Segolena

ON ST. SEGOLENA, WIDOW,

AT ALBI IN OCCITANIA.

Seventh or Eighth Century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The Saint's cultus, virginity, distinction, age, and Acts are examined.

Segolena, widow, at Albi in Occitania (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. C.

Albia or Albiga, now an archiepiscopal city of Gaul, concerning which I treated in the preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Eugenius on the 13th of July, today venerates with a proper Office St. Segolena or Sigolena, who adorned that city by her birth and afterward by her sacred remains. St. Segolena is venerated at Albi in Occitania, I do not here delay upon Tamayo, who in his Spanish Martyrology on the 23rd of July makes the same Saint, with the name a little changed, a Spaniard, and asserts that she flourished in the city of Albucella of the diocese of Zamora. He had drawn this figment from the pseudo-Luitprand, whose interpreter, or rather inventor, in his notes to that pseudograph's Chronicle, published at Antwerp in the year 1640, page 425, number 285, adorned the fable with these words: "In the year 836, in the territory of Zamora, in the town of Albucella, commonly Albugela (in Latin it is Albucella to Antoninus, and Albocella to Ptolemy among the Vaccaei), flourishes St. Saeculina, virgin, abbess, as I believe, of the Order of St. Benedict, whose memory is in the Spanish Martyrology, and in the parchment Breviary of the holy church of Ávila on the 23rd of July a simple feast concerning her is celebrated." Then from the parchment Breviary of the church of Ávila, if one pleases to believe it, he reports the following Lesson, which is a compendium of our Acts: "St. Saeculina, of the city of Albucella, sprung from illustrious birth, persuaded a noble man, to whom she had been joined in matrimony, that she might follow continence, God assenting to her prayers. When he was taken from this light, choosing the monastic life, she entered the monastery which her father had built, and with several women, giving herself to fasts and prayers, humbly served God; where, after very many signs, the sisters being gathered, and the kiss of peace being given them, she passed to Christ." But the Ávila directory which we have makes no mention of this Saint. Thus, namely, those fable-makers, from a certain affinity of name which occurs between the city of Albi and that of Albucella, seized an occasion of multiplying the Saints of their homeland, and wished to impose upon incautious readers. But it is not worth the while to refute this fiction at length, which in the course of the discussion will collapse of itself from the testimony of a coeval author.

[2] Concerning her homeland the synchronous author of the Saint testifies thus in the Acts, number 4: where it is agreed she was born, "Therefore the most blessed Segolena was of the city of the people of Albi, noble in birth, nobler in religion." Concerning the translation of her relics, Mabillon in the third Benedictine century, part 2, page 550, noted these things on her Acts: "Afterward the body of St. Segolena was translated into the city of Albi, and placed in a silver casket on the greater altar of the cathedral church, in which, after St. Cecilia, the chief patroness, St. Segolena, one of the five Albigensian saints, is honored with a special cultus. She has two villages of her name below Albi, both nearly on the Tarn. Now these are the Albigensian saints: Salvus the bishop, Amarand the soldier, Segolena widow and nun, Carissima virgin, and Matriana nun, as I have received by letters from the most courteous man Lord Arquier, canon of that church." I do not find at what time this translation was made. At least in the title (I know not whether it was written by the author of the Life himself) of the Acts, which our Labbe published from the Ms. of Moissac, the following are read: "The Life of St. Segolena abbess, whose body rests in the district of the people of Albi, and her passage is on the 9th of the Kalends of August." This "district of the people of Albi" seems to designate the ancient place of burial, concerning which we shall presently say a few things.

[3] and at Metz in Lorraine, as the Martyrologies testify; Although Mabillon in the preliminary observations to the Life of St. Segolena, number 2, says that the memory of this Saint is celebrated in no ancient Martyrologies, yet in the Benedictine Annals, tome 1, page 607, he himself cites the Martyrology of the monastery of Senones, written five hundred years ago, in which he testifies that these things are held: "On the 9th of the Kalends of August, in the city of Metz, the feast of St. Segolena virgin." To this I add, from our illustrated Usuard, the codex of Mont-Saint or of St. Romaric in Lorraine, which on the 24th of July has thus: "The Natalis of St. Segolena, consecrated to God." Moreover, our manuscript Florarium on this day announces her thus more fully: "On the same day, the feast of St. Segolena widow. She was first married to a husband, and after being freed from him entered a monastery, where she was famous for many virtues and miracles, and among other things cleansed two lepers." Greven in his additions to Usuard also makes mention of Segolena widow. Saussay in the supplement to the Gallican Martyrology, page 1150, composed for her a eulogy after his manner, more prolix: "In the district of Albi," he says, "the happy passage to the heavenly things of St. Segolina, virgin and abbess. She, in the twelfth year of her age married to a certain Gisbald, but by the grace of God timely snatched from the marital yoke (that she might come to the nuptials of the celestial Lamb), in the place called Troglaris built a monastery from her own means, and, several free-born girls being admitted into fellowship, so shone forth by examples and instructions, that under her leading they ascended to that perfection of chastity and piety, by which they both increased the beauty of the Church, and prepared for themselves an access to the supernal glory; to which Segolena, who had formed these to all religion, fruitful in spiritual fruit of a chaste offspring and holy working, worthily invited by the celestial spouse,

at last joyfully hastened."

