ON ST. AGILOLFUS, BISHOP AND MARTYR, AT COLOGNE.
ABOUT THE YEAR 770.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Agilolfus, Bishop and Martyr, at Cologne (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. P.
§ I. Cult, elogia, proper lessons, the various formation of the name.
Cologne, among very many other deposits of sacred relics, with which it most abundantly overflows, possesses also the body of St. Agilolfus. Concerning him Aegidius Gelenius, in his work On the Greatness of Cologne, book 3, St. Agilolfus, announced on a different day by different Martyrologists; section 7, on the occasion of the collegiate church of the blessed Virgin Mary ad Gradus, §4, thus teaches: Preeminent is the body of St. Agilolfus, Archbishop of Cologne, enclosed in a silver sarcophagus, translated by the most blessed founder Anno from the monastery of Malmedy. But this Saint is not announced on the same day among the Martyrologists; for, as was said in the Passed-Over on the XXXI of March, he is mentioned in various manuscript Martyrologies augmented under the name of Usuard, as for instance in the codices of Antwerp the Greatest, Brussels, Utrecht, Leyden, Louvain, Alberga, Denmark, Haguenau, and in Greven, Canisius, Ferrarius, and Molanus of the first edition, on the said day, the XXXI of March. But the church of Cologne, in
its own ancient Breviaries and Martyrologies also celebrates his feast on the IX of July. The Brussels Usuardine codex, after the announcement of the Saint, adds: whom Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne, sent for the treating of peace, where, cruelly slain and crowned with martyrdom, he shone with many miracles. On the same day Saussay also thus commemorates him with an elogium: At Amblève in the Ardennes, the passion of St. Agilolphus, Bishop of Cologne and Martyr, who, the faithful and strenuous fellow-worker of St. Boniface, there, while he was preaching the faith of Christ, was slain by the impious. But when he had been buried at Malmedy [*], he was thence, with signs glittering, translated to Cologne. Bucelinus on this IX day adapts an elogium to him; Castellanus announces him on the XXXI of March. The differing days of martyrdom and translation may have furnished occasion for referring him to days so diverse; of which this be the IX of July, that the XXXI of March.
[2] In a letter given to Papebroch in an uncertain year, his cult restored; in which its writer asks to be informed of the place of the martyrdom of St. Agilolfus, I read that the occasion of this request was given by the cult of the same Saint, which, a chapel having been raised in the said places (mention of the church of Amblève had preceded), grows daily; so that the pastor of Amblève vehemently desired that the life of this Saint be transcribed in the German tongue. Whence we learn that the primitive cult of the blessed Martyr, by the lapse perhaps of time, as is not rarely wont to happen in human affairs, either persevering lukewarmly in those places or altogether intermitted, returned, not without some little increase of religion, to its former or at least a better splendor. For indeed that St. Agilolfus was an apostolic man, and most illustriously deserving of the neighboring or bordering peoples of Austrasia, we read handed down to memory by the author of the Passion at number 2, although not sufficiently in accord with chronology, as we shall say afterward; where, treating of the coming of St. Boniface, he narrates that our Saint, crossing with him beyond the shores of the Rhine, illuminated with the evangelical light the German nation, sitting in darkness. And at number 3 we have the following: But repelling the blindness of the heathen, Agilolfus, the gem of prelates, in Germany carried on the work of an evangelist, there making the heavenly harvest grow golden; so that it is no wonder that a man so distinguished should be extolled with deserved elogia by those who have made mention of him in their writings, as we shall now see.
[3] elogium I draw out a most ancient elogium from a copy which we have, taken from a manuscript of the Patrons of Malmedy, to which this title is prefixed: The Book of the miracles of St. Quirinus the Martyr, which manuscript was first written by the same author by whom was written the Passion of St. Agilolfus, to be given here, as will be shown afterward in its place. There, therefore, after the author had narrated that in the monastery of Malmedy the voices of Angels were heard by two monks of the same monastery, he thus continues to our purpose: Some courses of hours then passed; when those same bands of the Blessed, proceeding thence, entered the church nearest to the monastery, consecrated in the names of the blessed Lawrence and of many saints, and, encircling the tomb of the martyr Agilolfus, thus far resting therein, they set this antiphon: He that hath set thy soul unto life; and there, Matins being chanted for the souls of the Faithful, that heavenly vision vanished from human sight. Of the aforesaid man of blessed memory many things might be at hand which could be laudably said; but because he was taken from us, and was translated elsewhere, we have thought it better thenceforth to keep silent: yet lest it be reputed to sloth to glorify God, who is wonderful in His Saints, lest we be accused of envy in not making much of Saints made glorious through God, it has pleased us to explain in very few words who and how great a man this was.
[4] an ancient one; Born of noble stock, he was handed over by his parents to Anglinus, the Abbot of this place, to be regularly formed under the instruction of a monk. Who, imitating spiritually the manners and life of his spiritual father, was, by the will of God, made his successor; then, given as bishop to the see of Cologne, he did not lay down even the burden of the abbacy, until, governing both most strenuously, he was crowned with martyrdom on behalf of the faith of the kingdom at Amblève, and with us, where he had presided in the name and work of abbot, so long as God willed, he had the place of his burial. Thus he, sparing indeed in this place, but a truthful praiser; who filled these parts more fully when of set purpose he treated of him, committing his passion to writing, as will be seen at the end of this preliminary Commentary.
[5] Cratepolius, in the Annals of the Archbishops of Cologne, page 23, wove the following elogium: the elogium of Cratepolius, St. Agilolphus was of that sacred college which St. Boniface brought from England into Germany, that he might convert it to the religion of Christ; who nearly all, as they were men distinguished in sanctity and erudition, so were also joined to him by kinship and by the bond of friendship. This Agilolphus professed the monastic life in the new monastery of Malmedy, thence, on account of his eminent piety, was set over the same monastery as abbot, and, since he was greatly loved by the King of the Franks, was given as Archbishop to the church of Cologne in the year of our salvation 728. He was moreover a man pious, mild and peaceable, and a good governor of the church. Once monks converted Germany to the faith of Christ and to His religion: now apostate, outcast, vow-breaking monks, such as Luther and his followers, overthrow it. This Agilolphus was also most observant of justice and a most keen persecutor of adulterers; who, on account of his supreme probity (as is wont to happen), was greatly hateful to the impious.
[6] These at length, having found occasion, slew the most innocent Man. published in praise of the Saint. For an intestine war of the Franks having arisen, he followed the King's party, since he was of his council. But when the matter had come to arms, the King sent him to the nobles to treat of pacification. But the army was encamped in the Ardennes near the monastery of Malmedy. And this blessed Pontiff, some conniving, is killed by the retainers. He was carried to the monastery of Malmedy, and there honorably buried. That place, where he had been slain by the impious, remained green a long time, and by night a light was seen there. St. Anno translated him thence to Cologne and laid him in Mary ad Gradus, where he shone with many miracles. King Sigebert founded Malmedy among other monasteries, and St. Remaclus so named it, because he had cleansed that place from the infestation of evil spirits. Thus far Cratepolius; in whose elogium the things which need correction, as also in the elogium of Molanus, which we shall likewise relate, can be emended from the things which will be said through the course of this our Commentary.
[7] Molanus, in the elogium of St. Agilolfus which he sets forth in the Natales of the Saints of Belgium at the day IX of July, What Molanus concerning him adorned from various sources, commemorates various things pertaining hither: At Cologne, he says, the birthday and translation of St. Agilolfus, Archbishop of the same city. He is written to have come to Jupille to the sick prince Pepin, and to have labored much that he should not write as heir Charles Martel, begotten of the concubine Alpais. Which, however, he could not obtain. Then he suffered martyrdom in the Ardennes district of Amblève, which place is so called from the name of the river flowing by, and was buried in the church of St. Lawrence, adjoining the monastery of Malmedy, and shone with various miracles. Of him it is written in the book of the miracles of St. Quirinus the Martyr. Born of noble stock, etc.—which we have already given at number 4; which being passed over, let us go on with Molanus: But the common Cologne Chronicle has it that he was slain by the enemy while he was being sent for the sake of peace by Martel to the Saxons, and that he was carried to Cologne ad Gradus by Bruno, who was brother of the Emperor Otto. But I do not doubt to refer the slaying of the Bishop to the times of the son, or of the grandsons, who also warred against the Saxons; for the reason that the letters of Zachary, who after Martel's death was made Pontiff, concerning the receiving of the legate Boniface, are directed also to him.
[8] in the Natales of the Saints of Belgium. Then the history of St. Anno, to which much is to be attributed, testifies that the body of St. Agilolphus was carried away from Malmedy to Cologne by St. Anno, where he laid it in his own monastery ad Gradus. Now Malmedy is the second abbey of St. Remaclus, dependent on Stavelot, formerly of the diocese of Cologne; but now, unless I am mistaken, of the territory of Liège, as to both jurisdictions. For while the blessed Poppo presided over these, he established by perpetual law that the monks of Malmedy should make the pledge of their profession before those of Stavelot. His birthday falls on the last day of March; but by the people of Cologne it is recalled together with the translation on the day IX of July, because at the end of March the church is always occupied with the Office of Lent or of the passion or resurrection of the Lord. To these might be added the elogium composed by Bartholomew Fisen in the Flowers of the Church of Liège, page 321, where he collected various things concerning him from the life of St. Swibert, from Molanus, from the Cologne Office, and from the things which R. D. Francis Laurentii, Prior of Malmedy, sent. Besides, there may be consulted the things which the same author has in his History of Liège, at the year 711, page 163, and at the year 1061, page 306.
