ON ST. GONDULF, BISHOP
OF MAASTRICHT ON THE MEUSE IN BELGIUM.
AT THE BEGINNING OF THE VII CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The Saint's elogia, lineage, episcopate, and Acts.
Gondulfus, Bishop, at Maastricht on the Meuse in Belgium (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
Many things which pertain to this Saint's cult, his stupendous resurrection from death, and other things common with his holy predecessor, I have tried to illustrate in the preliminary Commentary on the Acts of St. Monulf immediately preceding. To the cult before proved are added from the manuscript Florary, Therefore, that I may not be compelled to repeat the same things here, I send the reader thither, being about only to discuss those things which are proper to St. Gondulf. In our manuscript Florary, after the compend of the Monulfian Life exhibited above, I find on the day XVI July concerning our holy Prelate the following elogium: St. Gondulf was born of the first of the Lotharingians and the great men of France, and, nourished at Maastricht, preached the Gospel to the gentiles. This man, once marveling at the destruction of the city of the Tungri, and beholding a certain building of blessed Servatius exceedingly ruined, and shrubs growing in the place of the altar of blessed Mary, having compassion, ordered men to come together from the whole province, who should renew Tongeren. But the Lord, remembering the evils which that city had done, sending wolves, caused the settlers to be devoured; a fire arising burned them, lightning shattered the rest, and an earthquake overthrew the towers; and so, coming to himself, he drew back his hand from what he had begun, and by penitence blotted out what he had unknowingly done against the Lord's will. But comforted by God he heard: "Peace to thee, fear not." He was buried beside St. Monulf in the year of salvation 607.
[2] the Great Belgic Chronicle, and Molanus, the Saint's elogia, Similar things has the Great Belgic Chronicle, edited by Pistorius, except that into it are inserted these fabulous words: "Once marveling at the destruction of the city of the Tungri, and of the palace of Octavian, from whom Tongeren was called Octavia, and at the same time beholding a certain building of St. Servatius," etc. The author of the Florary either read nothing in his prototype concerning the palace of Octavian and the name of Octavia formerly given to the city of the Tungri, or omitted them knowingly and willingly as too manifestly fabulous. Yet on that account I am not willing to vouch for the truth of the rest of the narrative. Molanus in the Natales of the Saints of Belgium, from a manuscript history and the monuments of the church of Maastricht, wove a truer synopsis of the Gondulfian Life in this manner: "But St. Gondulf, nourished at Maastricht on the Meuse and sprung from great birth, namely the first of Lotharingia, was famous in morals, continence, and erudition; and worthily ruled the holy church of Maastricht for the space of seven years. He migrated from this world about the year six hundred and seventh, on the same day of the year on which his predecessor, to whom he is also equal in merits, and was buried together in the nave or in the midst of the church of St. Servatius, where their tomb, from which they were raised, is seen to this day, and each, a defender of the country and guardian of the church, has a celebrated memory." Thus he, the fables being left aside which occur throughout in his Acts, and concerning which we shall afterward treat more fully. Now let us first examine the noble stock of St. Gondulf.
[3] Giles of Val-Dieu, a monk who flourished about the middle of the XIII century, Of the noble stock of St. Gondulf, in Chapeauville tome 1, chapter 34 describes the nobility of this holy Prelate in these words: "For this man, as we have learned by the relation of certain faithful men, was sprung from great birth, namely the first of Lotharingia, nourished at Maastricht." All our Manuscripts agree concerning this Lotharingian lineage; only the not very ancient Manuscript codex of Maastricht, explaining the same more distinctly, asserts that St. Gondulf was the son indeed of the Duke of Lotharingia from the daughter of Lothair king of France. This codex no doubt the more recent writers of the affairs of Maastricht and Liège followed, among whom John Placentius the Dominican two hundred years ago thus wrote: "Gondulf, son of the Duke of Lotharingia from the daughter of Lothair king of the Franks, was ordained pontiff in the year of salvation 600." Whatever be the case concerning this illustrious stock of the holy Prelate, which thus far, for want of genuine and ancient monuments, we cannot solidly prove, a certain manuscript Life, torn from a parchment codex of the church of Liège, whose transcript Papebroch received from a friend, exhibits a plainly different genealogy of St. Gondulf, concerning which it has been fully treated in the Paralipomena to the Chronico-historical Essay Dissertation XXVI. We shall thence briefly excerpt here those things which pertain to our design.
