Germanus

ON ST. GERMANUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,

AT AUXERRE IN GAUL.

In the year 448.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre (St.)

BY THE AUTHOR P. B.

§ I. The Saint's cult, and relics, and their translations.

Auxerre, a city of Gaul situated on the river Yonne in modern Burgundy, which a numerous series of holy prelates has illustrated, the Acts of many—both those we have already given, and those which will be given in their place—make known. The great veneration of St. Germanus among all: But of all these there is none who has raised higher, and extended more widely, the glory of his fatherland and see, than he who is numbered nearly sixth in order among them, St. Germanus: than whom indeed, if St. Apollinaris Sidonius had known anything greater in the Gauls in his age, he would not, I think, have praised artfully enough, in book 8, epistle 15, the holy Anianus, a most great and most consummate pontiff, when he called him equal to Lupus, and not unequal to Germanus. But let us dismiss private elogia, which would lead us further than is right: since the same was long ago the judgment of the whole Gallican church concerning him; so that it seems to have preferred him in cult to all the native Saints, and to have made him equal only to Martin of Tours; since it raised up nearly as many churches dedicated in his name as in that one's, throughout the whole kingdom everywhere; and in the one city of Paris (which nevertheless had its own holy Germanus too as prelate, most celebrated for merits and prodigies, as may be seen at the 28th day of our May) three to Germanus of Auxerre, on the testimony of Baillet. I pass over other nations, and especially the British; which, as is clear from our Alford's Annals at the year of Christ 441, no. 2, was scarcely willing to yield to the Gauls themselves in this respect, temples, towns, monasteries, and altars having been built to his name.

[2] But neither is the antiquity of his cult to be discussed here: the festival once primary on the Kalends of October; the Acts sufficiently demonstrate of themselves that the end of his life was the beginning of his veneration. And so among the old Martyrologists several festivals of his throughout the year are recorded; of which that one was once the chief, as Hericus will teach in the Miracles, no. 44 and 53, which was celebrated by reason of his deposition on the Kalends of October. This, if I am not mistaken, will have been the reason for Wandelbert, why he adorned the memory of St. Germanus at that day only in his metrical Martyrology with these verses:

And Germanus, at once distinguished in doctrine and in deed, Then fortifies his own Auxerre with his merits; Who drove back into the ocean the renegades from the faith and the impious dogma, And covered you, painted Britain, with his signs.

Ado too, although, imitating others, he makes some mention of him on the day on which the Saint died, the 31st of July; yet is so meager there, so copious at the Kalends of October, that you may easily gather that this latter festival was then more solemn than the former; and that therefore not rashly can there be referred to it that Mass, much more ancient than Ado, as they hold, concerning our St. Germanus, which Thomasius published in the old Gallican Missal, and after him Mabillon, in book 3 of the Gallican Liturgy, page 329.

[3] but now on the day before the Kalends of August; Now the matter stands otherwise: for in his monastery at Auxerre indeed the solemnity of each is equal and of the first class; as George Viole affirms in our Auxerre manuscript C 94, page 37: the canons of the cathedral church were long accustomed to honor each with their presence there. Which custom, already then most ancient, is read to have been confirmed there under abbot Radulph, who is said to have presided from the year of Christ 1188 until 1208, on page 242; where also concerning the same abbot it is subjoined: He decreed, moreover, … that the Octaves of each festival of St. Germanus be double. But throughout the diocese, according to the most recent Breviary, the day of deposition is venerated only with the rite of a double major, except in the cathedral church, in which it is held semi-solemn; while throughout the whole diocese the day of his passing, or the 31st of July, is marked solemn: which day alone the Roman Martyrology assigns to his veneration in these words: At Ravenna, the passing of St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, most illustrious by birth, faith, doctrine, and the glory of miracles (thus far it agrees with Usuard;) who wholly freed Britain from the heresies of the Pelagians. This festival alone also is exhibited by the Martyrology which we long ago published under the name of Bede; but I know not why at the Kalends of August. That it was the same which you will find preserved with singular devotion among the Britons below in the Selby Miracles, chapter 7, no. 78, you will learn there from no. 76.

[4] four others still observed. The third place after each celebrity already mentioned seems to have been held by the 22nd of September, on which is found marked, At Auxerre, a city of Gaul, the arrival and reception of St. Germanus, bishop and confessor, from Italy; as see in Florentinius in the Hieronymian Martyrology, here interpolated by an old hand; in d'Achery in the Spicilegium reprinted, volume 2, page 19; in Martène of the most ample Collection, volume 6, column 651 and 721; and others, also in manuscripts. Almost equally memorable at Auxerre is the memory of his translation, which (to say nothing of our manuscripts) in the old Auxerre Martyrology in Martène cited, column 686, is such: On the eighth of the Ides of January … At Auxerre, the translation of St. Germanus, confessor: that one, namely, which Hericus in the Miracles, no. 101, testifies was carried out by Charles the Bald in the year 859 on the holy day of the Epiphany, adding that that day, by the zeal of the same prince, was appointed to be perpetually celebrated in succeeding centuries. Rightly, therefore, did Saussaye ascribe the translation of St. Germanus to this day in his Gallican Martyrology; although he betrayed that he did not know which translation of the Saint was being treated. To these are added the 17th of March, which Chifflet noted for us as sacred to some invention of St. Germanus, I know not which, from a certain old Breviary; and the first day of June, on which the same found somewhere the festival memory of the ordination or consecration of our St. Germanus. That these four festivals are still celebrated in the Saint's monastery at Auxerre, Viole asserts in the manuscript C 94, page 26; but the second, on account of the solemnity of the Epiphany, is by perpetual law deferred until the following day; and the fourth is called that of election and consecration. It is noted, moreover, in the Fleury Calendar in Martène, in the assigned volume, column 651, On the fifth of the Kalends of September, At Auxerre, the translation of the body of St. Germanus the bishop; concerning which we read nothing elsewhere.

[5] But indeed nothing is more evident for proving the singular affection and devotion of all orders toward this most holy Prelate, In how great honor they are held than if you consider that esteem of his relics of whatever sort, by which each once believed himself blessed, when he had obtained something even of the vilest things which that man had at some time touched. Constantius will give brilliant examples at no. 55, where he commends the zeal of Nectariola in collecting and storing the straw on which the holy guest had lain one night; at no. 70, where he speaks of the little wooden paten with barley bread, sent back by St. Germanus to Placidia augusta in place of a blessed gift antidoron; and finally at no. 75, where he says there was so great a contention over the garments of Germanus, scarcely dead, of the same princess as well as of St. Peter Chrysologus and of six other prelates, that it was not quieted except by the tearing apart of his tunic and little cloak. Nonninus too, of whom Hericus in the Miracles, no. 41, treats from St. Gregory bishop of Tours, how much he valued even a little particle of his sepulchral stone, will be seen there.

[6] And indeed that even now so many elapsed centuries have worn away nothing from the value of things of this kind, the churches testify, things otherwise even worthless, with which they are said to be preserved among the most precious treasures of sacred hoards; as the metropolitan church of the Virgin Mother of God at Paris, which is believed to have a sleeve, which the holy man himself, near death, is said to have sent for a blessing eulogia to St. Genevieve, on the testimony of Du Breul, Antiquities of Paris, book 1, page 40; the cathedral church of St. Stephen of Auxerre, for which St. Heribald, the thirty-fifth bishop, in the ninth century decorated wonderfully a coffer with gold and silver, where he laid up the garments of the most sacred Germanus; as the History of the bishops of Auxerre has, chapter 36. That one of those garments was once accustomed to be brought forth from the coffer every year on the 30th of July, and displayed publicly from the high sanctuary; but the rest to be carried about on the 3rd of August in a solemn procession, the History of Auxerre captured by the Calvinists and freed asserts, in the annexed instruments, page 30; where it also subjoins that the recovered part (from the Huguenot calamity) of those garments was enclosed in a new case in the year of Christ 1636; and visited in the year 1719. See also there, page 53; and Viole in the Gallican Life, chapter 28, page 209. An old inventory of these garments Mabillon thinks he produces in the Benedictine Annals, volume 2, book 32, no. 37. But to me the matter seems doubtful; since among them are mentioned some which Du Breul, cited a little before, reckons in the treasury of the metropolitan church of Paris, and refers to St. Germanus of Paris; and because in that inventory St. Germanus, thrice simply named, seems to be distinguished from our own, to whom there is added there the epithet of Auxerre.

[7] because they were consecrated either by his use or by the touch of his body. The church too of his monastery in the same city, with how great care and veneration it preserves to this very day the silken cloth with which Placidia once covered his body; likewise the stone sepulchre in which he was once buried; nay also the fragments of the cypress sarcophagus in which he was translated from Italy, will be told below. There is also, in the catalogue of the relics of the abbey of St. Peter of Auxerre (commonly Saint-Père), according to our Auxerre manuscript, of which the chief author is believed to be George Viole, ascribed a part of the shroud (so they call that garment with which the body was wrapped by Placidia) of St. Germanus

bishop of Auxerre. Moreover, the church of Gron (in the vernacular from Gron, which is a village near Sens) religiously guards some fragments of his garments; as the most illustrious bishop of Auxerre most recently taught us. Finally, in the parish of St. Germanus of Gueron, says Viole in the Life of the Saint published in French, chapter 28, page 208, which is distant one league from Bayeux in Normandy, there is a most elegant altar-cloth, upon which tradition there bears that he, passing that way, celebrated the sacrosanct sacrifice of the Mass. And this is wonderful in it, that from the memory of men, never washed, it keeps its snowy whiteness; however frequently enough it be used for the confecting of the sacred Mysteries. Of the same kind we suspect were those pledges of the Saint at Ladriac, of which Hericus makes mention in the Miracles, no. 53. Concerning the particles of his sarcophagus, see the same, no. 70.

[8] The translation, burial, tomb of the body—how august; Now if so much honor has been expended on those things which touched the Saint's body in any way, what shall we say of the body itself? Certainly the apostolic Prelate had not yet expired, when already Placidia had destined that treasure for herself; so that she dismissed him not except at the request of the dying man himself, and indeed unwillingly; but with how great preparation and retinue, Constantius will narrate below, no. 76; where he will also assert that this pomp, however great, of those conducting the illustrious funeral was surpassed by the greater attendance of the Gauls, receiving their own Patron. But concerning the magnificence of his obsequies and burial among his own, St. Hericus is to be consulted in the Miracles, no. 34 and 37; as also concerning the basilica of huge construction and elaborate amplitude, which St. Clothilde the queen, wife of Clovis the first, built above the tomb of the holy Pontiff, in the same place, no. 38; concerning the royal adornment which Clotaire, son, as he says, of Clothilde, and the most faithful executor and heir of his mother's devotion, added to the tomb itself; concerning the profuse liberality of Ingundis, his wife, toward the same basilica, in the same place, no. 39.

[9] likewise a second, and a third translation under Charles the Bald. The same affection then toward St. Germanus was propagated to the later Gallican kings and princes, as Viole proves at length in the Gallican Life, chapter 27: yet among others there excelled most both that Conrad, whom they call Count of the Parisians, and brother of the empress Judith, and thus great-uncle of Charles the Bald; and his nephew himself here, Charles, king and afterward emperor of the Gauls: and Conrad indeed, when he extended the basilica raised by St. Clothilde, on the part where it looks toward the east, in that part where the greater altar was afterward placed, under which he also built crypts distinguished by three vaults, memorable to this day both for the work itself, and for the tombs of many Saints, and especially of St. Germanus: but Charles, when at the same time he arranged a twofold translation there of his sacred body; the one together with his brother Louis, in the year 841, on the 1st day of September, into another place, as it appears, of the same church; the other, Conrad's construction being completed, to the monument elaborately prepared for him in the subterranean crypt, in the year of Christ 859, on the 6th day of January. And these, since they are narrated fully enough by Hericus in the Miracles, book 2, chapters 1 and 2, let it suffice to have touched here in passing. But he does not mention the translation of the relics of St. Martin to the church of St. Germanus of Auxerre, in which, as in an asylum, Pagius contends they remained from the year of Christ 852 until 887, from the treatise of St. Odo On the return of St. Martin from Burgundy. But we too refer that, together with the same treatise, liable to not a few difficulties, to be given and discussed at November.

[10] That Lothair, son of the Bald, whose premature death Hericus will lament below in the preface to the metrical Life of St. Germanus, followed in the footsteps of his august father, His adornment by the abbot Lothair; is manifest from this, that not only did he vehemently impel the same Hericus to adorn the Acts of our Prelate in bound style; but he himself also decorated his sacred reliquary, or, as it is in the Deeds of the abbots of the same church, chapter 13, his casket, with gold and gems; nor long after, falling into disease and now near death, he obtained from his parent (perhaps because he could not do it by himself, exhausted by his recent largesse) that, besides other things in the basilica of St. Germanus, before the most sacred ashes of his sepulchre … one lamp be increased, unfailingly kindled; nor should any of the rest be diminished for this: concerning which matter consult the Benedictine Annals at the year in which he ceased to live, 865, no. 35.

[11] Hence, moreover, Viole gathers in the Gallican Life, chapter 28, and their anxious custody in the time of the raging Normans, that about the fourth year after the translation of the year 859, the relics, drawn from the tomb and enclosed by this Lothair in that precious case, began first to be publicly displayed on the chief altar; until not long after they had to be hidden with the case, on the testimony of Brother Nevelo in the Corbie manuscript Martyrology, where, at the eighth of the Ides of January, mention having been made of the body translated in 859 into the crypts, he immediately subjoins: But at the same time, and with no long course of days intervening, a terrible infestation of the pagans (the Normans) striking fear, the sepulchre of the oft-mentioned Confessor, dug deeper into the depth of the ground, was most firmly set into the veins of the earth by the glue of most tenacious cement: and above it was placed another sarcophagus, in which are contained the fragments of the cypress coffin in which his body was once carried from Ravenna. Which, for the removal of ambiguity in future centuries, it has pleased us to subjoin. Thus Nevelo, who is said to have flourished then. Yet I know not whether these things cohere well enough with the treatise of St. Odo already praised; unless you would have it that the body of St. Martin, recently brought into the same basilica, stood there indeed for some time; but, that fear rushing on, was hidden there also.

[12] How long the body of our Saint lay thus buried, is not clear. and afterward the singular reverence toward it. Viole in the Gallican Life, chapter 28, reckons it was dug up and openly displayed in an eminent place of the basilica from about the year 865; but he proves it by conjectures not very solid; since it is not probable that what had been hidden from fear of the Normans was brought forth while that fear lasted, not to say increased: but that it lasted among the people of Auxerre until the beginning of the tenth century, is clear both from elsewhere, and from the Acts of blessed Gerannus, bishop of Auxerre, at the 28th day of this month. Nor does it matter that Odo affirms the body of St. Martin was restored to his own before that time: for either his chronology is deceptive, as Viole thinks; or it was restored for this reason, that a greater danger from the Normans was now feared for it at Auxerre than at Tours, as, almost against Odo himself, Pagius would have it; or there was another cause of this matter, which will be seen in its place. But whenever the case of St. Germanus was brought forth thence, a singular reverence was then always exhibited to it above the other relics of the Saints; as is gathered from the History of the bishops of Auxerre, chapter 49, and the Chronology of Robert, monk of Auxerre: for when king Robert in the eleventh century, about to treat of peace with the Burgundians, had appointed a council, as it is there called, in the district of Auxerre, at which he himself was present with bishops and abbots, and at the same time innumerable (as was once the custom) pledges of the Saints of nearly the whole province; and when some asked that the body of the glorious Germanus be brought thither; Hugh the bishop (of Auxerre) answered: Far be it that the bones of an incomparable Man be moved for any matter whatsoever: which the rest hearing, gladly consented. But that in public calamities of the people it was sometimes moved and carried about in procession through the city, Viole testifies in the Auxerre manuscript, pages 261 and 267.

[13] Its incorruption asserted in the eleventh century; Nor was this veneration then paid only to the sacred body; but also to the whole basilica on its account, on the testimony of Glaber below in the second Appendix to the history of Hericus, no. 10 and following. Nay, that in the same century assiduous guards kept watch over these relics, at least by day, the author of the miracles which we shall give, the Selby ones, indicates at no. 3; where also, what Hericus had twice testified for the ninth century in the Miracles, no. 96 and 101, the same testifies for the eleventh century now advanced, namely that in the Auxerre monastery the little body of the most blessed Germanus rests incorrupt and whole; and indeed, as he hints there at no. 6, on the altar, in a place inaccessible to external men, yet to the domestics, especially by night, not sufficiently locked; until a finger, taken from it by the rash affection of a certain monk, either by biting or by cutting off, put into the minds of the brethren both to remove the body thence and to shut it up more safely, and to place the amputated finger, which even so remained incorrupt, above the altar in its place; whence some years after it was translated into England. This inconsiderate violation of so holy a pledge, chastised by a present punishment from heaven, increased not a little the former devotion toward it: not so, I think, that which is said to have happened with impunity about the beginning of the thirteenth century in the Deeds of the abbots of St. Germanus of Auxerre, chapter 13:

[14] and its preservation until the sixteenth century. Namely, when the long litigations of the abbot Radulph with the bishop Hugh, and of the monks with the abbot, brought the domestic estate so low, that for sustaining it they did not spare even the case of St. Germanus: The casket also, says the author of the work already cited, of blessed Germanus, once decorated with gold and gems by the abbot Lothair of good memory, son of King Charles, only the fronts remaining, stood stripped of its gold and gems. But even those fronts themselves, as they are here called, together with other treasures and most precious vessels of the same church, were pledged to the English and Navarrese kings in the year 1359 in the greatest straits of the oppressed city; nor after many years, as Viole relates at length in the Gallican Life, chapter 28, restored. But afterward, as the same asserts in our Auxerre manuscript, page 256, the splendor of this ark was better provided for by John, duke of the Berry, when for its preservation especially, in the year 1375, he assigned two-thirds of a pound of gold to be paid every year in perpetuity. There was added, by the same testimony there, page 262, to the huge basilica of St. Germanus, as it now survives, begun to be restored so many years back, at last, about the end of the fifteenth century, the placing of crowns; a great argument indeed of devotion inclined toward the tomb of the holy Prelate, and constant, even through the most iniquitous times. In such state were things, when the furies, snatched up by the Calvinist poison, rushed into this sanctuary, as everywhere into others: concerning which storm, because it is variously handed down, we must now treat in a few words.

§ II. The loss of his sacred body in the Huguenot destruction of the year 1567.

Whether the Saint's bones were dispersed by the Calvinists, Concerning Auxerre, taken by the Huguenots in the year 1567, on the 27th day of September through ambushes and treacheries

occupied, and until the April of the following year, in which they were expelled, everything turned upside down by robberies and by no sacrileges left undone, there deserves to be read a History not very long, which in the Gallican idiom D. Le Beuf, canon and succentor of the Auxerre church, published there in the year 1723. We seek this one thing: what happened in this tumult to the relics of St. Germanus: for that they were violated is admitted by all; but in what place, in what manner, with what outcome, is disputed. The author already mentioned describes the matter in this sense, page 142: it had been agreed among the heretics, that, as soon as they had gained the city, an armed watch of a few should for a time besiege the monastery of St. Germanus, lest anything could be carried off or withdrawn, until the leaders of the robbers should arrive. This was done so cleverly, that scarcely anything could be hidden by the monks, anxiously hastening their flight. Thus the whole treasure of the most wealthy monastery and church fell as prey to the band of robbers soon coming upon it. There were, behind the great altar, besides the case of St. Germanus, gleaming everywhere with the votive-offerings of so many princes, placed six other large ones (in the Acts of the visitation of the crypts, composed in the year 1642, only five, and a little differently, are reckoned) distinguished by the bodies of Sts. Aunarius, Urban, Tiburtius, Theobald, Romanus, and of certain of the companions of St. Maurice, Martyrs: all these the same onset and headlong fury, torn from their place, casts down onto the pavement, scattering at the same time the sacred bones to be trampled here and there by the wanton and impious crowd. So that, if anything of these relics of St. Germanus even now survives at Auxerre, which, collected in that confusion of so many others, can be distinguished, it is owed to the exceptional piety and peril of certain Catholics. Thus he; not asserting meanwhile that any such thing survives.

[16] Viole in the Life of the Saint, chapter 28, proposes three opinions on this matter, current in the middle of the seventeenth century, in which he was writing; and were mixed with others; of which the first agrees well enough with the description already given; the second he pursues thus: There are, however, those who have wished to affirm that the Huguenots, bound by a certain divine power, dared to attempt nothing against this venerable body, terrible even to the demons themselves; but, content with the material of his ark, wrought with gold and gems, carried back to the church the bones which they had found enclosed. Which narration indeed, if it be not false, those bones can be reckoned still preserved in the treasury of that church among many other good things, which were then secretly collected by the Catholics, and afterward brought together into it without distinction. This opinion seems to have prevailed in the same monastery in the year 1663, when at last the relics of many Saints, surviving from that deadly slaughter and mixed together, were placed in caskets, marked with the names of all together: for that the name of St. Germanus too was inscribed among them, we learned from a recent letter of the present bishop of the same city. However that be; that neither of these opinions could satisfy him well enough, Viole himself shows in the same place, when he subjoins the third, and indeed his own, in these words:

[17] or whether burned separately; But conjectures are not lacking, and much probability, which persuade that these (the bones of St. Germanus) were reduced to ashes in the house of a certain private man. Would that he had set forth those conjectures at least in one word! For now they are called into doubt: since before the year of Christ 1634 no vestige of them appears. And so both the most illustrious bishop of Auxerre in the mentioned letter, and his canon Le Beuf, in Auxerre captured and freed, page 144, would have it that they arose then for the first time, and were at the same time silently confuted: for that this is clear from a juridical instrument, of which a copy was found among the papers of Lord Mousse, procurator in the same city; and which testifies that the monks of St. Germanus, lawfully interrogated in the year 1634 before the Lieutenant-general, as they call him, of the city of Auxerre, concerning the body of St. Germanus, affirmed—as a matter soon to be proved by the authority of witnesses ready at hand—that it had been burned by the Calvinists: then the twelve witnesses who had been summoned, all octogenarians, and once spectators of the crimes perpetrated by the heretics at Auxerre, were ordered to come forth and speak: but that none of these made even the least mention of the burning of the body just mentioned. Wonderful indeed, that Viole either did not know this—a man who, if any other, laboriously scrutinized even the most minute matters in this kind, and from the year 1632 until 1636 was Prior in the monastery of St. Germanus of Auxerre; or so dissimulated it, that many years after, say 1656, he dared to maintain that burning of the body even in public print! The same opinion thereafter, and indeed more affirmatively, was followed by Mabillon, both in his Italian literary Journey, page 231, and in the Annals at the year 859, no. 49; by Tillemont, volume 15 in St. Germanus, article 10, and others, among whom is reckoned Dominic Fournier, monk of the abbey of the same Saint, in the Description of the crypts of his church, published from the press at Auxerre in the year 1714.

[18] or rather buried somewhere; What if these bones were neither dispersed, nor carried back to the church, nor violated by flames either there or elsewhere; but were carried off in their very case by the Huguenots into the castle of a certain Jacques Loron, a Calvinist, called Maison-Blanche, not far from the town of Coulanges-on-the-Yonne; and there, buried, still lie hidden? Certainly that the case of St. Germanus was brought there, and, when it could by no forces for a long time, by no industry of the goldsmith, be dissolved or broken up, on about the sixteenth day after it had been brought, was buried there, the soil having been dug deep for that purpose and heaped back, an eyewitness (being Loron's little maidservant when these things were done, and, in the very burying, which happened by night, ordered to bear a torch) asserted under oath before the judge of Donzy in the domain of Nevers, Claudine Ravier, on the 15th day of December, in the year of Christ 1610, in the fifty-fifth year of her age: and she held it for certain that up to that time that case had not been dug up again. But neither is it known that this was done later; since the place afterward was unknown: for not even Claudine herself in the year already noted could assign it; both because she had seen it only as quite a young girl; and because the castle, meanwhile destroyed and reduced to another form, bore no vestiges of the old site. He who desires more particulars of this narration, let him consult the long instrument in the cited D. Le Beuf, page 12 and following: where he will also easily gather that the discussion is not of an open, or empty, or merely bare case, but of the whole and prodigiously indissoluble case and relics of St. Germanus. For indeed if it could not be dissolved by them, it could not be opened; since from the eleventh century it had been closed with so many different locks, that without the consent of very many, with whom the keys were deposited, it could not be opened; as you will gather from the Selby Miracles, chapter 1, no. 7. And hence arises a fourth opinion, far different from the three former; which I for my part would rather have confirmed some day by the very finding of the hidden and locked treasure in its place, than by the testimony of a single little woman, and a rustic one at that, however much sworn.

[19] Now follows a fifth opinion, and that the most recent of all; or whether snatched from the heretics by Catholics, which we lately received thus from a man of foremost authority and trust among the people of Auxerre in matters of this kind: There is, he says, reason why I should believe that these (the relics of St. Germanus) were withdrawn from the fury of those heretics (the Huguenots) then, when they were destining them for the fire, by generous faithful ones, and soon placed in a linen sack, and thus preserved among them for nearly thirty years *. That sack was then committed to a certain holy abbot of the city of Auxerre, who enclosed it in an ark fortified with iron and locks (dans un coffre fort) and preserved in the inner recesses of that monastery to this very day. To the same sack was affixed a little slip, noted by the hand of that regular abbot by way of a commentary; and it contains the following: "These bones were consigned into my hands by pious men; who told me that they were relics from the case of St. Germanus; and that they had collected them on the pavement of the church of the said St. Germanus at the very time when the Huguenots demolished the reliquaries of the same basilica in the year 1567. Noted 1607."

[20] Furthermore this little slip is indeed sealed with no one's name; and still preserved at Auxerre in a certain sack: but the handwriting is such that it altogether seems to be that of a certain distinguished man, who was then the regular abbot of that monastery, and chaplain (commonly almoner) to King Louis XIII. He died in the year 1627 in the odor of sanctity. (All these things fit aptly upon Edmund, Premonstratensian abbot of the monastery of St. Marianus.) Very many slips still survive written by his hand: and the recognition of his handwriting is equivalent to a testimony, and seems to signify no less expressly both that these bones were delivered to him, and that the slip of the sack was written by him, than if he himself testified it either by mouth or by a subscribed name. Here is inserted an accurate catalogue of the bones, both the very many which the sack contains, and also of the many which are lacking in it for the integrity of a human skeleton; which I here omit. Then it is subjoined: The epoch of the slip hints that those who gave these bones had already then preserved them for forty years… But why they did not restore them rather to the religious of the monastery of St. Germanus than to others, is unknown; as also why they kept them so long with themselves.

[21] To me indeed this sack in no way pleases; nor am I easily led which last opinion, from the circumstances to believe that those were pious men who so unjustly kept another's treasure of so great price, hidden for forty years in so unworthy, sordid, and open a receptacle; and not even then restored them to those from whom they had taken them; but to others, to whom they knew they belonged by no right. But who would imagine to himself a regular abbot so iniquitous, that he would claim for himself, against right and religion, a thing to be compared with no riches? So foolish, that he would believe unknown men (for if they were known, they ought to have been named) thrusting upon him bones so neglected, as the relics of St. Germanus, without a witness, without records, without an oath, without any proof? So impious indeed, if he believed it, that he deemed them worthy of not even the least honor; but with the same sack, through the twenty years in which he is afterward said to have presided, thrust them away into a profane chest? So inept, finally, that in so great a matter he would believe he would make faith to posterity by a bare slip, without seal or name, rashly affixed to the sack? But the handwriting, he says, speaks. I answer, that not rarely the handwritings of different men are quite similar. Then, let the handwriting speak indeed, and indicate (for all I care) manifestly whose it is: I deny that he either willed or could speak legitimately, who was unwilling to add to his writing either his name or his seal.

[22] it seems suspect. But indeed grant that this slip is that abbot's; grant also that it is legitimately subscribed. What

will be proved by it? This one thing only, namely, that men who seemed to the excellent abbot to be pious brought these bones, and said that they were St. Germanus's; and that they had collected them in his basilica, scattered by the heretics. Suppose indeed they said so. What then? Does the slip testify that they truly said this, or proved it? By no means. But Claudine, a little above, not only said the contrary, but even swore it. It will remain, therefore, even granting the testimony of the slip, to be demonstrated that those men said true things; and consequently, that these are truly the bones of St. Germanus of Auxerre. But by what reasoning that can be done, I do not see. There would be indeed, I confess, some argument for this matter, if the bones preserved in the sack could be compared with all the other bones of the same Saint, which are possessed by various churches from time immemorial; and if thus all were found to agree among themselves, so that none was superfluous: but if anything is redundant, that is, if the sack contains some bone which the same in kind is met with elsewhere as venerated as of our St. Germanus, and proved as such either by authentic testimony or by the most ancient tradition of the place; who, I ask, would hope to overturn a testimony of that sort, or such a tradition, by a sack quite recently dug out of the darkness, and not fortified with suitable authority? But that this has already been detected will soon become clear at no. 29.

[23] What is established from so diverse a narration. Since therefore from the contention of so many opinions it appears clearly enough how little certain each is, nay even all together; those being left to the judgment of the readers, we think this alone can be safely asserted concerning the body of St. Germanus, which alone Brother Peter de Pesselière asserts—in Le Beuf, page 11—a witness by far the weightiest, being Prior of the monastery of St. Germanus at Auxerre from the year 1544 until 1597: In which year indeed, says he, 1567, the city of Auxerre was intercepted and captured by the Huguenots: and therefore the monastery of St. Germanus, with several other churches of the same city, was demolished and overthrown, and stripped of all wood, tile, iron, lead, glass, bells; the sacrosanct caskets and relics of the most holy father St. Germanus, and of the other Saints, being first plundered, as also the ecclesiastical ornaments, books, papers, title-deeds, and the rest of the furniture of the whole house. But these things are to be understood only of those relics of this Saint which had remained in his case until the Calvinist slaughter; not of those which before that time had been taken out thence and translated elsewhere, both within the monastery itself and outside it; concerning which, being about to say a few things now, let us take our beginning from the monastery.

* nay, forty.

§ III. What is said still to survive of the Saint's body in various places.

What therefore, says Viole in the Gallican Life, chapter 28, now survives to the church of St. Germanus of so rich a treasure of his sacred relics, possessed by it for so many centuries back? [There survive in the Auxerre monastery of St. Germanus a finger-bone, dust of the body, etc.,] There still remain a huge silken cloth, marked with imperial eagles, in which the Saint's body was once wrapped, and which the common people call the shroud of St. Germanus; one bone from some of his fingers; the stone sepulchre in which the body long rested; and in that sepulchre his ashes, or the dust of the same body, with some notable fragments of the first sarcophagus of cypress. But this residue, however small, suffices to soften somehow the grief which we contracted from the loss inflicted by the heretics, however inestimable: since both the spirit of our glorious Prelate still stands wholly present with his ashes; and even the wood of the cypress coffin, dipped in water, exerts prodigious powers both upon the feverish and upon others afflicted with miseries; and so far is it that the former devotion of the faithful toward his tomb grows lukewarm, that rather it increases day by day; and the Saint deserts none (to say it once for all) of those who, whether in their diseases, or in straits of soul or body, or in arduous and intricate affairs, or in most bitterly tormenting calamities, flee to his protection with a sincere feeling of Christian piety. Concerning the sepulchre and shroud, which he describes much more accurately, Mabillon deserves to be seen, either in the Italian Journey, page 231, or in the Benedictine Annals at the year 859, no. 49; yet in neither place does he commemorate the other relics.

[24] Of these, only the shroud (in the sanctuary, I suppose, where it was in the thirteenth century) was exposed to the heretic robbers, which in the time of the Huguenots lay hidden underground: and snatched by them, and sold to a certain woman in the parish of St. Peter, and by her, when she had discovered it to be a sacred thing, carried to the monastery of St. Peter, and thence at last returned to the basilica of St. Germanus, as Le Beuf observes from the author of the Description of the crypts, page 143: but the rest lay hidden from the Huguenots. And the fragments indeed of the cypress coffin, from the ninth century, as we saw from Nevelo, laid up in the stone sepulchre, were found with the same by Hugh the abbot, when he demolished the old altar of St. Germanus, at the beginning of the twelfth century, to erect a new one, according to the Deeds of the abbots, chapter 9, and the interpretation of Viole in the Gallican Life, chapter 28. The same were found again in the same sepulchre in the year 1277, when the altar already mentioned, damaged by fire, had to be destroyed, and a new one built anew; but since then in that tomb was found one little bone from the very body of blessed Germanus, as is believed, with a part of a silken pall, similar to that pall of the shroud which is held in the treasury, and many other garments, both silken and linen, and three or more little caskets, and other pieces of wood from the chest, as is believed, in which the body of the same holy Pontiff was brought from Ravenna, and with much dust from the body and from its inner sepulchre, as is believed; and one denarius of Auxerre coinage; as it is in the Deeds of the abbots of St. Germanus, chapter 17: since then, I say, besides the cypress fragments, so many other relics were found there, we judge that these were added after the earlier finding, while the altar was being restored in the twelfth century; and thus that the body, which about the middle of the eleventh century was still incorrupt, had by then been dissolved; nay, that parts of it had begun to be taken from the case, and translated elsewhere: if indeed this little bone of his and these ashes of his were such.

[26] whence they were drawn out and placed on the altar in the year 1634. But a few days after this last finding, on the testimony of Viole in the same place, all these relics, except the shroud (nay, and the other garments and the denarius, as it appears), together with the stone tomb itself, were translated to the place in which the Saint's reliquary had been hidden in the Norman war, that is, into a broad and deep pit between the altar of St. Germanus in the crypts and the altar of All Saints: whence in the year 1634, on the 2nd day of November, together with the stone sepulchre, they were drawn out, and carried up to the mentioned altar of St. Germanus; the altar of All Saints being at that time destroyed, both that this translation might be done more conveniently, and that the sepulchre might appear more august. This solemnity, at the request of the Prior (he himself it was who writes) and of the religious, the most illustrious and most reverend lord Dominic Séguier, then bishop of Auxerre, celebrated; who at the same time pronounced these to be the true relics of St. Germanus: which the health shortly conferred, not without a miracle, upon many at the touch of the same relics, abundantly confirmed. Thus far concerning the monastery. Now let us follow Viole leading the way, in the same chapter 28, to the other places to which some part of this sacred body has come.

[27] What is in his church at Paris: In the royal basilica, he says, of St. Germanus of Auxerre .. at Paris, there is held a bone quite notable, which it fell to me indeed to see and venerate, with two or three little bones of the hand; which all together are enclosed in a silver gilded arm. But he who lately took care to have these examined with second thought, the most illustrious bishop of Auxerre, says that, that arm being opened, which is partly of bronze, partly of silver and dipped in gold, there were found the bone of the arm, or rather the extreme part of the radius by which it is joined to the hand, of which nevertheless it certainly could not be judged of which arm it was a part; moreover a part of a rib, and another small fragment of a bone (it is not known whose): but below these relics, on another little cushion, there is a fragment of the cranium, as also of the lower jaw with some molar teeth: but that it is not said that all these relics are St. Germanus's; that for the arm alone there is a tradition, arising perhaps from that form of the case.

[28] What in the monastery of St. Vaanne, and at Montfaucon; The monastery of St. Vaanne of Verdun, of the Order of St. Benedict, possesses also a bone of one or the other arm; whence in these last years some particles were cut off, and translated to the church of Buzancy, not far from Mouzon, that the pious desire of a certain matron noble in those parts might be satisfied. Thus Viole. But this too the mentioned bishop judged should be examined; and he learned, by letters given to him from the monastery of St. Vaanne, that not a bone of the arm, but the lower part of the shin, is preserved there in the silver arm. At St. Germanus's in Montfaucon there is shown another bone of the arm, says Viole. But it was written back to the bishop of Auxerre by the chapter of that church, that of the certain relics of St. Germanus they had in a silver hand the phalanx of the right thumb: that there was indeed with them, separately, some part of an arm, with indications attributing it to St. Germanus; but that of the trustworthiness of these they were not sure.

[29] at Miège, at Conches, at Chessy, at Montpellier, In the parish of St. Germanus of Miège (de Miège), once a priory of the Cluniac monastery, there is that bone of the left arm which they call the elbow. But the whole elbow of the left arm is also found in the sack, of which I made mention above. In the abbey of St. Peter of Conches, of the Benedictine Order, of the diocese of Évreux, is a part of the cranium: at Chessy (Chessy) on the Loire … between Orléans and Gargeau, some fragments of ribs, which I too saw, he says. Those ribs were lately inspected; and they differ in color from those which are preserved in the sack at Auxerre. Pope Urban V, founding at Montpellier a monastery to Sts. Germanus and Benedict, … requested the relics of each Saint from the monasteries of Auxerre and Fleury. There moved the people of Auxerre both the supreme dignity of the Pontiff, and his singular merits toward the monastery over which he had before presided as abbot. There was given him therefore a whole bone of the arm; which he ordered to be enclosed in a most rich casket. These things the same Viole; adding that this precious pledge was plundered by the Calvinists, its adornment of gold and gems being taken. But the prelate of Auxerre observes that, according to Gariel in his book On the Origin of St. Peter's at Montpellier, page 42, it was not a bone of the arm that was granted there by Urban; but the head of St. Germanus: nay, according to the same in the margin of page 154, there seems

even now something of his relics survives there.

[30] At St. Germanus of Lembron, in the Limagne of Auvergne, at Lembron, at Auxerre, at Reims, etc. there are two ribs, which God illustrates with several miracles day by day, especially in those whose eyes are ill affected. The bishop of Auxerre here assigns only one rib, about half a foot long; but he adds that there is besides there a fragment of the cranium and certain other relics of St. Germanus, on the testimony of a certain honest man, who as a boy was once healed by the benefit of the same Saint. His relics are also seen in the monasteries of St. Julian at Auxerre, St. Remigius at Reims, St. Peter at Corbie, St. Peter at Châlons in Champagne, St. Cornelius at Compiègne, the Paraclete in the diocese of Amiens: besides, in the churches of St. Germanus at Rennes in Brittany, of St. Germanus commonly of Viteaux, of Montdeon, and in many other places. Thus again Viole, adding nothing about the peculiar quality of those relics. But the most illustrious bishop of Auxerre now asserts it is established that the relics of St. Germanus at Corbie are not of this our Germanus, but of the one of Paris: and that the Montdeon ones were visited by a neighboring parish priest and a surgeon as companion, who reported that there is preserved the radius of the left arm, as it seemed; yet that no authentic document is attached; nay, that that radius is enclosed in a case in the shape of an arm, made either of tin or certainly of the vilest silver; so that it may seem doubtful whether such a bone would have been carefully preserved in a case of so little value. This collection indeed is much stronger against the recent sack.

[31] The cathedral church of St. Stephen at Auxerre, besides the huge abundance of elegant reliquaries, in which it rejoiced before the city was oppressed by the heretics, What the church of St. Stephen at Auxerre had of his body; possessed also a golden arm, on which the bishop Gualdricus, when he had ordered it made about the year 920, had placed both the relics and the name of St. Germanus. In agreement with our Viole is the History of the bishops of Auxerre, chapter 44; except that this calls it a golden hand, not an arm. I wonder, therefore, that no mention of this is made in that old Inventory which is exhibited in D. Le Beuf, page 25. Furthermore, what those relics were—garments, or some part of the body—is not known; but that Gualdricus dared to decide anything about the body, as being then incorrupt and whole, I would not easily suppose. Certainly what penalty a monk paid who, with intention, as he thought, the best, attempted such a thing a hundred years and more later, the Selby History will tell.

[32] Much less credible is it that those relics of St. Germanus were anything of his body, which in the History of the bishops of Auxerre, chapter 20, St. Desiderius is said to have carried off to the monastery of St. Amantius in the district of Cahors, what the monastery of St. Amantius of Cahors, whom they would have sat from about the year of Christ 603 until 621: since at least until the times of Charles the Bald that body remained intact, as Hericus expressly testifies in the Miracles, no. 96. And so Viole thought this passage should be understood of garments or some similar thing; just as also that other one, which from the ancient Lectionary of the monastery of Cuxa, of the diocese of Elne, in Catalonia, Antonio Vincente Domenech brings forth in Spanish in his general History of the Saints of the principality of Catalonia, at the 5th day of January; whence it passed also to Yepes in the Benedictine Chronicle at the year of Christ 745, chapter 4. There a certain Protasius, archdeacon of Urgell, is said, after the monastery of St. Andrew of Exalada was destroyed, to have gone to Charlemagne in the year 794, and to have obtained from him, that not only should another be raised, consecrated in the name of St. Germanus of Auxerre, in the valley of Cuxa; but also that by the command of the same emperor there should be delivered to him by the bishop of Auxerre the hand of St. Germanus with one tooth of St. Amator, to be translated to that new monastery of his.

[33] and St. Germanus of Cuxa. Here, I say, if we listen to Viole as interpreter, the hand of St. Germanus might have been so called—some silver hand, into which something of the garment of the holy Prelate had been inserted. But if now, he says, something of his bones is seen there; it must be said to have come thither after the death of Charlemagne: unless one would have it that the authors, while they establish so long-lasting an integrity of this body, did not affirm this of the body cohering in all its members, but of all and each of the members, even cut off from the body, and translated into diverse places. Of these conjectures the first is convenient enough, if probable enough; the third will not easily be reconciled with either the history of Hericus or the Selby one; the second Achery and Mabillon embrace in the Acts of the Benedictine Saints, volume 5, page 877; where, the history of that Spanish Legend being learnedly refuted, they attribute the beginnings of the monastery of Cuxa, and the translation of the already-mentioned hand, to Charles the Bald the emperor; not about to do so, I think, if they had been able to see the Marca Hispanica published a little after by Baluze, book 4, column 362 and following; according to which Mabillon himself afterward, in the Annals, volume 3, page 219, confesses that only in the year 878, that is after the death of Charles the Bald, it began to be thought about the origins of the monastery of Cuxa. Hence it is clear how much credit the already-mentioned Legend deserves. Nor yet would I deny that something of the relics of St. Germanus was in that monastery, even before the year of Christ about 1040, in which Garsias, a monk of the same place, wrote concerning the relics of the church of Cuxa, in the Appendix of the Marca Hispanica, these things among others: On the altars meanwhile of the church they sent relics to each in its own name: as if he should say, that on each altar were laid up the relics of those Saints in whose name the altars were marked. But among them was without doubt our St. Germanus; being, together with the archangel Michael, whose was the greatest altar, patron of the church and monastery. But that there was even then there some part of his body (say, the hand), we shall believe when we see it proved by better documents.

[34] What there is at Gron, Metz, Mouzon, Nancy, Bayeux, in the district of Cézens, Besides the churches hitherto enumerated by Viole, the bishop of Auxerre reckons others also in the praised letter; as that of Gron near Sens, where there is one rib of his, but broken in two, with segments of the garments both of St. Germanus and of St. Amator, with epigraphs prefixed of about two hundred years and more: the abbey of St. Vincent at Metz, where, according to an old catalogue, notable relics of the same are preserved: likewise the abbey of Mouzon in Champagne of Gaul, and the church of St. Leopold of Nancy; but what either of these places possesses is not added: the abbey too of St. Lucianus of Beauvais, where there is held a great part of the cranium, more than once cut, that various places might enjoy its particles: besides, the church of the district of Cézens in the diocese of Saint-Flour, where is shown a whole arm, even now covered with its own skin, which lacks nothing, except the index finger, which the bishop of Saint-Flour took for himself; and the thumb, which is preserved in the neighboring district of Brezons; and a particle of the elbow, which about the year 1665 was granted to the monks of St. Germanus of Auxerre. Yet this arm the same most illustrious bishop suspects to be not of this our Germanus, but of another holy Germanus, both from other conjectures, and especially because it has not yet lost the middle finger, which was torn from the right hand of St. Germanus of Auxerre from the eleventh century, according to the Selby History, and translated into England. An argument indeed inescapable, if, as is supposed, that arm of Cézens is the right one. What shall I say of the other churches, of which Hericus in the Miracles, no. 51 and following?

[35] Our Papebroch too, returning from Rome to Belgium in the year 1662, saw and venerated in the Cluniac abbey some bones of St. Germanus of Auxerre, among the Cluniacs, the people of Rodez, the people of Cologne. as he noted in his manuscript itinerary. Rayssius in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium, page 453, says that in the Rutila Charterhouse on the bank of the Meuse there is honored one joint of the feet of St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre. Gelenius, On the greatness of Cologne Agrippina, book 3, syntagma 1, page 237, explaining the reliquaries of his metropolitan church, says: The fourth silver holy-vessel contains, besides various relics of the holy Martyrs, Confessors, and Virgins, the arm of St. Germanus the bishop, who, sent by the senate to govern Burgundy, substituted for St. Amator in the see of Auxerre, … sat thirty years. But I fear lest I may seem to have now said more about the relics than is enough. And indeed who could either enumerate or defend them all; since there are also very many others, marked only with the inscription of St. Germanus, or St. Germanus the bishop?

§ IV. The Acts of St. Germanus, and their writers.

St. Germanus obtained as the herald of his works Constantius, a presbyter of Lyons, as the inscription prefixed to his letters to the holy bishops Patiens and Censurius in the old codices teaches. The Life of St. Germanus was written by Constantius, a most weighty author, St. Isidore, On illustrious men, chapter 4, makes him indeed a bishop; but wrongly, if I am not mistaken, says our Sirmond in the notes to St. Sidonius Apollinaris, book 1, epistle 1; with whom now all everywhere agree. But so great a man was he, that that age seems scarcely to have borne his equal. And so that star of the Arvernian church, whom I just now mentioned, Sidonius, did not think it enough to dedicate to him his eight books of letters, nay to commit them to be purified and polished; but besides sprinkled them again and again with so many elogia of him, that no one can read them in an author so learned and holy, without immediately recognizing that this man was in every respect supreme. Consult book 1, epistle 1; book 2, epistle 10; book 7, epistle 18; book 8, epistle 16; book 9, epistle 16; but above all the second epistle of the third book, from which you will learn this too among other things, that the labors of Constantius, undertaken most happily for the Arverni about the year of Christ 473 (that is, only twenty-five or twenty-six years from the death of St. Germanus), are thence especially extolled, because he had undergone them, a person grave in age, frail in infirmity, sublime in nobility, venerable in religion, on the plea of love alone. Long therefore he must have lived with the Saint of whom he writes, and with his contemporaries; which adds a most weighty weight to the remaining authority of this writer; whenever at last he undertook this work.

[37] not yet forty years having elapsed from his death: For the time in which he began to weave this history, and that in which he published it as far as Auxerre, who could define more precisely than the author himself in the twin letter, to be prefixed to the Acts? That this therefore happened is certain, while St. Patiens sat at Lyons, and St. Censurius as bishop at Auxerre. But the times of each were neither brief, nor circumscribed hitherto by sufficiently known limits: as concerning St. Patiens the Gallia Christiana of the newest edition, volume 4, column 25; concerning St. Censurius we ourselves have shown

at the 10th day of June, page 278; where you will see that chronology utterly overthrown which Hericus will propose below in the preface to the Miracles of St. Germanus; and from which it ought to follow, that the history of his Life could not be believed to have been completed, or at least sent to St. Censurius, before the fortieth year from the Saint's death; even though it be feigned to have been sent at the very beginning of his episcopate. But the foundation of this reasoning being scattered, it too must necessarily collapse. Furthermore, lest we seem to have determined nothing in this matter, it appears indeed not absurd, if we say that these Acts came forth to the public neither before the year 483, nor much later. Why we should not think this was done before that year, the very deep silence of St. Sidonius in his letters, running down to that time, concerning so illustrious a work of Constantius, makes clear: but to defer it much longer, neither does the age of Constantius allow, already ten years before grave and frail with infirmity; nor do the times either of St. Patiens or of St. Censurius compel it: for although we know the beginning or end of neither; yet that both sat while the Visigoths were invading Auvergne, that is, about the year of Christ 473 or the following, we gather not obscurely from the same Sidonius, book six, epistles 10 and 12.

[38] which we shall bring forth not from Surius, but from manuscript codices; These same Acts Boninus Mombritius long ago sent forth into light by the press, but miserably mutilated in various places, and defiled with so many faults, that they can scarcely be read without disgust; but that they need not be so read, Surius brought about, when he offered them to readers from certainly better codices, at last whole and more accurately corrected, at this 31st day of July. Yet since we have detected that even this edition does not lack its own blemishes, lighter however and tolerable; lest anything could be wanting in so precious a monument, we preferred to test it again against the trustworthiness of the old parchments, rather than to borrow from Surius. We shall therefore give this work of Constantius from a copy of an old Chiffletian codex, but laboriously collated with several others, namely by us with the codices of Vaucelles, Marchiennes, the Queen of Sweden's codex 13, the Trier one of St. Maximinus, the one of Beaupré, of St. Omer, our codex Q, manuscript 4, and with the edition of Surius; and by Chifflet himself—a man indeed most laborious in our cause while he lived—with the manuscript codex of St. Lazarus of Autun, and three others, which he does not designate singly. But I would have it observed here, that in certain copies the chapters are distinguished by titles without numbers, in others by numbers only and without titles: and the titles, where they are inscribed, vary in one codex and another; so that they cannot be the author's; and therefore they are here neglected. The numbers, however, if anyone wishes, we shall express in the margin in Roman letters. As regards the text itself of the Life, however much in collating it I have noted every minute detail; I have not done this with the intention of burdening either our margins or the reader's patience with mere trifles that change nothing at all in the matter or the sense; but that I might exhibit in the minutiae that in which the more numerous and better codices agree. The other differences which deserved to be noted, I have written either beside the text or in the Notes.

[39] Constantius, Hericus—or, as in the oldest manuscripts he names himself, Heiricus—will follow, though younger by a long interval of four centuries. this one St. Hericus bound in meter, together with 2 books on the miracles, Him, ascribed among the Saints, we gave at the 24th day of June; where more about him may be seen. Mabillon, volume 1 of the Analecta, page 415, subjoins to his Collectanea some annotations, in which he establishes as his native place a village distant two leagues from Auxerre, to which he also gave his name: but the learned man afterward recognized his error, and corrected it in the Benedictine Annals, volume 2, book 32, no. 47, altogether asserting that Hericus was born from the very city of Auxerre. How great a name letters once gained him, these words of Trithemius in the Ecclesiastical Writers make known: Ericus, monk of the Order of St. Benedict, of the monastery of the city of Auxerre, a man learned in the divine Scriptures, and most erudite in the disciplines of secular letters, excelling in verse and prose, was an outstanding doctor in declaiming homilies to the people. Hence in the History of the bishops of Auxerre, to the illustration of which he too collaborated under bishop Wala, chapter 39, he merited the illustrious epithet of Theosophist. He wrote, besides other things, a brilliant poem, divided into six books, in which he adorned with heroic verses the Life of St. Germanus elaborated by Constantius; then two books on the life and miracles of the same Saint in loose oration; in the former of which he endeavored to supply not a few things which he grieved were studiously omitted by Constantius; thence proceeding to the later matters, he becomes so much weightier in his authority, as he is nearer in narration to his own times.

[40] He dedicated both works together to Charles the Bald, now august, afterward composed in loose style, as will be clear from the dedication prefixed to the poem, that is, in the year of Christ 876 or the following. But had he then first completed the poem? Thus our Bolland seems to have thought in the cited place, when from these words of Hericus about himself, in the epilogue of the sixth book, no. 178:

Behold, three decades now revolve my wretched life, There is added to these a second year, as my age swells;

when from these, I say, he gathers that the poet seems to have been born about the year 843. But Mabillon, of the Annals volume 3, book 36, wishes those three decades of his age, although placed at the end of the work, to be understood of the first undertaking, not of the completion of the work. But I assent to neither: not to Bolland; because I judge that that work was long completed before it was dedicated to Charles; as Hericus himself indicates in his Dedication, no. 8: nor to Mabillon either; for who, or with what appearance of truth, would affirm in, for example, the fortieth year of his age, either by voice or in writing, Behold, my wretched life etc.? Then that lucubration the author himself narrates in the same place, no. 7, that he undertook when he had recently emerged from the schools. Is it probable, I ask, that he who, according to the Epilogue of book 6, no. 176, had been handed over to those schools in about the seventh year of his age, wore them out until the 32nd year of his age? I omit other things; because the matter itself here seems to speak.

[41] What Mabillon adds in the same place, that the poem was completed after the two books on the miracles of St. Germanus; he dedicated it to Charles the Bald, emperor, in the year 876 or the following: this indeed I much less understand. For what? Shall he be reckoned to have composed these in the schools, from which he had recently emerged when he undertook the poem? No one will believe it. Or did he interrupt the begun poem, to interpose that other work? What cause? What author says so? He dedicated, you say, the two books on the miracles together with the metrical Life to Charles. Be it so indeed. Therefore he had completed this later than those. I for my part deny that this follows: for it is one thing to complete, another to publish or dedicate; which Hericus himself in the dedicatory Epistle, no. 8, sufficiently indicates, when he says he hesitated long, the work being already finished, before he published it to the public. I judge therefore that the poem was begun not long before the death of the abbot Lothair, or the year of Christ 866, when the author had scarcely touched the first parts of the work, as he confesses in the Dedication, no. 7: but that thereafter he applied to the begun work the persistence of completion, as he himself there says; that is, he did not lay down or interrupt this work before he finished it, and that after some years, say about the year of Christ 870; to which I easily allow the three decades with two years of his age to be referred: but after these that he undertook those two books on the miracles, which, in the year of Christ 873 (as is clear from book 2, chapter 2, no. 107), if he had begun them, he certainly had not yet completed: and at last that he offered to the emperor, by the same letter, about the year of Christ 876, the poem, and the two books on the miracles (the former long before, the latter recently dispatched).

[42] we shall give both these works We have long since promised both works: now we discharge our faith; about to gain, as we trust, no less favor from the lovers of the saints, because both have already been printed. For the poem, if it came forth accurately enough (concerning which we can now determine nothing, since, having lent it in the year 1647 to a man otherwise very well-deserving of us, we have never since seen it), yet must be quite rare, being given to the light only once, and that at Paris in the year 1543. But neither do we know the books on the life and miracles of St. Germanus published anywhere else than in our Labbe in his Library of manuscript books, now too not obvious to everyone, volume 1, from page 531. But how little correctly they are read there (whether by the fault of the printers, or of the old parchments, or of those who transcribed them badly), he who compares this our edition with that will everywhere and easily detect.

