Monulf

ON ST. MONULF, BISHOP

OF MAASTRICHT ON THE MEUSE IN BELGIUM.

TOWARD THE END OF THE SIXTH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Monulfus, Bishop, at Maastricht on the Meuse in Belgium (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. C.

§ I. The Saint's cult, on occasion of which a certain prodigy is examined.

Maastricht on the Meuse, formerly an episcopal city of Belgium, concerning which our Henschen treated fully in the Diatribe on the Bishopric of Utrecht, and again in the Exegesis on the same subject published before Tome VII of May chapter 12, On this day he is venerated in the Auctaria of Usuard, had formerly very many prelates illustrious for sanctity and miracles. Among them on this day occur SS. Monulf and Gondulf, bishops of the same church, whose Acts, as far as it can be done, must be elucidated. The Martyrologies and Breviaries mostly join them on XVI July as companions, because then they are venerated, and in most Manuscripts they are said to have died or been buried on the same day. We, for the sake of clarity, treat of them separately on this very day, although some more recent Martyrologists place them on the day XXVI July, because perhaps in certain records they had read that they migrated to the Lord on the VII Kalends of August. But rather with several Manuscripts it seems must be read XVII Kalends of August, on which day the most ancient Auctaria of Usuard celebrate them: for the Rosweyde codex, the Louvain, Utrecht, Leyden, Danish, Brussels, and others make mention of both on that day, as may be seen in the Usuard not long since illustrated.

[2] More marvelous than credible is that which certain Usuardine codices add concerning the prodigious resurrection of these bishops. some of which narrate a stupendous history, The Hagenau codex thus has it: At Maastricht on the Meuse, the deposition of the holy confessors Numolf and Gundolf, who are said to have been those two deceased bishops, and raised up again through blessed Pope Leo and his companions, [who] dedicated the church of Aachen with the other bishops. The Lübeck-Cologne edition narrates the matter thus: At Maastricht the lower (the ancients call it Maastricht the upper) situated on the Meuse, of the holy bishops and confessors Monulf and Gundulf. These, by the nod of God, as is reported, rose alive from their sepulchers, and with blessed Pope Leo III consecrated a church at Aachen in honor of the Virgin Mary the Mother of God. Which done, they returned to Maastricht to their sepulchers, and laid themselves down again mutually to their former dormition. The codex of Grevenus reports the miracle in these words: At Maastricht the upper on the river Meuse, of the holy bishops and confessors Monulf and Gundulf, whom they say rose from their sepulchers, and with Pope Leo III consecrated the church of Aachen in honor of the holy Mother of God, and, that office being fulfilled, betook themselves back to their former rest. I would have noted here the particles "are said," "as is reported," "they say," everywhere added, which signify not historical certitude, but often a certain popular tradition.

[3] which is also read inscribed on the tomb of the Saints, Nevertheless to this narrative, besides certain chronicles, the sepulcher of those Saints, erected in the church of St. Servatius at Maastricht, gives support, on which the following inscription is read carved to this day:

IN THIS

SACRED PLACE

OF SS. MONDOLPHUS AND GONDOLPHUS,

THE XII AND XIII BISHOPS,

HERE BURIED IN THE VI CENTURY,

THERE WAS AN ANCIENT AND HIGH MONUMENT

OF MARBLE

WITH THIS INSCRIPTION OF THE MIRACLE OF THE YEAR DCCXCVII:

ROUSED FROM THIS CHEST MONDOLPHUS, AND, THE TEMPLE AT AACHEN BEING DEDICATED,

GONDOLPHUS — EACH HIERARCH RETURNS HIMSELF:

WHOSE SACRED RELICS

AFTERWARD, IN THE YEAR MXXXIX,

BY NITARDUS OF LIÈGE AND GERARDUS OF CAMBRAI, BISHOPS,

WITH THE BODIES OF SS. VALENTINUS AND CANDIDUS,

WERE EXALTED TO THE ALTAR OF THE CRYPT,

AND AGAIN IN THE YEAR MDCXXIII

WERE SOLEMNLY INSPECTED BY THE CLERGY AND MORE ORNATELY REPOSED;

FINALLY IN THE YEAR MDCXXVIII,

THE PAVEMENT OF THE WHOLE CHURCH BEING RENEWED,

AND THE SAID MONUMENT BEING HERE BELOW RECONDITE,

THIS PLATE

WAS PLACED AS A MEMORIAL.

[4] First of all I see that in this inscription there is a manifest parachronism. Namely, in it it is read that that miracle happened in the year 797 at the dedication of the church of Aachen, in which a parachronism is noted. whereas nevertheless it was, according to Baronius and others, dedicated only in the year 804, when Leo III, Supreme Pontiff, came a second time to Charlemagne in Germany. Nay, not even the epoch of the year 797 can stand, if one contend that that church was consecrated at the first coming of Leo into Germany, since it is certain that Leo III first came into Germany in the year 799. But easily into a number, not yet placed a hundred years ago, this error could creep. For the rest, the very substance of the stupendous history does not seem sufficiently certain to me: for it would be a wonder that a matter done before so many witnesses should have been handed down in writing by no contemporary. A wonder that by Einhard, a coeval and most diligent in describing the deeds of Charlemagne, this public prodigy should have been omitted. A wonder, finally, that a matter most worthy of note should not be expressed in the Breviaries and manuscript Acts later than the miracle.

