ON ST. BERNOLD OR BERNULF, BISHOP,
AT UTRECHT IN BELGIUM.
IN THE YEAR 1054.
HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
The Saint's cult, deeds, miracles, tomb, and relics.
Bernulf, Bishop, at Utrecht in Belgium (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
Although this blessed Prelate is recorded only in a few and more recent Martyrologies, yet by a certain right of his own he demands a place in our Acts: since from elsewhere his immemorial cult seems to be established sufficiently, The Saint's cult is proved from the Martyrologies. as we shall try to prove, after we have, in our manner, premised the words of some Martyrologists, by whose authority these things are chiefly defined. The register of the Charterhouse of Utrecht, in the Usuardine Supplements, records him thus on the 20th of July: Of Bernold, bishop of Utrecht; he rests at St. Peter's. Grevenus in the same Supplements has thus: Likewise of blessed memory Bernold, bishop of Lower Utrecht and confessor. Ferrarius inserted the same Saint into his General Catalogue thus: At Utrecht on the Rhine, of St. Bernulf, bishop of the same city. The same holy Prelate our Canisius records in his German Martyrology, but I know not by what authority he placed him at Lyons in Gaul. Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology thus announces him at length on the 20th of July: At Utrecht, the deposition of St. Bernulf, bishop and confessor, a man quite zealous for enlarging the divine worship, and an exemplar of perfect pontifical virtue, who, while living, had displayed the greatest marks of piety, both by the acts of an excellent manner of life and by the magnificent raising of sacred buildings, dead too shone forth with copious miracles, on account of which, raised from the tomb, and placed in the choir of the church of St. Peter, which he built, he is religiously honored by the continual frequenting of the devout people, whom he aids with perpetual protections. I know not why that martyrologist repeats the eulogy of the same Saint, the phrase being changed, on the 19th of July in the Supplement. Castellanus in his universal Martyrology also honors this Bishop with the title of saint. And these are the things which I found among the martyrologists.
[2] Historians too celebrated this notable Man in their writings. Beka narrates the marvelous election of that Prelate, Johannes de Beka, canon of Utrecht, who flourished before the middle of the fourteenth century, thus narrates his marvelous promotion to the episcopate in his Chronicle: When bishop Adelbold had died, and there was a daily tumult contentiously in the election of a new pastor, King Conrad came down to Utrecht to suppress the discord, bringing with him Queen Gisela, his wife. But since the same queen in those days was pregnant, nay very near childbirth, therefore the said king lodged her in the village of Oosterbeek with a certain presbyter, whose proper name was Bernulf. But the king betook himself forthwith to the city of Utrecht, and strove to bring the chapter to the union of peace. At last, the discord growing more grievous, the whole chapter agreed to present to the arbitration of the king a discreet and fit man, who should be worthy to govern so great a bishopric. Meanwhile the noble queen of elegant form brought forth an infant, sending to the king new joys through Bernulf the priest; and behold the king, exulting exceedingly [*] for the desired message, handed over to the same presbyter the pontificate of Utrecht, and likewise the investiture by the ring and pastoral staff. The same things are narrated almost with another style in the Chronicle of Utrecht, which Antonius Matthaeus published from manuscripts among the Analecta of the old age, volume 9. Honorable mention of the same Prelate is made in a certain document which Frederick of Baden, the fifty-sixth bishop of the church of Utrecht, gave in the year 1515, where among other praiseworthy works of piety and virtues of Bernold are numbered three churches which he built at Utrecht.
[3] and Heda reports his holiness, Wilhelmus Heda, who died at Antwerp in the year 1525, describes the deeds of St. Bernulf more fully, and adds these things to the narration of Johannes de Beka: Bernulf therefore, ordained the twentieth bishop, straightway applied his mind to a holier life and to the increase of religion and the worship of divine service. First he made peace with the Count of Holland and the neighboring princes. He raised at Utrecht from the foundations two churches, one in honor of blessed Peter the Apostle, the other of St. John, in which he laid up the bodies of the holy Justina and Cyprian, enriching both with many estates and possessions, where also he instituted colleges of canons; the monastery formerly built by bishop Anfrid on the Holy Mount he translated into the city, where he also built a church under the invocation of St. Paul the Apostle. At Deventer he restored the church of St. Lebuinus, whither also he transmitted a part of the Canons from the church of blessed Mary of Utrecht (which is now called of the holy Savior), assigning from the goods of the said church, which were quite opulent, whereby they might there serve God perpetually. Churches besides and sacred places through his diocese, threatening ruin, he restored to their pristine worship and adorned. Persevering therefore in this so holy a manner of life until the end of his life, since he was believed to have been given from heaven for the relief of his church, a little before quite oppressed, after he had sat 28 years (others number only 27 years of the episcopate), he migrated to the Lord on the 14th of the Kalends of August in the year of the Lord 1054, in the time of Henry III. Buried in the sanctuary of the church of St. Peter founded by himself, translated afterward he is placed in the choir, where he shines bright with very many signs and virtues: whither also many mortals in our time flow together for the sake of health.
