessed Confessor. For before there were two churches there, not much distant from each other: of which the one which was smaller in situation was believed to contain the venerable body in the bosom of the earth: but the place of the sepulchre itself was uncertain to men. That being left in its integrity, foundations being cast round about, the above-written Abbot built this church, which remains even now: nor was the former destroyed before than all the building of the present was completed.
[4] At which time a wondrous thing, they testify who well knew, came to pass, A miracle in the building of the church. that, until the whole basilica was built, no water at all from the rains, though most copious, fell down upon the whole space of the place: but when by chance rains occurred, the rain falling around up to the middle space of the Rhine and the peak of the mountain, left the rest, which was between, utterly untouched. Thus by a divine miracle it became manifest, how grateful that work of building was to the supernal regard, whose progress the rains were prohibited in any way to impede. The basilica being finished, when now the time succeeded at which it was to be consecrated to the divine name, there were sent by the most excellent Prince Charles: Lull, Archbishop of Mainz a, a man of the English nation, laudable in morals and life; Basil Basinus b, Bishop of Nemetum, which city is now called Speyer; and Mehingod, Bishop of the city which, situated across the Rhine, is in the barbarous tongue called Wirziburg Würzburg, who all had been ordained by blessed Boniface c the pontiff and martyr: that through them both the church might be consecrated, and the body of the most blessed Man might be translated into the place where it is now situated.
[5] The relics of St. Goar sought for three days, It had come to the place, and the consecrated
house, the translation of the body was being prepared, and Assuerus the Abbot was away with some monks, and an infinite crowd had flowed together from every side. It seemed good to the Bishop that first, by a three-day fast, the will of the Lord should be sought, and thus one should approach to lift the relics of the body. This therefore being devoutly performed by all, Lull the Archbishop commanded his [men] to dig in the ancient shrine, that the venerable relics, being found, should be lifted and transported. But when all its floor had been dug up and thoroughly tested, and yet no indication of that treasure which was sought was found, the Bishop, troubled, asks of the Abbot whether in the place there were any clerics who served God. When he had answered that there were only six, the Pontiff, having called them to himself, exhorts them to supplicate the divine mercy for finding the body of their patron, commanding the others who were present to withdraw to their own homes for the time; he himself with the Abbot and fellow-bishops withdrew to dine. Then the clerics who had remained began solicitously to ask Christ, that wherever the venerable relics lay hidden buried, they might be able to find them.
[6] how at last they were found, and what they wrought; There was among the others a certain cleric, by name Madalbertus, weak in his right hand and gait. He, a hoe being seized, simply, Now, he says, if God will, where my Lord is laid, will be manifest. And straightway, having advanced outside the space of that ancient shrine, and, not far from its eastern wall, striking the earth with the hoe, he lifted a brick with a blow. Which lifted, and a small hole being opened, he applied his weak hand, and, the silken garment with which, within an enclosure built of a brick wall, the sarcophagus of the body was covered, being grasped, he drew [it], and soon his hand, before weak, was restored to health. So, the sarcophagus being quickly uncovered, and, at the new thing, by the ringing of bells, the Bishops and people being called together, and all who were present rendering praises and thanks to God, the body of the holy Man was found within the sarcophagus in a leaden coffin: which, at once lifted, and composed in a bier, was carried from that place to the oratory of blessed Mary, which of old was situated nearby, to be carried back a little after, the people watching, into the place of the new shrine, prepared to receive it.
[7] It seemed then good to the Bishops, that since, on account of the narrowness of the place (for on one side it is girt by the river Rhine, at first immovable, then carried into the new church. on the other by a very high mountain) the whole crowd could not come together into one place, the crowd should be spread out lengthwise around the roots of the mountain, and thus the venerable relics, on account of the frequency and desire of the multitude, being carried out a little farther, should be brought back by the upper way, which is led around the roots of the mountain, into the new church. This counsel being approved, when the Bishops wished to lift the bier, it was so weighed down, that it could not be moved at all. Hence, all being held in suspense a very long time and hesitating, the Archbishop, inspired by God, as afterward became clear, addresses the people, saying that blessed Goar, while he lived, despised the vain glory of the world and the applauses and favors of men, as a frail and fleeting thing, for the love of eternal goods, and that he no less despises them also after his death. Therefore it was fitting, that the body, lifted simply and with humble devotion, should be carried back from the church itself into the new house through that space which was between, and not, for the favor of the crowd, be led around farther, as they had determined. Scarcely had the pontiff finished his words, and the bier, at once being moved, was lifted with such ease, The Saint's pallium incorrupt. as if it had never had anything of weight, and the venerable relics, carried into the new shrine by the Bishops and the Abbot, were laid, with the utmost honor and reverence, in the place where they are now venerated. Finally the pallium, which we said above was found upon the sarcophagus, remains today incorrupt above the altar of the church: thus through the times of a longer age that garment remains entire, whose merits before God always endure undiminished. The basilica being consummated in all its work and the memory of the holy Man, as was fitting, adorned, miracles and divine benefits began thereupon to be heaped up there: of which I will here attempt, if I can, to touch some, recording what was done under which Abbot, the order being kept.