[43] from the most approved manuscripts. We shall give the poem as faithfully as possible from the most ancient Lobbes manuscript in quarto, as it is noted in the copy. But we have collated it with another manuscript of Belfort, in which the faults of meter are often corrected; which nevertheless we think are the author's own; then with our codex P, manuscript 4, which, because Henschenius once bought it at Lyons, we shall call the Lyons one. Nothing more correct than it, nothing in this kind, in my judgment at least, more ancient: for if you regard the handwriting, you will refer it altogether to the ninth or tenth century; but if the annotations, most of them by the same hand, but in smaller letters, placed either between the lines or in the margin; you will say it was Hericus himself, who either wrote or dictated them; so singular and proper an erudition of his, for those times, both in theological matter, and especially in poetic, do they breathe: yet the notes, whether poetic or grammatical, since they make nothing to our purpose, we have thought should be neglected. Furthermore, preludes of another meter, but of the same author, adorn the individual books: nor will these be omitted here; but since they lack titles setting forth the matter, we have added our own in the margin. In the Life itself we have used the titles of Hericus himself; but the numbers of the old chapters will be noted, as before, in Roman letters. The same Lyons codex contains, besides a Sermon to be recited on the solemnity of St. Germanus, also the two books of Hericus on his Life and Miracles; which we shall bring forth thence with the same trustworthiness, and indeed collated with our notable codex P, manuscript 157; with a transcript, I know not whence, drawn out for us by Chifflet, from which we shall exhibit the first appendix to the second book of Hericus; and at last with the Labbean edition. The old division of chapters and the inscriptions will be preserved in the margin; but these, broken up according to our Arabic numbers, we shall accommodate.

[44] There will be added, after the two appendices to Hericus, the Selby Miracles; To the first appendix will succeed a second, compiled by us from various authors: and to this at last the Selby Miracles of St. Germanus, which, since we did not have them elsewhere, we borrowed from our Labbe

in the Library of manuscript books, volume 1, page 594 and following, where he produces the History of the monastery of Selby; whence we have excerpted the miracles alone, and those things which seemed to contribute something to illustrating these in any way. The author was a monk of Selby, having scarcely, when he began to write these things, entered the twenty-second year of his age, as he himself will confess, chapter 1, no. 2. But concerning his trustworthiness I would altogether have read what he will give in chapter 4, no. 35 and following. The time in which he wrote he has thus, chapter 7, at the end: This was done in the year of the incarnate Word of God 1174, the hundred and sixth of the foundation of our church, the fourteenth of the abbot Gilbert: in which year also we undertook to write these things. Of his monastery I add nothing here; because he himself will designate it in the miracles. Of the same the Deeds of the abbots of St. Germanus in Labbe, in the same place, chapter 6, page 574, also make mention in passing. The English Monasticon, besides the instruments of foundation, represents in engraving two sides of the church of Selby, sufficiently august, in volume 1 before page 371.

[45] These are all the things which we have judged should here be published for the glory of St. Germanus: but nothing else. for if there are any others, they are nearly all either drawn from these sources, and variously mixed together (as in our Legendary P, manuscript 10, where from Constantius and Hericus used in turn a single Legend of St. Germanus is fused together) and abridged (as in our codex with the cross [✠], manuscript 160, in Petrus de Natalibus, etc.); or they are of suspect authority; as those which are brought forth in Nennius and Higden from a certain old but fabulous Legend of the Britons; of which kind some things also are narrated in our not very ancient codex ✠, manuscript 87, in which is the same Life of St. Germanus which Jacobus de Voragine gave, chapter 102, and from which, according to the old Auxerre Breviaries, the lessons at Matins were recited in the Office of his festival. But of these more in the course of the work. Now let us proceed to discuss singly some things which may detain the reader in the Acts of our Saint.

§ V. The year of his birth; his conversion, and the beginning of his episcopate.

The year of St. Germanus's birth Constantius does not assign: but the History of the bishops of Auxerre, chapter 7, St. Germanus seems to have been born about the year 378; when it narrates that he served as a soldier under Valentinian the elder, who departed from the living in the year of Christ 375, seems to hint that he was born much earlier. But surely no one is now ignorant how absurd the chronology of this History is everywhere. Here certainly it appears no truer in designating the age of the Saint than in the beginnings of his episcopate, which it recalls to the times of Theodosius I, who died in the year 395. We are reduced therefore to the conjectures which Constantius himself offers, no. 46, when he calls him elder in respect to St. Lupus in the expedition undertaken in the year of Christ 429; and no. 62, where he is pronounced absolutely an old man in the year of Christ 448; and at last no. 66, where he exhibits his old age in the same year so already broken, that he puts it in the place of a miracle, that he had carried another old man on his shoulders, who could scarcely carry himself. These things, if I am not mistaken, indicate that he was then scarcely less than seventy; and thus born about the year of Christ 378: by which reckoning he could both truly be called elder than St. Lupus not only in episcopate but also in age; and in the year of Christ 417 young enough, that there might fit upon him that saying of Constantius, no. 2: Whose custom it was rather to indulge in the pursuits of young recruits, than to give attention to the Christian religion.

[47] but converted in the same year in which he was made bishop, The things which Constantius narrates about the conversion and wonderful calling of St. Germanus from the lay life to the ecclesiastical, from no. 3 until no. 6, most manifestly signify that the Saint was converted and ordained not long before the death of St. Amator; but the things which he then has from no. 6 until no. 10, no less clearly indicate that neither long after the obsequies of the same St. Amator, bishop of Auxerre, was Germanus elected in his place. Thus these things St. Hericus in the ninth century interpreted in the metrical Life from no. 333; thus again the same man in the History of the bishops of Auxerre (for this, down to his own times, chapter 39, the canons of the same church Rainogala and Alagus are said to have composed, with Hericus, at once theosophist and monk, collaborating), chapter 7, where, to the described conversion of the Saint, it is subjoined: And so, a few days intervening, St. Amator … breathed forth his last breath: when suddenly all the people with one mouth proclaim Germanus prelate. Thus in the eleventh century Fulbert, bishop of Chartres, a man in his age most illustrious for erudition, wrote in epistle 38 to bishop Guy: For great men, as you very well know (this opinion therefore was received among all), Ambrose of Milan, and Germanus of Auxerre, and some others, because they were such in lay garb, SUDDENLY came forth to us as holy prelates. Where you see that a very small space is admitted between the lay and the episcopal state of St. Germanus. Thus too Constantius all understand, as many as I have hitherto seen, if you except one, George Viole, in the Gallican Life of St. Germanus, chapter 7, and especially chapter 24; where he contends that the conversion just mentioned was earlier than his episcopate by ten years and more.

[48] not before; as Viole wrongly thought, But this opinion of his he endeavors to establish by a twofold argument. The first we reduce to this: St. Germanus was converted while St. Simplicius, bishop of Autun, was still living, as is certain from Constantius: but Simplicius could not have lived until the year of Christ 418 (in which it is established St. Germanus succeeded St. Amator), unless he be feigned, beyond all belief, to have sat more than eighty years: since he had been substituted in the see of Autun for St. Rheticius in the year of Christ 337, then took part in the synods of Cologne in the year 346 and of Sardica in the year 347 (he could have added also that of Valence in the year 374). Therefore Germanus was converted at least ten years before he was created prelate. This first. The other I abridge thus: St. Patrick, apostle of the Irish, learned sacred Letters with St. Germanus, if not while St. Martin of Tours was still living, at least eighteen years before he entered upon the apostolate in the year of Christ 431; that is, from at least the year 413: therefore already then Germanus had become far and wide celebrated for the knowledge of sacred Letters: therefore he had already long before devoted himself wholly to their studies, and thus had long before exchanged military service and profane dignity for ecclesiastical discipline and profession. Thus nearly Viole.

[49] I answer to the first, that even by Viole there ought to be given to St. Simplicius about 70 years in the episcopate; because he confounded two holy Simpliciuses, bishops of Autun, but that he sat so many years, who would believe? 2. That for fixing the beginning of his episcopate at the year 337 nothing can be brought forward; and that the cited synods avail only for the year 346 and following. 3. That by the authority of those synods, although all have objected it to themselves, no one hitherto could be moved to do violence to Constantius, as Viole did, even though they recognized one and the same St. Simplicius with him; but that they eluded that authority in various ways; as may be seen in our Acts at the 13th day of May, page 210, and at the 24th of June, page 812; in Tillemont, volume 10, in the notes on St. Simplicius, page 835 and following; and finally in the Gallia Christiana of the newest edition, volume 4, column 330. But, with the good leave of our Elders and of other learned men everywhere, I frankly confess that that violent evasion always displeased me and seemed to me forced, by which, in order to establish one St. Simplicius as bishop of Autun, and to make him survive until the year 418, they wished the council of Cologne or Agrippina, in which Simplicius of the people of Autun is expressly read to have been present with other bishops, to be corrupt so far too: but in the council of Sardica, although Simplicius is reckoned among the bishops of Gaul, that the place of his episcopate is nevertheless not added, and therefore it need not be understood of the one of Autun: that the same too can be said of the one of Valence; although that inconveniences less, being held in the year 374, from which to 418 there are only 44 years; in which Simplicius could not absurdly be believed to have sat.

[50] I judge therefore that St. Simplicius, bishop of Autun, was present at the synods already assigned; into one: and that he is that same one whose Acts we gave from Gregory of Tours on the 24th of June, being those in which he is said to have seen the public procession of Autun and the sacrifices to the image of Berecynthia, which (at least at Autun, where the prefects of the Gauls resided) could be seen at its highest until the edict which, on the testimony of Libanius, toward the end of their reign, that is before the year 375, the emperors Valentinian and Valens issued. But I deny that that holy Simplicius can be confounded with ours, whom Constantius hands down to have flourished in the following century: for two Simpliciuses—the one, whom we have already mentioned, eighth in order; the other twelfth in order, whose noted years he did not find—Severtius exhibits in the chronological Series of the bishops of Autun, Chronology of the archbishops of Lyons, volume 3, page 1: in agreement, as is asserted in the Gallia Christiana in the cited place, is the catalogue which Saunier reports, and another, which is contained in the sacristy of the church of Autun. Two holy Simpliciuses of Autun very many Martyrologies too, both the most ancient and the more recent, distinguish; and of the one indeed (we know not which) they record the deposition on the 24th day of June (Saussaye the 25th); but of the other on the 19th day of November; concerning which, lest I be long here, consult at each of those days in the Hieronymian ones Florentinius, in the Adonian ones Rosweyd with the supplement, in the Usuardine ones our Usuard with the additions, in others Labbe in the Hagiology of Franco-Gaul, Ferrarius in the general Catalogue, where at the 19th of November besides others he cites also the records of the church of Autun. But who, after so many testimonies, would deny that those two bishops of Autun existed, each a Saint, each of the same name, but the one somewhat older than the other? We say therefore that the former was he of whom St. Gregory of Tours and the cited councils treat; but the latter this one of ours, of whose Acts nothing is known except what Constantius touches in a few words in this place. And thus the first argument of Viole vanishes.

[51] and he attributed too much to a certain Life of St. Patrick. To the second I answer, that the Lives of St. Patrick here differ very much among themselves; as may be seen in Colgan's Thaumaturgic Triad: where the first hands down St. Patrick as a disciple to St. Germanus in the southern part of Latium (which seems inept, if it is to be understood of our St. Germanus; and yet it is also handed down in the second, fourth, and seventh Life), nor does it add the years which he spent with him; as neither in the fifth Life are they numbered: the third Life reckons only four years; but many years before the death of St. Martin of Tours; which equally

is absurd, whether you place his death with Pagius in the year 400, or in the year 397 with Tillemont: the second Life reckons thirty or forty years during which St. Patrick heard St. Germanus; thirty years also the fourth and seventh Life report: only the sixth, Jocelin being the author, has eighteen years; but he does not seem to have found them elsewhere than either in a certain English and fabulous Legend of St. Germanus, or in Hericus in the Life of the same Saint: which alone he here cites. But all of them—if perhaps you except the first—make St. Germanus already then bishop of Auxerre, when St. Patrick came to him; all too would have him to have been his disciple for so many years, before he was sent by St. Celestine the Pope to the Irish; and most besides begin those years long before the death of St. Martin, bishop of Tours. Are these, I ask, monuments which can be opposed to Constantius, from whom and from others it is most certainly made out that only in the year of Christ 418 St. Germanus was created bishop? It is irksome indeed to linger here longer. Consult, reader (if however the matter seems of such moment), Papebroch discoursing laboriously about St. Patrick at the 17th day of March; there you will find so arranged what, where, and how long he dealt with St. Germanus, that it in no way opposes Constantius.

[52] He was not a monk before his episcopate: There are also those who have believed our Saint, before he became bishop, to have been a monk, and that at the very beginning of his conversion; as our Alford in the Annals of the British church at the year 429, no. 11 and 12, drawing this from the fact that in Constantius, no. 5, St. Amator is said, drawing off the hair from St. Germanus's head, to have clothed him WITH THE HABIT OF RELIGION, the secular ornaments being rejected. But it is clear enough from the text, that the habit of religion is here called that which was opposed to the secular ornaments, and which was assumed by those who devoted themselves wholly to religion, that is to the worship of God; such as were all clerics whatsoever. Certainly he first saw those monks at Auxerre whom Germanus, created prelate, after some time, as will afterward be said, instituted. Of what monastery, therefore, would Amator then have consecrated him a monk at Auxerre, if there was none? Say therefore, for all I care, that he was a monk, not indeed by profession, but by his manners, and especially by the austerity of his food and dress: for in these, from the time he took up the government of his church, he not only equaled the monks, but even surpassed them until death.

[53] I said, from Constantius and others, that the beginnings of our Saint in the see of Auxerre are to be placed in the year 418: but he was consecrated bishop in the year of Christ 418, for it is established 1. from what has been said, that he succeeded St. Amator, in the same year in which the latter died. 2. That Germanus sat 30 years, 25 days; and died on the 31st day of July; as is asserted at the end of the Life, if not by Constantius himself, at least by another ancient author, whom the History of the bishops of Auxerre, chapter 7, follows, no one now dissenting. 3. That he, with St. Hilary, bishop of Arles, as is narrated in the latter's Acts at the 5th day of May, page 31, took part in the deposition of Chelidonius, bishop of Besançon, which they gather happened in the year 444, from the same Acts and from Valentinian's rescript on the same cause, given to Aëtius in the following year on the eighth of the Ides of June—Noris in the Pelagian History, book 2, chapter 12, Pagius in the Critique on the Annals of Baronius at the year 445, no. 8, and all the other chronologists of better note. 4. That therefore he was not bishop before the year 414. 5. That St. Amator flew to the heavenly ones on the fourth weekday of the Kalends of May, as Constantius writes at no. 6. 6. That St. Germanus ceased to live, Valentinian III surviving with Placidia his mother, as the same affirms toward the end of the Life. 7. That the concurrence of the fourth weekday with the Kalends of May, after the year of Christ 412, fell only in the years 418 and 429. Finally, that the thirty years, if drawn from the year 429, run out a whole four years beyond the death of the emperor Valentinian, and nine years beyond the death of Placidia. There remains therefore only the year 418 to be noted both for the death of St. Amator, and for the succession of St. Germanus; and this indeed from about the 7th of July, from which the 30 years, 25 days reckoned end in the 31st of July, on which he must be said to have expired, in the year of Christ 448.

[54] Someone will perhaps wonder why the epoch of his episcopate took its beginning only in the month of July, on the seventh of July. that is, fully two months after the death of his predecessor; since according to Constantius, no. 9, scarcely were the funeral rites paid to him, when suddenly the one voice of all demanded Germanus as bishop. But he will cease to wonder, if he attends to those things which immediately follow there: A civil war is declared against the power, etc.; which openly signify that Germanus tried everything to hinder his own election. Thus it indeed could not be hindered at all; yet it doubtless had to be retarded. He seems therefore to have been elected on the 1st of June: for in the History of the bishops of Auxerre, chapter 7, he is said to have received the priesthood on the thirtieth day after the death of St. Amator; and Viole in the Gallican Life, chapter 6, says that even now in his abbey at Auxerre the festival of his election is celebrated every year on the first day of June; and although on the same day at once, as we said in paragraph 1, no. 4, the memory of his ordination or consecration is venerated; yet the same author does not think this once happened on the same day; but he defers it, with us, to the month of July; yet I know not why to the sixth day of that month rather than to the seventh; since this in the year 418 was a Sunday, and thus more suitable for an episcopal consecration. But this delay too of the ordination by one month from the election is easily conceived; as depending on the concurrence of three bishops, not always equally ready. That the times of this episcopate are computed from the ordination, not from the election, Viole also confesses in the same place.

[55] But there will be also, I think, someone whom those things may offend Whether he then first renounced the world. which Constantius narrates at no. 9 thus: He undertook the priesthood (that is the episcopate) unwilling, compelled, bound: but suddenly he is changed in all things. The warfare of the world is deserted; the heavenly is assumed: the pomp of the age is trodden underfoot: the wife is changed from a spouse into a sister, etc. For what? Did these things then first begin, when he was already bishop; who according to Constantius himself, no. 8, before the death of St. Amator, and thus, at the least, two months, had been consecrated a presbyter? Or, established in this order, did he continue to serve the world as a soldier until the episcopate, or to have his wife in place of a spouse? Far be it indeed that we should suspect our author even to have thought, much less asserted, so great a wickedness of him. Either therefore he meant to have nothing else understood, than that St. Germanus, what from his first promotion to sacred orders, after the ordinary manner and usual to clerics, he had done, that after receiving the episcopate he began to profess openly in a manner far otherwise and wholly unheard of, by declaring to himself in food, drink, clothing, bed, vigils, and other things pertaining to an implacable war against any comforts or even innocent delights of this life, that law which thence until the end of his life he always and everywhere most constantly held: or this, I say, Constantius meant; or, if you prefer, he took all the Saint's former ordinations, as both separated by a brief interval from the episcopal one, and directed uniquely to this by divine revelation, as one his episcopal ordination; and in this sense he truly said that Germanus, from the reception of the episcopal dignity, began whatever from his first grade or ordination toward it he had begun to do.

[56] Why as bishop he assumed the monastic habit. As regards his clothing depicted at no. 11, we do not deny, with Thomassin in the Old and new Discipline of the Church, volume 1, part 1, book 2, chapter 43, that it was monastic rather than episcopal. Namely, in this, as in the rest, the Man full of divine ardor and an excellent despiser of himself proposed to himself certain most holy prelates of the Gallican church to be imitated, and especially the greatest, Martin; since the Church had not yet reproved that custom. I would also believe that even then he had designated in his mind that monastery which not much later he raised; being one who was not ignorant how greatly in that time those churches flourished above the rest in holiness, into which an institute of this kind had already been introduced. Therefore, that he might allure his own people of Auxerre too more strongly to this kind of life, and form them better, he himself wished to go before all in the same habit, and in the same exercises of austerities. And that perhaps was afterward the reason why St. Celestine, Pope, the first, never thought Germanus should be reproved for what in the year 428 he reproached among other things in certain bishops of the provinces of Vienne and Narbonne; namely, that, serving a superstitious cult rather than the purity of mind or faith, they went about, after the manner of monks, clothed in a cloak and girt about the loins; and that, as is clear from the same epistle, not from spontaneous humility, but from superstition, by which they believed this to have been commanded in the Gospel; not to teach their own people, but to impose on their eyes by notable hypocrisy. Certainly this kind of garment, no one not looking up to it, and Italy itself even, as is clear from Constantius, no. 75, venerating it, Germanus laid aside only with his life.

§ VI. The twofold legation into Britain against the Pelagians.

The Saint in the year 429 is sent into Britain with St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes The things which follow in the Acts, up to his apostolic mission to the Britons, of which we must here treat a little more amply, do not need a longer discussion. That it was undertaken about the beginning of the year of Christ 429, we have already said above in the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, §5, from no. 61, page 63. Consult also Pagius about the year, in the Critique at this place. That year, and at the same time the occasion of this expedition, and its chief author, St. Prosper of Aquitaine assigns in his complete Chronicle in these words: In the consulship of Florentius and Dionysius … Agricola the Pelagian, son of Severianus the Pelagian bishop, corrupted the churches of Britain by the insinuation of his dogma. But at the instance of Palladius the deacon, Pope Celestine sends Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, in his stead; and , the heretics being overthrown, directs the Britons to the Catholic faith . Otherwise Constantius narrates these things at no. 41; for he does not mention St. Celestine; and he joins to St. Germanus, as companion of this apostolic office, St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, who undertook it in a certain Gallican synod, gathered for this very business, being entreated by the prayers of all the fathers. These things are diverse; but by no means contrary. Since therefore each author is most worthy of trust, Baronius rightly judged that the testimonies of both should be reconciled at the year 429: It could, he says, easily have happened both ways; that the one whom that synod had chosen to be sent, the Pontiff approved; or, whom he ought to delegate to himself for that province, Celestine himself

had left to the choice of the Gallican bishops. The first pleases more; because from Constantius it appears that the Britons had recourse first to the Gallican synod, before Rome. That Prosper notes Germanus alone, we think he did this because Celestine had conferred the chief parts of this legation on St. Germanus. Yet Florence of Worcester, transcribing Prosper in this year, expressly assigns St. Lupus as companion to Germanus.

[58] But who that Pelagian Agricola was, and who his other followers then among the Britons, is not established: against the Pelagians, whom he vanquished. for those who confound Agricola with Leporius; and the bishop Severianus with Severus Sulpitius; and those who here add the bishop Fastidius to the Pelagians, prove none of these things; as see in Ussher, On the Origins of the British church, chapter 11; and concerning Fastidius indeed Pagius too deserves to be read, in the Critique at the year 420, no. 28. Let us return to Constantius; who at no. 47 describes a public synod or assembly, in which our Prelates so attacked the forces of those heretics gathered into one, that in a single conflict they finished this whole war. That this was done at London, Boëthius asserts, History of the Scots, book 8, where, he says, the dispute between the Pelagians and the Defenders of the orthodox faith lasted several days; but since the Pelagians could not resist, and all judged their cause plainly overthrown; those of them who obstinately scorned to repent were burned with flames by the work of the magistrates of the regions: the rest, driven to penalties by the authority of the Pontiffs for their admitted fault, were received into favor. These things he, but all without a witness. Camden, on the contrary, contends that this was done at Verulamium in the county of Hertford (whose description in him consult), and, he says, near the walls of this prostrated city there even now survives, in name, though in profane use, the chapel of Germanus, in which place he had uttered the divine word from a pulpit; as the old parchments of Saint Albans testify. To Camden Florilegus of Westminster agrees at the year 446; not however (as it seemed to Ussher cited) Constantius: since at no. 49 and 50 he openly hints that from the place of this disputation to the Verulamian sepulchre of St. Alban the journey was long and the return laborious. We await, therefore, that this dispute be decided by him with whom, on the testimony of Tillemont, the Acts of this synod are said to lie hidden.

[59] The supplication of the apostolic Prelates at the tomb of St. Alban the Martyr was immediately followed by that most celebrated triumph of the Britons over the Saxons and Picts, In the same expedition he brought back victory, called Alleluiatic from the song by which it was won. And so it certainly pertains, on the testimony of Constantius, to the first legation of Sts. Germanus and Lupus to the Britons. Which matter, wonderful, how long and how much it exercised most chronologists and even distinguished historians; while they established that no Saxons came into Britain before the times of Vortigern, who called them from the parts beyond the sea as aid against the Picts and Scots; which they freely confessed did not happen before the year of Christ 446. Hence some thought the first mission of St. Germanus with St. Lupus to the Britons, the authority of St. Prosper and of the most ancient Acts of St. Lupus being cast aside, should be deferred to this time: others, retaining Prosper, refer the first expedition of St. Germanus indeed to the year of Christ 429; but would have this to have been another than that which he undertook long after with St. Lupus, and to which the victory over the Saxons and Picts already mentioned pertains. Thus while they endeavor to adhere to Prosper, they reject the Life of St. Lupus; nay Constantius himself, who after the mission with St. Lupus completed establishes another; which they, because the time does not suffice, are compelled to omit: others finally admit only two apostolic excursions of St. Germanus into Britain; the first with St. Lupus; the other with St. Severus, bishop of Trier; but against the express trustworthiness of Constantius, they affix the Alleluiatic triumph to this, not to that. In this mire I have wondered that Baillet even now wallows. But would that he had erred only here! Furthermore, all these systems collapse not only from this head, that they oppose the best authors, as we have seen; but also from that, that it is established beforehand that Germanus died before the Saxons, invited by Vortigern, landed in Britain: for he died in the year 448; whereas these only in the following year, as you will learn from Alford and Pagius, reached Britain.

[60] which they call the Alleluiatic; From straits of this kind Ussher long ago freed the British chronology, On the Origins of the British church, chapter 11, page 335; and, before he had seen this man's work, our Alford in the Annals of the British church at the year 458, no. 3, each demonstrating by unconquered testimonies that from the reign of Valentinian I there were frequent incursions of the Saxons against the Britons. To these Pagius assents in the Critique on Baronius at the year 429, no. 8 and following, differing only in this, that he would have those Saxons, of whom Constantius and others treat, and who before the reign of Vortigern were wont to infest Britain repeatedly, distinguished from the Anglo-Saxons; contending that these were inhabitants of Germany, those of Scotland, or certainly of the Orkneys. But whether they were Scots, whether foreigners, it little concerns us here; provided this be certain (which is indeed most certain), that they began to rage into Britain before about the year of Christ 429: for this suffices to reconcile and vindicate the authority of St. Prosper, Constantius, and the Acts of St. Lupus, by far the weightiest for these times. Concerning the place of this victory Ussher adds in the same place, page 333: In the Flintshire field (which belongs to North Wales) near the town which the English call Mold, the Cambro-Britons Guid-cruc, they say this was done; and thence the place has retained to this day the name Maes-Garmon, which sounds The Field of Germanus: this sacred army being baptized in the little river Alen flowing past.

[61] after, against the Pelagians, not for one or another month, Constantius, as soon as he had narrated this prodigious victory, subjoins the return of our Prelates into Gaul. It is asked therefore how long this legation of theirs, so briefly dispatched by the biographer, lasted. Tillemont, who in chapter 7, following Noris, whom he cites, in deferring the beginning of this mission toward the end of the year 429, adheres to the same in the next chapter, referring the Alleluiatic triumph (which according to Constantius happened some time after the thanks given by each Bishop to St. Alban for the legation so happily completed) to the Easter of the year 430. Thus if you consider the journey to the sepulchre of St. Alban, and the delay both there and on the return, protracted on account of St. Germanus's foot grievously hurt; then another journey into North Wales, where the mentioned victory is believed to have happened, and where our Apostles spent some time of Lent in daily preachings, on the testimony of Constantius no. 51, in the camps of the Britons before the victory; if, I say, you consider all these things, you will be compelled to confess that the business of this mission was finished, in the system of Noris and Tillemont, before Lent, whose beginning in the year 430 fell on the 12th day of February; and thus that scarcely two months were spent in completing it, and those winter ones, in which no one will believe that the Priests, however apostolic, preached not only in churches, but also through the crossroads, through the country, through the byways; as Constantius has, no. 47. But Alford must concede even less space to this matter; since at the year of Christ 429, no. 33, he affirms that the Prelates returned home in the same year in which they had come.

[62] Viole, on the contrary, in the Gallican Life of St. Germanus, chapter 12 and following, nor even 14 or 15 years; where he has wondrous anachronisms, contends that this expedition was extended to at least fourteen years; and that especially by two arguments; of which the former rests on a fable to be refuted below, by which St. Germanus is said, through the notable calumny of Vortigern, to have been accused of infamous commerce with the daughter of the same king, from whom, namely, he had already begotten a son, when the most upright Man was assailed by this judgment—a son already grown somewhat. This imposture, says Viole, that it might present some appearance of truth, it was altogether necessary that the Saint had already spent some years in Britain. I confess it; but I deny that any appearance of truth appears in it; which I shall soon show. The second argument is no more solid; for he supposes that journey to Arles, which St. Germanus undertook immediately upon his return from Britain, according to Constantius no. 53, to be connected with the deposition of Chelidonius, at which we have already said our Prelate was present in the year 444; to which, from the year of departure into Britain 429, he thinks the space of his sojourn in it must be extended for nearly the whole time. But he errs: for when the Saint came to Arles, Auxiliaris still then held the summit of the prefecture throughout the Gauls, on the testimony of Constantius no. 57: but when the cause of Chelidonius was being tried, the same Auxiliaris was no longer prefect of the Gauls (for that was Marcellus then, as is clear from the old Narbonne inscription, which Quesnel exhibits in his work composed, or notes on the second epistle of St. Leo, Pope I), but was prefect of the City, or certainly praetorian prefect throughout Italy, then residing in the City; which the Acts of St. Hilary at the 5th day of May, page 31, no. 23, make clear. Different therefore was the time of this journey to Arles; different that of the judgment of Chelidonius: and consequently no foundation here remains for Viole.

[63] To us it seems that neither less than the space of a whole year should be ascribed to this legation, but for at least one whole year he strove there. nor even much more: for that not much more be attributed, Constantius forbids, no. 47, commending no less the swiftness of the apostolic Legates in acting, than the promptness of the peoples in submission. To this pertain these his words: And so the whole of the region had passed promptly into their opinion: but to that these: The British island, which among all is either the first or the greatest, the Apostolic Priests filled RAPIDLY with their fame, preaching, and virtues. But lest anyone think these things so hastened that they did not spend a whole year, let him weigh the amplitude of Britain and its most wretched state, which the legates sent thence into the Gauls, announcing in Constantius no. 41, asserted, that Pelagian perversity had occupied THE PEOPLES WIDELY in their places. Widely therefore must the labor of our Apostles have extended; especially if they not only went about the provinces, or cities, or churches; but left not even the remote corners of the kingdom undiscussed, and so spread the divine word, as Constantius says, through the crossroads, through the country, through the byways, that everywhere (that is, at nearly every step, as it is wont to be said, the Bishops halting) both the Catholics were strengthened in faith, and the depraved recognized the way of correction. He who denies that these lasted a whole year, is compelled, as we have already said, to confess that they must have been accomplished in one or another month, and that in the middle of winter; and consequently that our Apostles surveyed all things not on foot, not by running, but by flying. Add, that a longer absence from their sees manifestly

the things which Constantius narrates about their return to their own people, no. 53, prove. We think therefore that the Saints departed into Britain about the beginning of the year 429, for the reasons brought forward in the Commentary on the Acts of St. Lupus; but that they did not return before about May of the following year.

[64] The second excursion into Britain was made in the year 447, The writers of Britain commemorate many things done by St. Germanus among them, of which Constantius made no mention. But since his expedition to that island was twofold, and it is not agreed among all to which each particular is to be referred, before we examine these, let us note a few things about the second. Two things appear to us in this altogether certain, from the narration of Constantius describing it from no. 59: first, that it was much easier than the former, and consequently shorter: for as he arrived there, he recognizes, says that author, no. 61, that the people continued in the belief in which he had left them. They understand that the fault is of a few: they inquire out the authors, and, having found them, condemn them. The other is, that this expedition was immediately followed, without delay, by the Armorican one; and the Armorican by the Italian, in which he closed his last day in the year 448: Scarcely had he returned home from the transmarine expedition, says Constantius, no. 62, and already a legation of the Armorican tract was seeking the fatigue of the blessed Prelate, etc. Hence, moreover, it follows first, that this his later excursion to the Britons is to be referred either to the very year in which he died, as it is referred by Ussher in the chronological Index; or certainly to the preceding year, which is the opinion of Noris, Pelagian History, book 2, chapter 12, of Pagius in the Critique at the year 435, no. 38, and of others, and our own, long ago adopted by Sigebert and Florilegus; who, although they erred by two years in assigning the year of his death, nevertheless fixed this legation to the penultimate year of his life.

[65] not in the year 435. It follows secondly, that Bede cannot be understood very precisely, in the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 21, where he subjoins the second expedition to the first in these words: And not much after, a time being interposed, it is announced from the same island that Pelagian perversity is again spreading through a few authors, etc.: for the time interposed between the two, as is clear from what has been said, was of about seventeen years. Because certain chronologists did not notice this, they have basely fallen: for Matthew of Westminster, that he might join the two legations closer, deferred the first until the year 446: for the same reason Baronius, and following him our Alford, when they had left the former in its place, thought the second should be assigned to the year of Christ 435. And Alford indeed from this error fell into another, by which he established that the second mission lasted several continuous years: whence he enters an inextricable labyrinth, when at the year 441, no. 1, he confesses that from Constantius it is gathered that St. Germanus died in the year 448; and yet does not dare to affirm that he remained in Britain beyond the year 440: whereas according to the same Constantius the time of that expedition ought to be connected most closely with the year of his death; nor can it by any reasoning at all be feigned to have been undertaken before the year of Christ 444, in which St. Germanus was deciding the cause of Chelidonius in Gaul.

* otherwise: ut dirigat (that he may direct).

* otherwise: & redegit (and he reduced).

§ VII. The Saint's deeds among the Britons; and the rest until his death.

The things which Constantius narrates Germanus to have done in each mission to the Britons, there is no one who calls in doubt; but the others, which are added besides by the English writers, Whether he there deposed a king, and substituted a swineherd in his place. how worthy of trust they are, it is worthwhile to weigh. Famous among the rest is that which Hericus in the Miracles, no. 80 and following, hands down about the king unauthorized by the Saint, and a swineherd substituted in his place, received, as he says, from Marcus, a British bishop, who confirmed, by the interposition of an oath, that this was thus contained in the catholic writings among Britain. I believe indeed that this history was contained in catholic writings. But what were those catholic writings? The British Legend, as I think, of St. Germanus; called catholic for this reason, that it was read by all everywhere throughout Britain. Certainly the same matter Ranulph Higden read in it in the fourteenth century, as he testifies in his Polychronicon, book 5, at the year 449; but narrated of Vortigern, king of the Britons; concerning whom it is most certainly false; since neither was he deposed except some years after the death of St. Germanus; nor did any swineherd succeed him; but a strenuous leader of war, and that too the son of Vortigern, Vortimer. I know that these things are related not of Vortigern by Nennius, a writer, as they hold, of the beginning of the seventh century, in his History of the Britons, chapter 30 and following; but of a tyrant of Powys in Wales, whose name was Benli: but this too I know, that this matter is narrated by him far otherwise: for, to pass over the rest, he asserts that that king was not deposed by Germanus, but perished, suddenly consumed by heavenly fire with his citadel and whole household, and that then at last that hospitable swineherd, whom he calls Ketel, was substituted for him by the holy Prelate. Then who would say that more should be attributed to Nennius, indulging far too much in fables and anachronisms, than to any British Legend whatsoever? For he himself, chapter 49, cites a book, or Legend, of blessed Germanus, in which the same destruction is ascribed to Vortigern through the prayers and fastings of Germanus, which he himself a little above had narrated of his Benli. We deny therefore that that history could have seemed to Marcus sincere in the ninth century, which at least two centuries before was most corrupt: although now, through Hericus, it flowed more widely to Vincent of Beauvais and others.

[67] I said that Nennius indulges in fables and anachronisms; of the former, let him to whom the work is at hand read a notable example, chapter 43, which is deservedly exploded by Higden just assigned, The very slight authority of Nennius of Bangor. as not worthy even of the distaff of old women: but of the latter he has another equally brilliant, chapter 54, in these words: But blessed Germanus returned after the death of Guorthigirn to his own country: and St. Patrick was at that time a captive among the Scots; and his lord was Melchu; and he was a swineherd with him. … And afterward he went as far as Rome, and remained there a long space … and then at last, by Celestine the Roman Pope, and an angel of God, whose name was Victor, admonishing, and by Germanus the holy bishop, he is sent to convert the Scots to Christ. St. Germanus did not live beyond the year 448; Vortigern, according to the more exact chronology of Alford, Ussher, and others, reached the year 446; St. Celestine the Pope in the year 432 exchanged mortal for immortal life. Conjecture therefore how prettily Nennius divides each thing among its times; and how great therefore his authority can be in historical matters; nay, how ancient and headlong was the credulity of the Britons in the same, without discrimination, in seizing them, and their license in asserting them.

[68] His fable about king Vortigern From what has been said, gather also how futile is the same man's narration about king Vortigern ejected by Germanus, on which Viole relied above at no. 62: for he has it thus, chapter 38: And adding to all these evils, Guorthigern took his own daughter as wife to himself, who bore him a son. But when this was discovered by St. Germanus, he came to rebuke the king with all the clergy of the Britons. And when a great synod of clerics and laymen had assembled in one council, the king himself forewarned his daughter to go out to the assembly, and to place her son in the bosom of Germanus; and to say that he was his father: and she did as she had been taught. St. Germanus received him kindly; and began to say: I will be a father to you; nor will I let you go, unless a razor with scissors and a comb be given me, and it be permitted me to give you to your carnal father. As soon as the boy heard, he obeyed the word of the holy elder; and went to his grandfather and carnal father Guorthigern; and said to him: You are my father; shave my head, and comb the hair of my head. But he was silent, and would not answer the boy; but rose up, and was vehemently angry; and sought to flee from the face of St. Germanus: and he was cursed and condemned by blessed Germanus and the whole council * of the Britons. All these things Ussher thought sufficiently refuted by mere recitation, in the Origins of the British church, chapter 12, when, about to subjoin the rest pertaining hereto from Nennius, chapter 45, he wrote thus:

[69] unauthorized through St. Germanus. And that nothing might be lacking to complete the fable, Samuel son of Benlan, or whoever else he was who stitched his patchwork to Ninius (or Nennius), added this cover worthy of that dish: Guorthemir, son of Guorthigirn, in a synod held at Guartherniaun, after the wicked king, on account of the incest which he had committed with his daughter, fled from the face of Germanus and the clerics of Britain, would not consent to his father's wickedness; but, returning to St. Germanus, fell at his feet, asking pardon: and for the calumny inflicted upon St. Germanus by his father and sister, he decreed that the very land, in which the aforesaid Bishop had sustained such reproach, should become his forever. Whence also, in memory of St. Germanus, it received the name Guartheuniaun, which in Latin sounds, Calumny justly retorted: because, when he had thought to revile the Bishop, he afflicted himself with reviling. Those younger than Nennius, who did not take away all trust from him, note this alone from him, that Vortigern was excommunicated by St. Germanus for incest with his daughter; refuting the rest not obscurely by silence: as see in Florilegus at the year 450, William of Malmesbury book 1, Henry of Huntingdon book 2, Ranulph Higden in the Polychronicon at the year 449. But I would not concede even this to Nennius; since he affirms that it was done not only after the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, or the year of Christ 449; but also after the marriage of Vortigern with the pagan daughter of Hengist, which marriage indeed, on the testimony of Matthew of Westminster among others, was at last the true cause why in the year 454, that is, the sixth after the death of St. Germanus, the nobles of Britain, rejecting Vortigern, chose Vortimer.

[70] Less repugnant to Constantius are the things which are read thus in Capgrave, in the Life of St. Dubricius the bishop, folio 87: Whether the Saint consecrated bishops in Britain: The Pelagian heresy having at last arisen, to refute it the holy bishops Germanus and Lupus were sent to the Britons by the bishops of Gaul. Who, when they had extirpated that heresy, consecrated bishops in several places of Britain. In agreement is the longer Life of the same Saint, written, as is thought, in the twelfth century, by the author Benedict, a monk of Gloucester, and published at London in the year 1691 in the Anglia Sacra, part 2, from page 654. These things, I say, are less repugnant to Constantius; since he seems to have hinted similar things

could seem to be seen at no. 52 in this compendious phrase: And so, the most opulent island being settled in manifold security, … they arrange their return. But what follows in the same Life, And they set blessed Dubricius as supreme doctor and archbishop of the right-hand, that is, Southern, part of Britain; and placed the church of Llandaff, founded in honor of blessed Peter, as a cathedral see, appears scarcely credible; if, as is said in the same Life, in the year of the Lord 512 St. Dubricius passed to the Lord, or in the year 522, as others would have it in Alford at the year 436: nay, it is most openly false, if, as the longer Life asserts, Dubricius is said to have been chosen and consecrated metropolitan archprelate by Ambrosius Aurelianus, king of the whole monarchy of the Britons …: since Ambrosius began to reign in the year 466, that is, eighteen years after the departure of Germanus from this life. See however Alford in the cited place, and Ussher in the Origins of the British church, chapter 5, page 79, and chapter 11, page 337, and in the chronological Index at the year 430. We refer the discussion of how much these Acts of St. Dubricius are worth to the 14th day of November.

[71] It pleases Alford too at the year 437, and others, what some of the more recent affirm, that St. Germanus taught letters at Oxford, whether he taught letters at Oxford and Cambridge. and there stayed for half a year. The same the author of the History and antiquities of the University of Oxford, book 1, page 9 and following, endeavored to establish with all the authority he could. But to that matter he brought nothing that deserves to be noted, except the passage of Asser of Menevia, long ago before adjudicated to him by Ussher, chapter 11, page 341 and following; which, as he himself says, most ancient transcript, if not of Asser himself (which altogether seems the case), certainly written in Saxon letters in the times nearest to him, is still preserved in the Cottonian library, in which of all those things there is neither the palm nor the trace. These things therefore he himself not rashly relegates to the fables in the cited Index, equally as those which certain Cambridge men vaunted, as if Sts. Germanus and Lupus taught among them not only sacred Scripture, but also the other liberal sciences, manifested to their country and to the young men by the experience of reason and the form of nature; so that, learned in astronomy and the other arts, they diligently observed the courses of the stars, etc.; which, related and refuted, see in the same Ussher, chapter 11, page 337 and following.

[72] What discipline he is said to have introduced to the Britons, I know not whether much more should be made of what the same Ussher testifies he read in the same place in an anonymous booklet On the origin of ecclesiastical Offices, written nine hundred years ago; namely that Germanus and Lupus introduced into Britain the order of the course of the Gauls, or the Gallican liturgy, received from John Cassian and the fathers of the monastery of Lérins. Certainly the text which he brings forth from that manuscript, page 343, does not bear great authority before it; since it establishes that both Cassian and Germanus were monks of Lérins. Timidly too Giraldus Cambrensis, in the description of Cambria, chapter 18, refers to the same Saints the things which he narrates about the religion and institutes of his Cambrians; where he has it thus: Whence also from the time in which Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes … were sent into the island, they have felt nothing heretical, nothing contrary to the right faith. From their teaching too, as is reported, they have held these customs to this very day: of any bread set before them, they give the first corner of the breaking to the poor. Three also, in memory of the Trinity, sit down to a meal. To any religious man, monk, or cleric, or to anyone displaying the habit of religion, at once, their arms cast aside, with bowed head, they ask a blessing. But episcopal Confirmation and the anointing of chrism, by which the grace of the Spirit is given, the whole people greatly seek above any other nation. Of all things too which they possess, of animals, cattle, and flocks, they sometimes give tithes; namely when either they join wives to themselves in the marital bond, or set out on the journey of a pilgrimage, or take up, by the counsel of the Church, any correction of their life. And this partition of their things they call the great tithe; of which they are wont to give two parts to their baptismal church, and the third to the diocesan bishop.

[73] and especially to the Cambrians. But above all foreign labor, going abroad more willingly to Rome, with devout minds they more eagerly adore the thresholds of the Apostles. But to churches and ecclesiastical men, to the relics of the Saints too, and to the bells carried by hand, to the books of the Gospels, and to the cross, we see them exhibit devout reverence, and by far more than any nation defer honor to all these. Whence also their churches have far greater peace than elsewhere: for not only in the cemeteries, but also far outside, through the boundaries and the further ditches, imposed and established by the bishops for the sake of peace, peace is preserved for the animals at pasture. But the greater churches, to which antiquity exhibited greater reverence, grant peace as far as the herds can go out to pasture in the morning and return in the evening. Whence if anyone incur capital enmities with a prince, if he seek the refuge of the church, he will enjoy the same peace for himself and his own … Hermits and anchorites of greater abstinence, and more spiritual, you would not see elsewhere. These things he, who, since he flourished about the year 1200, could not testify of himself that these things once proceeded from Sts. Germanus and Lupus; and therefore prudently added as is reported, as if to say that this is only a popular, and by no means an explored, tradition.

[74] Whether the Saint also to the Irish, Viole in the Gallican Life of St. Germanus, chapter 14, would have it that at the time of the first British expedition he also made an excursion into Scotland and Ireland; for that in Scotland there was converted by him to the Christian faith Audinus, prince of Scotland, with his wife Aquila and his son, to whom the Saint gave his own name in Baptism: but that from Ireland Michomeris was led by him into the Gauls; this from Hericus in the Miracles, no. 7; that from the Life of St. Germanus, bishop and martyr, is drawn. I answer, concerning Michomeris there may be seen what our Papebroch wrote at the 30th day of April, page 776 and following; where he explains that passage of Hericus so as to deny that Germanus was ever in Ireland. I meanwhile judge that this could truly be said by Hericus of Michomeris: Who had followed the holy Man (Germanus) from Ireland, if the fame of his miracles drew him from neighboring Ireland into Britain to St. Germanus, and thence with him into Gaul. Certainly I require a clearer and more ancient authority than this of St. Hericus, to believe that our Apostle turned aside to the Irish; which not even the Irish themselves hitherto, whom I have seen, have asserted, glorying in Germanus in this part only, that, by his labor, they at some time obtained his greatest disciple Patrick from St. Celestine the Pope.

[75] Of St. Germanus, bishop and Martyr, and his parents and family, we treated at the 2nd day of May; and made an excursion to the Scots. where, page 259, we showed that they were indeed Scots, but at that time staying outside their native soil in Britain; where they were converted by our St. Germanus. I know that this is said to have been done in Scotland itself in the Life of the same Saint published by our Labbe in the Library of manuscript books, volume 1, page 717; but it can be said to be an interpolation; since it is absent from ours. Although why should this Life detain us; which could be approved neither by our judgment, nor by Labbe's? And these are the things which we have found added to the Constantian narration concerning the British deeds of our St. Germanus; of which, since nothing was noted by the Venerable Bede, a prudent and laborious collector of the antiquities of that nation; they must be judged either to have begun to be written after his times and sprinkled into the works of the more ancient authors by interpolators; or that he found them so written or handed down, that he judged them worthy neither of his own nor of posterity's trust, content with the sole relation of Constantius.

[76] To the second return of St. Germanus from Britain (I know not on what foundation) Whether returning from Britain he consecrated a church at Orléans; Viole, chapter 17, refers the things which Hericus narrates about the meeting with St. Anianus, bishop of Orléans, in the Miracles, no. 10 and following; but from a certain Auxerre manuscript on the Life of St. Germanus he adds a history, which, if it is true, anyone will wonder that Hericus himself could either be ignorant of, or deliberately pass over. Behold it: St. Anianus, having often tried in vain to consecrate a certain church, because the malignant spirits had again and again compelled the begun ceremonies to be broken off with disordered clamor and horrid crashes, prayed St. Germanus to complete it. He did not refuse. But scarcely had the two now come to the place, when the same clamors, the same murmurs resounded. Germanus therefore, turning to the exorcisms, so bound the tartarean force, that it was compelled to betray itself to the whole people, having taken the form of a shapeless beast; which the Prelate, a noose being thrown over its neck, dragged outside (so that you would call it a mastiff), tied to a stake while the dedication was being completed; and then dismissed it harmless before all. Thereupon a name was given to the church from the event, St. Germanus of the Exorcism (S. Germain de l'adjurerie); although afterward it began to be called by a corrupted word, St. Germanus of Judaism (S. Germain de la Juiverie); as if it had once been a synagogue of the Jews.

[77] I would not make more of what the same author says, chapter 21, that St. Germanus after the same expedition went to Rome, and thence to Ravenna, where he made his end of living. or went to Rome: Certainly that Italian journey Constantius describes from no. 63 in such a way that he left no place for an assertion of this kind. But, says Viole, this asserts the Life of St. Magnantia in the Autun manuscript; the same is hinted in the History of the bishops of Auxerre, Pope Paschal writing back to Humbaud, bishop of Auxerre, page 459; the same too Molanus affirms in the Additions to Usuard, when he says that by St. Germanus the relics of St. Alban the Martyr were translated from Britain to Rome. I answer, that that Life of St. Magnantia, which we once received by the benefit of Viole, affirms this indeed; but does not seem very ancient, and to have been written from the mere tradition of the crowd; as will be clear on the 26th day of November, on which it will be given: it is therefore to be rejected, where it is repugnant to Constantius. Pope Paschal II in the cited epistle only says that the donations were confirmed by his predecessors, by which St. Germanus had transcribed his possessions to the church of Auxerre, through the petition of the same blessed Germanus. But this could be asked through a letter or a procurator; and that not toward the end of his life, but toward the beginning of his episcopate, when he seems to have stripped himself of his possessions, according to Constantius no. 9. Molanus, wherever he has it (for no place is assigned), drew it, I think, from that booklet, printed at Cologne in the year 1502, which we refuted in the Acts of St. Alban the Martyr at the 22nd day of June, page 173 and following. Although in that booklet those relics are not said to have been carried by St. Germanus as far as Rome;

for it feigns that this man indeed thought of Rome; but did not reach beyond Ravenna; where, dying, he commended them to Placidia, from whom Rome at last received them.

[78] in what year he died, etc. Here the year should be established in which the Saint died, 448 of Christ; but we now think this most solidly done, where we treated of the beginning of his episcopate, §5, no. 53. Many things too about his disciples Viole has, chapter 29, which can be disputed at length; but it will be more advisedly to refer these too elsewhere: for since nearly all who are known of them are Saints; they have been treated, or must be treated, in their place. But nothing else occurs which cannot be more conveniently illustrated in the Notes. Here therefore we shall subjoin the Acts themselves, of themselves long enough, when we shall have prefaced the twin epistle of Constantius, of which we advised above §4, no. 37; which is thus:

* otherwise: concilio (council).

EPISTLE

Of Constantius the presbyter, to holy Patiens, bishop of Lyons.

To the most blessed apostolic lord, and my patron for eternity, Patiens, Constantius a sinner. Deservedly among all virtues obedience claims the primacy, which makes very many attempt what they cannot. And therefore they are to be held worthy of the praise of devotion, who, their own impossibility unconsidered, comply with those who command. And so, venerable pope, while you both desire to illustrate the holy Man with his virtues, and to bestow examples of miracles for the profit of all, you have very often commanded that I should hand down, to the present or to posterity, in whatever style, the Life of the most holy bishop Germanus, overshadowed by silence. Which while I boldly undertake, I feel myself guilty of presumption. But grant pardon; for it is almost that a certain fault should besprinkle even your judgment, who ought to have chosen a more worthy narrator of so great a matter. But since we both give labor to charity, while both you think me able to do what I cannot, and I willingly obey your authority, pray that my ministry may merit, by your intercession, the grace which by its own merit it cannot obtain. Long farewell in Christ, and be ever mindful of me, most blessed prelate.

EPISTLE

Of the same to holy Censurius, bishop of Auxerre.

To the most blessed lord, and to me venerable with apostolic honor, Censurius the pope, Constantius a sinner. My first care is to guard the modesty of a humble conscience, whose bounds if in anything perhaps I transgress, it is rather the fault of those who command, than mine. And so, that I might touch even in part the Life and deeds of the most blessed bishop Germanus, the authority of your brother the holy prelate Patiens brought it about; to whose command, if not as I ought, yet as I could, I obeyed. And when my obedience had come to the knowledge of your blessedness, you commanded that I should again break forth into temerity; commanding that the little page, which was still kept within the neighborhood of secrecy ^a, should, with me as author, proceed further; and that I myself should be in a manner both the accuser and betrayer of my guilt. For manifestly condemnation will remain upon me, if the abjection of my words be offered to the hearing of the learned. And so, the veil of modesty being cast off, obeying the command, I have transmitted to you the service of my devoted zeal; for the confidence of charity beseeching that you protect me with a twofold favor; so that I may both escape the examination of readers, and my ministry, through your intercession, be intimated to the senses of my lord St. Germanus ^b.

NOTES.

LIFE

By the author Constantius the presbyter, from the Chiffletian manuscript collated with many others.

Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre (St.)

BHL Number: 3454, 3455

BY Constantius the PRESBYTER, FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

Very many are led to write, a richer matter soliciting them; The cause of writing, and the writer's modesty. while wits are believed to be enriched through manifold meanings; but to me, about to tell even in part the life and deeds of the most illustrious man Germanus the prelate, trepidation is struck in on account of the number of miracles. And just as the splendor of the sun, brought upon human gazes, the edge of the eyes being dulled, confounds light from light; so the infirmity of my mind dreads the offered heap of praises, which it cannot fill. But again within the seat of my breast an alternating contention strives: on this side resists the impossibility of my conscience; on that side both the contemplation of religion and the examples of innumerable miracles compel me to commemorate or bring forth some things, which are impiously withdrawn from the knowledge or profit of all through the silence drawn over them. Therefore I have preferred to neglect my shame, than to let the divine virtues grow old in oblivion in every way. The matter excuses the composer, and to whom the abjection of the words shall have displeased, the meaning will please. Nor do I fear to be judged the persuader [*] of this ministry: for so great courses of times have now flowed by ^a; that the knowledge, obscured through silence, is scarcely gathered. And truly I should have preferred that others rather than I had been the narrators of so great goods; because whoever they were, they would have been worthier than I: which, because it did not happen, I prefer to be the one, than no one ^b.

NOTES.

BOOK ONE.

CHAPTER I.

St. Germanus's honors in the world; his wonderful vocation to the clericate, and his succession into the place of St. Amator, bishop of Auxerre; the death of the latter adorned with miracles.

Germanus, therefore, was a native of the town of Auxerre, begotten of most splendid parents ^a, and from the very rudiments of infancy instructed in liberal studies: St. Germanus's fatherland, birth, and honors in the world: in whom the bestowal of doctrine, agreeing with the richness of his wit, rendered him most erudite by a doubled good, that is, of nature and of industry. And that the full perfection of letters might flow together into him, after the Gallican lecture-halls, within the city of Rome he added the science of law to the fullness of perfection. Then he adorned the tribunals of the prefecture by the profession of advocacy. In which activity, while he shone with the manifold light of praise, he obtains a wife sublime in family, riches, and manners ^b. Him indeed, preeminent by the heraldings of the toga, the commonwealth forthwith presumed to the insignia of honors; conferring the summit of a Dukedom ^c, and the governance through the provinces. He was indeed being trained by the hidden judgment of the Godhead, lest anything of perfection be lacking to the apostolic Pontiff soon to be. His eloquence was being prepared for preachings; the doctrine of law for justice; the society of a wife for the testimony of chastity.

II.

[2] For at that time he governed the territory of the city of Auxerre by his own visitation. Whose custom it was love of hunting, and superstitious ostentation; rather to indulge in the pursuits of young recruits, than to give attention to the Christian religion. He therefore, assiduously watching for the hunt, very frequently caught abundance of wild beasts by snares, and by the strenuousness of his art. Now there was a pear tree in the middle of the city, most pleasing in its charm; from whose little branches hung the heads of the beasts caught by him, for the admiration of his excessive hunting: whom the celebrated Amator, then bishop of that same city, frequently addressed with these words: Cease, I pray, most splendid Man of the honored, to practice these jocularities, which are an offense to Christians, but to be imitated by pagans. This is a work of idolatrous worship ^d, not of the most elegant Christian discipline. And although the man worthy of God did this incessantly; yet he in no way was willing to acquiesce to the one admonishing him, or to obey. But the man of the Lord again and again exhorted him, that he should not only depart from the badly-seized custom; but also root out the very tree, lest it be a stumbling-block to Christians [*]. But he in no way was willing to apply a placid ear to the one admonishing. In the time therefore of this persuasion, on a certain day Germanus withdrew from the city into the estates of his own jurisdiction.

