Arnulf

ON ST. ARNULF, MARTYR,

AT MOUZON IN GAUL.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Cult, relics, Acts, and translation.

Arnulf, martyr, at Mouzon in Gaul (St.)

G. C.

Mouzon, a fortified town of Gaul in Champagne, which lies on the borders of the duchy of Luxembourg beside the river Meuse, venerates St. Arnulf on July 24, because his sacred bones were on that day translated, not without miracles, to the Mouzon monastery of St. Mary. The Saint is venerated on the day of his translation, I do not know why the supplements to Usuard in the later editions of Molanus, and Castellanus in the Universal Martyrology, placed the Saint on the fifth day before the Nones of October, since the author of the Mouzon chronicle, who seems to have written before the middle of the 11th century, in the Dacherian Spicilegium, volume 7, page 642, expressly asserts that that translation of the body was made in the nine hundred and seventy-first year of the Lord's Incarnation, in the fourteenth indiction, in the month of July, on the ninth day before the Kalends of August. On the occasion of this translation the Mouzon monastery of blessed Mary was granted by Adalbero, archbishop of Rheims, to the Benedictine monks, who even now inhabit it, and in the preceding century were restored to a better state by the Fathers of the congregation of St. Vanne, as Mabillon attests in the place to be cited shortly. Furthermore, whoever desires to know the origin and vicissitudes of this monastery, let him go to Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, century 5, from page 355, and Marlot in the Metropolis of Rheims, volume 2, from page 3.

[2] Although that St. Arnulf is unknown to most Martyrologists, and his relics in the abbey of Mouzon yet his ancient cult is sufficiently established from the Acts to be given below and from the instruments of the monastery of Mouzon, from which the praised Marlot, in volume 2 of the Metropolis of Rheims, page 13, brings forward the following: Berner transferred the body of St. Arnulf the martyr from the wooden chest, in which it had first been brought from Warcq, into a silver [one], which the illustrious Adalbero had received from the people of Ghent as a keepsake… Berner died on January 14, 1069. Concerning the same transposition of the sacred body, if I mistake not, the anonymous continuator of the Mouzon chronicle, who reaches to the year 1212, in d'Achery, volume 7, page 633, writes thus: In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1065, in the third indiction, Philip, king of the Franks, a youth, reigning, in the sixth year of his reign, Gervase, archbishop of Rheims, being pontiff, in the tenth year of his archiepiscopate, the lord abbot Berner and the rest of the brethren of the holy church of Mouzon acting with the utmost devotion, in the presence of the lord Hugh, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, by his hands the body of St. Arnulf the martyr was raised from the former chest, and with devout praises and hymns was laid up in another on the ninth day before the Kalends of August, a very great multitude of both sexes and orders being present there on the very day of the reposition, praising the glory of Christ with high-sounding voices.

[3] they are honorably preserved. Marlot there continues: Guido, following in the footsteps of his forefathers, adorned with a silver reliquary the arm of St. Arnulf, separated from the rest of the body, as the following verses inscribed on it attest:

The renowned hand of the martyr Arnulf shines with a sign: This abbot Guido clothed with a worthy covering.

That the relics of the same Saint are even today honorably kept there I learn from the Literary Journey of two Benedictines, not so long ago published in French, in which, part 2, page 150, as eyewitnesses they affirm that the bodies of SS. Arnulf and Victor are to this day preserved there in precious reliquaries. But that veneration took its origin from the frequency of miracles, moved by which the inhabitants, now for many centuries, built a church into which they might translate the body of that Thaumaturge, as below at number 11 the anonymous writer of the Mouzon chronicle reports.

[4] The time of his life, and the other Acts of the Saint, are unknown; As for what pertains to the life and deeds of St. Arnulf, they are handed down briefly and obscurely in the aforesaid Chronicle. Nor is that a wonder, since in the 10th century the inhabitants of that place, being questioned by Adalbero, archbishop of Rheims, about the Saint's lineage, country, and Acts, at number 23 answer thus: His birth … and the life which he led, we are ignorant of, except that we have the place of his burial close by, where he committed earth to earth and rendered his spirit to heaven; where also, lying for some time and flourishing in merits, for the diverse afflictions of infirmities, God granting it, he obtained a remedy of health. Nor can more certain things be said about the time in which this Saint lived or died: for in the Acts to be given below, number 9, these things are reported about his burial: It is unknown how long he lay, until the divine power willed him to be revealed. For all that generation which had committed him to the earth being dead and taken from the midst of the living, his name too was now wholly silent and given over to oblivion. Then in the following number it is narrated how his name and sanctity became known by a divine revelation, made to a certain sick person, in which it is thus announced: For there, buried from a long time past, rests the holy martyr Arnulf, whom that generation which then covered him with the tomb, caring little, delivered over to oblivion. If therefore in the 10th or 11th century the time of his life, death, and burial was unknown, in vain shall I now investigate it. For the rest, what the author of the Mouzon chronicle hands down about the Acts of St. Arnulf, he doubtless received from the tradition of the inhabitants.