[8] In the time of Assuerus, who first was over the monastery of Prüm, Wine in a vessel is divinely increased; it happened, as is wont, that from the sterility of the earth a smaller supply of wine came forth in the Gallic regions. And now the times of the new vintage drew near, and to the Clerics dwelling in the Cell of the man of God only one cask of wine remained. When it had begun to be expended, and daily both with the same Clerics and with guests, whose frequency there is always not the least, cups were furnished from it, a space of nine or eight days being passed, when scarcely in the half or third part of it wine was thought to be contained, suddenly it was found to have grown up in it even to the top, so that the underlying pavement too was wetted by the growing wine, and deservedly, since the blessed Man, while he lived, exercised hospitality properly and sincerely, it was done; lest either to those serving him, or to the guests who should come, there should be wanting whence wine might be ministered. And that I may subjoin a similar miracle, at a certain time, when the cellarer of the place, by name Horduuinus, the quiet of night now imminent, had drawn wine from a certain cask, it happened by chance that he, thinking perhaps of something else, closed the little conduit cuniculus d of the cask weakly, and it is retained. and went away. And when, returning the following day, he had come to the same cask, he found indeed the little conduit open, and a spider's web drawn before it: but the wine had so stood in the cask, that not even the indication of one drop fallen from it could be found on the pavement.
[9] A lame [man is healed,] At the same time, when to the place a lame servant of a certain Wido, of the nobles, had come, healed by the merits of the holy Man, he devoted himself, his Lord permitting, to the ecclesiastical service, and, not after much time made a presbyter, still, when these things were being written, survived in life. a mad [man,] Under the same Assuerus a certain mayor of a royal village, which, situated not far off, is called Wesel, by name Frecholfus, when he was out of his mind, being led by his own people to the venerable memory, received the sanity of his mind. A certain Waltharius, one possessed by a demon, a man noble according to the world, who survives even now, when he suffered a most grievous vexation, and undoubtedly was driven by a demoniac spirit, sewn up in a hide, was carried to the venerable tomb. Where, when he had lain some time, with hands stretched out he subjected himself and all his goods to holy Goar with a loud profession, and moreover gave an excellent vineyard, which even now endures in the possession of the same Cell, and immediately he was rid of that madness which he had suffered a very long time. He today, although he remains in his own liberty, and sometimes, kindled by the heat of avarice, as he is accused by many, snatches also others' goods, nevertheless with a most free voice testifies that he was a servant of St. Goar, healed by him.
[10] Another punished for despising the shrine of St. Goar. The uncle of the same Waltharius, by name Reginarius, though a noble man, yet in morals and act subject to cruelty and avarice, when he despised the holy place, and so execrated all men of the Roman e nation and tongue with a certain hereditary hatred, that he would not even willingly see any of them, and if he could by chance seize any of the same family, sometimes cruelly afflicted them: and when with the same foolish hatred and barbarous mind he detested the venerable Assuerus and some of his monks, by chance, the Abbot himself dwelling in the Cell, he was compelled by the necessity of a journey to pass through the place: and when he had now drawn near the church, he asks the servant who accompanied [him], that, if he could, he lead him by that way by which he might be able to avoid the sight of the basilica of Goar, and the presence of the Roman men, namely of Assuerus the Abbot and his companions. For so great a stupidity, innate from barbarian fierceness, had seized his mind, that not even in passing could he willingly look upon men of the Roman tongue or nation, and those too good and noble men. The servant promises that he can fulfill what was asked. When therefore they had accomplished a little of the journey, and it was come to the very place of the monastery and basilica, the servant admonishes his Lord, if he wish to avoid the sight of those whom he dreads, to cover his head with his mantle for a very short time. He, when he had immediately fulfilled what he was advised, and had advanced outside the space of the place, Now, says the servant, beware lest thou look back behind, for not otherwise wilt thou see none of those whom, that thou mightest avoid them, thou hast asked. Scarcely had the servant fulfilled these things, and immediately and at almost the same moment an effusion of the belly seized the aforesaid Reginarius: and no great delay following, after very few days he ended his life. Thus he who, with a most foolish, nay most proud mind, had dreaded the sight of the venerable place and of good men, by the just judgment of God, was deprived both of the light commonly attributed to mortals, and of life.
[11] When to the feast of blessed Goar in a certain year Assuerus the Abbot had come from the monastery of Prüm, Fishes miraculously supplied and with him some of the monks; it happened that, on account of the flooding of the river Rhine, fishes which could be ministered to the Abbot and brethren were wanting. And when the very day of the solemnity had dawned, and before the church in the morning a few of the brethren sat, a certain Ansegilus of good life, in jest a monk sitting with them f says: O blessed Goar, behold how good a recompenser of reward thou art! We serve thee, and in vigils and psalmody, for the sake of thy feast, we labor: today thou furnishest us not even one little fish, whereby we may be refreshed. Scarcely had he finished these words, and not after a long interval of time, in vessels made of willow-withes for fishing, which lately, hung by a fisherman from a certain tree on the bank g of the river, the river afterward growing, had remained in the water, two not small fishes, which we commonly call sheatfish seluri, were found, and, in the presence of the brethren, brought to the place where they sat. But this fish the Abbot, by reason of infirmity, did not use. Then he who spoke before, For us, he says, thou hast now done well, providing fishes for our refreshment: but that old Abbot thou must not now neglect. For he will not be able to use these. This the monk said, and a little time having elapsed, when from the mill a miller was carrying meal in a little boat, a fish which we call a pike, entering the boat with a leap, was caught by the miller, and set forth in the assembly of the monks (for they had not yet risen from the place). Now, says the monk, thou hast fulfilled thy gift, blessed Goar, since thou hast provided fitting nourishment both for us and for thy old Abbot. A wondrous thing, that the words of one playing rather than asking were so easily heard.
