ON ST. VULMARUS ABBOT OF SAMER
NEAR BOULOGNE IN PICARDY.
AT THE CLOSE OF THE 7TH OR THE BEGINNING OF THE 8TH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Vulmarus, abbot, near Boulogne in Picardy (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
§ I. The cult of the Saint, and the pious buildings constructed by him.
The place formerly called Silviacus, according to Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict century 3 part 1 page 233, is now a town of the territory of Boulogne commonly called Samer; which name drew its origin from the truncated words of St. Vulmarus joined into one, St. Vulmarus, who gave his name to a certain town, when namely the inhabitants for Saint Vulmer, for brevity's sake, as not rarely happens, used Samer. In this place St. Vulmarus in the 7th century founded a monastery, which is sometimes called that of St. Vulmarus in the wood or in Silviacus, to distinguish it from the other monastery of St. Vulmarus, which Bl. Ida the widow built within the walls of the city of Boulogne, as was said in her Life on 13 April illustrated by our Henschen. From this former monastery the town of Samer received its appellation, which accordingly thou wouldst more rightly call in Latin the town of St. Vulmarus than Samerium or Saulmerium. Our Jacques Malbrancq, in his work on the Morini book 6 chapter 38, teaches how the Normans utterly overthrew this town and monastery; then in book 7 of the same work chapter 32 he narrates how the same monastery was afterward restored, as we shall see in its place. There is a dispute whether St. Vulmarus was buried immediately after his death in this monastery founded by himself, concerning which matter we shall treat afterward. But here let us first establish the cult of the Saint.
[2] There is no doubting the sanctity of this Man, which the ancient Martyrologists and other monuments sufficiently prove. in the Martyrologies First of all Ado, published by our Rosweyde, on 17 June thus announces him: On the same day, of St. Vulmarus the confessor, a man of admirable sanctity and religion. Usuardus on the same day 17 June uses plainly the same words, except that he calls him not Vultmarus but Vulmarus. The Martyrology of Usuardus, which a certain Benedictine monk published at Paris in the year 1718, on 20 July has the same announcement. It may deservedly be doubted whether in this last edition this announcement is placed in its proper place; concerning which controversy see our Sollier on 17 June and 20 July in the observations on Usuardus long ago illustrated by him. In the same also may be seen the Usuardine appendices, among which the Lübeck-Cologne edition on 17 June calls St. Vulmarus a disciple of St. Judoc the confessor. But the same edition on 20 July has only thus: In the territory of Boulogne, the deposition of St. Vulmarus abbot, presbyter and confessor. That I may not here repeat similar phrases of various Martyrologies with the reader's weariness, it will suffice to adduce the words of the present Roman Martyrology, which on this day thus commemorates him: In the territory of Boulogne in Gaul, of St. Vulmarus abbot, a man of admirable sanctity.
[3] and in the Breviaries and elsewhere he is celebrated. The Breviary of the diocese of Thérouanne printed in the year 1518 celebrates the festivity of St. Vulmarus with nine proper lessons, which partly contain the Acts, and accordingly are not to be here transcribed, since after this preliminary Commentary we shall give the entire Acts. Besides other places in which the memory of St. Vulmarus is recalled, there is a certain village situated between Cassel and Bailleul, towns of Western Flanders, by the name of Eecke, which venerates St. Vulmarus as patron. The inhabitants of that place recall that they took their name from an oak (this tree in Flemish is called eecke or eicke) in which St. Vulmarus dwelt, and that the oaken cabin of the Saint was afterward converted into a great monastery. Jacob Meyer in the Annals of Flanders book 1 at the year of Christ 668 thus writes of this etymology and tradition of the people: There flourished at the same time the divine Vulmarus, born of Vulbert and Duda among the people of Boulogne, who, having left his bride Hostorholda and his parents and his brother Wamarus, sought the monastery of Hautmont among the Nervii, where after he had lived for some while most holily, returning into his country he came into Mempiscum, and having entered a vast wood, spent three days in a certain hollow tree without food: from that tree the people of Eecke, the folk of the territory of Cassel, think that they draw their name, and zealously venerate Vulmarus as the president of their church, and think that they can show the place where that oak stood. More monuments of his sanctity we shall see in the course. Meanwhile let us investigate the sacred buildings and monasteries constructed by him.
[4] The Saint in Flanders built a church, When St. Vulmarus had for some time dwelt in the monastery of Hautmont, he came into Flanders or the region of Mempiscum, as our Acts say, when a certain faithful man… gave him a fitting place, where he built a church of God, and converting very many in that place to the worship of God, instructed them by many good examples. Although it is not improbable that a monastery was added to this church, yet this is not clearly drawn out from these words of the Acts: for St. Vulmarus could by good examples convert and instruct very many to the worship of God, although he did not build a monastery there. I could wish that all the things which our Malbrancq in the work praised above book 3 chapter 40 asserts concerning this monastery of Eecke were proved from ancient monuments. Certainly it is wonderful that so great a mass was so cut down by the Normans that no vestiges survived of which the ancient writers make mention. Further, those things which Malbrancq cites from Iperius and the Bertin manuscript, he applies by mere conjecture to the monastery of Eecke, and they can be as conveniently understood of some other convent. Finally by the region Mempiscum or Menapiscum is not signified any determinate district, as we now speak, but Flanders itself, or at least a great part of it, as may be seen in the Life of St. Amandus illustrated on 6 February, and in other Acts of the Belgian Saints everywhere at hand. Whence the whole mass of this monastery rests chiefly on the tradition of the people of Eecke.
