ON ST. HATHEBRAND, ABBOT AND CONFESSOR,
AT ANTWERP IN BELGIUM.
1198.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Hathebrand, Abbot and Confessor, at Antwerp in Belgium; from Frisia (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
§ I. The notice of the Saint from the translation of his relics to Antwerp.
We here bring forward a Saint who, before the century just elapsed, was inscribed in no sacred records, not even in Molanus, who most accurately recounts all the Belgic Saints, in his posthumous Natales edited in the year 1595 at Louvain by Cuyck, He first became known in Brabant and again in 1616 at Douai by Lintrensis and Colvenerius, so that it is most manifestly evident that up to those times no notice of St. Hathebrand or Hatebrand had come to these parts of Belgium, although the Saint had flourished in Belgic Frisia, and had departed from the world four hundred whole years before, namely in the year 1198, as the lessons relate, drawn from some sort of Life, or rather from the ancient Office of the very place in which he lived and died, contracted from eight to four lessons, and here at Antwerp printed for the monastery of St. Salvator on this thirtieth of July, festive for the Saint, as is evident from the proper directory, printed by permission of the superiors, but never brought into use, under this title: Particular feasts, which in the church of St. Salvator of the Cistercian Order at Antwerp, by reason of the notable relics of thirty-six eminent Saints, men and women, are exposed to the sacred veneration of the faithful and annually celebrated.
[2] Among the relics of these Saints, acquired from elsewhere, through the translation of the relics the thirty-sixth place is held by those which were received from the sacred body of him of whom we treat, St. Hathebrand, in a part of Frisia formerly famous in the Groningen region, which, near Westphalia, was called Fivelingo, subject to the diocese of Münster. There, as abbot, he presided over a monastery founded by himself in the year 1183, by the name of Feldwirth, to which afterward, for distinction from others, I suppose of the same Order, the name of Oldeklooster, or of the Old Monastery or Cloister, was given, where there were two monasteries, one of men, the other of virgins, and it remained in the same diocese until the times of the new bishoprics erected in Belgium in the year 1559, when a prelate being given to Groningen, he had subject to himself that whole maritime region, enriched with many monasteries, until, under the beginning of the seventeenth century, the prevailing and insolent heretics in a wretched manner overturned and destroyed all the monuments of Catholic piety, and among these that monastery of Feldwerth, or Oldeklooster, of which today no vestiges, that I know of, survive. So notes the Catalogue of the abbots, or rather the necrology, subjoined to some sort of Life of the Saint, which we have in manuscript: In the year 1608, on the fifth of April, died D. Hermann of Dockum, abbot in the Old Monastery. He was the twenty-seventh abbot of this monastery, perhaps also the last: he ruled the cloister forty-nine years, but in his time the cloister began to be destroyed; which the aforesaid abbot saw with great grief of mind, and was also deprived of his office, as, in this land, was done with the other abbots.
[3] In that general and deplorable calamity, Catholic piety saw to it, so far as it could, that timely provision be made for saving the precious deposits of the Saints, happily snatched from the hands of the heretics. and it came to pass that the body of St. Hathebrand, carefully hidden first, then committed to the trust of a soundly Catholic man, was translated to Antwerp, to the church of the aforesaid monastery of St. Salvator, and by the most illustrious prelate of that city, John Malderus, in the year 1620 solemnly recognized and approved, and exposed to public veneration, as from the very instrument, to be produced and explained in the following paragraph, you will more clearly understand: whence the whole celebrity in this Catholic Belgium had its origin, Chrysostom Henriquez chiefly furthering it in the Flowers of the Saints of the Cistercian Order, where, in volume 2, page 399, he reports the diploma of Malderus itself, as also in his Menology on the seventh of January, thus first announcing: At Antwerp, the arrival of the relics of St. Hathebrand, first abbot of the Old monastery in the Groningen fatherland, which, carried to Antwerp, are kept in the Cistercian monastery of St. Salvator. This leader those followed who wrote after him, both Belgians and French, drawing their materials from that Henriquezian fountain.