[3] Then blessed Amator, awaiting the opportunity, cut down the sacrilegious tree with its trunks: and, lest there be any memory of it to the unbelievers, appointed it forthwith to be burned with fire. But the oscilla ^e, which, hanging as it were the shadow of a certain trophy [] of a contest, displayed themselves, resisting which, St. Amator incurs the indignation of Germanus at once, he orders to be thrown farther from the boundaries of the city. But immediately fame, turning its steps to the ears of Germanus, enkindled his mind with words; and, exaggerating his anger with its persuasions, made him ferocious; so that, forgetful of the holy religion, with whose rite and office he had already been marked, he threatened death to the most blessed man []. And lest in any way the assembly of certain Christians should resist him raging, gathering the crowds of his own with him, he came unexpectedly to the city. While all these things, known by certain persons, were being disclosed to the most holy Amator, he says: I judge myself unworthy ^f to be made a Witness, by the shedding of my blood, of the Savior [*]. This is what the Greeks call a Martyr ^g. Therefore, recognizing by divine revelation the time of his own decease, and foreseeing that Germanus would be his successor, he set out for Autun, where Julius ^h, ruler of the commonwealth and governor of Gaul, presided ⁱ.

III.

[4] Then Simplicius ^k, a man of the highest simplicity and charity, bishop of the same city, [understanding at the same time by divine means that he would shortly succeed him,] forestalled by the rumor of his arrival, did not neglect to go to meet him with the order of the clergy, as also with Julius the prefect, surrounded by the troops of his office. Him, duly saluted, and more purely [*] honored with the assent of due veneration, they led to the city of Autun. Thence on the next day holy Amator asserts that he wishes to enter the praetorium of Julius. Julius, learning of his coming, more quickly set out to meet him; and, as befitted a most faithful worshipper of God, with obsequies leads him within his roof, and after the manner of a most Christian son, suppliantly asks to merit the blessing of his very entrance. The prayer being completed, thus the most reverend priest addresses the prefect: My end, the Lord making it known to me, I have recognized; and because there is no other who may undertake the government of the holy church, except the most illustrious Germanus, as the Lord my God has deigned to reveal to me; I ask your highness that you grant permission ^l to me who beg it, to tonsure the same Germanus. To whom the prefect said: Although he be necessary and useful to our commonwealth; yet because God has chosen him for himself, as your blessedness attests, I cannot come against the precept of God. Then, master of his wish, with gladness he was again restored to his city.

IV.

[5] Into which when he had come, he ordered the whole people to be present in the hall of his house. in a wondrous manner he enrolls him in the clergy, and ordains him, When they had come, he addressed them with these words: Be more attentive in mind, sweetest sons: for it is worth the effort, that there be laid before your senses the things which the recesses of my mind bring forth. By God's revelation, I most evidently know and have recognized the day of my passing from the world. Therefore I exhort your unanimity, that, searching out more diligently, you choose from your assembly a most firm man, who may be a watchman for the house of God. But they, hearing this, were silent; and none of them answered him a word. Then he, seeing that all were silent, directed his way to the holy church; in whose company the whole mass of the peoples set out. But as he was entering the church, when the people too wished to enter, he addressed them thus, saying: Unburden your hands of javelins, dearest sons, and cast the arms from your shoulders, and so enter the house of God: since this is a house of prayer, not a station of petulant Mars ^m. But they, hearing this, quicker than the word, whatever of steel they bore, placed outside. Then blessed Amator, seeing Germanus the most illustrious carrying no truculent burden, ordered the doorkeepers to shut fast the doors of the church with bolts. But he himself, a crowd of clerics and nobles gathered with him, laying on hands, seized Germanus; and, the name of the Lord being invoked, drawing the hair from his head, clothed him with the habit of religion, the secular ornaments being rejected, with the honor of promotion ⁿ; exhorting and confirming him with these words: You must be zealous, venerable Brother, to keep uncontaminated and immaculate the honor committed to you; because, as I depart, almighty God has committed to you the pastoral office.

[6] But then the most blessed Amator begins now to be pressed by the incitements of his death. and to the assenting people he proposes a successor to be chosen; And although he was stricken with sickness, yet he never ceased to confirm the people with preachings, and to say: Little sons, my Lord, from whom hitherto I had been a pilgrim, will receive my soul: I beseech you, that, unanimous and concordant, you cause brother Germanus to attain the office of my place. To whom the whole crowd consenting, for the confirmation of his persuasion, answered: Amen; yet not without tears, nor without grief: for every age, and order, and sex, was affected with lamentations, because it was losing such a pastor. Yet there was among these a kind of solace to them, that they would receive a Pontiff not dissimilar. And so, on the fourth weekday of the Kalends of May ^o, he began more sharply to be wearied by the dissolution of his body. But not even so did he rest, even amid pains, from salutary preaching; but, inculcating on all a wholesome admonition, he spoke thus:

[7] then he renders up his soul, borne to the heavens in the likeness of a dove; Forbid the laments to sound; prohibit the peoples to weep. There indeed are the wandering voices of mourning to be sent forth, where a worse is about to succeed a better: but here you pour out tears in vain, where better things succeed the best. For not only will the life of this predestined Pontiff of yours profit you; but also his death. Saying this, he ordered himself to be carried to the holy church; that there he might render his spirit to the Giver, where day and night he had been wont to make profession to Him. There goes with him, on right and left, a frequent multitude of the people: the choir of clerics precedes: a throng of matrons follows. But he, when he had entered the church, ascending the pontifical throne, about the third hour of the day gave up his spirit. And immediately a choir of Saints (which is wonderful to say) succeeded; and bore his spirit with hymns and praises in the likeness of a dove to heaven. This was confirmed by many seeing and narrating it.

VI.

[8] but while the body is being buried, a paralytic is healed. Thence he is led to the place which is called Autricus [p], for burial. Whence as they return, behold, they behold a certain paralytic man, who now for thirty years was held by that disease, carried on the necks of men (he was from the territory of Bourges), whom the reputation of the most holy Amator had compelled to be conveyed and to travel from his own places. Those who were carrying him approach nearer; they inquire after the safety of the man of God; they learn that it was the funeral pomp of him whom they had seen setting out in a throng from the city [*]. Then the sick man begs that he might merit to enjoy even a little of the waters with which that most sacred body had been washed. Learning this, the most reverend Germanus, then a presbyter, admiring their faith, ordered the paralytic's limbs to be sprinkled from the same water. But as soon as the water of the anointed body was brought to the limbs of the sick man, immediately all languor departed, and the joints of his limbs, at once lacking their diseased dissolution, were consolidated in their own marrows, and repaired with vigorous nerves.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

The election of the Saint as bishop of Auxerre; his new and austere life in this state; the foundation of a monastery; his power over demons.

VII.

[9] Then suddenly the divine authority proceeds, which the consent of the whole community follows. For all the clerics, St. Germanus is elected bishop; and all the nobility, the urban and the rustic populace, came into one opinion: the one voice of all demands Germanus as bishop: a civil war is declared against the power ^a; whose subjection was easy; since he was conquered even by those whom he had prepared for himself. He undertook the priesthood unwilling, compelled, bound: but suddenly he is changed in all things. The warfare of the world is deserted, the heavenly is assumed; the pomp of the age is trodden underfoot, the humility of the way of life is chosen; the wife is changed from a spouse into a sister; his substance is dispensed to the poor, poverty is sought ^b.

VIII.

[10] Now indeed it cannot be narrated with what hostility he brought violence upon himself; when a perpetual and unusual austerity in food, what crosses, what tortures, the persecutor of his own body put on. Briefly, according to the trust of truth, I shall touch upon all. But from that day on which he took the beginning of his priesthood, until the end of his life, with such great obstinacy he fed his soul by the wasting of his body, that he never took bread of wheat, nor wine, nor vinegar, nor oil, nor pulse, never even salt for the use of seasoning flavor. Truly on the day of the Resurrection, or of the Lord's Nativity, single drinks were taken; in which the flavor of the wine was so diluted with much water, as the austerity of vinegar is wont to be tempered by ample admixtures. In his refections he first tasted ashes; then took barley bread, which however he himself threshed and ground. And when this food, heavier than fasts, was appointed, it was never set out except in the evening; sometimes in the middle of the week; most often on the seventh day ^c.

IX.

[11] His garment, a cowl and a tunic, were for undistinguished seasons. in clothing, in sleep, etc., he assumed austerity: For neither in winter was there any addition, nor in summer was any relief admitted. Which both were in use so long (unless perhaps it was given away ^d) until it was dissolved by excessive wearing; a hair-shirt always clinging within. But the space of his little bed hewn beams surrounded, containing the ashes cast in up to the edge: which however, thickened by daily pressure, presented the hardness of unwrought ^e ground. His whole bed, a hair-shirt laid under, and only one little cloak placed over, was such. No addition raised his head from his shoulders through the region of the neck. Thus prone he had condemned his limbs, prostrated along the ground. At night he never took off his clothing, rarely his girdle, rarely his shoes; always girt with a strap, and with a little box containing the relics of the Saints. Continual groaning, persevering prayer. For a long time he could not take sleep amid his torments. Let each say what he thinks; but I absolutely determine that blessed Germanus, amid so many crosses, drew out a long martyrdom. O how illustrious the virtue and mercy of our God! who gifted his Servant, walking faithfully in the way of truth, with a double reward; so that both the past errors, if any there had been, might be boiled away, and a swiftly purified sanctity might be furnished: and he who perhaps was held guilty of past sins, might begin to be a money-lender of virtues.

XI.

[12] He kept hospitality with peculiar observance: for to all, he cultivates hospitality; he institutes a monastery. without any exception of person, he offered his house; and the fasting pastor exhibited a banquet. He washed the feet of all with his own hands, minister and guardian of the Lord's institution.

XII.

And so the most blessed Man (which is most difficult) kept, amid the throngs of peoples, the life of solitude, and a desert in the conversation of the world. Who, instituting a double way to Christ for the profit of religion, in sight of the town of Auxerre, the river Yonne being interposed, placed a monastery ^{f g}; that the peoples might be seized to the Catholic faith, to the congregation of monks, and to ecclesiastical grace: especially since, with such a Pontiff or master, faith kindled by the accruing miracles glowed ^g. And ^h that one might come to the trials of virtues by increasing merits, was the beginning not of presumption, but of mercy.

XIII.

[13] There was at that time a man of good character, Januarius by name; money stolen by theft through a demoniac who, when as an official he served in the presidial office ⁱ, brought the solidi ^k exacted from the provincials to the judge. He, when, for the sake of visiting him, he had turned aside from the journey, lost a little sack which he was carrying: and, with none of the bystanders looking, by chance he found it who was wont to be harassed by hostile infestation. And at last, returning to himself, the traveler recognized his loss. He fills the city with his complaints, and demanded the money from the most blessed Priest no otherwise than if he had handed it to him. Which he, as a true debtor, promised to restore [*] in the name of God. That was then a Saturday, on which anxious searching ran through the whole city. And when no indication had been found, after three days he who was seeking the solidi, weeping, embraces the knees of the Priest, protesting that he would seek the ending of supreme death, unless the money were found.

[14] The Bishop enjoins patience; promises security; he compels the demon to confess and restore; and at the same time to depart: and not much after, before the deed was disclosed, he ordered one of those who were suffering to be secretly presented to him. By chance, he who had been the author of the theft is presented. Whom, when he examined him with strict scrutiny, saying that it could not be that the committed crime should lie hidden; he commands the enemy, through whom depraved things were wont to be done, to confess quickly the trust of truth. But the wicked spirit denied the crime and the malice which he had committed. Then indeed the pious commotion of the Priest ordered the one denying to be brought forth into the people. Without delay, about to celebrate Mass, he goes out: and the solemn salutation being sent forth into the people ^l, in prayer ^m, he prostrates himself with the whole overthrow of his body. And immediately the unhappy captive and likewise minister of the enemy is suspended on high; the church is filled with his cry; the whole people is disturbed; and, as if surrounded by flames, with a very great voice he invokes the name of the Priest; he confesses the crime which he had committed. And at last the most blessed Man, rising from prayer, approaches the platform ⁿ, calls forth the one boiling in torment, discusses all, learns everything. The solidi are brought forth from their hiding-places; the popular clamor is raised, and with one mouth the merit of Germanus and the power of the Godhead is proclaimed: and by the same miracle both the deceived man received his money, and the possessed man his safety. He had indeed cured several before; but always suppressed the knowledge by the overshadowing of secrecy. But this deed was memorable for this reason, that it was public.

XIV.

[15] At a certain time, by a terrible conspiracy, the demons brought a certain war upon the blessed Man. he drives off the infestations of demons with consecrated oil: Whom, when they had found tempted with manifold infestation, clothed with the breastplate of faith and unconquerable, they turned the conceived machination to the destruction of the people. For first the little ones, then the elder in age, suddenly, their throats swollen within, were perishing; so that, death rushing in, the space of the sickness was scarcely drawn out for three days. Thus, in the manner of a raging sword, the people was being destroyed. Human provision conferred no help: and almost too late the trembling people ran to the divine protection through the Prelate. Who forthwith blessed oil; by whose touch the infirmity so swollen within melted away, so that at once the passage, made pervious, supplied both breath and food to the failing; and the heavenly remedy came to aid with as great swiftness as the inflicted destruction had rushed in. That this deed happened by the infestation of the malignant spirits, one of the possessed, while he was being purged by the holy Man, vomited forth; and confessed that all were turned to flight by his prayer.

XV.

[16] But it was familiar to the most blessed Man, by alternate turns, by his prayers he frees an energumen in his own monastery. now to visit the church, now the monastery, as a leader of the heavenly soldiers; that he might provoke the emulous, with contending zeal, to the glory of perfection. On a certain occasion, detained by occupation, when he was asked to the monastery, he excused his coming: and not much after, released from the bonds of delays, he brought his unexpected presence to the brethren. It happened that at the same hour in the monastery one of those who was wont to suffer [*] was harassed ^o. Who suddenly proclaims with a very loud voice: Germanus is at the river; but without a boat he cannot cross. Long the abbot [p] denied trust to the words; since he judged both that the wicked spirit was deceiving, and that he was not present, because he had excused himself. And when he persisted in the same vociferation, one of the brethren was sent, and announced that the demon had been truthful. A boat is sent; the Priest crosses; and is received with the rejoicing with which he was wont. He applies himself without delay to prayer: the whole congregation prostrates itself. When suddenly through the void of the air the enemy, bound with invisible bonds, is hung up: and that alone was the cause of delay, until one should rise from prayer: and he prayed for nothing else, than that he might depart with some debility of the body. Which being forbidden, leaving foul traces, he departed with that stench of which he was worthy.

[17] on whose occasion the author digresses to St. Mamertinus the abbot. And so this monastery, following the way of the Master, always flourished in virtues, and shone far and wide with the miracles of healings. In what manner indeed Mamertinus [q], converted from the worship of idols, having received a divine revelation, sought the blessed Man dwelling in the same monastery, seems opportune to insert into this work. Which however we have judged should better be intimated in the words of the same Mamertinus. But for the sake of anyone desirous of the full narration, we have arranged to place here the booklet on this very revelation, published in order.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

A booklet on the wonderful revelation of St. Corcodemus the Martyr, and the conversion of St. Mamertinus from idolatry.

XVI.

How great ^a is the piety of divine mercy, and how great grace the patience of his goodness bestows upon the human race, no Christian is ignorant. The booklet, in which Mamertinus himself narrates, For thus he loves the fashioning of his own hands, that, to declare the doctrine of his work in it, he indifferently unlocks the tongues of all, good and evil. For what difference is there between the revelation of these servants of God ^b, and the manifestation of the Apostles to the ignorant nations? These therefore, whose Life we have thought fitting to make known to the ears of the peoples, while it was known to God alone, who had bestowed it, but had lain hidden from almost every human creature, are disclosed by a pagan, seeking the healing of his wound ^c, to those who knew not: and the spiritual prudence of Paul and Barnabas, unknown to the nations, is published through an unclean spirit ^d. Therefore when these, pleasing to God, had lain a long time in their light-flowing ^e sepulchres, through Mamertinus, who now narrates ^f their spiritual affair, they came into the knowledge of all.

[19] that he had been a heathen, and divinely punished I therefore myself, says ^g Mamertinus, serving idols, and a most frequent worshipper of the temple of Jove or of the other false gods; so that in no way or time could I be torn from their images. And when with most insistent devotion I venerated the wicked statues, I suffered the blindness of one eye, and merited the withering of my hand. I was therefore both weakened in body, obeying the wicked stations; and, as if by the incursion of my guilt, they being angry, I had been struck, more frequently pouring out tearful prayers to them, I begged that they would grant pardon to my faults. And when I was perpetrating this at continual moments, the sadder, as I was going to the aforesaid habitation of the demons, there met me a certain man, Sabinus ^h by name, shorn in head, and clothed in religious garments. Whom, while I asked who and whence he was, or whither he was going; and for this cause of questions we conversed with one another; the aforesaid man said: Whence has such a disease befallen you; or [] of what religion are you? To whom I: I am a worshipper of the greatest gods, Jove, Mercury, Apollo, and of all the deities. Therefore, weeping, I beat their altars indifferently ⁱ, that, reconciled to me, they may restore [], propitious, what they took away in indignation.

[20] Hearing these things, he answered: You err, not knowing the truth: therefore you are involved in such evils, on account of idolatry; as Sabinus the cleric proved to him, and cruelly scourged. If those gods were governed by the doctrine of any knowledge or understanding, they would not perpetually cling, blind, mute, deaf, deprived of smell, hindered in step, maimed in hands, bound with iron or lead. Are they not those of whom the most sacred Scripture sings: They have a mouth, and will not speak; they have eyes, and will not see; they have ears, and will not hear; they have nostrils, and will not smell; they have hands, and will not feel; they have feet, and will not walk; they will not cry out in their throat; for there is no spirit in their mouth? And the Prophet follows, speaking of you: Let those who make them become like them, and all who trust in them. You see the punishment prepared for the worshippers of statues. You see the comparison uttered by a truthful mouth? Hasten therefore, if you wish to receive the vision of your lost eye, and the freshness of health for your withered hand, to obey my words.

[21] For there is in the church of Auxerre a most holy man, by name Germanus (of whom I am a cleric) fearing God, by whose counsel he sets out to St. Germanus at Auxerre; and departing from evil; to whom Christ shows himself face to face, and through whom he displays unspeakable curings of bodies. If therefore you wish to be made whole, the servitude of idols being left, by which you are miserably ensnared, ask the protection of his presence for yourself. Which heard, giving thanks, I begged the aforesaid man to show me at once the way by which I might reach him, the Bishop of whom he had indicated. But he, full of gladness, because he saw me obey his precepts, went before with his step; and from a high embankment, which is at Mount Matogenes, showing me the level of the road, returned. But I, persevering, glad, took my way. Now that same day there was a seasonable shower from sunrise until sunset: and although I was weighed down by my wet garment, yet by no means did I stop, wearied ^k. But behold, the day now declining, at almost the eleventh hour ^l, night coming on, there arose darkness mixed with rainy showers; so that no one could even see the companion of his journey.

[22] Scarcely at last I came to the cemetery, in which they said was the little body of holy Amator the bishop. but, oppressed by night, he turns aside into a little cell near the city; And since the showers, the lightning flashing, were continually descending on the earth, I began to be anxious, and too solicitous; because I found no habitation in which I might receive myself. Therefore, with frequent fires flashing from the sky, a little cell is shown to my eyes, in which was one sarcophagus. Why more? I enter, terrified by the flames of the slanting air. Then, not finding where I might rest, I threw myself upon that sarcophagus, not knowing who rested in that tomb. But when I had entered, a sudden light so shone in that habitation through the clear sky, that I supposed the rays of the returning sun had illumined the earth at their time. Placing therefore under my head the basket which I was carrying, and at my side my staff, being weary and too much drenched, I indulged in sleep.

[23] But waking in the dead of night, I looked upon a youth whitened in garments in the vestibule of the aforesaid cell, where the buried Sts. Corcodemus and his companions, with others, appear to him, in which I was lying, light-flowingly illumined ^m. But I, seeing the unusual majesty more widely [*], terrified, prostrated myself prone upon that tomb on which I was sleeping. But I was praying within myself, terrified with fear, and saying: God of the Christians, whom Germanus the bishop purely serves, whose sanctity and goodness of work I now follow, rescue me quickly from such terror, in which I lie trembling. As I pursued such things, the youth, whom I had seen standing before the door, sends forth a sweet-flowing voice, saying: Holy Corcodemus ⁿ, holy Corcodemus, levite of Christ. Which heard, the most blessed man Corcodemus answered from the sepulchre on which I had lain prostrate: I know who you are, and I hear your voice; only say what you wish of me, brother Florentinus ^o. But he said: Rise quickly: blessed Peregrinus the bishop [p] with the other brethren are gathered in the church for celebrating the nocturnal vigils; therefore holy Amator also admonishes you to come, and to be present at the holy assembly.

[24] Then blessed Corcodemus says: Return more quickly, and they defend him sweetest brother, to the holy and most blessed bishop, carrying back my messages. On this night therefore I cannot go out of this tabernacle; because I have offered hospitality to a certain pilgrim. For I know what a besieging pack of whelps is here, preparing snares for the guest; that, when I go out, it may devour the wretched man, and tear him to pieces, and, if I go out, fix its venomous teeth in him. God does not defraud me of his watches: for there are with me two brothers subdeacons; that is, Alexander [q] and Jovianus [r]; and also Jovinianus the lector. Therefore I beseech you, that you report to the holy bishops these things which I have spoken to you, and obtain for me pardon from them. The aforesaid youth therefore, having received the answer, went out: but as I recognized so great mysteries, dread invaded me to the marrow. Thence my languid limbs yielded to soporific sleep.

[25] from the serpents lurking there, And behold, snatched into ecstasy, I supposed the youth to be present again, before the cocks crew; at the door [s], and to have cried again by that name by which he had cried before: and he answering again, and asking what he wished; then he said: The holy bishops Peregrinus and Amator, before they depart from one another, are about to celebrate votive Masses; and therefore they have sent to invite you also, that you may perform the ministry of your office. But if you fear on account of the aforesaid guest, they say, let Alexander in your stead provide him a guard. But they also ordered that you bring with you Jovianus the subdeacon, and Jovinianus the lector, who may chant the Alleluia. These things done, I myself saw, the sepulchre being opened, a man going out from it, adorned with an aspect of wondrous beauty, and his garment snowy, like fine linen. He having gone out, as I saw, found three standing before the door in white raiment, and saluted them, calling each by name. Then he said to Alexander: The most reverend aforesaid bishops Peregrinus and Amator ordered me to come to them. Who again ordered you to be set over this cell, for the sake of preserving the guest, and guarding him from the whelps—the mother, and seven sons, who lie hidden for his death.

[26] and by the Christian mysteries, After these things I again contemplated how the most reverend deacon took my right hand, and said: Come with us, guest, to the Masses. As we proceeded therefore, I saw five standing before the edge of the altar, clothed in most beautiful stoles: and I saw myself asking the most blessed Corcodemus who those were who stood before the altar. And he said to me: He who stands in the middle is himself holy Peregrinus, bishop and martyr, with whom I too was sent from the Roman city by the command of Pope Sixtus. Those two who cling to the right side are the bishops Amator and Marcellianus [t]; who cling to the left, is Elladius [u], and Valerianus [x], most holy, who succeeded blessed Peregrinus by degrees [y]. The perspicuous deacon therefore, departing from me, was restored to their faces. Then at last, as it were before me, I heard holy Amator the bishop saying to the deacon: Provide silence [z], brother, that we may, the noise being removed, become masters of our vow: for brother Peregrinus hastens to return to his own dwelling Baugiacum [aa]; and it behooves us on his account to complete the sacrifice a little earlier. Silence therefore being enjoined, and the departure of the catechumens announced, I marveled within myself, contemplating the mystery of so great a novelty: yet I did not dare, after the announcement to the catechumens, to lift my foot to the place where the Masses were celebrated; but I seemed to myself to stand in the same place in which the most reverend deacon had placed me.

[27] Likewise it seemed to me that blessed Peregrinus asked the deacon, and said: Who is this man, who has entered this basilica with you? And that the deacon answered: This is my guest, whose custody was keeping me, [these things being shown to him through a vision, as though he stood by, they instruct him.] so that I did not for a while obey your commands. Therefore again, as if in the day [*], I saw myself standing beside them; and distinguished not only in person, but also in the quality of my garments; and marveling I said: Why are these all clothed in snowy garments; and I am clothed in black coverings? When I had ruminated these and such things with myself, a voice was brought to my ears, sent forth from the mouth of the bishops to Corcodemus the deacon: Separate, brother, your guest from our assemblies; and expel him outside from the church; because he is unworthy to be a partaker of grace, for that he serves the idols of Jove. Whose commands as it were obeying, the oft-mentioned deacon strove to drive me outside. Then I seemed to fall as it were at his feet, and to entreat him with these words; and I said to the most reverend deacon: Friend of God, I beseech you, that you intercede with the present bishops, that they may show mercy with me, and break the rite of the demons by which I am held bound. Moved by which supplication, he seemed to present me to them, and, a command being received from them, to lay his hand on me.

NOTES.

CHAPTER IV.

The continuation of the same booklet.

After the second laying on of hands, I saw myself presented to the holy bishops, and instructed by them Mamertinus is instructed by the Saints through sleep about the Catholic faith, what I should embrace, and from what ceremonies I should be separated. And again I thought I heard the bishops, in what manner they delegated to the holy deacon, saying: Most loving brother, lead back

your guest with you; and admonish him that, when the morning star rises, he present himself to brother Germanus; because he has been directed to him by Christ God, that through him he may be filled with all the fullness of spiritual grace. Then I saw myself supplicating them, and them addressing me and exhorting me to the perfecting of the doctrine of faith in me. I saw also, as they departed, the aforesaid deacon holding my hand, and restoring me to his own cell, from which he had led me out.

[29] Likewise I saw, before we had entered the cell, nay, the Saints themselves reveal certain things about themselves to him. myself falling at the feet of the same deacon, and thus saying: Let not my lord be angry, I pray, if your servant shall have yet spoken in your sight. Who as it were answered: Say with confidence what things gnaw at you. And I: I beseech you, how many courses of times have elapsed, since you rest in this habitation? Who answered: After the martyrdom of the most blessed Peregrinus, on the third day of his passion (not indeed at that time ^a), I migrated from the world to the Lord. We had indeed desired to become partakers of the passion, I with my brethren, just as we had been the bearers of one and the same commission: but after no long time an emperor was ordained, shining with Christian doctrine ^b, who, the persecution being removed, opened all the closed churches, and ordained Catholic prelates over them. Therefore we could not obtain what we wished. But my brethren were these: Marsus the presbyter ^c, Alexander, and Jovianus. And I was buried in this place by those same brethren of mine. But they, as was divinely revealed to me, died Confessors. But Jovinianus the lector, by God's provision, completed martyrdom.

[30] And when I had seen all these things in the excess of my mind, sleep put to flight, I awoke; and immediately the cock crew. Mamertinus, waking, prays to God, But I, mindful of myself, fortified my forehead with the sign shown to me. Then I, sending forth a mourning wail, fell prostrate upon the sepulchre, as upon the Lord's altar; which, watering with tears, I poured out a prayer, and said: Lord God of Israel, who dwellest on high, and lookest upon the humble, and knowest the lofty from afar: besides whom there is no other God ^d: who for the reparation of the human race camest to earth, and didst converse with men: by whose will and mercy I, unworthy, on this night, merited to know the secrets of my salvation; grant me, that I may more quickly contemplate the aspect of thy servant holy Germanus, to whom thou hast led me by a straight way. The prayer completed, I raised my prostrate body: and when I directed the sharpness of my eyes to the basilica of holy Amator, I beheld an immense light, gleaming within and without; so that I believed, the darkness of night being repelled, the sun at the goal of its time had filled the borders with light [*]. Thereafter from the same place likewise a melodious and hymn-bearing voice was brought to my hearing.

[31] Immediately I stopped in the same place in which I had heard, until I should hear what was being sung. The first antiphon therefore which had come to my ears: Let all be confounded who adore graven things, and who glory in their images. The second was this: Save thy servant, and by another vision he is refreshed, and animated to go to St. Germanus. my God, hoping in thee. The third: Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. And when I had heard these things, returning to myself, I prostrated myself seven times on the above-said sarcophagus, praying and saying: God of holy Corcodemus, receive one hastening to thee, and confound me not from my expectation: for by thy piety and grace I have been brought to this habitation, through which I have recognized the contagions of my errors. Rising again, I lifted my gaze thither to the very basilica; and I hear again an antiphon consonant with my salvation and conversion: May the Lord hear thee in the day of tribulation; may the name of the God of Jacob protect thee. Comforted by these holy words, a third time I prostrated myself in prayer. The threefold entreaty therefore completed, rising, I saw that light which I had seen before taken away from the face of my eyes, in which it had gleamed before; and sudden darkness at once encompassed me. Yet I, now taught by the mystery, fixed on my forehead the Lord's standard. While these things are done, the common light, restored to the earth, radiated. Soon I, again and again confirming myself with the mark of salvation, and rendering thanks to my holy guest, hastened more quickly to the Doctor ^e and to the Leader of the heavenly Emperor.

[32] by whom he was most kindly received; As I inquired [*] therefore where the most holy Germanus the bishop dwelt that day, the inhabitants of the city said: He is not here: he has a monastery nearby, and thither very frequently, for the sake of visitation, he is carried by boat. Then I entreated those who had told me, that they would show me the way leading to that monastery. Which taken, I came whither I was tending: and as I lingered a little before the door, suddenly the most blessed man Germanus goes out; whom, falling to the earth, I adored. But he was going out to meet me not by chance, but admonished: for God the founder of all had revealed to his Servant both my necessity, and by whose command I had been directed to him; as I afterward learned. Bent therefore to the ground, I entreated the man of God to bless me. Who, with extended hand, raised me, saying: Have confidence; be not terrified. And taking my chin, he kissed me. To whom I: Do it not, most holy Man; for my mouth is not yet cleansed from the kisses of the altars of the demons. To whom holy Germanus: I recognized, the past night, that you have been cleansed from all allurements. Which heard, I was astounded, and my hair stood up, and my voice stuck in my throat. Then the excellent Man, clinging to my hand, together we entered the monastery.

[33] being divinely conscious of all the things which had already befallen him; But I was moved within myself, saying: Who has told this man the things which were done secretly in the space of the past night? And as I thought such things, he led me into his little cell ^f, and sitting down said: I beseech you, son, that you not delay to make known to me whatever things were done, and came to your knowledge in the past night. Then I, beginning from the first origin up to the words ^g of the same, expounded to him singly; keeping silent about the pack of whelps. Soon he says: Did I not beseech you to narrate all, and to hide from me nothing of the mysteries shown to you? Why have you kept silent about a part almost entirely [*] exceeding the miracles of the mystery? Continue, and expound to us the snares of the whelps which stood around you. But I, hearing these things, said: What shall I, dust and ashes, narrate to my Lord? Where there is a divine address, let the unpolished narration of mortal tongues cease. For I see you full of God; and although you are in one place, you know everywhere what things are done. He, smiling, said: Truly whatever was done on your account, by the venerable men the bishops, or by the deacon, I have known, and was present. Fear not; your faith has made you whole. Hearing these things, bowing myself to my face, I groaned; and grasping his knees, I asked that the rest which remained for the perfecting of the power of the Christian faith might be fulfilled through his right hand.

[34] Then at last with equal companionship we proceeded to the city. But having entered the church, and so by the same he is baptized, and healed by a double miracle: the clerics and certain laymen being called, he said to me: Repeat, I beseech, the things which a while ago in the monastery, at my questioning, you narrated; that these too may hear, who know not. To whom I, trembling and prostrate with fear, answered: what shall I say, which your Blessedness does not foreknow beforehand? And the Bishop: I said it for the sake of the bystanders, not for my sake. But I, again repeating all, became known to them too. Who, elated with infinite joy, rendered praises and thanks to God, saying: Thanks to thee, O God, because thou hast predestined this vessel of election before the constitution of the world, through which thou mightest demonstrate the greatness of thy virtue, and thy power [*] to all, and without end. Then the blessed Bishop leads me into the place where remission of all sins is made; and after the sacerdotal manner, the waters being blessed, he delivered baptism to me, filling around me and in me all the offices of spiritual grace. To whom I: Lord, as thou hast saved the recesses of my soul; so also restore to health the members of my weakened body: grant me to behold the wonted light with both eyes open, and to handle the accustomed works with both hands. Hearing these things, the Prelate said to me: Do you believe that I can work this in you? I answered: I believe, Lord; and therefore I set out to your piety. Which heard, taking oil, and signing my eye and hand, he restored them, the disease being repelled, to their proper offices. Those who had been present, seeing, again praised the works of God, which were done through the man most approved and most holy Germanus the bishop.

[35] Then he says to the crowd which was with him: Let us go with this man to the place in which he lodged by night; hence together they go to the cell of St. Corcodemus, and let us see whether the she-whelp [*] with her seven whelps is still there. Who said: Whatever you command, let it be done. But I, going out from the midst of them, went before, they following with the blessed Bishop up to the place. And when we had come to the place, prayer being celebrated, the Bishop said: Tell me, young man; where did you see the man standing, surrounded with snowy garments? And I: Lord, here in the vestibule. Again he says: Over which sepulchre did you bend by night? But I, pointing with my finger, showed the sepulchre. Then the holy Bishop said: Remove the stone from this sepulchre, that we may inspect its interior. The stone therefore being removed, eight serpents were seen; the first most huge, but the other seven a little smaller.

[36] The men therefore being seen, that serpent, its head raised, looked around at all, yet more at the most blessed Germanus the bishop. from which St. Germanus prodigiously drives the serpents: To whom the aforesaid Man: Most wicked serpent, do you still not desist from the heel of the human race; and do you dare, after your prevarication and defeat, to extend your coils over the members of the most reverend Corcodemus the deacon? The Lord lives, for you were worthy of death with all your own; but because you obeyed the command of the aforesaid brother, and abstained your venom-bearing devourings from the body of the present guest, go out safe; and dare not further to lie down where there is human conversation. But let your habitation be the woodland bosom, or the vastness of the desert. But those inhabitants whom you shall find in the circuit of your journey, do not harm or hurt. Not I, but Christ through me commands you. Then the serpent, as if weighed down by the mass of its iniquity, its head lowered, stretching the coils of its spirals seven times, as though bidding farewell, and giving thanks to the most blessed Germanus, moves by the drawing of its breast: after whose back the lesser crowd followed. The enormity of its body being seen, all the trembling companions of the most blessed Germanus take to flight. Yet he stood immovable, having the confidence of most blessed sanctity. Then, reproving the fleeing people, he said: Stand, and see the marvels of God, which he works

in us unworthy ones. But in that movement the serpent was estimated able to have a length of seven cubits. These miracles being shown, that little cell of blessed Corcodemus the deacon, which, on account of the density of the brambles, had been known to no one except only the prelate Germanus, was made, God working, known to every sex; and not only merited the knowledge of all, but also their veneration. All therefore from this time, bearing votive devotion to the same cell, frequented it eagerly.

[37] astonished by these things, Mamertinus devoted himself to the Saint's monastery. Mamertinus ^h therefore, through whom and in whom God laid open the wonders of his powers, seeing these things, being most clemently freed not only from gentile error, but also from blindness and withering, and snatched by God's will from the bites of the serpents, consecrated himself to the monastery of holy Germanus the bishop so most devotedly ⁱ, that he nowhere went out of it, except perhaps induced by the command or company of the same Bishop. Whose holy conversation so flourished in spiritual doctrine, that, the archimandrite Alogius ^k being dead, who had made him a monk, he himself by hereditary right of sanctity [*] undertook his office ^l. Thus concerning these things. But let us pursue the order of the begun narration ^m.

NOTES.

CHAPTER V.

St. Germanus's piety toward the unburied dead; his and St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes's, British mission against the Pelagians; the consecration of St. Genevieve; the wondrous calming of a tempest.

XVII.

[38] For at a certain time, when he was making a journey in winter, and had passed the whole day in fasting and too great fatigue; he is admonished that, evening compelling, The Saint turns aside into a house infested with specters; he should retire wherever he could. There was at a distance a dwelling without roofs, long since half-ruined without an inhabitant; which too, through the negligence of the common inhabitant, shrubs had covered over; so that it was almost better to endure the night under the rigor of the open air, than to enter into that peril and horror: especially since two old men, on account of the terrible infestation, had foretold this very house to be uninhabitable. Which when the most blessed Man learned, he sought out the horrid ruins as if they were pleasant places; and there, among the manifold dwellings which once had been, scarcely one was found which had the likeness of a habitation. There his light little baggage [*], and very few companions, are placed; to whom a brief little supper was for eating, the Bishop entirely abstaining. Then, night now deep, when one of the clerics had undertaken the office of reading, he, worn out by fasting and fatigue, was overcome by sleep. Then suddenly before the face of the reader stood a terrible shade; and little by little it is raised up under the eyes of the beholder: the walls too are struck with showers of stones.

[39] Then indeed the terrified lector implores the protection of the Priest. and soon purges it, the cause of the infestation being discovered: Who immediately springing forth, beholds the effigy of the terrible image; and, the entreaty of the name of Christ being sent before, commands it to confess who it was, or what it did there. Who forthwith, the terrifying vanity laid aside, with humble voice, in the manner of a suppliant, declares that he, or [*] his companion, had been the authors of many crimes; that they lay unburied; and on this account disturbed men, because they themselves could not be at rest. He asks that he pray to the Lord for them, that, received, they might merit rest. At these things the holy Man grieved; and commands him to show the place where they lay. Then indeed, a taper going before, the shade proceeds as guide; and amid the greatest difficulties of the ruins, in the dead of night, indicated the place in which they had been thrown. But when day was restored to the world, he invites the neighboring inhabitants; he himself, hastening the work, standing by, exhorts: the rubble, tumultuously heaped over through time, torn away with rakes, is cleared. Bodies are found, poured out without order, the bones still bound with iron fetters. According to the law of burial a pit is made; the limbs, stripped of their bonds, are wrapped in linens; earth heaped over is arranged; the prayer of intercession is expended; rest is obtained for the dead, quiet for the living; so that after that same day, without any indication of terror, the dwelling flourished with a frequented inhabitant ^a.

XVIII.

[40] Nor does that seem to be omitted, that on the same journey, after some days, compelled by the blindness of night, he restores their crowing to the cocks. he entered the hospitality of persons of middling rank. For this he especially, fleeing ambition, sought. And when he had passed the night in the divine work, in his wonted office, light arose, announced by no crowings of cocks, although an abundance of those birds in those houses was not lacking. He explores the cause of the novelty; he learns that it was now much time since a sad taciturnity had condemned the natural cockcrow. Entreated by all, he paid the reward of his lodging. For, taking wheat, he seasoned it with a blessing; with which the fed little birds wearied the hearing of the inhabitants, even to annoyance, with frequent crowings. Thus divine virtue, even in the least things, was preeminent as the greatest.

XIX.

[41] At the same time, a legation directed from Britain announced to the Gallican bishops, He is sent with St. Lupus into Britain against the Pelagians: that Pelagian perversity had widely occupied the peoples in their places; and that the Catholic faith must be succored as soon as possible. For which cause a numerous synod was gathered ^b; and by the judgment of all, two illustrious lights of religion are sought by the prayers of all, Germanus and Lupus, apostolic priests, possessing the earth by their bodies, heaven by their merits. And the more laborious the necessity appeared, the more promptly the most devoted Heroes undertook it; hastening the swiftness of the business by the stimuli of faith.

XX.

[42] As they passed through the territory of the city of Paris, by the continuation of their journey, a certain village, on the journey he prophesies about St. Genevieve the girl: to which antiquity gave the name Metodorum ^c, ministered to their fatigue the humanity of hospitality. The citizens of the place, the arrival of such great Men being recognized, a multitude of the common people being mixed in, go out to meet them, seek a blessing, expend due veneration on the Saints. And when the most blessed Germanus was refreshing the flowing multitude with the exhortation of the saving word, with his gaze extended far to the midst of the surrounding people, he descries from afar a certain girl, Genevieve ^d by name, among the bystanders. But the divine Seer, auguring I know not what heavenly and angelic thing in her, orders her to be set close before his sight. All were astounded, and with intent minds awaited the prophetic sentence of the holy Man about the girl. Whose head the venerable Pontiff, soothing with the kiss of his sacred mouth, amid chaste embraces, inquires of the bystanders of what parents she was born, or by what name she was reckoned. Soon the girl's name is declared; her parents too, called forth, are led into the presence of the Bishop. Interrogated about the girl, they profess that she is their daughter. Then Germanus (as he was always conscious of the very Godhead), thundering with prophetic spirit, extolled the girl chosen by God with such a heralding, addressing the parents of the virgin in this manner: That day, he says, made you blessed, on which it befell you to be the parents of so great an offspring; whose birth of nativity begot a saving gladness to the angels themselves: for she will be of precious merit before God, and in the perfection of a spiritual purpose to be imitated in some measure even by men themselves.

XXI.

[43] Very many other things too, which prolixity does not allow to be explained, and consecrates her a virgin to Christ, having pursued in praise of the virgin, at last turned toward the girl, he embraces her with repeated kindness, and consoles her tender years with what affability so great a Man could: and amid the gentle blandishments of one kissing, he exhorts her not to blush to disclose to him the secret of her mind. He asks whether she wishes to undertake the celibacy of the monastic life, and to be entitled by the espousal of Christ. She, delighted by the name of so great a spouse, embraces the title of virginity, and professes that she was already long bound by the desire of this profession. She entreats that, if he himself judged it worthy, she might, by the blessing of his sanctity, be made mistress of her vow. Again the Priest applies himself to the embraces of the virgin, and exhorts her to be of constant mind. Meanwhile he turns his step to the church, a very great throng of the peoples following: and there, amid the very long harmonies of the Psalms, and the prolonged continuation of prayer, blessed Germanus held his right hand over the head of the virgin unweariedly. The prayer being solemnly completed, they took food together with the giving of thanks. Then, commending her to her parents, he ordered her to return on the morrow.

[44] At the coming of dawn, Genevieve is early present. But blessed Germanus, [then, having instructed her with a prodigious token and exhortation, bids her farewell:] asks the virgin whether she was still mindful of yesterday's profession. She, animated by the divine Spirit, constantly confesses that she remembers her promise, and decrees to remain perpetually in its observance. But that this might be able to be done, by the supernal aid as much as possible, and

to need the intercessions of the blessed Father. And that you might discern the very Godhead most evidently favoring the vows of both, Germanus fixed his face on the ground; and soon beheld a bronze coin, brought (as I believe) by divine sentence, engraved with the impression of the Cross, and, having beheld it, forthwith gathered it from the ground. Which he delivered to Genevieve in place of a gift, and ordered her to bear it always suspended from her neck, for the memory of himself. This, he says, remember to wear continually before your eyes, as I depart, as a pledge of my love. But all the other ornaments of worldly beauty, compacted of the gleamings of gold or gems, never suffer to be inserted either on your neck or on your fingers. Let those have these things who serve the world; you, who are inscribed as a spouse to Christ, desire spiritual ornaments. Thus having spoken, he bade the Virgin farewell; and admonished her to be always mindful of him. And commending her again to her parents, they pursued the journey which they had begun.

XXII.

[45] These therefore mount the Ocean sea, Christ being leader and author, a tempest arising at sea who rendered his Servants amid perils both safe and proved. And first, the ship, borne into the deep by gentle breezes from the Gallic gulf, is led along, until it reached the middle of the sea; where, the gazes stretched out into the distance, nothing else was seen than sky and seas. Nor much after there met in the deep the hostile force of a legion of demons; who envied, with livid iniquities, that such and so great Men should press on to receive the salvation of the peoples. They set perils against them, stir up storms, withdraw the sky and the day with a night of clouds, redouble the gloom of darkness by the horror of sea and air. The sails do not sustain the fury of the winds; and the fragile skiff scarcely endures the mass of the Ocean. The ministries of the sailors, conquered, gave way: the vessel was borne by prayer, not by strength. And by chance the Leader himself, or the Pontiff, broken by the weariness of his body, was loosed in sleep. Then indeed, as if the opponent ceasing, the roused tempest gathered strength; and now the vessel was being submerged by the overpouring waves.

[46] with consecrated oil and prayers he restrains it, and reaches Britain. Then blessed Lupus, and all disturbed, rouse the Elder, to be set against the raging elements. Who, more constant by the immensity of the peril, invokes Christ; rebukes the Ocean, and sets the cause of religion against the raging storms. And immediately, taking oil, in the name of the Trinity, with a light sprinkling he oppressed the raging waves. He admonishes his colleague; he exhorts all; prayer is poured forth with one mouth and cry. The Godhead is present; the enemies are put to flight; a serene tranquility follows; the contrary winds are turned to the ministries of the journey; the servant wave attends the vessel; and, immense spaces being run through, they gain in a short time the quiet of the wished-for shore. And there a multitude, gathering from diverse parts, received the Priests; whose coming even an adverse divination had foretold: for the sinister spirits announced what they feared. Who, when by the command of the Priests they are thrust out of the possessed bodies, confessed both the order of the tempest, and the perils which they had brought, and did not deny that they were conquered by their merits and command.

NOTES.

CHAPTER VI.

The happy expedition of Sts. Germanus and Lupus, bishops, against the Pelagians in Britain.

XXIII.

[47] Meanwhile the island of the Britains, which among all is either the first or the greatest, the apostolic Priests rapidly filled The Saints in Britain vanquish the Pelagians by disputation, with their fame, preaching, and virtues: and when they were daily thronged by the crowd rushing in, the divine word was spread not only in the churches; but also through the crossroads, through the country, through the byways; so that everywhere both the Catholics in faith [*] were strengthened, and the depraved recognized the way of correction. There was in them, after the manner of the Apostles, glory and authority through their conscience, doctrine through letters, virtues from their merits. There was added besides, to such great authors, the assertion of truth. And so the whole of the region had passed promptly into their opinion. The authors of the sinister persuasion lay hidden, and, after the manner of a malignant spirit, groaned, escaping while the people perished to them. At last, having conceived by long meditation, they presume to enter the conflict. They come forth conspicuous in riches, gleaming in dress, surrounded by the flattery of many; and they preferred to undergo the hazard of contention, than to incur among the people, whom they had subverted, the shame of taciturnity; lest they should seem to have condemned themselves by silence. There plainly the numerousness of an immense multitude, roused even with wives and children, had assembled: the people was present, about to be spectator and judge: the parties stood, dissimilar in unequal condition: on this side divine authority, on that human presumption; on this side faith, on that perfidy; on that Pelagius the author, on this Christ. In the first place the most blessed Priests gave the adversaries opportunity of disputing; which, with the mere nakedness of words, long emptily occupied both the ears and the time. Then the venerable Prelates poured forth the torrents of their eloquence with apostolic and evangelical thunders. Their own discourse was mingled with the divine, and the testimonies of the readings followed their most violent assertions. Vanity is convinced, perfidy is confuted; so that at each objection of words, they confessed themselves guilty, while they could not answer. The people as arbiter scarcely restrains its hands; yet testifies its judgment by clamor.

XXIV.

[48] When suddenly a man of tribunitian power with his wife comes forth into the midst, and by a miracle: thrusting his blind daughter of ten years into the laps of the Priests; whom they ordered to be offered to the adversaries. But those, deterred by their conscience punishing them, join prayers with the parents, and beg the curing of the little one from the Priests. Who, beholding the expectation of the people, and the adversaries inclined, briefly pour forth a prayer. And then Germanus, full of the Holy Spirit, invokes the holy Trinity, and forthwith the little box with the relics of the Saints, clinging to his side, torn from his neck, he grasps in his hands; and applied it, in the sight of all, to the eyes of the girl: which, immediately emptied of darkness, he filled with the light of truth. The parents exult at the miracle; the people trembles. After which day the iniquitous persuasion was so deleted from the minds of men, that they followed the doctrine of the Priests with thirsting desires.

XXV.

[49] The damnable perversity therefore being repressed, and its authors confuted, and the minds of all composed in the purity of faith, the Priests sought out blessed Alban the martyr ^a, to give thanks to God the author through him. Where Germanus, having with him the relics of all the Apostles and of diverse Martyrs, prayer being made, [St. Germanus takes away some relics of St. Alban the Martyr, and substitutes others:] ordered the sepulchre to be opened, about to lay up there precious gifts: judging it opportune that the members of the Saints, gathered from diverse regions, whom heaven had received equal in merits, should also hold the hospitality of one sepulchre. Which being honorably laid down and associated ^b, he took away from the very place, where the blood of the blessed Martyr had been shed, a mass of dust to carry with him ^c; in which it appeared, the gore being preserved, that the slaughter of the Martyrs had reddened it [*], the persecutor growing pale. These things being so done, an innumerable crowd of men was converted to the Lord on the same day.

XXVI.

[50] Whence as they return, the ensnaring enemy, chance snares being prepared, by prayers he wards off a fire, and works other miracles. crushed the foot of Germanus by the occasion of a fall; ignorant that his merits, like those of most blessed Job, were to be propagated by the affliction of his body. And while for some time he is constrained in one place by the necessity of his infirmity, in the neighborhood in which he stayed, a chance fire blazed up. Which, the houses being consumed which there were roofed with marsh reed, was borne, the breezes goading it, to the dwelling in which the same lay. The concourse of all flew to the Prelate, that, his hands lifted, he might escape the peril which threatened. Who, all being rebuked, did not suffer himself to be moved by the presumption of faith. The whole multitude, terrified by desperation, ran to meet the fire. But that the power of God might appear more manifest, whatever the crowd had tried to guard is consumed by fire; but what the lying and infirm man had defended is preserved. The flame, trembling, leapt over the lodging of the holy Man, raging beyond and on this side; and amid the globes of the flaming fire the unharmed tabernacle, which the enclosed Inhabitant preserved, shone forth. The crowd exults at the miracle, and congratulates itself as conquered by divine virtues. There kept watch day and night before the hut of the poor man [*] a crowd without number; these desiring their souls to be cured, these their bodies.

XXVII.

It cannot be related what things Christ was working in his Servant, who, infirm, wrought virtues. And when he suffered no remedy to be applied to his debility, on a certain night he saw present to him a person shining in snowy garments, who, with extended hand, seemed to raise the one lying, and commanded him to stand on firm feet. After which hour, the pains being put to flight, he so received his former health, that, the day being restored, he undertook the labor of the journey intrepid.

XXVIII.

[51] Meanwhile the Saxons and the Picts undertook war against the Britons, their forces being joined ^d, The holy Bishops against the Scots and Picts whom the same necessity had drawn into a camp. And when, trembling, they judged their party almost unequal, they sought the aid of the holy Prelates. Who, hastening the promised arrival, conferred so much of security and confidence, that a very great army was believed to have come. And so, with apostolic Leaders, Christ served as a soldier in the camps. The venerable days of Lent too were at hand, which the presence of the Priests rendered more religious; so much, that, instructed by daily preachings, they flocked eagerly to the grace of baptism. For a very great multitude of the army sought the wave of the saving laver ^e. A church, woven with boughs, is arranged for the day of the Lord's Resurrection, and in the field expedition is fitted after the likeness of a city. Wet with baptism the army proceeds; faith glows in the people; and, the protection of arms being despised, the aid of the Godhead is awaited. Meanwhile this institution or form of the camp is announced to the enemy. Who, presuming victory as if over an unarmed army, hasten, alacrity being assumed; whose arrival however is learned by exploration. And when, the Paschal solemnity being finished, the greater part of the army, fresh from the laver, tried to take arms and prepare war, Germanus professes himself leader of the battle; he chooses the light-armed; he runs through the surrounding places; and from the direction,

in which the arrival of the enemy was expected, he beholds a valley surrounded by lofty mountains. In which place he arranges a new army, himself leader of the column.

[52] And now the fierce multitude of the enemy was present, whom those set in ambush beheld approaching; by the Alleluia song alone they rout them; then seek Gaul again. when suddenly Germanus the standard-bearer admonishes all, and foretells, that they answer his voice with one shout: and, the enemy being secure, who trusted that they were present unexpected, the Priests cry out Alleluia thrice repeated. There follows one voice of all; and the raised clamor, the air being struck back, the enclosures of the mountains multiply. The hostile column is prostrated with terror; and they tremble that not only the surrounding rocks, but even the very machine of heaven, has fallen upon them: and to the injected trepidation the swiftness of their feet was scarcely believed to suffice. Everywhere they flee; they cast away their arms, glad to have snatched even their naked bodies from the peril. Very many too, headlong with fear, the river, which coming they had gradually crossed, devoured. The innocent army beholds its revenge, and is made an idle spectator of the victory furnished; the exposed spoils are gathered; and the religious soldier gains the prey of a heavenly victory. The Pontiffs triumph, the enemy routed without blood; they triumph in a victory obtained by faith, not by strength. And so, the most opulent island being settled in manifold security, and the enemies overcome, both the spiritual and those conspicuous in the flesh (since they had conquered both the Pelagianists and the Saxons), with a number of the whole region ^f they arrange their return. Their own merits, and the intercession of Alban the martyr, prepared a tranquil navigation; and the happy keel restored the quiet Prelates to the desires of their own people.

NOTES.

CHAPTER VII.

Another expedition of St. Germanus to the prefect of the Gauls, undertaken out of compassion and adorned with miracles.

XXIX.

[53] And so the Gauls exult at the return of the venerable Priests, the churches rejoice, Germanus, returned to his own, undertakes for them a new journey to Arles, the demons tremble. Certainly the expectation of his own city sought blessed Germanus with double vows; which he had been wont to preserve both before the divine majesty, and amid the storms of the world. For the tributary function, beyond custom, and innumerable necessities, had oppressed his citizens, as orphaned wards, a patron being at hand. The destitute receive protection; he recognizes the causes; he groans together at their sorrows; and, about to seek remedies for the quiet or rest of the city, after the perils of the sea, he enters upon the labors of an earthly expedition. And so, about to illustrate the Gauls, he sets out with a very small retinue and a scanty conveyance, who instead of most ample treasures bore Christ in his breast.

XXX.