[9] proper lessons; The proper lessons of the Saint Father John Grothaus, elsewhere several times praised in our Acts, sent hither from Cologne, taken from a very old Breviary of Cologne. A Collect is prefixed to them, which runs thus: May the votive birthday of thy magnificent Prelate Agilolphus, we beseech thee, O Lord, shine forth for us, and may we feel him, whom we venerate this day slain innocently by the swords of the impious for thy Church, propitious as an intercessor with thy clemency. Through, etc.
Lesson I. The blessed Agilolphus had passed the groves; and now, drawing near to the wedges of the enemy, he went through green meadows. They appointed guards and scouts, whom they knew to be stronger and craftier among their own. Who, when they beheld the priest of Christ coming, cruelly, like a lion, gnash their teeth, and rejoice, like a wolf, that prey comes to them.
Lesson II. Behold, they say, there comes the Bishop of Cologne, the prudent provider and craftsman of Charles. This is that famous, distinguished, and venerable man in all Gaul, by whose wisdom the affairs of the kingdom are disposed.
Lesson III. Let us therefore conspire to arms, and rush upon him with a hard hand. Let him go into the perils of the sword; let his memory be taken away from the earth. When the head of the kingdom is gone, we shall easily overcome the whole body. So their wraths burst forth, nor do they know how to check the reins.
Lesson IV. With a great crash they rush forthwith, and with hostile arms meet him at close quarters; (alas for the grief!) they attack with the sword, and provoke the Father with the weapon. On every side he is cut down with iron, his innocent blood is poured out: his body is prostrated to the earth by the thrust of arms; his devout mind remains fixed on the King of heaven. They stand not to spare, but strongly press on with blows.
Lesson V. So at last, quivering with his last breath, he suppliantly asks God to receive his spirit in peace. Nor is there delay in granting it, because the censure of the Master spurns not one knocking, suffering for justice. O happy Martyr! from his mouth, as it were white, it came forth and flew like a dove to the stars.
Lesson VI. The lifeless body of the Martyr lay prostrate, and the grass sprouted with his rosy blood. His spirit had passed to Christ, with whom he rejoices and lives for eternity.
[10] Of the various formation of the name, receive thus.
Agilolfus, the various formation of the name. Agilolphus, Agillolphus, or Agylolfus, Agiolfus and Agilulphus, and whatever forms of writing may be found, differing from those already produced, designate the same holy Martyr; of which we have judged that account should here be taken, lest the variety of spelling should cause anyone delay. In forming that name we have followed, in the title above, and shall follow henceforth, the manner of writing expressed in our copy of the Passion.
Annotation* At Malmedy.
§ II. The episcopate; the time of the martyrdom; the day of death; the translation of the body.
Gelenius, in book 1, section 6, page 41, writes that an opinion had grown up that St. Agilolfus was the first Archbishop of Cologne. St. Agilolfus was not the first Archbishop of Cologne. Claudius Castellanus asserts absolutely that he was the first Bishop of Cologne, as can be seen in the same author in the Additions to the Roman Martyrology, on the day XXXI of March. But this opinion Le Cointe refutes in volume 5, page 200, in these words: The church of Cologne being widowed of a Pastor after the death of Bishop Raginfred, the Franks indeed requested of Zachary, the Roman Pontiff, that to Cologne, which had once been the metropolis of Germania Secunda, then of both Germanies, the metropolitan dignity should be restored, and that there the see of Boniface, before archbishop-at-large, and of his successors should remain fixed. But Mainz being also a little after destitute of a Bishop, when Bishop Gervilius had been deposed in a synod and had given his assent to his own deprivation, they at once preferred Mainz, once the metropolis of Germania Prima, then of both Germanies, to Cologne, and, their former counsel being changed, asked that Boniface and his successors should be made Archbishops of Mainz. But lest the church of Cologne should long be vacant, there was soon given to it as Bishop Agilulphus. That he was not the first Bishop of Cologne is more manifest than that it should need to be proved by many arguments; and this is sufficiently clear even from this, that in the council of Cologne, Euphrates, Bishop of the same city, because he denied Christ to be God, was condemned for heresy and deprived in the year of Christ 346. More will be found in volume 2 of the Councils in Labbe, from column 615.
[12] A more difficult question presents itself concerning the time of the life and martyrdom of St. Agilolfus, Various things being set forth in the determining of which there are as many opinions as there are heads. Molanus, as we saw above, does not doubt to refer that slaying to the times of the son or grandsons of Charles Martel, relying on the letters of Pope Zachary given to him, and so looks to about the middle of the eighth century or even later. Cratepolius, as appears from the elogium above, fixes the beginning of the episcopate at the year 728; Ferrarius in the general Catalogue his death at about the year 700. Bucelinus reports that he flourished about the year 740. Castellanus attaches to the announcement of the Martyr "toward the year 765." Le Cointe, in the Annals of the Franks, treating of St. Agilolfus in various places, asserts that he was substituted to the abbot Anglinus, in whose monastic instructions he had before been imbued, in the year 744. He connects the Cologne infulae with the year 746; but the letters written by Pope Zachary to various Bishops, among whom the name of Agilolfus also is found, and indeed with the title of Bishop of Cologne, he thinks are to be fixed at the year 748, with Baronius against Sirmond, who will have them given in the year 744. But there is no reason why so slight a difference of time should much trouble us. Digressing hence to the year 750, the same Author says, about this year Agilulphus, Bishop of Cologne and abbot of Stavelot and Malmedy, abdicated the episcopate, and remained Abbot of Stavelot and Malmedy up to the year of Christ 770, in which he ended his life, as Fisen testifies in the Catalogue of the Abbots of Stavelot, which he arranged in the Flowers of the Church of Liège, from page 400. There besides, at page 321, he tacitly favors the chronological order which Molanus, Le Cointe, and Castellanus wove, when they extend the life of the Saint beyond the middle of the eighth century, thus writing:
[13] Yet that legation to Pepin, he says, of which we shall treat expressly in the following paragraph, of authors one might not undeservedly recall to the scales. For as a youth Agilolphus was handed over into the discipline of Anglinus, abbot of Stavelot, and after him was designated Abbot; who, however, by no means departed this life before the year 746, since in that year a diploma granted to the Abbot Anglinus by King Childeric is preserved to this day. But he was made Bishop of Cologne a little after. He certainly was so in the year [7]48, when the supreme Pontiff commended to him Boniface, legate of the Apostolic See. How therefore was he Bishop of Cologne in the year [7]14? It remains, forsooth, that we say that it happened by the error of some unskilled copyist, that Agilolfus is read as Bishop, who ought to have been written Giso, or perhaps Anno. Into this opinion he will come with me, as I think, not unwillingly, who shall have maturely weighed the things which I have elsewhere produced, noted concerning the writer of the life of St. Swibert.
[14] The praised Le Cointe, at the year 770: Agilolfus, he says, suffered martyrdom, concerning the epoch Bertholin then holding the episcopate of Cologne, as Gelenius notes from the Cologne Chronicle. And he cites the book of Gelenius, book 1, section 6, number 25, which in Gelenius designates the 25th Bishop of Cologne: where, however, what Le Cointe would have said is by no means said. For, treating of Bertholin, Gelenius says that he flourished under Charlemagne, in the year 772; that he died on the Nones of February; adding that the Cologne Chronicle at folio 3 says that St. Agilolfus was elevated by Bertholin. But it is one thing, and utterly diverse, to suffer in someone's time, and another to be elevated by him. The former argues that they lived as contemporaries, but the latter signifies nothing of the sort. For what forbids that St. Agilolfus died long before the times of Bertholin, and yet was afterward elevated by him? And indeed, that we may add something also concerning Gelenius's opinion in the reckoning of time, about which we here inquire; he is not always consistent with himself: for in the cited place, page 41, he says that our holy Bishop sat under Pepin of Herstal and Charles Martel about six years, and was martyred in the year 717. And in book 3, section 7, page 308, he plainly establishes the same epoch, thus speaking: This is that Agilolphus who, together with the blessed Swibert, once a legate to convert Pepin, entangled in unlawful loves with Alpais, and also Apostle of the Frisians, while he devoted himself day and night to the pastoral office and to piety, was slain by the haters of Christian virtues in the district of Amblève, and merited the laurel of martyrdom on the VII of the Ides of July about the year 717—citing for that year the ancient manuscript codices of St. Andrew of Cologne and of other churches.
[15] But the aforesaid author, in a little book to which he gave the title of the life and death of St. Agilolfus Cologne Suppliant, had established a different reckoning of time, when he records that St. Agilolfus was declared Archbishop by St. Zachary, the Supreme Pontiff, and at length was slain about the year 748. Hence it is made out that Gelenius was not always consistent with himself, nor do the authors alike agree in fixing the chronological epoch of the life and death, of which we are now speaking. And Gelenius again overturns this last opinion, thus continuing to reason: Then, six years before the death of Charles Martel, namely in the year 735, R. P. Christopher Brower reports from the archives that Raginfred, successor of St. Agilolphus in the see of Cologne, exchanged certain bondmen with St. Willibrord. Therefore the things which have hitherto been commonly believed and which most authors commemorate, namely that St. Agilolfus was created the first archbishop by Pope Zachary, and that the latter wrote to St. Agilolphus in the year 748, necessarily fall to the ground; for they have their foundation in an error of the letter of Pope Zachary, from which pontifical letter the error may be detected, both from the order of the bishops and from the observations of R. P. Nicholas Serarius in his History of Mainz, where, from other copies of the letters of Zachary, in place of four Prelates marked with an asterisk, among whom is Agilolphus, he substitutes four others of a better reading. So much for the various opinions of more recent writers in fixing the Agilolfian reckoning; it remains to speak of the epoch of the more ancient author.