[4] Hence praised by Henriquez and others, Among these, thus speaks Menard in his Benedictine Martyrology on this day: At Antwerp, of St. Hathebrand the abbot, in his observations expressly indicating that he received the Saint from the cited Henriquez, whom he could find neither in Wion nor in any other writer of his Order. The very fountain does Saussay savor of, when also on the seventh of January he subjoins to his text, in smaller character: At Antwerp, in the conventual church of St. Salvator, there took place on that very day the reception of the relics of St. Hathebrand, first abbot of the Old monastery in Frisia, whose deposition is commemorated on the third day before the Kalends of August; on which day he wove a somewhat more confused eulogy: In Belgium, of St. Hathebrand, abbot and confessor, of extraordinary merits, who, beginning a monastery at Appingedam among the Frisians, there displayed great glories of a most holy life: and afterward, having built the Feldwerth monastery in Holland for the propagation of piety, which was called the Old Cloister, begot many sons by the seed of divine religion, and at last received from the Lord the rewards of well-earned blessedness. Buried in the sacred edifice of his monastery, he shone with admirable signs, which declared the glory which he enjoys in heaven. But when this monastery had been destroyed by the heretics, by the pious providence of Henry, provost of St. Salvator at Antwerp, his venerable heavenly body, taken from here, was not long after translated to that very provostship, John Malderus, bishop of Antwerp, approving, who ordered the feast of the holy Confessor himself to be performed yearly on this day, on which it is recorded.
[5] whom Miræus had preceded. Furthermore, Henriquez, Menard, and Saussay had been preceded by Aubertus Miræus in his Belgic and Burgundian Records, printed about two years after the solemn recognition of the sacred body, in which he composed a eulogy not much more accurate than that of Saussay, in these very words: Hatebrand or Hathebrand began the Feldwerth monastery of the Order of St. Benedict, which afterward was called the Old Cloister, for both sexes in the year 1183, at Appingedam among the Frisians, in the diocese formerly of Utrecht, now of Groningen. But he died in the year 1198, buried in the same place: whose sacred bones were thence carried to Antwerp in the year 1620, to the monastery of St. Salvator (which is of monks of the Cistercian Order); together with the manuscript codex in which are contained the lessons concerning his life, wont, as it appears, to be recited by the monks of Feldwerth in the church. Among other things these are narrated: Three monasteries did the pious Father build in Frisia in the times of his life; Feldwerth first, Merehusum second, Germerawald third. Here too is subjoined the diploma of the praised bishop of Antwerp, which, from our manuscript, collated with Miræus and Henriquez, we shall soon give illustrated, where we shall have prefixed an epitome of the Life, most aptly abridged from the Auctarium of Rayssius, for the understanding of the more obscure history and of the Malderian diploma itself. Behold the title:
[6] Concerning St. Hathebrand, first abbot of the Old Cloister, Rayssius in the eulogy mentions his fatherland and parents; of the Order of St. Benedict of Nursia. From his manuscript Life, which D. Philip van Boonem, prior of St. Salvator, commonly called Peter Potz, officiously transmitted to us. This is the text: At the Old Cloister in Frisia, the birthday of St. Hathebrand, first abbot there. He was born among the Vifelgones, peoples of Frisia, of parents who procured their living by the labors of their own hands. But who and what manner of man he would be, God foresignified to his parents before his birth. For to Alundus (this was the father of Hathebrand), who had departed from his wife on account of her barrenness, as he slept a voice was divinely made that he should rise, and return to his wife, since from her he was to receive offspring. But waking, he greatly feared; wherefore he prays God to indicate his will to him. Straightway therefore he fell asleep, and heard the same voice as before, and that the offspring to be born would be a father of monks, would serve the Lord all his days in holiness, and would convert many from iniquity.
[7] Straightway rising rejoicing, and returning with joy, he is received by his wife. thence the son's monastic profession, Who, dwelling peaceably with her husband thereafter, bore the promised son. In the fifteenth year of his age he was sent to the schools, that he might be distinguished with clerical honor: who afterward, competently instructed in knowledge, came even to the honor of the presbyterate. Being made a priest, that he might serve God in simplicity, he sought a solitary place: where afterward, bereaved of his parents, he utterly renounced the world, and took the religious habit. Before him there were no monasteries in Frisia, but neither any regular discipline. He therefore first began to build cells and oratories, and to summon brethren to the holy habit. Then many neighbors, seeing him live most holily, began to flock to him, and to devote themselves and their goods to the monastery
that they might be poor in spirit in this world.