[54] I think it worth the effort to commit to memory, that even his journey was famous for virtues. [in which one who had stolen the Saint's horse is compelled by a miracle to restore it:] He had not yet passed the territory of his city, taking his way gently (and it was, evening now threatening, a rainy day) when suddenly there attaches himself [] to his company a traveler, bare of foot, void of cowl, too lightly equipped; whose nakedness too he pitied. Who, cleaving deceitfully to the company, is joined in the lodging; and among the innocent and occupied guards, who kept watch for God, not for the animals, the nocturnal robber snatched the beast on which the Elder was carried. Day being restored, the loss of the conveyance is recognized; and, that an animal might not be lacking to the Priest, one of the clerics is changed from a horseman into a footman. And while the journey is made, the surrounding companions behold the blessed Man, beyond his custom, veiling his conceived gladness with an overshadowing of his face. Which when it was seen by all, one of the rest, authority being assumed, asks the cause of his gladness. But he says: Let us tarry a little; because the labor of that unhappy man is both to be laughed at and to be grieved over, whom soon you will see boiling in distress. And when, having slipped down from their animals, they had halted, a little after they behold from afar the footman, leading behind him the animal caught by hand; who is shortly joined to them, while he hastens, and they delay []: and immediately, prostrate at his feet, he confesses the crime which he had committed; and thus related that he had been so ensnared through the whole space of the night, that he could not go farther, nor had he found any other way of escaping, except to restore the led-off animal. To these things the blessed Man: If yesterday, he says, I had given a covering to you naked, there would have been no necessity of stealing. Take what is lacking; restore what is ours. And so the confessor of the crime, for the penalty of the deed committed, received not only pardon, but also a reward with a blessing.

XXXI.

[55] The man full of God sought secrecy and the abjection of his eye, when he was betrayed by his virtues; everywhere along the way he is received in throngs; he frees an absent demoniac: in whom truly the evangelical sentence is proved; that a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden. He avoided the solaces of his own, he shunned the meetings of strangers; but he could not be obscured, surrounded by the light of majesty. For all the villages, the municipalities, the cities, as many as extended themselves along the path of his journey, flew to meet him with their wives and children, and, mostly a continuous column, while those meeting joined those following, they clung together.

XXXII.

I think it impious to pass over in silence how much of virtue he wrought, absent, at the place of Alise ^a. There was there a presbyter, Senator by name, noble by birth, nobler by religion. He had a wife, Nectariola ^b, like him in sanctity: whom, passing by, out of zeal for old charity, he sought out. They prepare a lodging for him coming; and the greater the person present, the smaller is the apparatus expended. The matron secretly placed straw in the little bed of the Priest; on which he, unaware, lay down: and, the night being passed in prayer or in Psalms, the day being restored, he enters upon the journey by which he was going. The whole household rejoiced at the illustrated lodging. The faithful matron collected the remnants of the bed, and stored them up. It happened after some days, that a certain Agrestius, well freeborn, having a wife, sons, and parents, became the possession of the invading enemy; and by the weepings of all his own no less was the absence of Germanus lamented than the unhappy man's captivity. And when no remedy could be applied, the venerable matron presumed the virtue of faith. She brings forth the stored straw, with which the furious man, surrounded, is bound. Who, through the space of one night, as if walled in by a fire set nearby, the name of the Priest being always cried out (who, though he was absent in presence, was not lacking in virtue), is purged by divine aid; nor ever afterward, in all the space of his life, incurred the peril of temptation.

XXXIII.

[56] And so holy Germanus, seeking Arles, was carried down to the city of Lyons, the Saône ^c serving him: where, the zeals of the people contending, undistinguished age and sex met him with one office: all demand a blessing; they seek his touch; and, what is beyond the multitude, even to have seen him relieves. Diverse infirmities are everywhere healed by his blessing; the city is refreshed by his preachings: and although he departed in haste, yet he watered the thirsting people with the fountains of doctrine. If I should run through all his journeys, if I should commemorate all things, prolixity heaped up will prepare loathing: but the Lord will grant pardon, that, knowing, I pass over many things. And so the city of Arles received the most blessed Man coming with religious rejoicing, receiving an apostolic Priest, the likeness of his own time. The city was at that time illustrated by Hilary the priest ^d, precious in manifold virtue: for he was a fiery torrent of faith of heavenly eloquence, and an unwearied workman of the divine precept: who exalted the venerable holy Pontiff by his address, as a father; by his reverence, as an Apostle.

XXXIV.

[57] Auxiliaris too still then ruled the summit of the prefecture throughout the Gauls: and by Auxiliaris, prefect of the Gauls, whose wife he heals: who received the presence of the Priest with doubled rejoicing; both because he desired to know a Man distinguished for virtues; and because his wife had now for a long time been wasting away with a quartan ailment. He serves him, entering, with a very long meeting beyond custom, and at the same time is fixed with admiration. For the dignity of his countenance, the erudition of his speech, the authority of his preaching, so filled the mind of the astonished man, that he deservedly recognized fame to have been less than he ^e: for he was found to be greater in reality than in report. He offers gifts; he heaps up benefits; and seeks [*] from the most blessed Man that he would deign to receive what he offered. He confesses the ailment of his wife: which being visited, the force of the passion was so extinguished, that the preceding tremor, and the following fever, were deleted. And the faithful matron, restored to her former health, received a heavenly remedy, by which both her body grew strong with health, and her soul with belief ^f. And so, benefits being received according to his will, he brought the wished-for relief to his own city; although he brought back in himself the greatest remedy and joy to the citizens.

XXXV.

[58] Finally, when he traversed many places, and refreshed the hearts and minds of his hearers with the fodder of saving doctrine, [he indicates to the people of Brioude the birthday of St. Julian the Martyr, revealed to him.] he came at a certain time to the village of Brioude ^g, where the body of the most holy Julian the martyr was honorably held buried. For there the neighboring people hung in sadness, because it was ignorant of the day on which the most blessed Martyr ought to be honored for the glory of his virtue and passion. But it happened, while he arrived there, that he inquired of the inhabitants at what time the sacred solemnities of this one were celebrated. But they confess that they know not. Then he: Let us pray, he says; and perhaps the power of the Lord will deign to reveal this to us. But at the coming of the time of night, each returned to his own. Then the same most holy Pontiff, after his wonted manner, passed the night in prayer. But at the return of the morning time, and the sun having risen, the elders of the place being called together, he inquires whether perhaps the Lord had disclosed anything to any. But they say: By no means, Lord. And he: Know that the festivity is to be celebrated on the fifth of the Kalends of the seventh month. For, as was divinely shown to me, on this day here, extinguished by the infidels, he was joined to the society of the holy Martyrs ^h. Then the devout people who were present, rendering their vows to the Prelate, bring back the wished-for medicine of body and soul.

NOTES.

ARGUMENT

Of the first and second book.

The first booklet, which precedes, sets forth beforehand his most splendid generosity ^a, and his wonderful conversion, and also his continence not unequal to the ancient Fathers; his journeys too, and some things in which he shone forth wonderfully, not only by teachings, but also by the signs of miracles. The second book, finally, which follows, designates in what manner in Gaul he was both a distinguished apostolic man, and an excellent doctor: and that he not only illustrated Gaul by word and by example, but also purged the island of Britain from the Pelagian filth: and thence, coming to Ravenna, there rested in peace ^b.

NOTES.

BOOK TWO.

CHAPTER I.

Another expedition of his with St. Severus the bishop into Britain against the Pelagians; another for the Armoricans into Italy.

[59] Meanwhile it is announced from Britain, that Pelagian perversity is again spreading through a few authors ^a: Again recalled into Britain with St. Severus the bishop and again the prayers of all are brought to the most blessed Man, that he would protect the cause of God, which he had before obtained. Whose petition he hastily met; since he both delighted in labors, and gladly expended himself for Christ. At last the envy of the enemy yielded, conquered by his virtues; nor did he dare to tempt him whom he had now perceived to be a friend of God.

II.

[60] Severus the bishop ^b being joined to him, a man of all sanctity (who, then ordained bishop at Trier, He revisits St. Genevieve, and defends her from the envious: was preaching the word of life to the nations of First Germany ^c), while he seeks Paris again, he is received with the applause of the whole people, as befitted so great a Man. Being asked for a blessing, he abundantly imparts it to all. Meanwhile, not forgetful of the pledge more specially commended by him there long before, he inquires more attentively about the girl Genevieve, how she is. I believe that it was by no means hidden from the holy Man what and what sort of things, after his departure, the blessed virgin had endured from the slanderers—infamies, reproaches, criminations, in short all the enmities which are wont to flow from the envious. And that it might be fitting to recognize their irrevocable pertinacity in evil, they could not in any measure suppress the venom of their iniquitous mind, and the machinations long since conceived, not even in the very presence of the holy Man. But he, to whom it was better known than even to her own parents, the garrulity of the detractors being set aside, betook himself to the lodging of the virgin, and saluted her, not without the great astonishment of the beholders, so humbly, that you would notice that he venerated in her the presence of that very Godhead, of which she was the temple. And lest the arrival of the blessed Pontiff should seem to have conferred nothing on the sacred virgin, nor her person remain unpurged among the wicked, having held a discourse to the people, declaring the first auspices of her conversation, of what and how great merit she was before God, he evidently expounded to all, showing, as an argument of so great a matter, the dry ground on which, praying, she had been wont to lie, wet with a frequent shower of tears. And so, the minds of all being composed toward the innocent one by his pastoral assertion, hastening the begun journey, he mounts the sea, Christ being author. To the tranquility of the journey the elements consent; the winds, the waves, the air ^d attend the vessel.

III.

[61] Meanwhile the sinister spirits, flying through the whole island, announced with unwilling divinations that Germanus was coming: but in Britain the heresy was at once subdued by prodigies. so much, that a certain Elaphius [*], the first man of that region, hastened to meet the Saints without any report of a manifest messenger: bringing with him his son, whom in the very flower of youth a lamentable debility had condemned. For he was with withering sinews, his knee contracted, to whom, through the dryness of his leg, the use of walking was denied. This Elaphius the whole province follows. The Priests come; the unknowing multitude meets them: forthwith the blessing, and the doctrine of the divine word, is poured forth: he recognizes the people continuing in the belief in which he had left them. They understand that the fault is of a few: they inquire out the authors, and, having found them, condemn them.

IV.

When suddenly Elaphius throws himself at the hands of the Priests, offering his son, whose necessity his age and debility alleged, even without prayers. There is made a common grief of all, especially of the Priests; who brought the conceived mercy to the divine clemency. And immediately blessed Germanus compelled the youth to sit. He handles the knee curved with debility, and the healing right hand runs through all the spaces of the infirmity. A swift health follows the healthful touch: the dryness received moisture; the sinews their offices; and in the sight of all, health is restored to the son, the son to the father. The peoples are filled with the astonishment of the miracle, and in the breasts of all the Catholic faith was confirmed. The preaching is then turned to the people about the amendment of the prevarication: and by the sentence of all, the authors of the depravity, expelled from the island, are led to the Priests, to be carried to the inland ^e regions; that both the region might enjoy absolution, and they amendment. Which was done so healthfully, that in those places even now the faith endures inviolate. And so, all things being composed, the most blessed Priests returned with the prosperity with which they had come ^f.

[62] Scarcely had he returned home from the transmarine expedition; and already a legation of the Armorican tract ^g, Returned, he wondrously defends the Armoricans: sought the fatigue of the blessed Prelate. For the magnificent man Aëtius, who then governed the commonwealth, offended by the insolence of the proud region, had permitted those places to be laid low, for the presumption of their rebellion ^k, to Eochar ^{g h}, the most ferocious king of the Alans ⁱ; which he had gaped after with the greed of barbaric cupidity. And so, to a most warlike nation, and to the king a minister of idols, one Old Man is set against; but nevertheless greater and stronger than all by the protection of Christ. Without delay, he goes out in haste; because the warlike apparatus was threatening. The nation had already advanced, and the iron-clad horseman had filled the whole road; and yet our Priest was borne to meet them, until he reached the king himself, who followed behind. He meets them on the journey already advanced, and is set against the armed leader amid the troops of his own: and, an interpreter mediating, first he pours forth a suppliant prayer; then he rebukes the one delaying; at last, laying on his hand, he seizes the reins of the bridle, and in that place halts the whole army. At these things the most ferocious king conceived, God commanding, admiration instead of wrath: he is astonished at his constancy; he venerates his reverence; he is moved by the pertinacity of his authority. The warlike apparatus, and the commotion of arms, descends, its swelling laid aside, to the civility of counsel: and it is treated how, not what the king had wished, but what the Priest had asked, might be accomplished. To the quiet of the station the king and army withdraw: he promises the most faithful security of peace, on this condition, that the pardon which he himself had granted be sought from the emperor, or from Aëtius. Meanwhile, through the intercession and merit of the Priest, the king was repressed, the army recalled, the provinces freed from devastations.

VI.

[63] Thence he goes out, about to seek Italy; to whom this alone had sufficed, seeking Italy for the same, he heals a mute woman, and foretells his death: never to enjoy rest, void of labor; but, as the Prophet says, he walked from virtue to virtue. For as he passes by, out of the custom of his piety he again visited his intimate Senator the presbyter ^l; by whom there is offered to him a mute girl of about twenty years; whose mouth, forehead, and whole face he blessed with the handling of oil; then ordered a seasoned cup to be offered, into which he poured three particles of bread crumbled by his own hands: and one he himself inserted into the girl's mouth; commanding that, before she received it, she should declare the request of a blessing. Which immediately, with a clear voice, before she took the bread, she asked: and thenceforth the use of speaking, born of the wonders, remained in the rest of her age. Then, about to set out, he rushed upon his friend more affectionately than usual: he kisses his mouth, forehead, eyes: he clings to his embraces, and left him, saluted with words of this kind: Farewell forever, dearest brother; farewell, portion of my soul: may God grant that we may see each other in the day of judgment without confusion; but in this light we shall never enjoy the mutual sight of each other.

VII.

[64] His journey was solitary in his own company; but crowded by the men meeting him; [the flowing of the people and their veneration; a colloquy with St. Cassian the bishop, deceased:] so much, that through all the causeways which he left illustrated on his journey, up to the present day, wherever he either prayed or taught, oratory [*] cells, and raised signs of the Cross, shine forth. As he passes by the territory of Autun, a multitude of undistinguished age and sex meets him coming. Who, while he went about the places of the Saints after his custom, at last came to the tomb of holy Cassian the pontiff ^m. In which divine virtue so appeared, that in Parian stone a contrasting color expressed a Cross, and a distinct variety showed the saving sign. Which when the most holy Germanus had beheld, prayers being poured forth to Christ after his custom, he says: What do you here, glorious brother? But he immediately from the tomb, all who were present hearing: I enjoy, he says, a sweet quiet in peace, and await the coming of the Redeemer. To whom Germanus with the mutual voice of speech said: Rest for a long time in Christ, brother: but that we may deserve to obtain the song of the divine trumpet, and the sound of the longed-for clangor, and the joys of the sacred resurrection, both for us, and for this people, intercede more attentively to our Lord Jesus Christ. Wonderful is in the holy Man the principal eminence of miracles, to whom all things, even those hidden in the depths of the sepulchres, served his wish. And the individual things indeed which were wondrously done by him are to be received with special admiration; but this indeed is the more wonderful, the more infrequent it is. For whose mind would admiration not strike, that two not undistinguished men, whom no alternation of mutual sight had ever presented to each other, the one from the living, the other from the buried, wove ⁿ colloquies? Each indeed was a citizen of that blessed and supernal Jerusalem, of which a part already enjoys heaven, a part still travels as a pilgrim on earth. By which

it came to pass, that he who now possessed his fatherland recognized his fellow-soldier, though still exiled, and answered the recognized one's wishes and address.

VIII.

[65] There, in the assembly of all, the parents, prostrated to the ground, offered their daughter in marriageable years, a contraction of the hand healed. to whom a debility had generated a most savage penalty by the accession of time. For from the rising of her nativity thus, her sinews being contracted, her fingers were curved into the palm; so that, the nails growing inward too much, the tenderness of the flesh giving way, there began to be as many wounds as there were fingers: and unless the bones set against the pressing point had somewhat resisted, the ulcers, immersed within, would have pierced through the whole palm. Whose right hand the Priest, taking hold, while he handles it, blessed with the healthfulness of his touch; and, grasping the fingers singly, the sinews yielding, recalled them to a flexible use; and the hand is restored to its ministry, which brought destruction upon itself. Moreover he adds this of piety, that with his holy hands, the fingers now straightened, he cut back the excess of the nails to the form of common custom.

IX.

[66] And so, the Gallican cities being traversed, while he surmounts the Alps, about to enter Italy; by chance he is associated in the fellowship of the journey with artisans returning home from mercenary work. A signal deed of charity, mercy, and humility. Who, while, weighed down with unjust burdens, they climb the ridges inserted into the clouds, were held back by a torrent meeting them, which in those steep precipices suffers neither the tracks of animals nor of men to cling faithfully ^o. There was of these one traveler both lame and elderly: whose burden the most blessed Man carried on his own shoulders amid the vast whirlpools; and, having unburdened him, by a repeated crossing, transported him too, his neck bowed under him. It pleases me here to pause a little, and to range for a while in the admiration of so great a Man. Truly the Lord is powerful in his Saints, truly omnipotent; truly the fountain of his benignity is to be explained by no suffrages of words! You would discern, if you were present, in the holy Man a certain noble wrestling of spirit and flesh; the unconquered fortitude of mind, I say, contending with bodily weakness. He certainly, whose face the squalid pallor of fasts had wasted [p], whose hunger the seventh day mostly refreshed with barley bread alone, whose sleep a softer bed had never received, whom the daily fatigue of a continual journey distracted, who finally could scarcely carry himself, suddenly conceived so great a virtue of charity in mind and body; that, neither bound by the quantity of the weight [*], nor terrified by the force of the torrent meeting him, he carried the old man, most heavy alike in age and in debility, his burden first transported, on his holy shoulders. And that you may wonder the more at the business, note that this was perpetrated by a noble and most illustrious person, which not even the lowest of our time would deign to do. For in very truth he could not render himself alien from the works of mercy, in whose sacred breast humility, the mother of virtues, and charity also and mercy had placed a most pleasing couch. And although most studiously he veiled the recognition of himself by his lowliness, at Milan he could not conceal who or how great he was.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

Very many miracles on this journey; a most happy death among the people of Ravenna; the honors of the deceased, and a most magnificent translation to the church of Auxerre.

X.

[67] Now it was a day venerable for the solemnity of the Saints ^a, which had gathered many priests into one. The Saint at Milan is betrayed by a demon, which he soon expelled. And while Mass was celebrated at the altar with the sacred mysteries, unknown and unforeseen he enters. And immediately one of the people, a captive of the enemy, proclaims with a huge vociferation: Why do you persecute us in Italy, Germanus? Let it suffice you, that you have excluded us from the Gauls: let it suffice, that you overcame both us and the Ocean sea by prayer. Why do you survey all things? Rest; that we may be able to be at rest. There is made admiration and terror in the people. Who Germanus might be, while one looks at another, is inquired. And although in habit he seemed despicable; yet by the dignity of his face he is recognized. Consulted, he did not deny his grade or order. All the bishops venerate the holy one of God with worthy humility. They entreat that he would visit the furious man, who had confessed his name. Whom he ordered to be brought, not on the buskin of presumption, but by the zeal of obedience; and, removed into the secretarium [*]; being purged by a celebrated absolution, he recalled him unharmed to the public assembly. This first sign of his virtue in Italy Christ deigned to work through his Servant. A diverse multitude of the people flocked together, awaiting the blessing of his proved sanctity: and, miracles being joined with preaching, he cured both souls and bodies.

XI.

[68] Having gone out from the most opulent city, while he takes his way gradually in happy hours, poor men meet him, Alms being given, at once another hundredfold is compensated. asking alms. He consults the deacon, how much there was in their supplies. That there were only three gold pieces, he answered. And he immediately ordered all to be paid out. To these things the deacon: Whence shall we live today? Answering he says: God will feed his poor: do you provide what you have to the needy. The deacon, as if provident, pays out two, reserves one. And while the begun journey is made, they behold behind them horsemen driving swiftly; who, shortly joined, immediately leap down; and, prostrate on their knees, pour forth a prayer of this kind: Our lord, a distinguished man, Leporius, enjoys a dwelling not far from here; who with his family is so entangled and held by a diverse ailment, that he succumbs both to his own and to his people's infirmity. Whose tears we bring to you. Visit the sick man, if you judge it worthy. But if the necessity of your occupation overcomes our prayer, expend a prayer of intercession. Let him merit the blessing, if he merits not the sight. To these things the most blessed Man is filled with mercy; and, the journey being left, that way is judged the straighter which prepared the reward of a good work. He turns aside, his own people crying out against it; and grants to those asking the desired arrival, saying: Nothing is prior to me than to fulfill the precepts of the Lord. Then they with exultation and joy offered the gift of two hundred solidi, which had been transmitted. Then, turned to the deacon, he says: Receive what is delivered; and understand that you have committed a fraud upon the poor: for if you had conferred on the needy the whole that I gave, our rewarder would have returned three hundred today. The deacon trembled, that the secret of his guilt had become known to the Pontiff.

XII.

[69] Meanwhile they hasten their step: they arrive: and, as if manifest health had entered, so the Saint's arrival relieved the minds of all. He heals a whole ailing household in one day. He brings forth and exercises his known medicines; prostrate, he entreats Christ; and by his own tears purchases the joys of others. The masters are visited, the servants too are visited; and without any discretion of person he goes around the huts, surveys all the couches; and, the space of one day being interposed, so obtained the heavenly medicines, that, going out on the third day, he left the whole house rejoicing in health; the master, whom he had found lying on his little bed, escorting him ^b. For a laudable fame preceded the venerable Man, requiring that the recognition of the one announced should be desired.

XIII.

[70] He was now borne through the mouths of the peoples of Ravenna: and the preceding effect [*] accused the delays of his arrival. [How he was received at Ravenna by the emperor, etc.; what gifts he received, and gave:] At last, long awaited, he is received. He had indeed provided that, entering in nocturnal silence, he might be covered by secret obscurity; but he could not avoid the vigils of those desiring him. There Peter ^c, then pontiff, held the church of Christ by apostolic institution.

XIV.

Placidia the queen too ruled the Roman empire, with her son Valentinian, now a young man ^d; who so loved the Catholic faith, that, although they commanded all, they served the servants of God with sublime humility. Who all receive the venerable Priest with contending zeals and provident love. The princes seek him, the nobles meet him, the church embraces him with exultation. To the lodging of the Priest the venerable queen transmitted a most ample vessel of silver, filled with more delicate foods without any admixture of flesh. Which, received, he distributed in this manner, that he gave the foods to his ministers; but himself claimed the silver; sending back, in place of a gift, a little wooden paten [*], containing barley bread. Which she, both, with

great rejoicing embraced; because he had both transmitted his silver to the poor, and she had received that food of the blessed Man with the ministry of the abject little vessel. For she afterward both encircled the wood with gold, and reserved the bread for many remedies and virtues.

XV.

[71] On a certain day, while, straitened by the crowds, he enters a very broad square, there he frees captives by a prodigy, heals the sick, etc. he was passing by a prison filled with bound men, awaiting punishments and death. Who, the passage of the Priest being recognized, raised one clamor with united voices. He asks the cause; he learns it: he calls the guards; they withdraw themselves. For the diverse powers of the palace had condemned the crowd of the wretched to the nights of that dungeon. Whither to turn, his mercy had no means. At last he runs to his known aid; and what was difficult to obtain from men, he asks from the majesty of God: he turns his step to the prison: bowed down, he prostrates his limbs in prayer. Then indeed our Lord showed to the peoples standing by the grace which he bestowed on his Servant. The enclosure, bound with chains and lock, is loosed: the iron bars leap apart: divine piety unlocks what the contrivance of human cruelty had straitened. The crowd proceeds from its chains to liberty, exhibiting the empty burdens of the chains; holding the bonds by which before it was held. The prison is at last left innocent, because empty; and, the triumph of piety preceding, the crowd of the wretched is brought into the bosom of the rejoicing church.

XVI.

The admiration and fame of the Pontiff grew daily: the peoples met him; the sick were healed; and Christ enlarged the grace which he had conferred. Six venerable priests ^e sat by continually attending; who wondered no less at the crosses of his abstinence, enduring without interruption, than at his assiduous virtues. These were witnesses of his works for a long time ^f.

XVII.

[72] The son of a certain Volusianus, who then presided over the chancellery of the patrician Segisvultus ^g, he recalls a dead man to life: enkindled with the fire of fevers, was harassed; and the kindling of the boiling vapor had so consumed the marrows and body of the young man [*], that a proclaimed despair followed. The hands and promises of the physicians are now withdrawn, and mourning alone is reserved for the parents. To the blessed Man a tardy hope is turned: the parents with all their friends and kinsmen entangle themselves at the knees of the Saint. There is added too the intercession of the priests, with whom he hastily seeks the sick one: and one meeting them going announced that the young man was already dead; and that there was no cause for the venerable Man to weary himself. Yet the prelates insist; they supplicate that he would fulfill the begun office of mercy. They find the body lifeless, and, the warmth of life being repelled, already cold with the rigor of death: and, prayer being said for the rest of the soul, they were returning; when suddenly the mourning of the multitude is raised: his elders ^h cling to the hands of the Priest, that he would supplicate the Lord for the bereavement of the parents, and the return of the deceased. Long he resists, confounded by holy modesty: at last he yielded to the command of mercy and charity. Shaking the arms of faith, he casts out the crowds; and, prostrate in prayer, is joined to the dead man: he waters the earth with tears; deep groans are stretched out to heaven; he calls Christ with lamentations. Meanwhile the lifeless one is moved, and gradually the vital offices are restored to the dead limbs. The eyes seek the light; the fingers twinkle; the tongue now resounds: each rises, this one from prayer, that one from death. Germanus with his hand raises the sleeper: he sits up, breathes again, is refreshed, looks around; and gradually, vigor being conceived, receives whole safety. The son is restored to the parents; the mournings are turned into joy, and with one clamor of the peoples, the virtue of the majesty is extolled. Christ continues his virtues in his Servant; and, about soon to be received into rest, exalts him with the praise of miracles.

XVIII.

[73] A foster-son of Acholius the eunuch, then provost of the royal chamber, now a young man liberally instructed, he frees an energumen: was harassed by a demon of this kind, which throughout a monthly period, the lunar increases returning, prostrates its captives by a falling stroke. By the intervention of the queen or the nobles, he is presented and delivered to the holy Man. Whom, long examined, he deferred to purge on the same day; although he was wont to drive off the most furious demons by the first laying-on of the hand. For it had so penetrated the marrows and inner parts of the pitiable young man, that it possessed him as its own vessel at certain times. He determined therefore to shut him up with himself by night. Then indeed it burst forth manifest from its inner lurking-places; and, as if composed amid torments, indicates the time from which, from his early age, it had seized the innocent one. And so, commanded, it goes out: and the purged youth after another day is restored to the palace. The cause indeed of the Armorican region, which had enjoined the necessity of the pilgrimage, pardon being obtained and perpetual security, he would have gained according to his own wish; had not the perfidy of wavering recalled the mobile and undisciplined people to their former rebellion. Which being done, both the intercession of the Priest vanished, and the imperial cruelty [*] was frustrated by circumvention. Which people however, for their manifold craftiness, shortly paid the penalties of their perfidious temerity ⁱ.

XIX.

[74] Germanus therefore on a certain day, the morning solemnity being completed, while he conferred discourse with the bishops about religion, brought forth a most sad mention, saying: I commend to you, dearest brethren, my passing. I seemed to myself, through nocturnal sleep, to receive from our Lord a viaticum, about to travel; he foreknows that his death is at hand, by divine revelation and when I asked the cause of the pilgrimage, He said: Fear not; to your fatherland, not to a pilgrimage, I direct you; where you shall have quiet and everlasting rest. The priests derived the dream by another understanding; but he more studiously commended his last matters, saying: I well know what fatherland God promises to his servants. It happened, that after some days ^k an ailment followed; which growing heavier, the whole city is disturbed. He hastened his passing, who called him to glory; and the Lord, weary from labors, invited him to rewards.

XX.

[75] The queen Placidia, the pride of empire laid aside, meets the poor man, a little after he dies, those present eagerly seizing his relics. visits the sick man, granting whatever benefit he asks of her. But he especially asked, what she unwillingly granted, that the clod of his body be restored to his fatherland. But so great was the multitude of those visiting, day and night, as either the entrance admitted, or the house received. All the time was held by choirs singing psalms. On the seventh day of the ailment his happy and blessed soul is transferred to the heavens.

XXI.

The inheritance left behind is thereafter divided: the empire presumed a part; the priests claim a part. And what is wont to happen concerning riches, a contention arises from the scantiness, while what they might take is lacking. The queen, heir of the blessing alone, received the little box with the Saints []. Peter the bishop [] usurped the cowl with the inner hair-shirt. But the six prelates, that they might receive some monument from the succession of sanctity, preferred to tear apart what had remained. One received the pall, another the girdle; two divided the tunic, two the little cloak ^l.

XXII.

[76] Then the zeals of those conferring grow hot at the apparatus of the deceased; [The furnishing of the funeral; the translation into the Gauls; a miracle done at Piacenza.] accusing why a small expense should be owed to the Dead. Acholius solidified the body with the binding of spices; the queen clothed it. All these being duly completed, the emperor furnishes the journey with expenses and conveyances, and follows his ministers with copious largesse. The priests both furnish in the present the service of religion, and by ordination send it before; and one column is formed toward the Gauls.

XXIII.

As the body passes by Piacenza, it arrives in now blind night. Which, placed in the church, while it is honored with the vigils of holy devotion, a certain matron of that place, loosed by paralysis, so that no member performed its office, entreatingly begs to be placed under the bier of the body. And there she lay stretched out until light. Early the body is raised; the woman too rises; and, vivified through the Dead, the peoples marveling, with her own feet renders due service ^m.

XXIV.

The Gauls receive their own Patron with greater attendance; since there affection was joined to reverence. Every kind of men met with diverse office. Some soften the ways, the steep places being laid low, and continue them with the renewal of bridges: some heap up expenses: some intone Psalms: some put their necks under. There shone, the sun's ray being struck back, a multitude of lights, claiming splendor for itself even by day; and, with the whole ministry of charity, he is restored to his own city; where, buried in body, he lives by daily miracles and glory.

XXV.

[77] I ⁿ demand a double pardon from you, reader. First, that with solecisms and abjection of words I wound your ears; then, that a more prolix page seems to breed loathing. But let it not be irksome to review what it was not irksome to Christ to furnish; who, while he glorifies his Saints, The epilogue of the author, excusing that he has omitted much. invites us by example. And yet I call God to witness, conscious of secrets, that I have kept silent about more of the deeds of my lord Germanus, known and proved: whence I confess myself guilty, in suppressing what divine virtue wondrously worked for the profit of all. And therefore in writing I judge myself to have been rather succinct than excessive ^o.

Now [p] this same lord and apostolic man, most holy Germanus, sat in the episcopal chair 30 years, 25 days. But he died, full of the Holy Spirit, at Ravenna, a city of Italy, on the day before the Kalends of August, Valentinian, still a young man, reigning with Placidia his mother: by whom there, for the admiration of his sanctity, and the assiduity of his miracles, he was honorably received, and, the Lord Christ appearing to him, foreknowing his death, he obtained that he be restored to his own city. Whose most sacred body, with an honorable column, the works of virtues accompanying, was carried to his own city: and there, on the day of the Kalends of October, by his own citizens, with most celebrated cult, was delivered to a worthy burial. Where, powerful in innumerable virtues, he is honored with the highest glory.

Here ends the Life of St. Germanus the bishop.

An epitaph of the same.

The gleaming stars catch the gleaming Germanus. The flowery thousands applaud the flourishing Germanus. The heavenly songs sing the heavenly Germanus. The splendid joys compose songs for the splendid Germanus [q].

NOTES.

THE SAME LIFE, BY THE AUTHOR ST. HERICUS THE MONK,

recalled from the loose style of Constantius to the bound verse; from the most ancient Lobbes manuscript, collated with the very ancient Lyons codex, and the Belfort manuscript.

Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre (St.)

BHL Number: 3458

BY ST. HERICUS THE MONK. FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

EPISTLE

the author's dedicatory, to Charles the Bald, king and at once most excellent emperor.

To Charles, predestined to immortal scepters, and most excellent of all kings, Charles loves and fosters letters, perpetual triumpher and ever august, Heiricus, the least of the monks, present and perpetual felicity in the Lord. As often as I recall to memory that your highness [] governs the paternal scepters not only by virtue, counsel, and prudence; but also with no less zeal draws from the inmost mirrors of wisdom the colors of true beauty, and forms with these the times, defiled with lost morals; thereupon I am raised into the best hopes, and am often pricked by the truth of that sentence which was uttered before us, that the commonwealth would be happy, if either kings should philosophize, or philosophers should reign. Although I am not unaware that what is now called the commonwealth has grown so obsolete [] by the overflow of all vices, that of its safety many deservedly despair, since it suffers neither to be subdued by virtue, nor to be moderated by wisdom. Many are the monuments of your clemency, many the symbols of your piety: but that above all prepares for you [*] eternal memory, that the zeal of your most famous grandfather Charles ^b toward the immortal disciplines you not only represent equally; but even transcend with incomparable fervor: while what he drew forth from the slumbering ashes, you advance everywhere by the manifold fomenting both of benefits and of authority; nay (that I may confer lofty things on the lofty) you urge them on to the stars. Thus in your season the wits of men rely on a double support; while to the pursuing of the hidden things of wisdom you allure all indeed by example; but some too you invite by rewards.

[2] To this is added that inexpugnable argument of truth, by which your singular prudence guards itself with sufficiently circumspect reason against complaints perhaps arising: men being summoned from Greece and Ireland, for lest our sloth, which willingly embraces its own blindness, should draw over itself a veil of excuse from ignorance, nor should deservedly plead the lack of teachers, you have effected this singular zeal, that wherever in the world the masters of the arts flourished, of which philosophy promises the chief labor, your highness would hire, your courtesy attract, your munificence provoke, this to public erudition from anywhere. This Greece laments, provoked by new stings of envy: whom her own inhabitants once, now long since, with the Asian wealth, despise, delighted rather by your magnanimity, allured by your studies, trusting your liberality: she grieves, I say, that she, once singularly wonderful and wonderfully singular, is deserted by her own: she grieves certainly that those privileges of hers (which she never hitherto feared) are transferred to our climes. Why should I mention Ireland, the peril of the sea being despised, migrating almost whole, with a flock of philosophers, to our shores? Of whom whoever is more skilled, freely enjoins exile upon himself, that he may serve the most wise Solomon according to his wish.

[3] And so, most unconquered Caesar, it is almost that the whole world constructs new controversies against you, nay, learned men from every side: inveighs against you with new declamations: who, while you strive to illustrate yourself and yours with the ornaments of wisdom, have taken away the schools and studies of almost all nations: for, the teachers being taken away, it is akin and consequent that easily the wits of all have congealed in idleness. For thus, the rest being despised, into that part of the world which your power embraces, all the studies of the best arts have flowed together; so that I hold it probable, that long since these, hating human sloth, would have utterly departed from the earth, unless they were held by the amplitude of your integrity; in which too they have wonderfully placed the single summit and pinnacle of their profession (as is plainly eminent). Hence it is, that, although there is a most ancient sentence, The laws are silent amid arms; these nevertheless, both in time of war and of peace, always obtain very much of dignity with you. So that the palace is deservedly called a school: whose summit is daily accustomed no less to scholarly than to military disciplines. Whatever therefore letters can do, whatever wits attain, they owe to you; to you, I say, who, born always to do something worthy of a man, both excel in virtue, and also shine forth in wisdom.

[4] To what end I have brought forth these things, this is the cause: [among whom the excellent Lothair, son of Charles himself, searching out many things,] I ingenuously profess that Lothair of divine memory, son of your majesty, a boy in years, a philosopher in mind, was, by the disposition of his soul and the riches of his skill (that I may concede to you alone the superiority), precious above the other mortals of his age. He, because by your disposition he had been commended, devoted both to God and to blessed Germanus, to be educated, had conceived so much of devotion toward the Saint, so much of ardor toward the place, that the livid death is deservedly thought to have envied us his life ^c. And since the boy was of divine wit, and toward the knowledge of things supremely studious, it happened that he, on one of the days, searching out the hidden things [*] of a certain book, came upon two epistles: in one of them, the most holy Aunarius, sixth bishop of Auxerre after blessed Germanus, sought by prayers Stephen the African, a presbyter, that he would arrange the Life of the same most holy father of ours Germanus in a metrical manner: in the other, the same Stephen signified by rescript that he would obey the aforesaid pontiff. Whose form of epistles I have judged it best to insert here too; that the reason to be intimated to the royal ears may be able to struggle out of every scruple of ambiguity ^d.

[5] The Epistle of Aunarius the bishop to Stephen the African presbyter [*]. "To the most beloved and most loving, and to me connected by the bond of inner charity, brother Stephen the presbyter, [he learned that Stephen the presbyter had once been asked by Aunarius, bishop of Auxerre,] Aunarius by the grace of God bishop, eternal salvation in the Lord. The prudence of your doctrine, now approved to us by many experiments, has compelled us to place a certain imperious little burden on your shoulders: but one which may not be to you a burden, but an honor: nor which may press downward with an iniquitous weight, but which may rather raise up even to heaven. It is known to you, dearest brother, what is the diversity of human minds, and in what manner into contrary zeals not only the empty crowd, but even the whole nobility is split. And some indeed are delighted with prosaic style; but some profess to be delighted by the numbers or rhythms and songs of verses. Therefore, that I might meet the wishes of all, and none be defrauded of his desire, it has pleased me to describe some Lives of the most blessed Professors in free foot, but to arrange some hampered by metrical law. For which reason I beseech the friendship of your love united to me, that you not cease to change the Life of the most blessed Germanus the bishop into the quality of verses: but describe holy Amator in prosaic modulation: that, made followers of the apostolic preaching, we may become all things to all, and owe nothing to any, except to love one another. May the divine piety guard your undivided charity to me, venerable brother."

[6] [that he should describe the Life of St. Germanus in meter; and that Stephen undertook it.] The rescript of the aforesaid presbyter: "To the most blessed lord, and adorned with apostolic insignia, spiritual father, Aunarius the bishop, Stephen, the servant of all the servants of Christ. The letters of your apostolate being run through, I have approved, clearer than light, whither the ardor of holy desire tends with the highest alacrity. It is therefore the purpose of your devotion to describe the noble acts of the flourishing life of the most renowned men Germanus and Amator. But to them let the intention of your most charming path be directed, who can set forth the lights of virtues with equable addresses ^e. But I, whose inert wit is torpid with a twofold rigor, and whose stammering tongue, hindered amid the somewhat hoarse courses of the throat by a squalid disuse, does not speak, but rather grates; how shall I be able, with polished speech, to unfold the divinely inspired gifts of the most holy Men; I who cannot even explain private affairs transacted by human chance? By an inexplicable ridicule (if I am not mistaken) and mockery he entangles himself, whoever assumes a burden beyond the possibility of his strength. Will not audacious temerity ruin the pursuers of wild beasts, if captious industry has formed them too little? Never will a recruit bear the painted shield, the monuments of victory, unless the learned examples of the veteran have instructed him. Never too, of the air

Never too will the safe bird cut short the open journey of the air, whose penniferous mother was not the guide going before. He will lie, truly, cut down by the dashing of the waves, whoever, trusting the hire of his own boldness, thrusts an untaught right hand upon the tiller of the raft. Thus each one is cut in a different direction by the hook of unskillfulness, if he be not at all aided by the favors of the learned. Therefore, most blessed man, I ask, that the summit of your eminence may impose on me that which it does not doubt I can easily accomplish. If however, even in this work, whatever rustic garrulity shall have arranged inelegantly or wittlessly, you bear with equanimity, I will undertake it; and I will do what the paternal authority commands and orders. Farewell for a long time, my lord always and apostolic pope."

[7] But since it did not exist, Lothair wished another to be composed by Hericus, These being run through with careful reading, and at last learning, by the report of the bystanders, that a work of this kind had never and nowhere appeared with us, seized with much animosity, that so great a work had perished in vain from the knowledge of men, he was for some days gnawed by the inner anguishes of his mind. And at last, calling me together, who had then recently emerged from the schools, he opens his internal grief; and importunately protests that I should heal it by some means, if I could: namely, that what he had once read as elaborated in the aforesaid epistles, I should repeat; and should transfuse the most excellent acts of Germanus from prose into meter, about to satisfy his desires. I dreaded (I confess) the business, and, reckoning that what was imposed was beyond my strength, I withdrew my neck as far as I could. At last, bound by the objection of the regular chapter, which prescribes that even the impossible precepts of an abbot are by no means to be shunned, I undertook indeed (as was fitting) the command of the one ordering, although with no confidence of strength, but, as the regular institution admonishes, trusting in charity, and obeying by the aid of God. Scarcely had I touched the first parts of the work: and (alas, wretched condition of the human lot!) that abbot of mine, soon to be wonderful in the world, going out from his tender limbs, deserted the world by an untimely death. This so mournful, so bitter a chance had shaken out of me all my studies, all my cares; had not that probable sentence come to the aid of my mind; that grief is diminished by time; and that what long duration would bring, which removes the greatest griefs by age, that we ought to anticipate by counsel and prudence. By this thought I drove my mind, that, as I had been obedient to the living, I should also comply with the dead, and, for the favor of the deceased, apply to the begun work the persistence of completion. I applied myself, as I could; and, not with unwilling Minerva, giving loose reins to my good will, I sometimes lightened the griefs conceived by the play of the muses, as by the art of some known remedy.

[8] The work indeed being completed, it displeased me to publish it; because which here, since Lothair had died meanwhile, he dedicates to Charles I had not sufficiently deliberated in my mind to whom I should specially destine it. To me long hesitating, you, most excellent Caesar, you, I say, met me, the nearest heir of the intestate offspring; his goods returned to you by law. These being subducted in my mind, I have dared [*] to send before to your majesty this of letters, which might commend the content of the following work, the order of reason being prestructured. Have therefore, after the funeral of your most beloved son, a hereditary pledge, by which you may be able both sweetly to rub again the memory of the deceased, and wholly to note the devotion of a faithful servant; whom I have in no way suffered to be defrauded of the utility at least of this last gift.

[9] I have besides composed, from the miracles of the most excellent Germanus, another little work distinguished by two books; together with 2 prose books, on the miracles of St. Germanus. in which, because mention both of your name and of your time is more frequently made, I have nonetheless preferred it dedicated [*] to your highness. Receive this too; and conceive toward the reverence of Germanus a mind such as truly befits royal majesty. And although it be of an astute man to refer all things to his own utility; yet in this and for this, however great the labor, I seek rather the praise of blessed Germanus than the favor of my own person: how much I value which, you can easily perceive fully, if you run through in order the tenor of our song. And so I greatly desire to catch this interest of my long sweat, that God may be glorified in the miracles, who willed to be admirable in his Saints: that to the most holy Germanus veneration and glory may grow on earth, who obtained this in the heavens through the increments of good works: that edification may be acquired for the readers, peace for the believers, salvation for the imitators, immortality for those persevering in the faith: in which that you may perpetually prevail, both we wish and unwearily pray, greatest of kings, perpetual triumpher and ever august.

NOTES.

THE AUTHOR'S INVOCATION,

described in the Phalaecian hendecasyllable.

Eternal pattern, and glory of things, The series of causes, the origin of light, The pillar of nature, and father of the true, The holy Poet The fount and beginning, and sum of the good, With this ode we shall suppliantly sing you: We pray, receive the gift from our mouth. O fruitful Τριὰς (That is: Triad), and Μονάς (That is: Monad) ^a, simple, Whether they distribute you, Ἕλληνας κατα ^b (That is: according to the Greeks), as Οὐσίαν Μίαν εἰς Τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις ^c (That is: one Essence in three Hypostases); Or, as the Latin world confesses, Μίαν ὑπόστασιν, Τρία πρόσωπα ^d (That is: one substance, three persons); You are ever the same, you yourself the same [*] abide. Begetting, unbegotten, you are called Father. You, the Son begotten, σοφία (That is: Wisdom) applauds: Living Spirit, you flow from both: And to the three Persons we consecrate one Godhead, One we gather in these, θεῶτεν ^e (That is: deity); Which is thus called with good reason, because it discerns all ^f; Or rather because it thus runs through all ^g, Yet is nowhere borne outside ^h itself, Since it is motion, and the same is rest, And stable motion; as they say of old, And mobile rest: thus I find the earlier And more skilled to have said.

[11] Ὢν ⁱ (That is: He who is), substance-making, and τόπος ^k (That is: place) of things; Goodness through himself; ἰδέα (That is: form) of the world; Wise through himself; ἄναρχος ^l (That is: without beginning) the same: He is not; for he is above being, and grants being: Of the Holy Trinity He is not this, nor is [*] he that; but he exists as all; Not here, not there; but whole through all. Μικρὸς καὶ μέγαλος μέσος τε Θεός ^m (That is: God small and great and midmost): Small; while he ministers help to the least: Midmost; while he governs the inmost equally: In great things the same is proved μέγαλος (That is: great), Thus to the small, the middling, and he is present to the great, Himself undivided, and remaining whole. Ὢν ἀρχὴ, μέσον; ὢν τέλος τε πάντων ⁿ (That is: being the beginning, the middle; being also the end of all); Since from himself, through himself, Are whatever things are vigorous; to himself equally All things tend, as to rest. The same himself πρωτότυπον (That is: archetype) [*], they affirm to be a nothing, that you may be the more astounded; Because he stands incomprehensible to every Nature, surpassing the νοερὸς λόγος τε [*] (That is: the intellectual and rational power): Who, while he is not comprehended, is called Nothing; As often as a θεοφανία ^o (That is: theophany) appears, he is said to come into something out of nothing. They write that from this nothing all things were created. Hence it is, that the same is called darkness: For the Ψαλμίστης (That is: Psalmist) [*] the sacred one thus says: As are the darknesses, so is his light; Because to one desiring, but not able, to gaze, they are thought black darknesses; And he inhabits inaccessible light.

[12] Since the streams of the true so hold themselves, You may freely conceive, it necessarily follows, he implores help, That by no minds, by no charm, Can we of ourselves define anything concerning the true and highest good, namely God; nor is it ready at hand what sort, or how great likewise, or who he can be. Better and more nearly by prayer you will send [] toward your mind, if you contrive anything []: He wishes to be prayed with placid words, easy to bestow, prompt to have given. With these strains therefore approach the Father, the Father with the Begotten, and the pious Πνεῦμα (That is: Spirit) [*]: Light, and our salvation, and redemption, Bestower of φύσις (That is: nature), grant also χάρις (That is: grace) [p], Driving light into the grey-blue shadows, Unclose the ἐμπύριος (That is: empyrean) heavens [*] to the blind. Once you thus placed θεσμοφόρον (That is: law-bearing) [*] Moses with you εἰς γνόφον (That is: into the darkness) [*] of Sinai. Help those seeking with your strong right hand, Since it is not possible for anyone to approach you, unless you grant them to come through you: Yet it befits you to show your face to those who seek nothing else, except you: For not even this [*] will they be able to do, unless it be from you. Break the clouds, and the evil φαντασίας (That is: phantasms) By which the sharpness of the mind, being beaten back, is not allowed purely to behold God, As he grants them to see himself invisible who have known to thirst for the light-flowing fount, their rest, and their own end.

Compose, we ask, the present works that need you; and, favoring my vow, Both heap up my senses, and loose my mouth; That from the mute may flow liquid speeches, you who are wont to bestow, and not weakly. To prepare a title of praise for Germanus the matter urges, love constrains, wonderful toward you, boy Lothair; To whom it will not have been right to deny anything, not my mouth, not my mind, nor those things certainly, which are friendly to fair offices. That this may be done fittingly, that it may be done becomingly, Both all my hopes, and the sum of my hope, we confer on you, discoverer of the art By which the breast of man, preeminent [q], climbs the starry fields in honor, distinguished from the beasts by the brightness of its mind [r]. Not for the beatitude of Germanus's merit do I ask these things, but through his kindness, if he wrought anything light-flowing, which was to the praise of the supernal Father; if, a Hero following your standards,

Oppressed the rigid enemy, severe; If fastings, if iniquitous crosses, If restless nights the same Hero bore; If he did not dread the menacing jaws of the sea, Secure of the deep, to enter its jaws; If whatever the sword, and the flame, can do, he despised, patient, for the love of Christ.

NOTES.

THE ADDRESS OF THE SAME TO HIS BOOK,

run through in the two-membered, two-strophe meter. ^a

If we behold you with clear countenance, And dreams do not delude my mind, I should not bear that, little book, in vain, To his book, too hastily setting out into the crowd. That you hold popular things of such worth; That, as if hating your native lurking-place, you would freely delight yourself in insane tumult. The tediums of secrecy not a little characterize ^b the wretched; nor is it friendly that you always shrink [] for a while from the seals [] friendly to chaste studies: although that Danaë, of whom the tale is told, the bronze tower scarcely covered from the gold-raining shower. What do the crowd-belching squares avail? What the cities flowing back with the scurrilous? You whom the erasure has not yet touched; nor yet, the filth being cleared away, has the color increased. If the augur, not insipid, does not wander astray; O you who will suffer too much shame! They give out, that Maro with three years' labor unfolded the Bucolics more cultivatedly. Likewise for seven years he was polishing with sweat the four-cleft Georgics. Then the beautiful sons of Aeneas into arms he reduced to eleven years and to the file. Nor do you weigh in your mind, what he did; what we; what the second hope of Rome could; what the least of the lesser, unequal, can, yet not to be held among the least. And, unless you rush forth into the mouths of the crowd, impatient, do you refuse the tiller?

[15] Severe omens shake the unwilling bard, and terrifying sounds; the author ill-omens, nor does the gnostic virtue allow him, willing, to spare importunate words: These you will take unwilling, and likewise willing: With these I, ἀντιλέγοντα [*] (i.e., contradicting), undergo them. You will come into the crowd, my vow favoring. Alas, in how great a wave you will be tossed! Here one will spit something foul: here, his nose forced, will hum something unspeakable and hostile: Here one will give applause with profane hands: Here one will shake the earth thrice with his foot: Another will search out with his finger, note with his mouth, the swarming warts [*] (i.e., faults of the poem), even if none is anywhere open, being taught, indeed, to invert whole things. And the more abandoned and profane one is, the more sharply will he be roused to wrath. At last, subdued by every mockery, you will be borne to the shop of the Μυροκόπος [*] (i.e., the perfumer), or you will carry a little nard, or pepper, and whatever is wrapped in worthless papers ^c. The monitor, once repulsed, will have withdrawn; nor will he care to heal ^d.

this [*] recount with yourself: On the front which the title shall preordain, let no author prefix his ὄνομα [*] (i.e., name): Let Germanus enter the citadel of the first auspice; let him mark the beginnings. Thus perhaps you will be able to scorn the unarmed crowd, or the thousand perils. The barrier of so great a name the wanton phalanxes will scarcely dare to have despised. The rage will grow mild; and they will spare their spittle, and refrain from growing fierce with cynic [*] (i.e., envious) tooth. Go now, driven by Maeonian [*] (i.e., Homeric) wings, go, book, happy under a favorable bird. Nor be grieved to have departed once neither unadmonished, nor unpersuaded. What remains, remit to the doubtful fates. And may better things follow you!

NOTES.

BOOK ONE

Of the Life of the great father Germanus, transfused from prose into meter.

CHAPTER I.

The Saint's fatherland, nobility, studies, marriage, honors, love of hunting, and superstition.

Where Celtic Gaul spreads out its middle tracts, And where it is milder, whether in soil or in husbandmen, The earlier Gauls placed a not undistinguished city, Concerning St. Germanus's fatherland. For its fertile clods and the gift of rich Bacchus ^a, And for the pleasant uses of the river gliding before it ^b, Which could compare itself with many great ones; It is reported to have once been called by the ancients Autricus ^c. A later age placed pinnacles and battlements on the ancestral walls, the fortifications of hard war. From the augmented walls, the surname being changed, whether, following usage, you say Autissiodorum, or you wish to mutilate it, and say Altiodorum ^d, by a different name the one thing is more enriched. This is the natal soil, this the fatherland of our Father; born within these bounds, he blessed his native fields.

II.

[18] There is no need, in the Saint, to recount the glory of kindred nobility, which shone with a twin dowry, Concerning his notable nobility. both splendid and wealthy, both in riches and in stock: The numerous estates, once most well-known by successive charters, retain the indication and proof of the matter ^e.

III.

[19] The brief spring of his age and the grace of his first flower grew moist with the seven arts by an easy effort ^f. Concerning his skill in the arts from boyhood. The bountiful grace had increased the Infant's breast with twin gifts ^g; and what is wont to be pleasing and sufficient for two, this she had heaped beforehand upon one: For, that wisdom, resting on seven columns, might be able to fit a house in the beloved breast, And by turns, to the mind expanding by nature ^h, studious diligence held out the aid of a master. Each thing, God moderating, then advanced the happy times of the now-growing youth at the outset. Very many seeds are scattered through barren furrows with small produce, or, at most, middling; But the grains which enter fecund fallow-lands flow with a double hope, both of the clod and of the sowing; And full abundance answers with a conspicuous horn.

IV.

he left nothing unattempted, nothing, in short, undrained, whatever could flow from native masters: For, almost a boy, and before youth, he had in a short time drunk in all things. An inner ardor rages in his bones to follow further things, and, unless abundance be lacking, to wear away his leisure in studies, to spend himself on studies, and to die amid studies. He reckons very small and cheap to know, whatever things lie open anywhere; dear and very great, whatever things lie hidden. There was then to the liberal arts ever a sure honor, and glory added a spur to studies. Roused by these spirits and bound by such a desire, whither the head of the world is, Rome most great of things, he directs his journey, to learn the knots of Latin law. And he learned, and shortly bore the palm of that labor.

[21] To know was no great thing, if the being-able [*] did not also come with it ⁱ. That he held the office of advocacy there. And the wise man is thought to differ least from the fool, if he cannot also act. Better are the two borne joined; which if you separate, one perishes: thus the affair of one demands the allied aid of the other, and conspires amicably. Therefore, that the wisdom which had been meditated in his covered chamber might afterward be able to cry out through the marble squares ^k, and at last to give laws to the crooked and proud; soon the Youth is snatched to patrician honors; and, created a pleader of causes by the public votes, he restrained the urban lawsuits by the bridle of law.

VI.

[22] Latium congratulates itself on so great a censor ^l; and to enjoy this so great one present is little; concerning posterity That, living in the same office, he took the bond of a wife. he thinks; and that glory of offspring may not be lacking to the Man, and that Rome may not be deprived of the Man's stock, the hope is in a consort of the couch; which fitly to lack his wealth does not suffer, and his age subject to the flesh, the love of offspring, the probity of mind in a beautiful wife, and both treasures, and manners, and the mark of chaste modesty. Such a one, when she is seen, is pointed out with the finger ^m; for she is

VII.