[5] Then St. Vulmarus, fleeing human praises, departed from the region of Mempiscum, and in the territory of Boulogne founded a double monastery, and having entered a certain wood near his native country, there built a church and two (more recent writers reckon three) monasteries. Of these buildings the anonymous writer of the Acts thus speaks number 13: At that time too in the same wilderness holy Vulmarus built a church in honor of the holy Mother of God Mary and ever Virgin, and of blessed Peter prince of the Apostles. Then there began to flow together to him men and women, that they might drink of his unfading fountain. And the blessed Man instructed them, living regularly, and gathered a distinguished congregation of both sexes; but the dwelling of the men was set apart from the frail sex. Mabillon in the preliminary observations to the Life of St. Vulmarus number 3 thus writes of these monasteries: Thence he betook himself to his native soil, where he is said to have built three monasteries, one of men, two of virgins; although in both his Lives mention seems to be made of two only. They call Vileria in Silviacus, commonly Wiere aux bois, the place where the nunnery was founded, now demolished, one mile from the town of St. Vulmarus, which they call Saulmerium or Samerium, in the vernacular Samer. Here Vulmarus founded a convent of men, and (if we believe the more recent writers) another of maidens. There survives even now
the monastery of men, lately united to the congregation of St. Maur, which gave the town its name and increase.
[6] Our Malbrancq, already often cited, book 4 chapter 27, thus eloquently discourses of the convent of men and other circumstances: one of men When he led at his Silviacus a life horrid with hunger, cold, and nakedness, he enticed innumerable strangers to himself, not only to visit him, but at the same time to his following, baiting men more by his hardships than the world by the allurements of its pleasures: since flowing eagerly from Gaul and especially from the Morini to that branchy solitude, he held them fed as it were with the ambrosia of heavenly doctrine, and nearly drunk with the nectar of divine love: so that they afterward, kindling the fuel added by mutual little fires, were spurred to seize the same institute of life. And so, a not scanty multitude affording hope of a harsher discipline, he began to build dwellings suited for the uses of the monks. There was added also a basilica in honor of the most august Virgin and the Prince of the Apostles, not a little august; in which work he showed that his industry was employed no less in magnificent structures for God than in a cheap cabin and hut to be prepared for himself. This mass stood on an estate which by hereditary right otherwise devolved to him, in that place where now is Saulmerium or the town of St. Vulmarus: so that his paternal house lay between Saulmerium and Boulogne. Of that paternal castle some vestiges are still seen; but the small wilderness grew into a great monastery, then into a well-built town, which even now bears a twin church. Malbrancq here and elsewhere often indicates that St. Vulmarus was the son of the count of Boulogne. I have found nothing certain of this matter among the ancients: for the writer of the Life only asserts that he was born of Christian and illustrious parents. If his mother had been countess of Boulogne, I do not think the Saint would have said thus to his brother: But do thou too and she herself (namely my mother), as far as your strength suffices, bestow on me some consolation of sustenance. Certainly the count of Boulogne had strength enough to feed a poor hermit.
[7] and the other of women. The same Malbrancq book 4 chapter 28 has this of the convent of nuns: Scarcely a mile from the people of Saulmerium toward the Boulogne road one meets Wileria in Silviacus, so called for distinction from another of the same appellation; now commonly the name is Wiere. There now only a rural building remains, and nothing more: but a brief monument of a once distinguished monastery. For as Vulmarus gave to the men, who were carried away by his divine address or eloquence, a manly assembly on the mount among the leafy and shady places, so to the women endowed with no less zeal he gave a feminine assembly on the slope: he built cells, a dining-hall, peristyles, a nunnery church like the upper one. Then in book 6 chapter 38 he sets forth the disaster inflicted by the Normans on both monasteries thus: Further, they swooped upon Saulmerium itself, extirpating to the roots the city situated on the mount, the monastery being utterly burned… From the mount of Saulmerium they descended into the valley of Wiere, distant a mile, where they invaded the feminine convent of Lady Heremberta, who was the niece of St. Vulmarus. The nuns had fled and carried off the chief furniture: which ill affected the Normans, as lecherous men, who, now so often frustrated, could not gratify their lusts. They wished nothing here to remain but that it should utterly perish in the flames. Finally Malbrancq book 7 chapter 32 reports how the convent of monks of Saulmerium rose from the Norman ashes, and the convent of nuns of Wiere remained buried in its own ashes. Let these things said concerning the cult of the Saint and his sacred buildings suffice. Now let us examine some things pertaining more closely to himself.
§ II. The chronology, burial, relics, Acts, and miracles of the Saint.