[8] For the rest, elected abbot by the concordant sentence of the brethren, the office of abbot excellently discharged: and blessed by the bishop of Münster, he shone before all in word and example, was greater than all in holiness of life, greater in charity to the brethren, in humility, contemplation, and in the elevation of his mind to God. He macerated his body with vigils and fastings. By night, forty times in turn, with bended knees he besought God. But his spirit he did not relax from prayer. Often on Fridays he chastised himself with rods to such a degree that blood flowed from his back. He compelled the brethren to observe the rigor of prayer, which he showed by words and examples. And when they perceived that unlawful things were not permitted to them, they began to rise up against him: but he preferred to be afflicted for justice than to let them live without discipline. A certain religious, seeing the brethren make light of the discipline of religion, had proposed, the habit being left, to set out to the holy places: wherefore he besought God not without groans: straightway one in the likeness of his abbot appeared to him, adorned with many gems in his hood: by whom, anointed with no small consolation, as with oil, he straightway changed his purpose, and constantly served God in the monastery thenceforth.
[9] some signs and miracles; For the rest, how pleasing to God his holiness was, became known to men more than once; for once, taking off his cowl, wet with rain, he hung it in the splendor of the sun in the midst of the air, no support propping it. At another time, when he turned aside to visit the cloister of Merehusum, which he himself had built, moved by the misery and prayers of a poor woman, he besought God for her; then, taking her arm, he at once endowed [her] with health. But she, freed from the pain of the arm with which she had been afflicted for three years, went about that region crying out, with thanksgiving, saying that by the prayers of the Abbot she was made whole in her arm; therefore praises were to be given to God, and to Hathebrand his faithful servant. Furthermore, a very great multitude, on account of the miracle done in her, came to the Abbot, and rendered the greatest thanks to God. But others, desiring to hear the word of God from his mouth; others, wishing to see the holy Man; others, confessing their sins, doing penance; others, seeking from him salutary counsel concerning their secrets; others, bringing various sick to the cloister, not despairing of health from God by his prayers.
[10] then the Saint's death: The Man of God, seeing that all the people magnified him, wished to take up his journey to the cloister of Feldwirth, but the crowd, holding him, did not permit him to go. But secretly, on account of vainglory, departing from that land, and returning to the Old Cloister, afterward for a long time he dared not enter into Emesgonia, since men sought to honor him. He died in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and ninety-eight, and ruled fifteen years. His relics were religiously brought to the priory of St. Salvator at Antwerp not so recently, namely in the year one thousand six hundred and nineteen, by the care and zeal of Lord Henry Vander Heyden, then prior there, but now abbot of Villers, under the attestation of many and venerable persons: so that the most reverend bishop of Antwerp, John Malderus, all things being duly examined, judged that they were to be venerated by the faithful people, and granted indulgences of forty days to those visiting the church of the said priory, where the relics of St. Hathebrand rest, and there praying for the happy state of the Church, the concord of Christian princes, and the extirpation of heresies, on this day of the same Saint's passing.
[11] after whom there remained a sweet odor, a prognostic The aforesaid witnesses attest that they heard from the religious of the same monastery and from trustworthy Catholic men: that, when any grave misfortune threatened that same monastery, some days beforehand a certain most sweet odor was wont to be diffused there, so that the whole monastery was filled. But what is here said last concerning the miracle of the most sweet odor, wont formerly to be diffused in the Feldwerth monastery when a grave calamity threatened, whence Rayssius drew it, I am compelled to confess that I am utterly ignorant: of that matter neither the Life to be given below, nor the diploma of Malderus, makes mention; nor, after every diligence applied, both in Frisia and here at Antwerp among the monks of St. Salvator, could I hitherto obtain even the least document by which such a prodigy might be confirmed. Whether, while Rayssius's informant D. Philip van Boonem lived, such a tradition survived, I have no means certainly to conjecture.