[4] First of all it must be known that the author of that Life, torn from the Liège codex, on account of a certain Manuscript not long ago detected, wrote under the name of John, who followed St. Gondulf in the episcopate, one or two intervening; and so he feigns himself nearly contemporary with the Saint himself, and coeval with St. Arnulf, as is clear from these words with which he concludes the Acts: "The Life and Acts thou hast, most dear prelate, of thy most holy paternal uncle," etc. Further, the context of the narrative,
concerning which we shall afterward set forth another's and our own judgment, agrees as to substance with the other Acts; but the beginning differs altogether: for the writer thus begins the Life: "St. Gondulf, son of the lamented Mundericus, whom king Theodoric ordered to be slain, was great in Austria (he meant to signify Austrasia), but greater and nobler before the Lord, whose commands he kept. He, nourished with Bodegisilus the Duke his brother in the palace of king Chlotar, so pleased men and God that by all he was praised as a holy Man. When he was strong in the honors of king Theodebert, he said in his old age to Arnulf son of Bodegisilus the Duke: Hear me, most dear nephew, the judgment of the Lord begun, who permitted Mundericus to be slain by the sword, the son of Childeric the parricide. Let us pray that Christ may avert our heads from the wrath to come: for the Almighty said; I will visit your iniquities even to the third and fourth generation. Thinking these things, the world being left, he embraced the monastic life, and after the migration of Monulf, when he had reached the seventy-sixth year of his age, elected by all the citizens of the city of the Tungri, he is consecrated bishop."
[5] there arose a debate between the Duke of Épernon, When Papebroch had communicated these recently detected Acts of St. Gondulf to the Duke of Épernon, then intent on illustrating the genealogy of the kings of the Franks, and he had brought them at Paris to the notice of several, there arose between the Duke himself and our Adrian Jordanus a controversy, the one thence confirming his genealogical system, the other rejecting this testimony as fictitious. For the Duke of Épernon wove the following genealogy: Meroveus, monarch of the Franks, begat Sigebert, king of the Ripuarian Franks, and Childeric of the Salians. Sigebert the lame had a son Childeric. Childeric (he is said to have been a parricide) begat Mundericus, Mundericus Bodegisilus the duke and St. Gondulf the bishop, Bodegisilus Arnulf. To this system favors another genealogy annexed to the Life of Charlemagne described by Einhard, which thus begins: "Buotgisus, an illustrious man, begat Arnulf, a most holy man, bishop of the city of Metz." Whoever desires to see this whole matter more clearly set forth, let him consult Papebroch in the Paralipomena to the Chronico-historical Essay Dissertation XXVI number 12.
[6] and our Father Jordanus, concerning whose opinion But Father Jordanus in his French critique concerning the origin of the Frankish house, from page 155, impugns this system, and especially the fragment of the Gondulfian Life, with many arguments. It is not worth the trouble to bring forward here all those things on both sides, since concerning the same genealogy it must be treated again on the day XVIII of this month in the Life of St. Arnulf, bishop of Metz. Meanwhile let us hear the judgment of Papebroch in the Paralipomena in the place already cited, thus feeling concerning the opinion of Jordanus: "But all these things, as they could so have been, so are they cemented together by conjectures alone, of which if even one falls short of the truth (but who will vouch that none falls short?), that whole so specious chaining will fail, and there will always remain a just fear lest the whole genealogy of St. Arnulf be gratuitously fabricated, who was believed to have been begotten of the senatorial blood of the ancient Gauls and the royal blood of the Franks, the names of his parents being buried in oblivion." Yet then he thus praises his invention: "I congratulate our Jordanus that he was able so to polish his system that there survives in it nothing of those things which had moved the stomach of Chantereau Lefebvre and other learned men, so that they reckoned the marriage of Ansbert and Blithildis fabulous."
