Ravennus and Rasiphus

ON STS. RAVENNUS AND RASIPHUS, MARTYRS,

AT BAYEUX IN NORMANDY OF GAUL.

From the Offices of Bayeux.

Ravennus, Martyr, at Bayeux in Normandy (St.)

Rasiphus, Martyr, at Bayeux in Normandy (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S., FROM A MANUSCRIPT.

If as well known and ascertained were the deeds of these

two holy brother Saints,

as their cult among the people of Bayeux

in Normandy is celebrated,

not many more illustrious Saints

would be found in the Church: since

some of their Acts taken from the ecclesiastical Offices

of Bayeux present, Honored with solemn cult at Bayeux that with a most solemn feast there

on this day they are recalled, namely with a double of the first class,

the greater, and indeed with a double Octave, as we say,

and this on account of the sacred bodies from Maciacum near

Séez thither translated in the 11th century, Hugh II

sitting, as from the history to be given below also testify

the Sammarthani. The Ms. book of the aforesaid church of Bayeux,

from which the lessons are taken, presents indeed

the year 1552, but they themselves were transmitted to our Elders

in the year 1665 by Father Nicolas Nau,

testifying that he had seen several copies of the same and

perhaps of others, such as also exist with us, which

had earlier been sent to us by our often praised

Frederick Flouet on the 25th of March 1644; then also another

compendium of the Life is with us, destined from Cologne by Father John

Gamans in the year 1638.

[2] But before we treat of these, those things are to be commemorated

unknown to the ancient Martyrologies, which concerning the aforesaid Saints in the more recent

Martyrologies are reported, all the classical ones being silent,

at least those which are known to us, so that long buried

the memory of those Saints seems to have been,

so much afterward illustrated in those centuries and occasions

which are sufficiently obscurely commemorated in the Office,

Hermant Maltot the parish priest, in the History of the Diocese

of Bayeux edited in the year 1705, bringing very little light,

where from page 24 to 28 he renders nearly in French those things

which in our lessons are contained. His chief

annotation is directed especially to this, that

against Saussay he may show, that not in Armorica or

lesser Britain of Gaul the Saints were born, but

from greater Britain into Normandy they migrated,

where for the name of Ravennus of old used in England,

he adduces the Monasticon Anglicanum and other things of that kind,

which for the brother and companion Rasiphus do not equally

prove, but which to call into controversy

here it does not please. Castellanus dispatches all in few words,

wrongly reporting the Saints on the following day. Behold

the texts of the Martyrologies.

[3] praised by the more recent ones, I have already said that in the more ancient ones those Saints are altogether

passed over, so that the most ancient, to us hitherto

known, is the author of the manuscript Florarium, whom, that in the middle

of the 15th century he wrote, in more than one place we have already said.

He has thus on this day: Likewise of the holy

martyrs Ravennus and Rasiphus, brothers, the position

or place of cult being omitted, which neither did Greven express,

concerning St. Ravennus only adding that he was a priest;

On the same day, of Ravennus the priest

and Rasiphus, brothers; to which superadded

Canisius, that in the church of Bayeux they rest.

Of Rasipus only, and in other editions Rasiphus,

speaks Molanus, as above has been said, leaving doubtful

which Rasiphus he indicates, whether the Roman one,

concerning whom we already treated, or the Briton, at Bayeux

celebrated with so solemn a cult. Ferrarius in the general

Catalogue, citing Canisius and the Bayeux tables,

mentions Ravennus only; not sufficiently faithfully:

he feared perhaps, lest Rasiphus, whom a Roman martyr

he judged, into Normandy to transfer

he might seem. I should prefer to admit twin synonyms,

and to attribute the one to Rome, on the faith of the alleged

monuments above of whatever kind,

but the other to vindicate to the Normans, among whom

indeed so notable arguments of veneration appear.