[16] The author of the Passion of St. Agilolfus, which we here give, opinions, presents such chronological marks that, if we rely on them, it is necessary to say that the holy Bishop ceased to be among the living about the year 717. This epoch all the characteristic marks, expressed there in more than one place, persuade; such as, Pepin, who cannot be other than the one of Herstal; Charles Martel, who used the wise counsel of the most holy Archbishop Agilolfus; waging war against Chilperic, who is also Daniel the Clerk, and Raginfred; Leo the Emperor, namely the Isaurian; Gregory the Pontiff, of this name assuredly the second; the laying waste of the Ardennes and the siege of the city of Cologne by the said Raginfred and Chilperic, which Brower fixes at the year 716; the blessed Boniface .. slain by the pagans with the sword … long after the passion of our most blessed Father Agilolphus, as the same writer of the Passion narrates at number 15. Finally, that I be not too long, the famous stratagem of war by which Charles Martel, far unequal to the enemy in number, supplying the fewness of his men, overcame Chilperic with his forces and put them to flight; which the new author of the History of France connects with the year 716, citing the Annals of Metz, although he commemorates it in a different manner from the aforesaid writer of the Passion, as will be seen at greater length elsewhere; who also openly asserts that St. Agilolfus had already been slain at that time when that stratagem, committed to execution, brought victory to Charles Martel and disaster to the enemy. The deed is narrated in the Passion from number 23.
[17] If the merit of this anonymous author, who embraced in writing the Passion of the holy Bishop Agilolfus, were such [we recede from the reckoning which the author of the Passion holds, and establish our own,] that, endowed with the genuine marks of a faithful historian, he should command greater credit than the common run of writers is wont, I should perhaps do a thing consonant with reason and not ungrateful to the learned, if, leaving the opinions of others in fixing the time of the life and death of St. Agilolfus, I should measure them by the reckonings of that author alone. But now, since not a few things occur in the Passion which he wrote that deserve censure rather than praise, as will be seen at greater length in the critical notes to be made upon this Passion in the next paragraph, I see that another way is to be entered upon by me. For what has the opinion of the authors produced above, extending the life of our Bishop beyond the middle of the eighth century, that it should so greatly displease, as improbable, lacking foundation, and wandering beyond the just bounds of chronology? Surely for this stands the letter of Pope Zachary, written in the year 744 or 748, in whose inscription is expressed the name of Agilolfus, Bishop of Cologne. For this makes the Catalogue of the Abbots of Stavelot, arranged in the praised Fisen in the Flowers of the Church of Liège from page 400, in which, the series being continued, beginning from the first Abbot of Stavelot and Malmedy, St. Remaclus, one proceeds to the tenth Abbot, St. Agilolfus, snatched from life, as is there handed down, in the year 770. This finally seems to be sufficiently established by a double diploma given to the predecessor of St. Agilolfus by King Childeric, concerning which it is worth while to understand what Fisen reports in the Paralipomena of the Flowers of the Church of Liège, part 2, page 605.
[18] as we think, the truer one. The tenth Abbot of Stavelot was St. Anglinus, to whom King Childeric in the year 742 granted various prerogatives; but Carloman
in the year 746 gave him sixteen estates. These two diplomas show when Anglinus lived. He did not long survive this munificence of the Prince Carloman: since in the year 747 St. Agilolfus is said to have been created Bishop of Cologne, already before Abbot of Stavelot. So he, in the elogia of the five holy Abbots of Stavelot, which the very reverend D. Francis Laurentii, Prior of Malmedy, collected from the ancient monuments of Stavelot, as is there prefaced. To argue therefore that these three grounds—drawn from the letters of Pope Zachary, from the Catalogue of the Abbots of Stavelot, and moreover from the two diplomas—are spurious and false, for the sake of the author who wrote the Passion, an insipid and inept writer, seems to me a morsel of harder digestion than to be so easily swallowed. To the grounds produced above from Gelenius at number 15, I thus reply. The argument which is drawn from the bondmen exchanged by Raginfred with St. Willibrord before the death of Charles Martel, in the year 735—that this Raginfred was the successor of St. Agilolfus in the see of Cologne—seems a paralogism, if we believe Le Cointe, resting on a false supposition, namely that Raginfred was the successor of St. Agilolfus, who rather was his predecessor. The same Le Cointe presents him thus to us at the year 724, number 31: The successor of Faramund also is disputed; he, however, was beyond doubt Raginfred, whom Agilolphus afterward succeeded, although here in the common Catalogues he is placed before the same Raginfred. There too Hildegar is established as the next successor of Agilolfus. This epoch of the episcopate of Raginfred being admitted, the things which are reported by Gelenius concerning the exchanged bondmen, and of which Le Cointe also treats at the year 735, number 3, have no difficulty. But now indeed in the letter of Pope Zachary there is a various reading of the four bishops, among whom is Agilolfus; and for the name of Agilolfus another is substituted in the margin: but which reading is the truer, the better, and the more genuine, who can decide solidly enough? Nothing therefore do I see firm enough to compel us to depart from the opinion which establishes that the holy Bishop survived beyond the middle of the eighth century, and perhaps even up to the year 770; although we confess that everything here is so intricate and involved that one can hardly safely define anything for certain.
[19] That from the days on which the Martyr died and on which he was translated, What the day of translation is; being diverse from each other, a diverse announcement seems to have arisen, we reported above at number 1. Certainly, if credit is to be given to the author of the Passion, the Saint died on the last day of March, the XXXI; concerning which matter he, in chapter 1, number 10, says: March was closing on its last day, the morrow's day was bringing April: the Saint had passed the groves, etc. And presently he describes the savage death inflicted on him. And at the end of chapter 1, the passion is said to be celebrated on the day before the Kalends of April. Gelenius dissents from him, when he establishes the day of death to be the VII of the Ides of July, which day we should rather call the day of translation, not of death, according to what was said above at number 1.
[20] That the sacred remains of Agilolfus were translated from the monastery of Malmedy to Cologne by Anno, Bishop of Cologne, by whom the translation was made; is clear from the life of the same Anno on the day IV of December, written by an anonymous author and published in Surius, in which it is narrated in these words, at number 37: But, that we may return to what precedes, the most blessed Anno, cultivating on earth those with whom he hastened with all his efforts to be associated in heaven, gladdened the city of Cologne, long defrauded of the body of its Martyr and Bishop Agilolfus, with the restoration of his members; which, snatching them from the people of Malmedy, he translated into his own monastery which is ad Gradus, with great ardor of the exulting city. But now, since the aforesaid Anno passed over to the Author of light in the twenty-first year of his prelacy, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1075, as his life relates—sent hither from Cologne by Gamans and received from an ancient parchment manuscript of the collegiate church of St. George at Cologne, to be published by our successors in its time—it is clear that this translation cannot be deferred later than the year 1075. Fisen, in the History of Liège, book 8, number 30, page 306, connects it with the year 1061, at the same time signifying by what means it happened: There burst forth, he says, in these times, an evil in open and doubtful conflict, whether the monastery of Malmedy ought to continue subject to the Abbot of Stavelot, and it gravely troubled the people of Stavelot. Perhaps on the Kalends of August, Agnes Augusta, administering the kingdom in place of her little son, was holding a noble assembly of the Princes of the Germans at Stavelot. Anno, Archbishop of Cologne, was present, whom the people of Malmedy proposed to win over to themselves by clandestine arts. They ask that he would deign to visit the sacred family committed to his care, close by. When they had come, they display the precious deposit, the sacred body of the blessed Agilolfus, once Bishop of both Stavelot and Cologne, and Martyr. Then, a brief mention being inserted of the legation to Pepin, which will be examined in the next paragraph, likewise of the place of martyrdom, the burial, and the miracles from Molanus, he thus continues to our purpose: Anno burned with a holy desire of bringing back the precious pledge to Cologne. The people of Malmedy offered it of their own accord, thinking that the mind of the Bishop was to be won by so great a gift; who with great pleasure carried off to Cologne that opulent treasure, and placed it in his own monastery ad Gradus. The matter proceeded according to the wish of the people of Malmedy.
[21] St. Bruno, therefore, brother of the Emperor Otto, had no part in that translation, or by St. Bruno, brother of the Emperor Otto? which above, at number 7, Molanus reported, citing the Cologne Chronicle; but the same author, notwithstanding that Chronicle, handed down that it was made by Anno, deferring more with us to the Life of this Bishop, which expresses the oft-mentioned translation in the express words given at number 20, than to a Chronicle of uncertain faith and authority, at least concerning which things do not seem sufficiently certain. Add that, by a slip of writing, Anno and Bruno could easily be confused by an unskilled copyist, who perhaps, by an added notion, thinking that in this matter he deserved well of that Chronicle, added "to Bruno, who was brother of the Emperor Otto"; thus consequently going on in an error once begun. However it be, that translation cannot be believed to have been made by Bruno, against which the Life of Anno so clearly protests. Hither also pertain the things which, on the occasion of the cult of St. Agilolfus, we brought forward at the beginning of this Commentary from Gelenius concerning the translation of the sacred body.