[23] With innumerable customs the Roman world was once skilled. The devouring antiquity has consumed part, to the last penny [*],

part wears away the traces of things in ancient books. [That, at his first use of the toga, he received the government of a dukedom through the provinces; and a broader description of the praetexta,] That nation was sagacious, and both skilled to wage war, and knowing to form manners, and cautious to compose them. And lest the tender age in boys should waste away with a blemish (since this mind is waxen to be bent into vice, and when the ambiguous [*] way led to the branching crossroads, and set forth the path, the Samian going before, two-forked ^o; the inert foot hesitates to follow the right, and with malign wish holds the left) that way then seemed to it the straighter [p]: A vigilant guardianship kept the tender years, and chaste companions, and the red-line [q] of the mistress-craft set nearby, and a rule normalizing the crooked manners, and a mind pressed by reason, and laboring to be conquered, and drawing its countenance under the thumb of the preceptor: The most fitting praetexta [*] marked the trembling minds, still needful of reason, and destitute of counsel, called so because a border edged this with Tyrian purple, and above this the affixed embossings [r], the Greekish custom (the Italians drew it from the Greeks [s])—the index of nobility.

he clothed his tender cheeks with soft down (this was to have handled twice eight Decembers) the praetexta yielded to the toga, and, as puerile gifts, they fitted to the paternal household gods the coeval bullae. Here the trembling infancy, having obtained its wished-for end, here fixed its goal: thence, useful both in war and at home, and, in whatever part, for managing affairs, each was thought commodious by his ripe age. He had drunk in this much of age, and, a youth wearing the toga, was passing the solid part of his age with heaped-up strength, when he is exalted, both governor and leader over the assigned regions, where the Gallic axis broods over the lands, both an avenger of crimes, and a dispenser of honors. The Roman victor then held the whole world [*], where the sea, where the land, where either pole inclines; if any strait were in the world, if any hidden gulf anywhere, if any clime were void of the Phoebean lamp, if any region there was which begot yellow gold, nothing lived but the shadow of the Roman name; by the will of the holy senate all things stood. Scepters, magistracies, titles, praetoria, chairs, the praetexta [*], the trabeae, the fasces, the notable tribunal, the aedile, quaestor, dictator, and juridical official, and the monarch, to whom the sum of things lies open and obeys, and the taking of care for laws to be framed among the nations, and peace and war, strife and concord of affairs, all once served the conscript fathers, in whose hands stood the custody of the immense world: and although, resident, they were shut in a part of the little shrine [*], they fashioned the four-square world by divine laws. The series of deeds, somewhat interrupted, at last resumed from the digression, will please.

VIII.

[25] The Hero grew, enriched by merits and successes, and, a follower of the perfect one, he tended to the first citadel [t] [That, by the hidden judgment of the Godhead, he was being prepared for the pontificate by every kind of perfection.] with untiring courses; lest he should not be perfect in every part, sacred and prelate now soon to be. And that he might be able to strain his sharp point against the deadly plagues, and to thrust out the emerged heresies [*] from wherever, About to be a doctor of justice, and also a norm of law, by right he gave zeal to learning the law offhand. And he who was to give to the peoples documents of chastity, and to guard the decrees of the chaste couch, in a special order takes up the covenants of the lawful bed, and, leading his life with a chaste wife, permitted no rights to unspeakable pleasure; content to live only for offspring to be begotten.

IX.

[26] And since much care wearied the Man far and wide toward all things of his native land, both privately and publicly [*], That he presided over his native territory with special assiduity. more inclined, the affection of his native soil had fixed his mind on his paternal shores, which he ever tempers with mild offices, and bends with a soft rein, present, confirming the present land with present power. This was his home, this his rest, this the delight of his life: either because a not-to-be-despised faculty of estates had been here to him, the monuments of paternal right; or because (since there is some pleasure to the earth-born) furnished the Youth with woodland riches. Given to hunting, and meditating the spectacles of light things, he fed his inert mind with wanton studies [u]: and although he was washed in the font of the sacred liquor, he rejoiced to be called only by the bare name

[27] High and broad there once stood, most pleasing, not because it grew yellow with the honor of hanging pears; nor because it was verdant with the gift of perpetual foliage; but because the high heads of beasts caught here and there, clinging to the spreading branches of the unseemly tree, furnished applause and spectacles to the vain crowd. There bristled the antlers [*] of the trembling stag, and the dire darts of the gnashing boar, its tusks, meditating destruction perhaps for the fierce mastiffs: then too the tree, thus clothed with various trophies, poured forth to the uncultivated the seeds of wanton laughter. The Youth had fixed these here, a catcher of praise and of the breeze, where easy minds are wont to be fed and caught.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

St. Amator's zeal against Germanus's superstition; and the latter's anger.

XI.

[28] The love of our city, and the restorer of the sacred fold, was the prelate Amator, enriched with a name by desert, That in that time the holy Amator flourished. far and wide celebrated by the titles of signs. He knew how to fix a limit to rapid flames, he knew how to thrust off adverse plagues by a word, to hold out to obstructed ears the entrance of the voice, to restore its office to bound tongues by a command, to grant the use of light to those who had done with it after their funeral: he who could do all things, gave to the Saint to be able all things. O holy guardian of the flock, who by right are called Amator Lover, not of gold or of the world, but beyond all things of Christ; be not enkindled against me, speaking very few things of you. Sweet it would be to me to run over with my plectrum the monuments of your deeds, and the whole texture of your life; but the very long series of the labor I have taken up recalls me; nor does it allow me to turn aside anywhere from the begun path. And I could wish that you had nourished grandiloquent poets, who could chatter to you with a many-voiced Muse. That you lack bards, is the fault of your rulers ^a. To these complaints we shall give another time and place. You meanwhile, pastor, use the present services; and if any things worthy of my relation can run to the heraldings of our Father [*], reckon that those can accede to your praises. You are the father; he at last your son through Christ. Believe me, it is reckoned a portion of great praise, when the image of the son is praised in the face of the father. Now let the Muse resume the begun tenor of narrating.

XII.

[29] The mind bears ill the insane rites and noxious sports of the Saint; nor did he defer, having then begun, to repress the proud things with mild speech, How holy Amator accused Germanus of levity. attacking, the time being seized, with such words: When the Roman industry preferred you for bridling the lands, and believed you to be both a father and leader for guarding the fatherland, believed you to be a man; nor did the thing then believed depart from the truth: that you are a man, in short, many things constrain, both the title of your birth, and the summit of great honor, and, what governs both, a breast heaped up with divine talents, and a mind wholly conscious of the right. Levity alone defiles and puts to flight the manly grace; levity alone, I say. Behold, the tree, witness next to the insane rite, must be rooted out with its own roots, as soon as it can be. Let those follow such things who are void of the divine Power; the profession of our religion loves another [] thing, when [], to one asking what usage rather demands, the meditation of death alone occurs. Gravity has merited many heraldings for its ages: light inconstancy has made no man distinguished. Cease to precipitate the prone and slippery minds of the crowd toward the byways. The thing is unknown to no one: crimes which are done using great authors as examples corrupt more quickly; and domestic ones creep much worse than the outermost; since men, followers of their own accord, seize the fore-shown examples of their leaders. Come then, and, those things being omitted which are reckoned sports of whatever kind, O excellent of mind, embrace only serious things. Those signs represent what sort of man the commonwealth seeks; those signs sufficiently become a prince. Rather often the prelate distilled these things into the Man's ear; he bore them lightly ^b, and pressed on his proud undertakings: for the swift winds snatched all things away in vain.

XIII.

[30] It was certain to the Youth on a certain day to visit his estates,

the cause on a certain day; whose departure at last from the city How, Germanus being absent, the tree was cut down. offered also to the vows of the prelate the wished-for hour: and, as he was fixed on the love of the Lord alone, and through this by right a despiser of human fear, the soldier of the sacred clergy being summoned as soon as possible, he goes to the tree, bearer of the ridicule, and monstrously fruitful of heads; and, insisting with what command he can, he orders it, cut with the inflicted iron, to fall prostrate. The hands of the cutters trembled, and, fearful of the venerable majesty of the Leader, if they should strike the dear oaks, they feared the axes must be turned upon their own necks. When the Saint saw the cutters, cowering in trembling torpor, first daring to try the seized double-axe, and, the iron being cast upon the oaks to be violated, Now let none of you doubt to cut it down, he said. Upon this one head let the origin of the guilt be reckoned: Say, that I did the wrong. He said this: and the whole crowd, though insecure [*], obeyed the commands of the one ordering. The tree sounds, hewn with frequent double-axes, and, struck, gives groans; and, at once hardest to the iron, then conquered by its own weight, it both fell and rushed down. Then first the underlying ground, touched by the solar gift, admitted the day; then, given over to vain things, it perishes, and the tree is melted into the deserved fires. And the oscilla of the beasts, which had long been affixed, by the command of the Pontiff are driven wholly from the city. All these things were done, the Prince being led away to the country.

XIV.

[31] Fame sees what of things is done in heaven and in the sea [That the matter was reported to Germanus by fame; and a fuller description of that fame.] and on the earth, and is conscious of the whole world; and whatever is anywhere, though it be removed from the whole world, it inspects, and, ill-faithful, penetrates into hollow lurking-places. When she has learned all things, soon she discloses all to all. And because a certain charm of words follows her speaking, and eloquence grows with new causes, much credit is given to her by all the crowd. She does not conduct the matter with a shout, but with a murmur of the voice, the inept one caws I know not what, hoarse and heavy: she draws a thousand rumors with her, a thousand whispers; and false things equally are done mixed with the true. And when she fills the empty airs with new discourses, sometimes empty joys succeed as companions; now fear; sometimes the hateful rage of fury. This flies to the Youth, the forerunner of the inflicted loss: by the fall of the tree it complains that the Leader [*] was scorned, and the tribunal injured, and the rights of his fear ill taken away; and that he would hereafter be of no vigor in the world, if the prelate did not now pay a punishment to the whole city, being a violator of censorial [*] honor. Anger seizes the Man; and, fiercer than himself, he both roared threatening, and drew redness across his face: as a keen horse roars, when the war-trumpeter with sounding bronze moves the signals, and takes on [*] the love of battle. Not the reverence of the great pontificate, not the respect of holy religion restrains him: the right, and piety, and modesty withdraw from his eyes: grim he rages, and the dire one meditates an iniquitous death for the Saint: and, O companions, most choice hearts, he said, seize this man headlong, and give his most guilty limbs to deserved punishments, and send down the guilty one to Stygian death. Let him feel that there are men. Thus having spoken: and, sharper with anger, he proclaims to his companions that they prepare arms, and gather with all their spirits into battle. And lest the people could withstand him raging, and, the gates being closed, defend the entrance, he occupies the unaware city with gathered forces.

XV.

[32] The Saint, when the anger of the enkindled Prince was learned, [Germanus's indignation being learned, St. Amator gladly embraces the title of martyrdom.] as a Martyr to take the palm earned in the contest, and that he might be able to be bathed in the fount of his own gore, desires; and with intrepid countenance pours forth such things: What is enough, and beyond enough, we have lived hitherto: now, since the burning spirit desires to penetrate thy face, O Christ, and it wearies of the way, and wearies of the labor: where the shorter shortcuts of the right path lie open, it pleases to go: though the way be too steep for the trembling; it will be granted to reach the starry fields speedily, if the traces of shed blood lead us. We embrace the title of martyrdom with stretched arms, and of our own accord we seek a beautiful death through wounds. Do thou only deem us witnesses for thy name. Saying these things, he was preparing both his soul for death, and his neck for the executioner: the sentence of death stands fixed for the intrepid man. But, O Christ, in thy camps the most pure lilies bloom equally, gleaming white with [*] roses; nor does the constancy of martyrdom alone merit thee, nor does anyone become a Martyr only by shed blood; often too a pious life has begotten a crown for many; and the pure confession of thy priests is pleasing to thee, whom the perfection of justice clothes. And you indeed, whom a mind most full of black gall admonishes to sin [*] against the Saint, most savage Prince, reckon nothing, nothing conferred on you, your malign wish not succeeding: and you too, one day to be certainly a prelate, will be most known in the whole world. The eternal Arbiter has long since foreknown this, nor does he allow the hands foreknown for sacred things to be defiled with the filth of innocent gore, through which a wholesome medicine is thought to be about to flow to innumerable sick.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The revelation made to St. Amator concerning his death, and the succession of Germanus; and the latter's conversion and wonderful ordination.

XVI.

[33] That the prelate might take the palm earned by much contest, being received into a part of the divine senate, it was time, and it was permitted the man to learn beforehand the time; and who should be the successor of the sacred honor after him, That holy Amator God inspiring, and caring for the salvation of the people. There was an ancient city, most celebrated in the whole world, called before Aedua. When the first foundations were laid on the ground, the fable relates that twin kids were seen waging battles with wanton sports. The ancients, accustomed at last to first auspices, once placed names on cities to be founded ^a. This first, coming from the Alpine summit, Caesar, then when Gaul grew savage [*] with barbaric rite, adopted as an ally, and drew into the treaties of the Romulean nation, and called them new allies and brothers ^b; and ordered them to take the primacy at the head of the kingdom. Then it wished and began to be called the Celtic Rome ^c.

[34] The strength of the friendship grew gradually through the times; the city too took advancement both in merits and in name, set out to Autun. at last conceived to be called Augustidunum ^d, which the Celtic tongue translates the mount of Augustus. That land was not fruitful of crops through the ages, nor opulent enough [*]: for forests surround all things with bristling-haired mountains, and the turf, sterile for seeds, impatient of the ploughshare, and free from the curved plough; and the inclemency of the sky vexes the hard lands. But no land more raised up men distinguished in arms, and more chosen in spirit for battles. Therefore when the holy and ever wholly to-be-remembered Amator foresensed the times of his neighboring death, not slothful he directs his way to the walls of the appointed city. Julius there kept the summit of office ^e, and a pure worshipper both in vow and in name of the faith. The holy prelate too was there, Simplicius, And the royal power, joined to the pontiff by right, bridled the committed people with equal reins: this one pressed the swollen nation with rigid dominion; that one formed it by the gift of the saving word.

XVII.

they prepare, troops being gathered here and there both of clergy and of people, to meet the coming Saint; and they receive the man: salutation being said and received, they led him solemnly into the bosom of their city. They gave that night to gladness and praises. And when watchful dawn, ruddy from the shining east, unclosed her purple doors, and, the stars being put to flight, the morning star made the divisions of the finished night, the prelate says that he wishes to proceed to the lofty tribunal of the governor, and hastens his way: he bears his step to meet him, and venerates the Saint with what services he can, and asks with humble mouth to be blessed. Then, master of his wish; he leads him into the high praetorium. Before him, when opportunity of speaking what he wished was made, he approaches with such things: I would not, he says, that you reckon [*] what we came for done by chance, most excellent man: admonished us to undertake. The Founder hastens the times of our departure, and lightens the mass of grievous labors by an end, and grants us to learn beforehand the day of the end. Nor does the lot and neighborhood of supreme death so strike us, as the care of the pious fold after us. And because there is no very great abundance of magnanimous men, to whom the government of the holy people can rightly be committed, and the great harvest needs a strong and good husbandman; it is a matter which especially [*] demands your aid; since without the command of the prince one cannot undertake it: so much does your majesty of dignity bear, and by its very weight becomes of more worth. The sum of the matter is: we ask (spurn not the one asking) that it be permitted to pluck for Germanus the hair of his yellow lock: he, a vessel chosen and sacred to God, will conduce to the uses of the Church [*] by honest zeals.

[36] He grew rigid at the novelty of the matter, and, revolving much, although, he said, he was most pleasing to the whole kingdom; with Julius we think it wicked to prefer human things to divine. Wherefore, what you foreknow must be done, God breathing, hasten: you will not be defrauded of our office. Having enjoyed his wish, and brought back to the known city, he orders all the people solemnly to stand through the ample halls of the church, and, the assembly being gathered after custom, and all straining their gaze into one, he begins: Brethren and sons, the rewards of my sweat, receive the matter, which it may be permitted to set forth in modest words: After infinite labors of monstrous mass in narrow circumstances, which we have hitherto endured here; after the traversed volumes of inconstant life; after the not-mild weights of grievous exile, to me weary it is granted to behold the true fatherland, longed for. And although we rejoice to be loosed from the fetter of the flesh, that the spirit may deserve by right to be together with Christ; yet anxious care of our fold torments us. Therefore come, and, you thousands of so great an assembly beholding, mark out a worthy master of the church after me. And from all the men set one before all, who, with the fruit of the saving word at the sure time, may suffice the ready daily rations for your tables. All were silent: they only turn the matter in their breast. He, to whom the end and order of the matter better lay open, both bends and hastens his step to the thresholds of the church:

[37] The whole people follows the man, and they were preparing to penetrate the doors of the temple with the Saint: he, to those pressing on, stood still, and, soothing all with placid address, It is, he said, of our office and vow forever, to care for the divine house, and to admit the ministers of peace met him. in peaceful order to the divine roofs; but those whom the love of slaughter and the insane desire of war goad, to ward off as soon as possible from all the shrines: since this house was made under the pretext of praying; not that it may furnish the spectacles of raging Mars. Therefore, that opportunity may be made to each of being present at the magnificent sacraments [*], unburden your hands of weapons and malign iron. He said; nor did the time bear to say more: for all, the weight of iron being laid down, both loose and lighten their side of the sword, and their hands of the javelin. The underlying earth resounds at the collision of arms. Thus the Saint preceding into the inner parts of the temple: the people strove to follow. His threatening front now laid aside, ignorant of the design, ignorant of the foreseen art, the Leader was present, and enters first: thus the order demands.

When the prelate sees Germanus, his arms laid aside, he orders the doors of the temple to be tightened with strong bolts. It is done quicker than the word, what he had ordered to be done. What countenance was yours, great Lion, beholding such things? What thought first came to you, then captured, revolving very many things? All things you will attempt in vain. If you will rage, the darts of arms are lacking; or to slip away in flight, here no exit lies open anywhere. Grow gentle rather; this counsel is more advantageous. Learn to endure the hand, and flee not human touches: let it not, in short, shame you to be enclosed in mild folds. This matter will one day be celebrated by the mouth of many, if it befall a Lion to lie down among sheep.

XVIII.

[38] The prelate, the band of the sacred clergy poured around, both with force and with hand first invades the unarmed Man, How he laid aside his hair. great God furnishing the daring; and, his name being called, plucking the hair from the lofty crown, and changing him, changed in mind, by the distinction of dress, he orders him to be promoted in the honor of the second grade [*]; admonishing him to be solicitous enough, and to keep the received pledge with unhurt faith; that he should know that he himself would forthwith be first after him in the government of the church, and heir of the place, and successor of the master. Learn, teachers, and givers of decrees, and pastors of the flock (but many only in name), you who deny that the mystic sacraments of God can be committed to the untrained (but neither do we deny that); learn, however, to submit yourselves to the Holy Spirit; whose work is law, and whose dispensation is norm; and where he wills, he breathes; since he communicates with the Son and the Father in equal majesty: and in teaching he needs no delay: since to have touched is to teach; and to have willed is to act; and he changes, when at last he purifies.

we are slowed by weak horses, which with the first impulse sharply accomplish the begun course, scarcely to the end: since they retain the will to good; but the being-able is very small. Take counsel therefore, dear companion, both for them and for you; and, departed from home, fix here your first goals. To have begun something is now some small part of the deed.

NOTES.

THE PREFACE OF THE SECOND BOOK,

published in the three-membered, four-strophe meter.

When the care of noble poetry was snatching the ancient bards (since to write purely, softly, sonorously was once, more elegantly, a praise), The author asks the Holy Spirit, they were laying powerful vows at the Phoebean hearths, with their wonted religious rites, believing that the Muses gave sails to the future song. Here more studiously he was rousing mouths crackling with a hundred voices, here as many tongues, a bronze breast, iron plectra of the mouth. Me a robust faith, a well-believing mind, rouses to seek a different thing, and truly [*] more becomingly, not to say more dutiful, more importunately. O light added to the minds of the earth-born! O Spirit too exceedingly to be admired, Artificer! O bestower of honors! O fertile eloquence! Who once over the form-flowing waters were carried, fostering, and also form-making: for all things stand formless without thee, Founder.

[41] With placid breath breathe upon my begun courses, and supply easy dactyls, that he may breathe on his undertaking. and morose spondees: for this couple is more pleasing. But flowing words do not suffice, unless the material of the song be splendid. Usage approves each; and we demand both; although this be so great, and so overflowing; that the sense and mind deservedly shudders at the rough thing of so great a mass, and the untouched summits; yet it demands some labors, to force a swollen river to the shore, when through the open plains it unfolds itself more widely. O the mighty crosses of our Pontiff! For which not only words suffice, but also hands: much less would I say they must be borne by anyone by any covenant. On these I will fix my pen, you however being my auspice, for whom he endured all harsh things indeed, neither twice, nor once: but more prolonged than his life ^a.

NOTES.

BOOK TWO.

CHAPTER I.

St. Amator's death; the succession of St. Germanus; and the beginning of his most austere life.

[42] Amator, distinguished by rich manners and merits, to whom to live was Christ, and the last lot gain, full of the titles of virtues, and full of days, The passing of St. Amator; and the election of Germanus to the episcopate. had taken the earned palm, the rewards of his sweats, transfused into the stars in the likeness of a gleaming dove. Then indeed you might see the peoples rushing into consonant vows, God breathing: for the columns of the clergy rush, joined with the nobles; the rustic populace sings in harmony with the urban populace; the opinion of all is equal, the same voice; and all burn with common zeals to decree the title of the pontificate to Germanus: that he, of illustrious merits, he of nobility, is to be chosen, distinguished in doctrine, first in generous breast, known to the princes, and in some part to be revered, cautious in counsels sought from the divine fount. Many heraldings heap up the chaste praise of the Man: his lofty merits gave the material; and through the mouths of the willing the words of true speech flow freely of their own accord. To each there is nothing else, nor does the opportunity of speaking furnish else, he redoubles Germanus, he tosses Germanus to the stars, and wherever you turn your eyes, wherever you try to lead your ear, all things say Germanus. So great is the concord of voices.

II.

[43] To him greatly resisting, and preparing to abjure himself, they institute to bring a civil duel against the Chief; That a civil war is declared against the power. and it stands in their minds to follow their undertakings, nor to lead their foot anywhere from the proposed lot. What could the conquered power, what could it strive against the thousands of the peoples? Nay, let him bear the impulse, and let him know that the cause of the pressing business had come forth, proceeding from the supernal seat.

III.

[44] If besides he had perhaps prepared for himself some patrons as barriers; soon, the hinge of things being turned, he perceived his mind to lay itself down into the adverse parties; That he was conquered even by those whom he had prepared for himself. having experienced that, where the will of God is, the rest is bent hither.

IV.

[45] The honor being taken, though not of his own accord: and, made a priest, if there was anything muddy, prudent he converted it into gold; and by the augmentation of his grade an abundance of virtues flowed. That, the priesthood being undertaken, he is changed in all things. The riches and offices of the falling kingdom are left, and gains with pomps, and whatever you would think unstable, fallen, or about to fall, his mind is to weigh at a straw. Nay, and poverty preferred to the perishable riches, whatever he had contracted for licit human uses, with a better hope he largely [] transfuses to the dry [] needy, content with the present day, nor caring for the morrow. His wife, most faithful only to chaste embraces, subjected thus far, was turned into the lot of a sister, about to lead a heavenly life, celibate, with her holy Husband, for the remaining day. This was that change of the lofty God; by whose gift it is accomplished, if ever anyone, hating the left hand with sane mind, is borne more inclined to the right with strong effort.

[46] An arduous mass rises for me running in my song, grim with its own weight; which was not seen in our time, Concerning his unspeakable crosses. not heard by the untrained; and through this unknown to all, believed by not all, at last attempted by few. Kindly Spirit, come; and by what power you gave that it could be done, grant now also to be able to speak it forth. Made master and equal [*] of the apostolic honor, he led an apostolic life both in deeds and in name; and soon declared arduous battles to his own flesh, and devised eternal crosses of his fierce spirit [*].

VI.

[47] For from that day on which he conceived perchance to be called and to be sacred, he subdued his flesh with such great severity, that thenceforth he shut his mouth from foods of every kind, Concerning the denial of food. which human inventions affect an eager flavor: neither the use of Ceres, nor at last the use of Bacchus did he then suffer to touch even with the tips of his lips; not oil, not vinegar did he take into his foods, without which nothing pleases, though they be most sumptuous: to his very dry viands he denied the helps of salt.

VII.

[48] Whenever a festal day had proclaimed holidays to the world, the Word having put on flesh from the bright Virgin, Concerning the quality of his drink. or when the victor, revived from Tartarean Orcus, raised with himself the standards of human salvation, they relate that, for the solemn religion of the day, he indulged in single cups with sparing expense; but wines more abundantly overwhelmed with watery streams had denied their native flavor, nor were now just wines.

VIII.

[49] About to sustain his body void of food with inert barley, mindful of good David, to whom songs were a care, The quality of his food and the hour. he first tasted ashes; thus he took barley. This alone was his bread: he made it a fault to have taken it by the hands of another, unless he himself, diligent, threshed and ground it with his own; skilled to relate whether he prepared his sustenance by another's or by his own sweat, and that it might be happy by the probity of his own hands. To have taken food earlier would perhaps have been a pleasure of whatever kind; when headlong Phoebus was leaving the fields, more inclined at his setting to the Hesperian waves, he had prescribed a fixed hour for his very dry viands. How often did he last empty to the middle of the week? More often he drew out his fasts into seven nights.

IX.

[50] By what part of the year he bore the summer heats, by the same he bore also the rigid frosts, with the very same garment. The cheapness of his clothing. His garment was to have supplied a tunic with a thin cowl, and a hair-shirt lurking within [*]: this clothed his rough limbs, Once taken, it never yielded from continual use, unless when, given to the poor, it succeeded into use for them, or, too worn, it passed away to no uses. And just as one, rushing to pour the hostile towers to the plain, presses the rebels with a strong siege; and ceases not with engines [*], nor with lurking-places feigned by art; and while he fights outside with the sword, inside with terrors, not desisting before, as victor, he holds the walls: with these spirits vexing his body, a most keen enemy, and hateful to himself, now with these, now assails with those means to mortify it: he afflicts it within with fasts, with harshness without; and, the lion being tamed, monstrously proposing harsh things, then threatens worse. O the new too-great constancy of the subdued flesh, to which it was given to overcome the laws of powerful nature, and to strew under its feet the πάθος [*] (That is: passion) inborn to man!

[51] His bed was a slender frame of four-fold wood, hard with the spoils of flames and the sprinkling of ash,

full up to the margin: and, from the mass, the ash of the one already lying Concerning the austerity of his little bed. had hardened, and bore the surface of a rigid ground: hard bristles had furnished the bedding, laid under a very thin sack: where the neck of the lofty head rises very much to the upper citadel, no thing placed under ever raised the Man's head. Thus he had condemned his limbs to the ground. What of the fact that he, by night, did not draw off the garment from his weary body? Rarely he bore coverings of the feet; so rarely a girdle: he did not remove the pledges of the Saints from his holy neck. His breast was not free from groaning, nor his mouth from prayer. Amid these things, whom would the torments not deny sleep? Go forth into song, book, said my anxious mind: further things call. Soon touched by another power, Let us stop, likewise it said: the first things recall the course: nor is it enough to have clung to these once; rubbed again they will please the more: the conversion of the holy Man is to be beheld, and the new man is to be weighed against the old man in an equal balance; what he was, what he became, who came forth from whom.

XI.

[52] For one about to dine, the estates once bore diverse dishes, with royal luxury, on ancient round tables: nor was there measure of expense; nor a simple abundance of eating: A comparison of the old man cheap things, born at home; not great, whatever was domestic; things sought more by art, and bought by the hard labor of the pursuers, please: and what is of beasts in the lowest earth, what of birds in the sky, and of swimmers through the hidden places of the sea, were hired to the unbridled uses of the Prince, not hunger commanding, but about to bring a varied flavor ^a. These feasts, these enticements of the fallacious world, drunk before by the Youth (wondrous exchanges of things!) afterward the barley of thrice-two lustra ^b compensated, the tasted ashes, the long fasts of days. The precious wines which come both first and most to the paternal lands, capacious gems ministered; to say nothing of the devices of the diverse gourmands. These sometimes his palms brought forth, sought from the fountain in his hollow hands: water; and you would think it a fault, unless taken sparingly.

[53] Why should I mention the garments inscribed with the Phrygian comb, the vestments cooked not once into Tyrian reds, and of the new man. the gold more thickly woven over these, and the emeralds sewn on, then the snowy fine linens, the feathery all-silks, the collars; the many things which liberal fortune gave to the proud Leader, each, on distinct days, about to make him another man? On these his limbs he drew the goatskins of the rank goat, once wont to sweat in inner garments τριχάπτοις ^c (That is: of hair-like fineness). What of the fact that, when he was duly filled with the daily offices (for now he handled sports, now serious matters everywhere), withdrawing from the crowd to the safe refuges of a placid bed, persuaded the one received to it to draw in wholesome sleeps? This same most rough ground, with its rigid surface, bore his limbs, now unlearning the snowy down. Nor did he give labor to sleep, but to lamentations: and on his bed, mindful of the omnipotent Lord, and even then recalling the traces of his old life, he washed away [*] his inner lurking-places with healing weeping. A living victim, pleasing, propped by the sharpness of reason, thus he immolated himself on the chaste altar of the virtues; about, after Christ, to carry the cross, and, himself being denied, knowing to strive to the summits of the star-bearing heaven, he to whom the world was crucified, who was crucified at last to the world.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

The comparison of the Saint with the Apostles, Martyrs, etc. His hospitality; solitude; monastery.

XII.

[54] Let prudent men be taken as judges, and, their judgment being gathered, let them weigh the causes and meanings of this business, That amid so many crosses he sustained a long martyrdom. and, their minds being consulted, let each judge what is most worthy [*]: to me at least the same opinion stands firm, and day by day is about to sink deeper into my tenacious mind, that Germanus, for as many days as he lived in this lot, drew out a noble martyrdom for just as many days. Let no one go away annoyed; let no one bear these things as superfluous: Germanus will be to me a Martyr; nor shall I be led inept, when I shall have said, Pray for us, great Martyr.

XIII.

[55] And what is rather more than these; although I be called shameless, I would dare, That he is deservedly made equal even to the Apostles. to inscribe Germanus, faithful, upon the apostolic grains, of whom a great harvest spread through the whole world; and if not in number—which the author limited— yet in merit. To concur with Peter himself in merits is not forbidden; Peter does not envy equal merits. Read [*] the life and virtues wrought by our Prelate, and the documents: whether he can both be and be called an Apostle, either say so; or say that to say so is fallacious [*].

XIV.

that it may sufficiently be eminent, it is not needful to say many things here. Inferior to none, standing more excellent than many, this private gift he bears to himself by the gift of Christ, that, shining in doctrine, and great in frequent signs, he accomplished all things both by word and by illustrious deeds.

XV.

[57] Why should not anyone, because he made the covenants of the lawful bed, try to draw him under [*] the virginal garland? That he is deservedly associated even with the virgins. His uncorrupted faith, his mind conscious of a right vow, never suffered a stain of snowy modesty. And it is little to have borne the shinings of untouched flesh, if the inner man, not pure from obscene act, strive not to stand firm by the integrity of his own honor.

XVI.

[58] Come then; and, the reasons being brought forward before you, snatch your mind in order through all the Saints: in all there are many things congruous to our Father: and when, with a great throng, That, as he is deservedly a partaker with all, so also of the crown. the world shall be forced to the presence of the future censor, and when that apostolic senate too shall have sat down, Germanus, himself also propped on a ruddy seat, as a judge shall bear censorial decrees over the great world; then, when strong rewards are paid to the sacred Martyrs, he shall bear the rosy crown, which the long crosses in his subjected body begot: and when the priests, cautious for the merchandise of the talent, for their subdued flesh, for the interest of the gain made, in order, having deserved it, shall have entered the inner parts of the kingdom, to Germanus, the victorious palm being placed on his part, it shall be said, O best Servant, greatest rewards for small labors, receive; because you were faithful from a full heart.

XVII.

[59] The fertile earth blesses the husbandman with a threefold [*] abundance: thus the sower taught, while he sends the seeds of the word. That he is rewarded with the married, the continent, and the virgins. And when others shall bring back the shining sheaves above the stars, each seeking the rewards for his part of his labor, you shall discern Germanus radiant with three crowns. And he who, setting out from thrice-ten into sixtyfold ^b, always led his steps from the left into the right, shall plainly prevail, happy, with the virginal garland: he, given as companion to the virgins, shall follow the Lamb, wherever he shall bear his step; and, what is the birthday proper to the chaste, he shall sing a song resounding with ethereal sweetness. That he might become so great, these are thy offices, O Christ, without whom nothing is right, with whom all things are right.

XVIII.

[60] By what virtue the two fathers once pleased the heaven-dwellers ^c, being received into heaven, this virtue was native to the Saint: Concerning the good of hospitality. mindful here of the edict so often admonishing human things, that no one is to be singled out to whom you may soon do good, and that the doors of the just man lay open to the traveler, he furnished to all a most ample use of hospitality; no one was excepted, no one suffered a repulse; he gathered all, built banquets for all: he himself brought in the dishes; and, all being refreshed from wherever, he alone hungered. How much of care or love [*] was expended on these? As if Christ received all the services, and were then most present in their members; he, to drive off the filth of feet with his chaste hands, and instantly to fix kisses on the wiped feet; skilled that God had done this, and had ordered it to be done. He always refreshed the weak with wondrous piety; while he fostered ulcers long despaired of, and now not medicable to many, how often did he take them back from death? Here an eye to the blind, the same at last a foot to the lame, and a father to the poor: thus made all things to all, he was an obstacle to none, he strove to profit all.

XIX.

[61] And whereas even at this very time you may see many withdrawn from the people in place, and with no shame, That in the throng of the world he kept a desert. affect popular things likewise with lax minds; he, by a converse turn, which befell rarely to any, obtained, among the peoples, a shining life by the gift of solitude. And, what is wonderful; handling worldly things, he by no means drew the contagions of the fallacious world. O wonder! that anyone should touch pitchy filth, and not be defiled with pitch. Wonder! that fire should go hidden in the inmost bosom; and the garments be borne unburned.

XX.

[62] Of his cares it was a very great one, always to profit the Church, of which he was ruler, and which, arranging it in wondrous order Concerning the monastery constructed by him. by the augmentations of holy religion, he instituted ways for all to go by a double road to the heavenly kingdoms. Both are happily perfect; both tend to heaven with equal advances: the one carrying more loosely (this is said to be the Canonical way): now long since frequents the Πρακτικὴν ^d (That is: active life) in its wonted manner: the other is narrow, its limits forced together on this side and that, nor does it carry through the plains; it strives ever to the arduous: this is both apostolic, and the same θεωρικὰ [*] (That is: contemplative), only rejoicing in seclusion, glad in perpetual secrecy. For those about to enter this he then placed fair walls, away from the sight of the city, where, by the swollen river, it projects, rising toward Phoebus, the river however being interposed, antiquity gave it the name Icauna. Distinguished in this manner, the ecclesiastical lot grew, grew to the immense; and with rapacious zeals all migrated to the holy life in a sure order, happy in their good Pastor, whom his foregoing virtue had made distinguished, and proposed to be followed. Who would not conceive civil manners with such a Prelate; although he had come but now a barbarian [*]? Who could not, a pure worshipper, glow with faith, even if sworn a hundredfold to the sacred things of the gods? Who is so fierce, whom the grace of the Saint would not compel to grow mild? Never did he conduct the matter with discourses only; thus at last he could be scorned, if he did not also act: and a doctor is thought to be despised in his eloquence, unless he brings proofs by deeds: or by what vile art could anyone, exhaling muddy vapors, be able to draw away what is dear to Christ under the garland; and to be called the mouth of God, is not the faculty [*] to bring forth ^e.

the second demands to finish the moral labors; although it complain that it is forced by unworthy brevity.

NOTES.

THE PREFACE OF THE THIRD BOOK,

unfolded in the single-membered meter.

To one revolving the ranks of the Christ-worshippers, whom the earth brought forth, there occurs a reason both vehement and more moderate, The elogium of St. Germanus by your leave, reader, which it may be permitted to bring forth more purely: this detracts nothing from the magnificence of any one's office. You may inspect that one prevails in the gifts of illustrious doctrine; another for his merits mounts the stars; this one a more blessed fame glorifies, celebrated for signs: scarcely would you find one, in whom all these flow together at once. They give out Hilary ^a as illustrious in the seven-cleft arts [*]; Martin ^b, powerful in signs, beats back the stars with his titles; Antony bore [*] the palm of a sanctifying purpose: each, illustrious, shines by his own praise in perpetual time. Thus the munificent Spirit imbues men with gifts, who, although he simply subsists simple and single, yet is fruitful of graces with a manifold dowry. The heavenly page rather resounds sevenfold.

he who deserved perchance to be a partaker of one good! That I may be silent about him who indeed related very many things; this is Germanus, this is he, to whom we applaud with melic [*] song: him the highest skill of σοφίας καθολικῆς ^c (That is: of universal wisdom) adorns: he, inferior to none in illustrious merits, shall have shone; yet compare him through signs with the magnificent Apostles, whether here too he shine forth powerful with a like right. Witness Britain, delivered from the overflow of Pelagius; witness the cell in which he bore rigid crosses; witnesses, wherever he brought his easy foot even once, the standing churches, and the symbols of the life-giving Name. His best manners being run through, therefore, at the beginning, the signs, gleaming in the four-cleft world, freely call. Grant, O illustrious one, that we go hither with good auspices, you who are deservedly called both fount and father of lights.

NOTES.

BOOK THREE.

CHAPTER I.

His wonderful power over demons; the conversion of St. Mamertinus.

[66] The wondrous acts grew, his merits growing, and the crosses drew out for the Man a name famous through signs of power; of which crosses, the harder the use, How he came to the miracles. the better the excellence in performing wonders. The beginning of these was not the vain experience of his own skill, nor, by which the inert are once caught, the light inconstancy of an unauthorized mind; but the compassion, known to the good, of a weary brother, to whom not to lend a hand is an unworthy part of guilt ^a.

II.

[67] That age brought forth the man, distinguished by frugal studies, apt for the first offices; Januarius was to him Concerning the money found the family surname, a chief under the governor, chosen to fine the nation with weighed tributes. The heaped sum of the exacted money he by chance bore thither at that time, that, borne in full purses, he might add to the public treasuries with exotic hoards. He, because he was a devoted servant of the holy fear of God, turned his steps into the city to visit the Pontiff, judging it unworthy of piety, when he was near [*], to have passed by the Man: hence he bore his step to the walls. Soon, having suffered the loss of the tributary sack, now he is guilty, and does not yet know the perils of his head: coins with the sack; and, when every witness was absent, hid them in lurking-places. Addicted [*] to bitter losses, from whom should he seek back what he had entrusted to none? Anxious, he fills the city with uncertain complaints; and goes and returns the way; where now he pressed his steps, retracing it in vain; for the matter remains unknown. His hopes being collapsed, this opinion alone remained, to transfer the reparations of the loss to the holy Man; to assail him with prayers, him also with true tears; no otherwise than if he were liable for money deposited. The prelate, pitying the iniquitous lot of the mourner, promises that the losses of the treasury can be repaired: let him will to unburden his mind of feminine complaints. The prelate's edict soon hung over the whole city; and a delay of three days for seeking the matter is granted.

impatient, he rushes, and, grasping the steps of the Saint, Unless the public money be found, he said, now you will weep that my life departs, dashed out by a noose. What would piety do? He orders one of the sufferers to be summoned. By chance the author of the crime is led forth. He commands, let him declare the particulars of the covenanted theft. He fosters the hiding-place. Him denying, he soon orders to be brought forth among the people: hence he solemnly fits himself for the sacred rites: saluting the people with raised hands after his custom, he is prostrated, and, pressing the earth with his outstretched body, he groans. The stars drank in the voice of the one praying. Without delay, then the captive is driven into the winged airs, about to give, at least by tortures, the proofs of truth. The church the clamor, the people trepidation fills. That day brought forth spectacles by wondrous things, that the guilty one and the Judge weighed their cause in a sharp contest: this one lies, that one is raised up; this one presses the ground with prayers, that one presses the winds with complaints; this one touched the earth, this one fled to touch the earth, the unhappy one not daring to stand a little in the same place; and as if walled around by a huge fire, he cries out Germanus, and, having confessed the crime, arranges it in order. The prelate, raising his limbs from the dust, roused the wretch, and ordered him to stand before him, and to run through into the ears of the people the series of the theft; and, what remains, to bring forth the solidi from the known hiding-places. The raised clamor of the people strikes the stars, testifying the merit of Germanus and the ensigns of Christ.

III.

[69] This feat is said to have applauded the Man with first auspices, because the thing was done publicly; This first miracle he wrought publicly. often however he had thrust out proud blasts [*]; but, desirous of secrecy, he wished to disclose it to none.

IV.

[70] The parties of the left contended with the holy Man in unwearied strife; but at a certain time the war lay more sharply upon him; and, this man being assailed with much art, when they saw that he did not yield, exposed, to their weapons, they turned the wickedness conceived under their heart to the losses Concerning the pestilence brought by the demons. of the people; against this at last they drew out their black quivers. Forthwith a slaughter glowed hot in the broad fields, and dire contagions creep through the vast crowd. A spirit [*], straitening the vitals with besieging bars, and driving sick sighs through the swollen throats, compelled the people to succumb to hostile death. Thus the hostile plague, scarcely drawn out three days, was submerging the wretched citizens with an unworthy death. Salvation was despaired of; the confidence of life yielded; and day by day the σπέρματα [*] (That is: seeds) of the savage disease grow fierce. No one to lend a hand; no one to meet the fates. The pious prelate recognized the tokens of the old serpent, and grieved. Then with the figure of the sacred sign he imbued the brought ointment with powerful words. By this the plague was driven off; by this the people restored to life; breath and food, repaired by the touch of the liquor, drove off the destruction; swift health runs back: the Physician purged whatever the water-snake had infected. That demonic blasts had sown such ruin, afterward it became clear: for while the spirit is driven from one wretched man, it related this, and, the Saint giving his hands to the stars ^b, it received a foul repulse by the whirlwind of his words.

[71] Proposing to all the emulous rewards of virtues, now the monks, now he was rousing the clergy to the arduous: Concerning his coming to the monastery. and while he rendered himself present to these by equal turns, on a certain day by chance, being asked to visit the brethren, he refused, held by the weight of another cause. But behold, freed from the care and bond of the business after a little, he was going, having gone out, to the unknowing brethren. One of the possessed, tormented at the threshold of the brethren, and raging more than usual, raises his voice through the void; that Germanus was present at the shores of the neighboring river, and could not cross the sea [] river [] without a boat sent before. That the fallacious seer was deceiving them, they asserted long, with fallacious breast; but the clamor, pressing more closely, admonished that this be known more certainly, and the matter not deferred. A brother sent to these things brings back certain news about the Prelate: the boat flies, and most faithfully carries its welcome weight: the Priest is received with the wonted fervor of the brethren: he applies himself to prayers, whom the whole assembly follows. Straightway the enemy, straitened with strong bonds, snatches the captive aloft; and while this one lingers in prayers, this one rages, and fills the air with complaints, and, fierce, gnashing that he must be thrust from the breast of the wretch, implores that he be permitted at least to hurt the bodily limbs: but, certain that not even this succeeded for him, he went out, compelled to befoul the obscene part: The place therefore shone with the merits and honor of the Master, and by the governance of the succeeding disciples, for a long time. Brevity keeps my pen from such things ^c.

VI.

[72] Mamertinus was a priest of Phoebus and of Jove, and then too a worshipper, as he could, of all the gods. Concerning the conversion of Mamertinus. He, after some years spent in these cults, wretched, is despoiled of the office of one little eye, bearing likewise the losses of a withered right hand: and, the altars which he had long ruled being long beaten in vain, having experienced that the deaf gods are called in vain to grant vows, with a Christian judge, on whom he had by chance fallen ^d, Sabinus, he sought out Germanus, forming the monastic decrees with fair examples. The Knower of things had now marked out for him both the cause of the man, and his vow, and his manner. Now he had nearly [*] reached the pious thresholds of the sacred roof, and the prelate too by chance was then bearing himself to meet him. He, a suppliant, poured out on the ground, adores the Saint: the prelate, soothing him, raised, with wondrous condescension, enters, and breathes upon the man with pleasing discourses: they go to the church: believing, he is bathed in the waters: stripped at last of the squalor of the old parent, he is clothed, his mind changed, in a snowy figure: nay, he perceived his bodily diseases to yield; and, rejoicing that he had deserved the light by his hand, he led the rest of his age under the divine protection of the Saint.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

His piety toward the dead; the reward of hospitality; his election to the British expedition; the consecration of St. Genevieve the virgin.

VII.

[73] By a truthful word God said that it profits not, that a lamp, hidden under a measure, should be torpid within. Concerning the dwelling Our Pastor knew this by his lofty doctrine, nor did he suffer it to stand in blind lurking-places. Bristling winter had grown up on the frosty lands; he, pressing on his journey, night coming on, is admonished to defend the darkness with hospitality for his weary limbs. This alone: for the fasts begun by the Man stand firm. By chance from afar appear the traces of an old villa, now aged with rotten roofs in solitude; high shrubs restrain the decayed ruins: savage the aspect of the place, then savage its habitation. It was preferable to steal the night from the rigid sky, than to commit a doubtful head to so great a horror;

for nearly [*] the perils, hostile with nocturnal specters, duly suffered no rest to be present in the place. The Prelate learned these things by the speech of two old men; and, having measured out the place; Enter the doubtful roofs, he said, companions: here lies open an ample hope of triumph. Here among many scarcely one dwelling was seen, having the likeness of an old hut (as it once had been). This he seeks, hither his companions, hither he transfers the trifles of the journey ^a. A brief supper fed the others; psalmody fed the Saint. It was night, and all things were taking full sleep; this was the custom to the Man. Yet his weary limbs yielded to sleep, and drowsiness [*] conquered his strong mind. Meanwhile before the eyes of the reader an unhappy shade stood, and indeed not great; soon, driven [*] from above, to grow into the immense. A stony shower presses the house; the house, driven by missiles, totters; the roused earth trembles. Cold terror invades the vitals of the trembling one; words depart; the voice sticks in the drawn-close throat. To the wavering one there was one hope, to withdraw the Pontiff from sleep. He saw it; and in the name of great Christ, who he might be, or what he sought, he orders him to confess before all.

[74] He repressed the terrifying figure with submissive voice, bearing that he and his companion had admitted many contagions of crimes; that they had paid fierce penalties; purged. that, dead, they had not merited the gifts of the sepulchre; and, because no rest was ever given to the wretched, that they infest men. He prays (if there be any bowels, if any piety in the Man) that he would earnestly beg the Omnipotent for himself, and for his (so great is that care) comrade, that, received now after so many times into sure seats, he would allow the wretched to find tranquil rest. He grieves; and rolling sighs from his inmost breast, he orders him to show where they lie. The shade, guide of the light, goes before, and grim enters among the old convulsed ruins: that place is liable to the two. And when color shone on things under the bright star, the Preceptor invites the rigid rustics to the work; and exhorts the men, forces being gathered here and there, to clear out the place. Although the filth be heaped for a long time; yet swift labor conquered all. Two poured-out corpses are discerned here and there at last, long compressed by a rude mass: scarcely did the lurid decay allow to be recognized that they were human corpses: iron eaten by scabby rust is discerned, chains then too clinging to the now dry limbs. The clemency of the Saint groans at the human lot, and, as it can, compassion brings care to the wretched; soft linens succeed, the bonds being drawn off; the face of the sepulchre covered by a heaping of dust; and the place is marked, more known to the coming age; then the pious intercession of the Father is offered for the wretched, about to bring rest to the dead, quiet to the living. After these things fearless husbandmen held the estate. And a generation filled the villa, secure from evil.

VIII.

[75] After some suns, compelled by the same chance, weary, he entered the hospitality of poorer people Concerning the voices of the cocks restored after his custom: for, wishing to avoid windy swelling by such art, he thus often fostered a lurking-place. That night acceded wholly to divine business [*]; and now Phoebus, advanced by the course of his flame-footed horses, had scattered a native redness through all things, the cocks by no crowings pre-singing the risen light [*], the Prelate was astonished, although some abundance of birds was then beheld in those houses. Being asked, they reply that these losses began to be suffered under former years. Sought by the vows of the men, his piety succors them by the gift of blessed grain. Fed on this, the birds lay aside the vicious silences of the night, and press the slothful day with concerts. It repented them to have been silent long: for, their throats loosed, they made the men sleepless. Thus, the hinge being turned, they displeased not so much mute, as singing. Furnishing huge joys in scanty things, he left the hospitality obliged by such a gift [*].

IX.

[76] That the Ocean has girded the extreme edge of the earth with a perpetual border, the instruments of the earlier fathers relate: it certainly had made the end for the four-square world, Britain polluted by heresy; and a description of it. where the rapid waves graze the Gallic shores; were it not that an island, very great by the vast extent of lands, almost [*] assumed the name of another world, called by the decree of the ancients Britain, because The island stands the midmost [*] of all, of which it is the greatest or the first: for, stretched with very ample spaces, nearly thrice thirty thousand paces, drawn out lengthwise, it lies long; looking crosswise, it becomes broad by three hundred ^b; and stretched between the setting and the seven plough-oxen, it exercises seeds envied [*] by its own clods: and as fruitful of crops, so fertile of men. A dire error polluted this at the aforesaid time; the error that free will as arbiter could confer enough for one's own salvation; even if grace be lacking. A certain Pelagius, a μονάζος ^c (That is: monk) of a vain nation, breathing the livid inks of Tartarean gall, infected mortal hearts with such venoms, perverse in breast, more perverse in his foul mouth.

[77] A faithful legation opens to the Gallic prelates the peril of the faith slipping into those parts, and that the fallen peoples must be succored as soon as possible. Germanus is chosen to go to Britain. The compassion of the religious ones drove their mind to carry off the brethren, exposed to dire peril. Hence a numerous synod meets: there the cause is subject to common tears; each beats his breast; and what speech denies, sighs accomplish by wish: all weep the plague; all cannot succor it. From all is sought one who may relieve all by the wound. So great a strife demands a patron both holy in merits, and cautious in sharp doctrine, and ready in signs. You, Father, these things regard; you, born for affairs to be done, to these perils too will succeed, the choice being repeated. Fear not: such things beget an eternal laurel: great rewards seek the great, cheap things fall to the small. They reckon that these dowries consist in Germanus, that he can close with the enemy in sharp duel; powerful both in tongue and in hands, and in nobility, about easily to bear fair triumphs from the enemy. This is at heart to all, this opinion holds all: he is sought with prayers: charity at last yielded, sworn to die for the praise of their brethren.

XI.

[78] Mindful of the precept, they choose a companion for the one about to go: How St. Lupus was chosen as his colleague. for two are better chosen to one lot; and one succors his fallen companion in turn: thus two take nocturnal sleep in peace: the enemy invading one, is pressed by the virtue of two. He who should supply this, was chosen, Lupus by name, who once by chance was the noble prelate of Augusta of the Tricasses, supreme in signs and in rich [*] name. The moderating grace joined the apostolic bards, inhabiting the earth by their bodies, heaven by their virtue. And whereby the labor is reckoned of more worth, and the matter hard (for all things which are very great cost much) by this the swift ones bore themselves to all brave things, taught to run through the stadium with untiring courses.

XII.

[79] The journey is turned toward the Parisian shores; Metodorus grants the rest of the night to the weary. How ... Genevieve The crowd of the place, having embraced the day, having testified that approved Men were approaching, bears its step with a hasty column, and imparts to the received Saints the due meetings. A present blessing is poured into the whole people: then, fitting the untrained minds with heavenly admonitions, Germanus the holy undertakes to scatter nectareous waters on the arid fields; and with immovable faces they attend the wisdom flowing from a full fount. From afar, in the midst, a divine girl standing, the Prelate discerns, his face extended over the throngs; and, as if he devises something ethereal in her, he soothes her, brought near, with most caressing speech. Thus, to whom bidding pours out venal gems, while he gapes at all, he descries one precious one; this he snatches, this he wishes to stand for himself at many talents, and gives it, set apart from others, to be borne in his tenacious bosom. Immensely the men were astonished. He, fostering the head of the fearful one with his sacred mouth, of what parents she was born, or what her name, he inquires with friendly speech. The parents of the virgin are shown to be present in the midst, and that she had borne, by her paternal family, the name Genevieve [*].

[80] Soon the sacred Spirit filled the breasts of the divine Seer, and thus the Priest thunders with ruddy mouth: O charming head indeed! O worthy vitals! O parents ever deserving of such offspring! At whose rising the supernal Citizens breathed huge joys, if it be a care to believe the truth, this inmost one, once brought to the supernal secrets, shall stand most dear to God, most splendid to the world, and to be imitated by the very men. Thus having spoken, and freely embracing the girl [*]; Speak, O most holy one, he said, nor prefer to withdraw from the Father inquiring, whether you are delighted by the surname of the great Spouse, into whose embraces one passes not, unless she be whole ^d. She snatches the word, and, more daring with full mouth; I am borne by the love of him long since, she said, fervid; I embrace the title of kindred virginity, by which, unwed, I may wed the starry Spouse. This, if you deem worthy, through you I desire to be strengthened [*]: and to your hands I submit my head: grant the vows to me praying. The Prelate exults at the spoil, and, pressing with chaste embraces, orders the magnanimous one to persevere. Soon, glad, he penetrates the thresholds of the church, and, his right hand fixed on her crown, performed the solemn prayers and vows after his custom, fitting an immaculate vessel to the Holy Spirit.

[81] The matters being finished, they relieve mortal things with food. Then, depositing the pledge with the faithful parent [*] by right, consecrated. he orders her to return at light. Thus at last it was done. Do you, daughter, still persist mindful of yesterday's vow? the Prelate says. Certainly the virgin confesses herself mindful; but by his intercession, of whom she would be too needy, she was about to preserve the espousals with the covenanted torches. A wondrous thing succeeded in the place: you would see Christ to have favored the vows of both by the gift conferred: soon the Prelate, prone on the ground, fixed his pendent eyes: engraved with a cross. The Priest, raising the gift from the earth, devoted it to the neck of his adopted foster-child, Have this, saying, as the ornament of our dowry; this, before your eyes, as I depart, call to mind very often: the rest, bearing the pomp of worldly cult, remember to ward off from your neck and fingers: let external insignia subdue a carnal bride; wedded to God, compose your mind with chaste gems. Now, precious one, a long farewell. He committed her after these things to be preserved by her faithful parents. But he himself continued the journey begun with his known governance.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The tempest calmed by the Saint's prayers; the Pelagians conquered by his arguments and by a miracle.

XIII.

Hence they mount the sea, but using Christ as their conductor, Concerning the tempest and confident that all perils would yield to them; who, having protected his own Servants amid dangers, after the darkness granted the proved ones better joys.