[7] Papebroch delivered his judgment. Concerning the opinion of the Duke of Épernon he thus judges: "I shall congratulate the Duke of Épernon also, if he can likewise extricate his system from all the difficulties which Jordanus objects. Nevertheless, just as I ingenuously confess that those Lives of SS. Ferreolus, Aygulf, Firminus, and Arnulf, which are alleged by Jordanus, are not of so proven antiquity and sincerity as the certitude of the genealogy founded on them requires to be established; so I acknowledge that the Life of St. Gondulf, even apart from that controverted beginning, is wholly suspect to me of supposition; and can in no way aspire to the age of St. John, to whom it is falsely attributed." Finally he thus concludes this dissertation: "That therefore the aforesaid genealogy of Épernon may receive some credibility, it will be necessary for it to be proved from elsewhere than from an author so manifestly lying." Papebroch there brings forward several marks, by which he shows that the Acts of St. Gondulf are supposititious, concerning which we shall straightway treat more fully, when we have premised some things pertaining to his episcopate and death.
[8] From what has been said in the Life of St. Monulf immediately preceding it is clear Our opinion concerning the epoch of his episcopate and death. that St. Gondulf, his immediate successor, was bishop of Maastricht in order the twelfth or thirteenth, and of the Tungri the twenty-second. From those things which we there said, the beginning of his episcopate seems must be fixed in the year six hundred, although some defer it to the ninth or tenth year. There remains the question of the duration of that episcopate, on which depends the epoch of his death. Certain Manuscripts express no, but others vague, years of the episcopal governance in these words: "He worthily ruled the holy church of Maastricht for a long time even" or "for the times of many years." But if it is true, as the fragment brought forward above has it, that he had already reached the seventy-sixth year of his age when he was set over the church of Maastricht, it is not probable that in such great old age he presided over it for the space of many years. However that may be, most of the more recent authors and the Catalogues of the bishops of Liège assign to him only seven years of government. Thus John Placentius, cited above, says that St. Gondulf died in the seventh year of his administration, on the XVII Kalends of August. Molanus also, from a manuscript History and the monuments of the church of Maastricht, asserts that he "worthily ruled the holy church of Maastricht for the space of seven years." Yet the Great Belgic Chronicle adds one year to his government thus: "St. Gondulf, the twenty-second bishop of the Tungri, and the twelfth of Maastricht, began in the year of the Lord 600, the 17th year of the Emperor Maurice, and sat eight years." Whence I conjecture that this determinate number of years is found in certain Manuscripts. Which being posited, we mark his death in the year 607 or 608, against Claude Robert and the Sammarthani, who defer it to the year 617. Now let us enumerate our various Manuscripts.
[9] Five Manuscript copies of the Acts of St. Gondulf come forth from the same codices All the Manuscripts here being enumerated, of which I made mention above in the Life of St. Monulf: for one is a transcript from the Louvain Manuscript, which exists among the Canons Regular of St. Martin. The second is had in our Maastricht Manuscript codex. The third is read annexed to the Life of St. Servatius, whose author perhaps is Jocundus the priest, a credulous man, as I noted in the Acts of St. Monulf. The fourth came forth from the library of St. Salvator of Utrecht, which, briefer than all the rest, we shall edit in print in the first place after this preliminary Commentary. The fifth was copied from the second part of the Brabantine Hagiology, which is preserved in manuscript in the monastery of the Canons Regular of Rouge-Cloître near Brussels. That one, augmented with verbose phrases, we shall publish in the second place, that the reader may see how the Acts of certain Saints are now and then amplified more rhetorically than historically. The sixth also, dug out from the Liège manuscript codex, of which I made mention above, we once had; but that one, sent in the year 1683 to the Duke of Épernon, either has perished or lies hidden; at least in our museum it appears nowhere. Yet this loss is small, since between it and the Acts written by Giles of Val-Dieu the monk there is no difference, except the beginning, which we exhibited above. All the Acts of St. Gondulf, both manuscript and those edited by Chapeauville tome 1, chapter 34, scarcely differ as to substance: for everywhere mention is made of the palace of Octavian Caesar, from whom Tongeren was formerly given the name of Octavia, and of the sea-tide about the same city. But now let us seek out the judgment of others concerning all these things, and subjoin our own.