[12] But these are not unlike the merits of the blessed Confessor, since he who, living in the flesh, had bestowed his goods on the needy for Christ, by the merits of St. Goar, wondrously hospitable in life. and had always held grateful the refreshment of guests, deservedly after his death too could procure such things for those serving him. For how great merit before the divine judgments the virtue of hospitality has, which the blessed Man singularly, while he lived, cultivated; and how much reverence must at all time be paid to the place in which his blessed limbs rest, testify
those things which either those frequenting it obtain by divine benefit, or the negligent and those passing by with some dissimulation nonetheless suffer by divine judgment. Which the examples subjoined will more manifestly show. The punishment of those passing the shrine of St. Goar negligently, A certain Count, by name Heriwinus, when, passing through the place, he had turned aside, and, though admonished by his own people to pray, had deferred [it] for the haste of the journey, having proceeded not far, fell from his horse, and, crushed by a most grievous fall, is carried back by the hands of his own [men] to the church: there, lying down a short while, at the venerable memory he obtained the benefit of health. In the same manner a noble Abbess from the city of the Mediomatrici Metz, Euphemia, when, making a journey, she had come thither, and had not dismounted to pray, as all were wont, a little after fell from her horse, and, her leg being broken, [she] who of her own accord had been unwilling, is carried to the church unwilling, and received the health which she had lost, by the merit of the blessed Man.
[13] Discords among the sons of Charlemagne composed; Nor was the power of his merits unlike in punishing and admonishing even kings. For Charles, Emperor Augustus of most excellent memory, was sailing at a certain time from his palace, which, built by himself on the banks of the river Rhine, is called Ingelheim, to descend to the castle which is situated over the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine Coblenz, and there, disposing to remain the night, his sons Charles and Pippin following him in separate ships. And when the Emperor had come by ship to the monastery of the holy Confessor, the Abbot Assuerus, meeting him, asks that he go out to blessed Goar, and in his Cell make charity, to use the customary word. The Emperor refuses his presence, and, turned behind him, with his hand nods to his son of the same name Charles, that he go out from the ship to the church to pray; he himself held on the intended journey. The Emperor's son having gone out to land, his other son Pippin, who came in a ship after his brother, thinking it was his father's ship which he saw put to the shore, went out himself too, and, not knowing, was joined to his brother in the church. There, because between them there had been for some time grave rivalries and enmities, the supernal clemency inspiring, and the merit of the most holy Confessor helping, they came together into fraternal concord and a bond of friendship. Then, food and drink being taken, eager and glad they came to the above-named place, which they had begun to seek with their father, all their company unharmed.
[14] punished for the neglected cult of St. Goar, and freed by a vow being uttered. But the Emperor, who, his sons having gone out, remained alone with his [men] in the ship, when he wished to tend to the aforesaid place, a most dense cloud suddenly arising, and most dark mists following, so went astray in the river, that neither he himself, nor any of his companions, nor even the steersman of the ship, could in any way know or see whither they were tending, or whither they were driving the ship. Thus through the rest of the day which remained, wearied on the deep, scarcely after the Emperor began to acknowledge his fault, and to supplicate blessed Goar, the day being now far spent, and night coming on, they went out onto the mainland, yet three or a little more miles from the place into which he had proposed to go out, where too the Emperor was compelled to remain that night not without lack of necessary things: and the day being made, he publicly testified that it was of his sin and merit, that, endangered in the river, he had been most far separated from the convenience of the journey and the apparatus of the royal lodging: nor had these things happened to him in vain, but blessed Goar had exacted the deserved penalties for contempt, and he had paid deserved punishments: [and] that he vowed and most firmly promised, never to turn aside from the place of the most holy Man by any, however great, haste of the journey, if he come near to him, whom he had experienced by such inconvenience able to exact from those who thought him to be neglected such vengeance as he willed.
[15] The Empress's toothache healed. With these vows, he sent to the Cell twenty pounds of silver and two silken palls: nor afterward in all his life did he for any cause neglect what he had vowed. Finally he who was then steersman of the royal ship, survives even now, and bears undoubtable testimony of the deed done. Nor undeservedly does the faith and devotion of kings lie subject to him, who for Christ despised not only the great and desirable, but utterly all the honors of the world and fleeting dignities, and, when he could become Bishop, would not, and rather chose to remain in a humble state, than to be weighed down by the fasces of honors: although in Christian princes this affection toward the servants of God is as spontaneous and devout, as they know that they will be so much the more grateful to God, the more they, who could for a time be raised through the swelling of royal majesty, choose to submit themselves humbly in mind to the servants of Christ. The wife of the same prince, Fastrada, when she was tormented by a most vehement pain of the teeth, and had come to the place, for the remedy of that pain, to pray, immediately, as she became a suppliant, was rid of the trouble. For which thing there was given by the Emperor a village which is called Nasonia, and is retained in the right of the place hitherto.
[16] At the same time it happened that the water of the river Rhine froze with excessive cold, A certain [man endangered upon the ice is freed.] so that it could bear even the walking of any animals and vehicles: and there was a certain colonus tenant of a royal village, which we said above is called Wesel, whose vineyard adjoined not far from the monastery to the vineyards of blessed Goar, and, as sometimes happens, on this occasion he was wont sometimes to snatch some little parts of the same vineyards, and, by the fraud of human wit, to join them to his own. He, when on a certain day he walked upon the ice of the river, and had come near its middle, suddenly into manifold parts through the widest space of the river the ice was dissolved, and he, lying upon the broken ice, began to be carried down the river, trembling and anxious. It was a matter of the utmost peril and extreme desperation, that a man was carried by the force of the most rapid and widest river on a fragment of the thinnest ice, nor was there any remedy, since there was absolutely nothing whereby he could be aided by human help. Then he, to whom neither any hope of escaping the peril, nor any counsel remained, began only to supplicate the divine mercy, and to demand the merits of blessed Goar for his liberation, and with loud voices to beg pardon and help. At last, when he had utterly despaired of safety, having drawn off his sleeve from his hand, he threw [it], and, looking at the basilica, delivered his vineyard to the dominion of the holy Man. And without delay, the divine virtue acting, the ice, like a little boat, carried the man to the shore and set [him] out unharmed: who soon consigned to the church the vineyard of which we spoke above, in whose right it perseveres even now. Thus the merit of the blessed Confessor both chastised the man for his fault, as was fitting, and marvelously snatched [him], anxious, from the peril.