[4] but since the Albigensian one does not seem to have remained a virgin, Since the Martyrology of Senones adorns St. Segolena with the title of virgin, and others call her only by the name of widow, it might be asked whether our Saint preserved her virginity in marriage. I answer that this question cannot be clearly solved from her Acts, although they in some way intimate that she is not to be numbered among the virgins: for the Saint in number 5 thus addresses her husband: "O you man boiling with the flames of youth, receive all my goods; only make my body free, that I may accomplish what is according to my desire." To whom he thus answers: "Bear up yet a little while, and when it shall be God's will, so afterward it shall be done." To which the coeval writer of the Life adds these things: "And when he himself, the Holy Spirit illuminating him, had found the firm purpose and so wonderful and SUDDEN a CONVERSION frequently reigning in her, congratulating her on her excellent desire, knowing this to be the CHANGE of the right hand of the Most High, he said: 'May the hand of the Lord, who is mighty, direct your every act unto good.'" Add that the Breviary of Albi prescribes such a collect concerning her to be recited: "Almighty everlasting God, who adorned blessed Sigolena, after the bond of chaste wedlock, with the virtue of continence, and with the flowers of miracles," etc. Although I would not contend that from all these things a certain loss of virginity is to be inferred, yet I judge it more probable that St. Segolena conceived that desire of continence only after the consummated marriage, as the theologians speak. Hence also there arises to me a doubt, whether the people of Metz in Lorraine and the people of Albi in Occitania venerate the same St. Segolena, which I will now propose for the learned to discuss.

[5] Meurisse, bishop of Madaura, in his French history of the bishops of Metz, book 2, [and the people of Metz venerate a virgin, and attribute to their Segolena another kinship,] page 86, from a certain ancient Ms. sets forth the following: "The fourth brother, Gamard, begot Godin, father of St. Segolena the virgin, and St. Goëric, who first in Aquitaine obtained the royal dignity, and afterward in the city of Metz the pontifical." Bouchet in the proofs which he produces for the true origin of the royal Frankish family, from the Ms. of St. Vincent of Metz, page 28, presents the same or a similar document in these words: "The fourth brother, Gamard, who was surnamed Babo, begot Godin, father of St. Segolena the virgin, and of Dodana and Dodolinana, and of St. Goëric," etc. Marcus Antonius Dominicius, in his Ansbert's Family Revived, chapter 7, tooth and nail defends this genealogy; but Cantarel Faber and other genealogists explode it, and, the documents of the people of Metz not agreeing, convict it of fiction. It is not ours to settle disputes of this kind. But I suspect that by the people of Metz (if the cited documents of theirs are true) our St. Segolena is not venerated, who had as father Chramsic, and as brothers Sigibald the bishop and Bado duke of the people of Albi, as the synchronous author of her Life testifies. Assuredly these names of her kinsmen differ too much from those which the people of Metz set forth, for the parents and brothers of the same Saint to be believed. It is added that the ancient Martyrology of the monastery of Senones (it was founded in Lorraine) says that at Metz is celebrated the feast of St. Segolena the virgin, such as ours does not seem to have been. If anyone shall remove these scruples from me, I will gladly lay aside my suspicion.

[6] Nor does the conjecture of Mabillon altogether solve my doubt, contrary to Mabillon's conjecture, doubt is raised, who in the Benedictine Annals, tome 1, page 607, reasons thus: "There exists at Divodurum of the Mediomatrici (thus the city of Metz was once called) a most elegant parish church under the title of St. Segolena, from which fact a strong suspicion is cast upon me, whether Sigobald or Sigivald the bishop, brother of Segolena, be the same as Sigibald bishop of Metz, who flourished at the beginning of the following century, and whether he was the author, or gave occasion to posterity, of building in that city a church in honor of St. Segolena. Certainly that this church is dedicated to none other than Segolena of Albi is plain from this, that it is celebrated on the same day, long since, both in the church of Metz and in that of Albi." But more probable is what Mabillon in the preliminary observations to the Life of St. Segolena, number 4, had said, and by which he had already before thus overturned this conjecture of his own: "Of what see Sigebald was bishop, is unknown. Sigebald bishop of Metz, from about the year 718 to 742, is said to have been sprung from noble birth: but the city of the Mediomatrici is too remote from the district of Albi, for Sigibald of Metz, hindered besides by the pain of gout, to have been able to visit his sister dwelling in the district of Albi so often as this is written of Sigibald the brother of Segolena, namely in her Life composed by a coeval author." Here I let Mabillon dispute with Mabillon, and I impugn his reasoning, proposed in the Benedictine Annals, with other arguments.

[7] whether at Albi and Metz the same Saint is honored, If it be thus permitted to conjecture from the mere similarity of name, by the same right I will say that this Sigibald was prelate of Narbonne or of Séez, because prelates of a similar appellation are read to have presided over those dioceses. Nay, I will suspect that by him was governed a certain see near Albi, where in the catalogues of bishops great gaps occur. But as to the annual day of the festivity, it is not so fixed but that in the manuscript Calendar of Carcassonne this Saint is venerated on the 25th of July, as Mabillon himself, tome 1 of the Benedictine Annals, page 608, confesses. To these I add the words of our Lahier, who in the year 1642 wrote thus to our Bolland: "As to St. Segolena the abbess, certainly she is named a virgin in that Life which I once read at Metz, taken from the Lessons of the Office. She has there one of the chief parishes of the city… I have read somewhere that she was the sister, or certainly the niece by a brother, of St. Goëric, viceroy of Aquitaine, and afterward bishop of Metz after St. Arnulf his kinsman. I have in my papers that her feast is celebrated on the 20th of August, although Rosweyde in the Fasti and Saussay have the 24th of July." Therefore you see that from the annual day of the cultus no certain argument for the identity of the Saint can be deduced.