[5] Very many more recent writers, relying on this testimony of the epitaph, have confidently inserted that prodigy into their books. But that I may not seem to dissimulate any difficulty, John Placentius the same prodigy John Placentius, of the Order of St. Dominic, older than the last placing of the plate, testifies in his Catalogue of all the Prelates of the Tungri, of Maastricht, and of Liège, that the same miracle was in his time inscribed on the sepulcher of the Saints: for, a parenthesis being interposed indicating the uncertainty of the matter, he thus speaks after the life of SS. Monulf and Gondulf: "Whose tomb," he says, "is hitherto seen in the nave of the Servatian basilica, there the glorious memory of both perseveres. For when Charlemagne had built the basilica of Aachen with royal magnificence, and it was in his wishes to summon as many prelates for consecrating it as there are days recurring in the year, and now two of the sum were lacking, they say, Monulf and Gondulf emerged from the sepulcher or hiding-places, and were there present with a huge miracle. Who (if such tracts are believed) having received a blessing from Leo the Fourth (he meant to say the Third), Supreme Pontiff, inclining first at Aachen, then also at Maastricht, betook themselves into the mausoleum."

[6] tries to prove from certain monuments, Then the same writer tries to confirm this common narrative thus: "I read a distich (the same, unless I am mistaken, which I just exhibited) in most ancient letters graphically engraved on this same tomb, which openly attests these very things. Besides, the Betasii observe such a rite of inclining, handed down to them as by their elders through hands, uncontaminated, as often as they penetrate that door by which the holy Prelates are believed to have returned." I think that by the Betasii here is to be understood the Belgic people known to the ancient Roman historians, concerning whom Henschen in the Diatribe on the bishopric of Maastricht book I §3 thus writes: "But the remaining domain of the Aduatici was inhabited by the Bethasii, whose vestiges even now remain: for at the river Gete, in the prefecture of the town of Halen, there is a village Betasia, contractedly Betsia, commonly Beets." But whoever they be, it matters little. Let us hear Placentius, thus pursuing the same argument: "These things," he says, "confirm the Chronicles of Brabant in the history of Charlemagne book two toward the middle of the tract, and moreover many most ancient copies of the episcopal Acts." Truly to be lamented, that he did not indicate of what age those most ancient copies of the episcopal Acts are: for thus perhaps we might have been able to detect the first inventor of this prodigious history. I meanwhile, in all our manuscript Acts, as I noted above, find no vestige of this miracle.

[7] By these chronicles and other writings, vaguely cited, little is our Bartholomew Fisen moved, which notwithstanding, Fisen denies it, when in the History of the Church of Liège book 5 at the year of Christ 799 number 26, treating of the meeting of Pope Leo and Charlemagne, and the consecration of the church of Aachen, he thus roundly pronounces: "That it was a most noble assembly no one would doubt, when the two supreme princes of the Christian name met together. Fabulous, however, I judge that which most of our own have handed down, that the king desired to have present as many bishops as the whole year numbers days; who, after the temple was dedicated, should deliberate concerning the affairs of the Christian commonwealth. But when two bishops were lacking to the king's wish, that there rose from their sepulchers at Maastricht two, Monulf and Gondulf, dead some centuries before, and gave themselves at Aachen to that assembly. Which at last being dismissed, they returned to their sepulchers. False, I say, I judge that: for of the ancient writers none has handed down that any council was held at Aachen by Leo. That which was celebrated was in the ninth year of the following century; that Leo was absent is certain, and that afterward at Rome he approved the decrees of the Fathers gathered at Aachen. Finally, if with so great a prodigy bishops long dead had inserted themselves among the living; neither would those ancient writers ever have been silent, who either published the things they had drawn with their eyes, or lived nearest to those times, since it so greatly made for the glory of Charles. Nor would it have remained unknown to the Christian world, that which had happened in the eyes of so many bishops afterward returning to their own dioceses. And indeed a prodigy of that kind would have added no light authority to the council; and that cause even alone the darkness of silence would never have hidden a matter of so great moment."