[17] Isnardus, procurator of the royal fisc, when he did many things unjustly against the household of blessed Goar, Beaten by St. Goar, and healed. was visited by him through a dream, and, after a rebuke, most severely beaten, so that the next day, not able to walk with his step, he was led by ship to the church. Where, lying down some time, he deserved entire health, except for the weight of the genitals: which infirmity too is undoubtedly known to have been left to him for the cause of [his] salvation. These things, among others which for the sake of brevity I have suppressed, came forth in the time of Assuerus the Abbot, by the divine virtue in the place and the merit of the blessed Confessor.
ANNOTATA.
CAPUT II.
Miracles under Tancradus, second abbot of Prüm; the witness in many being an eyewitness.
[18] A little tower marvelously preserved in the flooding of waters. But in the days of Tancradus, who, Assuerus being happily withdrawn from this life, succeeded in the government of the monastery of Prüm, and likewise of the Cell of St. Goar, these things, which, the supernal mercy granting, I desire to subjoin, happened: which those too, by whose report I attained the knowledge of these, for the greatest part beheld set before their eyes. It happened once, from the abundance of rains, that suddenly the stream, which we said in the former little book is called Wocara, so overflowed, that, rising into a great mass, it tore out whatever [lay] in its way not without peril and loss of many: for when it had first begun to overflow, prohibited from its course by some uncertain obstacle, the waters descending from the concavity of the mountains, it grew so much, that at last, the barriers being broken, flowing forth, it cast even large and most firm houses, torn from the foundations, into the Rhine by its force. At which time a thing worthy of a miracle came forth. For in one of the houses which were torn out, a little tower, from which the bells hung, stood built, which even now remains set upon the roof of the church: which, though it was of a much weaker structure than the house itself in which it was set, and, the waters coming on, had been met by the force of the current at nearly the middle, nonetheless endured utterly unharmed. And what was of greater miracle, the house in which it stood, torn out with its walls entire and compacted among themselves, could not draw it with itself, and by what opening and loosening of itself it passed [out], no man afterward could know or perceive. Finally, after that column mass of waters passed by, in the bottom of that little tower, two flasks with oil were found, which, who of men placed them, or whence they were provided, is even now unknown.
[19] A certain woman of the nation of the Scots, by name Brigida, Of a weak woman weak in gait, was left there sick by her parents and fellow-citizens, returning from the city: and when she had passed some time there, on the day of the annual solemnity, the multitude of the people standing by, she was healed and raised up. Likewise the maidservant of a certain Hadelbod, a man of note, and also of a blind and mute [woman; likewise of another blind woman;] who was both blind and mute, at the venerable memory, the people witnessing, was healed. But when, these being known, the master who had sent the sick woman had recalled her, now unharmed, to his service, soon the former weakness
returned into her. So her master, compelled by the evident miracle, made [her] manumitted return to the place. And not much after, the health which had before been conferred, but impeded by the rashness of the man, was restored to the maidservant, the master being corrected, who also passed the remainder of her life in the same place. Finally her sister still dwells there, and stands as a most certain witness of the deed done. At the same time another blind woman too, in the presence of Abbot Tancradus, received sight, and afterward lived there several years.
[20] Likewise at a certain time, the same Abbot being present with the people, of a blind and mute boy too one of the maidservants of the monastery carried to the church her little son, who from birth remained blind and mute. As soon as the boy entered [it], immediately he began to speak with his mother, and began to show her with his finger the paintings of the basilica. The mother marveled at the thing, but on account of the sudden event of the unhoped-for miracle dared not publicly confess what she had seen. Who, as soon as she returned home with the little one, immediately the former weakness returned into him, so that it might become manifest, that the mother ought not to have pressed with silence what had been conferred on her by a divine benefit. So, considering that cause, and understanding [her] fault, she, seizing her son in haste, carried [him] back to the church, and disclosed the whole matter, as it was, to the Abbot and the people. Nor was the benefit long deferred, to which for a moment the timidity of the mother had been an impediment: but as she made an end of narrating, likewise the healing of a lame [woman.] the boy immediately obtained soundness. From the city of Mainz to the feast of blessed Goar a lame woman, set before Abbot Tancradus, came, and when on the day of vigils the vesper psalms were being completed by the Clergy, she was healed.