[5] but more certain [things are recorded about his translation.] Concerning the prodigious translation of the relics, made to Mouzon in the year 971, I can record something more certain, inasmuch as an author contemporary, or at least nearly contemporary, wrote it, who set an end to his chronicle at the year 1033. A slight discrepancy indeed occurs concerning the year of this translation between the first writer of the chronicle and his continuator: for the latter, in the Appendix, in d'Achery, volume 7 of the Spicilegium, page 663, at the beginning repeating certain things, writes thus: In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 969. In this year Adalbero was ordained archbishop of Rheims. In the second year of his ordination, that is, 970 from the Incarnation of the Lord, St. Arnulf came to this church of Mouzon. We rather believe the former writer, who expressly records it in the year of Christ 971, on account of [his] antiquity. Furthermore, following both authors of that chronicle, we have called St. Arnulf in the title a martyr, although that kind of martyrdom is to be taken in a wider signification, as in a similar case we have often admonished elsewhere. Finally, this St. Arnulf is to be distinguished from another martyr of the same name, whose Life we illustrated on July 18, and whom, in volume 4 of the same month, page 398, we proved to differ from this our Arnulf, as will become manifest to one comparing those Acts with these which we now subjoin here.

ACTS AND TRANSLATION

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

From the chronicle of the monastery of Mouzon, which was published by d'Achery in volume 7 of the Spicilegium, from page 623.

Arnulf, martyr, at Mouzon in Gaul (St.)

BHL Number: 0702

FROM PRINTED [SOURCES].

PROLOGUE.

As often as we keep the solemnities of the Saints, brethren, we can weigh with faithful mind that, since there is with God a perpetual intercession of all the Saints for human labors, The author says the Saints are to be honored, we ought to hope that this is done for us by them the more especially then, when in the praises of God we are the more attentive for their glory. Therefore we must take care with pious intention that what we signify outwardly by outward appearance, we may hold inwardly in truth; and that we be made solid without in work, whence we are reformed within in mind. For the solemnity of the Saints is the salvation and joy of the faithful, who already rejoice in that finding thereof; whence we grow cheerful through hope on the journey, certain, through the grace of God, that we belong and shall come to the fellowship of those whose example we imitate by faith and by work. They, firmly keeping the purpose of faith, holding the anchor of hope through desire, imitated Christ in his death, and through the chalice of passion attained the rewards of eternal felicity.

[2] Therefore let us, as far as we can, God granting it, and that they are to be imitated, follow their footsteps; and if we are not able to imitate them worthily in all things, yet, as far as [our] strength suffices, let us both love them from the affection of the heart, and celebrate them by the devout service of the body; that while we recall their merits, we may feel their patronage. For it is not to be doubted that they are always eager for human salvation, for which God mercifully deigned to become man, and which Christ purchased for us by his blood, and, having assumed it in himself, placed it at the right hand of the Father in the heavens; that where it is preeminent in the head, there it may be preserved in the body. But for this reason the Saints the more earnestly implore our salvation from the Lord, and through compassion … knowing that the more we are pressed by the labor of our corruption, the more it is necessary that we be raised up by divine aid. Therefore, most beloved brethren, the memory of the Saints is always to be venerated with faithful thought, and to be received with pious admiration. For they who, bearing the matter of flesh, but as if taken up out of carnal corruptibility, lived beyond the flesh, and through the life-giving Spirit trod under foot the things that are of the flesh — it is very fitting that they both be held distinguished by the sanctity of life, and, crowned with the titles of their victories, be honored with honor and

reverend likewise with admiration, they be laudably proclaimed.

[3] and therefore he celebrates the translation of St. Arnulf, Whence, because we keep this day solemn on account of the present patronage of blessed Arnulf the martyr, we render manifold thanks to the Lord God himself, whose ever-adorable clemency willed us on this day to be happily prospered by the blessing of so great a suffrage. For today the divine goodness conferred on our fathers ^a and the elders of this place — namely of the church of Mouzon — a most desirable gift, which they less hoped for, which might be salutary both to themselves and to their posterity through the succeeding courses of the times: to the sad and grieving a consolation, to the weary and laboring a tranquil rest, to the afflicted and to those mourning for sin a most present seat of refreshment. For today, God working mercy, the church of Mouzon received the pledges of this holy Martyr, received [his] patronage, [and] merited the most faithful benefits of his prayers. It received on that day ^b, the angels rejoicing, a lifeless body, but one which a heavenly power accompanied, the testimony of miracles serving [it]. It received, I say, the coffin and the body with its dead bones, but those which outwardly seemed cast off were within pleasant and lively with the light of merits.

[4] which was accomplished not without miracles. The omnipotence of the divine majesty was doubtless showing what lay hidden from the eyes of our flesh: it represented the token of a living power, whereby our mind might otherwise greatly doubt, since the very truth of the miracles drew it, solidified by the argument of faith, to believe the more. It was a marvel that a blind woman received her sight, and with the power of the miracle the light of faith arose. It was an astounding prodigy that fire, forgetful of its own powers, could not afford a burning among dry logs. It was altogether wonderful, and before unwonted to our ages, a truly new workmanship of heavenly power, that a ship went through the waves without an oarsman, [and] glided most placidly against the current of the river; and while the wave slips gradually downward, the ship, an eagle presiding, was borne pleasingly on the waves with the body of the Saint alone ^c. But now reason demands that the order of the narration unfold the causes of such great things.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's pilgrimage, wounding, death, burial, the revelation of the body, and [its] veneration.

The venerable Arnulf, therefore, a man truly worthy of God, was a dweller of the Lotharingian land ^a, and, as became clear from [his] miracles, Arnulf illustrious in sanctity seized upon holding the footsteps of all innocence and sanctity. Pressing upon which, and faithfully serving God in fear and justice, advancing more and more in good, he multiplied like a palm from day to day, [and] like a lily budded forth the odor of virtues before God, for which he, now chosen and taken up, shall dwell blessed forever in the courts of the heavenly life. He therefore, truly increased by the zeals of good works, showed his body luminous through the eye of simplicity. But when the divine grace had so disposed his works that he might become a lamp in the house of God, so that he himself should afford light to those entering, which to the ignorant was upright and, as it were, obscure in darkness. Placed upon the candlestick of good working, he began to give the flames of divine love, with which he had been kindled.

