ON ST. EBRULF, ABBOT,
AT BEAUVAIS IN GAUL.
ABOUT THE END OF THE 6TH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The Saint's cult, age, abbey, and Acts.
St. Ebrulf, abbot, at Beauvais in Gaul.
BY THE AUTHOR G. C.
[1] The church of Beauvais (but Belloacum or Bellovacum, now commonly Beauvais, is an ancient city of Belgic Gaul) venerates among its patrons St. Ebrulf on the 26th of July, although the Martyrologies commemorate his feast on this day, and the Acts themselves attest that he died on the 8th of the Kalends of August. St. Ebrulf, who is reported on this day in various Martyrologies, We do not know what is the cause of this transposition; but we place him on this day, following the Acts and the Martyrologies, among which Usuard augmented, of the Queen of Sweden, today thus has: "Beauvais, of holy Ebrulf confessor." Saussay, after his manner, composed a rather prolix eulogy from the Acts, which may be seen in volume 1 of the Gallican Martyrology, pages 462 and 463. Castellanus, in the Universal Martyrology, announces the same Saint on the 25th of July. Moreover, in the Breviary of Beauvais of the year 1554 there is a triple Office of him, as is read in the table prefixed, and at Matins the following are recited: "The venerable annual day of Ebrulf is at hand, on which, the clod of the flesh being despised, he triumphs with the angels, the blessed Man receiving immortal glory, by whose feast you enlighten us, may you protect us by your merit; help us all, O God, by the prayers of Ebrulf." The prayer is from the common of abbots, "intercession, etc." Then follow the proper Lessons, which are drawn from the Acts.
[2] Of the time in which our Saint lived there is no small controversy: for Mabillon, in the Benedictine Annals, volume 1, Le Cointe contends that he lived in the 8th century, page 250, and in the Acts of the Saints of the same Order, saeculum 1, page 366, marks his death about the year 600; but Le Cointe, in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, volume 4, pages 62, 63, 330, 331, 332, 333, 580, 581, 582, and 626, tries with various little reasonings to persuade that St. Ebrulf is a whole century younger. But since here, to defer the Saint's age so long, among other arguments he produces a certain diploma of Chilperic, king of the Franks, I thought it should be premised, that the state of the question may be more clearly understood. Antoine Loisel, in the Monuments of Beauvais, page 71, attests that he saw that diploma written in Gothic letters on bark, and, page 236, exhibits it thus: "Chilperic, king of the Franks, illustrious man. Since we both remain in this life for a short time, and hasten inescapably to death, it behooves us to do the will of the Lord, and devoutly to build churches or places of the venerable Saints, that we may be able to rejoice with them in perpetuity: for doing these things we shall without doubt be able to please the true God, and to reign with the Saints in perpetuity.
[3] bringing forward a certain diploma of Chilperic, king of the Franks, Therefore be it known to those present and future, namely to all the Agents of our kingdom, that formerly, the pagans rushing into the lands of the Franks, churches were destroyed, very many monasteries depopulated and devastated: to rebuild which, since our mind, if the means be at hand, was altogether ready, the lord Dodo, venerable bishop of Beauvais, and our most dear abbot Ebrulf, with very many other faithful of our kingdom, approached our serenity, beseeching that a certain church, which by the ancients had been built in honor of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, and of St. Lucian the martyr, near the walls of the city of Beauvais, but afterward indeed was devastated and destroyed by the irruption of the pagans, we would, for our salvation and the preservation of our whole kingdom, by our munificence and largesse order to be rebuilt, and that we and our successors would protect it under our jurisdiction in perpetuity. And this especially because our parents once wished to bring this same church to a better state, giving the revenues of certain of their possessions, and, committing the providence of this business to the bishops of the above-named city, entrusted it to them; but they, desiring other things, left this commission neglected.