[8] I know indeed that Hadelin the Younger, Canon of the church of Maastricht, against whom, a wretched apology being written, he inveighs wrongly in the year 1649 wrote an apology against Father Fisen, and among other things inveighs against him without restraint, because he had called this stupendous history, destitute of coeval testimonies, into doubt. But this apology teems with barbarous phrases, puerile witticisms, and other ineptitudes, and rests on foundations so weak that it merits commiseration rather than refutation. Take a specimen in the matter of which we treat. First of all that good canon brings forward the Belgic inscription, distinguished by no note of time. Then he cites two little verses inscribed on the tomb. Finally, as if the matter had come to the last reserves, he opposes his most firm argument to Father Fisen. "The third," he says, "testimony of the same miracle is, that a certain image of the Virgin Mother of God is even today seen placed outside above the vestibule of the gate of our church, which is called Blessed Mary of Aachen; for this reason, namely, that the aforesaid Saints, returning from Aachen to Maastricht, and there proceeding palpably by the straight street to their tomb, are reported then by the citizens of Maastricht then living, to have been seen before the entrance of the gate of our church, both to have inclined, for the sake of honor, their heads to the said image." Then, as if victory were already obtained, gloryingly he exclaims: What would Fisen say to these things? If Fisen had wished to answer such trifles, he would no doubt have said that that whole assertion rests on light little tales of the vulgar, fabricated I know not at what time first. He would ask that the antiquity of the monuments brought forward be proved to him. Deservedly he would call into doubt whether already at that time, when the new church of Aachen was being dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God, Blessed Mary of Aachen was already placed above the gate of the church of Maastricht.

[9] For the rest, how credulous that good man was, Hadelin the Younger, a man too credulous. even from this it sufficiently appears, that he sharply chides Father Fisen, because he had denied the kinship of St. Servatius with Christ, and his long-lived age of three hundred years. It is worthwhile to hear him, however angry, and after his strawy arguments thus concluding: "But that most sharp censor (namely Fisen) presumed to be wise beyond the rest against the doctrine of the church, by no means, however, now, as neither then, prudently; and in indifferent matters one must feel as the many do. But he, wishing to seem alone a smatterer, inconsiderately furnished to those who are without an occasion of reproaching the Catholic heralds that they relate fables to the people, whence a pernicious scandal." As though indeed it were not permitted to learned men, such as Father Fisen was, to inquire into the truth of history, and to eliminate fables from it. Certainly our Henschen, otherwise a most sharp defender of the church of Maastricht, exploded the same fable concerning St. Servatius in the Exegesis chapter 2. And we, pursuing the same work, daily expend an arduous labor, that in the Legends of the Saints we may discern the true from the false. But that which Junius adds concerning the scandal given to the heterodox is frivolous: for rather scandal is given to them, while they see stupendous histories obstinately defended without any weight of reasons; but on the contrary, while they observe that by the Catholics themselves the Acts of the Saints, which sometimes were written by idle men without any discrimination of truth, are diligently discussed, and the genuine distinguished from the fictitious, gradually those things which before they spurned they begin to value more, and are induced to embrace the Catholic faith, as Papebroch shows more fully in the Responses to article 2, numbers 33 and 34. Besides, if the heterodox, not blinded by obstinate malice and pride, shall read our Acts, they will see the continuous tradition of the Church, and the truth of the Catholic religion, confirmed by so many and so certain miracles, that, to demonstrate our faith, they will freely confess that there is no need of doubtful, much less of false, histories.

[10] A Canon of Aachen cautiously narrates the same miracle. Peter a Beeck, canon of Blessed Mary and Provost at St. Adalbert, in his History of Aachen printed in the year 1620, chapter 4, treating of the celebrated consecration of this church, more modestly and cautiously narrates the same resurrection of SS. Monulf and Gondulf thus: "The sacring was done in the year of grace 804, in the presence of very many Metropolitans, Bishops, Abbots, in a throng of Dukes, Marquesses, Counts, etc. Most worthy of admiration is that which very many Chroniclers relate, and of them also Father Peter Canisius in his Martyrology; although others judge this narrative to be examined by the Lydian stone, that when the most Christian Emperor Charles had wished as many bishops to be present at the dedication of this most magnificent basilica as there are days in the circle of the year, that is three hundred and sixty-five; and two were lacking, Monulf and Gondulf, prelates of the Tungri, dead and unburied in the midst of the church of Maastricht on the Meuse, sacred to St. Servatius, emerged from their hiding-places, and were here present with huge joy; the consecration being duly performed, and the blessing received from the Apostolic one, all being fixed in astonishment, they withdrew, seeking again their monuments." I confess that I am of the number of those who judge that this narrative is to be examined by the Lydian stone, and so that that prodigious history is not to be admitted by me,

until the men of Maastricht or any others produce solid testimonies of antiquity. But that we may not linger longer over these things, let us return to the cult of our Saint.