[4] especially by Saussay. Now let us hear Saussay concerning our Saints,

in the Supplement thus proclaiming: In the district of Séez,

which is in the district of the metropolis of the second

Lyonnaise, the birthday of the holy Ravennus and

Rasiphus, martyrs, who, own brothers, from

lesser Britain sprung, while the doctrine of Christ the Lord

to their gentiles they taught, driven from their native land,

a certain desert place, to which

Mathiacus is the name, near the city of Séez,

for quietly insisting on divine matters they sought:

where, while covered with the skins of wild beasts, on the roots

of herbs living, and on prayers and vigils

incumbent, they scattered the lights of grace, the concourse

of the inhabitants to them they roused; whom

Ravennus, not unskilled in medicine, the divine aid

supervening, from sicknesses relieved;

and at the same time, with his brother Rasiphus, with heavenly

medicine their minds he recreated: until, Satan raging,

the judge of the place, exasperated by this fame,

sent emissaries, who without examination the Servants

of God assailing, because from the heralding of Christ they

did not cease, with cruel ferocity slew them.

Whose memory, of the blessed Athletes, not

only where they died, illustrious grew *, but

also to the people of Bayeux was extended, where their precious

spoils, under the title of patronage, were

conveyed.

[5] You have the very words of Saussay, namely: from

lesser Britain sprung, Their native land is inquired. just as also

Hermant confesses that the present lessons of the Bayeux Breviary speak,

which as much as Saussay he would strongly

impugn himself, if it were sufficiently established (as he supposes,

not proves) that to the 4th century of Christ is to be recalled

the slaughter or martyrdom of the Saints, as in that

century the name of lesser Britain had not yet been heard

in Gaul, only in the following, when already grown up,

it was given, when the true Britons, compelled to flee

the Saxon plunderers, into that province betook themselves,

which at that time was constantly called Gaul

Armorica, from those new British inhabitants a new

appellation having obtained. If therefore the Saints

be reckoned to pertain even to the times of Julian the apostate,

Hermant surely wins; but by what solid

argument he can establish this, I indeed do not

perceive: for so obscure are those Saints'

most brief Acts, or mere lessons, that

concerning their age nothing easily can be determined. But Herembert

the priest, praised at number 5,

sounds something Frankish, which in Julian's times

in Gaul I would not dare to admit: nor does the construction

of a church in those parts seem to savor of the 4th century;

so that it is not at all wonderful, if lesser Britain

was then known, from which some barbarian,

who in the Acts of whatever kind is everywhere the same,

persecuted the Saints unto death.

[6] We are engaged in matters most uncertain and doubtful,

having abundantly discharged our office, Concerning the last translation, if the substance of the history

whole and safe we preserve. More easily we subscribe

to Hermant's opinion, by which, the history of the translation,

subjoined to the lessons, explaining, he judges

that the people of Maciacum or Mathiacum, when they are said their sacred

relics, on account of fear of the gentiles,

lest by the impious they be contaminated, to St. Vedastus

to have carried off, most verisimilarly undertook to do this

when the Normans or Danes in the 9th century Gaul

miserably depopulated; leaving in their own church of St. Alban

slight traces of the tombs, which even today

to be in honor the Bayeux historian testifies, page

25. Furthermore, the history of the revelation and of the other translation

must have been written in the 12th century, since Hugh

II and Odo, bishops of Bayeux, are mentioned, whom

in the 11th century to have flourished is established; but that Bernard,

narrator of the whole matter, asserts that all things to him, a young lad, devoutly

related Odo of St. Samson,

as from those who had seen and been present he had learned,

since that same man was of the aforesaid most noble

Odo the most beloved nephew; so that the whole series of that last

translation sufficiently safely can be admitted,

it seems. Would that to the people of Bayeux, so fortunate,

it had been permitted, that even at this time they might enjoy their most precious

treasure!