The chronological series of the life of Vulmarus Our Malbrancq in the chronology prefixed to volume 1 on the Morini binds the chief parts of Vulmarus's life to nearly certain years. Whether from solid monuments or from conjectures he drew this chronological notice of the years, I know not. It will at least help to set forth his chronology here. In the year 642, he says, Vulmarus, his marriage being rescinded, fled, and tarries at the monastery of Hautmont… In the year 658 likewise St. Vulmarus fixed his eremitic seat in the wood of Eecke… In the year 677, he says, St. Vulmarus about these times, departing from the monastery of Eecke, plays the hermit at his Silviacus… In the year 688 Ceadwalla king of the West Saxons in England is instructed at Silviacus by St. Vulmarus the abbot… In the year 697 St. Vulmarus dies at Silviacus on 20 July. One of these years seems certain enough; namely when king Ceadwalla is said to have visited our Saint in the year 688: for the venerable Bede in the Ecclesiastical History of the English nation book 5 chapter 7 attests that that king died at Rome a little after receiving baptism in the year 689. All the manuscript Acts of St. Vulmarus agree, except our manuscript, in which without doubt through the drowsiness of the copyist eight years have been omitted. For the rest, as we cannot convict of error the other years marked by Malbrancq, so, destitute of ancient testimonies, we dare not prove them. But at least that the year of the conversion and death is doubtful will be clear from those things which I now subjoin.
[9] First of all Malbrancq confidently asserts that St. Vulmarus fled to the monastery of Hautmont in the year 642. It is not certain in all things. Meanwhile there are not wanting grave authors who defer the erection of that monastery beyond the year 642, as may be seen in the preliminary Commentary to the Life of St. Vincent Madelgarius illustrated on 14 July §1 number 8. Nor is the time of his death more certain, which Malbrancq places in the year 697: for Mabillon extends his life more than ten years, in the notes to the Acts of St. Vulmarus thus discoursing of his death: And indeed he died about the year 710; since in the year 688 he laid the foundations of the monastery of Silviacus, from number 10. Certainly he must have tarried at least twenty years at Silviacus, to fill two or three monasteries with a numerous company of disciples. I confess that this reasoning of Mabillon does not altogether compel that the life of St. Vulmarus be so long protracted: for he could in the space of ten years (even twenty years Malbrancq assigns to his sojourn at Silviacus) build two monasteries. Nevertheless from this difference of years it is at least gathered that the chronology of Malbrancq is not so very certain.
[10] Another controversy between Malbrancq and Mabillon is concerning the first place of burial: The relics of the Saint first buried in the convent built by himself, for Malbrancq book 4 chapter 45 thinks that St. Vulmarus was first buried in a sacristy, which even now is called that of St. Vulmarus, at the market of upper Boulogne, but afterward, restored to his monastery, became famous for several miracles. On the contrary Mabillon contends that his body, first laid in the monastery of Silviacus, was afterward translated to Boulogne. Mabillon's opinion seems preferable, because the Acts written by the ancient author have thus number 20: Then the body of blessed Vulmarus was buried with great reverence in his own inheritance. But before, the same Acts number 10 had said: But that wood had been his inheritance. Whence it seems legitimately to follow that he was buried in the convent which he had built in that wood. Then Mabillon in the Appendix to the Life of St. Vulmarus proves that his relics were translated from the monastery of Silviacus to Boulogne, as the history of the translation of SS. Wandrille and Ansbert attests, of which we, God favoring, shall treat at more length on 22 July. In it a monk of Blandin in Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict century V page 205 narrates the following: For behold, among our people a grave suspicion arises, a graver sedition is stirred up, saying that the body of the excellent confessor and abbot Vulmarus had been taken away by us: the matter of which thing two clerics excited, of whom one was called Notgerus, the other Helgerus; one of them provost of St. Vulmarus, the other sacristan… But the abbot, seeing that they in no way acquiesced in him, nor laid aside their begun pertinacity, took this as an omen prescient of an imminent gladness for himself. Whence also, all standing by present, he said: Truly I know, blessed Wandrille, that here thy virtue watches for the joining to thee of the sacred limbs of thy colleague Vulmarus, that thou expendest this labor for thy servants; which was also done. The sacrosanct coffin of the body of St. Vulmarus being opened, therefore, by the hidden benefit of God he obtained two of the members of the pious Confessor, and one, with episcopal blessing, giving thanks to God, he received.
[11] afterward were scattered by the heretics. The relics of St. Vulmarus which the abbot of Blandin received were scattered at Ghent by the Calvinists in the 16th century. Nor did the sacred bones of the same Saint, long preserved among the Morini, escape the furious hands of the heretics, concerning which Malbrancq book 6 chapter 38, on occasion of the Norman devastation, thus writes: As for the body of St. Vulmarus, the most precious treasure of all Boulogne, the heretics and iconoclasts of the last century seem to have been stirred to a greater barbarity than the Normans: for when the ascetics had hidden the sacred remains of the Saint in the best hiding-place they could devise, very few being privy to it, within the masonry of a thicker wall, no vestige appearing outside, the perfidious ones proposed a splendid reward in public to him who should reveal the hiding-place. The sacred greed of gold overcame the servant of the mason, so that with a thousand grimaces they raved against the Saint, and did those things of which we read nothing similar practiced by the Danes. I know not whether all the bones of the Saint perished in this irruption of the iconoclasts, or whether some, perhaps before communicated to other churches or monasteries, escaped the rage of the heretics. This we leave to the curious associates or countrymen of the holy Abbot to investigate. We meanwhile shall here forewarn a few things concerning his manuscript and published Acts.