[8] [which Albigensian one, however, does not seem to be distinguished from the one of Limoges and Clermont.] St. Segolena is also venerated in the diocese of Limoges: for Geoffrey, Prior of Vigeois, in Mabillon in the preliminary observations, number 1, treating of the more famous Saints in the diocese of Limoges, has these things: "The church which is called the monastery of Leolenum, and certain others, say that they have Maximus, Sigulena, and Sagittarius." But Savaron, in his Origins of Clermont, book 2, chapter 9, from an ancient anonymous author sets forth these things: "In the monastery of Rubiac, the altar of St. Mary, the altar of St. Segolena," etc. Saussay, in the alphabetical index of the Gallican Martyrology, seems to distinguish St. Segolena of Clermont from the one of Albi, when in it he thus writes: "Segolena virgin venerated among the Arverni." And soon below: "Segolena of Albi, virgin, abbess." Moreover in the appendix, tome 2, page 1231, concerning the one of Clermont he speaks thus: "St. Segolena is venerated at Clermont of the Arverni in the monastic church of Rubiac, where she has an altar sacred to her commemoration." But now, already before, in the Supplement, tome 2, page 1150, concerning St. Segolena of Albi he had woven another eulogy, which we above in number 3 transcribed from him. I know not whence Saussay learned that both these Segolenas were virgins, and that the one is to be distinguished from the other. I would rather believe that St. Segolena of Clermont, of Limoges, and of Albi are one and the same, both because those places are not so remote from one another, and because this Saint is nowhere in the ancient documents called a virgin. Nevertheless I define nothing, since the name Segolena could have been common to several women, as is plain from the testament of Ansbert the bishop, which Mabillon in tome 1 of the Benedictine Annals, page 703, presents, where the aforesaid prelate makes mention of his own sister Sigolina.

[9] Mabillon in the preliminary observations to the Life of St. Segolena, number 4, confesses Her age is uncertain, that it cannot easily be defined at what time that Saint lived, since concerning the age of the persons who are mentioned in her Acts no certain opinion can be given. Whence I wonder that in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, third century, part 2, page 540, he in a vague manner refers her to the eighth century, and afterward in the Benedictine Annals, tome 1, page 606, narrates her deeds under the year 696. I am also ignorant whence Denys de Sainte-Marthe drew the notice which in tome 1 of Gallia Christiana, column 48, he thus inserted: "St. Segolena, first abbess of Troclar, flourished about the year 770; but died on the 24th of July, which is celebrated among the people of Albi." Since, therefore, I persuade myself that these learned men did not altogether rashly mark this time, and meanwhile could find nothing certain, at the beginning of this preliminary Commentary I noted in the margin the seventh or eighth century. This, therefore, I did rather on the faith of others than from my own opinion, ready easily to depart from them, if anyone shall have drawn out from somewhere a more certain age. Now concerning the writer of the Life and the Acts themselves, some things remain to be premised.

[10] The anonymous author, who committed to letters the deeds of St. Segolena, although a synchronous author wrote her Acts, was not only synchronous with the Saint, but even familiar with her, as is gathered from the prologue. I suspect that he was a monk of Troclar, because in the Mabillonian edition he once calls the Saint "our mother," and in the Labbean edition among the series of chapters he has chapter 24: "Concerning a certain monk of our monastery." But whoever at last that writer was, the monastery of Troclar was double, says Denys de Sainte-Marthe in the place just cited, that is, of men and of women. The monastery of the men, not far from the place where the nuns dwelt, had as abbot Evantius. That of the women, which was the chief, is founded in the district of Albi in a pleasant place on the river Tarn by Chramlic, father of St. Segolena, or by St. Segolena herself, who gathered there not a few virgins. Furthermore, Mabillon in the preliminary observations, number 5, thus argues concerning the site of this monastery: "The place of the monastery of Troclar, founded by Segolena, is equally obscure; yet we conjecture its site from the place called INSULA (island), whither the bodies of the nuns were carried to be buried: inasmuch as anciently it was the custom for the bodies of the dead to be buried not in the very cloisters of the monasteries, but outside. And indeed there is still to be seen the town of INSULA on the river Tarn, at nearly the eighth league below Albi, and on the opposite bank of the river the village of St. Martin, in which place (as is probable) the monastery of Troclar was founded, whose oratory was consecrated to St. Martin, and its church to blessed Mary, from chapters 18 and 22. Pope Paschal II, in letters granted to Otto abbot of the monastery of St. Victor founded at Marseille, among other things mentions the cell of St. Segolena in the diocese of Albi, by which name perhaps he understands LA GRAVE, the title of a barony, whose church has hitherto been dedicated to St. Segolena." Concerning the site of these places we shall again observe a few things in the annotations.

[11] of which we have several copies, both printed and manuscript. The Acts of St. Segolena our Labbe first, if I am not mistaken, published from the manuscript codex of the monastery of Moissac, and placed them in the appendix after the second tome of the new Library of manuscript books. Then Mabillon inserted the same, from the manuscript codex of Moissac and from the Labbean Library, as he affirms in the title, in the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, third century, part 2, from page 540, and illustrated them with preliminary observations. Our Papebroch also transcribed them from the Ms. of Moissac, which the Reverend Dom Claude Joly, canon of Paris, had communicated to him. But since Labbe drew his from the same source, no difference, or a slight one, can occur between those copies (in one it is written Sigolena, in the other Siggolena), so that there is no need to compare them studiously with one another. We have besides the Life of St. Segolena in the Ms. of St. Maximin of Trier, which a certain compiler seems to have contracted from the transcript of Moissac: for the prologue is lacking, and toward the end some things are omitted; but the rest are narrated in nearly the same words. Since, therefore, all these copies of the Acts proceed from the same source, we shall reprint them from Mabillon, who seems to have again collated them with the Ms. of Moissac. Wherever, however, any difference worthy of note occurs, we shall add it in the margin among the variant readings of Mabillon. But we premise, the prologue being finished, the ancient order of chapters, which we shall, after our manner, divide into several numbers and fewer chapters.

THE LIFE

BY AN ANONYMOUS COEVAL AUTHOR.

From the Acts of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, published by Mabillon, third century, part 2, from page 541, which has been collated with the Labbean edition.

Segolena, widow, at Albi in Occitania (St.)

BHL Number: 7570

FROM THE PRINTED TEXTS.

PROLOGUE.

The author asserts that he is synchronous with the Saint, Very often, with devout mind, O Aliphia ^a, reverend to me and consecrated to Christ, with the choir of your fellow-nun companions committed to you, you have commanded my unskillfulness, that I should endeavor with my pen to weave together the deeds of our kind Mother Segolena. Yet I believe it to be a sin, if I in no way obey so holy a desire. I ask, therefore, that you aid my endeavor with your prayers. Therefore, God helping, who said: For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you; I will set about to fulfill what you have asked. And many things indeed learned by the narration of the most Blessed one herself, and seen by myself ^b; some also I have learned in this work, brought forth by the relation of her venerable sisters, her disciples, who served her from her youth.