[7] and the dissipation of the relics by the Calvinists. It underwent, on the witness of the praised Hermant, page 27,

that common and mournful lot, by which through

so many other churches of Gaul the rage of the impious Calvinist

plunderers foully raged upon the sacred remains of the Saints

in the year 1562, when, carried into the castle of Caen,

with many others it was profaned,

the precious reliquaries being left to the lust and avarice

of the most wicked

soldiers. But he adds, that the collegiate church

of the castle of Grancey in Burgundy, or

rather in the borders of Champagne, even today enjoys no small

part of those sacred pledges, which

namely, in that spoliation of the temples of Bayeux,

he gathered who afterward, under the name of Marshal Fervaques,

in the 16th century was sufficiently known. But whether

those same are there even today preserved and honored,

I have not ascertained. It only remains that the Bayeux

lessons themselves, such as we said were once transmitted to our Elders,

with the history of the translation itself

we subjoin, the shorter compendium being passed over, from

the codex of the Charterhouse of Cologne, received by the labor of Gamans;

since it contains nothing which is not a little more fully in the

lessons themselves narrated. The collect alone I subjoin,

which is of this kind: Be favorable, we beseech, O Lord,

to us thy servants, through the glorious merits

of thy holy martyrs Ravennus and Rasiphus,

that by their pious intercession, from all adversities

may we always be protected. Through the Lord.

he meant to say, I suppose, grew illustrious*

THE LIFE

Or the lessons on the double solemn feast of the 1st class, the greater, with an octave.

From the Ms. book of the church of Bayeux of the year 1552.

Ravennus, Martyr, at Bayeux in Normandy (St.)

Rasiphus, Martyr, at Bayeux in Normandy (St.)

BHL Number: 7089, 7090

The brothers intent on preaching the faith Just as, before the more splendid ray of the sun illustrates

the lands, the daybreak of the morning dawn precedes;

and thus gradually, the darkness of the mists being wiped away,

we more brightly afterward enjoy the sun's

splendor: so also to the darkness of our

ignorance are the apostolic doctrines applied,

by which it is said by the Lord, You are

the light of the world, that more fittingly thereafter the compass

of the whole world, the darkness of sins being first gradually dissolved,

may merit to obtain, by the reception of the faith,

the true sun of justice, Christ the Lord,

concerning whom it is written; To you who fear

my name shall arise the sun of justice. From this

sacrosanct college of the elect of God, therefore, two

notable men are reported, namely Ravennus and

Rasiphus; whom, begotten in the western

parts, namely brought forth in Britain, brothers by lineage,

and by the brotherhood also of faith and morals

associates, by the aforesaid relation we have known;

by that lineage indeed noble, but by the merit of faith

more illustrious. Which Ravennus, while adorned with very many

virtues, of the second order, on account of the merit of holy

life, namely of the priesthood, he had received the office;

as a good soldier of Christ, by word equally

and example, the cold breasts of the inhabitants, stiff,

with the warmth of holy faith, by exhortations and

salutary institutes he formed, assiduously teaching

the faith, the worship of one God only,

that from the superstitions of demons one must turn aside,

and to the fount of holy regeneration,

without which one lives not, one must run.

[2] When therefore by these and other teachings the peoples

to the heavenly kingdom to invite, they are driven out by a barbarian prince: earthly

also and transitory things to postpone, and eternal

things only to love he admonished: the enemy of the human

race, the foe and envier of all good,

lest the vessels which by captivating he had subjected to himself, he should lose;

the wiles of his malice against the holy ones of the Lord,

namely Ravennus and Rasiphus, who

with one and the same zeal of instance, against the diabolical

darts by fighting, contended, instantly

strives to show, and first the prince of that same

region against the holy ones of God to inflame

attempts: whose name for this reason divinely,

as we believe, is permitted to be unknown, either

because namely it is barbarous, and therefore to the style

of the ancients unknown, or even, as unworthy of heavenly

memory, so is it alien to the ecclesiastical

writings. By his dire and

most cruel persecution therefore the Elect of God, removed from their native

soil, to the vicinity of the city of Séez were

conveyed; to a place which now Matiacus, but then

was held a vast solitude, and an uninhabitable desert.