[11] Our manuscript Florary has this announcement concerning both bishops: The manuscript Florary hands down a compend of the Life of St. Monulf, At Maastricht on the Meuse, the deposition of the holy bishops Monulf and Gondulf. Collect. Then concerning St. Monulf it thus proceeds, and weaves the following elogium: The first of whom was heir and lord of the town of Dinant, now alas in our times destroyed, namely in the year of salvation 1466; and he wrote St. Servatius heir of all his estates. He built another church over the members of St. Servatius, and translated it into a higher place, yet the same, and dedicated the church on the seventh Ides of July. He founded at Maastricht the church of Blessed Mary, whither he translated the episcopal see: he also translated the body of St. Servatius. This man, being about to visit the castle of his inheritance, as has been said, Dinant, passing through a delightful wood beside the river Legia, saw the sign of the cross like a glittering fire raised from the earth even to heaven. "Lo," he said to his companions, "brothers: Legia is the place which the Lord has chosen for the salvation of many, which, magnificently illustrated afterward through the merits of a certain servant of His, shall be made equal to the highest cities; in which also the same servant, Bishop of our church, shall be martyred." An oratory therefore in the place of the vision he dedicated in honor of Cosmas and Damian. At last blessed Monulf, seeing his end imminent, all things being kindly done, happily migrated to Christ. Buried in the midst of the Servatian church, as also is clear to this day. Almost the same has the Great Belgic Chronicle edited at Frankfurt in the year 1607 by John Pistorius. But how that can be understood, which here is obscurely and confusedly indicated concerning the translation of the episcopal see, [and besides the more recent Martyrologists, the Breviaries of Tongeren, Maastricht, and Liège celebrate him,] our Henschen explains in the Exegesis prefixed to Tome VII of May chapter 9.

[12] Besides Molanus, Felicius, Galesinius, Ferrarius, Saussay, Castellanus, and other more recent Hagiologists, who made mention of both our Saints, the ancient Breviaries especially celebrate St. Monulf. The old Breviary of Tongeren venerates them under a double rite, and describes the life of St. Monulf in nine proper lessons, which agree almost with the Acts to be given afterward in the first place. Likewise the ancient Breviary of Maastricht, according to the ordinary of the church of St. Servatius, celebrates the feast of the same Saints with a triple rite, as they formerly spoke, and relates the deeds of both in the Lessons and Responsories almost in that manner in which they are contained in the Acts afterward to be printed. Wherefore it is not worth the trouble to transcribe that Office here. In the Breviaries of Liège, printed in the years 1514, 1520, 1558, there was made only a commemoration of these holy bishops under this collect: Hear, O Lord, thy people, celebrating the solemnities of thy holy confessors and pontiffs Gondulf and Monulf, and grant it to rejoice in the peace of temporal life, and to find eternal succor. Through etc. But in the Offices proper to the church of Liège, edited in the year 1623, and the Breviary of the same church printed in the year 1636, there is a semidouble Office, in whose second Nocturn are recited the three following Lessons.

[13] Lesson IV. Monulf, noble in race and virtues, succeeded blessed Domitian, the twenty-first in order, as bishop of the Tungri, whose proper Lessons, being the last, are exhibited. a just man, a good teacher, a father of orphans and pilgrims. He, the Tungri being devastated, frequenting Maastricht in devotion toward St. Servatius, built over his sepulcher a church to God, and, the estates of his patrimony being conferred, established clerics there for the divine service. Lesson V. He also erected diverse sacred edifices, both there and in other places. Among which, and by the apparition of a most splendid cross arisen to him at Legia, that he foretold with prophetic spirit that place to be chosen by God for the salvation of many, and by the merits of some of Christ's servants to be made equal to the highest cities; and moreover, an oratory being there built in honor of the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damian, that he raised up the beginnings of the church and city of Liège, is a constant tradition. Lesson VI. Martyrdom afterward accomplished in the same place St. Lambert, also bishop of the Tungri, by whose merit gradually it was raised to so great a city and province, that it sufficiently proves the oracle of Monulf to have been not vain. He presided about thirty-nine years; and, he being dead in peace, and buried in the aforesaid basilica of St. Servatius, Gondulf succeeded, conspicuous also in nobility of race and in sanctity of life and in erudition: who, when he had cared for the flock committed to him about seven years, and meanwhile had also evangelized with great fruit the neighboring peoples still unbelieving, rested in the Lord, and was buried beside blessed Monulf.

[14] Baldericus, a writer of the XI century, mentions his translation. Before I conclude this paragraph, it is worthwhile here to bring forward from a contemporary author the chief testimony of the ancient veneration, indicated also on the sepulchral plate. It is Baldericus, first the secretary of some bishops of Cambrai, and afterward bishop of Noyon and Tournai, who in the XI century concerning the translation of SS. Monulf and Gondulf, made about the year 1039, thus writes in the Chronicle of Cambrai book 3, chapter 56. "But in the following month of August, with the king himself the Lord Bishop (namely Gerard I, prelate of Cambrai) came to Maastricht, and at the request of Bishop Nihard raised the bodies of the holy confessors Gondulf and Monulf, relics being taken thence for himself; and there was consecrated a church in honor of St. Servatius." More concerning this matter may be seen in tome 2 of June on the day VII, concerning SS. Valentinus and Candidus pages 11 and 12. Let the things thus far said suffice for establishing the cult of these Saints. Now let us enumerate the various writers of the Acts, and then illustrate some parts of the Monulfian Life.

* read "situato" (situated).