[2] And that I might cut off tedium from the readers, I have endeavored, under the compendium of brevity, and that he has briefly written her deeds. in a rustic speech indeed, narrating a few things out of very many concerning the virtues of the aforesaid handmaid of God, to render the truth known to many: and if the things which you commanded shall have been less usefully accomplished, accuse rather my difficulty than my disobedience. Behold, as you bade, you have a slight composition. Now, therefore, let each one desire to follow in living what he hastens to know in reading. I beseech your dignity, therefore, that when once you shall have read them, they may be adorned by the judgment of the skilled, that they may become suitable for the readers.

ANNOTATIONS.

THE CHAPTERS BEGIN.

Chapter I. Concerning her secular habit or manner of life.

II. Concerning her almsgivings.

III. Concerning the places of the Saints.

IV. Concerning the Office or vigils.

V. Concerning the admonition of her salvation.

VI. Concerning the purpose of chastity.

VII. Concerning the passing of her husband.

VIII. Concerning her consecration.

IX. Concerning her renunciation of the world.

X. Concerning the answer of her father.

XI. Concerning her entrance into the monastery.

XII. Concerning her seclusion retrusio.

XIII. Concerning her fasting or abstinence.

XIV. Concerning the offices of the monastery.

XV. Concerning the miracles, or the lepers cured.

XVI. Concerning the clerk freed from a demon.

XVII. Concerning a certain nun freed from a demon.

XVIII. Concerning a certain girl freed from the assault of the enemy.

XIX. Concerning the handmaids of the monastery freed from a demon.

XX. Concerning a nun freed from a demon.

XXI. Concerning a certain woman freed from a demon.

XXII. Concerning the visitation of her brother.

XXIII. Concerning knowledge divinely erased.

XXIV. Concerning a monk who wished to depart from the monastery.

XXV. Concerning a boy freed from a demon.

XXVI. Concerning Transimund the presbyter.

XXVII. Concerning a little boy enlightened.

XXVIII. Concerning a certain nun enlightened.

XXIX. Concerning a certain girl contracted and healed.

XXX. Concerning her approaching passing.

XXXI. Concerning her exhortation to her virgins.

XXXII. Concerning her happy passing.

XXXIII. Concerning the overflowing of oil.

[*] Labbe, "concerning the entrance" (de ingressu).

[*] Labbe, "concerning the resurrection" (de resurrectione).

[*] Labbe, "of the monastery-servants" (monasterialibus).

[*] Labbe, "concerning a certain monk of our monastery."

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's life spent for about ten years in marriage.

Chapter I.

To the conversion or correction of mortals the examples of good men much profit, The writer, having prefaced a few things, by which a man is edified to pursue various virtues. For if, for the incitement of good, the divine precepts by which we are admonished were lacking, the examples of the Saints would suffice us for a law. This the eternal King and Author has done from the ages, that He might commend the perennial fame of His men-servants and maid-servants, and that in future times, by commending their examples to memory, the offspring to come might glory. Therefore, since we set about to weave together the deeds of so great a mother, Segolena, the arbiter of our words shall be the immense Bestower of virtues, who granted her the gifts of perennial life by His grace.

[4] he narrates the Saint's marriage, Therefore the most blessed Segolena was of the city of the people of Albi, noble in birth, nobler in religion: who, dwelling with her parents for a short time, and from the very rudiments of infancy trained by studious labors and works according to her sex, was joined in matrimony at about twelve years of age; and she obtains as a spouse Gislulf by name, sublime in race, riches, and morals. She marries, therefore, an earthly man, and yet is not separated from the celestial King: she is more shared by Christ than associated in wedlock; subject to God, ever following the admonitions of the priests; fearing lest she should be degraded by the Lord, while she advanced in the rank of the world.

[5] As the space of time passed, now most happy for the love of God, which she had preferred to the love of the flesh, and her desire of continence, hating it wholly, fervent in spirit she desired to please God; she said to her husband: "O you man boiling with the flames of youth, receive all my goods: only make my body free, that I may accomplish what is according to my desire." And he: "Bear up yet a little while, and when it shall be God's will, so afterward it shall be done." And when he himself, the Holy Spirit illuminating him, had found the firm purpose and so wonderful and sudden a conversion frequently reigning in her; congratulating her on her excellent desire, knowing this to be the change of the right hand of the Most High, he said: "May the hand of the Lord, who is mighty, direct your every act unto good: do therefore what you do, work what you work." But she, rejoicing that she had received from him such a license, which now for a long time she greatly wished and desired for preserving her purpose of continence, glorified the Almighty Lord ^b.

II.

[6] For from that time, knowing that by almsgivings the kingdoms of heaven can be purchased, and he enumerates her works of mercy, she dedicated herself with her means to almsgiving, with whom the voice of the needy never sounded emptily. Often giving garments, believing that she covered the members of Christ under the garment of the poor: reckoning this, that she lost whatever she had not given to the poor. Stretching still her mind to the work of mercy, she visited the sick, gladly received arriving pilgrims, administered provisions on the journey, gladly dispensed to the poor, that she might glad say: He has dispersed, he has given to the poor: his justice remains forever.

III & IV.

[7] What the most blessed one did concerning the temples of the Saints, what eloquence could supply? What speech could unfold how munificent she showed herself toward the church? and other exercises of piety, to which she gave herself, With garments and ornament, which she was accustomed to wear with a brighter attire in the world, she adorned the sacred altars: then what remained she dispensed to the monasteries. For she was a true worshiper of the Lord, and it was necessary that she whom God had suffused with grace should be loved by all. To Christ, therefore, she daily rendered diligent service: and if she sat at dinner, keeping watch near her spouse, by some chance, that she might render to God His due, she withdrew herself from the banquet, reckoning whatever she bore [as] light, only lest she should grow cheap to Christ.