[4] Us, therefore, most greatly invites to accomplish this, that in these our days holy Lucian, the glorious martyr of the Lord, appeared through a vision to the above-said abbot Ebrulf, here transcribed, and asked that he would raise up from hiding holy Maxianus, who still lay hidden on Mount Milio, and had been slain for Christ in his company, and lay him with himself in the same church: where, from the day on which that command was performed, many and illustrious miracles through those holy Martyrs are shown in that place. Therefore, because the petition is just and useful, we, lending our authority, by this page of our decree decree and confirm that the church in honor of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, and of holy Lucian the martyr, where that saint himself rests in body, which is near the walls of the city of Beauvais, be rebuilt by the munificence of our liberality, and be fitted for the services of the almighty Lord, and that cenobites serving God be gathered there: yet so that in perpetuity, under us and our successors, namely the kings of the Franks, that place and church shall stand, nor let anyone entrust or subject it to anyone endowed with any secular power. But if anyone, which we by no means believe, shall wish to act against this decree of our sanction otherwise than has been dictated by us, and shall attempt to violate this our precept, let him incur the wrath of the supreme Judge, for whose name and love we have confirmed these things, and let him by the laws lose whatever possession he is seen to have, and moreover, as an exile and fugitive, let him depart, fleeing from the power of the whole kingdom. Which decree of our serenity, that it may obtain fuller vigor, we have caused to be attested by the impression of our ring, and, subscribing with our own hand, have confirmed. The mark of Chilperic the glorious king. I, Eltritus, palatine scribe, have recognized it. Given in the year of the Lord's incarnation 606, the ninth Indiction, in the 22nd year of the reign of king Chilperic. Done at Rouen in a general assembly on the 3rd of the Nones of the month of May."
[5] The year of the Lord's incarnation, besides that it is here corruptly written, which, if it is genuine, was not wont to be noted in the royal diplomas of that time, as Le Cointe and others readily confess. Was that year too expressed in Gothic letters on the bark? If so, the whole instrument of donation is rendered suspect, and at least it is established that it is not an autograph. Besides, Le Cointe at the year of Christ 716, no. 4, brings forward another diploma of Chilperic, which is "written in a very barbarous style," to use his own words: but I, in the diploma exhibited above, which Le Cointe too at the year of Christ 716, no. 5, reports and attributes to the same Chilperic, do not find so great a barbarity of style. Was the style of the diplomas changed in one and the same year? There are also other things which compel me to doubt of the truth of that diploma, concerning which our own Germon, in the Disceptation on the ancient diplomas of the kings of the Franks, may be seen. But Le Cointe, in the place just cited, passes this judgment on this instrument: "The charter for the monastery of St. Lucian near the walls of the city of Beauvais we think was given by king Chilperic, before he proceeded to war, in this year (namely 716) at Compiègne on the 3rd of the Nones of May. Nothing is read in this charter which conflicts with historical truth, provided you understand by the name of king Chilperic Chilperic the third." But I contend that this diploma (whether it be true or false, I do not now dispute) is to be ascribed to Chilperic the first, and that Le Cointe here by a whole
century strays from true chronology, as I shall now try to prove by certain arguments.
[6] against his conjectures it is to be attributed to Chilperic I. In the first place, this opinion of Le Cointe utterly overthrows our Acts, in which, no. 5, our Saint is said to have been raised to the abbatial dignity at the persuasion of queen Fredegund, who departed from the living before the end of the sixth century. Other persons too are mentioned, whose age cannot be composed with the Le Cointian system, as we shall observe in the notes. But those Acts, written already some centuries ago, are with reason defended so long as they are not proved manifestly false. Besides, Le Cointe himself, at the year of Christ 634, no. 8, from the Life of St. Eligius, written by his contemporary Audoenus, reports the following fragment: "Among the other distinctions of his good works, he fashioned many sepulchres of the Saints with gold and silver and gems, that is, of Germanus, Severinus, Piaton, Quintinus, Lucian, Genoveva, Columba, Maximian, and Lolianus and Julian, and moreover of many others besides." But it is established from the Martyrology of Usuard at the 8th of January that Maximian or Maxianus and Julian were companions of Lucian, as in our Acts at that day it was more fully explained. Now I argue thus ad hominem: if St. Eligius, who died in the seventh century, adorned the sepulchre of St. Maximian with gold and silver, how could Chilperic the third, in the eighth century, say in his diploma the following: "Us, therefore, most greatly invites to accomplish this, that in these our days holy Lucian, the glorious martyr of the Lord, appeared through a vision to the above-said abbot Ebrulf, and asked that he would raise up from hiding holy Maxianus, who still lay hidden on Mount Milio, and had been slain for Christ in his company, and lay him with himself in the same church." How, I say, could Chilperic the third, so many years later than St. Eligius, say this, if "nothing is read in this charter," according to Le Cointe, "which conflicts with historical truth"? But these things are easily reconciled, if they be referred to the times of Chilperic the first, with Louvet, Loisel, Mabillon, and others.