[4] The Hedan close does not please the heterodox Arnold Buchel, which from the heterodox themselves, who everywhere gnaws at the deeds and cult of the Saints. Wherefore in his notes to Heda, page 126, he marvels that the holiness and miracles of the Man escaped Molanus, otherwise a most accurate inquirer into such things. But I rather marvel at that critic's drowsiness: for if he had inspected Molanus's Natales of the Saints of Belgium, printed in the year 1595 or 1616, he would doubtless have read on the 19th of July the following: At Utrecht, the memory of blessed Bernulf the bishop, who first was pastor of the church in the village of Oosterbeek, but by the agreement of the chapter, through Conrad the Augustus, whose wife had given birth in his parish, was raised to the dignity of the vacant see, which he governed in peace twenty-seven years. Then, after enumerating the churches founded by St. Bernulf, he subjoins the same things which displeased Buchel in Heda. In this so holy a manner of life, he says, persevering to the end of his life, he migrated to the Lord in the year one thousand fifty-four, buried in the sanctuary of the church of St. Peter founded by himself: translated afterward, however, he was placed in the choir, where he shines bright with very many signs and virtues, whither also many mortals in our time flow together for the sake of health. What here, I pray, did Buchel wish to censure? Since he himself, from the heterodox Bockenberg, confesses that Bernulf was frequented with popular (he should rather have said ancient and Catholic) religion almost to these times, and, according to the common Chronicle, narrates that his tomb was wont to be visited by little women, whose infants could take no increase, such as also were offered to St. Mathutus (he meant to say Machutus), with a certain hope of health. Now let us further confirm the holiness and cult of our Prelate from the very enemies of the Roman Church.
[5] In the Batavia Sacra, first printed in the year 1714, is confirmed by writers. part 1, page 128, Bockenberg is cited, an apostate from the Catholic faith, who in a work not yet published, on the Apostles and tutelary Saints of Holland, is said to discourse thus of St. Bernold or Bernulf: After many works of piety and equity, by which he strove to serve God, Bernulf began to grow ill, and, conquering the contagion of the world, pure he migrated to the Lord, gleaming with many miracles, on the 14th of the Kalends of August in the year 1054, and is buried in the church of St. Peter. He, among the other kinds of infirmities, was wont to cure that disease of children which they also commonly call "the dry." But in the Acts of the Pontiffs of Utrecht, hitherto also unpublished, the same Bockenberg is reported to write these things of Bernulf: Laid up in the church of St. Peter, which he founded at Utrecht, and frequented with popular religion, especially by matrons to whom barrenness or the health of their children was troublesome, while the pontificate stood among the Batavians. The pontifical ornaments are recorded, with which he was once buried, when his body, raised from its first place, was placed in the choir, found entire with a sweet fragrance, and used in his yearly rites down to our times. Behold, the very assailants of the Saints are compelled to praise the virtue of St. Bernulf, and to testify the pious veneration of the Catholics toward him. But now let us again hear Catholic witnesses.
[6] In the Ritual of Utrecht he is invoked over the sick, Peter van Straceele, priest of our Society, and missionary at Utrecht, in a letter given to Papebroch in the year 1671, affirms that at the end of the Ritual of Utrecht there is a prayer, which is thus recited over the sick: O God, who by the humility of your Son raised up the fallen world; O God, who commanded the miserably fallen and those ensnared in various sins to be cleansed by the ministry of priests;
O God, who by the imposition of your hand put to flight the diseases of souls and bodies, and willed the same work to be done by your disciples and their successors, hear our prayers for this your servant, weighed down by the infirmity of his body, and put the hand of your piety under our hands, that by this imposition of hands, you working, and the merits and prayers of the most glorious St. Bernulf, confessor and pontiff, suffraging, the heavenly blessing and the grace of the Holy Spirit may descend upon him, that he may be freed from all poisonous harms, and from all infirmities and dangers of soul and body, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. Then it is said to the sick person: May the Lord Jesus heal you, may St. Machutus intercede for you, may St. Quintinus the martyr of Christ pray for you, may St. Bernulf the confessor intervene for you, that you may obtain full and perfect health in the name of the Father, etc.