§ III. Whether St. Agilolfus performed a legation to Pepin of Herstal or the Fat; a critical analysis of the Passion of the Saint, which is here given; its author; style; age; the copy.
The legation of St. Agilolfus to Pepin of Herstal That the holy Swibert and Agilolfus departed as legates to Pepin of Herstal, or the Fat, struggling at Jupille with a fatal illness, to induce him not to write as his heir Charles Martel, begotten of the concubine Alpais, not a few more recent authors will have it: Molanus in the Natales of the Saints of Belgium, page 141; Fisen in the History of Liège, page 163; Gelenius, book 3, On the Greatness of Cologne, page 308; to whom add Miraeus in the Belgian Fasti, who on the day 1 of March and IX of July makes mention of this journey, fixing it at the year 714, but not expressing its cause. This legation, finally, is stuffed into the lessons of the proper Office of St. Agilolfus, which are had on the day VII of this month among the proper Offices of the Saints of the church and diocese of Osnabrück, published in the year 1652; but in two more ancient Breviaries of the year 1516, which we have, on that day all mention of St. Agilolfus is passed over. But that legation plainly falls to the ground from the things said about the time of the life and death of St. Agilolfus, established in the second paragraph. And even if that legation did not thence plainly fall to the ground, for other reasons it ought to be reckoned fictitious, drawn, as I think, from no other source than the apocryphal life of St. Swibert, published under the name of Pseudo-Marcellinus, and ineptly and basely patched together with open hallucinations, falsehoods, and lies, and deservedly to be relegated to the historical monsters such as coalesce in the little brains of impostors. See what Bollandus observed as needing correction in that author on the day 1 of March, from page 78. The passage in question here runs there thus.
[23] In the year 714, says the witless fabler, as a fable, fabricated by Pseudo-Marcellinus, Pepin, grieving over the innocent death of St. Lambert the Bishop, fell sick unto death. Then Swibert, summoned by the nobles to visit him, went first to Cologne to the illustrious Duchess of Lotharingia or of the Austrasians, seeking counsel from her as to what he ought to do. She sent him and Agilolfus, Archbishop of Cologne, with several other prelates, to the Prince Pepin, her husband; to inform him that, if he should die, he should not disinherit his illustrious legitimate sons Drogo, Duke of Champagne, [and] Grimoald, Mayor of the palace of Childebert, King of France, by writing as heir Charles Martel, illegitimate, begotten of the concubine Alpais, etc. But Pepin, dying in the same year, left the same Charles Martel heir of his principalities. Seeing which, the aforesaid Bishops returned to Cologne, inglorious and sad, relating to Plectrude all that had been done at Jupille by Pepin, consoling her, and encouraging her to the endurance of patience.
[24] These old-womanish trifles Bollandus tears to pieces, showing, it is refuted. that Plectrude the wife was not separated by divorce from Pepin, as is clear from the donations made in the name of both, from the year 705 to 714; and that a futile cause of the legation is trumped up from fear of the disinheriting of the sons Drogo and Grimoald, who had already departed from the living. He adds—but this does not properly belong to our design—that Pepin expiated his sins by many virtues, against the iniquitously clamoring Pseudo-Marcellinus. Fisen, in the History of the Church of Liège, published in print in the year 1642, page 163, borrows the invented legation from the said fabler, and moreover makes mention of it there at page 306; but in the Flowers of the Church of Liège, brought to light in the year 1647, he abundantly corrected his error, when, having again reviewed this legation in that work, he thus subjoins: Yet that legation to Pepin one might not undeservedly recall to the scales, etc., which thou hast at number 13. And of the little tale of the spurious Marcellinus, more than enough. Now let us proceed to the author of the Passion, subjecting it to a critical analysis, that it may appear how deservedly we have receded from his chronological epoch.
[25] That in the very exordium of the Passion, by Pepin, there named, The Passion of the Saint no other can be understood than Pepin of Herstal or the Fat, appears manifestly from the whole context. He was Mayor of the palace of Austrasia and Neustria; why therefore does the author call him King, thus speaking: Therefore, among the nation of the Franks, Pepin the King being taken from life—or is it perhaps because he confused the grandfather Pepin with Pepin the King, his grandson by his son? At number 2 he hallucinates, when he writes: This Gregory ordained bishop Boniface, imbued with the dogmas of the faith, by race a Briton, whom he bade to set out for the parts of Gaul and to seek out the holy Bishop Agilolfus … who, St. Boniface accompanying, crossing beyond the shores of the Rhine, illuminated with the evangelical light the German nation, sitting in darkness. St. Boniface was consecrated Bishop only in the year 723 by Pope Gregory, with whom, in the Apostolic expedition of Germany
the author of the Passion records that St. Agilolfus took part; how can this be combined with the death of the same St. Agilolfus, which according to his system must have happened about the year 716, as you have more fully deduced at number 16? Again he plays the fool, when at number 6 he calls Charles Martel, son of Pepin of Herstal, a most illustrious King. And now the legation to Chilperic and Raginfred, committed by Charles Martel to our holy Bishop, who was to announce to them that unless they went out of the bounds of the kingdom the royal power would fight against them; and what is subjoined, The most faithful priest, obeying the royal words, when he had bidden farewell to the brethren and given peace to all, went in the name of Christ, about to be a Martyr in his blood—even apart from the reckoning of time arranged above by us, with which they cannot be combined, do not seem to have much from other sources whereby they might everywhere please and be at once admitted as true.
[26] But at number 24 he again makes Charles Martel a King: Rumor, he says, recalled to critical analysis. the sure herald of the matter, borne with no sluggish flight, came to the royal ears. The circumstances of the stratagem, suggested to Charles Martel by a woman and related from number 25, seem to have been fabulously fabricated by the author. For to whom would not the ambiguity of the wagon displease, of which at number 26; the tree-King with tree-soldiers, at number 27; and the terror of the enemy, the forest pursuing them? I pluck at the accompaniments of the said stratagem, not the stratagem itself, which, narrated in another manner, may be seen in the new writer of the History of France, our Gabriel Daniel, who refers it to the year 716, citing, as we said, the Annals of Metz at this same year. These things, which we have judged should here be recalled to criticism, argue, as my opinion carries it, that the author of the manuscript which we give, in the historical matters which he either read or heard, confused some things unskillfully, and added some of his own; so that it ought to seem strange to no one that we have receded from him in fixing the epoch of the Agilolfian life and death.
[27] Its author was a monk of Malmedy: For the rest, as the name of the author is unknown to me, so it seems not to be doubted that he was a monk of Malmedy. And this is gathered from the following. John Gamans, in the year in which he sent hither the Passion of St. Agilolfus, sent at the same time a manuscript marked with this title: Here begins the book of the miracles of St. Quirinus the Martyr, taken, as is subscribed, from a manuscript of the Patrons of Malmedy. That this book, or manuscript, was composed by a monk of Malmedy, those fragments which I excerpt from it prove. At the beginning it thus has: In the translation of them, the holy patrons of Malmedy, from the village of Candet, there was to OUR BRETHREN a great exultation. Afterward, a miracle being related of a crippled boy, he makes himself manifest: Our brethren wept for joy. And again elsewhere: A woman was tormented by a most grievous infestation of a demon, Widrada by name, but, brought to our monastery in hope of being cured, she swiftly obtained from God, through the blessed Martyrs, a remedy. And he indicates it most clearly in the elogium of St. Agilolfus, drawn from the same source, which we reported at number 3: With us, where he had presided in the name and work of Abbot, so long as God willed, he had the place of his burial. But that manuscript, from which these fragments are excerpted, was written by the same author by whom the aforesaid passion was written; it is consequent therefore that the author of the Passion is a monk of Malmedy. And that the author of both was the same, Bollandus and Gamans long ago observed: of whom the latter left it thus noted: The same monk of Malmedy is the author both of this history—of the Passion and of the miracles of St. Agilolfus—and of the translation and miracles of St. Quirinus. I conjecture that from the complete similarity of style. And that his conjecture was not vain will appear from the following, where we treat of the author's style.
[28] He is redolent of the poetic frenzy, the author repeatedly affecting rhythmic and metrical speech. The style of the writer You would say he plays the poetaster rather than the historian. He expresses few things in many words. In verbose digressions he is frequent even to nausea. In heaping up hexameter verses he by no means restrains himself. Have a specimen. Moving unjust battle-lines and impious camps .. Not otherwise than as varied winds trouble the air .. Not otherwise than a troop of wolves scatters a flock of lambs, and the robber snatches the prey with bloody mouth, at number 3. There making the heavenly harvest grow golden … He groaned, and the image of piety wrung his mind, at number 4. And there: Their sad voices beat the air. Such was the clamor which the crowd bore in groaning. Why do I delay with many words? More things of this kind occur there than one has leisure idly to transcribe here. See now how the manuscript on the miracles of St. Quirinus breathes the same style and author. A boy who gave no voice with his mouth, drew nothing with his ear, nay from a deformed contraction bore deformed limbs. And after a little: Roused from sleep, he rejoices at the gift received … When the sun plunged its rays into the western waves. And with some things interposed: And raised up he rejoices to go on his own feet. And afterward: The welcome hour will come upon you, when you will not hope for it .. and, the darkness being removed, it filled the empty windows with an unknown sun. Now Phoebus had climbed the mid citadels of heaven. Why more? It abundantly appears from these few things that an egg is not so like an egg as style to style.