These therefore, when to the aforesaid place they had come,

and were unseen to human eyes,

yet in no way destitute of heavenly solace,

strenuously in the praises of God were at leisure,

and by the continual instance of prayers the depths

of that solitude occupied.

[3] But not for a long time did the supernal clemency

permit the contests of his Servants to lie hidden: but when at Séez they converted many, nor did it suffer the lamp placed under a bushel

to be hidden longer, but that to the knowledge of many

it should bring, and through those same

blessed Men the inhabitants of that same region to receive the doctrine of eternal

salvation, by ample piety it granted. At length the priest of God Ravennus,

educated in medicinal studies, to the feeble no

small grace of healing brought; and

those whom he cherished in body, by virtue also he animated

with eternal salvation. Rasiphus meanwhile, by however much

age the younger, with not dissimilar operation of acts

cooperated with his brother: of whom one

and the same was the zeal, to bring help according to their strength

to the mourning, to succor the infirm, all

to the grace of Christ to call together, and to all

the fodder of the heavenly word to administer. When amid

these things the fame of the Saints, not ignoble, was celebrated by the office

of the common folk, and flying through the mouths of many

through innumerable places it ran down; it is reported

that to the knowledge of the aforementioned prince the opinion of so great

sanctity flew: who, the darts of his premeditated

fury against the Servants of God to accomplish

deliberating, straightway appoints apparitors, and

to the place where fame had reported the Servants of God to be,

hastens to send: subjoining to the edict of his precept,

that the most blessed Men being found,

they should lay deadly hands upon their slaughter,

nor thereafter suffer any of them to enjoy the mortal

light.

[4] But the executioners coming, the Elect of God,

at the place aforesaid, wonted to holy acts, at a certain

irrigating fount, at leisure, they behold: and thus

hasten to obey the commands: so much that, the right arm

of Ravennus's body being taken away, death,

as is believed, they thought they had inflicted on themselves: but Rasiphus

they tore in almost all his members:

and thus to the tyrant, what things to them had been

commanded, expressly they announced. The present

life therefore being ended for Rasiphus, Ravennus still surviving,

but sighing for the fraternal solace,

it happened that a heavenly suffrage came to the holy Men.

For by the continual instance of prayers, Ravennus

supplicating, the soul of the brother, the revived corpse being re-assumed,

both took away the sorrow from the brother,

and conferred the gladness of grateful exultation

on both Saints. But after some

words of consolation, they are reported, of that

fount's irrigation, to have taken herbs at their own expense, the already

mentioned Men; by which, with bread only,

and water with the roots of herbs, and the barks of trees,

for the whole time of the desert, the hunger of refreshment

is said to have removed: unshorn always and unwashed, without any change of garments

conversing; with hair shirt and the skins of beasts

and vile coverings covered. In the space of three

weeks therefore from that time, eagerly

exercising themselves in the praises of God, on fasts,

vigils, and prayers alike insisting,

to the crown of unfading glory

invited, as excellent soldiers of Christ, Rasiphus

on the tenth of the Kalends of August; Ravennus on the day

following, namely the ninth of the same month, the enemy

most savage being conquered, the trophy of the heavenly

warfare being received, by a happy course their bodies to the ground,

their souls most blessed to heaven they rendered; the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

aiding. To whom

be honor and glory unto ages of ages. Amen.