[21] But that I may now also commemorate those things by which it becomes manifest, Potters punished by shipwreck for neglected prayers, how those who in any way presumed to despise the merit and reverence of the blessed Man, were either amended or punished; at a certain time, when through the river Rhine certain potters were carrying pots, to be sold for a price, in a little boat, it happened that together with them a certain faithful woman with a little son sailed up the river. And when it was come to the monastery, the woman asks her companions, that either all go to the church to pray, or, if they will not, the little boat being put to the shore, that they set her out on the mainland, and wait a little in a fixed place, until she can herself return from prayer. Having gone out therefore alone, she goes to pray, leaving in the ship with the companions her son quite little. They, the ship being led to a higher place, when they had waited for her some time, not bearing her delays, the ship being led off, pursue the intended journey. But the divine vengeance soon followed, by which it might become manifest, that they ought not, even at her departure, to neglect the opportunity of praying, or to despise the fidelity of waiting for her delays, especially short ones. For when, driving the ship up the river, they had come opposite that place where, from the abyss of rocks lying hidden under the water and the most rapid collision of the waves, sailors often suffer grave dangers, which place is in the river distant from the church of blessed Goar about a hundred paces, or a little more, the little boat being snatched and sunk, they perished.
[22] But the prayer of the devout woman could not be useless, whose companions, even if the water sank them, the infant divinely preserved. yet her son, saved by the divine virtue and protected by the merit of the Saint, it could by no means destroy. For she, as, returning from prayer, she beheld the pots carried upon the water, understood what it was, and that her companions and the ship had perished, and, anxious for her son, whom she suspected to have been lost together with them, carried her eyes hither and thither with the greatest weeping: but suddenly she sees the little one, lifted on the back of the waves, draw near to the bank of the river. And so great was the clearness of the miracle, that the mother, receiving the infant, found that he, standing out above the water from the middle of his little body, had reached the shores: which not even any of the men could ever obtain by skill in swimming and the strength of body.
[23] In an unlike cause a not unlike miracle occurred under the same Abbot, Another boy freed from drowning. which, on account of the likeness of the deed done, I have subjoined to the preceding. The mother of a certain infant nearly five years old, with him who had received that infant from the sacred font the godfather, the ship being drawn along the banks, was ascending the river, and had made the boy, set upon a horse (for the boy himself had asked this of his mother and godfather), walk beside them on the shore, each parent doing so. Then the horse, as being free without a rider, passing those sailing, of its own accord gave itself into the river with the boy, nor could it be recalled by anyone. And when all feared for the safety of the infant, inasmuch as they beheld him carried into the most rapid and deepest and widest river on a horse which he could not restrain, and demanded the suffrage of St. Goar with great prayers, the horse with the boy unharmed, the river being swum across, went out onto the farther bank. Which thing indeed came forth by a great miracle, that both the horse without a rider crossed so great a river, in a place especially most difficult and perilous on account of the rocks, and the infant, who knew not even to sit on a horse on dry land, escaped without any peril.
[24] But that I may pursue my purpose, a certain Willigeld, who survives even now, Defrauders of the church of St. Goar punished and cured. when he had subtracted a vineyard given by his mother from the right and possession of the church of St. Goar, was consigned to a savage demon, and, long vexed by it, restored the vineyard, and immediately deserved to be cured: that by this example the rest might be admonished, that things consigned to the right of the church by the vow of parents ought not to be subtracted by heir sons. A certain Wolvo, from his early age reared there by his mother, when afterward he was a presbyter, took to his own uses, by evil fraud, the tithes which for a long time had by right belonged to the fields of the church of blessed Goar. And no great delay following, made blind and mute, he is led by his own people to the basilica of the most holy Man: there he delivered the things of his patrimony with the restored tithes, and deserved health, he being appeased whom he had offended.
[25] A certain merchant, called Badoart, when he was ascending the Rhine by ship, An unmerciful Master chastised. one of his servants, who had by chance offended him, fearing punishment, leapt from the ship, and, hurried, fled to the church. Then he, following the fugitive, began to drag [him] from the church, the monk Herirardus, who by chance sat present, from whose report I learned these very things, prohibiting it to be done, and in the name of blessed Goar at once asking and threatening. But the merchant, kindled with fury, when he despised the monk asking and likewise threatening, before the doors of the church, to the increase of contempt, beat the servant dragged from the altar. Nor much space intervened, and, that he might recognize by whose arbitrament he ought to have obeyed, or whom he had despised, delivered to an unclean spirit, he in a short time ended his life, wrenched out by excessive torments.
[26] Likewise the servant of a certain Humfrid, a cleric of the church, when, for a fault committed against his master, A servant marvelously loosed from bonds. he was being dragged, his arms bound behind his back, and shuddered in mind at the punishments which he knew were to be inflicted on him, since he could not otherwise flee the presence of his master, looked to the church, and silently, with prayer, inclined himself to it. A thing worthy of a miracle: immediately the bonds by which, bound, he was being led, quicker than said, were loosened and undone, and the servant, stripped of his bonds, hurried himself to the church, nor, sought again by his Master, avoided the offense and punishment. So greatly did the supplication, silently poured out to the holy Man, prevail before almighty God, nor did Christ suffer him to remain bound, who in necessity had fled in mind to the aid of the Saint's altar: that hence too it might be given to understand, how much his intercession prevailed for loosing the bonds of souls, whose invocation had with such ease dissolved the bonds of the body.