V & VI.

[8] At a certain time, a certain Brother coming into the city already mentioned, and the counsels of salvation which she eagerly received. the most Blessed one received him with religious congratulation and reverence, as a spiritual father. And since she was of a strong mind, at once she privately inquires of him, saying: "I wish to save my soul; teach me, I beseech you, the way of justice." And he: "It rests in the divine power, to whom God may wish to give the word of doctrine. The mighty and clement God has placed in your soul a true and great desire, who alone is mighty to renew perpetually those who persevere, and to beatify them. Therefore he who wishes to live according to God does not what carnally delights him, but what spiritually edifies: and whatever he desires, or does, he wishes to proceed not from his own, but from the will of his God, and with all his strength longs for this." She, given over in the fear of Christ, namely full of the Holy Spirit, believing that she was obtaining from the Lord the best virtue of continence, said: "I know, father, that from God the virtue of continence is given; but ours it is to ask, His it is to grant. The Lord Himself said: Ask and you shall receive."

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER II.

Her religious life after the death of her husband.

VII.

Nor long after did her husband die. The servants bewail their lord, the kinsmen their neighbor: Her husband being dead, for the whole house was in mourning: but that most Blessed one buried him with a most diligent burial. The Saint was subject to her husband for about ten years: over whose death, because she was gravely saddened, she was consoled by her parents, and she herself said to them: "In no way shall I be consoled, unless you permit me to despise all secular solicitude." They insist not on the cause of religion, but again solicit the rights of wedlock, that they might afterward glory temporally with her. There was meanwhile a strife between the holy purpose of the handmaid of God and the secular contention of her parents. The venerable Segolena chose rather to lead a monastic life than to live in her own house with peril to her chastity. Her parents, when they now perceived themselves overcome, and could not resist the purpose of her will; willing and unwilling, they satisfy her holy desire, which they could not withstand, their own will being renounced. But the Saint exulted with great joy over the consent of her parents, and thus, in all things made free, gave thanks to the Lord.

VIII & IX.

[10] At that time her parents sent a directed legation to the Pontiff of the aforesaid city, she becomes a deaconess, and so moved her father, that he should, with changed garment, consecrate her to the Lord. Who, their will being recognized, with hand laid on, consecrated her a deaconess ^a. But when the handmaid of God, the blessing being bestowed on her by the pontiff, had returned home, she began to desire a pilgrimage, mindful of that command of the Lord to Abraham: Go out from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house, and go into the land which I shall show you. Soon the most religious one, with tears, bows to the knees of her father, given to the divine worship, by name Chramsic ^b, and, kindled with holy desire, addresses him with these words: "The glory of this world, which passes like the flower of the grass, and the false riches of the world, for the love of the celestial kingdom, our Lord Jesus Christ inspiring me, who bestows all good, I resolve to despise according to the saying of the holy Gospel, and to renounce the world, and I desire to bear the yoke of Christ, which is light to those who bear it, and to be freed from the fetters of the world. For, divinely aided by the consent of my parents and by your permission, I have resolved to associate myself in the holy sheepfold with the virgins consecrated to God and freed from all disquiet of the world, wherever I shall be able the more rightly to keep the commands of God."

[11] Hearing these things, her father began to marvel at her desire kindled with the fire of the Lord and the ardor of her heart, so that he founded a monastery, and is joined to her in heart. But he, being an old man, was not satisfied in soul with her sweet eloquence and appearance, and on account of her holy purpose there arose a necessity of weeping for joy. And suddenly there enters into him a deific inspiration, that by his own work, with the grace of faith, he should build a monastery, where she might dwell, in a most pleasant place on his estate surnamed Troclar ^c. Which was so done, the Lord providing and helping. And he consoled her with paternal affection and exhorted her, that she should ever trust in the Lord, and effectually obey His commands: for he did not permit her to become an exile from her own region.

XI.

[12] At that time, therefore, the most Blessed one began to knock, which St. Segolena, that she might come to the desired place. Therefore she left her own homes, having set out with her companions, Christ leading, with a choir of psalm-singers going before. All, exulting with robust faith, approach, and her father received her honorably and much on account of her venerable sanctity. But God, who had foreseen the faith and constancy of His handmaid, brought her good purpose to effect. She entered, therefore, the place; where with her own she settled, and there, alone, began to give herself to prayers and fasts, bearing mortification in her body, that she might show a more abundant example. And not after many days the most Holy one gathers there not a few nuns, who in the ministry of God might praise Christ with hymns and spiritual canticles.

XII.

[13] A small interval of time being passed, therefore, the most Blessed one chose, together with all her own, to live regularly according to the institutes of the ancient Fathers. entered with the other nuns, Which God also granted her, who is accustomed always to fulfill the will of those who fear Him, and, according to the Apostle's saying, all things were common to many. Thither each of the noble women strove gladly to flock from every side, that by her example, despising the trappings of the present world and the pomp of possessions, they might receive the eternal rewards. And when now the place was crowded by the society of many nuns, a day is appointed on which the Saint had resolved to be secluded within the enclosure of the monastery (as is the custom of virgins). There was present also a multitude of the common folk: all rejoice, all exult over her glorious purpose.

XIII.

[14] From the day on which she took the beginning of religion, she began to be prompt in vigils, solicitous in observance, where, besides other virtues, swift in obedience, devout in labor, excellent in humility, mindful of that precept: He who humbles himself shall be exalted. So great piety, charity, gentleness, modesty, mildness, and sobriety overflowed in her, that if anyone ran through all, he would proclaim her both a confessor and a martyr. Therefore it was customary for her, except on the Lord's day, that according to the institution of the holy rule ^e, every day of fasting she should have the food of lentil and vegetable. In the first Lent also, in which she secluded herself in her cell, until it was passed, she drank no drink except water and perry ^f, she took barley bread, which yet she herself baked and ground. Her food was legume and vegetables, without a drop of oil, of scant measure.