[5] A church being built, and their miracles. But what this divine virtue, by the intervention

of these Saints, wrought, briefly I shall relate:

and to the knowledge of those who follow that which to the present

is clear, to bring, charity compelling, I shall

take care. In those same days, on the night of the sabbath,

it was designated to Herimbert, priest of that same desert,

that the valleys be leveled for the construction

of a church, in the place where now it stands;

and when somewhere already was part of the building

up to nearly the top of the roofs constructed,

it divinely falling, that which now is seen

is completed. Nor much after, in that place

where namely the bodies were buried, in all her members

feeble, Emeltrudis, an inhabitant of that same region,

with all the strength of her body, with the sense

also of speech, is restored, which for five years

she had lacked, all the surrounding people being present,

on a solemn day. Similarly also another, Elberta called

of Luxeuil, sick for twelve years, is restored

by divine virtue; who, carried in the arms of others,

with steady step returned to her home. Meanwhile

Otarius, having suffered madness, the servant of a certain holy

religious woman, to the aforesaid bodies of the Saints

flying, the integrity of his sense

and of his ears received, and thus, by the offering

of that same matron, to the perpetual service of those same Saints

is bound in obedience. Several also, of the tertian, quartan,

and also daily kind, from the vexation are freed. Three also,

the desired light of the blind being restored, by divine

piety were restored after the translation of the holy bodies.

A certain woman vexed by a demon, Edelberga

of Nonanto, a village of that same province, by a wagon

carried, and bound with chains, to her former

health is restored. A certain boy of Bayeux,

Benignus called, having suffered the vexation of his members,

twice to the protection of the Saints ran back,

and the suffrages of the desired quiet received. At

Andovilla, there was a paralytic girl, who on the days

of the holy Rogations, by the hands of the faithful carried

to the places of the Saints, of the heavenly medicine

felt the virtue.

THE HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION.

Ravennus, Martyr, at Bayeux in Normandy (St.)

Rasiphus, Martyr, at Bayeux in Normandy (St.)

BHL Number: 7091

FROM A MANUSCRIPT.

To his beloved brothers and friends, all

the canons of Bayeux and all the clergy,

brother Bernard, servant of God, By fear of the impious gentiles, the gift of the prayers of the faithful,

and devout service. To the honor

of the highest Trinity, which is one and true

God, to your holiness known, brothers

most dear, we make, although your love

that same thing knows better, how the

precious bodies of the blessed and most illustrious martyrs Ravennus and

Rasiphus, to the place where now,

by divine disposition and their own election, venerably

they are translated, are adored. When after their

Martyrs' most blessed passion, by the

faithful, of the burial, so precious a treasure

was not sufficiently worthily laid up, many

courses of years being revolved, on account of fear

of the gentiles, lest by the impious they be contaminated,

by signs sparkling from heaven shown, to a certain

place, which in this same province even today

is called ad sanctum Vedastum (to St. Vedastus), it was

carried. And so, when from Mathiacus (for thus

that place where first the most pious brothers were buried

is called) by the inhabitants it was being taken away;

which place from the city of Séez by nearly one milestone is distant, where now

their tombs are held in the church founded and preserved in their

name and honor, such

a miracle the divine majesty deigned to demonstrate.

Namely, in a deerskin the bones so

blessed and the ashes so pious with linen cloths

wrapped and set upon a bier, two

horses drawing so sweet a burden, to a certain

place which is called Traciacus, when

they had come, so immovable those horses were made,

that neither beaten with lashes, nor with spurs

bloodied, could they be moved.

[2] Which the men beholding, who of this way

were the guides, the sacred bodies translated elsewhere, from a certain most wealthy man, who