And first the progression was made with gentle breezes to the middle of the sea, when, the fields withdrawn afar, the sole face of the sea, embraced by the sky, lay open. Although glory, taken from the malignant spirits, had made them guilty; there remains to them their ancient substance, their native levity, more penetrating [*] than any wind; and what they discern to accede to the chaste gains of God, that they mourn to have perished for themselves. They groaned that the blessed Men hastened to succor the captive people. They meet them, and stir up perils over the whole sea. The winds press on, rushing headlong each from its own seat, and bear the struck waves to the stars. Night rushes on, and dense darkness overspread the sky. The dry axis sounded with tremulous joints: mingled lightnings fly. Now the elements are thought to have confounded their concordant turns, and the ruin of the world about to return into ancient chaos. Scarcely did the sails bear the fury of the winds. Headlong from its inmost jaws the sea gapes, and now displays its infernal sands. The inclement wave beats the tremulous keel apart with alternate strokes: the prudence of the sailor yields; their strength yielded; they commit all things to the winds.

Him, oppressed, the labor of hard [*] contending sleep had overwhelmed: the hateful fury of the storm perceived that the Man had grown lukewarm; and, driven back as by no barrier, it both redoubles death, and snatched the mass to the stars. All hope was snatched from the men, of life and of flight: and now they desire to die, that they might lack [*] the dread of death. The tenth wave lying upon them after these things (pitiable) enfolded the trembling stern in a lethal whirlwind; and now had inclined its side with the overpoured waves. Horrendous! The colleague Lupus and the fearful sailors shake the Man out of his torpor. There was one hope to all, to set forth the one Old Man for the waves to be appeased. He rises, and with unmoved brow against the strong storms, the name of Jesus, ruler of the world, being sent before, rebukes the daring sea with excellent breast: hence, besprinkling the swollen waves with sacred chrism, he pours forth prayers after his custom. A present grace follows the one praying: the enemies, their arts detected, yield: night is changed into day. Joys compensate the mournings: the wave favors the vows, and, impelled by its own wind, the sails are borne, and the keel flies with the wave serving.

XIV.

[84] With a wished-for breeze they unfolded in a short time the immense tracts of the sea, and pay their vows on the shore. From various parts, hastening, a nameless people, How they received them landed. received the Men, whom a sinister seer by chance had once foretold, with trembling mouth, would come. A happy glory accompanies them entering upon their works; and the sentence is borne first against the fierce demons: for these, while they are driven from the invaded shrine, disclose that they had constructed the sea-perils for the Saints. That they had labored, with great tumult of sky and sea, to ward off from the peoples the salvation sent from heaven: and that, conquered by the merits and power of the Priests, they had yielded to the sea. All marvel at such things.

[85] Swift fame, penetrating into the shores of the vast region, disperses the news that the Men had come, whose steps the highest fervor filled their breasts; How, the error being driven out, they restored the faith. they gave themselves everywhere to the ethereal Leaders. The grace of speech is poured into all parts. Cities, churches, assemblies, crossroads, fields, all things breathe the meditations of the heavenly law. The whole island is filled with divine trophies. On whomsoever the plague had fixed its atrocious claw, while they open their wounds, they receive the medicines of life. The ardor of faith is confirmed in the minds of all; all things savor of faith, all things stand by the covenant of faith. An apostolic likeness prevailed in those Fathers, the gravity of office, the grace of an inborn countenance, and an ancient brightness, then a certain preeminence; to the Men an inviolate mind ever conscious of the right, whose skill, instructed in the excellent arts, would turn the hostile troops by the sharpness of speech. Gaul (rejoice, Britain) sends you such pleaders to declare right to you, for a supernal gift.

XVI.

[86] A truthful assertion compelled to a sane mind the wavering peoples: the darkness yielding, How all passed over into their opinion. faith, animated by prodigies, burns: the hidden plague lurks, and the trembling authors lurk, and, hidden in foul caverns, the destruction weeps at its losses, and groans, after the manner of the devil [*], that the peoples escape death.

XVII.

[87] But a dire trepidation goes through the doubtful minds; having engaged, they fear to be laid low by the weight of reason; How ... the heretics or, if they yield the place, to have condemned themselves by keeping silent. Hence fear, thence shame prejudges the head equally. Shame subdues their hearts to enter the lawsuit before the crowd [*], rather than, not having engaged, to have condemned themselves to fear [*]. And now the day was at hand, about to declare the faith to affairs by a fair decision. From afar the enemies advance with many obsequies and flattery of their own, rich, ferocious, pomp going before: the substance of gold distinguishes the Tyrian garments, and the reverence which is lacking to their merits is paid to their hoards. On this side the standard-bearer of faith, Germanus, the glory of the age, blazing with fulminating shield and heavenly arms, advances, and beside him the benign colleague enters. Fame rouses the peoples; the whole region meets in one, about to behold the day. At last with equal advances they stand close together; but not with equal forces. On this side sincere faith, on that perfidious error fights; on this side Christ the author, on that Pelagius the author: on this side piety, on that the meditation of pestiferous fraud [*].

[88] And first the opportunity of speaking yielded to the enemies, this stood most vain, with bare words alone, engaged. nor content with measure, wearying both time and ears, garrulous, grim, wanton, unfruitful, wicked, lying; like a flame, whose needy matter takes away its strength; or as, while a formless mass is cooked in the furnace, taking, in its poverty, the airs from the smith's bellows, it hisses horrendously. After the most just tediums put an end to their words drawn out at length, then the Priests, with a breathing supernal draught, brandishing the fiery darts of a heavenly tongue, pour forth huge thunders, huge lightnings; and vernacular words mingled with apostolic speeches, The fierce parties blushed with downcast eye; perfidious error grew lukewarm with foul torpors; they bare their backs in flight, and confess themselves conquered at every point, while they cannot contend against it, with downcast [*] front. But the people as arbiter scarcely at last restrained their hands with the avenging sword. What alone at last was permitted, they condemn the guilty with a shout. Thus the assembly glows, as much having venerated the pious, as detested the profane.

XVIII.

to whom an only daughter, now for twice five years, drew out her natal darkness with unknown light. He thrusts her upon the Saints. The enemies conquered, they judge her to be offered to them. But presumption once repelled, flees to try their virtue; and, joined to the parent, they beseech with prayers, that the wretched one be relieved of her calamity. By these piety is bent, having pitied the wretched parents. They pour forth a prayer after custom; hence father Germanus, duly calling the friendly power, draws the pledges of the Saints from his neck with his hands, and, brought to the forehead of the girl, refreshes [*] the condemned lanterns by his known virtue: it filled the empty windows with an unknown sun. Nor now can the glad parents bear their vows: nay, even a wholesome dread grew among the peoples: hence faith, kindled, glowed white-hot even to that point, that nowhere were there any traces of error. Thus another's health becomes to others the cause of health.

nor is it granted yet [*] to leave the Britons we have engaged; the last things admonish that we must halt. Now, a little worn by the weight of the material, succumb, inert poet: what remains, perhaps, your breast repaired, you will run ^b.

NOTES.

THE PREFACE OF THE FOURTH BOOK,

described in the four-membered, four-strophe meter.

To mount the ship, and to pass across the sea, Christ had once ordered ^a the assembly of the disciples: By the example of St. Peter sinking in the sea, he orders the crowd to withdraw each to his own; hence he enters the heights of the mountain: thus he invokes the power of the Father. In the drowsy night all things had grown dark; and the dark-blue ship was ploughing the menacing whirlpools: With a sinister blast the seas had boiled: the hope of safety consumed with so great an image of death. And now the morning star had driven up the sky; when the all-night soldier disorders the fourth watch, Christ, in the liquid waves, bears his steps with friendly gait, and brought himself upon the bristling waters; Soon a tremor seizes the warm limbs; terror lashes the breasts. Behold, I am, Christ, as the holy one thundered, Simon, strength being taken, leaps forth into these words: If truly thy piety has approached us, by a known command command me too to proceed with thee: For no matter is grievous to the supreme God; and thou shalt see me bear dry steps through the seas. Soon the Lord, having pity, assented to these: Peter, trusting in the power, leaps down from the ship more swiftly: The old man moves his pendent limbs on the sea, and, leaning on the marine waves, sets his steps. The new thing had struck his tremulous mind: then the sea, boiling, fierce, threatens perils: And the faithful one [*] whom the seas had upheld, gradually made liquid, soon you would discern to sink. And now Peter, sunk with his body in the midst, JESUS, now good, cries, snatch me from these waves: Whom the right hand of Christ, meeting him, snatched; and, the boat [*] being mounted, the noxious winds yield.

the over-swollen sea, trusting in the name of the supreme Christ, have penetrated: Now we have nearly [*] reached the middle of the course: only the dark-blue of the sea, and the sky, is discerned on every side: Anxious dread now drinks up the breasts: the seas raise their mass: we also repent of the undertaking. Yet unfold, O Christ, thy serene face, and look upon the fallen hopes: may all things yield to my vows. And now stretch forth thy powerful hand to the trembling one: I would dare to mount with thee, however grim, the perils.

NOTES.

BOOK FOUR.

CHAPTER I.

The other things done among the Britons; and especially the Alleluiatic victory.

[93] Happy constancy had laid low the unspeakable plague, faith, relying on God, and welded from a pure serene sky, was firing the breasts of all with chaste flames. [That, about to return from the Britons, they sought out Alban the Martyr; and concerning the relics exchanged.] A just resolve drove the Fathers, about to return, to encircle with vows the sepulchre of the Martyr Alban. He protects his own Britons by his merits and prayers, having suffered a thousand penalties for the name of Christ; whom the last sentence of a beheading snatched: but the matter did not remain safe for the proud lictor; and as the head fell for the Saint, the eyes fell for the savage one. Thus you, O Christ, sometimes avenge your servants.

II.

briefer than is just: for, did not more important things call, perhaps you too would be liable to my pens. And this is now not moderately pleasing to me, that I hear that you once favored blessed Germanus; and who, duly preparing to pay fair thanks to the author, unlocks the precious bars of your sepulchre, and places the pious ashes, in chaste order, with the sacred relics

heaping them with gifts, he lays up the pledges of the Saints, gathered from diverse places: so, in short, it seemed to him just, so fitting; that they should be covered by one coffer, whom the same glory bound with fair merits; and, in exchange of the gift, he took away a part from the sacred dust. The turf, infected with shed blood, then too preserved the memorials of the old triumph. This the Prelate, full of virtue, carried back [*] with him revived. Hence there rose for you a hall of splendid form within our walls, constructed by blessed hands ^a. Here, Alban, you hear the prayers, here the vows of the pious; often here the just citizens have felt the supernal ones.

III.

[95] Whoever [*] lived piously, How he crushed his foot by the snares of the demon soon felt himself engaged hand to hand with the dire enemy, at peril of his head. The Saint, having performed the divine business after his old custom, and now returning, an envious force receives; then the bearer of peace, and forerunner of salvation, by chance it drove, his foot crushed by the weight of a careless fall. With this art, impious one, you always contrive slippery deceits; but forgetful sometimes that gold is proved by the furnace. It would have profited to remember the old duel. Once Job, illustrious with rich merits, returned more illustrious, a victor, the contest finished. And although lightnings strike the highest mountains, the mountains do not cease to exist as what they are.

IV.

[96] And while the weary Father was straitened in the same place, one might see the lamp, covered by a measure, grow torpid. By chance fires emerged with strong blasts, having laid waste the neighboring houses; and now the victorious flame holds all things: all hope departs; the roofs, consumed, crackle How the sick man extinguished the fire. with the marsh reed; the fire rages, and now is borne, huge, into the Prelate's lodging, the zephyrs urging: the crowd flies; and, the Father being raised by friendly hands, that he flee the peril, they pray with concordant vows. The Prelate refuses, and, the tumult being chastised, rebukes the faithless, having suffered himself to be moved by no reason. So great is the constancy of faith to the Saint. The people begin to tremble with fear and to withstand the flame. That human efforts had taken a foul repulse, soon became clear: for, whatever the crowd desires to guard being consumed, if the sick Prelate had defended anything, it escaped the rabid vapors, merit fighting for it: and when, the spaces beyond and on this side being nearly subdued, the devastating flame scattered its cruel fury, it feared to touch the roof of the modest hut, which the enclosed Father preserved from the grim fire. Huge joys try the minds of the people, and they rejoice the more to be conquered by the supernal power.

[97] Neither can they be bound in numbers, nor yield to words, How he cured innumerable sick; and concerning the angelic visitation. what the languishing Prelate did in that lodging. Nights and days a crowd of the wretched keeps watch before the doors of the lying one; these ask a support for their languishing minds, those for their wasting bodies. And when he suffered no aid to succeed the disease [*], on a certain night, to the Man, in the likeness of a beautiful power, breathing something ethereal both in face and in garb, is discerned; with his right hand brought near, he commands him to stand upright, and raises the wavering one onto his feet. He, strength being conceived, restored, the shadows yielding, presses on his journey, ignorant to spare his rapid soles.

VI.

[98] That the Saxons, the Picts being taken as accomplices in the crime, too late [*] blazed against the innocent Britons, How, having professed himself leader of the war, fame once sings. Because all savagery is fed by strifes, and native rage drives all things into fierce fury; then the seeds of the old quarrel had kindled fires on both sides with rigid wars. And now two nations, their forces joined, prepare to meet one nation, and, camps being placed here and there, from afar they try the preludes of the doubtful battle, with varied effect. Not yet had Germanus lifted his foot from the friendly region; although he, impatient of the ready sea, was now hastening his return. A vehement dread had struck the trembling Britons, because their forces were small, and their abundance of war far unequal [*] to the enemy. A happy resolve, instilled by the supernal will, applauded the doubtful minds, in narrow circumstances to seek the suffrages of the great Father: this seemed the one safety to the fearful. He promises protection, nor defers the vows of his own: he accedes to the camp: the faithful colleague follows. In whose vitals the blood had grown torpid, rigid, they take on huge daring, huge breasts: the glad line of battle, unbroken by its supernal Leaders, stands as if by a great host, trusting in the merits of the Two.

[99] It was a time ever venerable to the whole world, when the people, having labored for forty days, the heavenly grows fat by leanness, and, intent on the supernal things alone, sighs, with purged breast, for the holy Passover. The presence of the Fathers added to the chaste holidays [*] the offices of splendor; and, exercised by the sacred word, the better part of the crowd underwent the snowy baptism. Their war-gear laid aside, in the name of the Paschal feast, the fields breathe huge praises. The soldier proceeds, wet with fair baptism, whose breastplate is faith, whose most faithful sword is hope, whose strong shield is the mutual love of the brethren: but indeed the remaining use of arms is despised, the arms of the world yielding to the merits of the Pontiffs. The novelty of the camp is disclosed to the suspicious enemy: an ample hope of conquering comes over them: the unarmed are laughed at, about soon, once engaged hand to hand, to be nothing but prey. It remains that the most keen enemy rush upon the incautious; that he invade, tear, oppress all the delaying ones. The day was appointed for a slaughter too much presumed to come; nor did the wiles lie hidden, the explored fraud lies open. And now the day was at hand, brought forth with Paschal pomps, but not with funerals, as the enemy had presumed. The sacred rites unfolded, the soldier, ruddy with the splendor of the laver, rushes into arms, and, with vows prompt for brave deeds, prepares to stand against, resolved at last to yield only to death. The Prelate, arbiter of this contest, duly disposing the doubtful cohorts, brings himself into the midst; and, his right hand raised to the stars, Under my leading, mine, he said, shall the whole war be conducted: let me, the standard-bearer, enter the beginnings of the appointed battle.

he chooses select companions from the whole number; and, the places being surveyed where by chance the enemy might break in, he discerns a valley lying, covered over by mountains: here the army halts, radiant with fair arms. On that day (which never before) the glad Britons saw A new thing; but, as much as unknown to the long ages, so much the more worthy of the eternal Calendars. And now the fierce enemy was at hand, trusting in his forces, trusting in ambushes (although all detected things lay open, sufficiently explored by forecautious labor;) when the Father sets forth an edict to all the troops; that the song which he should first have uttered with a measured voice, every soldier should answer with raised voices, secure of prey, secure at last of slaughter. The enemy is present; the Prelate, not forgetful of the covenanted hour, draws out a huge voice from his full breast, urging the pious Alleluia with a threefold concert. The clamor of all follows, raised to the ether: the mountains, receiving it more closely, triple the sound.

and fears that not only the vast rocks lie upon him, but even the vaults of the supernal poles. What remains, and alone they think survives for safety, they commit to their feet the commerce of trembling life. Swift soles do not suffice for these offices; and although winged pinions applaud the fleeing, they think all things sluggish, and there are no wings to the fleeing: they pour their arms afar, glad only to have withdrawn their bodies from death: many, we hear, were consumed by the river: to whomever it is light to fall upon death, provided it befall to have escaped with impunity the hard hands of the pursuers. Vengeance, driven by heavenly blasts, rages, nor brings any rest to the trembling. The soldier stands victor, and heaps up the matter with a new song, and sings through canticles Christ the avenger of himself. Hence he broods upon the spoils gained by the happy power, reckoning and referring nothing to himself, all to the powerful God. The Pontiffs applaud the splendor of so great a triumph: accomplished by new auspices, and by no blood, the happy victory exults, the enemy routed.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

The return from Britain; the journey to Arles illustrated with miracles.

VII.

[102] The affairs being composed, the care of his own flock, ever inclined, admonished him to a swift return, as far as possible: How, returning, he found the citizens depressed by the insolence of tributes. the sea invites, ready, Christ moderating; and his mind favors, conscious of fair merits not in vain; and the Martyr Alban accompanies with prayers the going ones, until they gain the wished-for friendly seats. Glad Gaul exults at the returning Fathers: to the churches is born the grace of the wished-for light; against this, to the demons the torture of hard grief. Germanus, at last brought to the known city, is sought, as pastor, with the double piety of his own; the crowd rushes to meet him, having testified grief by mourning, gladness by applause; so great columns are borne into both by mixed measures: but joys yield to tears. Fortune had pressed the beam-like nail upon the wretched ^a, while the kindly Father was absent: yet he learns the causes in order; that the citizens, long oppressed by the weight of the censor, had more sharply worn away their estate with unwonted tributes. He groans at their afflictions; he opens the bowels of piety; he searches out by what art he may be able to relieve the wretched from calamity: and he had vowed his head to great sweats, patient of labors of every kind without measure. Care urges the Man; nor now does he defer the aid. Still weary of the sea, again he attempts the earthly journeys; and enters the way, where Gaul, long inclining, opens the journey; and, bearing Christ in his holy breast, he advances, content with a modest expense for all things.

VIII.

[103] The Prelate was taking his way with modest step through the open fields, and evening was hiding the day in the waves, How ... the led-off horse which had overspread the whole sky with rainy cold: worn with leanness, worn with filth, behold, bare even to the feet. Compassion moved all. The robber, under the pretext of poverty, is joined in the lodging, and among the innocent servants lies down to rest: sleep urges these, the meditation of savage fraud urges this one. Knowing to bring the profitable time to the crime, he rises, and leads off from the stables, by unchaste fraud, the beast [*] assigned to the uses of the holy Elder. And when the day is restored, the loss of the known vehicle is recognized; but the author of the theft had already withdrawn himself. And lest a present conveyance be lacking to the Priest, is changed from horseman into footman: thus the order demands. And while they hasten the journey, the clear face of the Man, suffused with a liquid serene, shone with sober governance; but beyond his custom he presses the signs of a glad mind on his brow. His own companions saw it; and, all being astounded man by man, one bolder and a little more forward, asks what so great a grace of the glad countenance might be.

both to be laughed at and to be grieved over for his unhappy lot, now will that wretch be set before your eyes, whom soon the mind conscious of the foul deed will torment. He said; and, their gazes extended to that part, behold, from afar they behold the footman, dragging behind him the animal caught by strap and by hand, with a shamefaced brow. And while he hastens, and while these delay not much, and he shortly overtakes them, and prostrates himself at his feet, having confessed in order the committed crime through each particular, and that he had been so entangled through the time of the whole night, that by no means could he turn aside anywhere; unless he soon vowed to restore the caught quadruped. Then the Sacred one grieved, and, soothing with soft address: Behold, what was lacking to you naked, if perchance I had given it, there would have been no impulse of perpetrating the crime. Now take what you need: what is ours, restore, he said. Thus the guilty one carries back the granted peace with a gift.

IX.

[105] The Man, desirous of secrecy, full of the holy power, taught to shun no more the external favors, Concerning the meeting of the peoples. than [*] the frequent solaces of his own ministers, had by vow undertaken both to foster a perpetual lurking-place, and to lead, as long as it is, a life free from the breeze. But the promise of great Jesus remains unconvulsed,

that the city set upon the mountains cannot be hidden from sight: and whom, standing apart, glory covers with fair merits, the grace, illustrating with excellent signs, indicates; and wherever he had borne his easy step through the crossroads, in cities and villages, hastily, a mixed crowd gave itself to meet him, roused by his illustrious deeds, and, although it was of a long labor, easily careless of it.

[106] You too, Alesia, fatal to the Caesarean camps, I would not by right refuse to commit to my pens; Concerning the straw, you who, because you feed your own husbandmen with very rich bread ^b, are thought once to have been marked by the addition of a name. You, guarding the Heduan bounds and the highest thresholds, Caesar once, having attacked in savage contest, almost bore the Latin phalanxes with unequal Mars, having experienced what Gaul could do in its native arms: now only the traces of the old camp remain. A presbyter had lived there of illustrious birth, more illustrious in wit, whose family name then was Senator. A wife most like in life and merit equaled by her zeals the decrees of the chaste marriage-bond. Both advanced, both enriched with successes.

[107] To these the Prelate was joined by the covenant of holy love, which is commended: in which, at Alise, he lay unaware. these, when by chance he had sought, they receive him with as much cult as their abundance consented. Here the matron built a pious fraud under the Prelate, straw being placed under him; on which, unaware, he lay; wont otherwise to lie upon the surface of the earth. And when Titan impelled the lands with a new breath, he presses on his journey; and the house rejoices, and the ministers rejoice, that they were illustrated by the solace of the known Father. The matron collected the relics from the couch, and, composed with all zeal, hides them for life-giving causes [*]. After some suns, a certain man splendid with his natal lamp, and proud with much dominion of things, is blown upon by a demon: no suffrages were at hand, and, because Germanus was absent, all hope had yielded. The matron presumed faith, and, Christ being called, surrounds the body of the wretch with the preserved straw. By the merit of the absent one, the arduous thing yielded to her vow. By night the wretch, as if walled about by a great fire, boils, and, gnashing, redoubling Germanus by name, is snatched at last from the jaw of the savage lion, safe for the remaining time, the gift being conferred.

XI.

[108] The Arar carried him with equal advances to the Lyonnais citadels, hiding itself under the walls in the Rhône. How he illustrated the people of Lyons with doctrine and signs. They celebrate the name imposed once on Lyons by the speech of the Gauls, because it is the same as "bright mount" ^c. The people, received with equal zeals, embrace him: every age rushes: both sexes concur. And not only to touch; it delights to have looked at him frequently. He proceeds to all, full of the blessing of salvation; then relieves the breasts of all with a grateful word; and although he go in haste, certainly the thirsting hearts, what is enough, he relieves with lively doctrine.

XII.

at last with wondrous love the city Arles is snatched, to meet Germanus, its troops poured forth wherever. By the surname of its first founder they say it drew this name at an uncertain time ^d. Here then Hilary, thence known even to the stars, bore the office of prelate both by word and by hand: fiery in faith, a torrent of heavenly speech, he gave labor unweariedly to the blessed precepts [*]; he, receiving Germanus as the apostolic likeness of the illustrious time, cherished the Saint with prone piety, Auxiliaris likewise bridled the rigid nation with the name of prefect; to whom with twin vows great joys shone at the coming of the great Father; he long burned with full love of the man, desirous of seeing him, then because a quartan lamp had for a long time now scorched his wife.

receives, delights, refreshes, venerates, adores; then measures the whole body with a gentle gaze. A face worthy of the Man struck his astonished mind with trembling dread, and a breast full of power, the gravity of speech, the illustrious glory of his countenance, fame less than his merits, the excellence of his great heart. Thence he pours forth gifts with excellent hoards, and begs that he deign to open his hand to the offered things. After these he suppliantly joins the ailments of his wife. The Prelate assents to his faith, nor defers the rewards: he enters; a manifest health accompanies the goer: entering, he shakes off the plague from the sick body, and both the tremor and the fever are deleted at the same moment. Thus the happy matron takes the wished-for relief. After these, setting forth in order the causes of his coming, he enjoys his sober [*] vows, the prince being won. To the oppressed citizens he carries back the standards of quiet; although the highest salvation stood to the whole city, only the presence of the great Pastor being restored.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The revelation made to the Saint concerning the birthday of St. Julian the Martyr; a new expedition into Britain; St. Genevieve visited; a happy return.

XIII.

[111] Not knowing to enter a rest free from sweat, the Prelate, once advanced into the Arvernian shores, How the Lord ... the day of the passion of Julian the martyr turned his steps into the village of Brioude. Here, martyr Julian, having suffered for the supreme name a thousand penalties in the truculent time, antiquity, always set against the good, not with impunity, detracted here and there the memorials of your lofty triumph: and although, an illustrious Martyr with famous name, you were now borne from the sunset to the sunrise; yet you had been somewhat more obscure in this one thing, that the people, forgetful of the day always to be honored, gave you no fixed solemnities with a celebrated rite. Germanus, coming, did not suffer the error to grow inveterate through long ages; and first, at what time they bear the sacred rites to the Saint, he inquires with friendly speech. The unlearned crowd confess that they know not. Then the Father, It must be sought from the highest seats, he said, revealed. what it is not possible for the human mind to weigh. Night rushes on, and, the assembly dissolved, each went to his own home: the Prelate passes the night in the sacred building. And the muddy dawn, ruddy in her rosy hairs, had scarcely reddened the ether with her matutinal car; the Prelate is present; whether God had disclosed the cause to any, freely inquiring. That they knew nothing of the business, they testify. Soon the Priest into these words: Let the seventh month enter its lawful year, know this: that before, this festival grew clear to the world four days before [*]; these are the Kalends, on the birthday of the Saint, on these Kalends, made a Martyr by happy lot, he was placed among the supernal camps for his shed blood: this matter is learned by me by heavenly admonitions. He said; and joys suffuse the huge people. From that time the festival of the Martyr is celebrated, where Gaul spreads widely into all parts.

XIV.

O beast, worse rising up with your neck cut off? Are you not ashamed to forge again against the wretched Britons the weapons lately laid low in a brave duel? Spare yourself, now spare, I pray; the more often you raise your black venomous head, the more surely you will be pierced, and the repeated devices will give a swift ruin: what is once insane, repeated shudders more insanely, and wounds torn open twice bring greater grief. Scarcely had the Prelate withdrawn his shoulders, his arms laid aside, immensely wearied, and revisited his own city; behold, there were borne mandates by forced prayers of all, whoever they were, on the part of the pious, that the plague of the insane dogma had fallen again upon the wretched Britons, nor did hope of safety remain, unless first he should protect the cause obtained by a fair contest, as usual. There was a sure hope of triumph to have moved his hands for the wretched; nor would the first glory go with his sails, if the finishing hand were not put upon the infected work ^a. With these voices he excites his anger, and, impatient of delay, soon demands his arms again, arms swiftly; and his limbs are clothed in the known arms. He had vowed his breast for the name of faith, to fall upon whatever death chance might give: he went, surveying the world with peace-bearing steps, bearing holy seeds; and, disclosing with fair doctrine, what and how great rewards are prepared for the Christ-worshippers in the stars; against this, what penalties enter [*] the reprobate after death.

XV.

name enshrine in my song; certainly the mention of you is always pleasing to me, because now the Spouse of my Lord [*] adorns you with the bones, you once most celebrated for signs. Hither then Germanus the prelate, entering, is received with wondrous love. A blessing cherishes the prone people: all things leap with huge applause. Mindful of his pledge, what chance might drive Genevieve, he soon inquires with friendly zeal. Very many perils, I believe, had from heaven touched his mind, which she had endured through that time: as piety is wont to succumb to hard revilings. And it was fitting [*] to detect the venom of the black mind, since the livid people did not repress the furial seeds of flame once conceived, not even the holy Man being present; to whom however she is better known than to her own parent.

[114] Thence he withdraws into the secret places of the virginal cell, surrounded by the people: soon the virgin comes forth to meet him; he visited Genevieve. whom the great Father salutes with huge piety; so that you would think, by right, the temple of the divine power venerated. Hence, looking on the people, and with his right hand commanding silence, he resumes the heraldings from the virgin's first auspices: how her happy infancy fitted her body, sacred to Christ, by no covenant to be violated forever: that he too had always remained a witness of her virginal modesty, although her secret modesty be separated from his body. And, he says, that his sentence may establish minds free from doubt, learn the proofs of the matter by true signs. He said, and the earth, wet with the river of tears, where the praying virgin bent herself into her reclining limbs, he shows with his finger. Rage hence driven off, he soothed the raging; you would see all repent of their undertaking. By common consent she is decreed innocent to all; all, with joined praise, confess her innocent: the true assertion composes the rabid tumults, and drives from their minds the contagions of black gall. Thence Genevieve, celebrated through the Parisian shores, obtained everywhere the heraldings of a merited palm.

it had been my devotion to commit to our pens; but the great undertakings recall the much-wishing poet. Yet, lest I pour out these verses without just interest, be mindful of your suppliant, and by your prayers protect the faithful one; and what gifts you know accede to your Spouse, reckon to have acceded to you, the lot being conferred: and now farewell, joined to God, and be mindful of the age.

XVI.

the breaths compose their course to the obedience of the ship; you would see the storms, hostile to the waves, yield; lively virtue with force conquered the lashings of the winds. And you, fierce demon, were absent, not daring to be present; because the things which you had suffered in the very sea had not yet fallen from your mind. But although your mind is livid, that the peoples emerge from the jaw of the old dragon, grieve forever; certainly the most holy virtue impelled the unwilling seer to foretell to the peoples the coming of the Prelate. Not yet had he been able to touch land; the whole island already roared with the name of Germanus. By chance the prince of the place, Elaphius, with no informer, hastens the meeting; so certain is it to believe the seer. His son, condemned from his first years by a curved knee, had borne the losses of a withering leg.

He presents this son with himself: the whole province follows, In order, all being prostrate, the blessing goes forth: hence flowing doctrine waters all with discourses. He then recognizes the peoples tenacious of the faith hitherto; that the authors of the crime are found to be few: they are sought; and the avenging sentence punishes the guilty.

XVII.

[117] Elaphius himself breaks into the dense troops, setting before him his son, deformed with a lame body. How he cured the son of Elaphius. Nor is there need of words; very many things allege the cause, his age, his debility, above all the tears of the father. A just compassion elicits a huge grief from the minds of all: the Prelate, bent as much as possible, betakes himself to the supernal protections after his custom; then orders the youth to sit; soon, by a masterly art, he unfolded his healing right hand, taught to succor, handling the dry sinews with a gentle stroking. Soon, as if a wholesome medicine flowed from his fingers, moisture; the sinews return to their former state, and the steps resume their forbidden bending, and the gifts of health [*] shone in the eyes of many; when the father receives his son unharmed after long times, the son receives his father applauding through joys. Thus your heraldings, O Christ, grow up in wondrous ways, and the breasts take on the unconquered strength of faith. Hence the sacred discourse is turned to all the people concerning the fall, or what expenses may repair the fall. The safe faith, founded on immovable columns, holds its pillar; all fight for the covenant of faith. Very few remained, nurslings of detected fraud; they are set before him [*]; to all the same sentence stands firm, to punish them with perpetual exile. Thus the happy island, then lacking the Tartarean plague, with the marks of kindly faith now too, now flashes with chaste splendor. Peace being gained for the places, enriched with rich spoils, under a happy omen Germanus returned to the known city, deservedly most pleasing to the supernal stars.

separated from the whole world, twice to discern the inmost monsters of the great sea, hither at last to bend, your sails laid aside; and, preserved, paying your vows on the shore, O sailor, by what reason you can, remember to care for your genius; and prepare yourself (the chance of things is uncertain) for the future; that, if any labor come upon you, you may be able to be equal to the labor.

NOTES.

THE PREFACE OF THE FIFTH BOOK,

performed in the two-membered, two-strophe meter.

Rich Ἑκατόμπολις ^a (That is: the island of a hundred cities) once brought forth Daedalus, skilled with much praise, who once, fleeing the Minoan palaces, The poet, considering the fable of Icarus, knit wings with wax, thinking that the empty air could be safely traversed with swift feathers. Rash levity took as companion, by a sinister covenant, his son, and winged Icarus enters at his father's side, compelled to take after his father. Then the two poles saw the four-footed monsters first to fly. The father, unwearied, flies out to the cold Bears, safe from the sinister cold: at last he stood over the Chalcidic citadels; these fields he first reached: here he dedicated to you, Phoebus, a noble temple, and put off his weary wings. The son, less sound in the Daedalian arts, and incautious of peril, enters, more than is just, the heights of the empyrean [] clime []; soon, his feathers dissolved, Icarus gave his surname to the sea meeting him, overwhelmed by the savage waves.

this, O ignorant poet: now you, too swift for Daedalian Icarus, leave the lowest places of the earth; while too arduous a material snatches you to stretch your feathers to the sky. And O, that you might be snatched into a sweet-singing bird, and that feathers might flow through your fingers and flying shoulders, melodious! Then, through the liquid ether, weaving with measures well-dissonant themes [*], Ah! let not rash sports subdue you, while you attempt sublime things. Ah! let not the inmost savage lightnings drive you headlong into Tartarus: since it is forbidden to pursue things too arduous, and to transcend one's strength. By these, O Christ, you alone can heal me, and elude these weapons: and you to whom it was possible to grant such things to be done [*], I would not deny that you can give favorable sails to a chaste song; nor does hope wander anywhere.

NOTES.

BOOK FIVE.

CHAPTER I.

The prodigious defense of the Armoricans, and a new journey undertaken for them into Italy; miracles done on the journey up to the Alps.

[120] To one weary of the sea, scarcely was it granted to return to the shores of his native soil, when forthwith a legation How he received the Armorican legation; ran to meet him with a long train, its palms stretched out, having long awaited the Saint returning to his fatherland. A nation most well-known is enclosed between two rivers ^a, called before by the old surname Armorican; grim, fierce, windy, wanton, incautious, rebellious, inconstant, and unlike itself in love of novelty, prodigal of words; but not also prodigal of deed: to say more, to have done less, is taxed as honorable with them. That it never kept the tenor of faith to its kings, often experienced. Wherefore, under what prince the happy commonwealth then too flourished with its ancient titles, the great salvation of the fatherland (his name was Aëtius), wearied of the manners and crimes of the swollen nation, at last permitted it to be laid waste by the rigid Alans. Their king was Eochar, a beast crueler than any. Why should I recount the slaughters, and the furial deeds of the tyrant? Experienced widely in all parts of the world. Therefore the license granted for the wished-for slaughter goads the rabid jaws of the nation to the ruin of the people: the barbarous mind gapes at throats; about to make a trial of what savagery can do: the wicked one snatches the savage column, burning to fall upon the wished-for prey as soon as possible.

and an impatient fear, and a very great horror of things: nor indeed does a simple terror press their vitals: not to join hand in battle, not to guard their bounds from the enemy, not even to attempt flight, does a resolve arise. Each imagines to himself the perils of a varied death, and the delay alone of suspected death torments. One reason of preserved safety is at hand to the wretched; if the Prelate deign to oppose himself to the swords. This was the sum of the request to the legates. What now too, Saint, what will you do? If you try to withdraw yourself, you know what it is to close your bowels to a captive brother: or if you wish to help; how many things terrify the willing one? A fierce king, the unknown rage of a horrendous nation, both the tongue and the manners, and the wantonness of a grim brow; then that slender strength may fail you, wearied by the mass of perpetual labor, entering upon great things. Trust God; fraternal love will bear the palm. He who gave the willing will give the being-able: although the matter is arduous, he will soon concede to the just vows with a favorable power.

II.

now transgressed; the iron-clad horseman had filled the face of the open land; the king of the black column, barbarous, in the midst, horrendous in his fierce arms, gapes with hope of the wished-for slaughter. Soon, trusting in the Lord as fore-leader, Germanus breaks into the midst of the enemy, and thrusts himself, intrepid, upon the armed leader (wonderful to say!); and, an interpreter mediating, first he entreats, and pours himself forth into all prayers. He, like a beast once untaught to endure the hand [*], flees the one praying. The Prelate rebukes the delays of the savage breast. Nonetheless he refuses. The Prelate, at last certain to persist in his undertakings, both laid on his hand, and seized the reins of the bridle. Immensely all were astounded. The columns are halted, fixed in the same place; nor is it granted to the multitude either to change place, or to bend their step anywhere. So great a grace of starry light suffused the Pontiff with its ray: he, equal to the countenance of Moses, who bore the horned face of the Lord from his presence, terrified the huge phalanxes with the splendor of his brow, not daring to strive, not daring to advance against.

rather marvels; the miracles terrify the stupefied one: what constancy makes the Saint so magnanimous; how great the virtue in the Old Man, how great the reverence of his countenance, that one man stands better or stronger than thousands. The warlike ardor is forthwith laid down to peace; human things yield to God; the violent condition of fury, its wars laid aside, treats of civil matters; in what manner it may be done, namely what the Priest by right decrees to be done, not what the rabid ardor had prefixed. After the love of slaughter and the force of fury is repressed, they compose their minds; then they enter upon the offices of safe peace, their right hands joined in a robust covenant; thence they seek their camps again. Thus, by the merit of the kindly Prelate, the Armorican nation lays aside its trembling fear, emerging at last from the jaw of the fierce beasts; on this condition however, that the Roman emperor should furnish the straw to the peace gained through covenants.

[124] Whither these things tend, it is easy enough to declare. You, Father, these things again, you certainly these such things regard: Apostrophe to the Saint. now the starry Olympus, now long since demands you, and once envies you to the wretched fields more bitingly. But it is not right to depart from the earthly camps, until you yourself, your step turned toward the Latin shores, here too make the heavenly harvest grow golden. Perhaps too this sentence is borne in the supernal calendars; that, the end of your great labors being consummated, you, a victor in Italy, may take the proud emblem, the crown sought by merits, gained by virtue, O Father! O you who have accomplished the great perils of the sea! But very many things still remain to be undergone by you on the lands: whither soever fortune bears you with it, go the bolder. O you who have often suffered graver perils, to these one day a happy constancy will bring an end.

III.

[125] Nor delay (for what delays could he have, burning How, setting out for Italy, he again visited the presbyter Senator. with heavenly flames?) departed from his native shores, he turns his swift step into the Alpine citadels; and again, going, out of zeal for his ancestral piety, he seeks Senator, dear in merits and in religion, about to repay the dowry of hospitality with a grateful interest. Suddenly a girl, brought forth, stood before his eyes, void of all speech, whom the long losses of a silent state, by twice ten turnings, were wearing away. The Prelate receives her, brought near, with wondrous condescension; thence with a friendly hand he surveys her face, soothing her mouth, forehead, and whole countenance with ointment; and thence he mixed three morsels of bread with wine; and, placing one in the mouth of the astonished virgin, he commands that a blessing precede the received bread. She, obeying the words of the Priest in each thing, declares with full mouth what the Prelate had ordered. Thus the eloquence, arisen, flowing by a new rite, thence lasted into the remaining years of her age.

IV.

he presses his unanimous friend with embraces; and amid the embraces, soothing with how soft speech, Farewell forever, dearest brother, he said, undivided portion of my mind through the ages. May the Omnipotent grant, when, strict, he shall have come to place the last goal to things with a supreme end, that we, glad, may behold each other with shaded countenances ^b: for until the burden of this [*] flesh be loosed, it is forbidden hereafter to meet with alternate sight. These words the Father poured forth at his last departure, and, departing, left his friend saluted with these. Let each say what he will, that the Saint … the times of his departure

to have been ignorant, when he left his own city ^c. He continued his journey, with few ministers as his custom; but a crowd, gathered, thronged to meet him among the peoples: to these the Father poured forth the seeds of the eternal word. And it delights the more to remember this, that if any places he had ever surveyed, either praying, or by chance teaching, they persist even today most well-known by sacred cells, or the venerable sign of the cross, raised, gleams.

[127] Surveying after this the confines of the Heduan district, with mild offices, in the piety of the highest favor, How he was received by the Aedui. he is received as usual: the swarms of the crowd grow hot; every age is present; both sexes concur; nor is there leisure, and it is too much to commit to a fragile pen, how great was the ardor of the Saint in the minds of all, with how great affection, with how great piety they cherished him whom they knew to be the supreme friend of the supreme Deity.

VI.

[128] By chance, the walls of the whole city being wandered over, while, hot with religion, he goes about the sacred buildings, How ... St. Cassian he comes whither the venerable body of Cassian, once pontiff, lay in an honorable tomb: in which shone the signs of supernal virtue, having testified the illustrious triumph of the excellent soldier. It was Parian marble, comely with wondrous whiteness: by this then were closed the enclosures of the sacred sepulchre. But from heaven a diverse appearance of red color marked the life-giving sign, the marble being varied; so that a new form of the cross, distinguished by supernal hands, might show Cassian, illustrious in merits even after his funeral, to live. Father Germanus, inspecting this with fixed eyes, revolves much and long, how munificent Christ is to his servants through the ages.

[129] Soon, prayers being poured forth, What do you, most illustrious one, he said, how he addressed him in the sepulchre. what now, brother, do you? And from the depth of the tomb the voice of the man is heard, returned: Placed in a happy seat, I enjoy the tranquil gift of the wished-for light, awaiting [*] Christ to come with the paternal power. Therefore, says the Prelate, for a long time, most pleasing brother, rest in the august seats, the lot being received: and that the saving clangor may one day fill the ears of those brought back after their funerals with ethereal concerts, for us, and for this people, pray more inclinedly. O sublime merit of the Man, whom the grace of the supreme Christ has hitherto exalted to the summit of virtues, to whom all things obey, all things answer his vows, though they lie subsided, lulled to sleep in the lowest sepulchres! Nor is it wonderful, if a citizen could recognize a citizen, reigning together with Christ, while the other still handles earthly things in the world, residing in the port, cutting through the sea and the tide: Grant a little space: a modest hour will remove whatever hitherto separates the innocent friends.

VIII.

[130] Meanwhile, in his presence, weeping shaking them, the parents approach near, and place their limbs in the dust. How he straightened the girl's hand. A marriageable girl follows these, with downcast brow, long suffering and conscious of a kindred penalty: the womb of her mother had poured her forth, the germ being vitiated, with her fingers curved back into her palm, the sinew withering: the increments of time had added a savage grief: the hard nails grew with too great advances, and the points tore the tender flesh within; and as many fingers as the hand had, so many dire wounds it held; and now the ulcers had penetrated the pierced-through palm, had not the point, stopped by the bones, ceased. The Prelate handles her right hand with the medicine of his touch, and, raising all the fingers with gentle governance, the gift of vital juice being infused into the sinews, he recalled it in wondrous order into flexible use. The most glad virgin is restored to the office of her hands: nor now do they contain themselves in the festivals of their vows. The piety of the Saint added something memorable: both he corrected the hand, and removed all superfluous things, cutting back the nails advanced with too great excesses; not grieved to have done this with his holy hands.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

The continuation of the same journey and of the miracles through Italy.

VIII.

[131] Having traversed the Gallic fields, signs accompanying, hence he mounts, more sublime in merits, the airy Alps: this boundary separates the Ausonian shores from the Gauls, How he mounted the Alps; and a description of them. torpid with eternal snows, with eternal cold; never before passable to the human race, until Hannibal, returning a victor from the Spanish shore, parted the crags, and broke the mountain with vinegar ^a. Yet when the Carthaginian, struck by the unwonted cold, grew torpid, and left the army despoiled of its soldiery; he indeed, wasted by the loss of his other little eye, so that the Alpine snow drove off the Carthaginian warmths, when a Moorish beast carried the one-eyed leader. Here Germanus the prelate, having obtained the merited honor, gained the monument [*] and glory of an illustrious triumph.

IX.

[132] Now the sun was dyeing his red mantles in the ocean; the artisans, the wage of the daily work being taken, toward night are alike carried back into their own houses: How he carried the lame man on his shoulders. with these the Father, his step straining through the pathless places of the rock, took the shared journey; and the wretched ones, oppressed with malign burdens, with a groan climbed the mountains. A torrent stood in the way through the steep heights, whirling its huge rage with a violent eddy with wave-sounding masses; by this the goers were delayed; because the swelling whirlpool did not allow faithful steps. There was one worn with age, worn at last with disease; the doubled mass pressed the wretch; and scarcely bearing his tremulous limbs on his tottering soles, anxious, he groaned under the hard burden imposed. The Prelate, pitying as usual both the lame and the old man, lifts the wretch's burden into his own arms, and carried it across the torrent: no otherwise [*], the river being remeasured, he takes the squalid one, wasting at last in his tremulous body, under his neck placed beneath, and through the middle of the waves carries him, and sets him, brought across, on the safe shore.

these recall me; but those call me: it is owed to both. Here nevertheless stop with me, whithersoever of places I depart: very many things will strike your stupefied sense. All things wondrous; all emerge with new figures; but reason has not fixed itself on any one appearance: the breast is more closely overwhelmed under the weight of things; the individual things impel the breast with balanced words. Germanus carried the wretch across the seas on his neck. Germanus the wretch. If the person wearies you; illustrious, and second to none in the splendor of birth, he deigns to raise the wretch on his fair shoulders: which not even the lowest of our age would do. Seek the rank: a Prelate most well-known in the whole world. Grant me one who, a prelate, would prefer to submit himself so far. Do you ask his age? An old man and full of days: you would not, lying, call him forgetful of his own age. Do you go on to ask how great his health, what strength? Squalid, dry by the eternal covenant of fasting, whose vitals leanness, whose face pallor had wasted, whom harsh barley refreshed after seven suns, to whom, weary, the surface of the earth bore his rest, scarcely bearing his limbs, scarcely he himself, scarcely clinging to his bones, conceives a huge flame of piety in his breast, not broken by the weight, not plainly recoiling from the peril, and the exhausted old man, himself worn with age, his burden first sent away, carried across on his tremulous arms. Great in the ethereal Olympus you are deservedly reckoned, O Prelate joined to God, to whom it was granted to immolate to the King of the poles so many holocausts of pious works.

XI.

[134] Seeking further things, he is carried into an illustrious city, which antiquity is said to have called Milan. How he came to Milan; and a description of its name. Fame sows (although not every fame is believed) that once Gaul, blazing with intestine wars, expelled its own colonists by violent Mars from their own seats, who, driven by chance to Latium, built this city with collected contributions; calling it, from the name of the deed, Medio-lanum, because, when they were building the first foundations with new walls, Coming hither, the Prelate avoided the empty breezes, striving to veil himself in his wonted lurking-places; yet he did not lie hidden, but forthwith to the whole city it grew clear, clearly, who and how great he was.

XII.

[135] By chance then a solemn day had drawn thither several of the pontiffs, and at the sacred altar are conducted How, published by a demon, the divine honors, by which the Christ-worshippers are quickened. Germanus the prelate enters into the placid hall, unknown, humble in the covering of an abject garment. Forthwith a certain man, whom the enemy had bound with a demonic knot, fills the empty airs with clamors: Why do you press us, Germanus, under the Italian shores? What so great wrong do we wretched ones seem to have deserved from you? Alas the savagery! Alas the cruel violence of things! There is no place for us in the sea, we are excluded from the very fields. Lately, driven out, we withdrew from the shores of the Gauls; the ocean furnished a lurking-place amid the wastes of the sea: hence too, thrust out, Germanus, you put us to flight by your prayers. Why do you penetrate all things? Why do you survey the byways of the world? Cease, and permit the wished-for rest to the weary. They were astounded in their minds; a tremor, conceived at this voice, entangles their bloodless limbs: a question is made everywhere, who Germanus was, whom the heard voice sought.

his other insignia bear a plebeian garb. Consulted, he denied indeed not his grade. The bowing assembly of pontiffs venerates the Saint; and that they might see the bearer [*] of his name, all, their prayers collected, with common vows insist. The Prelate, thinking that the holy ones must be obeyed for the time, entered the secret recesses, the wretch accompanying. There was not much delay to the conceived vows: he came forth, and, bringing back the one purged of the foul plague, he restores him unharmed to the peoples by fair virtue. This the Father, this first, became known to the Latin fields by this auspice. Soon from diverse parts all the peoples run together, and frequent the gift of the now-published aid. Then, signs being joined to his doctrines ^c, thus with reproaches he relieved the souls, thus the bodies from calamity.

XIII.

[137] Thence the Prelate, departed from the many-flowing city, was advancing [*] the undertaken journey with happy shores: Concerning the fraud done to the poor by the deacon. taught and wont to live on another's crust. The Prelate consults his minister on the reckoning [*] of the supplies. He, conscious to himself that a threefold coin remained, answered that there was not anything more of supplies for all. Soon he orders all to be bestowed on the needy little wretches. Whence, holy one, the deacon says, do you think we shall live today? It is not right to distrust Christ, he said; but he will feed his own needy (let us fear nothing now): do you only remember to care for the poor, what is possible. The minister, cautious of the future, though not by right, both bestows two, and keeps one for the morrow. Not so much of gain, provident man, as of loss, you have built at this turn, despising the precepts of the Master: and, having gained little, you deserved to lose much. Thus the following vengeance, thus Christ mocked the greedy wish.

XIV.

[138] And while they make ready the journey; behold, men are discerned on horses driving with rapid heat behind their backs: How the legates of Leporius they leapt down shortly; and, poured out in the dust at the holy feet, they fall down; then thus are borne into words: Not far from here we have a lord of noteworthy nobility, of celebrated fortune, of most lofty rank; whom a domestic loss urges with savage knots: with his servants, and his whole house (pitiable to say!) he lies down, subject at last to innumerable diseases: so certainly, so he, groaning at his own, so at the calamity of his own, seeks to break off his wretched life as soon as possible, and to end his hated labors by death; but after he learned that you go through our shores, the hope of safety has slipped back into his doubtful mind. Now to you we bring both his tears and prayers: if your Piety can deem it worthy, visit the languishing one; with submissive breast he asks: or if violent serious matters [*] consume our prayers, and it is not possible to break off anywhere the begun journey;

but let a wholesome blessing, joined to just prayers, compensate the delights of the denied countenance: let him be granted by one gift, if he merit not by both.

[139] Then the Father, admiring the venerable pledge of faith, grieved, and the image of piety gripped his mind; and although the care of the begun labor urged him not to defer the journey, that way is judged the straighter, he received. by which the reward due to a just work is preserved. Nor delay; he turns aside. His companions withstand against it; the legates on the contrary insist with straining forces: and while these, and while those urge [*]; a long contention is made. He rather favors the needy; saying that through the ages nothing is prior to him than to accomplish the commands of Christ, and that he is prepared to die twice for the precepts of the Lord. O Father worthy of the highest summit of splendor! O you who refuse to expend your own life for yourself, and who, living for God, nay to whom to live is Christ, prefer to set your soul for fraternal gains! Therefore remember, O Father, to persist in your pious undertakings. The prize will not be lacking to holy labor, believe me.

XV.

[140] A worthy exultation comes over the glad legates: and because the Prelate deigns to yield to their vows, How he rebuked the deacon for the fraud. they bring forth twice a hundred solidi ^d with a prepared gift, gifts to the Man. The Prelate, glad not so much at the gift, as at the pledge of faith, commends all to his minister; Take these now, saying, and learn that you succumb to guilt; because, having meditated fraud against the wretched needy, you preferred to be tenacious: for if, what I ordered you to deliver, you had yielded, Christ bestowing as usual, you would take three hundred solidi repaid by today's interest. Dread invades the man, that the secrets of his guilt had lain open to Germanus. Do not indeed think this a wonder, good man, that the closed things of so great a Prophet's heart lie open: he who, full of the power of the holy Breath, is now a god, now obtains divine honors.

XVI.

he hastens, and, his step snatched, whither the vows require, about to furnish aid, he is present, the same legates [*] accompanying, sent before. Soon, as if a manifest health had entered and come in, the awaited presence of the Father relieves all. Here you would see the Physician bring forth his known arts: hence piety, thence perfect skill shines. He is prostrated, and, prostrate, adores Christ after his custom, then more seeking the heights, when he became more prone to the fields: hence a wholesome prayer, poured to the supernal ears; to which, flying above the stars, the tears made a way, whose rivers purchase the joys of many. He visited the masters, he visited at last the servants: with contending zeal he surveys the undistinguished couches: to all he imparts by right the ethereal medicines. The matter is finished in the space of one day; one day poured fomentations of health on all. Thence after this he departs: the master of the house himself accompanies the goer: all rejoice in their repaired strength: applause sounds everywhere, and the modulation of fair praise: all things resound Christ; all things re-echo Germanus. Thus glory grows to the Lord, thus the reputation of the Servant, scattering a charming odor wherever he proceeded. An inborn fervor subdues the breasts of all to know the Man, gleaming with the wondrous light of merits. Many things indeed were at hand, begetting his illustrious name; doctrine, labor, courtesy, manners, constancy, fervor; and what is chief, the very great love of the brethren; by which he sowed whatever was grievous on land and sea.

Why do you bend your shortcuts by a latticed course? You could go by a short way, where you weary yourself through long ones. Certainly the royal way leads better to Ravenna. Not without reason would I bear it, that you seek detours: nay I (so my mind, so at last it seems to bear it), believe that Ravenna portends something rather sad, which may yield either to destruction, or to loss; which you so shudder to approach with its contiguous walls. Whatever it is; stop a little; and, your breath being received, with straining minds, whatever remains, you will undergo.

NOTES.

THE PREFACE OF THE SIXTH BOOK,

varied in the two-membered, two-strophe meter.

The most beautiful ἑξὰς ^a (That is: the number six) closes the account of the work; you see, friendly reader. If you seek the causes and mystic symbols of it; The poet describes the Saint's Acts in six books; I would diligently set them forth. The Founder, about to make the solid world, proposed this exemplar to himself: for he distinguished all his work by the same number; as the sacred page reports: although true theology sings that all things were founded both together and at once; yet the perfection of the number marks the perfect work, fitted to its parts. If you lead this six through the theorems of the first cardinal range ^b, it stands out, excellent: for it alone confines itself within its own region, knowing to have a limit: neither does it diminish the sum, nor does it wish to transcend the sum, being unfolded by its parts ^c: the sixth part indeed is one; two is the third; three is the half; these restore six.