[10] learned men, Our Lobbetius in the Glory of the church of Liège page 47 thus timidly indicates his mind: "St. Gondulf, son of the Duke of Lotharingia from the daughter of Lothair king of France, the twenty-second bishop of the Tungri. That he wished to raise the city of the Tungri from its ruins some have handed down, and that he was divinely hindered, the sky namely thundering, and sending forth thunderbolts and globes of flame; nay also a wolf from the caverns of the earth against the stone-cutters and the other overseers of the work. Whether that is true, I here do not dispute. This indeed is most true, that he restored the ruins of that city in another and better manner; the ruins, I say, from vices, which are far more base than those which are wont to be inflicted by iron or by flames or by age." Thus he not undeservedly, perhaps, wrests the restoration of the Tungri, so marvelously set forth in the Acts, to the spiritual edification of the people of the Tungri. Our Fisen in the History of the church of Liège book 3, number 4 uses no circumlocution, but roundly delivers his judgment thus: "Gondulf, a man by no means unequal to his predecessors in brightness of race, in wisdom, and especially in sanctity of morals. That he wished to raise the city of the Tungri from its ruins they hand down, and that he was divinely hindered, in that very manner in which Julian is known to have been forbidden to restore the temple at Jerusalem. But since the more ancient writers never mention it, and the very narrative teems with as many inserted lies as almost words, I judge the whole matter to be fabricated." Here he speaks the matter itself openly enough.
[11] together with Papebroch judge that fables are intermixed, Daniel Papebroch in the Paralipomena in the place already several times cited accuses certain circumstances of the Acts of fiction, and at the same time thus renders the reasons of his accusation: "These things savor altogether of vulgar fables, concerning kings of the Tungri before Julius Caesar, concerning the flowing of the Ocean up to the walls, and concerning Octavian Augustus the founder, having no foundation from Roman History. Whoever knows the situation of our regions, and how through the very ample estuaries of the Scheldt and the Meuse the accesses and recesses of the sea-tides bring themselves in, but scarcely sensible beyond Mechelen of Brabant and Gorinchem of Holland, cities; will by no means believe that at any time it was ever done that they penetrated even to the Tungri through the tiny channel of the little river Jecora (Jeker), which, after traversing the space of three leagues, brings itself into the Meuse near Maastricht, whence to Gorinchem, where the Meuse ceases to feel the sea-tides, there is a navigation of more than 60 leagues. Nor let anyone suspect, because some indications are had of the sea having once overflowed all Brabant and Holland, that such a thing could have been up to the times of the history known to us, or even in the VI century, in which SS. Arnulf and Gondulf lived: for it is more credible that those indications pertain to the ante-Noetic time: and at least from the time that Romans and Franks began to be named in our regions, all things held almost that situation which they now hold; especially in Taxandria, nearest to the Tungri, now called the Campine, which is a high and sandy region, and was the first seat of the Franks who had crossed the Rhine and the Meuse under the Emperor Julian. Known from the Commentaries of Julius Caesar and of Tacitus are the peoples there found by the Romans, and the celebrated geographers who described their dominion nowhere mentioned Octavia."
[12] Let it be permitted to me to tread in the footsteps of such great men, and to subjoin my own, such as it is, concerning this whole history
judgment freely. whose opinion, from the silence of Harigerus, The most ancient writer whom I know to have mentioned St. Gondulf is Harigerus, abbot of Lobbes, a writer of the end of the tenth century. He, in Chapeauville tome 1, chapter 32, briefly describing the deeds and burial of St. Monulf, subjoins only the following concerning St. Gondulf: "There also blessed Gundulf, who succeeded as the twenty-second, has the place of his burial." Yet in the preface of his work, to a certain Abbot, he testifies that he diligently and truthfully collected the Acts of the bishops of the Tungri, of Maastricht, and of Liège down to St. Remaclus. "And that this labor," he says, "which, at thy exhortation, was undertaken, may not be fruitless, not only the times and deeds of him whom we mentioned, namely of St. Remaclus, but also of the other pontiffs of our see, which could be scraped together from every quarter, I have collected down to our own times." It is indeed a wonder that Harigerus did not write more concerning St. Gondulf, since he collected the deeds of the bishops "which could be scraped together from every quarter." I confess indeed that this negative argument does not altogether conclude; but yet it furnishes ground for suspecting either that more prolix Acts of St. Gondulf never existed before the age of Harigerus, or that they perhaps perished in the devastation of the Normans, who, by the testimony of Sigebert in his Chronicle at the year of Christ 882, "settling near the Meuse in the place Haslon, burn Liège, Maastricht, Tongeren, Cologne, Bonn with the adjacent castles: stabling their horses at Aachen in the palace, they set fire to the town and the palace; besides the monasteries of Stavelot, Malmedy, Inden, Prüm."