§ II. The Saint's Acts, lineage, episcopate, and death.

The first and contemporary with St. Monulf, Gregory of Tours, treating of the miraculous sepulcher of St. Servatius, bishop of Maastricht, in the book On the Glory of the Confessors chapter 72, Known writers, on the same occasion thus mentions our Saint: "But in the course of time Bishop Monulf, coming into this city, built, composed, and adorned a great church in his honor, into which the body, translated with much zeal and veneration, is now strong with great virtues." The second is Harigerus, abbot of Lobbes, who flourished at the end of the tenth century, and in Chapeauville tome I, chapter 32 concerning our holy bishop thus writes: "St. Domitian being taken from human affairs, and buried at Huy in the church of the holy Mother of God, blessed Monulf the successor, the twenty-first of the bishops, erected in honor of the holy man (namely Servatius) an honorable church, and translated his body with worthy reverence into it, and established the pontifical see to be thenceforth there, in the midst of which church he ordered his own body to be buried." Finally the third writer, whom we know, is Giles of Liège, of the Cistercian Order, a monk of Val-Dieu, who lived about the middle of the XIII century. He augmented with additions the writings of Harigerus abbot of Lobbes and of Anselm canon of Liège, and among other things copiously handed down to posterity the deeds done by SS. Monulf and Gondulf. But since those were edited by Chapeauville tome I, chapter 33, and differ little from our Manuscripts, we shall here now review these, and from them afterward commit one or another to print.

[16] There are for us five Manuscript copies which contain the Life of St. Monulf. and anonymous Manuscripts The first indeed is a transcript of Rouge-Cloître, which is a monastery of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, situated not far from Brussels. And it was taken from the Manuscript Brabantine Hagiology, which is there preserved to this day. It agrees as to substance with the edition of Chapeauville, except a few things which I shall indicate in their place. The second Manuscript was dug out from the library of the Canons Regular of St. Martin at Louvain, which for distinction we shall call the Louvain one. It especially agrees with the Lessons printed in the old Breviary of Maastricht. The third exists in our Manuscript codex, which reviews the bishops of Maastricht in order, and describes their deeds. The antiquity of the codex I do not know; at least from the characters it does not appear very ancient. Its writer noted accurately enough the epoch of the episcopate, omitted by others; but here and there he amplified the Acts with longer phrases and sentences drawn from sacred scripture. Wherefore I suspect him to be later than the rest.

[17] The fourth Manuscript comes forth from the library of St. Salvator of Utrecht, which record St. Monulf. which is briefer than the others, and so seems more ancient, although I do not know its age exactly. It, the variations worthy of note being observed, we shall edit after this Commentary in the first place. The fifth finally is a certain fragment intermixed with the Acts of St. Servatius, which therefore we shall commit to print, because the age of the author can to some extent be gathered: for the writer, narrating the miracles of St. Servatius, among others narrates one, which, he says, "the exalted hand of the Most High lately did to the glory of the man, and of our most blessed Servatius." Then at the end he thus concludes: "These things were done in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1088, Indiction XI." I suspect the author to be Jocundus the priest, who, by the testimony of Henschen in the Annotations on the miracles of St. Servatius chapter 8, concludes the Servatian History in the same year 1088. Of the light credulity of this writer more has the same Henschen in the preliminary Commentary on the Life of St. Servatius chapter 3, and in the Exegesis already several times cited chapter 2. Since, however, the age of the other Manuscripts is hidden from us, this last writing, although not to be approved in every respect, we shall also publish and submit in the second place to the eyes of the curious reader, after we have first discussed some points of the Acts.

[18] From the unanimous consent of the writers, Certain writers expressed the noble lineage of St. Monulf more obscurely, others more clearly. In the Manuscript which we shall edit in the second place, it is thus read at number 1: "But this man had descended from the great birth of the kings of the Franks, and received the letters of divine and human knowledge in their court." Afterward at number 2 the Castle of Dinant is called his hereditary property. But in the Louvain Manuscript his nobility is generally thus indicated: "St. Monulf, to whom in nobility and sanctity none was second, succeeded in the pontifical governance of the holy church of Maastricht as now the twenty-first." In almost the same manner have the Breviaries and our manuscript Acts, which also mention the castle of Dinant as his inheritance. Yet in the Manuscript of Rouge-Cloître it is only said "as illustrious in the nobility both of race and of morals," but of the castle of Dinant no mention is made.

[19] he was born of noble stock, Our Manuscript codex, describing the deeds of the Bishops of Maastricht, determines his stock more distinctly in this manner: "This man was illustrious in the nobility both of race and of morals: for he was the son of the count of Dinant, from the daughter of the count of Hostia (Diest), and cantor of the church of Maastricht the upper." Perhaps John Placentius the Dominican saw this codex, when in his Catalogue he thus wrote: "Monulf, cantor of the Servatian college, son of the king of Dinant from the daughter of the count of Hostia, began to guide the reins in the year of salvation

five hundred and sixty-one." Long ago our Elders in Appendix 2 to the Exegesis, prefixed to Tome VII of May, observed that "Hostiensis" was wrongly written for "Diostensis" (of Diest). Our James Lobbetius in the Glory of the church of Liège chapter 3 says that St. Monulf was the son of the toparch of Dinant, from the daughter of the count of Looz. In the Appendix just cited it is also shown that the county of Looz and that of Diest were the same. Whatever be the case, from the common consent of the Acts it is clear that St. Monulf was born of noble stock and was heir of the castle of Dinant. Now let us discuss some things pertaining to his episcopate.