[6] For hearing what the Apostle says: As long as we are in this body, he visits various tombs of the Saints, we are pilgrims from God: for we walk by faith, and not by sight. And likewise that: We have not here a lasting city, but we seek the one to come; he understood this life to be a pilgrimage, not a fatherland, a prison of servitude in place of a house of liberty, an exile of captivity in place of the city and kingdom of the heavenly habitation. Therefore, chastising his body, he subjected [it] to servitude; attenuating the flesh that evilly seduces with allurements, and strengthening the spirit that bears fruit [in] the nurseries of virtues. Whence the good Youth, a pilgrimage being undertaken to the regions beyond the Meuse-dwellers ^b and the bays of the Moselle ^c, sought Belgic ^d and Celtic Gaul ^e for the sake of praying, and of frequenting the suffrages of the Saints who are in them. What business he had there, what commerce with them, and what his holy sighs and pious tears, assiduously poured forth in prayers, effected, it is not much necessary to say, since it is sufficiently clear that he effectually merited what he had holily asked, and happily obtained what he had justly sought.

[7] And so, the patronages of many Saints being visited, both in cities and in villages, and in Champagne gravely wounded by robbers, safe in mind and body he returned, and walked briskly, careful with his God, innocent in hands and clean in heart, because he had not taken his soul in vain, nor sworn in guile to his neighbor. And because this generation of those seeking the Lord, seeking the face of the God of Jacob, received a blessing from the Lord and mercy from God his salvation, that he might ascend into the mountain of the Lord and stand in his holy place. Meanwhile, having entered the county of Porcien [*]^f, and now nearly going out, he was passing along its border, when behold, being caught by an unforeseen encounter by robbers, who lie in wait for the life or the money of passers-by, in a place which is called …, in the wood which, together with the whole mountainous territory set around it, is called Frigemons ^g, torn to the point of death by blows and by most dire wounds over his whole body, at last he scarcely reached the village which they called Gruerias ^h, and, the road leading him, he halted in the royal district, as they say, of Pergium: whom, when the people of the village there had seen sitting a very long while, and not moving himself thence — believing him at first weary, and thinking [him] to be shaded by the beech-grove and the shadow of the wood which juts out on the right; and then, when he was in no way removed, thinking [him] a spy, or a scout of some plunder or robbery — they go to inquire who he might be. For that village was then inhabited by very honorable and rich men, and was well ordered by a frequency of people and by rural business.

[8] the Sacraments of the Church being received, But coming, and finding how ill that holy Man was, moved with human compassion, they very quickly announced in the village the cause of the deed. Hearing which, the fellow-citizens from the greater to the lesser came together, almost all grieving with the grieving [one], made sick with the sick [one]. But the matrons of that village, whose affection was both most humane and devout, desiring to bring him to their houses, that in the holy ministering of him they might share in the glory of his remuneration, offered him their diligence most Christianly in all things, according as they considered the immensity of his pains and of his wounding. To whom he, speaking publicly: I, he said, am now being poured out as a libation, and the time of my dissolution is at hand; the ministry of this diligence will not be very long; for, the limbs of this corruption now failing, the pulses of the veins now lulled, soon, the burden of the flesh being laid down, the spirit, going on its own journey, will be presented to the mercy of God. Succor [me] rather, that God may succor you. Provide more mercifully that by the hands of the priests I may deserve to receive the Eucharist of the Lord's communion, so that, the viaticum of defense being received against the encounter of the lying-in-wait spirits, I may have as a bulwark the price of redemption.

[9] he dies piously. Straightway … a priest being called, prayer being made, and the creed being said, partaking of the life-giving mysteries, united to the body of eternal salvation: A pilgrim, he said, you behold me; a pilgrim in this place and on this road bury [me] of this my pilgrimage. After these things done and said, gathering up his feet, and directing his eyes and hands toward heaven: Lord, he said, Jesus Christ, who didst make and redeem this soul, to thee I hand and commend it, to be numbered among the elect souls of thy redemption. When he, after his blessed vows, was dissolved in death, the citizens of that place procured for him an honorable coffin of burial, which, adjoining the royal road, is readily to be seen by passers-by. Where being placed, it is unknown how long he lay, until the divine power willed him to be revealed. For all that generation which had committed him to the earth being dead and taken from the midst of the living, his name too was now wholly silent and given over to oblivion, except that the burial of a certain faithful pilgrim was known, and a mound heaped up above jutted out there [*].

[10] But when it pleased the heavenly providence to manifest both the name and the merit of his beloved Servant, His sanctity is revealed, it happened that one of the neighbors was tormented by a grave languor of fevers, and, long vexed and harshly held, was afflicted even unto death: in which affliction, straitened by the torment of pains, he saw, by a divine revelation [and] in a vision of his dream, a certain man of placid countenance appearing and saying to him: Thou art held by a grave affliction of pains, thou art bound by the chain of a most grievous infirmity: whence it now behooves thee both to be released, and it is fitting to venerate the author of [thy] health. Go quickly without hesitation to that place of the mound, set beside the road on the right, and, thy prayer being made with faith, thou wilt more swiftly recover from this affliction. I will tell thee a mystery, I will declare a secret of the truth. For there, buried from a long time past, rests the holy martyr Arnulf; whom that generation which then covered him with the tomb, caring little, delivered over to oblivion. Do thou, therefore, doubt not that by his merits thou wilt obtain the health which thou desirest.