[15] She also always had inwardly a hair-shirt, mourning, and her austere manner of living, for a linen garment ^g, continually chanting the course ^h, and unshod she performed the vigils: having before her ashes strewn with the hair-shirt laid over, at her head a stone for a pillow, this she used for a couch: but it seemed to her a small thing to sustain this poor little body. In the other Lents, in what manner she bore herself, who could enumerate one by one, since they are infinite? For from the time when she was consecrated, she ever led a life through austere discretion until the end of her life, lest perhaps she should be dissolved by too great wearing-away, mindful of that word, that man lives not by bread alone, but is satisfied by the word of life, and abounds as with an affluent feast.

XIV.

[16] That also, how devoutly she provided, for her own salvation, to expend labor on her neighbors, is not to be passed over in silence. she exercised various works of charity and humility. To her sick she served in her turns, herself cooking the foods, washing away the filth of the sick, offering warm water she visited what she cherished: she believed herself the lesser, if she did not ennoble herself by the lowliness of service. For concerning the monastery-offices, insofar as the frailty of the flesh did not stand in the way, nothing pleased her, unless she served first. Among the whole company of the nuns, she was held excellent both in the zeal of religion and in the cultivation of regular discipline.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER III.

Various miracles wrought by the intercession of St. Segolena.

XV.

Let that which she did secretly be brought forth into public. The Saint two leprous spouses At that time, therefore, two leprous spouses, the fame of her good repute now being known, having with them an only daughter, devoutly came to the presence of the Blessed one: prostrate at her knees, they beseech that she would deign to pray to the Lord for them. She answered them benevolently: "He who said, I will, be cleansed, if He wills can cure you." What more? On the following day, when they made themselves known by a sign, the Saint most secretly, scarcely with two witnesses, a bath being prepared within the doors of the monastery, so that no one might perceive; she bade also the servants set them down into warm water.

[18] she prodigiously cleanses, But she remained with only two witnesses, but serving them alone herself; the sick together with the healer. As far as is lawful for women, girt with a linen cloth from the head to the soles, she carries about the members of the sick, washing their heads, purging the putrescences of the skin. The leprosy was put to flight: then the diseased ones, whom she had set down, come out healthy from the warm water: but on the next day they came to the church, gleaming in skin: they gave thanks to God for the health which they had received. The most Holy one bids the miracle be concealed, which now almost the whole city was relating in public; nor did the Almighty God suffer the lamp to be concealed under a bushel.

XVI & XVII.

[19] Therefore at that time a certain young man, Dadulf by name, under the profession of a monk, having counterfeited all humility and innocence, approached, and a monk and a girl, and dwelt for some time with the venerable man Evantius ^a the abbot, in common with his brethren. As his deserts demanded, he was seized by a demon. When he was wickedly tormented by the enemy, he is carried in men's hands to the monastery of Troclar, to the Saint, to be cured; and, no delay being given, he obtained what he sought. Thereafter another like miracle was wrought. A certain girl, when she was grievously vexed by the adversary, on the following day, the Saint praying, by a new cure of Christ, through the top of the crown and the cracking skin, as a cenonymia ^b

the adversary going out, she was restored whole. This was done in our presence ^c.

XVIII & XIX.

[20] Let there be added to her praise what was not lacking in merit. A certain girl, by name Canciola [*], a handmaid of the aforesaid cell, when she labored most grievously under the assault of the enemy, and could scarcely bring the rebellious foe to the handmaid of God; and several other women, by command of the aforesaid man Chramsic, her father, is admitted into the oratory of blessed Martin, and with a huge outcry at once proclaims: "How long do you not cease to persecute us, Christian woman?" For, laying hold of those holding [her], she began to beat them with hands and heels. Then presently the Blessed one prostrates herself in prayer; but after the prayer which she poured out with tears, moved with pity and full of faith, she seized her with her hand: and he who was feared feared exceedingly. Immediately, the demon being put to flight, she received back entire health. Nor let that be passed over, which is most similar to the deed. But after a little time the Lord deigned to cure, through the same handmaid of His, two women, handmaids of the aforesaid monastery, Pallidea and Palladia, horribly seized by a demon.

XX.

[21] Thereupon a cohort of the sick began to frequent her for restoring their health: who, obeying the petitions of all, women possessed by a demon, with the medicine of prayers, supported by divine aid, succored by curing the infirmities of all who came to her. Thereafter, after a small interval of time, a certain nun of the territory of the city of Rodez ^d, by name Baudelona [*], when for very many years she was tormented as one possessed, divinely inspired, asked to be led to the Saint's presence. When she had come, she is presented and delivered, is rolled at her knees, tearfully asking that she would deign to pray to the Lord for her health. The most blessed Segolena leans without delay to prayer, the whole congregation prostrates itself. There was so much delay that, while the Saint rose from prayer, the Divinity is present, the enemy is put to flight, and afterward, received on the same day without any sign of aberration in the same monastery, subject to Christ, she ended her life.

XXI.

[22] Who could number the marvels which the clemency of Christ works through her? A certain woman, by name Regnoalda [*], when now for a long time she was grievously vexed by a diabolical assault, she frees by her prayers, is scarcely brought to the presence of the Blessed one; with a tearful voice she prays that she might deserve to be freed from that vexation by her prayers. She lay now for three days lifeless, and profited nothing. But a certain brother said to the most Blessed one: "It is useful to have mercy on every soul." At last the father commands that for the health of the sick woman she should take off the girdle with which she was clothed, and that she should be girded with it. Lest she should appear disobedient to the father, not acting from the vice of vainglory, but obeying his command, she took it off, and girded her; and, the sisters being applied together, she prays the mercy of the Lord for her. Immediately the prayer of intercession is fulfilled, and the woman is at once freed from the assault of the enemy. The Saint humbly wished to conceal it and to render the honor to God. The woman, therefore, health being received ^e, made known to all the deed done.