[29] From the same character of style it is easily given to understand that the defeat and flight of Chilperic and Raginfred, what it is; set forth from number 23, is the offspring of the same monk; who again betrays himself not obscurely by these expressions: The white bull with gilded horns was opening the year, and the dog, sitting opposite, was setting toward the south. It was the hour when the sun had plunged into the western waves. The lunar lamp shone in the exceeding fair night .. O fools, fools! what madness has seized you. As much here therefore as elsewhere the author does not dissemble that he is a poetaster. But he lived after the translation of St. Agilolfus to Cologne, made by Anno, of which we spoke above, as he himself insinuates in the book of the miracles of St. Quirinus; where, a mention of our holy Bishop being inserted: Of the aforesaid man of blessed memory, Agilolfus, he says, many things might be at hand which could be laudably said; but because he was taken from us and translated elsewhere, we have thought it better thenceforth to keep silent. Yet lest, saying nothing, he should be blamed for the vice of sloth or of envy, he adds a small elogium, which we produced at number 3. Which is an indication that the Passion and miracles of St. Agilolfus were written after the miracles of St. Quirinus; for since he there used so small an elogium, he would doubtless have indicated that he had elsewhere committed more to writing concerning this Saint. This therefore he afterward performed, and transferred to St. Agilolfus two miracles narrated in the book of the miracles of St. Quirinus: for the miracle which is there reported of a blind and bent woman restored, at number 20, and which begins: The Nativity of St. John the Baptist is celebrated by the faithful with faithful devotion, are narrated in the same way in the book of the miracles of St. Quirinus; as likewise the miracle of the woman laboring with curved fingers, at number 16, agrees too closely with the manuscript on St. Quirinus not to have been excerpted from it.
[30] If you ask further about what year the oft-mentioned writer flourished; his age. receive this answer from himself, in the oft-named book of the miracles of St. Quirinus, thus instructing us of the time in which he lived: In that season, in which, as he had foretold, the insolences of men requiring it, the Lord was striking terrors of an oncoming heathendom, Hermann was administering the pontifical infulae in the city of Cologne, who had enjoined on his people a three-day abstinence to placate the divine power. Because therefore, says the writer, our abbey belongs to his diocese, we too strove to do the same, as much as we could, God bestowing it. And a little after he testifies that he was present at the raising to life of a dead girl, left at the tomb of the Patrons of Malmedy and recalled to life, in these words: After the time of the fast, food being taken and our bodies fed, returning, we found the girl granted the light of life. And so, since we have seen that the author lived after St. Anno, Bishop of Cologne, it follows that here Hermann is to be understood, the third of this name, who is marked in the Catalogues of the Bishops of Cologne as having begun to preside in the year 1089, and to have ceased in 1099; and thus that the writer of whom we treat lived toward the end of the eleventh century. Observe in passing that William Eysengrein of Speyer, according to Molanus in the Annotations to the Martyrology of Usuard augmented by himself, at the day IX of July, says that among the other lives written by Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne—which are there numbered as those of Evergislus, Proculus of Soest, Eliphius, Gregory of Spoleto—there is also the life of St. Agilolfus. Whence Molanus has this, he says, I know not. The same we too know not, and shun to inquire. I am deceived, unless this gave occasion to Ferrarius to state that the life of the holy Bishop is handed down as written by St. Bruno the Bishop.
[31] The copy of the Passion. I will put an end to this Commentary, when I have added a few things about our manuscript. Father John Gamans sent it from Cologne in the year 1638, with a note in the margin as to the source from which it came, namely from a parchment lectionary manuscript of St. Mary ad Gradus at Cologne and a manuscript of the Patrons of Malmedy, which has the Passion much fuller and authentic: whence, both manuscripts being faithfully collated, the things which were omitted in the first manuscript, that of ad Gradus, are written from the second, the Malmedy manuscript, noted in the margin and elsewhere; and in the Marian manuscript, at each place where those things were omitted, a cross was marked, in place of a sign. These we have woven into the Marian exemplar, which we here give, enclosed in brackets [ ], that the one text may be conveniently distinguished from the other; a very few things being relegated to the annotations. But now we subjoin the Passion itself.
PASSION.
From a parchment Lectionary manuscript of St. Mary ad Gradus at Cologne and a manuscript of the Patrons of Malmedy, written by a monk of Malmedy, perhaps never hitherto published.
Agilolfus, Bishop and Martyr, at Cologne (S.)
BHL Number: 0145
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
CHAPTER I.
On what occasion St. Agilolfus was slain.
Therefore, among the nation of the Franks, Pepin a the king being taken from life, Charles b, his son, comely and robust, succeeded in the kingdom. Who, although held by a boyish age, was nevertheless accounted glorious in triumph. He used the wise counsel of the most holy Archbishop c Agilolfus, Charles Martel warring with Chilperic and Raginfred, to be wise in the things which are of God, to love and to work them; to defend ecclesiastical and secular affairs by arms, to adorn them by morals, to amend them by laws. Against him, holding the royal scepters by right, France blazed up with malignant hatreds, and, calling Daniel, once a clerk, by a changed name Helpric, exalted him in the kingdom, whom, together with the tyrant Raginfred, it directed against the pious Prince, and, envy goading it on, suggested that they should deprive him of both life and kingdom.
II.
[2] At that time Leo presided as Emperor over the Roman citadels d; the supreme and universal Pope was accounted Gregory e. St. Boniface is sent to St. Agilolfus. He ordained bishop Boniface f, imbued with the dogmas of the catholic faith, by race a Briton, whom
he bade to set out for the parts of Gaul and to seek out the holy Bishop Agilolfus: for the fame of his virtues had come to his ears, that, with the help of his prudence and counsel, scattering in Germany the seeds of the divine word, he might more easily restrain the hearts of the rebellious from their depravities. At his coming the pious Archbishop g Bishop, touched with unhoped-for joy, received him with all honor. Crossing with him beyond the shores of the Rhine, he illuminated with the Evangelical light the German nation, sitting in darkness.
III.
[3] Meanwhile the aforesaid tyrants, moving unjust battle-lines and impious camps, and far and wide exercising the savagery of their tyranny, The tyrants laying all waste, came to the Ardennes. Then they attacked the walls of the city of Cologne, surrounded by a heavy force, with grim arms. They spurn the rule of justice, they trouble the peace of the Church. Not otherwise than as varied winds trouble the air, the wolves burst into the sacred sheepfolds; many fall by the edge of the sword. Not otherwise than a troop of wolves scatters a flock of lambs, and the robber snatches the prey with bloody mouth. And so, the wicked slaughter accomplished, the city cruelly despoiled, carrying off with them also the ecclesiastical and royal treasures, they betook themselves to the steep mountains of the Ardennes h. They came to a place girt with dense groves, lofty, fortified with hills, called Amblève from the name of the river flowing by i, to which the abundance of grass confers much of advantage and of pleasantness. The aspect of the place pleased them: and so, remaining there, they distributed what they had plundered among the wicked—the retainers of divers nations, Franks k, Aquitanians, and also, of various worship, bad Christians and the worst heathen.
[4] But Agilolfus, the gem of Bishops, repelling the blindness of the heathen, St. Agilolfus enters Cologne in Germany carried on the work of an Evangelist, there making the heavenly harvest grow golden; when it was reported to him both of the despoiling of his see, of the loss of the citizens, and of the treasures taken away from the church. He straightway groaned, and the image of piety wrung his mind, and although the care of the labor he had begun urged him on, he did not defer the day, but swiftly returned to the city: for that way was thought the straighter by which the desolate might be consoled and the troubled comforted.
IV.
Sweet consolation and pious sweetness enters Cologne, and there meets him a multitude of grieving citizens flowing with tears. Their sad voices beat the air. Such was the clamor which the crowd bore in groaning. While thou didst preside l as pious pastor and sacred master, fortune was joyful for us in prosperous affairs; but when, departing from thy sheep, thou gavest thyself as an Apostle to the heathen, straightway that cloud changed its countenance. Behold, mourning and misery have surrounded us, a heavy tempest has flooded over our heads. The keenness of our eyes, drowned in tears, has almost grown dim from the slaying of our dear ones and the loss of our goods, and from the wounds which we have, so many, throughout our body.