[11] He went off, humbly approached, and, prayers being poured out, slept a little: and a church is built, into which the body could not be translated. roused from sleep, rendering thanks and praises to God and to the holy Martyr, he returned unharmed. When this was heard in the adjoining territories, one sick [man] and another came, prayed faithfully, [and] returned in health. This was done for not a few days, until, an infinite multitude coming together and feeling manifest remedies, as many as came with faith, returning, proclaimed the mighty works of God and of his holy Martyr which they had experienced. Hence the neighbors, conferring among themselves with the inhabitants, took counsel that, a collection being made [and] expenses prepared according to their means, they should make a little church, in which, translating the body of St. Arnulf with its tomb, they might place [it]. All these things being prepared, they make a church from the common funds, place a roof upon [it], [and] come to the mound with this intention, that — because there, inasmuch as it was on the royal road, a church could not be made over him — they should carry to the prepared coffin the stone chest of the tomb with the body. But, the mound being dug out all around, and the heap of earth carried away, by no force of men, by no contrivance of arts sought out, could it be moved from there: a marvel, not indeed without great admiration of the bystanders and beholders, since they inspected the sepulchre of modest size and much smallness, which even quadrupled the combined strength of so many men would easily carry. Whence, with astonishment and fear of their presumption, despairing utterly of what they had begun, they desisted [*], reserving that deed to a later generation, to which God should grant it. The church, nevertheless, remained for a long time distant from the sepulchre of the Saint, as far as [it] can lie …, of which the traces still remain, hedged about with shrubs and little bushes, [its] every wall thrown down by age and by the pouring of rains.

[12] There was still at that time in the same village, from the succession of ancestors, The field in which the relics of the Saint lay, whose by right that estate had been, a single lineal stock, which, according to the abusive custom of worldly pride, arrogated to itself the windy

defense of their forebears as to the preciousness of a noble stock, and the nobility of a proud blood. Whence, contention being made from the multiplication of the suit, a dissension arose among them. For a certain soldier by the name of Airannus, one of them, but, as it seemed, of somewhat inferior stock, in all else for his part a good man, had among them a lot of the inheritance: yet in that part where the body of the holy martyr Arnulf rested, which was nearer to the road and more convenient for exit (for through it lay the way both into the wood and into the pastures), whatever of sown crop or of grass he had, he was losing through the disturbance of the livestock of the whole village. Hence, often crying out, often contending, when he could possess in quiet what was his own neither by law in judgment nor by civil fellowship, provoked by insults of words and by the excess of injury, he takes up arms, [and] promises to defend his property by arms: the injury is repeated, the damage is heaped up, the man is despised, [and] they hasten into a crime. Why [say] much? The matter proceeded so far that a certain one of them, Fulcher by name, caught in the crime of causing damage, savagely stabbed through, dying with his sin, breathed out the spirit of life.

[13] he is sold to a certain count, Which being done, after the avenging of the injury and the committing of the expiatory crime, Airannus returned into himself, and because he could not sustain the hand of the kinsmen of the shed blood, he began, weighing [it] with himself, to reflect. Whence, immediately a fugitive through all byways and wooded places, hiding for fear of death, seeking for himself a patron and protector more powerful against the powerful, he makes, by a compact of his fealty and by the hand of commendation, with all that was of his own right … a certain warlike man, who weighed right and wrong alike, famous in deed, powerful both in strength and in birth. He dwelt in a village of his own right, near enough to the aforesaid estate, which is called Avia [*]: for he was the brother of count Goeran, who held a castle of his own dominion, which had the name Cantaranna. Airannus, therefore, for the sake of the advantage of help and deliverance, had meanwhile as his advocate a man of this quality. Thence, tending toward higher things and seeking out safer ones, he went to count Otto, who by chance was then staying in those parts: because there, for the defense and convenience of his allodial estates ⁱ, he had made a castle, which had the name Warcus ^k. This man, then, Airannus thus sought out: he makes words about his fortunes, lays open his causes, asks to be received, intimates that he will keep fealty, pledges, and confirms [it]. Count Otto, bearing the mind of a brave and noble man, receives the man, grants [his] favor, furnishes necessaries, [and] promises that his aid and defense will not fail him, if he find in him a fealty stable and firm.

[14] who orders them to be translated into the chapel of his castle. These compacts being made, having obtained the familiarity of his favor: There is, he said, with my coheirs in the village of Gruerias, no small portion of allodial land belonging to me, which, with its own turf, the precious confessor blessed Arnulf, still resting in the mound, ennobles; who, glorious in merits, shines venerable with sacred virtues. If thou, my lord, shalt wish to acquire this, thou wilt be able, at a lighter price than any of men, by my selling and bestowing [it], to acquire and possess [it] under thy right. The count, glad of the patronage of the Saint, because the protection of his castle would be sure, according to the common agreement paid him the sum of money which had been agreed between them; [and] the other bestows the promised clod of the blessed body. The count, not a negligent trader of the bargain made, hastening betimes before report should spread it abroad, troops of foot and horse being summoned, came at morning to the mound, and, raising [it] by the hands of the priests, translated the holy body on a bier to Guilledium — with great joy, the peasants, from whose possession it was being taken, looking on — and placed [it] in the church of St. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, whose memory is venerated there, to be guarded for some time, until, a chapel being made in the castle, he might keep so great a treasure with greater reverence. Which being arranged according to his will, and the chapel constructed, he translates thither the precious pledges of the Saint with a great concourse of peoples. But in what manner, from that place to this church of Mouzon, the grace of God willed the presence of this Saint to come, although we may seem to make a digression by the prolixity of the discourse, yet, weaving the account of the history with full faith, we undertake to unfold [it].