[7] Against the same Le Cointe it is shown Nor are the conjectures of Le Cointe more certain, on account of which, against the express assertion of our Acts, he contends that St. Ebrulf was abbot not of St. Fuscian, but of St. Lucian. "But it is very probable," says Le Cointe in the Annals at the year of Christ 696, no. 24, "that blessed Lucian appeared to the abbot of the church in which he rested, and admonished that his companion of martyrdom should be translated from Mount Milio to it, so that those who had been joined in passion might be joined also in burial. Then Ebrulf the abbot approached king Chilperic for the restoring of the church of St. Lucian the martyr, nor would he have promoted that business so diligently, unless he had presided over the same church." But to these little reasonings I oppose the diploma of Chilperic, in which, according to him, nothing is read which conflicts with historical truth. But in it Chilperic, among other things, decrees in honor of St. Lucian that "cenobites serving God be gathered there." Whence it follows that not yet at that time was a monastery established there. How, then, is St. Ebrulf in the same diploma called abbot? How can he be called by Le Cointe abbot of St. Lucian, where there was as yet no congregation of monks? It is therefore most probable that St. Ebrulf was abbot of St. Fuscian, as our Acts attest.
[8] that St. Ebrulf was not abbot of St. Lucian, Moreover, I judge to be false what Le Cointe at the year of Christ 683, no. 10, so confidently asserts with the Sammarthani concerning the monastery of St. Fuscian; namely that its first foundations were laid at the beginning of the twelfth century by Enguerrand, count of Amiens: for Le Cointe at the year of Christ 555, no. 20, reporting the finding of St. Fuscian, describes the history of that finding from the manuscript codex of François Duchesne, at the end of which this is read: "Then king Childebert, the most pious prince, ordered the wagons [c'] of the aforesaid to be buried in the same place with fitting honor, and moreover ordered a hall of a temple to be built with faithful devotion, through which holy Fuscian and Victoricus and Gentianus, the martyrs, the Lord Christ deigned to show many miracles there." Indeed I confess that here is not expressed a monastery, as though it were built with that church in honor of the Martyrs: yet what wonder if some monks were employed to administer that church, and thus the place gradually grew into a monastery, which took the name of St. Fuscian from the first martyr, and over which St. Ebrulf presided? What too forbids that a monastery was added a little after to the church built there, especially since our Acts expressly affirm it, to which I shall adhere so long, until someone convict them of manifest falsity.
[9] I rather, therefore, assent to Mabillon, who in the Benedictine Annals, volume 1, but of St. Fuscian, page 138, thus speaks of the origin of that monastery: "To this year (namely 555) Charles Le Cointe recalls the finding of the bodies of the holy martyrs Fuscian, Victoricus, and Gentianus, who in the time of Diocletian suffered martyrdom in the district of Amiens, on the public road, namely in that place where the monastery of St. Fuscian is hitherto seen; buried not far from this place in a village afterward called Sanctis, where even now their cenotaphs are seen. Honoratus, bishop of Amiens, forewarned from heaven by the presbyter Lupicinus, was the author of their elevation. Childebert, moved by the fame of the matter, when he could not remove the sacred bodies thence, ordered a basilica to be built in the place of their martyrdom, in which they might be laid. Hence the beginnings of the monastery of St. Fuscian in the Wood, from which the relics of this holy martyr, as also of the holy Victoricus and Gentianus, were brought to Amiens, and placed in the greater church: thence afterward translated, those of Gentianus indeed into the monastery of Corbie, but those of Victoricus to Saint-Quentin; although the people of Amiens utterly deny it. Over the monastery of St. Fuscian, which is situated at the fifth milestone from that city, on the old Paris road, was set a little after Ebrulf, abbot of Beauvais, at the persuasion of queen Fredegund, who greatly venerated him … In the process of time the monastery of St. Fuscian was overthrown, which Ingelram the count restored at the close of the tenth century." Mabillon doubtless, for "the close of the tenth century," here meant to say "the beginning of the twelfth," as is clear from volume 5 of the Annals, page 479, where at the year 1105, no. 104, he thus writes: "There had lain up to that time buried in ruins the monastery of St. Fuscian at Amiens, of which we treated in the first volume: but at last it was restored by Ingelram, count of Boves." This opinion of Mabillon accords excellently with the Acts, of which I shall now forewarn a few things.