[144] Do you wish that I relate another thing, at which you will wonder more, reader? Come hither, and relate it. that their perfection may shine forth from the perfection of the number six. The parts being led into a row [*], and the same mixed again, this six constructs the δεκὰς ^d (That is: the number ten). The sixth part is the μονὰς ^e (That is: the unit), the first progression of number: it enters first: for the third is the δυὰς ^f (That is: two), and holds the second seat; it is the fount of parity: and the half is the τριὰς ^g (That is: three), this the third order receives; hence flows imparity: when the sixth part applies the μονάς to the middle, the τριάς; and from these flows the kindly τετρὰς ^h (That is: four): when the third fits together the δυάς and the τριάς with the middle; the Πεντὰς ⁱ (That is: five) arises from these. The parts, combined in every way by an arranged lot, restore indeed the Ἕξα ^k (That is: six). When the sixth part with the whole begets the serviceable ἑπτὰς ^l (That is: seven); this they declare sterile ^m: when the third with the whole creates the ὀκτάς ⁿ (That is: eight); hence flows the hope ἐλπὶς to live after ashes ^o: the whole with the middle numerically begets ἐννέα [*] (That is: nine); this triples the τριάς: the μονάς, superadded to these, numbers πάντων τέλος [*] (That is: the end of all), and advances into the decad [*]. Thus a lasting reward will follow the merit of the work, which the δεκὰς figures forth [p]. This remains as true, as that the sun is above all things; nor does reason waver. Do I seem to you, reader, to have elicited the senary symbols too little? If you can, put forth another number famous by a like reasoning; and let this six too yield its place. But if it is not possible; learn that the triumphs of my Prelate are perfect, which the number contains, which you would now rightly have called συνεργὸν [*] (That is: the co-worker) of God [q].

[145] Whatever remains of labor, you will dispatch better by prayer, with a modest effort. Thence he invokes the Holy Trinity. O clement Trinity, fount also of our trinity. For all is subject to three: they say Οὐσίαν, δύναμιν (essence, power), and ἐνέργιαν (operation); without which there is no φύσις [r] (That is: nature). There is also a trinity bordering on our soul, by which the image of God is made: this is called Νοῦς (mind), and λόγος (reason), also διάνοια [s] (That is: understanding); this too you bestow. Come then, and grant me to reach the wished-for goals, supreme God, Trinity. Yet lest any tediums come upon my exhausted mind; you being leader, we advance.

NOTES.

BOOK SIX.

CHAPTER I.

St. Germanus's arrival at the then royal city of the people of Ravenna, most pleasing to the emperor and the rest; the frequency of his miracles there.

[146] A foregoing fame, rushing, had roused the Latin world, that Germanus, lately departed from his native shores, was about to approach swift Ravenna by a sure reckoning: How he was desired and received at Ravenna. this learned, the peoples bore it in varied talk; in cities and villages, through crossroads and through squares this the man, this the woman, this then both the infant and the old man, this the youth, and whatever middle thing separates the youth and the old man; strong voices shook all things; all things grew hot; all things insisted with vows: Germanus the rich, Germanus at last the poor, roared everywhere with resounding clamor that he would come. So great is the love for the Saint, so great the insistence in the crowd to see the Pontiff and to bring back sure health: and although, in respect of the labor plainly undertaken [*], impatient, he pressed on his journey; yet a very great ardor scarcely bore the obstructing bonds and delays, rebuking his sluggish step with biting breast. Thus delay is ever said to accumulate thirst to desires: which, if, deferred, they subside, were certainly not desires [*], those were not desires. At last you are received, O Prelate most pleasing to the world, long awaited; although not by the wished-for lot ^a: catching indeed, after your custom, the nocturnal silences. Yet it was not possible there to avoid the sagacious watches; nor did the fraud conceived deceive the desirous, but that they both beheld you, and enjoyed the beheld. Peter [*], powerful both in merit and in name of the Prince of the church, by chance kept the apostolic flock in the said city, and gleaming with much probity.

II.

[147] Then too, now a young man, Valentinian with his mother How Valentinian then reigned with his mother; and concerning his reception. bearing the Romulean scepters, bent the reins of affairs, greatest in empire, great in deeds and in name ^b. Placidia the mother had formed the boy, distinguished in the cult of the Catholic faith, from the tender nail, worthy one day of his stock and of his paternal scepters. And although he excelled all in the order of power (being father of the fatherland, and moderator of the great world;) so great a love of religion had filled their breasts, that to the servants of Christ, placed in a different part, with his pious mother he paid a full measure of honor and office. Thus he adorned the scepters of his paternal honor, now even a lover of sober [*] virtue. Germanus, entering the walls of the great city, they receive, with how great piety it befitted to treat the Father. The lot of things being turned, you would see how the following pomp of the crowd pressed him, shrinking, with contending zeal: by the edict of the prince all the nobles run to meet him; the mixed populace hastens; then the sacred clergy of the church rushes in a dense column: these applaud with praises, those leap with applauses, and salute the common glory with equal piety.

III.

[148] A very great ardor of mind had breathed upon the august ones, to heap up the Man with services. The most cautious queen, How the queen and the Bishop in turn sent dishes to each other. building an ample vessel with royal foods, yet not mixed with the fat of any flesh, sends it to the Pontiff. Such a gift being received, he distributes all the viands to his own ministers: he claims the silver, about to break it for the wretched needy. Thence he compensates the conspicuous gift with a gift; and the wooden platter is filled with cheap and modest bread, which platter the Prelate brought forth for sparing uses: it is sent to the augusta. Having embraced the gift reverently, she receives it, and, as if she took heavenly things, stores it; glad at the gift given, but gladder at the gift received. How dear the gift flowing from the Prelate was, soon clearly appeared; because she ordered both the wood to be enclosed in gold, and the bread to be preserved for various remedies. O matter certainly most worthy of the eternal calendars! O grace, which bendest the sublime minds, and subduest to Christ the necks of worldly pride! O queen, venerating the pious power in the Prelate! O Prelate, to whom now the Roman power defers! Nor [*] will it be lacking by much, but that the ethereal axis will defer you to the supernal ones with thousands, you more swiftly following the stars.

IV.

the square, surveying all things with a placid step, and came to the place where the public dungeons had condemned to darkness a crowd of the guilty by a wretched lot, and those whose steps, bound, were immersed in hollow wood, it being uncertain whether they would rather wish, or could fear, to end their day by tortures: the rest of hope grows torpid. Do not tremble, men, nor addict yourselves to death: not all safety is consumed: where none is thought to be, it will bring the wished-for relief, the calamity being withdrawn. And when it was learned by the wretched that the Priest was passing, they alike raise their voices lifted to the stars. He recognizes the causes of their grief, the people relating: he grieves, and compassion grips his ready mind: he calls with soothing piety the harsh ministers of the prison. They withdraw themselves from the sight of the Saint, because they could by no means loose the guilty, whom the nobles of the court had, by decree, ordered to plunge into horrendous death. Whither now at last to turn yourself, whither will you be able, O piety? I fear that you may not suffice to persist in your undertaking; or, if your mind is to persist, you may undergo an unbecoming repulse, the lot being tried. Behold, savagery both flees prayers, and spurns the one praying. It is better rather to explore the divine favor; and what men deny, to pray from the majesty of God: thus once, thus you were wont to overcome the rest.

[150] The Prelate bends his step into the penal buildings: he strews his limbs on the ground: bowed, he prays the Deity: he loosed by prayer. nor did piety frustrate the Man; and suddenly there lay open the grace, by which Christ had breathed upon his grateful Foster-child. Soon the prison, shaken from its lowest foundations, is loosed, and the rigid posts let down their bonds; the iron gate, the enclosures being loosened from their huge weight, lies open; you would see the hard knots wonderfully grow faint, and the triple chains abjure their use. The necks, unburdened of the grievous weight, are relieved, the necks, and hands, and feet, and whatever the truculent force had straitened with rigid iron in the body of the wretched; piety absolves what black rage had bound. O ever robust faith! to which is subject everything which nature denies, nature which the Omnipotent forbids to use fixed laws, if ever he urges otherwise, that the unusual should be, nature being witness, is proved; the assembly of the wretched rushes forth, their bonds removed, squalid, sluggish, bristling, miserable, shaggy, wasting; and bearing before them the empty knots with easy carrying, with which savagery had before bound their entangled limbs. The prison is at last left innocent after times, and opens to those entering a hall free from death. Into the bosom of the church, the triumph of peace going before, Germanus with wondrous piety inserts the returning cohort. That church, leaping with a new song, applauds.

[151] The fame of the great Father, furnished with blessed merits, went into the immense; and also the glory of signs How the increase of his signs and glory. its illustrious companion, roused the peoples to the holy doctrines, to hasten from all places, in which his lofty virtue was now long since learned. Although eloquence should now suffice me, such as the wonted bards demand in a hundred-singing throat, and with as many tongues, in song; yet I could not touch in modest words the individual miracles which the Father did on the Ausonian shores, God amplifying the gifts of his beloved dowry. Who did not draw the sought aid of medicine either for his limbs or for his soul? To whom, asking, did his vows not favor? Who did not feel him munificent, himself to be heaped with a gift? The stupid felt him a Doctor, the needy a father, felt him submissive to the least, and venerable at last to the highest; and, as Paul teaches, thus made all things to all, he strove to transfuse all into divine gains.

VI.

should be without a witness, six pontiffs are said to have sat beside the Saint, illustrious both in merit and in name, for a continuous time; whether when he brought forth miracles to the world, or tamed his body and limbs with crosses. These witnesses of his works remained for many days.

VII.

but now, trying to stretch my step further, I am pressed by the novelty of the material; then, weary with the weight [*], I cannot indeed go; it is a shame to lay down the burden. And would that, my subjects ever increasing to heaven, you would grant my words to increase, you who granted my words to be born! I would choose [*] to die under the burden, than to yield my undertakings. But what do I? Shall I let the former labor have perished? And, to whom it was given nearly [*] to reach the shore of the sea, shall I, at the obstacle of a single rock and trembling dread, give back my sails, and suffer myself to succumb to fault? Hither, Father, breathe upon me with huge vows, I pray, and refund into the caves of my breast the hopes poured afar; you to whom it was once possible to restore the vital soul to the dead limbs of one weighed down by a muddy mass. Yet I shall take from thence the proofs of your favor, if only you grant me duly to run through what I remember.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

There he raises a dead man; frees an energumen; foretells his death.

VIII.

[154] There was a certain Volusianus, of lofty name, and, after the old custom, a minister of the chancellery. How ... the son of Volusianus To him a son, exceedingly dear in his first years, was now nourishing the hope of posterity to be continued; he however, struck by the lash of an immoderate fever, wasted, unhappy; the plague rages in the inmost bones, nay, having now wasted his liquid marrows; by turns a cold and a pestiferous heat scorched the wretch, insane, miserable, immoderate; and, wearied of food, wearied at last of drink, an iron sleep persisted to thrust him into death. Now the physicians yield; the hope of safety is taken away; laments alone strike the trembling parents, about to close his lurid eyes in eternal death. But you brought your vows to the Saint nearly too late, friends. Swift death, which knows to spare none, forestalls. He however hastens, the assembly of the pious accompanying. A messenger meanwhile deters the goers from their undertaking, saying that there would be no reason by which the Prelate should weary himself, because the boy, ordered to yield to the last lot, had scattered the use of breath into the thin airs.

to persist in the pious office; nor did he defer. They find the limbs rigid, the fibers wasting, and the breast now congealed with lethal cold: and, as is to the Christ-worshippers both a wholesome rite and care, they commend the soul, having done with the perishable gifts by violent lot, to the King, to whom all things live. Hence they prepare to return. Then a huge lamentation is raised, and a mixed wailing of the peoples strikes the stars, confounding the mournful buildings with dire clamors. The pontiffs fix kisses on his holy hands; they pray that he would pity the mourning parents, and recall the dead man by his prayers from the lowest Avernus. He long withstood, by reason of holy modesty,

having rashly confessed that virtue is not to be sought, nor ought a trial of it to be made merely as much as you can do. Taught at last to yield to the commands of faith, he assents; hence he girds his mind with fair arms, which he knew to be the equipment of the supernal warfare: these the Hero brandishes, and orders the crowds to depart: hence he is strewn on the ground [*], so much the nearer to the stars; he fills the earth with weepings, strikes Olympus with a groan, and prays Christ with tears, and Christ with wailings.

and the soul, elicited from its lowest caverns, to return, by what power he can, he ordered to reweave the unwoven. Forthwith the limbs grow warm again, the joints being moved, and gradually the former [] senses resume their companies []; the blood being restored, its companion warmth revisits the bones: what sleep pressed, the eyes now breathe light; and now the fingers twinkle; now the tongue seeks to be moved: all the limbs exercise their vital figures. Nor before does the Prelate raise the limbs from the dust, striving close beside; until each rises, both the boy and the Prelate; this from death, that from weeping: Germanus raises the youth, snatched from savage death; raised, he inserts him into the rejoicing crowds. He comes forth new from death, and, his breath brought back, breathes again, sits up, is refreshed, looks around, shudders, and is astonished that he survives to himself: soon, his strength restored, he went out into solid strength with a straining breast. The glad face of the matter eluded the bitter mournings, and the received joys begot a festal day with raised voices: the magnified virtue of God touches the stars. Thus you, thus, O Christ, for your Servant soon to be with you, heap up the heraldings of praises. The highest glory to you, who are victor over bitter death: you command Tartarus to succumb to your chosen servants.

IX.

[157] The prince of the royal chamber at this time, and the guardian of the treasures, is said by chance to have been How he purged the boy of Accolius of the demon. Accolius, a eunuch famous with illustrious name. This noble man was then tormented by the loss of his foster-child, now a youth, now skilled in whatever art you would wish: By the breath of a demon, who, harmful with his own plague, dashes the captured minds with a foul crisis, when the monthly moon collects again its falling fires. By the prayers of the queen, pitying such things, he is offered to the Saint, about at last to be freed from his long calamity [*]. He receives him; and deferred him to be purged on that day; although it was his custom, only a word being sent before, to thrust the huge plagues from any body: for the blind enemy had so penetrated the wretch, and had settled even into his inmost and fluid marrows, as if it had been a sure home, or a special vessel addicted to malign uses by captive lot. This one the Father ordered to be shut up with himself toward night. Soon, as if compelled by bitter torments, the demon bursts forth from its blind lurking-places by the virtue of the word, and indicates that it had snatched the unhappy one under his tender years; that he was of its own right, if it please Germanus to yield him, because it was established that he had served it so many days. The Father did not bear these things; but ordered it to depart afar, nor after to try the proof of divine honor. It flees, and, driven forth, exhales into the thin airs. The purged youth is restored to the applauding court.

[158] He had come indeed, the Armoricans asking, How he obtained the cause of the Armoricans for the present at least. about to covenant pardon for the crime of the perverse ^a nation. The matter yielded to his vows; soon the emperor assented; all things stood [*] by the arbitration of the blessed Father. And that would indeed have been a most firm surety of peace; but the mobile nation, vomiting back the contagions of its old fraud, having meditated a pestiferous duel as usual, dared to arm the Roman axes against itself. By this both the intercession of the Pontiff was in vain, and whatever the imperial savagery had prefixed, forged against the wretched, was paid by an atrocious lot.

XI.

[159] While we are revolved through the wondrous acts of Germanus, Preparation for the future narration of his sacred passing. while it delights to mark his notable labors with the pen, and to comprehend by number what is innumerable; as though (which is a crime to say) he wrought rare things, so that they can deservedly succumb to our words, the better part of the matters lies torpid in dense darkness, certainly about to bring destruction to the trembling poet. And you, defrauded of the gift of a very great fruit, will one day complain, reader, with plaint and tears, if my Muse should decline to have put the finishing hand to the begun labor; since this is the sum of the labor, to run through with a liquid reed in what manner Germanus, a victor, entered upon life through the thresholds of death. Be it so: but my mind, foreboding grief, shudders to enter the funereal measures. O matter worthy to be kept silent! It delighted to commit the fighting one to a placid plectrum; shall I refuse to celebrate the victor with a ruddy triumph? The exile was pleasing; shall the reigning one not stand more pleasing? If you fear to say that he did with a mortal body; but frequent the immortal one with heaped praise. Truly immortal, truly he lives through the ages, he lives, and augments the empyrean cohorts with his splendor, joined to the Lord, at last conformed to Christ, and, what you may wonder more, united and unified, and man transfused into God, and made a θέωσις [*] (That is: a deification).

XII.

[160] φωσφόρος [*] (That is: the light-bearer) had loosed the lands, plunged in shade-wandering darkness, skilled to repair the native color to things, How his sacred passing and to withdraw the fire-born stars from the sky: and father Germanus, the solemn praise being performed, which exercises the matutinal slumbers with song, was giving mutual words concerning religion to the blessed prelates, Their ears unfolded, their senses collected, all laid up his happy words in their capacious mind. Why, eloquent Father, why do you delay through diverse things? Say what must be said; although it be sad to say, sad, menacing, querulous, lamentable, prodigious. At last, brethren beloved by Germanus in covenant, receive these things, and fix the matter deeply, he said: We have lived, and run down the appointed shores of our age; now, because a sure sentence remains for our race, and it is established that whatever created things are vigorous grow old, weakened, now the last things call; Christ, I say, calls; we must go: my soul, thrust into the penal prison, wishes to be loosed; and now, mindful of its origin, it refuses the sluggish contagions; willing, it seeks again the ether [*], it which drew its germ from the ether. Therefore, about to be dissolved and to go to the light [*] of the supernal ones, I take care to commit myself, and my end, to you.

there appeared to me a face, in the likeness of a noble power, confessing God; neither the voice nor the words sounded a man: it was Christ, he is wont to visit his own in this form. And his right hand being brought to me with soft effort, he smiled, and moreover added these things with ruddy mouth: Dear one, about to undertake a journey into foreign shores, receive the heavenly alms, the foreseen viaticum, the aids of the way. Moved then by such speech, I sought both the cause of the way, and the cause of the labor. Fear not, he said: you are recalled into your lofty fatherland; and Olympus now demands you back, an excellent citizen, where soon you will take perpetual rest without end; where the day runs without night, the times without time: both peace, and rest, and light, and perpetual glory. He said, and balanced himself into the ethereal airs. Thus the Father sang the last things of his western lot. The pontiffs drew the portents of the sleep to another sense, nor could they believe what they feared would happen: fear itself had taken away their faith. But the Prelate, panting to return into the bosom of his fatherland, more studiously insists to commit to all the cause of his last day; saying it was sufficiently learned by him, that he sufficiently knew what fatherland the Ruler of the world promises to his servants.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The Saint's disease; death; glory; inheritance; funeral; translation into the Gauls.

XIII.

[162] Scarcely had some suns passed, the space yielding; and a swift effect follows the presages of the Seer: How he was seized by languor. his most holy limbs are seized by a gentle pain, and now his feet grow torpid, now his soft legs waver, his eyes languish, dry in his dying body; all things totter; his mind alone both discerns and grasps God.

XIV.

[163] But when, by its progress, the disease began to grow fierce, How, the ailment growing heavier, the city was disturbed. the city began to tremble with fear, and to kindle heaven with mourning: Alas, lot forged of old for the earth-born colonists! Scarcely was it permitted to behold you; now, O best Father, do you leave us? Nor does Christ suffer his Client, dear through the ages, either to be tormented long, or to stand off from the gained kingdom, him to whom life was a martyrdom; nay, wearied by the too great mass of labors for about thirty years, the Moderator of things invites him into the supernal citadels.

XV.

[164] Among the augustae whom the world ever brought forth How, visited by the augusta, he asked to be carried back into his fatherland. happy Placidia, her pride of empire laid aside, visits the sick man, refreshes, embraces, seeks him; taught to submit her rigid head to the divine commands, she suggests that he declare, if his anxious mind desires anything: nor is there delay in furnishing, if the care of asking be not lacking. Soon the image of his fatherland grazed the Father's mind [*], which the Pastor, departing, had once left sad, while he preferred to expend himself on fraternal causes; the fatherland, ignorant of affairs, and unaware of the future lot, hung on the Prelate's return with an unarmed vow.

O people, O fatherland? Why do you still feed inert hopes? The fates prepare another thing, nor does the greatest Author of things this time attend the willing ones with his wonted piety. What is better, and what is more advantageous, he prefers. The time is at hand, that Germanus may take his merited triumph without end, climbing the Capitols of the liquid sky; nor does the shining pomp suffer him to be circumscribed, or to sit within brief walls; rather, poured through the Latin shores, it seeks to bring forth spectacles to the four-cleft world. Others will behold; you will possess the beheld; and you will take him in your bosom, and cherish him with soft foliage. Your Prelate is not forgetful of his old love; and, dead, he teaches how much, living, he loved you: he seeks you again; sought again, you will give pious incense to the buried one. This special gift indeed he resolved to ask of the queen; never did she more unwillingly concede to the one asking; and she felt that it must not be denied to the Man, what, otherwise than he would wish, could never happen. Thrice blessed Father, thrice splendid, thrice venerable, we pay you, after Christ, songs of every kind, your flock and people, to whom so many bowels of piety, so many joys of mind, so great hopes, so great advantages, you bring back at your returning; with whom all things are right, without whom nothing would be, but frivolous, blind, sinister.

XVI.

[166] Why should I recount the peoples rushing from the Latin world The concourse of the peoples to the sick man. whither the physician languishes? The same ardor remains to all to see him, and to concur to the Saint with worthy services: and they do so, as each can, as the order demands: all the time is modulated by psalm-singing choirs; instead of tears praises, instead of mourning a hymn resounds, inviting the supernal cohorts to the last rites of the Father.

XVII.

[167] The seventh Phoebus had breathed upon the earthly things with rapid car, returning more illustrious from the western waves: How his holy soul was loosed from the flesh. but the spirit, burning to emerge from the bodily ^a bonds, flashes out, and, free, is transferred into the liquid airs, the pole hymning and singing the glad alalagma ^b: the Supernal companions surrounded him with wondrous splendor, and bear the glad victor across the fiery stars, and set him at the throne of the supreme King through the ages.

XVIII.

[168] He marvels at the sublime summits of the placid kingdom, he marvels certainly at the unknown light of Olympus; A description of his glory, translated to the heavens. and now under his feet he discerns the clouds and the stars; he looks down on the gleaming lights of the rosy sun; he looks down on the dewy stars of the cold moon, and whatever star exercises its wandering recurrences,

the mass of the earth, and the darkness poured around, the Pneumata [*] of the winds, and the swelling of the tempests: why the tranquil spring, why torrid summer comes forth; autumn teems with grapes, winter with frosts: and whatever the structure of the three-square world revolves, and whatever they say succumbs to physical causes; whatever things are vigorous in numbers, measures, or weights; whatever things lie hidden, and whatever lie open in the hinge of things, he beholds the cause of all with pure light: he discerns all things beneath himself, Christ above all things. Nay, he even laughs at the pomps and summits of the age, the horrendous kings, the diadems, scepters, tyrants, and the hoards sought with much fervor of crimes, the garments mocked gilded with gold of thin distinction, and whatever worldly furniture can vary; he laughs besides at the κακοπάθεα [*] (That is: the ill passions) of the vain mind, the joys, and new hopes, angers, and black fears, and the smoky torches which envy is wont to scatter: he treads these underfoot, these at last the Victor tramples; nay, subduing the venoms of the pestiferous dragon, he crushes its head, and beats down its crests and hissing necks; it lies prostrate, not daring to raise itself against him.

XIX.

[169] Meanwhile Christ himself girds his head with a triple crown: which is the first, blooms with thrice-ten jasper; How he was triply crowned by Christ. the next which rises, stands sixfold-driven tenfold; the third, most beautiful, gleams ruddy with a hundred rows ^c. O glory! O most noble Inhabitant of the great heaven! Delight of the world, Prelate, hail through the ages, and thrice and four times it delights, or a thousand times to add; hail: and hail, and may you fare well, and greetings, and supremely fare well.

XX.

[170] What remains; a strong strife having arisen among the parties, each eagerly demands back the garments of the Prelate; How they eagerly plundered the spoils of the dead one. at these they gape, these each labors to have snatched for himself: from the highest riches: to grow rich with a modest prey is the wish of all, since it cannot suffice to all. It is brought forth into the midst, but the court claims a part, the pontiffs, the lot being conferred, seize a part. The impatient queen takes the case, bearer of the Saints, for a divine gift; soon Peter, the most holy prelate of the city, exults at the spoil of the kindly pledge, and snatches the hair-shirt, himself snatches the sacred cowl; the rest the pontiffs strive to tear apart from the old man, and one pre-claims the girdle, another the cloak; and two plundered the tunic, two the little cloak. These monuments, Father, you leave through the Ausonian shores; by the edict of Caesar to be carried back to the known city, with these Ravenna pays you your merited honors.

XXI.

because no small glory is owed to so great a Man. Accolius embalmed the body with solid aromatic spice; and queen Placidia raised it out with garments and a soft bier, and covered his holy limbs more carefully; hence the journey, and companions, expenses, and vehicles, and supplies of the way, or all the commodities of traveling, the augustus furnishes, and follows the ministers chosen for this lot with generous gifts of royal munificence [*]; the pontiffs, with whom this care burns most greatly, both to furnish the present service, and to watch for the future. Then whatever the excellence of religion demands, they are fitted from wherever into all the uses of the funeral. Thus, in a distinguished column, they are set out toward your shores, Gaul (applaud), glad at the received Prelate.

XXII.

[172] Nor would I lead you exempt from divine gifts, Placentia, not unfruitful in Italic soil, How, coming to Piacenza, he restored a paralytic woman. to whom soon the holy funeral deigns to come; and which, placed by night within the secret places of the church, while piety keeps it with vigil and hymn and light, by chance a matron of the place enters, whom a passion long ago, called paralysis, had weakened in her wretched limbs: now, her sinews being dissolved, her frame lax [*], one might see the wretch live with dead limbs. This one, well-trusting, asks to be placed under the holy bier. She is placed under; and, reclining the whole night, how long it is, she drinks in the heavenly medicines, Christ quickening: she is drawn together into firmness; her sinews being brought back to their former state, she takes on a placid vigor, the plague being lulled to sleep. The light returns, and they resume to press on the begun path: the coffin being raised, the woman rises most healthy, having obtained a wholesome life by the gift of the Dead one. The people marvel that she walks on her native soles, who hitherto had been powerless of all office. Neither do they report the number, nor can the rest be bound in song, which were then performed through the surveyed shores. Nay, we are compelled to bind up the twice-triple cord ^d with a knot, and, the goals being snatched, to end the course. The chosen symbols of a devout mind will tell other things elsewhere.

XXIII.

[173] Gaul, exercised by ethereal admonition and divine commands, directs its column into the Pennine Alps, How all Gaul met the funeral. about to receive its Parent with double piety; because he is its own, and because brought back from a distant region: love urges the citizens, reverence certainly urges them; and what they revere, they love; what they love, that indeed they revere: happy; if however with each perpetual vow they both fear and love the one to be feared and ever to be loved.

XXIV.

Therefore some level the ways, the obstacles being scattered; some, bridges being built, connect the shores; these resound with psalms; those applaud with concerts; others shoulder the bier; many cast expenses; those who can, rejoice to succeed to the burden by turns; those who cannot, what alone at last they can, they conduct him with their eyes, and follow with eyes and voice: the lights, constructed with manifold apparatus of things, cloud over the ruddy fires of the Phoebean lamp. If so great a pomp of things is given to the perishable ash; how great a glory marks the soul in the supernal camps? How great in heaven; if so great on the ground? You giving it, Redeemer, the death of your Saints is always precious. With this splendor, Father, carried out from the Latin shores, in a magnificent order you are restored to your beloved city, where a noble sepulchre keeps your most holy limbs. But your perpetual spirit, blooming with the lamp of merits, lives, and exalts the ages with eternal signs.

NOTES.

EPILOGUE.

The benefits of God and of St. Germanus toward the author, the chief causes of this work.

XXV.

[175] Now, now to you, Jesus, we consecrate merited honors, you who, propped on your paternal throne, govern all things, Conclusion the Word creating all things, belched forth from the breast of the Father, King, and beginning, peace, and light from light, Art, and counsel, law, and the concord of things, and cause of causes, but also fiery fount of souls, the same beginning, the same middle, the same end; you who never are not, who never bore not to be; you always have being, who furnish being to all; the pure and simple essence of existing things; infused into the members, running through all things of the world, whole through the whole, nor does one part detain you. You, the ray of the Father, you, O Christ, coeval with the Father, we worship, after these things, born from the chaste Virgin by the accession of the Pneuma Spirit flowing from the supernal citadel by the decree of the supreme Τριάς (That is: Trinity), by which all things subsist. Thus the Word becomes flesh, the Word which had once made the flesh; that flesh conversely might become the wonderful Word. Thus we confess you, by a chaste reasoning, Σαρκάλογον [*] (That is: Word-made-flesh), true offspring of God, most true offspring of man; true man and God; hence created, thence Creator: thus a doubled φύσις (nature) governs one person. You, the pious lover of the human race through the ages, wiped clean from crime the world, suffused with blood; sent down, the repairer of life, to the Stygian shades, that at last, the spoils being received from the prostrated enemy, you might return a victor into the shining οὐρανίας [*] (That is: heavenly) citadels; where the many-eyed Seraphim receive you, modulating with melodious song the manifold δωξαλογίαν [*] (That is: doxology), and spread their six wings with soft applauses, burning with the highest love of the highest Deity. Here you, dispensing all things with your star-bearing scepter, distribute the multiform gifts to your own servants. This one, having obtained the interest of five talents, diligently exercises his seasons in active causes; this one, better in knowledge, compensates his doctrines with deeds, having testified that he brought back a twin talent: there is one, to whom only an abundance of doctrine succeeds; this one will be reckoned a debtor of one talent. And would that he, driven into the black darkness, might not wash away the losses of his merchandise with eternal mourning!

there are also to me the cautious tasks of my talent: to each stand the interests of his own merchandise; although the money buried in muddy caves condemn the inert servant both of theft and of fraud. And when the last day shall have made you returned to the fields, and you shall have led the equal judgment among your servants, this one will receive thanks and rewards of the enriched treasury, admitted into the seats and joys of the supernal kingdom; that one will pay by merited penalties for his neglected profits [*], thrust out from the fair walls of the placid hall. Reckoning this in my mind, and fearing the immensity of the peril, by what means I might withdraw myself from so great a fault, I diligently insisted: revolving very many things, at last something impelled me hither (nor do I hold it certain, whether chance or God) to render Germanus illustrious by the melic muses, to try first the vein of my wit by this peril, to strike this rudiment [*] of untried poetry: many things gave me courage; love and reverence of the Saint, the very great material, then above the rest, that my mind, conscious of the matters, admonished me both to owe to the Man and to owe too much. Nearly a seven-year-old boy, my parents enrolled me to the services of the Saint, both void of sense, and unarmed with cautious reason. He received the tender foster-child, softly pitying; he nourished me with bread; gave coverings; prepared fomentations; advanced me in body; then amplified me in senses, bestowing a lively heart upon the difficult art; he drove off languors; subdued all perils; absent, he aided me by prayers, present by his power; he conferred every good; repressed every sinister thing. Should this one depart unpraised in our songs?

the gravity of the material, the dryness of a dry tongue, then the appearance of the work, the vile person of the poet, and that the praise of God is uncomely on wicked lips. A present confidence came to the trembling bard; that you could quicken the plectrum of a slippery palate, you to whom it is the custom to restore easy speech to the mute. And I drove myself, having striven, into strong prayers, thus reckoning, thus adoring you, Moderator of things: If yours are the things which I ask, God; if, you bestowing, Germanus obtained the power to be able these things, do you duly, to the one asking, bring the gifts of the tongue, whose are the gifts of the tongue: grace gave the willing; let grace concede the being-able. You heard, and if I could anything, you gave the being-able. Hence let your praise ever grow together in my mouth, King of kings, kindly Father of men, bright hope of your own, whom his own creation jubilates with collected sounds, the stars, the poles, the clouds, and the whole machine of the poles, and the sun, and the sister [*], the snows, and the waters, and every spirit, heat, and frost, day, and the clouds of dense night, and the dry land, and the mountains, hills, and the blue of the sea, and the rivers, and the founts, and thence all living things, and whatever the earth carries, whatever the high air advances, whatever the watery whirlpool carries into diverse uses.

and what it pleased you to give, may it please you to receive willingly; as once you blessed the widow with the least mite; and, pardoning, break the bonds of my fault: for I am pressed with much dread of punishments. Behold, three decades now turn my wretched life,

there is added to these a second year, as my age swells ^a; and I recall that I have never done any good thing: hence cares goad me, and gnaw the inmost parts of my mind. Now relieve the fallen; now purge from filth, Creator; strip me of past things, and protect me in present ones, and render me cautious enough from future faults. Grant me to remember you, as it is necessary to remember, before the golden band flows apart, its cord broken, or the silver cord pour forth its liquid waves, and the cistern wear away the wheel, the inflowing fount wear the urn: then, whenever [*] the slender substance of my life shall have left these limbs, and the proclaimed material of ash shall lie dead, do you, clement Redeemer, spare, lest any force of the tartarean minister snatch me, nor let the flame of truculent gehenna devour this soul. And when the end shall have consumed [*] the four-cleft world, and you shall be present, a judge, in the power of your Father, and the judgment shall sit with you, the books being open, alas! who then will defend me from the impending wrath? Propped on a perpetual robe, prelate Germanus, I believe then to discern you among the supernal nobles: therefore then, holy Father, have pity on your bard; and when you shall have looked down from afar on me bound with the rank goats [*] (for this the monuments of my crimes promise me) then remember to strike the King with benign prayers. Certainly he will be moved, and, moved, will say to his minister: Germanus asks; it is not right to have spurned the one praying; transfer this goat as soon as possible into the snowy lambs: let the lamb go to the right, let it be adorned with a fair fleece.

NOTES.

THE MIRACLES

OF ST. GERMANUS, bishop of Auxerre.

TWO BOOKS.

BY THE SAME AUTHOR, ST. HERICUS THE MONK.

From our very ancient parchment codex of Lyons, collated with other manuscripts and the Labbean edition.

Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre (St.)

BHL Number: 3462, 3463, 3464

BY ST. HERICUS THE MONK. FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

That the Life and Miracles of the Lord Germanus, bishop of apostolic memory and to be named with the highest reverence, The Acts of St. Germanus without any supports of letters, in an idle, or rather profane, silence, lay hidden longer than was fair, antiquity, the mistress of things, more diligently consulted, testifies. For it is established that until the times of holy Censurius the bishop, who fourth after the most blessed Germanus ruled the church of Auxerre, this business remained unattempted by all, while, through the successions of times, all the younger ones, content with the simple relation of the elders, never judged that these things could grow obsolete from memory; since common inurbanity then believes itself best to provide for long duration, when it has made all the illustrious and greatest things flow down to posterity by successive narration alone. This matter, no less insane than improvident, sometimes bred pernicious losses to the heraldings of the Saints, because you would find rarely anyone who would give credit to unskilled rusticity; while the things which they bring, partly fabulous, partly inept and ridiculous, and through this are esteemed unworthy of the sanctuaries of letters. Thus it happened, that certain things, utterly unknown, others flowing insincerely to the knowledge of those succeeding, most undutifully obscured the lofty memories of many and great Saints.

[2] But if to anyone perhaps curious of things, those things which are related in the Deeds about so great a Prelate, forty years after his death, seem less ratified, less full, less at last propped on truth, because before these things were published some courses of times are said to have flowed between; this one, the reason being more diligently inspected, in that he does not think rightly, we chastise by the patronage of the antiquity adduced. For, as is found noted in the archives of our church, the most blessed Germanus being taken from human affairs, Alodius, substituted into the episcopate, fulfilled the function of his pontificate for nearly thirty years. This one having done with life, on account of the rage of the barbarians emerging within the Gauls, the privileges of ecclesiastical liberty, submerged, its dignity overwhelmed, its splendor blunted, lost all the force of Christian strength: and so the city remained widowed of a bishop for ten years, which being passed, Fraternus, third from blessed Germanus, is substituted for the pontificate. He, on the day he was ordained, on the same also, killed by the same barbarians, was crowned with martyrdom. To this one the aforementioned Censurius is substituted in the fourth place. From the departure therefore of the most blessed Germanus up to this Censurius, more or less forty years are gathered, running down in the above-mentioned order ^a.

[3] while there still survived eyewitnesses of the matters, He, when he flourished in the dignity of the ecclesiastical primacy, Constantius, exceedingly most learned, of Lyons, by the impulse or prayers of holy Patiens, then bishop of that city, most excellently published a book on the life and virtues of the most blessed Germanus, with a wondrous elegance of sentences, and a copious selection of words; when through the mouths of all the memory of the Saint, still recent, breathed, and several, who had seen him living in the world, survived; whose undoubted relation bore the mighty deeds of his sanctity, still pure, and not yet having suffered the stain of variation. Nor indeed would I deny that some of those six pontiffs, who continually sat beside the holy Man staying in Italy, were then too present in human affairs; who, according to the trust of the same historiographer, were witnesses of his works for a long time.

[4] At that time the city of Lyons, first and chief of the Gauls, had raised its head above all also in the profession of science and the discipline of the arts: for wisdom, which is to be sought only for its own sake, Constantius, a presbyter of Lyons, wrote, offended by the base gains of certain men, by the undisciplined life of many, and finally by the dishonorable sloth of all who sought it lukewarmly, the lack of teachers intervening, and the studies of the earlier ones nearly collapsed, deadly hating this our region, placed for itself for some time a familiar consistory at Lyons. There, the skill of the liberal disciplines, as they call them, and the skill which to run through in order is at this time only a fable, so grew strong, that, as regards the schools, it was called the public gymnasium of the world on this side of the sea. And, that I may seem to bring some reason, we gather this by this argument, that whoever [*] was affected with the zeal of professing the arts, did not deserve to be inscribed among the professors before, examined here by explored diligence, he departed. To which matter the Satirist too gives assent; who, that the matter may shine forth by the circumstance of an example, in the first book of his work, having inveighed sharply and long against the unchaste, relates that they grow pale by the consciousness of frequented crime, just as the rhetor about to speak at the Lyonnese altar ^b. Thus it is clear that this city once bestowed both palms and names on the wise.

[5] These things we have briefly touched, that you may notice that to the reviewing of the miracles of blessed Germanus there came from so great a city not any unskilled man, elegantly and most accurately; but confessing that he omitted many things. but a most eloquent one, called by the industry of his pontiff. Who, although, as the presence of the subjoined work testifies, he was conspicuous for eloquence, to be brought forth in modest and finished sentences, most loving of brevity, and finally more than fair studious of avoiding loathing; yet, convicting himself guilty of presumption, not without a hesitation of shame he confesses that he undertook the labors of so great a difficulty, to be justified altogether from the abjection of his own humility, and, besides that he knowingly passed over many things, most worthy of manifold praise. The work indeed being completed, and combed over with laborious diligence long with himself, under the pretext of the aforementioned holy Censurius, he afterward directed it to the church of Auxerre, to be further promulgated by the author himself. Where, since by the truth, to which we are by no means grateful, he testifies, God being conscious of secrets, that he kept silent about more of the deeds of the Lord Germanus, known and proved (whence he denounces himself too as guilty, in suppressing what divine virtue wondrously worked for the profit of all ^c;) it is long since that I brought into my mind that it would be fitting to religion, conducive to salvation, certainly profitable to edification, if some of these things which were omitted, or which could be attained by knowledge, should befall to be alleged in letters by some of the more skilled.

[6] Which, because it is hitherto unaccomplished, and it is established most certainly that these things, as they should not be passed over with impunity, so should not be touched unfruitfully; [Some of these Hericus will bring forth; then he will descend to the later miracles.] although I have no consciousness of this possibility, except through divine aid—by me indeed and by those like me, namely the unskilled, it is not to be attempted, but I undertake a work full of devotion toward God, and of affection toward the Saint; the more led into hope, because he who is universally praised by the office of the whole creation, if men suppress his heraldings, asserts that the stones will cry out. We reckon that arrangement of the undertaken business to stand most ratified, if, prefacing some of those things which, done through him before his glorious passing, are borne sufficiently asserted by relation, we may proceed in order to those things which afterward, to his sacred memory, we both saw done, and learned were done. But, lest the reader be angry at a succinct work prefaced too prolixly [*], the Lord animating us, let us approach our purpose.

NOTES.

BOOK ONE.

CHAPTER I.

St. Germanus's colloquy with a dead disciple, the resuscitation of a dead man; and other miracles of the living Saint passed over by Constantius.

[7] That the journeys of the holy Man always shone with heavenly miracles, both the authority of the Deeds, and the most well-known monuments of the places Concerning Michomeris, through which he passed, confess: for it was not right that the sidereal lamp should be clouded by worldly darkness, which God, sweetly disposing all things, had placed on a candlestick on high, to shake off the gloom of errors. As therefore he had devoted his own head, from his heart, to ecclesiastical utilities, it happened by reason of a certain business that he undertook a necessary journey with chosen companions. And when he had now advanced somewhat, one of his disciples, who had followed the holy Man from Ireland ^a, whose name was Michomeris, chosen for this very expedition, because he had not been able to go out with him, set out after the footsteps of the Master; who, when he had come to the fort whose name is Tharnodorum ^b, and is distant from the city [*] nearly eighteen miles, intercepted by languor, lay down there; and, a few days intervening, having done with life, was committed to burial by the faithful on the slope of the same rock.

[8] his monk and disciple. It happened that the most blessed Germanus, after some days, the journey being retraced, came to the same place (I believe he learned the death of the disciple, the Spirit forewarning him): and, approaching the place where he had been entombed, prayer being sent before, he ordered the sepulchre to be opened. Michomeris, called by name, the vital use being resumed, is said to have sat up: of whom the most holy Pontiff, having inquired more curiously what he did, or whether he enjoyed rest, is confirmed to have received this of answer; Thanks, he said, most holy Father, I both give and hold to your excellent merits, since by the intercession of your blessedness I have suffered nothing troublesome, nothing sad; all things stand placid to me, all things wholesome. To whom the Pontiff: Do you wish, he says, still to sweat with me in the office of preaching; or, as you had begun, to rest? Then he: Provided, he said, it be not grievous to your sanctity, I have no need to travel further from Christ, to whom, as I have begun, to cling is best for me; and I pray to be recalled as quickly as possible by your prayers, whence I have now been called away. The Pontiff assenting to which foretold thing ^c, he laid down his head again, and, all marveling, rested in peace. I would confidently say that he then dwelt in Germanus,

he who once called forth the four-days-dead Lazarus from the now-closed tomb. This miracle both then widely lay open, and even now, most celebrated, is revolved through the mouths of all: for both an oratory was afterward constructed in that very place to blessed Michomeris, where divine benefits are even today heaped upon those who worthily venerate the holy one of God.

II.

[9] That indeed which they relate was perpetrated at the city Aquilisima, or, Concerning the wondrous dedication of an altar. as more frequent usage surnames it, Egolisma ^d, is the more robustly believed, the more its indications are shown, set before the eyes. When he had been brought thither by the continuation of his journey, and, honored with a worthy reception, and one which indeed befitted an apostolic man, he was strenuously asked to consecrate and dedicate a new altar of the older church to the honor of the Prince of the Apostles; he complied with those asking, by the office of charity. And when he performed this with solemn rite, the innocence and purity of his holy hands is soon declared by a heavenly miracle. For wherever, and as often as, through the horns and the middle of the altar he marked the effigy of the cross with the liquor of the sanctified ointment; the marble, liquefied by the impression of his thumb, so gave way beneath, that you would think a snowy softness had yielded to the impulse of his finger. The same marble exists even today, placed upon the altar, both for a spectacle and for veneration, which, consecrated by the blessing of the holy Man, attests the singular grace of his merits.

III.

[10] In the suburb of Orléans there is a church dedicated in his name, [That, as he was returning to his own city, holy Anianus, instructed through the spirit, met him.] more frequently illustrated by his merits; of which they relate this was the primary reason for its construction: when, the ecclesiastical affairs being composed, by which he was most greatly pressed, alacritously returning to his own home, he was now near, overhanging the city of Orléans; forthwith the bells of the older basilica, no one impelling them, shaken, with a spontaneous concert (which is wonderful to say) began to be the heralds of his coming. Then there was to that city holy Anianus the bishop ^e, a man himself too glorious in sanctity and miracles, who, taught by an internal revelation of the spirit, all the columns of clergy and people being gathered from everywhere, went forth outside the city to meet the most blessed Germanus, received him, venerated him, and, worn out from so great a journey, refreshed him with as much diligence of services as befitted. O with how great joys was that day spent! How much of honor, how much of treasure that city bore, propped on two apostolic columns, fattened with twin olives, illustrated with most splendid candelabra! And so in that place of ground, where the Priests solemnly received each other with mutual embraces, a church afterward constructed in the name of blessed Germanus, by the expenditure of divine benefits, offers a memorable testimony to his merits.

IV.

[11] After therefore they had, feasted together with spiritual sweetness in Christ, Concerning the dead man raised on the journey. filled themselves alternately with the most joyous dishes of virtues; the man equally excellent in merits, Anianus, accompanied the most holy Germanus, about to accomplish that which remained of the journey, to nearly the second milestone from the city, with the affection of brotherly benevolence. As they were taking their journey, behold, a widow woman, bearing the corpse of her only son to be entombed, prostrate at the feet of the Saints, prayed more insistently that they would have mercy on her; that their presence was offered to her not by chance, but by heavenly disposition; that she believed without hesitation that, by the merits of both, the son could be restored to the maternal solitude. Long it was doubted between the two, long and pertinaciously contended about the matter to be attempted; while the one judges that the miracle should be presumed by blessed Anianus, because it was his diocese; and the other confirms that, if anything was to be done, it could be more quickly obtained by the most holy Germanus. Yielding therefore partly to the maternal tears, partly to the insistence of the prelate, trusting in charity which bears all things, the most blessed Germanus applies himself to prayer after his wonted manner, and, having purchased the life of the deceased with most abundant tears, with huge joy of all, recalled to the mourning mother her son, unharmed, from the funeral. A church constructed to his sanctity in the same place afterward shone with innumerable virtues; in which is shown even today the tomb of the raised man, who afterward, the lawful space of his life being run through, for the perpetual memory of the miracle, merited an honorable burial there. The place too of the turf, on which the Saint, prostrate in prayer, lay, exists even now for great veneration to all, a wooden railing being set against it, and defending the little plot of the consecrated earth from the feet of those passing through.

[12] The same territory contains on the public causeway a certain village, which, from of old called Basilicae, That a falling wall, shows even now the famous evidence of a miracle long ago wrought there. For a certain inhabitant of that place, conspicuous by birth, opulent in wealth, was building on his estate a huge church, workmen being hired; whose mass being now to some extent extended into the height, when, to complete that which remained of the work, the anxious diligence of the builders pressed on, on a certain day, the architects standing on the top of that building, and wonderfully hastening the work, the wall on which they stood was so broken through and cut apart from the top to the bottom of the foundation, that, its parts wavering, it threatened ruin to itself, and to those standing on it a death near from the very footstep. Whether the work collapsed by the unskillfulness of the masons, or the material was offered for the performing of a miracle, by the dispensation ordering human affairs in an orderly manner [*], this indeed I would not easily discern.

[13] withstood at the presenting of the saving sign. By chance the most holy Germanus, going on the opposite side along the public way, when he beheld the peril, raised his hand on high, and, the sign of the cross being expressed, forbade the fall to the wall now already inclining and pendent. At the presenting of the most holy hand the wall stood still, and, as if received by a most strong prop, recovered itself into the rectitude of its former state. Thus by the effect of one virtue, he both withdrew the wall from ruin, and the men from death. Which indeed being done, and declared by great heraldings of his excellent merits, he continued the proposed journey, as he had begun. After some time, the work being at last completed, and the fabric of the temple consummated, when now it was treated of the consecration, the master of the work, touched by a prudent sentence, said: No one will more competently illustrate this with his name, than the most holy Germanus, by whose sublime merits it is known to have been long since begun. This church stands even today, most illustrious by the title of the most blessed Germanus, most frequent in the exhibition of miracles, showing even now the same wall, notable by a chinky scar, and bearing in itself the testimonies of apostolic sanctity ^f.

VI.

[14] Rarely anywhere did he either stay or teach, where the magnificent monuments of his singular excellence do not endure: Concerning the hazel fixed in the ground. to pious minds thinking rightly of God, a paucity noted from among many will satisfy. These indeed are related the more safely, the more certainly they are known, the more presently they are beheld. Taking his journey through the district of Toucy, received by a meeting multitude of the peoples, he sat down in a certain place, and, about to form the meeting crowd by the exhortation of the saving word, he fixed in the ground the hazel rod which by chance he was carrying in his hand. The preaching unfolded (wonderful it was to see, wonderful it is even to say), it had now brought forth little branches and leaves. This, in testimony of his sanctity, grew strong into a hazel of immense strength, and even today is venerated by all with huge caution, lest anyone dare either to pluck a branch from it, or to perpetrate anything unbecoming under it, or around it. That place now too is commonly called, At the cambutta staff ^g of St. Germanus.

VII.

[15] In the district of Gâtinais ^h also, in the neighborhood of the monastery of Gaiac, the river Odonna being interposed, there is a beech of wondrous magnitude, tall in trunk, most vast in the circuit of its branches, dark in density; which likewise is asserted without hesitation to have grown together by the virtue of the holy Pontiff, when, after a sermon held there to the people, he had fixed deeper into the earth the staff by which he ruled his senile limbs. This, for its unusual magnitude, drew many from the neighboring regions to the spectacle of itself. There is a church beside the tree, distinguished by his name; and the same place is popularly called, At the beech of St. Germanus.

VIII.

[16] That indeed the tombs of the venerable Martyrs, discovered in the time of his pontificate, grew illustrious, Concerning the bodies of the Martyrs revealed in the time of his prelacy. who would rightly judge should be excepted from his miracles? The most sacred bodies therefore of that holy multitude, whom the monstrousness of the Aurelian persecution slaughtered with blessed Priscus ⁱ at the place Cotia, secretly withdrawn on account of the raging fury, were heaped together here and there in a certain most vast cistern by the Christians, who were then very rare. The memory of these, obscured by the long lapse of gliding times, lay hidden, unknown to all, up to the time of the most holy Germanus: under which prelate, God, in whose sight the death of his Saints is always precious, disposing to succor the peoples by their patronage, declared their venerable bodies; revealing also to him, in wondrous ways, the head of the most blessed Priscus the martyr: for the laying up of which, constructing a church four miles from the city, he consecrated it; which the abundance of signs continually flowing makes to be celebrated by the concourses of the peoples. This was not devised from elsewhere; but was inserted from the sincere relation of the relation of their passion.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

Certain other things pertaining to his life, up to his death and obsequies.

IX.

[17] That too, which no one almost doubts is declared in the churches dedicated by him—a superior evidence of divine virtue in exhibiting miracles—Concerning the perspicuous revelation in the basilica of Alban the martyr is thought most inhuman and inopportune to be adjudged away from the saving heraldings of his merits. Which, that it may be made perspicuous, we shall rely on only one, and that not undistinguished, example. Returned from Britain, he carried with him the relics of the most ancient and precious Alban the martyr, and, building within the walls of Auxerre a basilica for laying them up, he dedicated it in the name of the aforesaid Martyr; in which they relate that a certain anxiously religious presbyter served, who, among his other zeals of probity, had made this familiar to himself, that, at the sound of the bell of the older basilica, snatching his body from his bed, he would hasten to the church as quickly as possible: and while he pressed on with such vigilance toward the divine service, on one of the nights, when he went out from his own house, which adhered to the above-said basilica, he heard an angelic choir, singing together in harmonic consonance, Alleluia, with Psalm 148, which is inscribed,

Praise the Lord from the heavens, to the very end of the Psalter. Who, listening more diligently with astonished ears at the door of the oratory, learned the same modulation by heart.

[18] declared. Now it was an Alleluia, which our church is wont to modulate only on the Sunday of Septuagesima, with the above-mentioned Psalm, an Alleluia which, in the first verse reciprocated once, in the second twice, in the third three times, in the fourth at last is reiterated from the beginning: but, as much as I think, it is competently sung in honor of the holy and undivided Trinity. When memory held this, the Brothers being called together after the solemn matins, and the revelation which he had perceived being handed on, that the matter might be more attested, he taught them also the discovered modulation: all whose sweetness forthwith so slipped from his mind, that thenceforth he could remember only the word alone. Which is thought to have befallen him by right; that he who inconsiderately disclosed the heavenly secrets intimated to him, others retaining it to the praise of God, should be punished by his own ignorance alone [*]. Which the Apostle Paul, signifying that he feared it, confesses that he heard secret words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak. And it is commanded to John, that he not write ^a the things which the seven thunders spoke. To the soul too, contemplating divine things, it is commanded: Hear, O Israel, and be silent ^b. Many benefits are reckoned to have been conferred at the same oratory, both in the expulsion of demons, and in the illumination of the blind; but in these most of all, to those who, vexed by a diverse accession of fevers, betook themselves to the place, the patronages of the Saints being implored.

[19] The church, of which he was prelate, he exalted most copiously with increments not only spiritual, That his see's church with manifold liberality but also temporal. How exceedingly slender the property in its possessions was before him, can easily be gathered, if, with what wealth he left it increased, it be inspected by fair reasons: for because, as regards birth, he was most noble of the noble; as regards fortune, richest of the richest in possessions and estates; of all things which had fallen to him by paternal right, he made the church heir in his lifetime, which we know even today to consist for the greatest part of his patrimonies. Now these estates are very many in number, very great in quantity, spacious in bounds, and bordering on one another, most pleasant in the quality of their situation, most illustrious in the abundance of their revenues ^c. In one of these, whose name from antiquity is Epponiacus, his venerable father, called Rusticus, with his mother, Germanilla by name, in a church dedicated in the name of the Prince of the Apostles ^d, their heads placed upon their altars ^e, becomingly buried, rest.

[20] O Man, to whom the highest things are always owed; who, out of love of eternal life, having embraced voluntary poverty, he enriched. gave all to Christ, retained nothing for himself! Who could explain the easy candor of his soul, and one worthy of a freeborn man, in this part? Who could comprehend by relation the goods which the Church of Christ now enjoys through him? Whence now the bishops are enriched, the clerics obtain victuals, the monks are sustained, the needy are refreshed, was his, from his most fecund liberality it was poured out to these. How many examples of his virtues and sanctity have flowed down to us? How much wider monuments could hence have been fashioned, volumes compacted, if some curious one had adhered to him living in the world, who would catch his words, as they flowed singly from his mouth, would more curiously observe all his acts, and would at last commend to tenacious memory the miracles ever present to him at hand? Since that brilliant abbreviator of his deeds (that I may not say expositor, which I have never either read, or heard read, without a scruple) testifies that, if he should run through all his journeys, if he should commemorate all things, he would prepare loathing for the readers by heaped-up prolixity ^f.

XI.