ANNOTATIONS.

* elsewhere "Porcuensem"

* elsewhere "permanebat" remained

* perhaps "destitere" they desisted

* elsewhere "Ania"

CHAPTER II.

A discord having arisen between count Otto and Adalbero, archbishop of Rheims, the relics of St. Arnulf are wondrously brought under the power of the prelate.

Adalbero succeeds Udalric, archbishop of Rheims, Udalric [*]^a, archbishop of the holy church of Rheims, yielding to the laws of nature, was withdrawn from human affairs. The glorious king of the Franks, the lord Lothair, was wielding the scepters; who, hearing that the holy see of the church of Rheims was vacant of a pontiff, by the permitting grace and the ordaining clemency of God, with the election of the whole clergy and people and the assent of the nobles of western France, by royal munificence set over [it] and appointed as supreme prelate the lord Adalbero — a man, as we believe, worthy of God, strenuous in ecclesiastical affairs, noble in flesh, powerful in birth, prudent in counsel, singular in magnanimity, invincible in the virtue of faith. He, a careful shepherd of the sheepfold committed to him, lest at any time it should be endangered, and, the world's pressure urging, should deviate from the right, anxious with cares, with pious diligence consoled the weak together with the strong. His speech of doctrine was suited to the edification of the hearers, seasoned with the salt of grace: whereby he might give to his subjects a pattern of virtues and of discipline, [and] whereby, by reproving the wicked, he might signify to them the way of humility.

[16] who bravely defends his rights against various unjust aggressors, Meanwhile, while peace is believed to reign, while better things are hoped for, a thousand goads of snares rise up against this man of good hope, [and] certain nobles of the kingdom make tumult against him: for while, as the Gospel says, men were sleeping, the enemy man came and oversowed tares. While justice sleeps in the hearts of kings and princes, while they are dissolved in their own lusts, and as it is written: Because in those days there was no prince and prophet and leader in Israel, but each one did that which seemed right to himself, they began, as each one could, to exalt themselves to what was greater, the greater to oppress their lesser ones, as is today the evil custom, the more powerful to hunt the powerless, and to pursue them as prey — the fear of God being cast off, the right of the world's laws being spurned — to afflict the churches, [and] to consign to servitude the households of the churches, which the sword and shield of defense less protected, any occasion of injury being applied, or rather gratuitously. When the aforesaid man perceived these [men] to rage too much against the household of his church, and bewailed the servitude of that household which ought to have been free, he first indeed sought a remedy by his words and persuasions; then, when he profited less — because he both had an abundance of soldiery, and the power of his own lineage bore it unworthily to suffer this — he began openly to threaten by protesting, and by resisting to seek out a remedy of protection or a support of defense by a military hand.

[17] and count Otto, Whence it came about that he both struck into certain of his adversaries a fear of daring such things, and made others refrain from the harassment of the church. But those spurning [him], and persisting in the depravity of their savagery, attacking often with most ready daring, surpassing them by the glorious encounter of his victories, he would maim. Among these, and indeed the chief of all, was count Otto, already mentioned by us above — namely the most illustrious and most genuine offspring of the Ottos, the Roman emperors, who at that very time still ennobled the scepters — of patrician blood, and, as appears from the most ample [and] most rich patrimony of paternal and maternal right, a man sufficiently endowed with estates and wealth and dignity. This so great a man, then, had taken up grave enmities of discords with this our archbishop Adalbero. What the special cause then was, is indeed hidden from us today, because oblivion, the mother of negligences, which flourished too much in our parts, by keeping silent begrudged these and many other things to her posterity, as though the old age of antiquity had made them obsolete. Yet that man, contending with the bishop with an insolent mind and a threatening cause, threatened that he would lay waste his church [and] would go to oppress its household, and exasperated him with grave insults of words, and did not fear to provoke or disquiet him by various modes of injuries.

[18] But behold, as if unexpectedly, our bishop, ready to ascend against [him], he attacks the castle, and to set himself as a wall for the house of Israel — skilled in wit, cautious in counsel, propped by the protection of kinsmen and friends — troops of the ecclesiastical soldiery being gathered with brave auxiliaries, surrounds with an army the castle of the aforesaid count, which we said above was called Warcus, pours around [it] squadrons of foot, aims ballistas and slings, [and] both demands and commands that the business for which they had come together be diligently accomplished. It comes to a contest, the matter is waged with missiles and javelins, without the walls it is fiercely fought, within it is bravely resisted. These striving for glory, those fighting for life, the victory becomes at times doubtful: for the place, not so much firm by natural fortification as made by human labor and manual work, now by a rampart of earth, now by a pastophorium ^b, at times,

where it had been opportune, … reinforced, afforded no easy approaches. For the river Meuse, with its very deep whirlpools there, not to be crossed either on horse or on foot, flows past the castle itself on one side, while on the other side the Sormonne ^c, coming, a river of no small size, pleasantly washes [it]. Such was the situation of the place then; now, by the height of towers and by a most strong circuit of walls, besides the very foundations of the rivers, unless a different chance befall, it has an impregnable strength.