[27] At a certain time, Abbot Tancradus being in the Cell, Abbot Maximinus, not having prayed to St. Goar, is punished. Maximinus, Abbot of the monastery of St. Gereon, which is situated near a the city Agrippina, which is now called Cologne, was descending from the province of the Vangiones from the vintages with a ship laden with wine and not a few companions. Who, when he had now drawn near the monastery of St. Goar, is persuaded by his companions, that, the ship being put to the mainland, he should go up to pray to St. Goar. He says that delays not necessary to him are being made in this matter, that there will be a more opportune occasion of praying at another time: thus, his companions being dissuaded, he pursues the intended journey: but the divine vengeance did not permit him to pass with impunity. For as the ship, driven, came into sight of the Cell, suddenly, sunk from its greatest part, and the vessels which it had carried having slipped into the water, it struck all with the fear of present loss and peril. All began to cry out and to implore help tearfully: the Abbot to confess his fault, and to entreat the merit of St. Goar. Abbot Tancradus, beholding the thing from the higher place, and considering in how great peril all were placed, immediately sends his [men], commands aid to be brought to those laboring. Ships are at once led down, and aid is ministered in the ways in which it was possible. So, with the Abbot's help and the sweat of many, but most of all by the aid of blessed Goar, the ship being recovered, and the vessels received and the wealth, the Abbot advances unharmed to the shore. Having gone out of the ship, they hasten to pray, [and] affirm that they are perpetually persuaded, that they should never think a place, notable by the merits of so great a man, easily to be passed at any time without the gift of supplication b.
[28] A merchant, St. Goar being invoked, is snatched from shipwreck By a nearly similar event, when a certain merchant of the nation of the Frisians was driving a ship near the farther bank, nor disposing to draw near the shore on which the monastery is situated, when the ship, driven, came to those rocks of which we spoke above, suddenly snatched and drawn into the whirlpool by the violence of the waves, it struck all with present peril. But when the master of the ship, often repeating the name and merit of St. Goar, had demanded aid, the ship, unharmed, is immediately carried into the port. He, as he reached the mainland, went to pray, and for the gift of safety gave a silken garment to the venerable memory. Which garment too was afterward carried by him who reported these things to me, the cleric Theodrad, to the monastery of Prüm.
[29] I am about to relate a thing indeed not altogether unlike the preceding, A dead [man] but which may have something more of miracle, and of which there are almost as many most faithful witnesses, as there could have been inhabitants of the place itself at the time in which it was done. A merchant of the aforesaid nation of the Frisians was driving a ship through the river Rhine, and, as is the custom, because he was sailing up the river, had caused the ship to be drawn by his [men] along the shore by a rope. And when he had now reached the neighborhood of the Cell, he is admonished by his own people and others standing on the steep bank of the river, that he ought to go out from the ship to pray. He began to say that he had not then the opportunity of that matter, that his intended course was impeded by delay, and that he could not, except by continued sailing, reach a place congruous for rest. Thus, with fixed mind, he drives the ship, and himself, guiding the rudder in it, sits with one of his servants: the rest draw the ship by a rope along the shores. There was among them one who, going before all, held the end of the rope wound about his back and belly. It had come to that part of the river,
of which we treated in the above sections, that place of horrible rapidity, when suddenly the most violent waves snatch the ship, nor the steersman being able to resist by any defense, they draw [it] most far from the shore. It being snatched, when they could not bear the force, they, overcome, leave the rope which they were drawing along the banks: but he who had gone before all, not able so quickly to disentangle himself from the rope, following the ship, is drawn into the whirlpool. Nor could the master of the ship, who, sitting in the stern, labored, notice this. The rest, who had fled from the rope, with loud voices demanded that the divine help and the merits of blessed Goar succor the ship and the companion who was being drawn under the water. And so great then was the force of the water and the whirlpool of the waves, that the ship could not be directed into its course before, driven most far, it was carried to the farther bank not without the great fear and horror of very many. But the merchant, as he reached the land, commands the rope which, clinging to the ship, had been drawn through the water, to be gathered by a servant. Which gathered, in its farthest part the servant, as he had been entangled, is found. Who, most diligently handled, and tested in various ways, could be found no other than dead.
[30] Finally, much straw being applied, and fire kindled round about, he is recalled to life. he could feel no heat at all, nor give any indication of life. What more? He is carried again to the nearer bank, and his master and companions treat only of burial. The keeper of the church is asked, that for burying the dead [man] he give a supply of some place. That obtained, while they open a grave for burial, meanwhile the corpse, as it was truly thought, lifeless, is set down for the hour in the keeper's lodging. When, not after a long interval of time, it begins to grow warm again, and little by little to open the mouth, and to draw breath. Thereupon, raising himself wholly, he cast a little blood from his mouth, and immediately rose unharmed, so that, prayer being made, and thanksgiving rendered by all, he hastened, as before, to draw the ship with his companions. When the merchant saw this, greatly rejoicing that he was amended and chastised for his fault, he paid a pound of silver to the sacred altar, and, the journey being then begun, departed, all his company unharmed. Let the rest see what they feel of a matter of this kind: I would most confidently say, that the merits of the blessed Man are so much the more illustrious after his death, the more solicitously, while he lived, he fled human praises and boasting. Nor in exhibiting signs and miracles of this kind does he seem inferior to any of the Saints (only the Apostles and the most illustrious Martyrs of the Church being excepted): inasmuch as in loving God and neighbor he is judged not easily inferior even to them c: for although in life he shone not with many miracles which men knew, but was most illustrious in that charity which is mightier than all miracles: and therefore after his death he shines daily in the faith of the living with so many and so great virtues.
[31] Besides, the monk Heirardus, who, as has often been said, was to me a most certain and most true relater of these miracles, twice affirms that, no one applying fire from without, the lamp which hangs before the venerable memory shone, light being divinely infused. Which same thing happened in the present year, in which we described these things, and in the preceding, those who were present affirm: but that will have to be told in its place.
ANNOTATA.
* Mabillon: Hadebaldi.
* Mabillon: Willigelmus.
* Mabillon: denique.
* otherwise Bodoart.
* otherwise Fresonum.