[5] and consoling his own, exhorts them to patience. Consoling them, the hero admonishes them with these words. Wipe, brethren, your eyes flooded with tears. Let such great sorrows depart from your heart. What has cast you down into sadness and mourning? Or do you think that among wicked morals justice is now for the first time assailed by perils? There is nothing at which you should marvel, if in this sea of life we are tossed by storms blowing round about. The Lord Himself endured reproaches and mockeries, and underwent the torments of the cross. Bear the cross of Christ, and this ship will bear you across the sea of the world, which cleaves and overcomes all storms. Let the foundation of your house remain solid, lest it be moved by the force of the winds, or by the flooding of the waves. Fear not, all things are done by the divine will. If you are stable and your own masters, these wounds of the body will become the medicine of the soul. [By the fervor of persecution the faithful are tried, gold is proved as if by fire. If we are gold, we shall be the ornament of the heavenly court. If we are lead, we shall not be the adornment of the royal house. By the rush of the river the fish grows, is not harmed; so the just man grows while he is shaken by stormy disturbance, and, the Lord strengthening his hand, is not confounded; the grain is carried to the granaries when, threshed in a thousand ways, it has been rid of the chaff. Let us be a joyful harvest, not chaff, which, the wind blowing, is scattered through the air, if we wish the heavenly things to be carried to the granaries.] And so, brethren, turn your minds to the Lord, that the present groaning may give the joys of a true smile. Let sorrow be far from your hearts; heed the words of Solomon: For whom the Lord loves, He rebukes; and He scourges every son whom He receives. Let the words of the Lord be implanted in your mind: In your patience you shall possess your souls.
[6] [I scatter in your hearts the seeds of the divine word, which, if … neither the thorns have choked, He is sent by King Charles as a legate to Chilperic and Raginfred; nor the heat has burned up—the rain of my exhortations coming on, and your good thoughts, by which this is done in the heart which is done in the field by the harrows, both that the clods be broken and the seed be covered—you will germinate and bring forth the fruit of justice, over which the husbandman may rejoice and be glad. Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice.] Not otherwise, dissolving the clouds of sadness, he gathered their spirits into strength. In the midst of these doings the most illustrious King Charles, elegant, industrious, and strenuous in arms, having learned of the depopulation of the kingdom, the presumption of the barbarians being committed, gathering his forces, brought his presence to the walls of Cologne, that he might join battle against the hostile troop; which business he placed in the judgment of his provider, namely the blessed Agilolfus, wishing to use his counsel in all things. Barbarous madness, he said, my lord Bishop, rouses us to battle. What is to be done, let thy industry judge. France has directed Helpric and Raginfred against me, to whom Aquitaine ministers forces, Germany augments the tyranny, unwilling to lack the darkness of its perfidy and refusing to bear the yoke of its lord. Although all Gaul has experienced their savagery, yet thy diocese has been more cruelly depopulated by them. They seek me, wishing by ambushes to deprive me of the royal honors. Now also they occupy the bounds of thy episcopate, and seize and devour the resources of the people. These I will endeavor to overcome, attacking them in war with as many as I can. For either I shall die nobly, or I shall defend free rights. To them I wish thee to bear my legation: for unless they go out of the bounds of the kingdom, the royal power will fight against them. This he said in God, not in man: since he was attended by no great soldiery.
VI.
[7] The most faithful priest, obeying the royal words, when he had bidden farewell to the brethren and given peace to all, he is kindly received by the people of Malmedy; went in the name of Christ, about to be a martyr in his blood. [There had long been in his heart a pious affection and an ardent desire to visit his monastery and to gladden the brethren, sad at his absence] and so, with many companions of his journey, when he had passed through the district of Reburium m, he went rejoicing on his way, God being his guide, through the Ardennes. The whole province exults at the presence of so great a priest, and the report flew to the knowledge of the community of Malmedy n, that their father, their glory, their bishop, their honor, was coming. The old rejoice with the young, the little exult with the great. You might see the peoples flowing together from every side, that they might be present at so great a thing. All things were fervent, all pressed on with vows. This one—that he would come—the rich, the poor, bore abroad everywhere with resounding clamor. So great is the love toward the Saint, so great the devotion in the people. [O father worthy, thrice holy, thrice to be venerated! who, at his return, brings back so many bowels of piety, so many joys of the mind; whom his flock, becomingly receiving as he arrives, offers strains of praise.] He enters the monastery, dedicated to the patronage of the prince of the Apostles, with the brethren chanting and the peoples rejoicing. But it lies hidden that a lamentable death is imminent for him—sad, threatening, mournful, tearful, prodigious. In place of tears a song, in place of mourning a hymn resounds. [But whom would not the coming of so great a father gladden—so tender and industrious, so sweet and lovable, so humble and affable? For remaining ever one and the same, in a manner showing forth heavenly joy in his countenance, he seemed beyond human nature, never mourning, never laughing. O wondrous man, glittering with divine grace! whom neither adversities changed, nor prosperities. Martyrdom was life to him, who bore many passions; from hunger, vigils, cold, fastings, the reproaches of the envious, the persecutions of the wicked, care for the sick, solicitude for those in peril. For at whose grieving did he not grieve? At whose stumbling was he not burned? At whose perishing did he not groan? So great were his virtues that, sweetly redolent, they went forth into the immense, and by them the devotion of the peoples was manifoldly kindled. So great was his manner of life that our narration cannot explain it.]
[8] And so, after prayer, weeping for joy, he rushed to the kisses of the brethren, and by him it was thus discoursed. whom, addressing with a sweet discourse and exhorting to virtue, [I know, brethren, that you have been saddened at my absence, since the grace of God adorned me with the pontifical infula. We read that, while the children of Israel were fighting against Amalek, Moses stood on the mountain, with his hands spread out to God, and, leaning upon devout prayers, fought, though absent, with the enemy. For devout prayer climbs the higher places of heaven, and presents the one praying on high before the divine Majesty, although in bodily presence he is held on earth. If therefore in body I was absent from you, yet by praying I showed myself near to God for you. By showing myself near to God, I did not fail you, and if I did not fail you, surely I was not absent. Present therefore was I to you, whom I had always in my prayers, asking God that He arm you with virtues against the spiritual ambushes of Amalek, and lead you into the eternal inheritance of the children of Israel. Come, brethren, be present also to me with pure love of heart, and, the herald of truth admonishing, lift up your hearts with your hands to God.]
VII.
I admonish you to be fervent with the fire of charity, to devote yourselves frequently to prayer, to show the good of obedience to your superiors, to embrace patience, which is the harbor of miseries, to venerate your prelates, to gird your loins, to love chastity, to hold peace before all things and the concord of unanimity, to drive the flames of envy from your hearts, that you may deserve to appear pleasing to the divine sight.
[9] the duty of the legation to the invaders of the kingdom being set forth, Before our eyes we have the day of departure from this world; because we have here no abiding habitation. For the fleeting years slip away, and day, like a wave by storms, is pushed on by day. Every man is like a flower, he passes swiftly as the dew. Let us not be barren trees, to be burned with fire; but let us be in the house of the Lord a fertile planting, adorned with flowers without end. The royal authority has gone forth that I bear a royal legation to the barbarians, the savage invaders of the kingdom, dwelling in a place near enough to this monastery. I will go, to return, and to see you, if God grant it. He spoke; and adorned himself with the pontifical infulae, to recall the memory of the Lord's passion, about to go to the victory of his own passion.
VIII.
[10] The solemnities of the Masses being therefore celebrated, our hierarch goes pious to the savage tyrants, while he goes to the enemy, that he may bear the decrees which the royal command enjoins. [But it was the season when the cold moisture melts with the snows on the mountains, and the crumbling clod loosens itself in the west wind: the forests were leafing, the grasses were laughing with flowers, March was closing on its last day, the morrow's day was bringing April.] The Saint had passed the groves, and now, drawing near to the wedges of the enemy, he went through green meadows. They appointed guards and scouts, whom they knew to be stronger and crueler and craftier among their own. Who, when they beheld the priest of Christ coming, cruelly, like a lion, gnash their teeth, and rejoice, like
a wolf, that prey comes to them. They give the whole reins to the fury in their spirit, and kindle in their hearts the flames of envy. They thirst to pour out his blood, and to destroy him by slaughter. Behold, they say, there comes the Bishop of Cologne, the prudent provider and craftsman of Charles. This is that famous, distinguished, and venerable man in all Gaul: by whose wisdom the affairs of the kingdom are disposed; let us therefore conspire to arms, let us rush upon him with a hard hand, let him go into the perils of the sword; let his memory be taken away from the earth. When the head of the kingdom is gone, we shall easily overcome the whole body. [O most cruel rage, O new fury and madness! Thus the enemy of the human race rejoiced that the whole world was to be subjected to him by the death of Christ, when he knew not that his own ruin was imminent, just as these profane men, by the slaying of this Saint, hoped that the whole kingdom was to be subjugated to their dominion. For such as was then the hope of the head of the reprobate concerning the head of the elect, such is now that of the members of the reprobate concerning the members of the head of the elect. But as, after the Lord's passion, the infernal power fell triumphed over, so the virtue of Christ, after the shedding of the blood of His servant, overcame the savagery and the reckless hand of these men, which we shall afterward note, divine grace bestowing it, when we shall have discoursed on the triumph of his passion.]
IX.
[11] So their wraths burst forth, nor do they know how to check the reins. With a great crash they rush forthwith, and with hostile arms meet him at close quarters. he is cruelly slain by them, Alas for the grief! they attack the Father with the sword, and provoke him with the weapon. On every side he is cut down with iron, and his innocent blood is poured out. His body is prostrated to the earth by the thrust of arms, his devout mind remains fixed on the King of heaven. They stand not to spare, but strongly press on with blows. He, quivering with his last breath, suppliantly asks God to receive his spirit in peace. Nor is there delay in granting it; because the censure of the Master spurns not one knocking, suffering for justice. O happy Martyr! from his mouth, like snow, a white dove came forth and flew to the stars. [But the savage retainers, seeing that he had expired, do not delay to run back to the camp, but, going swiftly, announce their joys, proclaim the valor and the victory to their lords; who were not to depart from that place until they should cut down the enemy with the sword.] The lifeless body of the Martyr lay prostrate on the earth, and the grass sprouted with his rosy blood. His spirit had passed to Christ, with whom he rejoices and lives for eternity.