[19] Meanwhile, to our archbishop, who was looking with no equal eyes upon the changeable and exceedingly harsh matter, to which a heifer in a wondrous manner shows the way beforehand to the soldiers, a work of sudden novelty appeared, which by its prodigy both bravely raised the spirits of the warriors, and, cherishing the mind of the archbishop — whom the hope of the begun business was frustrating, however strenuously he might show it in his countenance — nevertheless lifted [it] up by the aid of God. For, the depth of the river hindering the soldiers from a way of attacking and of joining hands in combat, a single heifer had a passage through the midst of the camp, and, all beholding, gradually picking out the ford which they were utterly ignorant of, passed through the channel; nor, as is the nature of animals, did it cross over the force of the rivers by swimming, but step by step, wherever it was passable, showing the way here and there, lest so great a labor should be in vain, as a leader [and] author of the journey, having gained its wish, it ascended the farther banks. Which being seen, and not merely moving astonishment, but foretelling what was to the purpose of daring [*] and of doing the work, the bishop, with those standing by, said: Divine benefits accompany us, by which He announces the matter of the deed through brute animals. Let us follow whither not fortune, but God, calls us — [He] who, for the Israelite people, by dividing separated the sands of the Red Sea to be trodden, and drowned Pharaoh: I believe, I hope, I even boldly say, He himself sent us the beast as a foreshower, so that, just as this animal, accustomed to the yoke, becomes serviceable to human life by its labors, so to us — if it irk and shame not your soldiery — that ox may be, by following and by trying, a proof of conquering and overcoming whatever you think arduous. Of the labors of this animal Scripture reports thus: Where there is the most abundant harvest, there [is] manifest the strength of oxen. As if it should say, where the valor of the fighters [is] lively, there victory and a crown follow. Wherefore, most brave soldiers, gird yourselves with valor, and let not sloth reprove those whom a frisking heifer instructs to press the attack. Follow the way shown beforehand: no labor [is] arduous to those who truly love valor.

[20] who seize and burn it, Roused by such exhortations, and the tracks of the heifer going before, count Godfrey, the brother of the archbishop, who was present at the same time, gathers together the Hainaulters ^d and the Ardennois ^e, whom he had brought with him, the trumpet sounding, that the rest might follow; he himself first, as was fitting, shows himself a brave man. Who presently, clad in a triple-woven and hooked coat of mail, his head covered with a crested and gleaming helmet, girt with arms, terrible in countenance, formidable in his onset, enters the ford, where the heifer had gone before, with his [men]. All being most keenly intent on the battle, Godfrey orders fire to be suddenly applied to the hedges, that there might be both a confidence of daring for his own [men], and, for those within, an inaccessible fight. The fire meanwhile, kindled, with burnings sought out from every side, vomits flames to the sky, [and] wandering right and left mows down everything in its path; seized by a burning wind, it receives strength more and more; the thorns and hedges, an easy material, yielding most swiftly, a most ample entrance for entering lies open. The townsmen, their former station being abandoned, straggling in every direction, seek various hiding-places for the protection of flight: the soldiers, the donjon [*]^f being more swiftly mounted — that is, the principal and defensive house — distrusting their affairs, decide among themselves to make terms for their life. For they see the whole castle held on every side by fires, and, whatever the fire had not yet touched, made a prey to the enemy — namely the caparisoned horses with the mules ^g and all the desirable furniture of the house. The fire, not knowing to spare, unable to grow mild, having properly the trait of being unwilling to pity, all things being consumed, with ever more powerful flames drew near the doors of the church.

[21] the body of St. Arnulf being wondrously unharmed. The church there was of wood, in which the pledges of St. Arnulf rested: of wood, I say, because not even the foundations of walls yet existed there; for the abyss of the marsh allowed nothing to be founded there, on account of the winter waters. When therefore the flames had drawn near to this church, the fire suddenly subsided, and, as if turned away with all the blasts of Aeolus beaten back, immediately withdrew backward. For, beholding something divine, and observing something marvelous in the church itself, forgetful of [its] nature, it was losing the powers of its might; nor was there any doubt that, if this church were pressed by the flames, all the defensive house, with the fugitives and those in hiding, would immediately be burned. This alone was the cause which prolonged the delays of victory.

ANNOTATIONS.

* elsewhere "Odalricus"

* elsewhere "audiendi" of hearing

* perhaps [the] French "donjon"

CHAPTER III.

The wondrous translation of the body of St. Arnulf to Mouzon.

The bishop, marveling, and struck with astonishment at the novelty of the deed: What, he said, [is] this new thing, what does the miracle of this matter signify? The archbishop of Rheims, a miracle being seen, Does the old planking and the dry material of the wood remain unharmed amid the flames, and does the fire, which even tames iron, dread to attempt the wood? A marvel! O men, a marvel! that these things thus appear to us:

A wondrous thing is done, nor is so great a vision in vain. But I would wish to know what of the matter can lie within; These sportive things which I behold are not without a prodigy. If it be divine, it is worthy that it itself be venerated. If any of you are fellow-citizens, who know such things, Now, in safety, disclose plainly the mystic meaning of the deed.

Certain [men] standing by, who were also country-dwellers ^a: It is no marvel, they say, lord, since you behold a work of divine power: Here in his body is preserved, holy in merits, glittering with the light of virtues, Arnulf the martyr, worthy of praise and to be revered with honor.