[13] If anyone contend, nay prove (this, however, I do not think will happen) that the Acts of St. Gondulf, such as we now have them, or we confirm by his truthful candor. are older than Harigerus, I shall say that Harigerus was too prudent to insert little fables of this kind into his writings: for he preferred to be truthful rather than to seem eloquent, as in the same proem he signifies in these words: "I judge myself indeed, in my opinion, to differ far from the excellence of the best orator, who can compress very much into few words, protract few into many, or attenuate great things, make the greatest out of the least, broad things narrowly, narrow things broadly, common things decently, decent things intellectually, new things in the usual way, usual things in a new way, and taste of very many things of that kind; to whom also it is enjoined by the Poet: either follow report, or feign things consistent with themselves. Nor, as scholars, a theme being set, feign anything frivolous, nay not even doubtful, namely what words he could use who suffered the injury, or he who inflicted it." You see that Harigerus, despising the rumors of the vulgar and the ornaments of rhetoricians and doubtful narratives, wished to commit to writing only certain and proven things. To say what I feel, from all these things I suspect that after the times of Harigerus a great part of the Acts was fabricated: for there was, especially in the later centuries, a puerile, not to say impious, itch in certain men of fabricating, sometimes even under the feigned name of ancient writers, more prolix Legends concerning those Saints whose Acts had either perished or were unknown. Perhaps certain simpletons innocently (imprudently, however) wrote similar Legends, that they might satisfy the unskilled vulgar, which scarcely believes those to be saints whose long and prodigious life it has not read. I do not doubt that St. Gondulf was famous for excellent sanctity of life, and I venerate his virtues, more known to God than to men. But knowing that the Saints, who all abound in true praises, are not delighted with feigned encomiums, I have distinguished the false from the true. Now I submit to the eyes and the critique of the reader the double Legend of St. Gondulf, although suspect of fiction.
THE FIRST LIFE, PARTLY SUSPECT
From the Utrecht Manuscript of St. Salvator, collated with others.
Gondulfus, Bishop, at Maastricht on the Meuse in Belgium (S.)
BHL Number: 3710
St. Gondulf, after pious works and buildings, But blessed Monulf being taken from the midst, the precious confessor of Christ Gondulf, sprung from the first of Lotharingia [*], elected by the whole kingdom and all the citizens, is consecrated bishop, and, all diligence for temporal things being laid aside, is wholly borne into God. For in the increase of virtues the God of virtues never failed him, by whose mediation, powerful in work and word, he disposed the royal and legal rights of the churches. In every castle also, and town, in which they were not yet, he ordered churches to be built, consecrating them to the Lord.
[2] the destroyed city of the Tungri, and the house of St. Servatius, While therefore he sweated in this zeal, one day it happened that he had his journey near the city of the Tungri. And approaching nearer, he marvels at its disposition and the daily accesses of the sea a, preferring it to Babylon and Rome. And meeting an old man he asks which had been the buildings of the churches, which the palaces of kings. But he among other things showed him the palace which had been built in honor of Octavian Caesar, from whom also the city itself was called Octavia. Then a building in which blessed Servatius had formerly dwelt, as a token of sanctity among the rest less ruined [*]. The Bishop, betaking himself thither straightway, and noting in what places he had either sat or stood, puts his knees with tears, kissing all things.
[3] he resolves to restore; But when in a more eminent place of the city, formerly dedicated to the Virgin Mary, he had seen shrubs of diverse kinds to have grown up, rending his garment, and sprinkling his head with dust, he fell to the earth. Then rising, turned to the Lord, he said: "Behold Thy Sion, Lord, behold our Jerusalem, but how is it desolated, how devastated! Shall this royal seat of heaven be so abolished! Far be it, Lord, for I shall not be able to see it." And turned to his people, he ordered men to come together from the whole province, who should more quickly renew it, and dwell there thenceforth.
[4] While he did these things, the Lord, remembering the evils but he is divinely hindered, and dies on July 16. which that proud city had done, being zealous for the injury of St. Servatius, suddenly returns to vengeance, and, a multitude of most grievous wolves being sent in, in the presence of the holy Pontiff of the city, ordered the perfidious settlers to be devoured. What had been built, the avenging flame consumed, the rest lightning shattered; an earthquake besides overthrew many towers b, so unusual that the Pontiff himself despaired of escaping death. Understanding at last that the divine decrees were not to be opposed, having returned to his see, he repented of what he had unknowingly attempted against the will of God, until he was consoled by a divine revelation saying to him: "Peace to thee; fear not, the Lord is with thee." At last, the Lord calling him to the rewards of eternal blessedness, on the seventeenth Kalends of August he migrated from this world. And because he is not unequal in merits, he is buried beside his predecessor blessed Monulf in the midst of the church of blessed Servatius.