[7] who by his aid are sometimes healed. The same missionary, questioned by Papebroch by letter whether any miracles were done by the intercession of St. Bernulf, wrote back that certain illustrious ones had happened in the preceding years, but that they could be proved only by private testimonies. Yet at the beginning of the year 1672 he transmitted a certain prodigious benefit granted by the aid of St. Bernulf, which a public notary took down before witnesses, whose Belgian original sounds thus almost in Latin: Before me, Nicolaas Straffintveldt, public notary, and the witnesses subscribed below, appeared at Gouda Alard Segerman and his wife Dympna Jacobs, and declared that their little son Henry in the year 1662 fell into a certain disease, by which his little body was so wasted that from leanness it appeared black and like the skeleton of a man. And when the boy had been so miserably afflicted with this disease for about six months, that his knees were drawn to his breast, and he could take sleep only leaning on his knees or elbows, he came into such danger of life that he could no longer be helped by human remedies, of which his parents had applied very many. And when even the Reverend Father Bernard, a Minorite, had recited certain prayers over the boy in vain, at last the parents gave him to drink holy water with a particle of the relics of St. Bernulf, once bishop of Utrecht. This being done at midnight, the boy before the third hour of the morning lay with his limbs and knees straightened, and the next day, wholly restored to health, played with a club. All these things the aforesaid parents are ready, if need be, to confirm by oath. Done at Gouda before … van der Hout and Wilhelm Straffintveldt, witnesses, on the 24th of September in the year 1671. Below, the aforesaid parents and witnesses had subscribed their names with their own hand. In the Batavia Sacra, part 1, page 128, a more recent benefit is narrated, granted by the aid of St. Bernulf to a certain virgin of Utrecht, whose credibility rests with the author.
[8] The Saint's epitaph is exhibited, Now it only remains that we exhibit the epitaph of St. Bernulf, which comprises his marvelous election, the duration of his episcopate, his pious buildings, the year and day of his death, in a few verses thus.
SACRED TO GOD MOST GOOD AND GREAT AND TO ETERNAL MEMORY.
Here are laid the bones of Bernold the Prelate. Let the gloss praise him, because he gave great gifts. He presided by this lot: when the see was vacant there arose twisted lawsuits, the company weeping for a Prelate. King Conrad came, that he might soon there set peace, and the whole company gives to the king their vows concerning a Prelate. His wife Gisela, about to give birth, being left behind, in the village of Oosterbeek near Bernold she gives birth; then the king gives the pontificate to the curate there, on account of the new tidings brought, that offspring had been born to him. The twentieth, Bernold, succeeded the pastor Adelbold, seven years and also twice ten he ruled well. He joined the militia of Holland to the church. To the holy Baptist, to Peter, to Paul, to Lebuinus, four excellent churches he founded. Go four times, mark, and the fourteenth of the Kalends of August, once M, once L, while he ascends to the citadel. Death was not sudden and evil, since [*] a good life preceded it.
Antonius Matthaeus, a non-Catholic, in the Foundations of the churches, book 1, foundation 3, number 1, asserts that he, still a young man, read this poem inscribed on the wall which separated the nave from the choir of St. Peter. The same is read in the Batavia Sacra, page 128, and in the History of the bishoprics of the confederated Belgium, part 1, page 12; all which agree with our manuscript epitaph.
[9] But since mention of the tomb has occurred, I do not see how it can be true, and a parachronism concerning the finding of the relics is discussed. what Antonius Matthaeus in the work just cited, number 2, pronounces in these words: The tomb remained untouched up to the year 1675 (the author of the Batavia Sacra marks the same year), when, shattered by the force of the winds, so that the building could be repaired again, it was moved from its place, opened. And yet in the coffin there was nothing besides a chalice, a ring, and an episcopal staff, which however from decay was soon broken. Besides there was nothing but ash and bones, and these now eaten away. I do not see, I say, how these things can be true: for I have an authentic instrument written in Belgian, which our above-mentioned Peter van Straceele sent to Papebroch already from the year 1671. In it the body of St. Bernulf is said to have been found in the year 1656, and the whole history of the finding is described with the minutest circumstances. It will be helpful here to reduce that narration into a Latin summary, which is almost thus: When at Utrecht the Walloons wished to enlarge the church of St. Peter granted to them, and were digging in the choir, on the 27th of November in the year 1656 a stone chest was found, on whose rim appeared gilded letters, but so darkened by the earth that they could scarcely be read, except in the upper part, where these were had: To the holy Baptist, to Peter, to Paul, to Lebuinus. But below these were read: In the year 1054, WHOSE SOUL MAY REST. In that chest was found the body of St. Bernulf, clothed in episcopal habit, to which a silver chalice, paten, a golden ring, and an episcopal staff were added. The outer garment was made of Damascene silk of a violet color. Under the head was placed a hollowed stone, to which the hairs adhered by a certain moisture. There was also a leaden plate, on which the name of St. Bernulf and the day of death were expressed. After the chalice, paten, ring, and episcopal staff had been deposited with the secretary of the chapter until the 4th of December, it was determined that they should thenceforth be kept in the archives of the chapter, and the body of Bernulf, enclosed in the aforesaid chest, should be buried in the same place in which it had been. Thus far the instrument, to which these things were subscribed in Latin: These things were done in the presence of me, the secretary of the chapter of St. Peter, subscribed below. Below was noted: Houwert. These things do not seem able to be reconciled with what Antonius Matthaeus and the author of the Batavia Sacra narrate as having first happened in the year 1675. For the rest, the relics of St. Bernulf today lie hidden partly with the non-Catholic canons, so in name only, partly with other priests.
Annotations* Otherwise, "too much."
* Otherwise, "than."