[12] The various manuscript Acts of St. Vulmarus are examined Mabillon in the preliminary Observations to the Life of St. Vulmarus number 1 says that he saw two manuscript exemplars of the Acts, one of which was so infected by a certain interpolator with so many anachronisms and errors that he deliberately rejected it. But the other he published in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict century III part 1 page 234 from a manuscript of the Library of Grammont. We have besides four other manuscripts of the same Acts, among which is a certain fragment of the Life of Vulmarus, taken from a manuscript of Saint-Omer, which begins to narrate the deeds of the Saint in a plainly different phrase, more verbosely. Another is the Utrecht manuscript of St. Salvator, which is contracted from more prolix Acts. A third exists in our Vaucelles codex, which reports the sincere and entire, except the prologue, Life of St. Vulmarus together with the miracles, which Mabillon seems not to have found in his manuscript of Grammont, but only to have read in the interpolator. A fourth finally is transcribed from the Anchin codex from folio 37, in which, without the anachronisms indicated by Mabillon, are narrated the deeds and miracles of St. Vulmarus, which nearly agree word for word with the Vaucelles codex. In the same codex is prefixed to the Acts a prologue which is lacking in the other manuscripts, and from which it is gathered that the writer of the Life was not contemporary, but narrates only those things which by the narration of venerable men
he had ascertained. Mabillon judges the anonymous writer of the Life to be ancient. The same I too suspect, although I cannot discover his determinate age. From the Anchin codex collated with the other manuscripts we shall give the Life of our Saint and the miracles omitted by Mabillon, which in our edition will be comprised in the third chapter.
[13] But since mention of the miracles has occurred, I cannot and the miracles, among which Malbrancq places an annual prodigy, but forewarn a few things also of them. The same author who wrote the Acts of the Saint seems to have collected them, as is not improbably drawn out from the continuation of the text. For the rest, in number 21 he professes that he narrates those miracles of which many witnesses still survive, to whom it happened to have seen these things. Nay, in number 26 he says: This too, which I subjoin, I myself and very many others saw with our own eyes. But this ancient writer does not mention the annual prodigy (perhaps it began only after his death) which our Malbrancq affirms happened from time immemorial down to the 15th century, and concerning which book 4 chapter 45 he thus prefaces: Not to be passed over is what seems to have reached from all past memory to the 15th century: besides that it is a thing ascertained by the people of Saulmerium and Diverne, it was narrated to me by the grandson of a certain Pierre Eulart, who counted 96 years, and now 40 years ago migrated from life, fixing his dwelling in those parts. With great feeling of mind he recounted to his grandsons (one of whom survives in our Society) this miracle, wont to be wrought in the age of his ancestors.
[14] Then Malbrancq narrates a stupendous thing in these words: which is here narrated. Every year on the sacred day of the Finding of the Cross, it was the custom for the people of Saulmerium to go round the crossroads with a more celebrated rite and procession. By a pious institution of this kind Vulmarus's great zeal for the cross was recalled. And how pleasing this was to God, not only men, but the very wild beasts approved. For a little before the beginning of the procession to be entered upon from the church, in readiness there stood before the doors two stags, which with swift course had flown from the deep recesses of Silviacus: but with the highest modesty they went before the pomp. And if anywhere a halt was to be made, the stags likewise stood still. There was from neighboring and remote parts a very great running-together to the strangeness of the spectacle. The solemn rite being accomplished, thou wouldst have seen the beasts betake themselves again to the doors, with head bowed toward the sacred threshold; then one most swiftly sought again its woods: the other, remaining, was fed for some while at the common expense, and yielded for pasture to the natives. In the following year the stag which had fled back to its own, wont to bring back another as companion to itself, expended its dutiful service to the procession in exactly the same manner, remaining also at the doors of the basilica, its companion betaking itself to the groves for a year. And for many centuries the homage of the stags stood perennial: namely as long as the inhabitants kept a silent faith. For once (as human curiosity cannot contain itself within its bounds, new inhabitants perhaps coming through the wars, and not yet fully instructed by the portentous experience of former years) they wished to retain both stags with them, and thereafter not even one appeared. Whence the appellation which is circulated to this day, an ungrateful mark of that curiosity, is to be referred to those strangers: because to the natives, revering so inveterate a custom of the divine kindness, so improvident a mind would never have occurred, the civic magistrates without doubt watching over that matter. The truth of this miracle we leave with the most trustworthy man, and publish the deeds and miracles of St. Vulmarus from our manuscript in type.
LIFE
BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR
From a manuscript codex of the convent of Anchin, collated with other manuscripts.
Vulmarus, abbot, near Boulogne in Picardy (S.)
BHL Number: 8749
FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.
PROLOGUE.
The author, about to narrate what he heard of St. Vulmarus, excuses his style. About to write the Life of blessed Vulmarus, I invoke its inhabitant the Holy Spirit, that he who deigned to bestow on him such a manner of life may also grant me so great a speech of narrating; that I may both pay to your charity the debt of service, and that he may not lie hidden who is in every way to be imitated. First of all I wish you to know that not all his deeds can be comprehended in writing. Those things, therefore, which are only ascertained of him by the narration of venerable men, I doubt not to write down with the pen, by the example of sacred authority; because Mark and Luke learned the Gospel which they wrote not by sight, but by hearing. But I beseech those who shall read this little book, that their mind may not shrink because these things are comprised in rustic and unadorned speech, but rather let them attend that the kingdom of God consists not in eloquence, but in faith, and let them remember that the salvation of the world was preached not by orators, nor by philosophers, but by fishermen: since, if it had been useful, the Lord could have provided that also. But now let us turn the point back to those things which we have proposed.