of that place was the temporal lord, and in many

flocks of wild animals abounded,

two horses, which this burden and the heavenly

treasure might more lightly carry, mercifully

asked. To whom he: Behold, he said, of wild mares,

which all are of my right, an almost innumerable

multitude you consider: from

these take two if you can, that we may see and

know, if the divine virtue shines forth in

those Martyrs. Which when they had done, in a wondrous

manner the wild mares so quiet and untamed

bowed themselves, that the sacred bodies of the brothers,

in no way kicking back, up to the aforesaid

place, which by the surname of St. Vedastus is called,

most gently they carried. In which place a little church,

outside the village, for their love and honor

was founded, in which, under the altar, in a chest

of stone, a long time they rested. But at

that time in which the holy church of Bayeux

Hugh the venerable bishop becomingly ruled,

in that same village a certain nun,

for many years with all sanctity and chastity

serving the Lord, while on a certain night, with fasts

and prayers wearied, on her little bed she rested,

she beheld standing by her two most illustrious

Men, one in the habit of a priest,

the other in the habit of a physician, bearing to her divinely

such precepts: Go, they said, to

the city at the very break of dawn, and tell Hugh,

who is in it the pious and good bishop; Hasten,

holy father, and, of certain Martyrs,

whose bodies rest in such a little church, translating them,

in a celebrated place set them. But these things

being heard, into the open sky they were received.

[3] in the 11th century they are revealed to a nun, But that woman, the holy old woman, sweetly

awaking from sleep, and wishing to prove the spirits,

whether they be of God; to fasts and prayers

fasts and prayers she augmented, up to

the second revelation. But after eight days,

when at night she rested, there are present again

the most pious Brothers, the same warnings as above

bearing. But she: Who then are you, lords?

And what are your names? But he who

seemed the elder by birth; I, he said, am called Ravennus,

but this brother of mine, Rasiphus.

Rise quickly, and report to the bishop all

that has been revealed to you. Which if you do not do,

the wrath of God will come upon you. But our

relics are found under that altar, at twenty

feet, in the heart of the earth, laid up. At length,

when the abovementioned woman had awoken,

up to eight days nonetheless the clemency of God

she awaited, remembering that Davidic saying:

All who await thee shall not be confounded,

O Lord. But it came to pass, when to the

third revelation it had come, there stood

by her the aforesaid most holy Brothers, threatening

and roaring. Why, they said, hast thou not

announced (since to announce the works of God even

to kings is honorable) what things to thee divinely

have been commanded? To whom she: Tomorrow, she said,

fortified by your prayers and aid, both

to the bishop and to all the clergy, all things which

you have deigned to command, with joy and gladness

I will divulge. And straightway those Men, having angelic

countenances, and with heavenly splendor shining,

to the palace of their beatitude happily were restored.

[4] by whom the bishop of Bayeux being admonished, But morning being come, that little woman worthy of God,

to the city hastening, though with difficulty

having entered, to the venerable prelate all

the abovesaid, as she had seen and by the blessed Martyrs

had been taught, suppliantly narrated.

Which being heard, the venerable hero, all the clergy

being called together and a not small multitude of people,

wholly dissolved into tears, and to God

thanks returning, to the aforesaid place to hasten

did not delay; and although worn out with long

old age, yet with bare feet, with the rest, he went.

But entering into that church

with praises and heavenly hymns and devout

prayers; as the blessed Martyrs had said,

that most ancient altar gently and

with great reverence they set down. Digging

up to twenty feet, the stone chest,

and in the chest the blessed bodies of the Brothers, fragrant with heavenly

odor, and their blessed ashes,

as we said before, in deerskin and cloths wrapped,

they found. And giving thanks to the great clemency of our supreme

creator and re-creator,

as though in the pleasantness of paradise themselves to be placed

esteeming, with great heraldings of praises,

rejoicing and exulting, to the city returning,

the precious, truly heavenly pearls, and to every

age about to profit, most gladly they carried:

and so great an odor of sweetness through the whole

way, through that whole province also,

on this very day boiled forth, that more than twenty,

or even thirty, human beings of both sexes

from diverse infirmities merited to be freed;

the clemency of the Lord Savior and the merits of the blessed

Martyrs proclaiming.