[12] The community of Malmedy still rejoiced that the bishop was not far away: since he had promised that he would return, with a great longing for himself to the people of Malmedy if God should grant it; but suddenly the joy is changed into grief, when it is announced that he has been slain by the wicked, nor is there in their hearts a lesser weight of groaning and grief than a little before there had been of exultation. The faithful peoples are troubled and saddened, and the eyes of all overflow with tears. They beat the air with great clamors of complaint, and know not at all what to do. They desire to behold the bloodless limbs of the Father, but they tremble at the savagery of the enemy; now love compels them to go, now fear restrains them to stay. But at length the constancy of love conquered fear, devotion drove out all dread. So great charity had strengthened many, so great piety had made them constant, that, because they knew their pious pastor had fallen, they did not dread to undergo death at the hands of the reprobate. The crowd of monks runs together, the multitude of the peoples flies together from the fields and villages. They come to Amblève, they behold lying on the ground the clod of the sacred body. The grasses are seen smeared with the Martyr's gore, and his face is marked with an exceeding pallor. The grief of their heart compels them to fall down half-alive, and to pour forth deep sighs from the depths, and they are afflicted with so great a wound of mourning that the tears, dried up in their eyes, failed.
[13] All complaining with one accord, they burst forth into these voices: Alas, wretched that we are! what shall we do? who grieve that we have lost so great a father. a longing being left behind. Who shall heal us henceforth, since he alone was the medicine of all? [What consolation shall there now be for us, whom, deprived of our consoler, so great a desolation has troubled.] What protection remains for the sheep, since the pastor has been slain by ravening wolves? Alas, Cologne, widowed of so great a pastor, with whose blood the Ardennes earth is red. [Alas! we have lost our sailor, the ship will be in peril amid the greatest waves; the violent force of the winds will blow; it will find no sails set against it. Alas, dearest father! alas, sweetest father! rejoicing thou camest to us, and gladdened us by thy coming: rejoicing thou didst admonish us with a saving word, rejoicing thou didst depart from us; rejoicing thou wentest to the enemy, bearing grim arms, and thirsting to shed innocent blood. Alas, they have snatched away our joy, and given us all things mournful!] Behold what has been done, father; thou seest why the eye pours forth tears. Thou art beheld extinguished, mangled by a thousand blows. Thus it is cried out with mourning spirits, and often the clamor is redoubled. Hearing these things, the tyrants Raginfred and Helpric, who is also Daniel, with their retainers were exceedingly troubled and terrified, and thinking that they were suffering a great loss of their own, they did not blush to flee, and thus o they did not harm the ranks of the faithful, bewailing their most pious father, innocent, slain by their sword.
[14] Hence we can weigh the merits of the blessed Man, who, received into the bosom of Abraham, protected by his intervention his lovers, who cared for his burial, from the assault of the enemy's sword. The body is buried; And so with mourning spirits, as we said, it is cried out on the part of the faithful, and often the clamor is redoubled. Yet by the elder and wiser, silence is at length scarcely obtained, that they might say what was to be done. For our desolation, they say, we must groan; over his glorification we must rejoice together. [For truly he is glorious, truly blessed, whose life was holy and harmless, of entire faith, robust hope, diffused charity, and conspicuous goodness. This is the faithful and prudent servant, whom the Lord set over His family, that he might give it in time the measure of wheat. He gave to the flock committed to him the nourishment of everlasting life, unlocking for them the documents of heavenly wisdom. We know no man of greater faith and prudence under heaven, who was preeminent to him in fear and love of God, in fraternal charity and in all piety. Whom, if in the Neronian and Decian times it had been permitted, in that congregation which then existed, to divine [*], we can truly confess that he would not have feared to mount the rack, and to give himself to the fires, and to undergo the capital sentence. In virtue of soul he was so noble that for the faith of the kingdom and for justice he contended even to the shedding of his blood. Behold, he lies slain with many wounds, who was in no way a cause of evil or an occasion of death to anyone.] In the fellowship of the martyrs his soul shines, rejoicing in the heavenly kingdom through the ages. Let us therefore receive his sacred body and consign it to burial honorably, with as great veneration as the remains of a Martyr are to be venerated. They said what was in their heart, they straightway fulfilled it in deed.
XI.
They lifted the body of the Athlete of the Lord, wrapped in linen cloths, upon a bier, and with praises bore it to Malmedy, and, his obsequies being devoutly celebrated, buried it in the church of the blessed Lawrence, consecrated in honor of many Saints, next to the monastery.
[15] But the blessed Boniface [p, whom we mentioned above, public veneration followed the burial when he had subjected the necks of many to the Lord's yoke in Frisia, slain by the pagans with the sword, Pepin [q], son of Charles, reigning, fell asleep a Martyr long after the passion [r] of our most blessed Father Agilolphus, which is celebrated on the day before the Kalends of April, to the praise and honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, whose kingdom endures unto the ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. He died in the year 755.
q. Pepin the Short, son of Charles Martel, is designated.
r. That St. Agilolfus died after St. Boniface we established in the preliminary Commentary, numbers 17 and 18.
* To fight for God.
CHAPTER II.
Miracles wrought by the Saint's aid; the victory of Charles Martel.
At that time especially a the glory of our Father was borne on high, the fame flying through villages, cities, and towns. For eagerly those afflicted with various pains flowed together to his patronage, Curved fingers, nor were the gifts of the wished-for health denied to them. It pleases me to note something in few words, because it helps to magnify the holy Martyr. A certain woman, the fingers of whose right hand, the sinews withering, curved back into the palm, added a savage pain to the wretched woman, and the nails, growing exceedingly by excessive advances, tore the tender flesh within: now also the ulcers tore the pierced palm; for as many curved fingers as there were in the hand, so many points of the nails pierced the palm. Standing one day beside the Martyr's tomb amid the solemnities of the Masses, suppliant she poured forth to the Lord the vows of her prayers. When suddenly, the merits of the blessed Martyr assisting, snatched from the monstrous peril, she received back the function of her lost right hand, which had been recalled to flexible use in a wondrous manner. Therefore this miracle, which we know happened at the tomb of our hierarch, lay widely open. Nay, with how many other signs did the Lord make His Saint wonderful, while his members still rested where he had first been buried. But, these things being passed over, my mind moves to say some of those by which, his body being carried over from the place of its first laying and venerably laid away in the monastery near the altar of the holy Savior, the wondrous God deigned to glorify His Athlete among His Saints b.
[17] a fever, A certain man, Bruning by name, in the number of the laity strong in the height of dignity, faithful and useful enough, devoted himself to the services of the brethren of Malmedy. Upon him came a sickness so strong that it rendered almost all his limbs as it were bloodless. You might see his face marked with pallor, you might see the young man, without hope of life, constrained by great anguishes. There was no measure to the sickness, which persisted like an insoluble knot. For both heat and cold produced a huge pain together. It was a fever; the fever held rule throughout his body, and compelled his soul to slip from its seat. He, whose wounded life hung in the strait of a doubtful death, and burned amid chill perils, admonished in sleep, took refuge in the suffrages of our Father. For, supported by a staff and led by two servants, he came to the tomb of the Martyr, and received the fullness of the wished-for health. For, taking dust from the mound which contained the clod of the sacred body, and washing it with wine, he drank to himself a saving draught for the driving away of the great fevers. Therefore it became clear to all that this Saint is great; to whose tomb, weighed down by the languor of the fever, he came and prayed, and departed rejoicing and safe.
[18] Another, a certain Genro, faithfully plying the kitchen of the brethren, and toothache are healed. the pain of his teeth pressed irremediably with bitter goads, and that force had so tamed his manly strength that neither food, nor drink, nor sleep was taken by him. And he cried out to me continually, not ceasing to express his affliction. Whence the refreshment of foods was worn away, thence there comes a detriment and failing of my body. I am worn where I wore, I am pressed where I pressed, I am devoured where I devoured. And what shall I do? Give counsel, ye wise, whereby so great a torment may be driven away. You must take refuge, I say c, to the heir of God, to the co-heir of Christ, to the great priest, to the highest Martyr, to the pious protector, to the kindly ruler, to the most holy hierarch, to the most valiant athlete. Go, bear him gifts, marking the circle of thy head by measure carried round; bear a beautiful taper to his sepulcher; let the venerable pontiff be thy craftsman, let the excellent bishop be thy counselor. Without delay, the words are obeyed, effect is furnished to effect. He goes and it is borne? he returns and it is reported. He goes with faith accompanying, he returns with health accompanying. O the joy of the man, O the power of the Martyr!
[19] Meanwhile, passing by, he who served the sick brethren, Another punished with toothache for theft, and freed. before the sepulcher of the Martyr saw and coveted the beautiful taper lying upon it. He snatched it therefore secretly, which he restored openly. For as the giver of the gift had returned with health accompanying, so the snatcher of the same came forth thence with pain accompanying. And so, when he had put the stolen thing into his purse, he began to be constrained with bitter goads. He is tortured in his tooth, troubled in his mind; he cries out; O, he wondrously joins "alas" lamentably; an assembly of many is made, the cause of the pains is discovered. The thing brought is returned and reported; they see the man healed. Health soon returns, the complaining voice is silent. The things taken away are restored, others are contributed, prayers are poured forth, the wounds are driven away. Come, laugh, ye teeth, free from pain, enriched with health, deservedly crowned by our merit.