CHAPTER I.
The country, parents, occasion of conversion of the Saint, monastic life in the convent of Hautmont; and eremitic life in Flanders.
Vulmarus in the lower parts of Gaul not far from the shore of the sea, St. Vulmarus, deserting his bride in the territory of Boulogne a, in the village called Silviacus b, was brought forth of Christian and illustrious parents. His father by name Vulbertus, but his mother Duda; but his brother is called Vualmarus []. The aforesaid holy man Vulmarus, therefore, in the time of his youth took a wife named Osterhilda [], who had been betrothed to another man named Vuilmarus. But that Vuilmarus accused the aforesaid servant of God, on account of the said woman, before the prince of the Franks; and by the command of that prince Vuilmarus obtained his bride above mentioned.
[3] he seeks the monastery of Hautmont, But holy Vulmarus, after he left his wife, sought by a straight path the monastery which is situated in the region of Hainaut c, named Hautmont, and there was most willingly received by the father of that monastery. Then first the rector of that convent enjoined on him, for the cause of obedience, to take care of the oxen of the brethren, and to supply wood to their workshop. But he, as he was of a ready mind, performed the obedience enjoined on him. But afterward, as he was a man supported by the aid of the Holy Spirit, that same spirit instigating, he went to the school, asked that the alphabet be written for him, for before he was unlettered.
[4] On a certain day, after the wonted manner, blessed Vulmarus was going to the wood with a wagon, in which he takes care of the oxen, and carrying with him in his hand a tablet and reading, he went before the oxen, as is the custom of oxherds. But he being intent on the reading and diligently scrutinizing, the wagon stood still for a little. And without delay, looking behind his back, he saw it standing behind, and returning he took it, and finished the begun work. But after this his intentness was made known to the abbot of the monastery, he commanded him to go to the school, and with diligent care to learn letters; but the said obedience he committed to another man. Then at last he was made a cleric, and began to be obedient to all from the least to the greatest.
[5] I do not think this should be passed over, which the man of God Vulmarus was wont to do; and of his own accord performs another office of humility namely in the nighttime, all resting, silently to take the shoes d of the brethren and wash them, and to carry them cleaned back again to the known places. And when he unceasingly performed that work, all marveled, and were vehemently stupefied, and who did this lay hid from them. And counsel being taken, they indicated it to their abbot. But the abbot, searching more scrupulously, and desiring more diligently to prove who exhibited such obedience to the brethren, on a certain night himself left his shoes muddy. But the aforesaid servant of God Vulmarus came after the wonted manner to the bed of the abbot, wishing to carry his shoes to be washed. Then the father of the monastery, stretching out his hand, seized and held him, asking twice and thrice who he was. But he was silent; but after he could not stop up such obedience, compelled exceedingly he disclosed it, humbly saying: I am Vulmarus, thy little son. The abbot said to him: Do what thou wilt. But he, having taken up the shoes, performed the wonted work which he desired: yet the abbot revealed this to no one.
[6] Then the soldier of God persisted, manfully fighting in the contest against the vices, and on account of his virtue is promoted to the priesthood. serving God in humility and meekness. Wherein, living in no mean degree, he afforded to the rest an example, and testimony of a good work to be imitated: and to this point, God favoring, he extended it, that he was by the brethren judged worthy of the priestly burden, as also he obtained it. Thenceforth they began to venerate him with the highest reverence, and to expend on him many due praises. But the man of God, not acquiescing in the flatteries of men, fearing here to receive his reward, and in the future to be deprived, as the Lord in the Gospel says of certain persons: They have received their reward; sought the wilderness after the manner of the ancient fathers, hesitating nothing, nor carrying with him more than the priestly ministry and a two-edged axe [e].
[7] But afterward blessed Vulmarus went out of the convent Thence he sets out for the wilderness, in which he long dwelt, and went by a straight path to the parts of the North into the region called Mempiscum [*] f, where there was a monstrous wood; into which having entered, he met a hollow tree: and having entered, he dwelt in it three days and as many nights, seeing no one, nor taking food at all. Then the pious and merciful Lord, who is the inspector of all, regarded his most devout fasting and the affliction of his body; and sent a holy angel by a vision to a certain faithful man, rebuking him and saying: Thou indeed preparest delights for thyself, and my servant is imperiled by hunger in that wilderness. Who, awakened at dawn, related to his wife in order how a vision of this kind had been intimated to him by an angel. Nevertheless he testified that he knew not the place where the servant of God was staying.