* Mabillon: præripio.
* Above it is Herirardus.
CAPUT III.
The miracles which happened under Marcuardus, third abbot of Prüm, are expedited. When and by whom the Cell of St. Goar [was] associated to the monastery of Prüm.
[32] Thus far I have described the things which are reported to have been done, among others, Abbot Tancradus being surviving in this life. Louis the Pious is freed from gout; Now, Christ helping, I shall come to the times of the most illustrious father Marcuardus, who imposed this very work on me, the order, as I proposed, being kept. And that I may begin these very things, the order of the deeds being somewhat postponed, with a clearer exordium, the Emperor of most excellent piety and singular clemency, and the most zealous of all Emperors toward the Christian religion, Louis, who still, the supernal mercy providing, holds the sum of affairs, when he labored with a most vehement pain of the feet (with which infirmity that man, though not continually, yet frequently is afflicted), and was descending from his palace, which, situated on the shore of the river Rhine, we said above is called Ingelheim, by a naval conveyance, went out to pray to St. Goar, scarcely able to set foot on land for excessive pain, and relying more on those supporting [him] than on his own steps. And when he had come into the church, most humbly and devoutly he laid himself down before the venerable memory, and, stretched on the ground, prayed a long time. But when he rose, turned to the Abbot and the most illustrious man Gerungus, formerly ædile of the palace, now a monk, Thanks, he says, to God: now I feel relief given me by the merits of St. Goar, nor do I now labor with that pain with which I came hither. Thus, returned from the memory, glad and eager he passed the whole day. These things I learned from the Abbot himself, who was present, reporting them: although not even I myself was much absent, who on the day before that day saw the Emperor, laboring most grievously with the aforesaid pain, in the palace. But to this deed I will subjoin another, a little earlier in time. A woman of the Scottish nation the citizens, returning from the city, a woman [freed from lameness;] left there sick and weak in gait. She, after she passed six months in the place, on the day of the annual solemnity, which is kept on the day before the Nones of July, amid the vesper psalms received the health of her step.
[33] as also a boy from a demon. In the previous year, after the things which we reported of the Emperor, it happened that a certain one of the country-folk carried to the church his little son, full of a demon, with weeping and supplication. Whom, when, weeping and wailing, many being present, he had set forth before the memory; Holy Goar, he says, restore now to me my son, and, the demon which vexes him being driven out, heal [him]: and I for a gift will bring hither to thee at once one "apis" (for so the country-folk are wont to call a swarm of bees). Not vain was this simple petition of the rustic man, but immediately the father, glad and rejoicing, carried the little one, most entirely healed, home. Finally he offered the swarm of bees, as he had promised, and it remains today in the gardens of the church. These things I learned from the report both of the oft-mentioned Theodrad, and of Heckebold, Provost of the place itself, a truly learned and truthful man. And that I may bring in that which above I lightly touched, in the past year on the most holy day of Easter, when the Provost Heckebold, at the very rising of the light, wished to celebrate Masses, and likewise in this same year, in which we wrote these things, when the same Provost celebrated Masses in Lent, and the light of the church was sought to be wanting, and the keeper, the lamp being taken down and found without fire, hastened to carry it to be lit, suddenly, many beholding, the light in the lamp, kindled of its own accord, shone forth. The lamp burns from heaven. Which having been often done there, several faithful men who were present testify.
[34] But that I may conclude these miracles with a narration of things very lately done in the present, A little infant, lame, mute, and deaf, is cured. about the same time in which I put my hand to describing these, the little book not yet published, when to the annual solemnity of the blessed deposition a great multitude of men flowed together from every side, as is wont, a known woman from the neighborhood came with a son nearly seven years old, who from birth remaining lame, mute, and deaf, brought to his unhappy mother new griefs and pains daily. Him the mother, with devout faith, when among the nocturnal vigils she had set forth before the venerable sepulchre, about the end of the matin psalms, when the clergy of the church were singing the canticle of the Gospel, the little infant with a slow effort suddenly rose, and, standing on the feet which up to that time he had never fixed to the earth, called his mother with a repeated cry. Weeping for joy, immediately the mother ran up, and received her son, whom she had set down pressed by so many troubles, walking and at once speaking and hearing. Nor was it difficult for Christ, by the merit of his Confessor, at one and the same time to give the boy both the possibility of speaking and the knowledge which his elders had never learned by hearing: since he himself is the wisdom of God, which opens the mouths of the mute, and makes the tongues of infants eloquent. Then indeed the stupor of so great a miracle fills the minds of all who were present, the whole church cries out in praise of Christ, and the salvation of one little infant kindles the hearts of many to the faith.
[35] And on the same day, when the people watched the solemnities of Masses, A blind girl sees; and the divine mysteries were being celebrated by the priest, a girl of nearly the same age as the aforesaid infant, long blind, who then had been faithfully brought by her parents, received the lost light. Thus by a twofold miracle under one day both the merit of the holy Man shone forth openly to all, and the faith of those present acknowledged how the clemency of Christ is not wanting to those invoking [him], being everywhere present.