[12] What here remains, it may be asked, with what special cult and veneration the Saint is celebrated at Antwerp in the said temple on the very festivity of this thirtieth of July, His cult at Antwerp. since I have already above intimated that the Office concerning him is not recited. The matter being accurately investigated, I found this in the very place, that a solemn Mass concerning him is chanted; but that for the rest all the other Offices on that day, as throughout the course of the whole year, are performed in the Cistercian manner and rite, no account being had even of the other thirty-five Saints, however much they be recounted in the little book whose title we have given. This moreover is established, that of the relics of St. Hathebrand some were shared with various other churches, and among these with a certain chapel at Lier, called Clusa or the cell, under the direction of the Reverend Fathers Dominicans, where, as we are taught from an unfolded Belgic program, they were solemnly elevated in the year 1701, as of a singular patron against ulcers and various pains, in which his devout worshippers have quite often experienced him propitious. It will finally help here to set before the eyes the reliquary itself, in which the surviving bones of the Saint are laid away, the sacred head distinguished with a mitre, exposed in the upper part, as here it is given to behold.
§ II. The diploma and Acts of the most illustrious bishop of Antwerp.
The whole celebrity of the cult Since on the faith of this instrument depends the whole celebrity of the cult of St. Hathebrand, nay, even its beginning, at least in this our Brabant, and hence elsewhere, nothing can conduce more to the glory of the Saint than if it be here set forth, and, as far as can be, so illustrated that no doubt at all can remain concerning the truth of the whole matter. Wherefore this is especially to be supposed, that the most illustrious approver was not led to grant that they be exposed to public veneration as the true relics of some Saint, without its being altogether established to him that the same were elsewhere honored with equal cult, at least from time immemorial, so that it is plainly to be judged as a consequence that Hathebrand enjoyed the appellation of Saint many years before, and perhaps centuries, although today no monuments are extant by which these things can be demonstrated, except the Life alone, composed in a plainly rude and unpolished style, I know not by whom or when, and distributed into eight lessons, as below you will more clearly perceive. Hear now Henriquez speaking again in the notes to the cited Menology: There was at that time prior of the monastery of St. Salvator the Reverend Father Henry Vander Heyden, now abbot of Villers, by whose care and solicitude the sacred body of the blessed Man was conveyed to that monastery. But whence, and on what occasion, it was carried thither, is established from the letters of the most reverend bishop of Antwerp, which are as follows. Take the diploma itself:
[14] from the diploma of the bishop of Antwerp John Malderus, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Antwerp, to all who shall see these letters, everlasting salvation in the Lord. Since from an authentic instrument, strengthened by the trustworthy testimony of several, it is established to us that the relics of the almost entire body of St. Hathebrand, first abbot of the monastery called Oldenclooster, of the Order of St. Benedict, near Appingedam, of the diocese of Groningen, now occupied by the heretics, were, in the year of the Lord 1617, drawn from a tomb situated in the middle of the church of the said monastery by the vice-prioress of the nuns there and two lay sisters, the only surviving religious of the same monastery, and, after the death of the said vice-prioress, were delivered by the other of the said lay sisters, by name Joanna Dierickx, into the custody of an upright and honest man, Nicholas Gasparis, a citizen of the said place of Appingedam.
[15] in which the things that could seem doubtful Since, as has already been observed, of the cult of St. Hathebrand no vestige was extant in the ecclesiastical records, it would certainly have been doubted whether a place should be given to him in these Acts, had there not been added the diploma which we here describe, deriving its strength chiefly from this: that the most illustrious approver testifies that from an authentic instrument, strengthened by the trustworthy testimony of several, it is established to him that the relics are of the almost entire body of St. Hathebrand, first abbot of the monastery called Oldenclooster; so that it ought to be judged beyond controversy that Hathebrand was venerated in that monastery from time immemorial as a Saint, and that his sacred relics were held in the highest esteem, and with such great care drawn from the tomb or monument by the surviving nuns and hidden, lest they be profaned by the impious heretics. But as to their being said to have been drawn from a tomb situated in the middle of the church; I would not have you imagine a sepulchre under the ground: for in these and the German parts it is sufficiently received—which I remember to have seen more than once—that tombs or chests containing sacred relics are built in the very temple, whether in the middle or at the side, fenced about on all sides with iron gratings or little columns, in the manner of a little chapel, in which the elevated bodies of the Saints are kept, thus exposed to the veneration of the people.