[10] The Life of St. Ebrulf, drawn from a Manuscript of Beauvais, I found among our collections. It was written in a brief and sincere style by an anonymous author, and some things concerning his Acts are noted beforehand. whom Mabillon gathers to have lived after the ninth century. Others divine that he flourished in the twelfth century. I could ascertain nothing certain of his age, except that he wrote after the Saint's translation, which was made to Beauvais about the middle of the ninth century, as Mabillon observed in the notes to the Life of St. Ebrulf, which he published in print among the Acts of the Saints of the Benedictine Order, saeculum 1, from page 366. Moreover, concerning these Acts Jacques le Long, who lately published the Historical Library of Gaul, occupied me with a useless investigation: for when in it, page 246, at no. 5310, I read "The Life of St. Ebrulf abbot, by a contemporary author," and le Long there asserted that it is reported by Surius at the 26th of July among the Lives of the Saints, I began to turn and re-turn Surius; but there, in the whole month of July, I found no mention of St. Ebrulf. But since in the same Library, at the following number, le Long affirmed that the Life of the same was written by an anonymous author, and that it was inserted by Mabillon in the Acts of the Saints of his Order, volume 1, page 336, I inspected the cited place; but neither here did I find anything concerning St. Ebrulf. Consulting therefore the index of that volume, I detected the acts of a double Ebrulf: and the former indeed of St. Ebrulf, abbot of Ouche, page 354; but the other of our Ebrulf, page 366. Hence I suspected that both these holy Abbots, on account of the similarity of the name, were confounded by le Long, and at last found in Surius at the 29th of December the Life of St. Ebrulf, abbot of Ouche, which was composed by a certain disciple of his, or a familiar friend, as the title has, and from which probably this confusion in le Long arose. Whatever it be, we shall here print the Life of our St. Ebrulf, collated with the Mabillonian edition, from the Manuscript of the church of Beauvais, to which, likewise from a Manuscript of Beauvais, we shall subjoin some more recent miracles, which are wanting in Mabillon.
Annotations* or "non corpora" (not the bodies)?
LIFE
BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR
From the Manuscript of the cathedral church of Beauvais, collated with the Mabillonian edition.
St. Ebrulf, abbot, at Beauvais in Gaul.
BHL Number: 2372
FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.
St. Ebrulf from a barren mother The memory of religious men, the more excellent it is in merits, the more illustrious it ought to be made by our studies: hence, for an example of good working, we have undertaken to describe briefly, according to our measure, the life of blessed Ebrulf. Which holy man, sprung of the lineage of the Franks, is recorded to have been a citizen of the city of Beauvais. His mother, while she was barren and frequented the places of the Saints, imploring by fastings and prayers that she might not remain unfruitful, heard an answer from an angel, that she would bear a son, who would be called by such a name; whose life would shine with many virtues.
[2] born But being born according to what had been divinely promised, advancing in age and morals, he meditated even in his very boyish age what he afterward devoutly fulfilled. For he was, although a little boy, prompt to obey, ripe to tread down vices, so that in his very youthful novitiate he was an example of old age; committing neither eye to pleasure, nor ear to mockery, nor mind to levity, he always governed himself by the anchor of gravity, who, amid the very beginnings of a new youth, burned with such fervor of faith that he voluntarily forsook, for the charity of Christ, his parents, to whose desire infancy is wont hastily to run back, and avoided carnal affections as enemies of the soul, believing it sufficient for himself if he should place all love in heavenly desire alone.