[20] The Nativity of St. John the Baptist is celebrated by the faithful with faithful devotion, A blind and bent woman and according to the promise of divinity through the Angel, many rejoice at his nativity. Whence it comes that at the revolution of each year men run to his memory, that, because he had cried out: Do penance, the indulgence of sins may be obtained through the earnestness of good working. By the goodwill of this custom, a great number of a mixed multitude had flowed together to the monastery of Malmedy, so much that, besides the people, you might see nothing else through the crossroads and the streets. Present at this festivity was a woman, brought by the zeal of her own, who, deformed in the whole curvature of her limbs, lacked also the light of both her eyes. A certain one of the brethren, Hugh by name, according to holy custom recalling the mysteries of life, stood at the holy altar, in which there is no small portion of the Lord's wood, holding the sacred ashes of the Martyr near by. The woman, thrust forward by her own, stood nearer to the priest, before the very steps. Now the secret words were being said more secretly, and the people standing round were offering themselves to the Lord in prayers, when, at so great a Martyr's sepulcher [*], with her eyes lacking light, suddenly she cries out with clear voice: Behold, I see, I see; be praise and glory to Christ.
[21] A manifold murmur arises among the bystanders from the joy of so great an event, she is healed. remaining so long, with suppressed voice, until the offices of the Mass should be ended. But then all burst forth to the divine praises, astonished at such a deed, and in common beg the Godhead with common prayer that the power shown in the restoration of sight be shown in the repairing of the rest of the body. Nor was it wanting to the supplication of the humble, He who is ever present to the will of those who fear Him. For under the eyes of all who were present, the dry frame suddenly seizes back the returning sap; the stiff sinews return to their pristine functions, and her steps repeat the interdicted bending. The woman rose up whole, and joyfully placed on the altar as a gift a silver necklace hanging from her neck. I believe that, if there had been as many weights of gold present as there are leaves on the trees, she would gladly have conferred them all on God and the holy martyr. The matter proceeded to as much admiration as the great multiplicity of people that was present at the working of that thing.
[22] The place of martyrdom always green. Another thing, worthy of relation, which was to be said above, but had slipped from memory; because even today it seems full of faith, it seems fitting to dispatch in few words. The place in which the trophy of the valiant Athlete was completed conserves its greenness with perpetual growth, so that it is neither burned up by the summer heat nor deprived by the winter cold, but remains untillable even to this day, and, as the inhabitants testify, often shines by night with a light. Let every one of the faithful weigh how great his worth is with God in heaven, to whom so much of grace has been conferred on earth, to the praise and glory of the Savior, who is—which He is not to Himself—the beginning and the end.
[23] Chilperic and Raginfred Let therefore the grace of the Holy Spirit breathe upon our hearts, that we may mark by the office of the pen how the divine power crushed the savagery and the reckless hand of the enemy, which had dared to slay the blessed bishop Agilolfus. Amblève is a place in the Ardennes district, distant two miles from the monastery of Malmedy, densely surrounded by the shadows of forests, having hills fit for the building of fortifications of castles. For this reason Daniel and Raginfred, whose ministers had put the aforesaid Bishop to death, fixed their camp there, that they might defend themselves in the mountains, firm buildings being raised, and exercise themselves, when they would, in the sports of hunting, meditating how they might plunge their sword into their Charles, ignorant that they would suffer a great loss of their own in that same place. To these Eudo, duke of the Aquitanians, and Rabod, duke of the Frisians, gave aid.
[24] The appointed time had come; the density of the forests had clothed itself in flowers and leaves: by King Charles, imploring the aid of St. Agilolfus, the white bull with gilded horns was opening the year, and the dog, sitting opposite, was setting toward the south. The whole country bewailed the death of the father, who—that we may truly confess it—was now living more happily. Rumor, the sure herald of the matter, borne with no sluggish flight, came to the royal ears, and poured grief into his heart, compelling him now to pour forth all his strength. The indignation of Charles can no longer contain itself, whom so great a presumption of the perverse provoked; he is exceedingly pressed by anger, mourning, and grief, and meditates what he can do. Why more? He raised the men to arms, prepared in virtue of spirit; he enters the Ardennes district, not with the sound of the trumpet, but in silence, his battle-line divided into many parts. Behind the entrances of the groves which surround Amblève, and through all the villages round about, he bids the ambushes lie hidden and to have their arms always in their hands, so that if any part of the enemy should advance anywhere unwary, it might fall into the hands of those lying hid. It was the hour when the sun had plunged into the western hours [*]. Coming to Malmedy, the King enters the church which contained the tomb of the aforesaid martyr Agilolfus, flowed with tears in great sadness, and, wishing to go on thence more quickly, praying in few words, uttered these things: O most wise Bishop Agilolfus, the measure of whose sanctity no tongue can explain, obtain, I pray, with God by thy intercession, that I may deserve to obtain victory over my enemies, thy slayers.
[25] He spoke, and, having entered the monastery of the Prince of the Apostles, and employing what a woman had suggested suppliantly besought that the suffrages might be present to him. Then hastening his journey, he came with a few to a place which the inhabitants call Rome, where dwelt a certain matron of great industry, who had come from Amblève. She, knowing that Charles was present, and marveling at the fewness of his soldiers, asks the cause, and, having learned it, says it is not well thus, and that it must be done otherwise. Approaching therefore, steadfast, the King, she brought forth in the midst this speech: Use the counsel of thy handmaid, my lord King, and thou wilt be able to strike thy enemies, and to expel them from these regions, and to prove a glorious victor. Set not so many ambushes, but make thy army come together. Let all come together at the edge of the forest, and let them do what I shall suggest to thy serenity. Let each take a branch dense with leaves and flowers from the neighboring grove, one so great that it can wholly cover a man with his arms and his horse. Let all take these unwonted arms with thee, together with the usual arms, and, marching in troops with silence, with slow steps, at the dawning of daybreak, let them, with thee as leader, go to the place where the enemy remain. If you give assent to my words, you will truly rejoice in triumph. The speech pleased all, and without delay the whole order of the soldiers is gathered. Branches dense with leaves and flowers are cut off, with which the men are covered along with their arms and horses; a wondrous battle-line is constructed, in which a wondrous face could be seen: the troops, armed with new arms, in troops with a wedge not divided, began to march, and therefore the name of that place is called "at the troops" (ad catervas) even today.
[26] The lunar lamp shone in the exceeding fair night: horrid dreams terrified Daniel and Raginfred, the stratagem, and, about to pass the hour of the night, wishing to know the stars, they said to their ministers: Go out, and behold where the wagon is. They, advancing, go swiftly to the place where they had seen at the beginning of the night the wagon, by which, oxen being yoked, the crops and wood are carried, and they see that afterward it had not been moved at all from its place. Returning to their lords: Where, they say, the cart was when we went to sleep, there it still remains fixed. The tyrants, hoping that they answered their intentions, namely that they were speaking of the stars of Arcturus, say that much of the night still remains, when already the dawn was beginning to glitter, and, secure, they began to give their limbs to sleep. Thus they were deluded by the divine judgment, that the shedding of innocent blood might be avenged.
[27] Meanwhile there came the tree-King d, with his soldiers, whom, when the ever-watchful guards saw hastening, they stood exceedingly astonished, and thought that a forest was coming; and terrified by them, they run to announce to the others, and with a great clamor: Wonders! they say, let us flee, the forest pursuing us. Behold, the groves overwhelm us, coming swiftly to us. Those hearing such things laugh, and thus answer them: O fools, fools, what madness has seized you? The nocturnal vigil has confounded the keenness of your eyes. Unless the muse of Orpheus, the Thracian bard, groaning for the death of his wife, shall have sounded, a movable forest cannot go. Now the forest-bearing lines drew near, in which you would see nothing but forest. The scouts cry out again that they hear the crash of the coming forest, and such an answer
is returned to them: Be silent, you drunkards, be silent, you fools, too full of the gifts of Bacchus, you have lost your eyes and ears. Give your weary and drunken limbs to sleep, that you may be able to be soundly wise. At length the onset of all those coming beats upon their ears, and the terrified tyrants advance unarmed with their retainers. Whom, when the royal troops perceived—those who, bearing the forest, were thought to be a forest—they cling a little while, and see that scarcely one stade separated between themselves and them; they lay down the branches of the trees and take up their weapons of war. They fly forth and rush upon the enemy, who are able to resist them with no hope, no strength. Horror shakes the hearts of the barbarians, and they weaken in their right hands and their arms. Then savage death, then wounds, then no shields protect their vitals. Nowhere valor, nowhere daring, and so great madness invaded their minds, troubled with fear, that they bore neither the first encounters nor the first battles. They govern neither reins nor arms, but let their whole body lie open to blows. Why more? They are cruelly cut down and hurried to death. Raginfred and Helpric, who is also Daniel, seeing that they were suffering a great loss of their own, did not blush to flee. Dread conquered shame.
ANNOTATIONS.
* Perhaps "before the Martyr's sepulcher."
* Read undis (waves)?