[16] Nor let the vice-prioress of the monastery and the two lay sisters, are explained. who undertook the care of saving the sacred treasure, terrify you more, as if the cloister of monks had then passed to nuns, which Bucelinus dared roundly to assert: by no means; for we have already said that there were two monasteries there; and this, in whatever scarcity of instruments, you will find more openly noted in the Chronicle of Blessed Emo, among the sacred monuments of antiquity of the Hugonian collection, page 477, namely a monastery founded by the Saint for both sexes, as above too Miræus observed; understand two monasteries, one of men, the other of women, of the same Benedictine Order: but the men being dispersed under the beginning of the seventeenth century, or the end of the preceding, there remained some nuns, certainly those three of whom the diploma treats, who so solicitously applied themselves to saving and hiding the sacred treasures of the church, that they snatched the body of their singular Patron from the rapacious hands of the iconoclasts, and committed it to that upright and honest man Nicholas Gasparis, a citizen of the said place of Appingedam.
[17] What then follows in the Malderian diploma needs no explanation; The witnesses employed in the recognition, the most illustrious and most erudite Prelate rightly took care that he should employ witnesses beyond all exception in the recognition of the said relics and of the instruments pertaining to their sufficient proof; such as, beyond all doubt, were the archdeacon of his church Cornelius de Witte, Licentiate of sacred theology, and the promoter and executor of the whole matter, Henry Vander Heyden, afterward the most worthy abbot of Villers; and then the most celebrated men Laurentius Beyerlinck, most well known throughout the whole Christian world for his huge work under the title Theater of Human Life, and Franciscus Vander Zypen, otherwise Zypæus, most skilled in both laws, and a leader especially in the exposition of the Belgic [law], all of whom, there is no room to doubt, contributed their studies to this, that nothing might be wanting to the truth and certainty of the whole matter. Let there follow now, therefore, the other part of the diploma
part in which the most illustrious approver continues thus:
[18] Which Nicholas, before us, in the presence of D. Cornelius de Witte, Licentiate of sacred theology, our archdeacon, and the rest pertaining to the security. Father Henry Vander Heyden, prior of the monastery of St. Salvator of this city of Antwerp, D. Laurentius Beyerlinck, Licentiate of sacred theology, archpresbyter of our cathedral church, and D. Franciscus Vander Zypen, Licentiate of both laws, canon of the same church and our Official, under solemn oath declared that he had received the said relics from the aforesaid sister Joanna, and had carried them to this city of Antwerp, that they might be kept in the aforesaid monastery of St. Salvator. We, according to our office, gladly intent on those things by which the faithful may be incited to the due cult of the Saints reigning with Christ, and to the veneration of their relics, approve the said relics, and declare them to be the genuine relics of the aforesaid St. Hathebrand; and therefore we grant that they, as sufficiently recognized and approved by us, be exposed in the temple of the aforesaid monastery of St. Salvator, in the same manner as formerly in the church whence they were translated, to be venerated by the Christian people, and to all the faithful of Christ visiting devoutly that same temple every year on the thirtieth of July (which is the birthday of the same St. Hathebrand), and there pouring forth pious prayers to God for the happy state of the holy Roman Church, the concord of Christian princes, and the extirpation of heresies, we grant in the Lord forty days of true indulgence, in the accustomed form of the Church. Given at Antwerp on the seventeenth day of the month of January in the year of the Lord 1620.