[23] Hitherto he has been propitious to us, and distinguished in tenderness; he hears that the relics of St. Arnulf are preserved there, now turned away, our evil deeds bringing it about, he has left in their straits the iniquitous people with their sins. For he was ill served, nor was honor congruous to his merits rendered [him]. He now shows what he can [do], displays what he will not permit, protects his own little house from the fires, and, so long as he shall have rested in it, the fire will avail nothing against it. And who is he, said the bishop, of what blood sprung? Of what house born? A citizen or an inhabitant? A pilgrim or a stranger? His birth, they say, and the life which he led, we are ignorant of, except that we have the place of his burial close by, where he committed earth to earth and rendered his spirit to heaven; where also, lying for some time and flourishing in merits, for the diverse afflictions of infirmities, God granting it, he obtained a remedy of health. Which count Otto, hearing and knowing by experience, a price being given to the inhabitants whose by right the place was (for they call that village Gruerias; but the author of the bargain was a certain soldier Airannus, under whose title of possession the Saint rested in the mound) — count Otto, I say, hedged about by a great people, bore the body of the Saint thence with due honor, and in the most ancient church of St. Hilary in this village nearest by, surnamed Guilledium (for it had been a most famous place of fairs), let [it] rest for a little while, until, the miracles growing frequent, fearing to lose [it] by stealth on account of the concourse of peoples, using the counsel that appeared to him, he translated [it] hither most recently.

[24] and orders them to be translated elsewhere; And when the bishop patiently heard these and such things, turning them over in his mind, and wisely weighing both the thing which he saw and what was said congruously enough: Go, he said to his [men], the priests and clerics who stood around him: Go within, and whatever relics of the Saints you shall find inside, with diligence bring forth here to us. Which being done, and all being brought out, in a wondrous manner and by an astounding work, the fire, which before, timidly languishing and, as it were, almost failing, had subsided, suddenly resuming its strength, and rushing in like a vehement wind, with a deep abyss of consuming devoured whatever it had before left untouched — namely the church, together with the greater house. Whence the bishop, led into greater admiration, [was] glad, because he had become master and victor of the deed which he had begun. But certain that the marvels which he was hearing about this Saint he now himself had before his eyes as things to be marveled at, holding reverence toward the Saint: I came, he said, having causes of justice against this castle: but, as I seem to myself to see, and as God displays from this deed, the merit of this Saint demanded that I should come, and deserved that he should not lie longer in this mire of evils and of negligence. Let there be prepared, therefore, said the bishop, now hastily, with its own steersmen, a single ship, which may carry him, with our testimony and authority, to Braux ^b, where the excellent confessor, the archbishop Viventius, rests in life and merits. For there is there a canonry of twelve clerics of the parish of Rheims, which, life attending [me], God being my auspice, I have [it] in my vows to order more honorably by the regular institution of monks.

[25] but the ship, on which they were placed, without a steersman, The ship being soon prepared at the nod of him who commanded, that same bishop, coming in person with that throng of his army to the bier, and, a hand being applied, holding [it] on either side, with the intoning of the Antiphon, "Precious in the sight of the Lord," and the continuation of the Psalm, ordered [it] to be carried to the ship and placed in it, together with a single bell, drawn from the flames of the church. Meanwhile, the archbishop having gone back from the ship, ordaining who the rowers, and who of the clerics and men alike, should go as companions; God — whose height of wisdom and knowledge of riches is unspeakable, whose ways are unsearchable, who alone [is] the Lord wonderful in the heights, who gives power and strength to his people — deigned to show the secrets of his judgments, and to make known the marvels of his works, on account of the merits of this his Saint. For when the ship, fastened on the bank of the river, stood still [*], awaiting a steersman to lead [it], and no [one] of men, by the will of God, had remained in it besides the body of the Saint, an eagle, flying down from above, settled at the prow of the ship as a most sure sailor, and presently, by divine power, moved that very ship from the shore into the midst of the waves, and, the waters flowing downward on their own course,

the ship advanced against the courses of the river — an angelic creature, as we believe, managing it, and the divine power, as was plain, cooperating and governing — and, going on a direct course, ever seeking the waters before it, it hastened on with a most swift pace.

[26] When the astounding token of this matter had come to the hearing of the bishop, except the eagle, which sat in the stern, admiring [it] more than can be believed, and raising his mind in the praises of God, he adored the divine counsel, exulting in the mercy of Him in whose glory the soul of St. Arnulf rejoiced. Let some of our faithful, he said, follow along the edge of the channel, and let them follow after the pledges of the Saint in the track of the ship []. For I see marvels, and consider things no less to be marveled at. For wherever this ship [] shall halt, without doubt there the glory of the divine name and the power of his praise shall be proclaimed through the successions of the faithful. This bird, which you behold, bears mystic figures, aiming at manifold meanings in [its] telling: for the Lord, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel to Israel, sets forth a riddle under the person of the king of Babylon, and under the figure of the king of Egypt, saying: A great eagle of great wings, with a long stretch of limbs, full of feathers and of variety. And, There was made another great eagle, with great wings and many feathers. As often as the name of this bird is taken up in the Proverbs, the figure of powerful kings is understood thereby. This bird among the rest holds, as it were, the dominion of royal right, and, ruling over the remaining birds, bears the mystery of its own deed: this bird, penetrating the lofty heights and flying up more loftily, gazing, contemplates the burning sun with unreverberated i.e., unblinking eyes. Under which typical figure is signified John the Apostle and Evangelist, who, flying above every creature, laid open the mystery of the incarnate Word and the ineffable secret of his divinity. Which most aptly befits the monks who, removed from all the business of this life, serve God, who sweat at the contemplative life, and who, through the continual desire of the mind, ever meditate on spiritual and heavenly things with pious thought, seeking indefatigably, nonetheless with faithful intention, the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. The place, therefore, whatever it be, which this ship seeks, it is fitting be distinguished by the service and the order of monks living religiously.