[3] Nor much after did he deliver himself to a certain servant of God to be instructed, and for his virtues and whatever he received by ear from him or from others, prudent men, he retained in an excellent heart: for he was affable to all, comely in aspect, illustrious in speech, elegant in body, at no moment pursuing leisure; but either reading or meditating or working with his hands the things which are useful to the soul. But, always intent on the divine Scriptures, he afflicted his body with fasting, and once a day, at evening, took food. After some time he received the habit of monastic conversation; and an oratory being built for himself, in that place which was afterward designated by posterity with the appellation of the Oratory a, because it had several houses of prayer, he served the Lord there without intermission.
[4] And when the fame of his holiness grew frequent, being summoned by the bishop of Beauvais, and, for his virtues and miracles, promoted to the sacred Orders, he is advanced to the grade of the diaconate, strongly resisting and proclaiming himself unworthy. There came at length to him a concourse of the religious and of those laboring with sickness, to whom, Christ's name being invoked, he heaped up the remedy of health. It is long to go through the several great miracles by which the holy Man shone. But yet out of very many we shall report a few, that from these the rest may be understood. When on a certain day a woman deprived of light * was presented to him, at once, the sign of the cross being made, he enlightened her. Others too, the blind, lepers, those possessed by a demon, and detained by various infirmities, he cured. He is summoned again by the prelate, and, though unwilling, is raised to the presbyterate, and, frequent and devout in offering, studiously carried out the enjoined office. There was a certain noble man seized by demons, who is led to him by an escort of servants and kinsmen: whom, when the holy Man had gazed upon, the sign of the cross being set before, he compelled the demons to go out foully through the man's hinder parts, and freed the man. When by these works he was divulged far and wide, he pleased greatly also the king and the other princes, because some of the palace men had obtained health through him.
[5] But on a certain night, while he rested on his couch, let him be abbot of a monastery; behold, there appeared to him as it were a flock of sheep, desolate, and which [j'] had no shepherd, dispersed here and there; and it was said to him: "Man of God, why do you suffer this flock to stray?" Immediately awakened, he learned a little after what that vision portended [k']. For at the persuasion of queen Fredegund b, who greatly venerated him, the nobles of the palace resolved to set this servant of God as abbot over the monks, destitute of their father, in the suburbs of Amiens c, where Fuscian and Victoricus contended in glorious martyrdom d. And so men being sent to bring him, being led to that place by violence rather than of his own accord, he undertook the pastoral care, worn out with the greatest weariness, that he had been compelled to desert the place where he had lived quietly for a long time. Having therefore arranged in the monastery the things which were fitting for the life and uses of the brethren, he so prostrated himself in humility that he bore himself as the least of all, and the ministries deputed to the lowest and vilest persons he himself underwent with cheerful countenance and mind, remembering the Lord's precept: "Whoever will be first among you, let him be your servant."
[6] Once, walking with the brethren, after his custom he treated of certain things from the Scriptures; and after other tokens of virtues when behold, a man by name Clarius , whom both blindness and the ancient serpent had oppressed, thrusts himself forward with a sudden rush, and, having heard the Priest of the Lord, began to gnash with his teeth and to emit a monstrous roaring. Then the man of God, moved by mercy, uttered this prayer: "Lord Jesus Christ, eternal light, to whom every knee is bent, who by the gibbet of the cross overcame the enemy of the human race, dissipate the darkness of this wretched man, and mercifully put to flight the robber who lurks in him, by the command of your power." These things said, the blind man recovered his sight and the malignant spirit vanished. Nor do we think that should be passed over in silence which the blessed martyr Lucian e revealed to him, that he should seek out Maxianus , his colleague, still lying squalid where he had been martyred, and, when found, should bury him with himself: who, a prayer being made, came with the brethren to the place, the earth being dug up, and the sepulchre being opened, perceived a divine odor and, as had been commanded him, buried the blessed Martyr; where also there were very many sick, whom the Lord healed of various ailments.