[8] where he is found by a rich man, Then his wife said: Go without any doubt, and do as has been shown thee. But I will prepare for thee bread and other necessaries; but if that man is of God, he will accompany thee even to the destined place. Then he took provisions [*], mounting his horse. But his wife said to him: Let the horse go to whatever part it will, the Lord will lead thee to the place where his servant dwells. Who so doing, God assenting, came to that tree where the Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ was at leisure for prayer. But when from afar he had beheld the Man of God, he said to him: Tell me, if thou art the servant of Jesus Christ? For the Lord has sent me to thee. Who answering said: Though unworthy, yet I am his servant, and desire, as far as I prevail, to serve him as a soldier. But he after these things, undismayed, approached him, and together they received refreshment with thanksgiving.
[9] and receives a place to build a church. But after the refreshment, he said to the servant of God: If thou art the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and desirest to serve him as a soldier, come along with me,
and I will bestow on thee a portion of my inheritance, where thou mayest build a cell, and then thou wilt be able more freely to win very many. But the servant of God at first refused to do this. He, however, persisted in prayer, supplicating that he would so do. Compelled by which entreaty, the soldier of Christ, assenting, said: Go now, and return tomorrow, and I will fulfill thy petition. But on the following day he returned, according to the command of the Man of God. And blessed Vulmarus, as he had promised, went with him. But that faithful man, as he had promised, fulfilled all things, gave him a fitting place, where he built a church of God, and converting very many in that place to the worship of God, instructed them by many good examples. Then the said man committed to him his son, that he might imbue him with letters, and rear him in the service of almighty God. After this he handed over to him his inheritance, and also that of his brother, and very many other illustrious men.
ANNOTATA.
* otherwise Wamarus
* otherwise Historalda and Holcorolda
* otherwise Mempiscum
* that is, provisions
CHAPTER II.
The solitary life in his country, the erection of a double monastery, his virtues, pious death, and prodigious obsequies.
Moreover the Athlete of Christ began to serve as a soldier on every side in the service of almighty God: and the Lord to do many virtues through him. Fleeing human praises he came into a wood near his country; But when his fame had spread far and wide, many from the neighboring places began to flow together to him, and to venerate him with the highest reverence. But he, not easily accommodating his mind to human praises or petty rumors, again taking up the said burden, secretly going forth thence to the western parts, into the region of Boulogne where he had been born, the Lord Jesus Christ helping, came, having entered into a certain wood, not far from that village in which he had been born, plainly not more than one mile. But that wood had been his inheritance, where he built himself a hut, in which serving as a soldier day and night he served God in vigils, fastings, in cold, and nakedness, and in prayers, and in much patience.
[11] At the same time too the brother of that same Man of God, named Vualmarus, was walking through the said wood, where, being found by his brother, he refuses to return to his mother, and found the Anchorite of Christ standing before his hut, and laboring with his hands. Not knowing, however, that he was his brother, he interrogated him, saying: Who art thou, or whence comest thou, or what dost thou? But the hermit of Christ, not suffering him long to remain in such hesitation, professed himself to be his brother. But he, glad and cheerful, said to him: If thou art Vulmarus my brother, let us go down together to the house of our mother to visit and console her; for a long time she has been sorrowful over thy absence: which petition St. Vulmarus spurned, saying: I will not go. But do thou too and she herself, as far as your strength suffices, bestow on me some consolation of sustenance: but I, as far as I prevail, will be mindful of you in the sight of almighty God. After this the aforesaid man withdrew to his house announcing this to his mother; and they much congratulated one another.
[12] But on a certain day the aforesaid Vualmarus, going to his brother, carrying with him food, but he asks only the food necessary for himself. could not find him; and began to send forth great cries, and to call aloud on blessed Vulmarus. But he, hearing this, came to meet him, and forbade him further to send forth such a cry. Then he hung on a tree a tablet and a little hammer, and ordered that whenever he should come bringing provisions, he should strike the tablet and not send forth a cry of this kind. Which in his convent remains to this present day a.
[13] While in the wilderness he founds a church and two monasteries, At that time too in the same wilderness holy Vulmarus built a church in honor of the holy Mother of God Mary and ever Virgin, and of blessed Peter prince of the Apostles. Then there began to flow together to him men and women, that they might drink of his unfading fountain. And the blessed Man instructed them, living regularly: and gathered a distinguished congregation of both sexes. But the dwelling of the men was set apart from the frail sex, and he fed it daily with spiritual food, and at the same time governed it under a regular habit as to temporal things. Then the Man of God appointed Irembertana g [*], his niece, as abbess, that she might keep a most vigilant care over those nuns, and diligently guard them from the invisible wolf, and strengthen them in faith and also in chastity, and likewise in good work. But he himself was the pastor of the monks, not a hireling: as the Lord says of himself in the Gospel: I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for his sheep; but the hireling seeth the wolf coming, leaveth the sheep and fleeth.
[14] But at the same time, when the same man of God Vulmarus built his basilica in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord six hundred and eighty, eighth [b] Cheadwalla [*] king of the West Saxons, going from Britain to Rome, when the good works of the Man of God and the religion of his sanctity had come to the notice of the aforesaid king, the fame of many circulating it, took care himself to come to him in haste, and bestowed thirty solidi c to adorn that basilica, saying to the servant of God: I have heard that thou art a most prudent man, therefore I supplicate thee to intercede for me to the Lord, for I am ignorant of praying to God: saying this, namely, because he had not yet been regenerated in Christ, yet believed in God. Then, having received the blessing from the man of God Vulmarus, the Lord Jesus Christ leading him, he came to Rome, and there being baptized at the sacred font, and filled with good works, happily migrated from this world to Christ, to whom is honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
[15] He often consoles and instructs the nuns. It was the custom of blessed Vulmarus frequently to visit and console those nuns. But if ever it happened that food failed them, they murmured against the servant of God. But holy Vulmarus unceasingly refreshed them by mellifluous preaching, and by the examples of the ancient fathers, and consoled them, saying: The Lord will abundantly minister food to you, as he promises through the Gospel, saying: First seek the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you. But as the Man of God had foretold, so it often happened to come to pass: for sometimes before he finished the exhortation, the tablet was struck, announcing that gifts d had come. They, seeing this, believed with a readier mind whatever he preached to them of heavenly things.