XXII.

[23] But on a certain day the brother of the aforesaid handmaid of God, and divinely obtains rain, that she may keep her brother with her. Sigibald ^f by name, venerable in virtue, had come to her for the sake of exhortation and edification, charity compelling him, who loved her greatly: whom the most Blessed one received with all joy, as a man of God. Meanwhile with all affection he taught her spiritual doctrine. But after the sermon of edification, evening now come, with many prayers she asks that he would remain there that night: which the man of God with great humility forbade to be done. And when the handmaid of God had heard this, saddened, she betook herself to the divine aid: and soon, having entered the church of blessed Mary ever virgin, she there leaned upon prayer. But the Almighty God showed what she was. For a little after her prayer a rain, exceedingly enormous, came into that same place from the East. Then that man, seeing that he could not bear the immensity of the rain, remained there that night; and thus he understood that her faith had merited the gifts of the divine bounty. Of which matter he himself, and more than many others, are witnesses ^g.

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER IV.

Her other miracles.

XXIII.

Let that be brought into the midst which religion may rejoice at. But at the same time, when a certain brother had come to her for the sake of visitation, Her sins and they poured out to one another sweet words of life, and, sighing, tasted the sweet food of the celestial homeland in their conference, the most Blessed one said: "Many, father, as you are not ignorant, can have a life without crime, but cannot have one without sin, the Apostle attesting, who said: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But I ask you, pray to the Lord for me, because He Himself promised, saying: All things whatsoever you ask, praying, believe that you shall receive them for yourselves." Straightway concerning small and least sins, without which we cannot be, since grave sins were lacking, mindful of that proclamation of the Psalmist, I have made my sin known to Thee; weeping, she confesses whatever she did: and she began with humility of heart to demand that from faith, which is the foundation of justice, a written record might be made of them, and be placed under the seal of a ring, divinely, upon the altar.

[25] What amid these things the brother should do, he weighed with anxious heart. she learns to have been wonderfully erased, Faith armed his mind, taught him to obtain the opportune things. The work, sealed with a seal, in the presence of many, of whose religion nothing was doubted, he commended to the sacred altar. Almost daily he offered the saving Host for her in that same year, and afflicted himself with tears; bound himself with vigils and fasts: to her piously asking, a bountiful Power succored. A space of time being accomplished, while venerable men awaited the day of the Lord's birth—those who now by the gift of the Creator survive—the supreme prelate of Christ also, her brother, and likewise the noble man Gisloald [*] ^a the abbot, into their presence the written record was drawn, the seal was loosed. Thus faith and prayer merited that the power of the eternal Judge, who examines faults, should wash away all the sins of His faithful handmaid, and restore the little page to its former whiteness. She gives thanks to the Creator, who thus bestows the gifts sought.

XXIV.

[26] At another time also a certain poor little girl came in spirit to conversion, whom the most Blessed one most gladly received. In a short time she had equaled the virtues of the nuns. Meanwhile there arose in her a thought cast in by the devil, and she was unwilling to remain in the monastery. On a certain day, wishing secretly to depart from the congregation, she is at once filled by a demon: but the sisters led her back trembling to the monastery. When the unclean spirit could not be restrained in her, necessity compelling, she is bound with great ropes. It was not an undeserved penalty for the fugitive, that whom faith had not restrained, the rope should restrain. The blessed Segolena leans without delay to prayer, the whole congregation prostrates itself, the cure of the possessed one is obtained: who at once promised that she would never depart from the monastery; and from that same hour she remained in her promise.

XXV.

[27] But at a certain time, when it was the venerable day of the Litanies ^b, which had gathered many Christians into one, there was there her brother the duke, Babo ^c by name, strong in nobility and wisdom, and she cures another demoniac. who ruled the inhabitant peoples through the fields of Albi. While the third hour was being celebrated, soon there enters one of the people (whose face I know, but whose name I know not), who, seized by a demon, before all the people began to be vexed, and to cry with great voices, saying: "Hither I am sent, that I must be cleansed." His kinsmen, weeping, offered him to the handmaid of the Almighty God, Segolena: whom, having received, she gave herself for many days and nights to prayer. Not after many days she rendered him so sound and unharmed, as if the devil had never had his own right over him. And so, purged by the divine aid of God, the demon went out through a flux of the belly.

XXVI.

[28] At that time also a certain presbyter, by name Transimund, had lost the light of his eyes, To a presbyter, so that he saw nothing at all. He is admonished in his sleep that the most blessed Segolena should sign his eyes. But on the same night, awaking from his slumber, when morning came he rose and charged the most intimate one of his household to lead him into the presence of the blessed Segolena. He came, therefore, and rolled himself at her feet, and prayed that she would deign to pray the clemency of the Lord for him. There arises a common grief of all. But the handmaid of Christ, Segolena, full of the Holy Spirit, invoking the Trinity, poured out a prayer briefly. Soon the power filled the light emptied by darkness, so that when he had come led by another, he departed with none leading. His kinsmen exult at the miracle, the congregation of the holy Segolena trembles.

XXVII & XXVIII.

[29] At another time also, when a certain boy, by name Vassus, had lost the light of his eyes, being led to this handmaid of the Almighty God, Segolena, and to a boy and a nun he restored sight, he sought and obtained the help of her intercession. Then the blessed Segolena, after her wont, prostrates herself in prayer for him: the prayer being made, she anointed his eyes with holy oil. Straightway, the light being restored, the night of blindness departed. For at the same time a certain nun, Sigetrudis [*] by name, when she had lost the light of her eyes, the most blessed Segolena praying to the Lord for her, and instilling her tears, anointed her eyes with holy oil, and forthwith she saw.

XXIX.