[5] And since, at the same time, by that same

bishop a basilica, in his cathedral he honorably lays them up. which now still survives,

in honor of the most blessed Mother of God

was being built, an altar which above the other altars

is worthily preferred, the altar which is the second,

in honor and name of these Brothers and martyrs

he founded, and upon it these precious

relics, in a casket with gold and silver, according to

the opportunity of the time, adorned and prepared,

becomingly composed. In which place with so great

benefits of miracles and healings they sparkle,

that if all were written, scarcely the whole

world so many and so great marvels could comprehend.

But that great and sublime

man, Lord Odo, being pontiff, over this our mother,

namely the holy church of Bayeux, as

worthily as sublimely, of greater dignity

and singular honor, a precious and wonderfully

with pure gold and sparkling gems most worthy

other one, in which the work seems to surpass the material,

for themselves by divine and illustrious miracles

they acquired, since to us and to almost all

the people sufficiently well known it is, it is not of my

smallness to relate. All these things, when I was still

a young lad, that most pious and

most devout man, now a monk, Odo of St.

Samson, as from those who had seen and been present

he had learned, since that same man

of the aforesaid most noble prelate Odo the most beloved

nephew was, to me devoutly related. But I,

though unskilled both in knowledge and grace of speech,

since these things by many are unknown; with ungrateful

silence to cover them I was unwilling, fearing the wrath of God,

if to the generation to come so great deeds of God

I should not disclose. Through all things blessed be God,

who humbles the proud and exalts the humble.

APPENDIX

From the present-day Bayeux Breviary.

Ravennus, Martyr, at Bayeux in Normandy (St.)

Rasiphus, Martyr, at Bayeux in Normandy (St.)

While I was occupied in inquiring into and digesting

those things which hitherto have been given, I held nothing

more important, The lessons of the present-day Office, received from Bayeux than that, after the manner of the Elders, from the fount, or

from the very place, where the Saints are venerated, I should seek aids;

if perhaps from the new Offices or from elsewhere something

could be suggested, by which the whole matter might be a little more illustrated.

The usual recourse was to our as obliging

as skillful helper in Gaul, Father

Stephen Chamillart, most well known to the learned, by whose

labor, since the whole Breviary I could not obtain,

this at least I obtained, that thence there might be described

whatever concerning Sts. Ravennus and Rasiphus there even today

is received. This, at Chamillart's request,

not idly performed our Father du Tertre also, who by his own

hand from that Breviary, in the year 1665 by the authority of Francis

de Nesmond, then prelate of the church of Bayeux

edited, all the proper things through the whole solemn octave

word for word described. There is prefixed the oration above

given by us, and all things are ordered by

single days, yet in such a way that the Office proper concerning the Saints

is celebrated only on the first and last day.

[2] On that day therefore, or the 23rd of July, in the second nocturn

lessons 4, here too are added. 5, and 6 recite in compendium those things

which just now a little more fully from the more ancient Office

we gave, in this more tolerable, that what there more gravely

offends, in these is prudently rescinded. On the 24th,

or the second day within the octave, in the lessons nothing

proper to the holy Brothers occurs. On the 25th it is of St.

James: on the 26th of St. Anna. The 27th is the fifth day

within the Octave; but neither there anything proper.

On the 28th of July the feast of St. Pantaleon: on the 29th of St.

Martha. On the 30th at length is the Octave, the last day,

when in the second nocturn, of lesson 4, 5, and 6,

the translations too a little more briefly they narrate, as soon

more clearly you will perceive. What on the Sabbath and Sunday within

the Octave is prescribed, it is nothing to observe here;

this only we wish, that it manifestly lie open, in what

manner is the constant and perpetual tradition of the people of Bayeux concerning their saints Ravennus and

Rasiphus. Behold now the three lessons in the very more solemn festivity.

IN THE SECOND NOCTURN.

Lesson 4. Ravennus and Rasiphus, own

brothers, born in lesser Britain,

by the splendor of their virtues were far more noble.