ANNOTATIONS.
* elsewhere "Lothariae."
* elsewhere "nimis" (too much).
THE SECOND LIFE, MUCH INTERPOLATED.
From the Manuscript of Rouge-Cloître near Brussels, collated with others.
Gondulfus, Bishop, at Maastricht on the Meuse in Belgium (S.)
BHL Number: 3705
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
Hence follows the election of the most precious confessor of Christ and Prelate blessed Gundulf, St. Gondulf who, inferior to none of the earlier ones in morals and continence and erudition, and more ignoble than none, worthily ruled the holy church of Maastricht [*] for a long time even. For this man, as we have heard and learned by the relation of certain faithful men, was sprung from great birth, namely the first of Lotharingia, and nourished at Maastricht. At that time therefore this city and this church was the greater in the whole province: for in this city, the clemency of the Holy Spirit going before, this strong and noble recruit soldiered for Christ not without great glory; hence his name shone far and wide, and gleamed great.
[2] Blessed Monulf therefore being taken from the midst, he, elected by all the citizens, made bishop after St. Monulf, himself raised by the whole kingdom to the pontifical throne, is consecrated bishop, and, all diligence for temporal things being laid aside, is wholly borne into God. He indeed, in the simplicity of the dove and in the astuteness of the serpent, ministered in the eyes of God almighty. But lest perchance it should be to him for damnation, what he received from the Lord for blessing, he committed all the care of the government among the people to those in whom he most trusted, judging it to be most worthy and most useful toward the summit of perfection and to the glory of perpetual salvation, if, stripped of earthly things, he should cleave wholly to the heavenly. Wherefore, remaining continually in the house of the Lord and faithfully cleaving to the sacred mysteries, a divine man, he led a divine life.
[3] he shines with apostolic zeal, But considering all his city to flourish with all sacred honor in the Lord, and to be fervent with all religion in Christ, he goes about the churches far removed, and what he planted by word, he watered with signs and miracles. There was in those days near the sea a region b abounding in many riches, but not yet having the knowledge of the highest and true God; to visit that, to prepare that for the Lord he strove, sent from heaven, the grace on high also working, in a short time he converted many of them to the faith, the temples in which idols were worshiped being soon overthrown, and in honor of the Prince of the heavens and of His Saints he founded new churches, and set over them fit ministers to serve, and as many as he withdrew through them from the devil, without delay he consecrated to the Lord by himself.
[4] and with veneration toward St. Servatius, Then he passed to other provinces; which being converted to Christ and worthily confirmed in the faith, he hastened to return to his city, outside of which his most holy soul could not bear to remain longer c. For at the sepulcher of the most excellent and most serene confessor of Christ and prelate Servatius, at which, sitting on the pontifical throne, as one of the rivers of paradise, by preaching, admonishing, and teaching he watered the whole land of his episcopate, and daily was refreshed with the delights of divine conversation and virtue: for there from his hand the blind receive sight, the lame their gait, lepers are cleansed, diverse infirmities are cured; the possessed also, bound with heavier chains, soon, as they arrive, are both loosed from the infestation of the enemy, and from their bonds.
[5] whose worshipers he fatherly cherishes. Wherefore his glory marvelously grew in all the church, and those who were cured, the faithful steward of Christ blessed Gundulf gathered and cherished, until, according to their wish, being made companions and consoled, each returned with joy to his own. Who would not wish to see these things, who would not rejoice? That excellent priest of Christ indeed wished, and most devoutly ordained, nay desired, and would not be absent at any time except from unavoidable necessity; nor did he assign to himself the virtues which were done, fearing from this the word of the Lord, "He who exalts himself shall be humbled." But because he had founded his mind in the root of humility, and could not be bent to the other part, as one over whom the Holy Spirit presided as ruler, rightly he merited to be exalted and honored by all and in all things.