[19] Today no memory of the Saint among the Frisians; Nothing now remains, except that we pass to the Acts themselves, such as have been taken word for word from the manuscript booklet of the place itself of Oldeclooster, which, together with the sacred body, the above-praised Nicholas Gasparis brought to the oft-mentioned monastery of St. Salvator, arranged in that style and order which we above began to say, so that it is easily evident that they were, only for the use of the monks—let us say, for fostering in them veneration toward the holy Founder—adorned rather wretchedly, as those times were: but what in this matter is most wretched, is that in vain did I have recourse to Frisia and elsewhere, that I might obtain even the least light in so great darkness. For our Groningen Missionary, Father Peter Van Reysingen, consulted about various things pertaining hereto, answered in few and express words that no cult or memory of any St. Hathebrand at all survives there, nor in Ommelanden or the surrounding villages, among the orthodox, not even the name, which otherwise, among so many other Frisian names wont to be imposed in Baptism, would beyond doubt be reckoned among the names of the Saints: so that it may with reason be suspected that it is confused, or the same, with the name of St. Hiltebrand the martyr, companion of the great St. Boniface, of whom on the fifth of June it was treated: nor yet is it so pronounced in the Frisian Ritual; where in baptism the names Ysebrand and Hillebrand are imposed; which certainly I do not yet acknowledge to be names of Saints, unless they be referred to the aforesaid. Do you thence safely conjecture what concerning his Life or deeds can today there be found.
[20] But the Acts of no great moment. The author, therefore, of the aforesaid Life, or its age, you will seek plainly in vain. If from the subjoined Catalogue or Necrology it were permitted to argue, it would follow that the aforesaid lessons were composed only under the beginning of the seventeenth century: but since they certainly seem to have been of much older use in the choir, a greater antiquity is altogether to be attributed to them. This is sufficiently evident, that from them the eulogy of Rayssius was abridged, conceived in almost the same manner as the four lessons in the peculiar Directory of St. Salvator, composed for the use of that church, but not yet received, which I should here in vain transcribe, since they are more fully contained in the Life now to be subjoined. Let there follow, therefore,
THE LIFE
Distributed into eight lessons
From the Manuscript of the monastery of St. Salvator at Antwerp.
Hathebrand, Abbot and Confessor, at Antwerp in Belgium; from Frisia (St.)
BHL Number: 3762
FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
LESSON I.
The Saint's father, fleeing his wife on account of discords There was in the parts of Frisia, in the land of the Vifelgones a, a certain man by the name of Alundus, who took a wife by the name of Tetta. Both were poor, and had no estates, except only, at the boundary of that land, thirteen "gramina" b. Both lived by the labors of their own hands, and had no heir. Tetta could not conceive by her husband; and her husband held her greatly hateful. Therefore the spouses began to disagree with one another, nor could anyone recall them to concord. He proposed to desert her forever, because he would not dwell with her longer. He left therefore her, home, fields, and whatever he had, and thus, destitute and poor, departed from her: and came into the land of Gutiesgonia c, into the village which is called Usquerth d. There he is called to the service of one rich man, having become there for a long time his armor-bearer, because he served his Lord faithfully in all things. The intention of returning to his wife he never afterward had; therefore he served his Lord with more ardent love. But almighty God disposed otherwise, and in such a manner recalled him to his own wife. On a certain night, therefore, while he lay in sleep, he heard such a voice: Alundus, rise, and go to your own wife, since you shall have special grace. A son shall be born to you: he shall be good and just. Waking, he greatly feared what this dream might be, [and] thought, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ being invoked, that, if it were of God, this voice would come to him again, and would indicate the divine will to him.
NOTES.
LESSON II.
The prayer finished, straightway he fell asleep, and heard the same voice saying to him, being divinely admonished, he should return to her; according to what it said before: Alundus, rise, and return to Tetta your own wife; from God you shall have such grace: from her shall be born to you a son; he shall be a nurturing father of monks; he shall serve the Lord all the days of his life in holiness, and shall convert many from iniquity: and this shall be to you a sign of the truth. Beside the way by which you shall return to her at Halfwert a, you shall see two birds together sweetly beside the bells: so you and your wife hereafter ought to live concordantly, nor any more to disagree between yourselves. Waking, he rendered praises to God, and, because God had shown such honor to a sinner, rising at once he greatly rejoiced; because he firmly believed concerning the things promised. O, in the boy to be born, holiness of life! O, in the Savior, infinite goodness! He received leave from his lord, whom he had for a long time served with faithful obedience; the lord dismissed him sorrowful, because he had loved him with a sincere heart.