[20] and most probably bishop of Maastricht on the Meuse; Especially in the preceding century there arose among the learned a question, whether Maastricht on the Meuse ever had its own proper bishops, some asserting it, but others sharply denying it. Our Henschen undertook the defense of the church of Maastricht, and in the Diatribe and afterward in the Exegesis already often mentioned demonstrated that the successors of St. Servatius down to St. Hubert were properly called bishops of Maastricht, although they are sometimes called of the Tungri, because their ten predecessors had at Tongeren the episcopal chair, which St. Servatius first translated to Maastricht on the Meuse. Various writers indeed opposed themselves to Henschen, but with a vain effort thus far: for such are the arguments of that opinion that they ought to move anyone, not preoccupied by love of country or other motives, to acknowledge the truth. Wherefore I here embrace the opinion of my Master, and affirm that St. Monulf was bishop of Maastricht; but, that I may not do what is already done, I send the fair reader to weigh his reasons in the cited little works. Meanwhile let us examine other things.

[21] It might be asked, the how-many-eth bishop of the church of Maastricht he was, [but according to the various computation he is numbered in order the XI or XII of Maastricht and the XXI of the Tungri,] since the Acts differ very much in that computation. For some call him the eleventh, others the twelfth, others finally the twenty-first. But this manner of computing, however diverse, we shall easily reconcile, if we remember that the bishops of the Tungri, from whom sprang those of Maastricht, are sometimes so computed that they constitute one and the same series of bishops. Our Manuscript codex containing the episcopal History of the church of Maastricht on the Meuse thus begins the Saint's Life: "Monulf, in the governance of the holy church of Maastricht the twelfth bishop, fully supported by the possession of all graces, succeeded blessed Domitian." Rightly the twelfth, if St. Servatius be numbered, who first placed the episcopal chair at Maastricht. Also with other writers he can be called the eleventh, if, St. Servatius, bishop of Tongeren and Maastricht, being left aside, the beginning be taken from St. Agricola, who first sat at Maastricht alone. But by what reasoning, you will say, can he be said to have been the twenty-first, as Harigerus abbot of Lobbes, Giles of Val-Dieu, and other writers of the Acts have it? If, namely, as I intimated above, the prelates of the Tungri and of Maastricht be numbered in one series, and the beginning be taken from St. Maternus the first bishop of the Tungri, St. Monulf will be in order the twenty-first, as will become manifest to one beholding the Catalogue prefixed to the Henschenian Exegesis. Rightly this distinction is made by the Great Belgic Chronicle, which, edited by Pistorius, thus has it page 20: "St. Monulf, the XXI bishop of the Tungri, and the XI of Maastricht, began in the year of the Lord 560." Now let us add a few things concerning the epoch of the episcopate.

[22] Most of our Manuscripts do not mark the epoch of the episcopate. which chair he probably entered in the year 560 or 561, The Manuscript codex of Maastricht alone thus expressly expresses it: "But after, by the unanimous consent of the people and clergy, together with the authority of the princes of the kingdom, he had been admitted to the chair of the church of Maastricht about the year of the Lord five hundred and sixty-one, that he might amplify the sanctity of God, he erected another church, new and larger." This year also follows John Placentius and other more recent writers; others, however, make his episcopate one or two years earlier. Our Lobbetius in the Glory of the church of Liège page 46, the year 571 being noted in the margin, makes him ten years later. The Great Belgic Chronicle, as we saw in the preceding number, places the beginning of his episcopate in the year 560. There pleases me beyond the rest the epoch of the codex of Maastricht or of the Great Belgic Chronicle, although I cannot exactly define which year is to be preferred. For since St. Domitian, the predecessor of St. Monulf, died about the year 560, as is handed down in the preliminary Commentary on his Life illustrated on the day VII May, St. Monulf could succeed him in the same or the following year. Nor is it probable that between his and St. Domitian's episcopate there was a great interval, since no cause of delay appears or is assigned.