Of whom indeed the elder by birth, Ravennus, when

he had been to the sacred orders on account of notable piety

promoted, the parts of an apostolic priest from his heart

took up. Therefore, his brother Rasiphus being taken into part

of the labor, while the inhabitants of the region,

wrapped in the darkness of idolatry, with the precepts of the faith

they imbue, both, driven from their native land by the prefect of the province,

sought Neustria, and to a desert place,

near to the city of Séez, which now Mathiacus

is called, betook themselves, to vigils, fasts,

and prayers about to give greater labor.

But thou, etc.

Lesson 5. In this desert, when with the roots of herbs

only they sustained life, God at length revealing it,

their sanctity to be manifested

to all, and a huge concourse of the people

to them, began. For Ravennus, while with the aid of

his brother Rasiphus, the bodies of the sick

with the help of medicine he relieved, the minds meanwhile

with the food of heavenly fodder he refreshed. Hearing

so many miracles of cures, boiling with wrath, the prefect of Neustria,

the demon goading, sends assassins,

who nefarious hands upon them might lay.

But thou.

Lesson 6. The impious assassins hasten, and the Servants of God being found,

incumbent on the heralding of the divine word, and on the

cure of the sick, with many

wounds they afflict. To Ravennus the right arm

is amputated: the whole body of Rasiphus by repeated

blows is broken to pieces: with so many wounds at length

both are pierced through, that, empurpled by their own

blood, into heaven they migrated, of the immortal crown

about to receive the reward. Their bodies, by

the Christians in the desert buried, long lay hidden,

until, their glory being manifested divinely,

over their tomb a church was built,

in which many afflicted with various languors

the grace of health, by the intercession of the holy Martyrs,

from God to receive merited. But thou.

ON THE OCTAVE DAY.

Lesson 4. When for many years the bodies of the holy martyrs

Ravennus and Rasiphus in the church

of Mathiacus had rested; lest by the impious they be contaminated,

not without miracles to the place of St.

Vedastus of the district of Bayeux they were translated:

where, in a church built under their invocation,

beneath the altar, a long time in a stone chest they were laid up.

But at what time the venerable

prelate Hugh the second ruled the church

of Bayeux, a certain nun

dwelling in that same village, thrice on diverse

days, two men standing by in her sleep

she seemed to see, by whom she was commanded to go to the bishop,

and admonish him, that the Saints'

bodies elsewhere he should translate. But thou.

Lesson 5. The woman obeys the commands, goes to Hugh,

and narrates in order whatever she had seen;

who, when he had ascertained that the revelation

was from God, gave thanks to God, and straightway the holy

Martyrs' bodies into the church of Bayeux,

which he then was building, to translate

decreed. The clergy and people being called together therefore,

although already worn out with long old age, yet with bare

feet, with the rest, the aforesaid place of holy

Vedastus he sought. The church being entered, the altar,

under which the bodies lay, they destroyed,

and the earth being dug up to twenty feet, the

stone chest they found: which being unbarred, and the cloths

being taken away, a most sweet odor emanated, and

the bones of the Saints wrapped in deerskin appeared.

But thou.

Lesson 6. Then the priests with great reverence

take up the sacred relics, and in precious

cloths wrap them; placed upon their shoulders, the clergy

singing psalms, and the peoples applauding,

to Bayeux they carry, and in the greater basilica,

enclosed in a casket adorned with gold and silver,

upon an altar, erected in their honor,

they place. By innumerable miracles the holy

Martyrs' glory, both on the very day of the translation,

and afterward, in the church of Bayeux, God

manifested. Moved by which, Odo the first,

successor of Hugh, when that same church

he had completed, and adorned with excellent work, the holy

Brothers' bodies, in another casket, partly

of pure gold made, he enclosed, in which

for some centuries the precious remains of the Martyrs

with worthy cult were kept, until in the year

of the Lord one thousand five hundred and sixty-

two the Calvinists them, with many other relics

of the Saints, to the fire delivered. But thou.