[27] Some therefore, after these words, assenting, and others thinking far otherwise: If, it is borne further up the river against the stream as you say, said the bishop, it shall wish to halt at Guilledium, at St. Hilary's, where it before rested for a while, the waiting is not long. For it is scarcely one stade distant from this place in which we stand. But if it wish to halt at St. Sulpice, in the village which is called Pirorum of the Pears, neither will there be anything else to be awaited longer: for this makes only a mile for us… But if it shall proceed further, and turn aside neither to the right nor to the left, but, as it began to aim, leaving the waters behind shall go forward into those ahead: Mark one thing, which I declare to you: as I understand the secret of the divine grace, it is that at Mouzon, a place of our diocese, it is to rest and be venerated, God consenting. Already then the bishop was directing his mind to adorn ^c this place with the regular institution of monks, as afterward he did the place of St. Theodoric at Rheims ^d, which he drew back, by force and sagacity, from the hands of count Rotger, who unjustly held it; and, the twelve prebendaries being removed — who served not God and his Saints, but themselves and the count — an abbot being received from the monastery of St. Remigius, Airard by name, he religiously, restoring [it], ordered [it] with monks faithfully serving God as soldiers.

[28] So too, at present, he desired that it should be done at Braux [*], for the love and reverence of St. Viventius, had not the cause of this miracle intervened. But because the possibility was not before at hand, for the reason that it had fallen into external hands, yet a most ready will of fulfilling [it] remained, awaiting the opportunity, [for] whenever the bounty of God should bring about the means which he desired. In these and works of this kind our bishop was almost wholly engaged, and he began to burn with a like desire of mind toward the place of the church of Mouzon. As those, therefore, whom it had before been commanded, followed the ship, it now went in no way more slowly than it had first begun; for the goodness of Him who makes his angels spirits was governing it. When, as the ship entered along the surrounding villages, the report of so great a deed had gone out, all flocking about from every side, the people without number streamed together for the merit and glory of the Martyr, praising God in his works.

[29] Torcy, where, a blind woman The praises were still in their mouth, and the power of God, by a fresher miracle, made ready to gladden their minds unto believing. For in a village, Torcy ^e by name, there was a certain widow woman who, after her widowhood, being oppressed by the infirmity of grave blindness, for the glorifying of God remained deprived of her eyes for some time, more than a whole year; who, grieving both the desolation of her husband, and the future failing of her fortunes, but more the weakness of her body (for she had been born of honorable and free-born parents), lived in many straits and griefs: yet she had, from the lawful bond of nuptials with her husband, one only very small little son, a hope of posterity meager enough, to the increase of her sorrowfulness. And so, the report being spread among the peoples of the glorious coming of St. Arnulf, this woman, when she heard, greedy of health, while the Saint was now being borne along the channel of the river in the ship set there for the present, took with her from her house one linen cloth ^f, the best she had, and, with a suitable pace, made her way to lead herself to that place. When she had arrived there, bending her knees, with many supplications she entreated the mercy of God and the presence of St. Arnulf, that through his merit the Lord God might give back to her the use of her lost sight.

[30] She asked, therefore, that the ship be brought to the shore, that she might complete the offering of her vow. recovering her sight, Which being brought to land, she, approaching with much faith, put a thong upon her neck ^g, subjected herself to the service of the Saint, [and] promised her head-tax ^h and herself, and that she would give her posterity after her, if she should merit the desired health; she brought forth the linen cloth which she had carried with her, placed [it] upon the body of the Saint, and presently — quicker than said, the healthful exchange being made — with all who were present looking on, she received her former and longed-for sight. Hence she rendered praises to God, hence thanks to the Saint; hence the mouths and hearts of all, many tears being poured forth from piety, praised the most merciful mighty works of God; and she who had come alone with grief, returned rejoicing with many and among many, with health. She, as long as she survived, herself proclaiming her health, always, in each year, paid to the Saint the tax of her head, and after her death, her only son, whom we mentioned, in the years in which he survived his mother, faithfully bestowed [it].

[31] A most certain messenger of all these things, making his way to Mouzon, arrived, at last it puts in at Mouzon. [and] tells over to the clergy present and to the people what the divine illumination was in the glorifying of the Saint, [and] what the votive sending-forth of the bishop was. Meanwhile a procession is proclaimed and prepared; the people of Mouzon run with joy; they receive the holy body with rejoicing minds, bear [it] suppliantly on their shoulders, [and] make vows and prayers, whereby they may deserve, by his intervening merits, to become partakers of eternal life. The bells of the church sounding, the Clerics are present with crosses and tapers, [and] incense the Saint's body ⁱ with fragrances, receive [it] with hymns and worthy praises of psalms: and so, entering the principal church, they adore the divine majesty, supplicating that, by the gift of his tenderness and the suffrage of blessed Mary ever Virgin, they may be fortified forever by the continual patronage of this Saint and of all the Saints together. And so, the crowd and the people being dismissed, each went off to their own homes with exultation and joy, magnifying in glory Him who lives and reigns, one God in Trinity, through the eternal ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

* read "subsisteret" should stand still

* perhaps "navim, atque" the ship, and

* perhaps "avis" bird

* read "Braccis" at Braux