[7] and tokens of miracles Besides, a certain man practicing robbery thought that in his cell very much money was kept; and entering silently by night, took all that he found. When at daybreak the brethren had learned this, they sadly announced it to the Servant of God. Which he hearing, would not be saddened, but consoled them, setting before them the Lord's saying, by which he enjoined that one must pray for enemies. After some moments the thief, invaded by a demon, brought back what he had carried off. But the Man of the Lord, unmindful of the injury, gave thanks to God and by praying expelled the demon. Again, while for the sake of prayer, as he often was wont, he set out to the thresholds of blessed Martin at Tours *, on the journey another energumen is brought to him, whom, after his usual manner, he cured with the medicine of prayer.
[8] he dies piously, and is honorably buried; After these things the venerable Father, when now full of days he felt the end of the present life to impend upon him, having called the brethren, announces that he was about shortly to migrate to another life. A sudden grief invaded all alike, and for the departure of so great a shepherd they are affected with immoderate mourning. Therefore, when for some days he had solicitously awaited his call, on the last day, his disciples standing by, he was strengthened , and, rejoicing in the Lord, amid words of prayer was loosed from the flesh. Whose death so wondrous an odor followed, that from his body a fragrance of aromatics was felt to breathe forth . But he died on the 8th of the Kalends of August f, and, as befitted so great a Father, was honorably consigned to burial in the territory of Beauvais, in the oratory in which he had before dwelt, which was afterward named from him.
[9] whose body, honored with a magnificent tomb and temple, Thence, some years having passed, a certain matron, by name Theclana, noble and religious, adorned his sepulchre with a more eminent structure and precious ornament. An illustrious and wise man too, by name Theodebert, bishop of Paris g, because he paid the greatest reverence to that place, built there a temple to the Lord, where also other buildings, dedicated to the various names of the Saints, were constructed. Whence that place, as we said above, obtained the name of the Oratory. Blessed Angadrisima h, virgin and abbess, lived there in holy conversation with holy virgins and religious widows, and consummated the happy purpose of her life. In whose time it happened that the temple of blessed Mary ever-Virgin was burned by fire, and while a most vehement fire rolled on to burn the other monastery buildings, the holy virgin, compelled by necessity, the sepulchre being opened, brought forth the body of the blessed Confessor against the fire; and thus the flame of the fire, reflected upon itself, could not pass farther. Which being done, the holy members, wrapped in clean linens and silken garments, with aromatics were again enclosed *.
[10] But when, the sins of the inhabitants requiring it, that place was devastated by an incursion of the heathen, with due honor his bones were translated to Beauvais i, was afterward translated to the city of Beauvais. and venerably placed in the basilica of blessed Peter k. At whose tomb, if anyone, asking the things to be sought, shall faithfully pray, he shall undoubtedly obtain the things desired, through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God, world without end. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
* Mabillon adds "of the eyes" * Mabillon's, "quoniam" (since) * Mabillon's, "portenderet" (portended) * Mabillon's, "Darius" * Mabillon's, "Maximianum" * Mabillon's, "Turonis" (at Tours) * Mabillon's, "and" * read "exhalari" (to be breathed forth) * Mabillon's, "they most diligently enclosed"
MIRACLES
BY A MORE RECENT ANONYMOUS AUTHOR,
From the Manuscript of the church of Beauvais.
St. Ebrulf, abbot, at Beauvais in Gaul.
BHL Number: 2373
FROM THE MANUSCRIPT.
But lest we be reckoned culpable or deserving of condemnation if we keep silent about the so holy works of God and of the holy Confessor, which cannot be sufficiently reported and exalted according to their dignity, [St. Ebrulf, in the year 1457, to a certain citizen of Beauvais from a barren wife] let us out of the immense and superabundant and most copious multitude of their miracles say even a very few. For at that time, when from the incarnation of the Lord, after the thousand, there were revolving four hundred and fifty-seven years a, in the famous and aforesaid city of Beauvais a certain Nicholas, surnamed Pamphon, an excellent citizen and famous, truly faithful, and endowed with good and holy arts, under the chaste conjugal bond, together with his upright, faithful, and most honorable wife, had spent fourteen years, yet without the benefit of offspring: which the spouses themselves, taking ill, having recourse most devoutly not to magicians, not to soothsayers, but to God and the most holy Confessor, day and night poured out assiduous prayers with tears, groans, sighs from the inmost recesses of their hearts, praying in abstinence and fastings, that he would deign mercifully to look upon their humility and humble devotion, and, the reproach of barrenness being taken away, at length at some time confer offspring, which might deserve to be a service to them.