[23] and he ruled thirty-nine years. From the beginning of the episcopate, fixed about the year 560 or 561, could be gathered the year in which our Saint died, if the duration of the episcopate were certainly established. But here again our Manuscripts discrepate among themselves: for that which we shall here edit in the second place, at the end thus has it: "Considering at last his life's end imminent, in the midst of the church, in which he had sat no less than 42 years, he designated the place of his burial and fell asleep in the Lord." In the Manuscript of Rouge-Cloître it is thus read: "But all things being worthily done, in the midst of the church, in which he had been bishop nearly 40 years, he designated the place of his burial." The codex of Maastricht also notes that he presided over the church of Maastricht about forty years. The Louvain Manuscript says that he was buried "in the midst of the church, in which he had been bishop for about 39 years." In the same manner speaks Giles of Val-Dieu, and the Breviary of Liège. Our Utrecht Manuscript, soon to be exhibited in the first place, the Great Belgic Chronicle, John Placentius, our Fisen, and other writers expressly assert that St. Monulf ruled his church for thirty-nine years. Since therefore from the consent of the greater number this government of 39 years seems more probable, and probably began in the year 560, I place his death plainly toward the end of the VI century, although Claude Robert in his Gallia Christiana, and the Sammarthani in the Catalogue of the bishops of Liège, fix his death in the year 609. Now we shall subjoin the double Acts of our Saint, of which we have already abundantly spoken.

THE FIRST LIFE, BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

From the Utrecht Manuscript of St. Salvator, collated with four other Manuscripts.

Monulfus, Bishop, at Maastricht on the Meuse in Belgium (S.)

BHL Number: 6017

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

Blessed Domitian ^a being dead, blessed Monulf succeeded in the pontifical see as the twenty-first bishop of the Tungri ^b. St. Monulf, a church being built for St. Servatius, comes to Liège, This man, illustrious in the nobility both of birth and of morals, that he might amplify the sanctity of God, built another and ampler church, and translated the members of blessed Servatius into a higher place in the same spot, and adorned it in a marvelous manner, and dedicated it on the seventh Ides of July. Being then about to visit Dinant ^c, his hereditary castle, in setting out he beholds close at hand a village situated in a valley among the shady woods, among the steep mountains, very delightful and well-watered with fountains and rivulets running down the slopes: for on the western and northern side it was shut in by mountains and very great forests; but on the southern part the river Meuse [*], surrounding it with a bend drawn back and a little curved, made it inaccessible.

[2] and with prophetic spirit foretells its future celebrity. When blessed Bishop Monulf, one day with his companions, had entered this place, and, captivated by its situation and pleasantness, had halted, he asked the name of the place, and heard it named Legia ^d, and soon, touched by prophetic spirit: "Lo," he said to the bystanders, "the place which the Lord has chosen for the salvation of many of His faithful, and which, magnificently illustrated afterward through the merits of a certain servant of His, He will make equal to the highest cities," and straightway he descended, and designated a place of prayer, and, a church being built in honor of the holy martyrs Cosmas and Damian, consecrated it to the Lord, which afterward St. Lambert ^e the martyr ennobled with his own sacred blood. But the Pontiff Monulf, returning to Dinant, wrote blessed Servatius ^f heir of all his estates, of which devotion he received the full reward from the Lord. Which also was thus sensibly proved.

[3] In the days of his priesthood a certain one of the great princes died, The soul of a prince and the Saint is asked to bury him. He rose speedily, and behold he has in his way a great and dark wood, formerly dedicated to demons, as they say, by the error of the gentiles. Having entered it with his servants, he perceived as it were the neighing of horses, the roaring of lions, and diverse voices of other beasts, in the midst of which he heard as it were a little child weeping most bitterly, and without intermission crying out: "Run all, and succor." He stops his step, wishes to sign himself, lifts his hand, his right hand grows stiff, his tongue is silent, his brow grows pale, his eyes languish, his voice sticks in his throat, his hair stood on his head, horror and sadness like a cloud had overspread the flowering face of the Pontiff, even his servants also, the greater and stronger, prostrated by this terror fell to the earth as though dead.

[4] After these things the Prelate, returning to himself, and lifting up his eyes, saw a young man of most beautiful countenance standing by him, from purgatory he delivers, and saying: "Be comforted, Father, and fear not: for by the will of the Almighty thou hast merited to see this judgment: for the soul of the prince whom thou hast come to commend is held by unclean spirits ^g, afflicted, tormented, and unless thou hasten quickly, they will drag it to the barriers of hell ^h. Return therefore to the city to thy people, and cause prayers, alms, and fasting to be made in all the people. But afterward, when thou hast returned hither, if thou hear nothing of these things, know that it, offered to the Most High by thy prayers, has been received in peace." This said, he raised the servants of the Prelate, and comforted them, and afterward withdrew, and all things being duly done, the third light arises, and the Pontiff enters the same wood, and behold silence, peace everywhere, and joy. Therefore glad he passes through, and buried the dead man, setting forth in the midst the things which he had seen in the wilderness ⁱ. They who before wept and grieved, rejoiced glorifying Him by whose prayers he had been delivered from hell.