[30] At a certain time, therefore, an unhappy and infirm girl, and she heals a contracted girl. a handmaid of the aforesaid girl, with hands and feet contracted crept along the ground: for which reason on a certain day her parents prostrated themselves at the feet of the most blessed Segolena, saying: "We trust that nothing is to be denied you by the Lord: pour out pious prayers for her, and she will be saved." Which being heard, moved with pity, and compelled by the tears of the parents, the most sacred Segolena was unwilling to refuse. Yet alone

she prostrates herself in prayer. And when she had completed the prayer, with hand extended she lifted the girl to her feet, and, all her members recovered, she walked unharmed to her little lodging. For with how great miracles she shone forth, who could relate?

ANNOTATIONS.

CHAPTER V.

The Saint's virtues, her sickness, her last counsels, death, and burial.

XXX.

Now, as I hope, though in a rustic sense, we have drawn out a prolix discourse concerning the life of so great a Mother: The author, the Saint's virtues being enumerated, and yet we have not been able to narrate praises worthy of her merits. For neither the ingenuity nor the memory of my slightness would suffice to pronounce to you all her spiritual pursuits, or the profuse desire in the love of Christ. For the most Holy one, with a benign and sincere conscience, whatever she commanded to others, she herself did all for the Lord and fulfilled, that on the day of judgment a worthy reward might be conferred on her. She insisted incessantly on prayer, reading, preachings, and almsgivings; nor did she teach by words what she did not fulfill by examples. For she was always of a placid and angelic countenance, so that according to the Scripture, the heart rejoicing, the countenance flourished. She never wished to be idle from the work of God, that she might deservedly be crowned with the crown of glory. But since now the discourse leads me to the end and her happy passing, I will touch upon a few things. But it happened that, when she now sustained many tribulations in the world, according to what is written, keeping the faith through the arms of justice on the right hand and on the left, consummating her course, awaiting the crown of justice laid up by Christ to be restored to her, she desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ.

XXXI.

[32] When her infirmity now extended through several days, the whole company of virgins being gathered, he relates how, having fallen into sickness, she admonished the nuns, she says to them: "Now I desire to be dissolved and to be in rest; but you I admonish, my most sweet bowels and holy members, live in Christ, and with the fear of God fulfill the spiritual rule. For it is written: Cursed is the man who does the work of God negligently. Strive to enter by the narrow gate. Labor a little, that you may receive much: despise earthly things, that you may attain the heavenly. O my little daughters, keep obedience, because among all virtues it claims the primacy. Have the love of God toward one another; love humility; abhor pride, on account of which the devil also was cast down. Hold faith unchangeable: for this is the foundation of all virtues; and keep the sanctification of soul and body, without which no one will see the Lord. Be mindful that, as the Order is now kept, so it be kept until the consummation. Farewell in peace, and loose the obstacles of my holding-back, that the celestial kingdoms may now lie open to me."

XXXII.

[33] And when day by day the languor grew heavier, on the sixth day the man of God her brother Sigebald the bishop came to see her. she piously expired. And when she wished to be without breath, trusting in the celestial gift, which by long service she had sought, by the reception of the Lord's Body and Blood she fortified her soul, she herself began the fiftieth psalm, and bade her virgins sing psalms. Thus with the voice of one praying to the Lord, the Holy Spirit admonishing, gazing at the heavens she said: "Jesus Christ, sole hope of the world, do Thou multiply this flock, and lead me to the kingdom of Thy glory." At the very hour of her departure, many nuns stood around her little bed, desiring to see her blessed departure: and they saw her face as the face of an angel. For it is written: But they that love Thee shall shine as the sun in its rising. And with hands stretched on high, she suddenly beholds heaven with mortal eyes, and confesses and most certainly confirms that before her little bed there stood the Lord Jesus Christ, clothed with exceeding splendor. And when she gazed upon Him whom she saw, that holy soul thus went forth from the body, and, joined to the fellowship of the angels, ascended rejoicing into the heavens; which sign other signs accompanied.

[34] and in what place she was buried, And when her body had, after the custom, been stripped for washing, so great a fragrance of wondrous odor was suddenly diffused in that place, as if there the perfumes of all flowers had been gathered, and it satisfied those dwelling and walking there, and showed that thither the author of sweetness had come. On her own estate, in a most safe place, surnamed Insula ^b, in which her father had built a church to Christ, and himself had established estates which might serve for the reception of pilgrims; thither she bade her little body be carried, where she herself had buried many members of the holy handmaids of God. Suddenly, her death being known, almost the whole city broke forth into lamentation: the father bewailed the daughter, the brothers bewailed the sister, the servants the mistress. The body is carried in on a bier, the voice is poured out in praise of the Redeemer. At length the handmaids of God, going out of the chamber, bearing the holy little body to the predestined place, to be given to burial; before the horn of the altar they laid it down, and with all glory buried it. Then the choirs of virgins, beating their breasts, giving forth lowings, proclaimed: "O dire death, why dost thou today destroy so many, while thou takest from us the presence of our holy Mother?" It is long to relate one by one how great and of what kind are the miracles of our kind mother Segolena which we hitherto behold flashing there without intermission. For since that place, sanctified by the noble members buried there, deserved to be singularly illustrious, the Almighty did not delay to apply continually, after her death, a testimony to her merit of good work.

XXXIII.

[35] When once the guardian of the church had fitted a glass vessel at the head of the sepulcher, where various miracles are wrought at her tomb, overflowing beyond the measure which the vessel could hold; by the gift of grace it rendered a liquor of oil the next day to the guardians, the interest being doubled. It stands forth through the ages, to all for joy, to the faithful for reward, to the sick for remedy. For by her merit the divine gift offered, the vessel bathed in oil continually overflows, where, buried in body, she flashes with daily miracles ^c. The sick come, and are healed; demoniacs come, and are freed; lepers come, and are cleansed; the mute come, and speak; the fever-stricken come, and are healed. Which also in that hut ^d, in which she formerly dwelt, even now, if the faith of those asking requires it, flashes with miracles, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom is honor and glory, power and might and eternal majesty with the Father together with the Holy Spirit reigning, now and always, and through the infinite ages of ages, Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.