NOTES.
LESSON III.
obeying, he receives the promised son. Returning, at the place shown he saw the little birds sitting and as it were fulfilling the divine command. Returned to his house, he is received with joy, and the conjugal sacrament is celebrated between them. Both dwelt together in the place which is called Kapmenæe a, and from God the promised son is there born, the name Hathebrand being imposed on the boy by his parents. The boy, weaned, in his fifteenth year is brought to the schools, that he might enjoy clerical honor. Therefore Hathebrand the cleric, competently lettered in knowledge, came even to the honor of the presbyterate. Hathebrand, priest of God, in simplicity faithfully served God; therefore he sought a solitary place. His parents had a small sea, beside which they had a plot, nor did anyone ever dwell upon it. They broke down the house at Kaftminze, erected a dwelling upon the plot, beside the pool. Reeds grew in the sea beside their house, and land grew between the sea and the house, on account of which the place was called Feldwirth b, even to the present day.
NOTES.
LESSON IV.
Here, bereaved of his parents and clothed as a monk, Bereaved of both parents, straightway desiring to renounce the world, that he might the more freely serve Christ, the abbot of St. Paul at Utrecht made him a monk, and thus for humility's sake he took the holy habit a. Before him in the parts of Frisia there were no monasteries, but neither any regular discipline b. The good man began to build cells and an oratory, and to summon honorable brethren to the holy habit. His monastery was the first monastery in the parts of Frisia, on account of which the cloister has been called, even to the present day, the Old Cloister c. Many of his neighbors, seeing him live most holily, began to fly to the holy habit, committed themselves and their goods to the monastery, that they might be poor in spirit in this world. He was a good man, and pure in body and simple in mind, as is read of blessed Job, who was a man simple and upright, fearing God, and withdrawing from evil work. But it happened that the bishop of Münster came down into Frisia on visitation, and that he might fulfill the office committed to him, came to the monastery of the said Man, imposed on him the name of abbot and the office. At the petition of the community he did this, since no one contradicted his election.
NOTES.
LESSON V.
The blessing received, he was greater in holiness of life, greater in charity to the brethren, he forms the associates gathered to him by excellent examples. greater in humility, greater in contemplation, greater toward God
in elevation of mind. With vigils and fastings he macerated his body, he persisted in groans and prayers and tears, in the night time, four hundred times with bended knees he besought God, but his unconquered spirit he did not relax from prayer: often on Fridays he chastised himself with rods to such a degree that blood flowed from his back; as the good man was renowned for virtues, so in his life he shone forth wondrous. He compelled the brethren to observe the rigor of the Order, which he showed by words and examples. And when they perceived that unlawful things were not permitted, certain of them began openly to rise up against him. Indeed, on a certain day, while according to custom he walked in the community, the evil brethren stood in his way, that they might chastise him with blows and cudgels. And when he could not turn aside to the right or to the left, taking on the way a little vessel, he placed it under his cowl upon his head, that he might escape death. Passing through them, he endured with patience a great blow upon his head, and thus, on account of the aforesaid remedy, escaped the shedding of blood. On another day he rebuked them holily with severity, and that they must yield, no one contradicted him a. The good man observing the prophetic word of Ezekiel: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who fed themselves, but did not guard my flock. He himself preferring rather to be afflicted for justice than to let them live without discipline.
NOTES.
LESSON VI.
There was a certain brother by the name of Everard who feared God, [A distrustful brother is strengthened, and the unruly are brought back to sounder ways.] and observed holy obedience and the discipline of the Rule, as far as he could. He, seeing that they envied the abbot, and did not observe the commands of God and of the Order, began to turn over in his heart what he should do: because he was unwilling to live in the cloister with rancor, he proposed to cast off the holy habit and to go to the parts of Jerusalem. At a certain night time, matins being said, he besought God with groans, and did not cease to demand what was salutary for him to do. And when in his heart he had proposed to depart from the cloister, and had finished his prayers, as if he had then finished them, straightway one in the likeness of his abbot appeared to him, who also carried in his hood a many precious gems: some gems shining like the sun when it is in Cancer, others gleaming as the moon, others shining like stars, others yielding no light. Wherefore he sat thus mourning, that one asked him. To whom brother Everard straightway answered: My lord Father, tomorrow I wish to cast off the monastic habit, since I can no longer endure such great troubles from the Brethren; it is better to serve God in exile with peace than to live in the cloister with rancor. And what are these stones so precious, since you were never wont to bear such: always, Father, your holiness lived in humility? Straightway that one answered brother Everard: Do not, brother, cast off the holy habit, since through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God: it is the mark of evils to purge the just from sins: as the flail is wont to purge the wheat, and as fire the silver, so we must be cleansed before we come to heaven.