[16] On a certain day there came a certain thief, and took his horse and rode [*] it, His meekness toward a thief, wandering the whole night, and ranging by-ways; and could not come to the destined place. But when morning came, he stood before the gate of the said Man. It happened, therefore, that two of his disciples went out to labor, and found him sitting upon the horse. And having seized him, they led him to the Man of God, and reported to him that he was guilty concerning his horse, desiring to consign him to custody. But the soldier of God refused this. For he professed that he would keep him safe until a certain judgment. But they departing, he began to preach the word of God to the robber, and to admonish him not to perpetrate such a crime further. Then at last he let him go free.
[17] The oft-mentioned servant of God Vulmarus led that narrow way, through which few enter: and other virtues as the Lord says in the Gospel: Narrow is the way which leads to the kingdom: and few there are who go by it. For he was cheap in habit, and cheaper in food, prompt in prayer, and assiduous in reading, frequent in work, and the praise of God did not at all depart from his mouth, according to that which the Psalmist says: I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise always in my mouth. And Paul says: Whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever else you do, do all to the glory of God. And again: Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in all things give thanks: for this is the will of God, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
[18] Then his fame was spread far and wide; and very many from the neighboring regions ran together to him, and mercy toward the poor. and he cherished them with spiritual food and drink, strengthening them in the service of God. But they brought him many gifts: but the Man of God, as he was a generous dispenser, according as the Apostle says, God loveth a cheerful giver: distributed all things to the poor with his own hands. But I, avoiding the weariness of others, as I promised above, have touched a few of his deeds with running pen, and passed over very many. But in these which, God favoring, I have disclosed, it is clear how this soldier fought, set in the line of battle, against all the spiritual things of wickedness, and how great sufferings he endured, in cold and nakedness, and very many other necessities which he sustained in the wilderness.
[19] At length, therefore, old and full of days, the Lord willing to reward his patience and labor, He dies piously, and, as he had foretold, he began to strengthen his disciples in Christ, and to announce his death. But after this came to the notice of the virgins consecrated to God, they asked and humbly supplicated that it might be permitted them to visit him. But the man of the Lord blessed Vulmarus, filled with the Holy Spirit, foreknowing that his death was not far imminent, altogether testified that no woman should now see him forever. But on that same night the servant of almighty God, blessed Vulmarus, rendering innumerable thanks to God the almighty Father, migrated from this world, and there was made a great lamentation and howling of men and women in his convent, because there had departed from them so excellent a pastor, and so illustrious a teacher, and so eminent a master. For as holy was the exultation over his glory, as pious the confusion over
his death: for it was both pious to weep over him, and pious to rejoice over him.
[20] His body is rendered invisible to the nuns. Then, as is the custom in those regions, they placed that holy little body on a bier, to carry it to the church. But the nuns flowed together, from every side desiring at least to behold dead him whom living they did not deserve to visit. But although there was a light shining through the whole world, yet a mist veiled his venerable body, that, as he himself living had foretold, no woman should see him, so it might be fulfilled. But the candlesticks which were carried before, and the crowd which followed after, they could see; but the coffin in which the Saint was borne they could not discern on account of the density of the mists. Then the body of blessed Vulmarus was buried with great reverence in his own inheritance.
ANNOTATA.
* otherwise Bertana and Heremberta
* otherwise Keadwala and Ceadwala
* otherwise "rode on horseback"
CHAPTER III.
The miracles wrought after the death of St. Vulmarus.
Among the other miracles of St. Vulmarus a paralytic Moreover I do not think this should be altogether passed over [], but that I should now touch at least some miracles which the Lord wrought through the merits of holy Vulmarus after his death, although they are innumerable, which are not written by us on account of superfluity []. But of those which now, the divine grace helping, I desire to intimate to you, many witnesses still survive, to whom it happened to have seen these things. In the time of the lord Charles a too there came a certain cleric from the parts of the region of Provence, named Andobaldus, who had been paralytic for fourteen years: for the heavenly grace admonished him by a vision to come to the threshold of St. Vulmarus, and there his former health should be restored to him. But the aforesaid sick man, rising at dawn, and pondering the vision within himself, began to search out the way which should lead to the monastery of the holy Man.