[5] But the Pontiff, having returned, marvelously glorified blessed Servatius, through whom the Lord in his time bestowed very many benefits on the earth-born, [and his munificence toward St. Servatius being shown, he holily migrates from this life.] in gold, and silver, and the things which are needful in the divine ministry, adding household and estates, since in earthly possessions he was most wealthy. But seeing his life's end imminent, he was not affrighted, but comforted in the Lord, he taught the whole people for three days without intermission, and admonished them that they should always be prepared to meet Christ, as though coming to judgment. But all things being worthily done, in the midst of the church in which for thirty-nine years he had been bishop, he designated the place of burial, where he was buried with great honor on the XVII Kalends of August, as is seen today in the same church.

ANNOTATIONS.

* elsewhere "Mosa."

THE SECOND LIFE, PERHAPS BY JOCUNDUS THE PRIEST

From the Maastricht Manuscript, collated with others.

Monulfus, Bishop, at Maastricht on the Meuse in Belgium (S.)

BHL Number: 6016

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

St. Monulf the bishop, intent on pious buildings After the death of St. Domitian, buried at a certain town which is commonly called Huy, but formerly Benefacta ^a, in the basilica of the glorious virgin Mary, there succeeded in the governance of the same church a magnificent man, by name Monulf, to whom at that time, as we have learned by the relation of venerable men, none was like in nobility of morals, in excellence of merits. And this man had descended from the great birth of the kings of the Franks, and received the letters of divine and human knowledge in their court. Having come to man's age, he betook himself to Maastricht, into the palace of Blessed Servatius; there more and more he advanced in doctrine, piety, virtues. Having attained the episcopal dignity, he was a good teacher, a just man, a father of orphans, widows, and pilgrims. Indeed, among the tokens of his virtues, in honor of Blessed Servatius, because it was too little for the glory of so great a man, he erected another great church, and adorned it with beauty; translated his body into it with worthy reverence, and added not a few clerics, God-fearing and fervent in the love on high, who might serve as soldiers under him.

[2] and intent on works, Worthily he performed the sacred mysteries to God daily; he was at leisure for fastings, prayers, vigils, nor yet ceased to bestow labor on his neighbors. Peace and tranquillity at that time were everywhere. Hence this pontiff wished to rebuild the city of the Tungri; but straightway smitten by God, after many days he scarcely escaped the peril of death ^b. He returned to Maastricht, and there from his own inheritance established several monasteries, of which, as they say, one still survives, thine, holy Mary; because, the sins of the princes working it, a long time after, the pontifical dignity being translated elsewhere, the property of all the churches was translated, and therefore the churches themselves fell into ruin; the church of St. Servatius alone remained. At that time the people was greatly enlarged, new princes arose, who in the manner of wolves devoured the goods of the just. Against these the glorious bishop manfully opposed himself, powerful in authority, nobility, doctrine, virtues.

[3] When he was visiting the castle of Dinant, which was his own and hereditary property, he foretells the future glory of the city of Liège, he came to a certain village most pleasant with mountain waters. Marveling, he asked the name. Having heard Legia; "Well," he said, "Legia (chosen), because the Lord has chosen it for an inheritance to Himself." Straightway he descended from his horse, designated a place of prayer, and, it being built more quickly, consecrated it in honor of Cosmas and Damian, in which Blessed Lambert, afterward slain, today gloriously glories in Christ. Returning to Maastricht, a multitude of citizens and a venerable senate of those living under a rule being gathered, of all that he possessed and all that he had built he made Blessed Servatius heir and prince.

[4] A certain one of the great men of the kingdom, very rich, died in that region; and the soul of a prince being asked by the parents to bury him, having entered upon the journey to a great and dark wood, formerly consecrated to demons, as they say, by the error of the gentiles, when he came there, he heard the neighing of horses, the roaring of lions, and the voices of other beasts, and a voice as of a little child weeping most bitterly and without intermission crying out: "Run, run; help, help." He halts himself, lifts his hand to sign himself, he grew stiff and a great trembling invaded him, the servants fell to the earth as though dead.

[5] delivered from the expiatory flames, he piously dies. Blessed Monulf, returned a little to himself, while he lifts his eyes to the heavens, saw a most beautiful young man standing by him and saying: "Be comforted, my father, and fear not. For by the will of the Almighty this judgment thou, O lord, hast merited sometime to recognize unto salvation: for the soul of the prince, whom thou hast come to commend, is held by malign spirits, and unless thou hasten more quickly they will drag it to hell. Return to thy people, cause prayers, fastings, alms to be made for three days; then return hither and thou shalt see what has been done. But then if thou hear nothing of these things which thou now knowest, know most certainly that it, by thy prayers, has been offered to the Most High and received in peace." This said, he raised all the servants and straightway disappeared. The bishop, returned to his people and all things duly done, hastened to the burial of the prince, passed safely through the wood, and neither saw nor heard anything; to the parents ^c and friends he indicated, as an example, the things which had happened; who gave thanks to God, and to the Bishop, by whose intercession the soul of the son had been delivered from so great evils. Considering at last his life's end imminent, in the midst of the church, in which he had sat no less than 42 ^d years, he designated the place of burial, and fell asleep in the Lord.

ANNOTATIONS.