NOTES.
LESSON VII.
The wondrous confidence of the Saint in building monasteries; The Apostles and the faithful endured many persecutions from the unbelievers; yet they served the Lord faithfully without crime. Judas Iscariot once had charity; he preached to the unbelievers; he did miracles; but because in the end he was a thief and a traitor, therefore he concluded his life with an evil end: and what do the good works which you have done profit you, if now you turn to worse things? The good is done in vain, if it be deserted before the end of life. Then straightway brother Everard recalled his intention, and until his death served God faithfully in the cloister. At a certain time, when the Abbot with the brethren, according to custom, labored in the meadows, suddenly from heaven a not moderate rain burst upon them. The rain ceasing, the Father took off his cowl, and then, as if from the disturbance, hung it in the splendor of the sun, so that it touched neither the earth, nor wood, nor anything human, but as if to dry the garment, nor did he himself hold it a. The brethren, seeing the things that were done, rendered the greatest praises to God. For the pious Father built in the times of his life three monasteries in Frisia, Feldwirdt the first, Merehusum the second, Germerawald b the third. And when according to custom the Father turned aside to visit the cloister of Merehusum, he met a certain poor woman. Who cried out, weeping, wailing, and saying, Father Abba, servant of God, have mercy on me; you can, if you will, obtain from God the grace that I may receive health; by no means will I depart from you, unless you pray to God for me; and, firmly grasping, she held him, nor did she permit him to ride further.
NOTES.
LESSON VIII.
The good man, seeing the constancy of the woman, cried out to the Lord, Miracles and a most holy death. moved by mercy upon her: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who regardest the hearts of men more than their works, regard not my sins, but regard, I pray, this faith of the woman, who believes that this time she shall receive health from thee, that thy faithful servants may know that all things are possible to him who firmly believes, for thy holy name's sake, which is blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. And when he had poured forth prayer to the Lord, grasping her arm, forthwith she received health. Straightway the woman with a clear voice rendered praises to God. The Father ascended without delay to Merehusum, into his own cloister, that he might there fulfill the service of the visitation. But the aforesaid woman, crying out through the land of Emesgonia a, going about Brocmannia, cried out with thanksgiving, and saying, that by the prayers of the Abbot I am made whole in my arm, therefore give ye together with me praises to God and to Hathebrand his faithful servant. For three years and more the pain of her arm had tortured her, to such a degree that she could in no way bend her hand to her own mouth, or to her foot. Therefore a very great multitude, on account of the miracle done in her, came to the Abbot, and rendered the greatest thanks to God: but others, desiring to hear the word of God from his mouth; others, wishing to see the holy man; others, confessing their sins, doing penance; others, seeking from him salutary counsel concerning their secrets; others, bringing various sick to the cloister, not despairing of health from God by his prayers. The man of God, seeing that all the people magnified him, wished to take his journey to the cloister of Feldwirt, but the crowd, holding him, did not permit him to go. But secretly, on account of vainglory, departing from the land, and returning to the Old Cloister, afterward for a long time he dared not enter into Emesgonia, since men sought to honor him [b].
NOTES.
And here the lessons stop, to which, with no intermediate title, is subjoined the series of the abbots of Feldwert, or rather the Necrology, in which the Saint occupies the first place in this manner:
On the very day of Abdon and Sennen died the pious father Hathebrand, first abbot at Feldwert and founder of the monastery, who died in the year of the Lord 1198, and ruled fifteen years.