[2] promises a son, who, grateful for the benefit, offered gifts, What more? On one night the kindly Confessor of God, who did not despise those hoping in him, appeared in sleep to the aforesaid Nicholas, saying that with the supreme clemency of the Almighty he had obtained for him a son from his wife. In the morning he rose rejoicing, and, giving undoubted credence to the said revelation, went to the church of Beauvais, where the most holy body of the kindly Confessor rested and now rests more ornately and honorably, and, having great thanks to God and the kindly Confessor for their heavenly visitation, that what they had promised
they would deign to fulfill in their servants, he humbly entreated. And truly within the year, by the divine gift, he obtained the offspring, which he held so dear as he had asked and obtained it from the divine piety by so pious vows, so frequent and assiduous prayers, so many tears, so many sighs, and so many devout groans. Thence he went not into pride, thence he was not puffed up, but mindful of the benefits of God, and ignorant of all ingratitude, he set out to the church, and most humbly and studiously took care to disclose to the ministers of the church the miraculous course of the whole affair, having thence no small thanks to God almighty and the most holy Confessor, and not sparing his own household goods and the possessions which were his abundantly enough, he conferred upon the church, to the honor of God and of the holy Confessor, and especially upon the casket containing so precious a treasure of relics, which at that time was less than honorable and unworthy of so excellent a gift, distinction, ornament, and splendor.
[3] with which the Saint's reliquary was adorned, Whereby it came about that the dean and the other lords of the church, who long before, divinely inspired, had endeavored, striven, and greatly labored about that work, being incited more and more thereby, that the reverence of the divine name might grow stronger in the hearts of the faithful, and the faithful people might deserve to obtain the most abundant and sweetest fruits of eternal salvation: resolved to strive with all their strength, with all zeal and effort, that they might restore the aforesaid case or casket, which contained so precious relics of the most holy Confessor, consumed indeed by age, mean, deformed, unseemly, less worthy of the sacred relics, and far, far removed from their holiness, and might distinguish it with gold, silver, and even most precious gems, judging in that matter that they were doing a work acceptable and very pleasing to God and the kindly Confessor.
[4] Yet they found that for that so pious and salutary work their household goods were not enough for them. which was also carried about through the diocese; Not knowing therefore what they should do, and greatly anxious, at last having recourse by prayers to the help and piety of God and the most holy Confessor, they by no means neglected in this matter the counsel of upright and pious men. And at last, by divine instinct, as they judge, and by sound and holy counsel, it seemed good to them that recourse should be had to the pious works of the charity of the faithful of Christ. For carrying into effect their pious vows and most salutary purposes, by the license and good pleasure of the diocesans, as is fitting in such a matter, not without a most ample largesse of indulgences and divine gifts to those who should stretch out helping hands to so pious a work, the aforesaid lords, or their procurators and messengers, carrying the said Beauvais diocese around with the sanctuaries and sacred relics of the Confessor, to seek the aforesaid subsidies of charity, turned aside to a certain place of that diocese which is commonly called Quinquempoix b. Where, the great and excellent merits of the most holy Confessor, whose affair was in hand, having been preached and made manifest — which from the miracles almost inexplicable, wrought by the divine power at his prayers both of old and in our days, we believe can be hidden from no one — those who, zealous for the Christian religion, cultivated the doctrine of the holy preachers.
[5] A certain poor little widow, covered with rags and years, by name Radulpha, of the age of ninety-two years or thereabouts, and on that occasion a blind woman for a long and enduring time deprived of one eye, but of the other wholly for three years, most sick in body and hindered by many and almost innumerable troubles and infirmities which are wont to beset the old, so that she could not raise herself from the pallet on which she lay languishing, or move at all without another's help; yet pious and faithful and very devout toward God and his Saints, having heard of the virtuous works of the said holy Confessor, and of those immense and supermarvelous kinds of miracles which were on every mouth among the people, suddenly burned with fervor of devotion at his holiness, and, strengthened by the strength of a most firm faith, with pious mind and humble prayer demanded that the most holy and most venerable relics, which she had not been permitted to approach according to her wish, should be brought to her.