[36] [These few things concerning the miracles deservedly shown and exhibited of blessed Goar, the time of writing. I have digested in brief and open speech, as far as I could, bringing the narration to the year 839 of the Lord's Incarnation, and committing to writing only those (as I noted at the beginning of this little book) which I learned by the report of faithful men, and which I found held most well-known not only to those who reported them, but to almost all frequenting the place. Although I have not written all things which were reported by those very [men], to whose faith I thought special credence must be given; otherwise I should either have exceeded the measure of the undertaken work, or been to my hearers longer and more prolix than just. Nor by this work have I taken from others the faculty of writing of these things, but these very things which somehow seem to be set forth by me, those who wish will be able more worthily to explain according to reason, and to describe the things which perhaps will come forth in similar miracles, the example being taken from you, most ample Father Marcuard, and from me. For if the divine works are set forth to us to be most worthily glorified, it is fitting that, the benefit of the divine virtue not ceasing, the intention of writing too not cease, and, so long as there exist those who can fulfill [it], things worthy of admiration be committed to letters. Wherefore it has pleased [me] also to subjoin blank parchments to this little book, that, the present work being published, in the times to come after
these, whatever some prudent person shall esteem to be inserted, he may opportunely be able to insert.]
[37] By Pippin, founder of the monastery of Prüm The things which I had undertaken to write of the miracles of the holy Man being now run through, it seems to me necessarily must be shown in few words, and, after the two little books published, to be recorded as it were extraneously, in what manner and from what cause the Cell of blessed Goar was associated to the monastery of Prüm, that at all time it too should be under the government and power of the Abbot who, God being author, should be over that monastery. The King of the Franks Pippin of most excellent memory, father of the most famous Emperor Charles, after, as is known to nearly all, provoked by the love of Christ and at the request of his wife of holy remembrance Berthrada, he built the above-written monastery, monks being constituted in it who should serve God under the regular order, set the venerable man Assuerus over the office of government: who also was over the same place most happily forty-five years. Whom, since he esteemed [him] very much for the merit of his life, he gave the authority of a constitution of this kind, that when, making a journey, he had come to some place of royal right, he might freely take the things which were necessary to the journey.
[38] The Cell of St. Goar is united to it When therefore at a certain time he was making a journey from the monastery into the province of the Vangiones b, and by occasion of the way had turned aside to St. Goar, where then in the name of rector a certain [man] was over [it], by name Herpingus, and he could obtain no supply of necessary things, he reported the matter, as it was done, a little after to the Prince, saying that it was most base, that in that place all the humanity of hospitality was denied, where once under the blessed Man that same virtue had singularly flourished. The King promises that these things would be amended, when the opportunity of time should smile. So not much after, being in the palace which is called Attigny c, when to the general assembly of the people the Abbot Assuerus had likewise come, the prince, having called him to him, reminds [him] concerning those things which had been said by him of the Cell of the blessed Man, and commits it to him to be governed, exhorting [him] that he ought to dispose it congruously, and make it fitting for the hospitality which he had not experienced in it. This was the first conjunction of the said Cell with the monastery of Prüm, made by the command and will of King Pippin, when it was not subjected to the monastery itself and the monks, but only committed to the Abbot by the right of a benefice to be governed.
[39] But, Charles the Great reigning after his father's death, A controversy arising concerning it there arose between the pontiff of Trier, then Weomad, and the Abbot Assuerus, a contention for the same Cell, the Bishop asserting that it belonged to the right of his church, the Abbot on the contrary saying that it was the King's possession by hereditary law, nor could the church claim anything for itself in it, which had both been committed to him by King Pippin, and transmitted into the dominion of the most illustrious Charles by the right of succession. So they contending long and much, and the matter being often brought to controversy, there were directed from the side of the King, once and again and a third time, most faithful and truthful legates, who should diligently inquire into the cause, and congruously terminate the suit: who, examining the matter, found no other than what the Abbot had protested, namely that the possession of the oft-mentioned place was of royal rather than of ecclesiastical right. But since these things by no means sufficed the Bishop, the most famous prince, a general assembly being held in Saxony over the fountain river? which is called Lupia Lippe, in the presence of nearly the whole primacy of the kingdom, and of the most illustrious men of both orders, undertook the matter to be examined by himself, and, by the judgment of all who were then present, the condition of an oath was appointed to the advocate of the monastery, then by name Ratbert, by which he afterward with twelve others confirmed that the oft-mentioned possession belonged not to the church of Trier, but only to the royal dominion.
[40] In this way therefore the matter being defined, and the Bishop at last acquiescing, composed by Charlemagne. the most famous King, with the consent of his [men], delivered the Cell of the holy Man to the monastery of Prüm, a privilege of the same donation being published, by which he confirmed and testified, that he, for the love of Christ and the alms soul-benefit of his parents, namely King Pippin and Queen Berthrada, subjected the Cell itself to the said monastery on this condition, that at all time thenceforth the Rectors of the same monastery should hold it, and use its goods with free condition for the necessary uses of their monks and of the brethren serving God, and, without any contradiction of anyone, should do and ordain concerning it the things which belonged to the common utility. And that they should use with the firmest right not only the goods which at that same time the dominion of the Cell should retain, but also those which it should acquire by future successions.
[41] How these things were done and established, anyone who wishes will be able to know, the same privilege being re-read, which even today remains most entire in the archives of the monastery itself. For us it will suffice to have briefly recorded the matter, lest we be deservedly reproached for having utterly kept silent that which would be useful for knowledge, and for having in this part been wanting in duty toward blessed Goar. Finally, when we wrote these things, as in the government of the monastery of Prüm, so also in the possession of the Cell of St. Goar, to Assuerus Tancradus, and to him Marcuardus, had succeeded by vicarious change. Moreover, that concerning the Abbot Assuerus and the Cell of the holy Man the things which we first reported were so done, a certain one of the elder brethren, not unworthy of faith, protested that he had heard from the same Abbot.
ANNOTATA.
* otherwise perceperant.
* perhaps "fluvium" river.