[22] At last he came thither on the Saturday, on the vigil of St. Michael the archangel. is healed at his sepulchre, In the nighttime the brethren of that convent rose after the wonted manner, to perform the praises of God. But the said paralytic came to the church, and there sat upon a stone. But when by the readers the ninth lesson was now being read, there came to that same sick man a most sweet odor, such as he had not before perceived. And he, considering more diligently, thought that a censer was being brought to him. And when he attended to this the more studiously, it seemed to him that from the bed of St. Vulmarus, like a burning torch, it came and entered into his little ear. Then he fell upon his face, crying and saying: St. Vulmarus, help me: St. Vulmarus, help me. And blood began to flow through all the holes of his head: and a most violent fear seized all who were in the church. But the hymns of matins being finished, they led the aforesaid sick man, who had been healed, to the bath, and washed him. And as he himself testified that he had seen by a vision, so health was restored to him. Then, having received a blessing, with thanksgiving he returned to his own.
[23] On a certain time, therefore, when the festivity of blessed Vulmarus, which is on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of August, and some who scorn to celebrate his feast was being celebrated, and many had hastened both from near and from distant regions, a certain cleric, named Marfridus, who presided over the building of blessed Martin, which was distant one mile to the north from the monastery of blessed Vulmarus, ordered on that day all who seemed to be subject to that church to be called together to cut hay by the river which is called Elna b. But they, being summoned, said: Today it is by no means permitted us to work, because the festivity of St. Vulmarus is worshipped with great joy by all dwelling here in the territory. But he, puffed up with a spirit of pride, and little esteeming their words, nor considering of how great merit before almighty God he was whose feast was worshipped, immediately answered, saying: Let those who will celebrate his feasts; you nevertheless ought to fulfill the due service.
[24] But almighty God showed him how great of merit within himself are punished he was whose feasts were being worshipped without: for the aforesaid river overflowed with such immensity that the water covered the hay which had been cut on that day: and at the same time destroyed the whole, and cast it even to the shore of the sea. Then the aforesaid cleric, struck with excessive horror, acknowledged himself guilty, and at the same time professed that all the days of his life he would celebrate his feasts. And so it was done by the divine dispensation, that he laid aside the spirit of pride, who by the spirit of rectitude would not humble himself.
[25] At another time likewise, when the festivity of the holy Man was being worshipped, are punished. a certain rustic, admonished by his friend to go up with him to the solemnity of so great a Man, scorned to go, and went with his wagon to the wood. And when, on that very day on which his venerable festivity is celebrated, the aforesaid rustic had gone alone to the wood, a most violent fear seized him, and suddenly a flashing of lightnings and an immense tempest arose, so that at that hour, as he himself related, he thought he would at once render up his vital spirit. And when with excessive anxiety, running hither and thither, he was in a turmoil, he began with frequent cries to call that God would be propitious to him, and holy Vulmarus his intercessor, and at the same time professed that all the days of his life, if the Lord should grant him life through the merits of holy Vulmarus, he would venerate his feasts with a devout mind. And when he had long been wearied with so great anxiety, yet at last he escaped unharmed, but did not bring back his wagon entire to his house.
[26] By the intercession of St. Vulmarus a certain man This too, which I subjoin, I myself and very many others saw with our own eyes. On a certain time, therefore, on the birthday of St. Martin, when amid the sacred solemnities of the Masses the holy Gospel was being read, the divine clemency granting it, and the merits of holy Vulmarus helping, to a certain pilgrim, who was from infancy deaf and dumb, all the people standing around, the bond of his tongue was loosed, and his ears were opened, so that he spoke and saw. For the same sick man was wont to say that he had seen a certain man, while the holy Gospel was being read, with wondrous white hair, of honorable countenance, approaching him, and bearing a staff in his hand, and breathing into his little ear, and drawing out his tongue. At which vision he all grew stiff, and forthwith prostrated himself on the ground, and blood flowed through his mouth and nostrils; and then he sent forth a horrible cry: so that all the people who stood by thought that he was without sense.
[27] receives the use of tongue and ears, But after they perceived the divine clemency toward him, all with one voice blessed God, who deigned to work such a miracle through his holy Vulmarus. But on another night he stood by that same man in a vision, and said to him: Give thanks to God for thy health, and do not abandon the journey begun to the basilica of St. Martin, but be zealous to intimate to all, wherever thou shalt come, how great things God has done for thee and has had mercy on thee. And know this, that in the basilica of blessed Gertrude by her merits thy hands and feet were raised up; but here in the basilica of St. Vulmarus, by his merits thy ears were opened, and the bond of thy tongue was loosed.
[28] and a boy recovers his walking. Neither ought I to be silent about that which almighty God at the same time deigned to work through the merits of the aforesaid Man. For a certain boy, struck with a most grievous infirmity, so that for nearly a whole year he could neither walk nor raise himself up, nor even for a little sit on a bench, but wherever there was opportunity for him to go, supporting himself with his hands after the manner of a frog, he dragged the rest of his members behind him: the divine clemency helping him, he came to the basilica of the aforesaid Man: and there prostrate in prayer, he poured out prayers to almighty God for his infirmity and deserved to obtain them. For when the evening praise was being performed, he rose from the ground on which he lay, before all, and at once came before the altar, and there was raised up, and immediately rendered to God and holy Vulmarus innumerable thanks for his health: and then he was made whole, as if he had never had any injury in his body. Moreover very many who seemed to be held by various kinds of diseases deserved to receive their former health, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God through all ages. Amen.
ANNOTATA.
* otherwise "I dare to pass over"
* otherwise "to be reported"