[6] Which being brought before her, she, kindled with zeal of faith more and more, beyond what is credible, together with the very small company of priests and clergy who were there, pouring out most humble prayers with tears, with that supreme and lofty devotion toward God and the holy Confessor with which she was divinely endowed, entreated almighty God, recovers her sight, to whom no cure of any languor, of any disease, can be impossible, and his kindly Confessor, by whose merits the widow herself was sure of hoping that the omnipotence of the Creator would be bent to mercy, for obtaining the health which she so greatly desired. O marvelous thing! The condescension of the Almighty not to be sufficiently exalted and extolled with praises! The priests and clergy having returned with the said sanctuaries to their own place, the aforesaid widow, constant and firm in the same faith and devotion, at once, by the merits of his kindly Confessor, received from God whole light in both eyes, and was altogether restored to the health she had so preferred.
[7] A certain priest of fifty years, near the town of Pontoise c, was afflicted with the stone, and so atrociously vexed by the disease of the stone for four continuous years, a priest laboring with the stone that daily all, to whose sight he was exposed, hoped rather for his death than his life. He spent no small sum of money on physicians, and for that cause a great concourse of physicians ran to him from here and there. But the more zealously they endeavored for his health, the more grievously he was tortured with pain. What happened? Fame flying through the borders of that country concerning the holiness of the most glorious Confessor, and concerning the innumerable miracles which everywhere and daily the Lord wrought through him, he embraced, with the greatest devotion he could and with such firmness in God, the holiness and mercy of the kindly Confessor, that he hoped most certainly to obtain health through him, and not to be able to obtain it at all save through him.
[8] is prodigiously healed, What more? He humbly supplicated for the Saint's relics, which at that time, by God's will, were present there. O marvelous thing! His prayer being finished with sighs of his inmost heart, as he was most humbly and most devoutly kissing the relics before them, at once the most huge stone, which with so many days' and nights' contact and with so great and most bitter pain he had carried lodged within the tenderest parts of his bowels, divided into four portions, horrible even to sight and touch, fell out to the ground before all. And forthwith he who suffered was made whole, nor ever afterward suffered even the least spark of pain, and two hours thence set out to the church, in a wonderful manner having immortal thanks to God and his most holy Confessor, whence also all the people gave praise to God.
[9] and a possessed girl is freed, Finally, while the messengers of the aforesaid church were traversing the borders of the Normans with the aforesaid relics of the Confessor, they came to a certain village which was called Caudebec d. There by chance was then a young girl, who, vexed by a demon, raged here and there everywhere, her mouth defiled with horrid foam, terribly gnashing with her teeth, wholly ignorant of herself and bereft of all understanding. Nay rather, with a dire fury of madness horrible above all monsters, she was at last, that she might harm no one, and bound with iron manacles by her friends and kinsmen, as such persons are wont, led to the presence of the holy relics. O marvelous and supermarvelous God! O inestimable mercy of God! O abyss of mercies! At once, as the said young girl was presented before the relics, not indeed at the prayers of the young girl herself, of which she was wholly ignorant, not by her faith, which was none; but that the works of God might be made manifest in her, and on account of the devotion of the parents and kinsfolk who offered her, she wholly obtained her former health and the integrity of all her senses, in which afterward from that time she remained.
[10] and many others are helped by the Saint's intercession. What of the innumerable married couples of both fortune and sex there through the villages e and castles and cities? What especially of those women in those borders, who, barren and unfruitful, could not bear offspring, and yet, on account of their zeal of faith and devotion toward God and his kindly Confessor, deserved within the year to receive offspring from God at the intercession of the kindly Confessor, whom his mother, unfruitful for a long time before, at last brought forth by prayers and fastings? To almighty God, indeed, it has seemed good to us and to all the people of God to have immortal thanks, and at this time to be silent concerning the rest, until a fitter place for narrating the matter offer itself, to the praise and honor of almighty God, who lives and reigns through all the ages of ages. Amen.