[6] After certain pious buildings, As a token therefore of his virtues the Lord of virtues never failed him, by whose presidency, powerful in work and word, he disposed the royal, ecclesiastical, and legal rights. Powerfully therefore he acted in the whole kingdom, and in every castle and town, and in those in which they were not yet, he ordered churches to be built, attending to that of Solomon: "Whatsoever thy hand can do, do it instantly." To see them, to consecrate them to the Lord he went out more quickly, and what was lacking in divine things he fulfilled, always laboring to this end, that in secret he might merit to see the God of gods in Sion.
[7] While therefore he sweated in this zeal, near the city it happened that one day he had his journey: the destroyed city of the Tungri, and approaching nearer, he marvels at its height and breadth, and the daily accesses of the sea, and many other things which were nowhere on earth: he prefers it to Babylon, he prefers it to Rome: he esteems nothing like it in the cities of Asia: meanwhile he asks that there be pointed out to him which had been the buildings of the churches, which the palaces of kings. Someone says to him among other things: "This, father, is by no means a business of men; but it is, but of those whose conversation is with the angels of the heavens; yet what I have heard, what I have learned, I will reveal to thee." Saying these things, he took his hand, and led him through all the places of the buildings, showing also the palace which had been built in honor of Octavian Caesar, from whom also the city itself was formerly called Octavia d.
[8] Hence having proceeded a little, the place in which the angelic man, and the house of St. Servatius, the magnificent blessed Servatius, had been wont to dwell, and his building he shows, truly of wondrous and admirable sanctity, by the judgment of Christ for the solace of the faithful, among the rest less fallen and less destroyed. Thither the Bishop betook himself straightway, and diligently noting the places in which blessed Servatius had sat or stood, he puts his knees, fixes kisses, and, kissing, waters all things with pious tears: but when for pity he could not bear to look upon these things, he went out and tended to other things. But in the place of the altar and sanctuary, which was supereminent and more honorable than the whole city, and which was dedicated to the majesty of the very Martyr of the Lord Savior, when he saw shrubs of diverse kinds to have grown up, he rent the garment with which he was clad, and, his head sprinkled with dust, fell to the earth as though dead.
[9] But after the space as it were of an hour, lifting himself he said: wishing to restore, "Behold Thy Sion, Lord, behold our Jerusalem, but how is it laid waste, how desolated! O malice of men! O envy of demons! Through you heaven is deserted, through you the city [*] is desolated. What then shall be? Shorn and cut down shall this royal seat of heaven remain? Far be it, Lord: for I shall not be able to see it." And turned to his people, he ordered men to come from the whole province, who should more quickly renew it, and dwell there thenceforth. These things he said, and rising, accomplished the journey which he had begun. But when he returned, and what was done pleased him, he arranged to stay there some days.
[10] He remained therefore and rejoiced vehemently. But the Lord, not unmindful is divinely hindered, of the evils which that proud city had done to the beloved kinsman e of His most beloved Mother, caused the wolves of the evening and most grievous to come into the midst of them, and as many as they found, in the sight of the Pontiff himself, he ordered the settlers to be devoured. What had been built, fire consumed, the rest lightning burned; also among the other perils an earthquake so great and frequent, that the Prelate himself despaired of escaping death. He rose therefore forthwith and departed, nor delayed [*] to return further, giving thanks for all things to God, because in this judgment he did not perish.
[11] and, penance being done, he securely expires. Having returned on his way to the city, what he had done as if unknowing, by weeping, fasting, and other good works, exercising, God aiding him, and the pious patron's intervention consenting, he studied to the utmost to blot out; always having in his heart, always in his mouth, what Saul the king did against the Lord, and he feared greatly; nor did he cease, until on a certain night in a vision, as he himself says f, it was said to him: "Peace to thee, fear not; the Lord is with thee." From this word blessed Pontiff, the more certain from consolation, so much the more he labored in every divine operation. To the joys therefore of the promise on high and the rewards of eternal blessedness the Lord Jesus calling him, on the XVII Kalends of August, on which day his predecessor Monulf passed from this world to the heavens: and because he is not unequal in merits, he is buried beside him in the midst of the church of that incomparable and most glorious man Servatius, to the glory and praise of the King of the heavens, whose kingdom and dominion remain without end forever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* read "Trajectensem" (Maastricht).
* elsewhere "terra" (the land).
* elsewhere "he dared."