[21] And since the glory of the Father grows clear in the governance of his sons, from the many whom he is believed to have had as sons in Christ, disciples in religion, A succinct mention of Patrick, destined for Ireland through blessed Germanus. it will suffice to insert, with chastened brevity, the mention of only one, and that most famous. Patrick, as the series of his Deeds shows, the peculiar apostle of the Irish region, devoted to that most holy discipleship for eighteen years ^g, drew no mean erudition in the heavenly Scriptures from the vein of so great a fount: and whom the most divine Pontiff considered magnanimous in religion, excellent in virtues, strenuous in doctrine; and, deeming it inept for a most robust husbandman to grow torpid in the cultivation of the Lord's harvest, he directed him to holy Celestine, Pope of the city of Rome, through Segetius, his presbyter; who should bear to the Apostolic See a testimony of ecclesiastical probity for the most excellent man. Approved by whose judgment, propped by his authority, and finally strengthened by his blessing, he sought the parts of Ireland, and, given as a proper apostle to that nation, both then indeed illustrated it with doctrine and miracles, and now too, and forever, illustrates it with the wondrous privileges of his apostolate.

XII.

[22] The singular power of his merits guards itself by this argument, that through all the causeways of his journey, Concerning the cell, familiarly conscious of his crosses. wherever he either prayed or taught, up to the present day oratory cells, and the raised signs of the Cross, shine forth; there is shown even today, in the monastery which he himself constructed, an oratory, afterward consecrated in his name; where we know without hesitation there is a cell ^h, conscious of his afflictions and torments; to which—I know not whether I should call it a little door, or a window—so exceedingly small was it, by such great humility; that no one, however of little body, could creep through it except prone. What of groanings there, what of tears was poured out; how great revelations were brought to the Man most divine for the contemplating of God, angelic consolations applied; finally how frequent the remedies of souls and bodies received by the peoples flowing thither; it is much to say. Who could at least efficaciously suffice to weigh what, how great, and how frequent they were? Because it is known to God alone. After we have advanced the begun business by a few words, I shall, the Lord being invoked, approach to explaining however small a part of those things which followed his glorious passing.

XIII.

[23] The most splendid Lord Germanus the bishop, given as an inextinguishable light to the world acting in darkness, after his inimitable life in the world, A recapitulation of his glorious passing. after the Gauls, and the Britains, and at last Italy itself, besprinkled with his doctrine and miracles, called by Christ the Lord, and comforted by the saving Viaticum, at Ravenna, a city of Italy, full of the Holy Spirit, died, Valentinian the younger, son of Constantius, with his mother Placidia, holding the monarchy of the whole world; by whom there, for the admiration of his sanctity, and the assiduity of his miracles, as the book of his Deeds more fully explains, honorably received, the Lord Christ appearing to him, foreknowing the day of his death, though with much difficulty he obtained that the clod of his body be restored to his own city.

XIV.

[24] That the cause of his journey to Ravenna was not uncertain or fortuitous, That he went to Ravenna not by chance, the text of his Life declares; and that it be here recapitulated will perhaps be not undutiful. The magnificent man Aëtius, at that time given as patrician and ruler of the commonwealth, provoked by the insolence of the Armorican people (whose light and undisciplined minds have rarely ever kept the constancy of faith toward their princes), had permitted that region to be invaded, subjugated, and laid waste by Eochar, the most ferocious king of the Alans, for the avenging of its rebellion. When the barbarian had most cruelly invaded it, allured not so much by the heap of prey, as by slaughter and blood; the most blessed Germanus, meeting him already advanced and armed amid the hostile onsets, with the wonderful constancy of his authority (which I judge should be preferred to all the miracles wrought by him) compelled him to lay aside his fierce mind, to recall his army, to desist from the devastation of the province; on this condition however, that the pardon which the barbarian had granted be sought from the emperor, or from Aëtius. Therefore, that he might complete the begun office of mercy, the Gallican and Italian cities being traversed, and, declared by many miracles on the very journey, he came to Ravenna, where the emperor then was staying with the augusta his mother, though long awaited; and there, according to his own will, obtained for those for whom he asked, peace and security.

[25] and the cause of his journey. But, because the perfidy of a mobile mind recalled the undisciplined people to their former rebellion, not much after his departure, the tyrannical monstrousness, which he himself in his life had repressed, emerged more grievously upon the unhappy ones, the Alans, Goths, and Vandals having advanced from Spain into Africa, hence into the Gauls, and trampling all things with sword, flames, and devastation; not yet had the above-mentioned most holy Anianus departed; still his most reverend colleague Lupus, prelate of the Tricasses, was leading a heavenly life on earth; who, protecting his people from the barbaric ferocity by his prayers, as is sung in the hymn of his festivity, on Bede's testimony, While the wars destroyed all things, by praying he fortified Troyes ⁱ. Since these things are so, no one would doubt that this too was provided by divine grace for the most blessed Germanus; that he who, being an insuperable pleader of the divine law, had discharged a legation for Christ in the world, should take the end of his temporal life in the confirmation of holy peace, for which, to be restored between God and men, the Author of life had endured a voluntary death. For by what more becoming order could he consummate the course of his contest, than that in it he should lay down his soul, the soul for which and for the obtaining of which he had run in so long a stadium of this life?

XV.

[26] But if a wicked thought deceives anyone, saying that the blessed Man undertook the mass of so great an expedition in ignorance of his impending decease; That even, when he set out, he was not ignorant of his impending departure. and that, if he knew the term of his life, as it pressed from the very footstep, he would not suffer to bear his foot even farther from his city; him we direct to the book published on his life, that both, the truth being represented, he may put off his error, and may recognize, even instructed, how not improvident he was of his neighboring passing, even when he set out. For when, on account of the above-mentioned business, about to seek Italy, passing by his intimate Senator the presbyter, he had visited him out of custom; about to set out from him, more affectionately than usual he rushed upon his friend, and, after manifold embraces and most sweet kisses, left him saluted with words of this kind: Farewell forever, dearest brother; farewell, portion of my soul: may God grant that we may see each other in the day of judgment without confusion: but in this light we shall never enjoy the mutual sight of each other ^k. Which, because it is manifest that it thus happened, who might be permitted to doubt about the foreknowledge of his passing, who could foretell such and so evident things about himself? Thus indeed the Saint, both anxious with charity and not ignorant of his now-impending death, deemed nothing prior than to fulfill the precepts of the Lord, and to expend himself, toward his end, for the relief of the sheep of Christ. These things being thus placed, let us resume our proposed matters.

XVI.

[27] In the apparatus of the deceased all eagerly conferred their zeals: Concerning the most noble apparatus of the sacred funeral. Acolius, provost of the royal chamber, whose boy he had long ago cured of the plague of a most atrocious demon, prepared the venerable body with a multiform composition of aromatic spices. The augusta, as she had obeyed him living, desiring also to defer to him dead from her heart, heaped the clod of the sacred corpse with elaborate and very fine garments, a coffin ^l of most pure cypress being fitted for conveying and preserving it. These being thus composed, lest anything be lacking to the Saint's obsequies, the emperor anxiously took precaution, furnished the journey, provided the necessary conveyances, and, by escorting the ministers and companions

to the funeral, followed them copiously with the expenditures of expenses and of all humanity. To the bishops this was the very greatest care, lest for even an hour the offices of religion should be lacking to the sacred obsequies, which they both furnish in the present, and, lest they fail in the course of the journey, send before by ordination. Thus the funeral, furnished ambitiously enough, is advanced to the Gauls with a great column of those following.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The translation of his body into the Gauls; its reception and burial.

XVII.

[28] Of how robust merit, of how excellent glory, of how supreme at last a place with Christ he was, whose the obsequies were, by which the public causeways were illustrated, Concerning the church it pertained to the Godhead to declare by the affluence of signs. Very many things are borne by the mouth of the crowd, from which credit is thence detracted, because they are borne variously and confusedly. That is noble and precious which, both most worthy of memory, and equally committed to letters from of old, both builds faith and conduces to edification. On the expedition mentioned above, he was becomingly received by the venerable Eusebius ^a, pontiff of Vercelli, and relieved with all the offices of humanity, as was fitting: that same Eusebius, after long contests against the ancient enemy, after the convulsed machinations of the heretics, from whom he suffered many things, after finally that most illustrious exile of Phrygia, from which he returned after four years, now worn out with long old age, and, peace being restored to affairs, was then building a new church in his city, now a discharged veteran soldier. That the most blessed Germanus, returning from Ravenna, should dedicate this, he strenuously entreated: which he seriously promised he would fulfill more devoutly.

[29] It happened that, the decease of the most blessed Confessor being learned, through the dead one the aforesaid pontiff prepared himself for the consecration of his basilica, as ecclesiastical custom bears; and when, about solemnly to enter, he had ordered the lamps, composed after custom, to be kindled (wonderful to say), the flame being brought could be received by no nourishment of the wicks; although this, tried not once nor by a single art, in vain eluded the hands of the persisting ministers. And when for some days the repeated labor was disturbed in vain by the persisting obstacles, the bishop, roused by the unusual interception of the business, judged that he must desist from the proposed matter; because it was most evident to himself and to all, that the function of the dedication was hindered, either to be deferred to a different time, or reserved for the office of another pontiff. Meanwhile, that the pomp of the venerable funeral was at hand, is announced by the indication of the preceding fame; to accompany which who would not emerge; whom would the carelessness of his own salvation not urge? The bishop snatches the column heaped together from everywhere; and, the body being received with the offices of ample devotion, led it into the circuit of the already-mentioned basilica. Which, when it touched the first parts of the buildings, the whole heap of lights, enkindled from heaven, so shone forth, that it became manifest that at the obsequies of the sacred body here too the presence of the divine majesty was not lacking; while those things which had not yielded to human wits easily served the divine nods.

[30] Then the most holy Eusebius, conscious of his vow, and not unmindful of the promise received from the Saint, dedicated wondrously at Vercelli. the matter being weighed more deeply, and deeming that what was accomplished by heavenly auspices was inept to be held back by human ministries; The most holy Germanus, he said, mindful of his covenanted promise, lest we be tormented by the incompletion of our vow, what living he had promised, dead he did not delay to fulfill: wherefore, such evident, such lofty, such finally singular testimonies of his sanctity being received, let us gird ourselves, the Lord being implored, to perform what remains of the divine mysteries. Thus having spoken, he betook himself to the altar, and, exulting with the Gloria in excelsis Deo with what melody he could, proclaimed a festal day to the peoples. The sacred rites being celebrated episcopally, and a discourse being held about the splendor of the miracle, what remained of the hours he devoted for a long time to religious vigils around the sacred funeral. O the sweet and ever unfailing memory of the just! O the death of his Saints, perpetually precious in the sight of the Lord! What place he merited with the Lord, it was permitted to no one thenceforth to doubt; before whose remains to be honored, in external regions too so great a splendor of signs flashed out: which perhaps would be known to God alone; had not the frequency of marvels declared it to the human race.

XVIII.

[31] These things being thus accomplished, he is restored to the way, and a new ardor of services, inborn in the minds of all, Concerning the most insistent fervor of the peoples meeting. is heaped up toward the offices of the holy funeral. The huge numerousness of the peoples concurring from everywhere grew, while both a new retinue acceded at each place, and the continuation of the journey did not weary each of those following. The success of conveying the body could not befall to all, although they violently thrust themselves forward: yet to those who had opportunity of approaching, it yielded by turns: but those whom the rushing crowd prohibited from handling it close by, the kind of office was to conduct him with their eyes, and to resound with voices flowing from the inmost fount of devotion. Very many monuments of his blessedness are shown through the whole journey, both in churches dedicated in his name, and in title-inscriptions affixed here and there: in whatever place he either passed the night, or took a pause, the memory of his sanctity even now notably flourishing.

XIX.

[32] It will be reckoned worth the effort, not to pass this over untouched; In what manner the holy [bishop's decease became known to Saturnus.] in what manner divine providence, ever consulting for all, willed that the death of the holy Pontiff should be learned even by his own people, still ignorant of their own bereavement. Saturnus ^b was the presbyter and disciple of the most blessed Germanus, equally most approved in life, and familiarly beloved by the holy Man. He, when Germanus had set out into Italy, had remained in the city by his command. On which night therefore the glorious Confessor and Pontiff of the Lord migrated at Ravenna by a happy decease, he too, placed at Auxerre, learned his most splendid passing, an angel disclosing it, and, instructed by divine revelation, announced it to the peoples; a huge multitude of whom being gathered with him, he hastens to the ridges of the Alps; where they receive the proper Patron of the Gauls, about to serve his funeral the more inclinedly, the more an affection of love mixed with reverence extorted a superior attendance. This is not fictitious, nor forged from the vein of an itching wit; but engraved on most ancient marble, the writing itself too representing the character of antiquity, and is preserved among us even today.

XX.

[33] I would indeed believe that some from Ravenna, most experienced of his sanctity, Concerning the five sisters who most ardently accompanied the sacred body. enjoined upon themselves a spontaneous pilgrimage with the clod of the sacred body, and through this, with untiring minds, although the way was rather long, accompanied the venerable funeral. Among whom and from whom five most famous virgins in their purpose are related, sisters by birth ^c, whose names or merits have obtained a celebrated memory in our province for a long time. Of these three, by these names Magnentia, Palladia, and Camilla ^d, as each, divinely called on the very journey, closed her last day ^e, received a noble burial on the public causeway, churches being built over them, and dedicated to their sanctity; which even today, for the evidence of miracles, both are most famous, and are frequented with huge zeal of the peoples. Of the two, to whom it was granted to see the entombment of the sacred body, the one, whose name was Maxima, merited to be buried around the same basilica; which however afterward the circuit of the greater fabric enclosed: the other, called Porcaria, rests, at nearly the ninth milestone from the city, in a church illustrious by her merits.

XXI.

[34] From the day before the Kalends of August, on which the excellent Confessor, relieved of the burden of the flesh, [Concerning the reception of the sacred body and the most splendid apparatus of the sepulchre.] was insinuated into the heavenly sanctuaries, the fifty-third day was rolling on ^f, when the treasure of the sacred body, restored to its own city, is received with the solemn service of the peoples, and placed within the circuit of the principal church ^g in which he had sat. There for ten continuous days ^h it is honored with huge expenditures of offices; until, all things which pertain to the right of the sepulchre being most officiously prepared, a not small multitude of the human race being gathered, as befitted an apostolic Man, it was delivered to burial. But, because in individual matters it is permitted to each, according to his capacity, to opine with impunity, I would not rashly say that, by the intercession of so many days, provision was made not only for the apparatus of the funeral; but it was provided, by this delay in entombing the Pontiff, for the priests and peoples about to come together from the remote parts of the earth from everywhere, who, if they had been absent from the Saint's obsequies, would bear it most grievously.

XXII.

[35] That therefore we enjoy the presence of your sacred body, that we are illustrated by the glorious memory of the Man most splendid after the Apostles, [What gift is thought to have been conferred in the bringing back of the sacred body; through an apostrophe.] that finally we obtain a most certain protection of all perils, whither our frailty may betake itself, a preface being sent before,

the ineffable heralding of the holy and undivided Trinity being sent before, to you, most sacred Father, we both have and give thanks of every kind: we proclaim you the lover of your fatherland, the guardian of your flock, and the most clement father of your sons; who, although in the august seats of the empire you could be placed by the hands of the augusti themselves, and your summit be placed so much the higher, as Roman excellence is more advanced than Gallican mediocrity; and that, as Rome by the Apostles, Ravenna too by Germanus might stand distinguished: yet the paternal and maternal bowels conquered; the love and affection of your desolate sons conquered, whom, how living, and how greatly you had loved them, dead you declared. Thus certainly, thus it befitted your sanctity, O most just Father; that you who had frequently expended yourself for the advantages of strangers, had traversed lands and seas, had finally endured all harsh things, should not neglect your domestic people, over whom the greatest Ruler of things conferred on you to preside as special pastor. O how well deserving of it, with how sincere services you are to be cultivated, to whose most bitter bereavement you provided so present, so excellent, so finally so familiar a suffrage, by which you might consult not only for the present, but also succor posterity itself! Our city nature, the disposer of things, placed on dry rocks, propped by no wealth, fortified by no quality of situation or art: this would not be worthy even of a name, if it had lacked the treasure of your body: by which because it merited to be wondrously illustrated, therefore among the rest it flashes forth from thence the more gloriously, in that after the Apostles no other keeps a more precious pearl.

XXIII.

[36] But now what I feel about the quality of the above-said reception, A reconsideration of the above-said reception. I do not suffice to bring forth fully; since, long and much revolving it with myself, I do not discern this even with the perspicacity of my mind sufficiently. For whether I should call that a day of joy, or of mourning, that indeed is in doubt: but if I should proclaim one without the other, I fear to derogate both from the piety and from the prudence of so many and so religious citizens. For whose face would be free from weepings, whom the bereavement of a fold destitute of its pastor would warn? In which this was thought most grievous, that it had not even been granted to the most devoted sons to be present at the decease of the one dying abroad. But that joy, how ineffable it was; how great a gladness fashioned from pure affections! The sons received their Father, the wards their Guardian, the despairing their counsel, the trembling their firmament. O festive day, rich in so great tears, pregnant with so great joys; at which whoever [*] was not present, lacked the greatest part of the spectacles; on which neither did a sadder day breathe upon the city, nor a merrier upon the world.

XXIV.

[37] All things being duly prepared, when there was no rest for those flowing together, and those who had assembled were now scarcely contained by the amplitude of the region, [How the sacred body was delivered to burial, and concerning the place of the sepulchre.] on the day of the Kalends of October the heavenly treasure is deposited within the hidden places of the sepulchre, with so great a service of the whole world, with so great a piety of the human race, that it stood to all clearer than light, that this one was of the highest merit in heaven, to whose honor so great things were provided on earth. The place of this sepulchre was then indeed a very small oratory, on his own estate, dedicated to the merits of Maurice the martyr ⁱ, which the most splendid Man had once delegated to the above-mentioned Saturnus, that, under the profession of a sacerdotal title, he might there serve the memories of the Martyrs. Not yet had the monstrousness of heathen superstition grown obsolete; still Christianity, besieged within narrow bounds, was straitened, and, the shrines everywhere flourishing throughout the world, a modest circuit and a scanty cult was expended on building the churches of Christ: not yet had the ardor of the faithful poured itself out around such things; of whom in these regions before the most holy Germanus there was also a huge rarity. For since he himself, seventh in order, ruled the church in his city, it is clear indeed that those who were pontiffs before him, the rage of the raging pagans struggling against them, founded the beginnings of religion less freely, less fully; to which however he, to whose nobility, virtue, and wisdom the pagans could not everywhere struggle against [*], conferred manifold increments in his own time.

NOTES.

CHAPTER IV.

The royal magnificence of the basilica of St. Germanus and of the sepulchre, adorned with assiduous miracles.

XXV.

[38] In the course of times, the insignia of the sacred faith being extended round about, when even the nobles of the Franks themselves had submitted their necks to the heavenly edicts, the venerable queen Clothilde ^a, worthy of perennial monuments, Concerning the construction of the basilica of the most blessed Germanus. wife of the great prince Clovis, touched by the divine spirit, built above the tomb of the holy Pontiff a basilica of huge fabric and elaborate amplitude, trusting that she and her people could be not a little advanced by the prayers of him whose so great and so wondrous marks of sanctity stood forth. And at that very time, when the aforesaid augusta was building it, holy Lupus the bishop came from the parts of Upper Burgundy ^b; who, not much after, on the 16th of the Kalends of July ^c, having done his last day, by the queen's decision rests becomingly and religiously composed in the same church; which a rather ancient writing, impressed among us on Parian marble, makes known to anyone desiring to read it.

XXVI.

[39] Thence Clotaire the elder, son of the aforenamed Clothilde, exalted on the throne of the kingdom, Concerning the adornment of his sacred memory. and the most faithful executor and heir of his mother's devotion, after his mother's decease, over the adorable memory of the most blessed Germanus, through the hands of holy Desiderius, then bishop of the same city ^d, composed at royal expense a freda ^e; which, most elegantly decorated with gold and silver, lasted even to our age, designating to itself the author and minister of the work by the testimony of engraved letters. Nay, even the memorable wife of the same Clotaire, Ingundis by name, both most famous for religion, and also singular in liberality and diligence toward the churches, offered at that time to the sepulchre of blessed Germanus very many ornaments of vessels and palls; among which we saw an excellent chalice compacted of most splendid gold and gems, bearing the memory of the queen by precious inserted letters,

who had devoutly conferred this gift on blessed Germanus, through the hands of the above-named Desiderius the pontiff.

XXVII.

[40] That indeed that place, on account of the privilege of the sacred body, always was most frequent in the glory of miracles, That the same place always flourished with the dowry of miracles. no one would with impunity doubt. Since these could neither be gathered by number ^f, nor could the names of the persons in whom they were wrought be retained (as things quickly given and superabundant are wont to grow cheap), covered over with the squalors of carelessness and oblivion alike, they lay torpid: which however that they were very many, we can gather at least from this, that some of the elders still lead a surviving life, who affirm that they saw before the doors of this sacred temple innumerable insignia of the wrought signs hung up, which, laid down in the place by energumens, the feeble, the deaf and mute recovering health, long represented a useful memory of the divine benefits toward the infirm.

XXVIII.

[41] Finally Gregory too, prelate of Tours, a curious investigator of miracles and most studious publisher of them, What Gregory of Tours says in the books of miracles. commemorates some things wrought at and through the memory of this most blessed Father; which we preferred should be intimated in his words rather than in ours, lest, the matter being exchanged without profit of labor, we detract something of trust. Germanus, he says, the glorious confessor, died in the city of Ravenna ^g; but thence raised, after sixty days carried to the city of Auxerre, was committed to burial. Now in the time of queen Teudechild ^h, a certain Nonninus, a tribune from Auvergne, of France, returning after the tributes were paid to the queen, went to the city of Auxerre, only for the sake of religion; and, prostrate at the sepulchre of the most blessed Germanus, when he had prayed a very long time, a tigris dagger ⁱ being drawn from its sheath, struck the stone which was over the venerable sepulchre, no one seeing; from which a small particle being struck off, he grew rigid, as if of bronze; so that he could in no way move ^k any member, or send forth a voice. Now the boys, seeing him thus lie on the ground, knew not what had befallen him: but one of them, approaching, when he had addressed him, received no answer from him. Then he, as he was rigid, understanding in his heart that he was condemned, vowed a vow, saying: I know that I have been presumptuous, most blessed Confessor; but devotion demanded that I presume; and therefore, if you deign to absolve me, and permit me to return to my own with your grace, laying up these relics in a basilica, I will take care to celebrate your festivity most devoutly every year. Whose closed murmur the holy Man understanding, absolved him and permitted him to depart unharmed. Who, coming, placed those relics in a church, and faithfully celebrated the Saint's feast every year.

XXIX.

[42] Now at a certain time we came to the above-said basilica, [What evidence was declared in the same basilica: from the words of the same Gregory.] in which the relics are laid up, with Avitus, my uncle, prelate of the Arverni ^l. Where, when the holy pontiff, fasting, had entered about the tenth hour, all who entered with him drew into our nostrils the odor of lilies and roses; which we do not doubt was granted to us by the merit of blessed Germanus: for it was the ninth month. Done at the village Musciacae ^m. These things Gregory thus. These being sent before, let us transfer the series of our style to those things which either drew near, or acceded to, our age. But, since spiritual things are sown for spiritual men, and the dignity of the Lord is weighed in the probity of his servants, I judge it next to reason, briefly to show, that, by the merits of so great a Father, the divine favor toward the inhabitants of the place shone forth especially at the end.

XXX.

[43] There was to a certain little boy the name Esopus, who, when he had scarcely reached the infancy of five years, Concerning the boy Esopus visited by angels. delivered to the holy Order by his parents, as far as his tender age could bear, was being formed in the first characters of letters, in play rather than in earnest ⁿ. He, seized by dysentery, endured the troubles of a huge languor in his narrow body. At the dawn of a certain morning, asked by one of the elders how he did, he answered that all things stood wholesome to him; that he had a little before rendered from memory the tenor of his lesson; which had conferred on him very much of alacrity and security. Being asked about the quality of his lesson, uttering, beyond the tenacity of his age, the first verse of the hundred and seventeenth Psalm, Give thanks, he said, to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy is forever. Since he could neither learn this by writing, nor, through his age or use, insinuate it into his memory; being asked from whom he had learned the thing; Do you not see, he said, the little children of this most excellent ladder, striving on its steps, contending to the heavenly things? Having uttered no more, as he fixed an end to his words, so also the term of his life. It is most certain that angelic spirits, in the likeness of children, were shown to attest his innocence pleasing to God; and that they received his soul too, freed from the fetter of frailty. To others we know the very hour of the impending decease was revealed; so much that both the washings and the changes of garments, as they were to be exhibited to the dead, they themselves, still living, freely anticipated. To some the person of the same most blessed Father, seen with most beautiful countenance, venerable grey hair, and pontifical dignity, exhibited both very much of consolation and not a little of security. This from among many we have perhaps touched not extraordinarily; that it may plainly be clear that this one anxiously bears the care of the servants devoutly obeying him. Hence let us pass to the rest.

XXXI.

[44] The immoderate appetite of gluttony, on account of which we all succumb to sin and death, Concerning him who took an apple by theft. is thought light and a jest; but the less it is guarded against, the more atrociously it destroys. This the holy Man, as he extinguished it in himself, so, because it displeases him in others too, he was zealous to warn against. As it is the custom to the faithful to declare their devotion by the means by which they can; before the sepulchre of the sacred body lay strewn apples blooming with autumnal greenness; which, as diverse in kind, and most pleasing also in odor, ministered to those approaching a twin grace of their sight and smell: meanwhile, the peoples flowing after their custom to the feast of the blessed Prelate, and those to whom it was permitted to approach kissing with religious veneration the pavement of the sacred tomb, it happened that a certain one of the rustics, from an estate whose name is Nantilla, and is distant not very much from the city, was present. He, captured by the allurement of his eyes and his gluttony, laying his hand on the sacred things, secretly snatched an apple, and, as though about to gratify his pleasure with it, withdrew. His temerity a companion vengeance chastised from the very footstep: for, as by the unlawful eating of the apple he satisfied his desire, the use of speaking being interdicted, made mute, the wretch recognized himself guilty of the crime. To this calamity a year put an end; when, the annual spectacle of the same solemnity returning, seeking again the Saint's sepulchre, he washed away his guilt with weeping, and, bound to very many vows, brought back speech and pardon alike. This was not learned before, until he, in whom it had been wrought, indicated the series of the deed. This was done on that festivity which falls on the Kalends of October, and which, on account of the deposition of his sacred body, the ancient authority of the old ones commended as more splendid than the rest.

XXXII.

[45] A certain noble estate of the Gâtinais district is called Corbeil, Concerning a youth condemned with debility. from whose inhabitants a certain one, mulcted with an unlucky debility of the knees in the years bringing on puberty, running to the joys of the aforesaid festivity, restored to natural rectitude, of which he was most greatly in need, brought back with him the gift of the wished-for health.

XXXIII.

[46] By the institution of the Prince of the Apostles we are instructed, against the drowsy cunning of the malign enemy, Concerning him who, drinking by night, to exercise constantly spiritual and unfailing vigils, the enemy who, like a lion always hostile to the Lord's folds, takes each incautious and negligent one, tears him, shuts him off. Whose traps, as subtle as they are cunning, we are admonished to beware, by an example brought forward. A certain inhabitant of the Sens country, exercising his family estate not slothfully by the diligence of pastoral care, happened to have set his own son over the providing and pasturing of the swine. This one, at the pre-dawn of a certain day, as is familiar to such herdsmen, awakened from sleep, when he had ordered him to lead the swine into the pastures, the boy, seized by a most vehement thirst, hastily betook himself to a bucket, and drank up the drawn water without the sending-before of the saving sign, without hesitation: so the force of the burning thirst (a demon instigating, as is clear) had invaded the marrows of the youth. Lamentable to say! by one and the same draught the wretch both swallowed the plague and the cup: for immediately, dashed by a demon, and tormented a very long time, he is bound with chains, and confined with most strong bolts.

[47] was seized by a demon. And when for some time he was pressed by a restless misery, the parents, breathed upon by a more wholesome counsel, decreed that he should be led to the most famous memory of blessed Germanus; believing most truly that the unclean spirits yield to the presence of the sacred body, whose virtue and merits it was established that they had more frequently dreaded. When they had done this, they stretched out the boy, laid on the ground, before the venerable sepulchre, pursuing the sum of their vows more strenuously with the abundance of prayer and weepings. The brothers, whose office it was to observe the place with religious vigils, moved both by the torment of the boy and by the devotion of the parents, approach close; and, ecclesiastical exorcisms being applied, they entreat relief for the wretch through the virtue of the sacred Prelate. A very modest course of an hour intervening, he rises unharmed; and to the glad parents brought back with him the joys of the received health. There survive even today very many, who confess, by a sufficiently propped relation, that they were present at the deed.

XXXIV.

[48] I would deem it injurious to pass over a matter both altogether to be beware of, and experienced without hesitation by very many; That he exerts an evident vengeance even upon the perjured. since it is established that in the least things too the greatest evidence of divine virtue sometimes stands out. For since it is plain that the memory of the sacrosanct Confessor radiates with continual miracles within and without, he is proved to stand forth a not-slothful avenger even upon the perjured; so that it plainly stands out that the pledges of the Saints are sometimes not with impunity provoked by human daring: for if anyone, either by the allurement of cupidity, or by the impulse of a pertinacious mind, resolving to patronize a lie, shall presume to perform an oath at least on the ring of the door ^o, him, because he is guilty of perjury, an attendant vengeance seizes without delay, both by the loss of his family estate, and by the corporal damage of his health, and, entangling him with hard knots, makes him either free by a quick satisfaction, or condemned by a near destruction. This not only the presence of the whole body merited; but also wherever of places the memory of his sanctity is cultivated, it obtained so much of reverence; that in a basilica consecrated in the name of Germanus, scarcely anyone, however monstrous, dares to perjure himself.

XXXV.

[49] But now how great a virtue he exhibits present around the enclosures of his very sepulchre, How great a virtue is present at the most holy sepulchre. those especially and evidently have experienced, to whom the special custody of the same, that I may truly say, holy of holies is deputed. For frequently the oil of the lamp hanging before the sacred tomb has been detected to have increased; when, remaining unextinguished for nearly fifteen days and as many nights, it suffered no diminution.

XXXVI.

[50] That too I would not negligently pass over, how great a diligence of services the sacred place demands; What diligence is demanded of the guardians of the sacred body. so much that, if the lamp which properly serves the most holy body should happen to be extinguished through the night, no rest is granted to the guardians, no faculty of enjoying sleep, until the expenditure of the failed light be more accurately repaired. Sometimes they are more troublesomely assailed, as by the impulse of a certain hand; that it may be permitted to no one to doubt with impunity, that the services due to the place are not ineptly nor slothfully to be exercised. Why should I recount that some, prostrating themselves more secretly in prayer before the altar of this reverend sepulchre, perceived by the shaking of the place the efficacy of their prayers, and the regard of heavenly readiness? I omit that the invocation of this sacred name most presently succored also many absent and near to peril.

XXXVII.

[51] That from the bread of the same monastery many and wondrous remedies come to the languishing, Concerning the virtue of the bread marked with his name. is most widely known; so much that, if anyone, though lying down most gravely, is affected with the desire of this, it is thought a most efficacious indication of returning health. This we ascribe not to the sanctity of the inhabitants; but both the faith of those devoutly asking obtains such things, and the merit of the most blessed Germanus, in whose name the bread is inscribed, avails to furnish much greater things. These are your gifts, O Christ, who are wonderful in the virtue of your Saints; and while you glorify these with miracles, you inflame us to the imitation of them. These things concerning those which either were done or are being done around his sacred body, excerpted most truly, have perhaps escaped the nausea of loathing by the patronage of brevity. Hence, touching briefly a very few things about those places in which his relics are venerated [p], we hasten more quickly to the end of the booklet.

NOTES.

CHAPTER V.

Miracles done in the other churches of St. Germanus throughout Gaul.

XXXVIII.

[52] In the monastery of Meleredum ^a the greater church is known to be dedicated in the name of this most excellent Father. That monastery is both passable and familiar to the nation of the Britons untiringly seeking Rome: Concerning a deaf man cured while sleeping. in whose company a certain deaf man had come; who, since no other lodging was at hand, by night before the doors of the church, a stone placed under his head, lay down: the day being restored, he shook off sleep; and soon, by the intercession of the most blessed Germanus, exceedingly rejoiced that he lacked the loss of his ears. The stone, placed under his head, bore testimony to the received health, because, as he rose, it appeared suffused with gore. For the recovered health he gave votive thanks, and without hesitation followed his companions hastening their journey. To this matter the present testimony of many surviving who inspected it gives suffrage.

XXXIX.

[53] In the district of Latiacum, which belongs to the diocese of Langres [*], Concerning the church of the estate Ladriacus. there is a most well-known estate, Ladriacus by name, at which there is a church consecrated with the pledges of this most precious Prelate, which, situated on a mountain summit, is distant somewhat far from the villa. Wherefore some prelates of the city of Langres, having tried to demolish this, and to build another basilica for it within the circuit of the villa, consumed their labor in vain, since this was attempted not once, nor twice: for as often as they tried to remove the sacred stone of the altar for the raising of the relics, it persevered immovable, fixed with so great a weight, that you would easily notice that it was not permitted by divine providence to turn away the ancient cult from the place. In which place, although wondrous and greatest things are always wrought; yet on the most splendid festivity of the Kalends of October, the divine benefits are more copiously heaped upon those devoutly flowing together.

XL.

[54] And so at a certain time, when the people flowed together after their custom to the annual day of the aforesaid celebrity; Concerning a blind woman cured there. from a villa whose name is Marcenniacus, and is distant not very much from the above-said place, it happened that a woman captured in her eyes was present. She, having entered the basilica, with prayers and most abundant vows demanded a remedy for her blindness; and when the sacred vigils were conducted by the faithful with their due offices, the whole assembly beholding it, gore began to flow drop by drop from her eyes. Within a very short time, all gloom being shaken off, she merited to discern the radiance of the returning day, and to see all things clearly; that day she spent in thanks and praises; and, the saving rites of her reparation being performed, full of her vows she returned to her own.

XLI.

[55] The following year had brought back the joys of the same festivity, Concerning the reparation of a certain invalid. and among the crowds of those hastening it happened that a certain one from the household of St. Mammes ^b, a colonist of the same villa, an invalid and crawling in his whole body, came. He, when from his heart he betook himself to God, by the intercession of the blessed Prelate recovered the pillar of his native rectitude in the presence of many. The remedies of quotidian, tertian, or quartan fever [*] assiduously received rendered the place most frequented by the perpetual concourse of the feverish; of whom none returned void of relief, whoever, full of faith, approached the holy thresholds.

XLII.

[56] That indeed violence must not be brought upon that place and the things pertaining to it, Concerning a horse violently let into the meadow of the church. each rash man has experienced. For when a certain one was continuing his journey with his companions, one of them, on whom that kind of office lay, strove to lead into the meadow of the church the horses which they were using on the very journey: to whom, when it had been said by one of the rustics that the meadow was blessed Germanus's, and that, out of respect for so great a name, one must spare from its invasion; he, thinking that mere words were given to him, nonetheless led in the horses. The first which entered, as soon as it plucked the grass with its teeth, was mulcted with a damnable deformity, its jaws distorted crosswise into the effigy of the letter X. The keeper of the horses, the business being inspected, driving off the rest as quickly as possible, announces the outcome of the matter to his lord. He, repenting of the offense, brought a candle of the measure of the horse's length as an expiation; and, making satisfaction to holy Germanus, obtained the reparation of his conveyance [*]. From among many we have touched a few, lest we seem to have passed over a place distinguished by such great privileges.

XLIII.

[57] Concerning the miracles, Hence we are compelled to mention Pauliacum, a villa of the Sens country, or more compendiously to touch it, not so much by the vicinity of the place, as by its dignity. That estate, pertaining to the power of blessed Germanus, has also a church both celebrated in his name, and excelling in virtues; which, since it is either difficult or impossible to be explained either by number or by order, those things being omitted which antiquity has made old, we touch a few from among them as succinctly as possible, concerning which, if doubt arise, we shall be overwhelmed by a multitude of witnesses. An inhabitant of the Auxerre district, Peter by surname, by a contraction of the knees had lost the natural use of walking. He conceived vows; crawling, he approached the holy thresholds; soon, withdrawn from his debility, rejoicing that he had merited it by the patronage of blessed Germanus,

received the solid function of walking. The little footstools long familiar to him, hung up before the doors, were for a long time an argument of the deed.

From a neighboring estate, whose name is Blariacus, a woman, Nonnula by name, entirely powerless by a contraction of her whole body, betook herself by a litter to the same basilica; and soon, by the merit of blessed Germanus, restored to becoming functions, departed full both of health and of joy.

[58] Another woman of the same villa, called Alda from her parents, at the church nonetheless deploring the damages of her contracted body, was carried thither by a litter, and, the members yielding to their former state by the suffrage of the present medicine, departed strong and glad.

From the Auxerre field, called Pratilis, likewise another woman, Berlindis by name, her limbs also contracted, was brought by a vehicle to the aforesaid basilica; she gave herself to prayer; she deposited vows before the Saint: and soon, having experienced God present, restored to her natural organs, grew strong.

From the villa Lusciniacum, the fame of miracles had led hither a woman contracted in her whole body, Teduisa by name. She, the merit of the blessed Father giving suffrage, having obtained the beauty of her members with rectitude, declared herself conscious of this benefit by a service of several days.

That the majesty of this place indeed is not simple, very many too, vexed by a diverse accession of fevers, have often proved. A certain Alcharius, wasting away desperately by a quartan onset, happened to come thither: he entered the church; he kept vigils; and declared with huge heraldings that he was, by the most powerful aid of the blessed Father, most quickly restored to health.

Agius, a presbyter of the same place, long suffering a tertian sluggishness; when he devoutly betook himself to God, gifted by the intercession of the blessed Prelate with a swift benefit, soon departed from the importunate plague.

Beatus, a cleric of the same basilica, sharply wearied by a daily disquiet, sought divine medicines through blessed Germanus; and suddenly felt himself freed from the restless trouble.

[59] If I should wish to commemorate all who at this place in our time have been snatched from an incommodity of this kind, at Pauliacum the numerousness of the occurring persons will, I believe, prepare loathing. Such things therefore must be spared, and one must proceed to the rest profitable to edification.

A woman of the same place, Doda by name, treating the sacred holidays too negligently, dared to violate even the majesty of the Lord's day, more inclinedly observable by all Christians, with her usual wool-working. The severity of vengeance immediately followed the temerity of the work: her hands, accustomed to the illicit, are soon destitute of their necessary offices; and it came to pass that they could not satisfy even nature, the hands which had not feared to provoke the Author of nature in the profanation of his day. At last the wretch, recognizing her guilt, betook herself to the suffrages of blessed Germanus; that she might not repeat such things thereafter, she bound herself by an interposed vow; by the readiness of the most clement Father having obtained mercy, in the sight of many she brought back both the health of her hands and the pardon of her crime.

By the profanation of the same day, the woman Nonnula [*] likewise merited to be contracted in her hands. Conscious of her crime, she went to the church; she multiplied her vows; by the intervention of the blessed Father she carried home her wholeness with the amendment of her fault.

Likewise another, Fredegardis by name, for a similar crime was mulcted with the same punishment; and, repenting of the deed, and not despairing of mercy, betook herself to the aforesaid place; she loaded her face with tears, heaven with groaning; the priest of the place applied a public prayer for the recovery of the unhappy one; blessed Germanus intervening, she merited both pardon for her deed and health for her hands.

[60] being wrought. That the things which pertain to this place are sacred, and must not be wrongly transferred to other uses, has been made plain by the frequent chastisement of those presuming. The priest of that place (as the mind of the foolish is wont to be incautious around such things) from the rope by which the bell of the church had long been wont to be rung, put a halter on his horse. Soon it clearly appeared that a thing once sacred was not fitting to be applied to domestic uses: for as soon as it was put on the horse's head, all things which the rope had embraced were so suddenly consumed, that all the flesh with the hair and skin, down to the bones, was thought to be cut off with iron. Thus that horse, innocent, kept thenceforth the indications of another's temerity; being one who thereafter did not merit to receive again the regrowths either of full flesh, or of solid skin, or of hair.

From the country whose name is Villaris, a woman, Maria by name, approached this place under the pretext of prayer, and, having gotten opportunity of sacrilege, withdrew a linen cloth from the ambo, and, returned home with the theft, girded her profane loins with the sacred covering. At once dissolved in all her limbs, with the detriment of her body she felt the presence of vengeance. Soon, repenting of the deed, she recognized her guilt, and asked to be carried back to the place which she had before wrongly approached; having publicly confessed her offense, she expiated the wickedness of the sacrilege with tears. Thus by the intervention of the priest and people she merited clemency; and thereafter, blessed Germanus having pity, she departed both unharmed, and also chastised. By these and similar privileges that place, frequent in them, easily claimed for itself the famous title of reverence.

XLIV.

[61] Besides, in the district of Rouen there is a royal domain, which the inhabitants, on account of the antiquity of the palace, Concerning a mute girl, call the Old House: a chapel contiguous to the palace, famous in the name of the most blessed Germanus, illustrious by merit; by the dowry of signs it easily obtained for itself the highest veneration. One example will be sufficient for the proposed brevity; which we are compelled to commemorate, in that we know it to be public. King Charles ^c had perhaps come hither, about to hold a parley with Erispoë, leader of the Britons, and to treat of the serious matters of the kingdom's affairs: thither, as is wont in so great an assembly, an immoderate crowd of the poor flowed together from everywhere; among whom a mute girl too was present, taught to temper the evil of her familiar want by the artifice of seeking alms. She, because she found no faculty of lodging, withdrew within the circuit of the chapel. About midnight the most holy Germanus stood by her waking, and, soothing her with placid address; The right of hospitality, he said, denied you by men [*], I will compensate with what humanity I can. Thus having spoken, raising the mute one's chin with a caressing hand, he spat into her mouth; and soon withdrew the visible presence of his showing. By the virtue of the medicine the inmost parts of her throat being broken, they ejected very much blood; so much that the whole level of the pavement seemed to be suffused with it.

[62] cured by the testimony of a general assembly. The shadows yielding, the day, restored to the upper ones, declared by perspicuous indications the outcome of the not-yet-known miracle: for both the girl, the use of speaking being received, pursued in order what had been done with her; and the gore, which had flowed streamwise from the mouth of the speaking one, still most fresh on the pavement, brought a most present argument of the accomplished matter. Meanwhile, more curiously asked by some, in what effigy blessed Germanus had appeared to her, she testified that she had seen a person most splendid in the dignity of countenance, middling in stature, comely in the quality of his hair, yet venerable with mixed grey. These and other signs she said she had noted in him, which some of those who once merited to handle his sacred body, when it was translated, assert that they beheld most similar. To this miracle there were as many witnesses, as could come together from all parts of the kingdom to the spectacle of this general assembly.

NOTES.

CHAPTER VI.

The continuation of the miracles wrought there in various places dedicated in his name.

XLV.

[63] The most holy Remigius, precious pontiff of Reims, illustrious among all the best men, in honor of the most blessed Germanus, in the place Concerning the oratory built by the hands of blessed Remigius in his honor. in which he had decreed to be buried, and which is distant nearly a mile from the city of Reims, built a basilica with his own hand, as the most ancient authority of his Testament discloses. This, as it persists by long-lived antiquity, so also persists most illustrious by the splendor of miracles. But that the festivals of these two Pontiffs shone upon the world alike on the Kalends of October, is most well known also to the common people. To celebrate these with the wonted spectacle, the people had flowed together after their custom to the above-said place, namely where the venerable body of the most holy Remigius rests. It happened that, the vespertine Offices being finished, generally, as is the custom in monasteries, the whole assembly of the crowd was driven from the enclosures of the church by the insistence of the guardians. A certain contracted man his friends had brought by a vehicle, whom, expelled from the temple of blessed Remigius, they brought into the aforesaid basilica of St. Germanus, because he stood before the doors. There keeping vigil for some time through the night, restored to health by the merits of the most blessed Germanus, he merited thenceforth to enjoy the natural offices of walking. Thus the Man of apostolic summit commended even the sublimities of his own dignity, showing that he holds a special place in the celebrity of that day, which he willed to glorify also by the privileges of his own merits. These places, of which we have inserted mention into this little work, are powerful in nearly continual virtues; but we have decreed to touch only those which, widely known to all, have merited to struggle out of the scruple of ambiguity.

XLVI.

[64] In the suburb of Soissons the church of blessed Germanus rises up, Concerning the basilica, which an opinion conscious of antiquity relates was once constructed by twelve most famous merchants of the world; who, because, diligently passing from kingdoms to kingdoms, they had rather frequently fixed their tents near the bank of the Aisne, decreed to set up in that place this monument of their frequenting; that, expenses being contributed, they might build for blessed Germanus a basilica, by whose merit and prayers they trusted they could especially be protected amid the perils of lands and sea. Concerning the sanctity of that place very many things are known to us, which the brevity of the little work does not allow to be explained: my mind suggests to touch a few, which we hold faithfully learned through the priest of that basilica. This same priest said that he had set out on a certain day to revisit the fields of the church: he found the boundaries of the fields, by the deceit of a certain neighbor, changed, and, not without the detriment of his own part, confused; and, lawful mention being again made with witnesses, he set a stone on the boundaries; and, solicitous for the cause; Holy Germanus, he said, if any care of your priest holds you, guard these boundaries of your field from the calumny of those invading them. These things said, he seeks home again.

[65] of Soissons Meanwhile the neighbor, the acrimony of cupidity urging him on, approaching the field by night, moved far away the stone torn from the boundaries, enlarging his own, wrongly narrowing another's. The day being restored, the presbyter returns; he beholds the violated boundaries; and, impatient of the repeated temerity, his gall being moved; Had I not, he said, holy Germanus, committed these things to your trust? Scarcely had this one completed his words in the field, and already an avenging penalty was punishing the sacrilegious neighbor within his domestic walls; he is seized by sudden pains; and, contracted in all his limbs, is destitute of the support of his strength. Soon, remembering his temerity, he calls his friends; he implores a wholesome counsel; the cause is brought through friends to the presbyter; that he would piously consult for the wretch, it is humbly begged. He asserts that he knows no more present remedy, than that, vows being taken, he betake himself to his church,

of which it was established that by his offense he had suffered such things. Brought by a litter, he approached; and, penance being done there for some days, he merited clemency; then, restored to health, he departed; not so much himself corrected, as about to be, by his example, to the rest, that they should not dare to admit any such thing thereafter.

[66] in his honor This same presbyter, while on a certain Sunday night he was celebrating the solemn Office in the church, withdrawn by a light sleep, felt himself impelled by the coming-upon of a certain person, and admonished to enter his house in haste. He immediately arose; and, a taper being snatched, entering his house, found robbers within the chamber, packing up the bedding of the bed, and whatever of garments they had found. Whom, delivering to custody, he returned into the church, and diligently completed the remainder of the Office. It is clear that blessed Germanus consulted for the minister of his basilica; lest, while he pressed on the divine praise, he should undergo the damages of his family estate.

[67] constructed It is less to bring forth things heard, unless also some things perceived by the eyes be subjoined. On the day before the Kalends of August the passing of blessed Germanus was celebrated at the city of Soissons with fervid service; and when, the day being more inclined toward evening, the celebrity of the divine praise had been unfolded both in the urban and also in the suburban churches and monasteries, a solicitous thought fell upon me, namely, the Aisne being crossed, to hasten to the aforesaid basilica, lest perhaps (which I was reckoning in my mind), by the departure of the presbyter, the vespertine Offices should be lacking to the place. Some brothers therefore being taken, I anxiously hastened. And now, as we were entering the atrium of the church, the bells gave their wonted clangor. Our course being more sharply hastened, we approached the door; which we found indeed closed, but by no means bolted. Scarcely had we placed our foot on the threshold, and now the bells had ceased to be rung. Casting our eyes here and there, we saw no one in the church. There was no door through which anyone could slip away. Having entered the priest's house with the utmost speed, diligently searching all things, we beheld no person, all things empty. The presbyter, with all his own, as he afterward confessed, having left his house empty, had long before departed into the city to dine. And when I revolved the matter silently with myself, it was conjectured by all that to blessed Germanus the divine services in the evening were not lacking, which seemed to be openly neglected by men. The Office being consummated, we departed alacritous, the lights being composed for the night, and the doors of the church more diligently fortified. And although my mind, conscious of the miracle, applauded in the recesses of the interior man; yet I preferred that the heavenly portent be published by others proclaiming it; lest perhaps I be made suspect to anyone, that, since I am a peculiar bondman of blessed Germanus, for the sake of multiplying his favor I willed to affect greater things from smaller ones.

XLVII.

[68] The district of Le Maine ^a, specially devoted to the merits of the most blessed Germanus, [Concerning the temerity of prince Vivianus punished at Cadriacus, in the matter of the falcons.] proclaims among itself in diverse places infinite miracles of his, which, if they were all committed to letters, could of themselves fill the body of a very great volume. In that district there is the villa Cadriacus, having a church glorious by his virtues: which place, because from long ago it is illustrious by the affluence of signs, is frequented by the most ardent zeal of the peoples untiringly flowing together. They testify, who saw very often the walls of the whole basilica within and without covered with palls ^b and linens, which the devotion of the faithful, on account of the received gifts of heavenly healings, hung up in the sacred place. This church, because constructed with a narrow circuit, was unequal to the assembly of the peoples concurring, was surrounded by the inhabitants of the place here and there with wooden porticoes. Hither at a certain time prince Vivianus ^c, coming, who then was lord of the same estate, about to sit down to a prepared dinner, ordered the capones ^d, which the common people call falcons, which had been brought with him, to be placed through the porticoes of the basilica. This done, he indulged himself in the banquet: from which, when he had risen, he found all the falcons dead, hanging by the same jesses by which they had been entangled. The temerity of the prince, punished by the loss of a most pleasing pleasure, brought indeed sadness to himself, admiration to the rest. The most holy Germanus, claiming reverence for his place, evidently admonished how displeasing to him savage rapacity was, whose vice he so strictly persecuted even in birds living by rapine.

XLVIII.

[69] Upon the perjured too he stands forth so great an avenger; that on the altar of his basilica no one dares, That here too the temerity of perjury is punished. not even the truth, to perform by oath. But if any at least tried to swear in the door of the church, some, struck by an inevitable vengeance, soon expired; others, made feeble, gave perpetual headlong penalties for their profane daring. Very many blind ones in that very place recovered light, the lame their step, lepers the cleanness of their polluted skin, the fever-stricken [] their health. These things we have touched compendiously; lest a place illustrious [] by daily benefits be excepted from the office of our commemoration. But in the places of Le Maine, and Anjou too, and Bayeux ^e, they most certainly assert that the glory of the most blessed Germanus is venerated by all the people almost more copiously than (if it be permitted to say) where his holy members lie entombed; so much that the infinite miracles wrought through him in these regions cannot even be touched by words, much less inserted in pages.

[70] Nor is it rashly to be passed over, that little portions from the coffin of the sacred body, given for relics, sometimes shone with heavenly miracles: for to a certain illustrious man, asking the relics of blessed Germanus, we remember that a chip ^f from the cypress, with which the sacred body was once covered, was granted by the archclavus [*] of the church. He received it with the highest devotion; and in the upper parts of the Auxerre district, in his patrimony which is called Heldinnus, constructed an oratory in honor of the holy Prelate. Hither on a certain day a certain crawling girl betook herself, whom a force of horrendous debility had so affected, that, her legs contracted, and her feet distorted backward, it had utterly taken away to her all faculty of walking. She, having stayed for some time within the oratory, when she had applied herself more promptly to prayer, suddenly the joints of her articulations and sinews so leapt apart, that you would think something broken had gone into fragments; and the very bones of her joints so violently burst forth with blood across the density of her hide, as if you discerned the wretched skin pierced by as many darts applied: and then indeed made almost lifeless, a little after, her offices being received, walking here and there, she dedicated a huge heralding far and wide to the miracle. Thence that place, both frequent in virtues and celebrated by assemblies, claimed for itself too a special reverence for the divine cult.

[71] That the Morvan forests ^g are filled with oratories of this kind is unknown to no one, unless ignorant of the places; Concerning the places since they are established to be so famous, that all the ambiguity of the journeys which can befall through the woodlands is declared by the knowledge of these places, as by a certain stone milestone. Thus the most blessed Germanus, by his happy patronage and foregoing leadership, directs journeys, composes ways, succors those walking, and not only strips them of error, but also fortifies them from the incursion of perils. We know in these places some basilicas in his honor, in which that the fatness of oil often flows is confirmed both by the frequency of the miracle, and by the testimony of many. Concerning the driving off of fevers we deem it superfluous to commemorate anything; since this daily benefit is now not reckoned a miracle. We know others too, spread through the wastes of the same solitude, on which, the less cult is expended by man, the more the presence of the Godhead is declared potent in them.

[72] of Morvan For both the lights, if it happen that they be kindled too tardily, or, kindled, be extinguished, have very often been detected there to be enkindled from heaven; the bells of the church too sometimes, no one ringing, sounding, to rebuke by a spontaneous office the perilous negligence of the guardians toward the divine Hours. That it may plainly stand out, that, the diligence of men ceasing, the custody of angels is not lacking to the place. Nor indeed is it to be spurned, if to the great benefits of God even the least be inserted: for with so great authority does blessed Germanus protect the things pertaining to him even from beasts; that, if perchance a fox (as woodland matters go) has invaded a hen of the priest, it is by no means allowed to enjoy its prey; but rather, fixed to the place, it has neither opportunity of fleeing, nor faculty of hurting; until, by the coming-upon of men, the prey is caught together with the robber. This he does condescendingly in the least things, who works all the greatest things powerfully in the great, and who, both founder and moderator of universal nature, does not permit even one sparrow to perish in vain.

NOTES.

CHAPTER VII.

Miracles done at the monastery of St. Germanus of Montfaucon.

LI.

[73] I would not rightly pass over Montfaucon, Concerning the reverence called from of old the mount of the Falcon; lest I seem to have suppressed a place noble and frequent in virtues, as negligently as forgetfully. That monastery, lofty by the merits of the most blessed Germanus, as it is illustrated by his name, so is adorned with virtues; much glory of signs there, many benefits are conferred on mortals from heaven; there blindness has frequently merited sight, debility reparation, the deaf hearing, and the fever-stricken very many remedies received unexpectedly; especially those who, lying down with a quartan incommodity, felt the sharper incitements of fevers. That is not to be kept silent, how great a vengeance rages upon the invaders of the place; for whom to have rashly perpetrated anything in the place was to have brought death upon themselves: for if anyone there either tried to dominate by tyranny, or to act more savagely with the household of the monastery, or to be an invader of ecclesiastical things, for this one vengeance is not deferred long; but, snatched by a most swift destruction, he pays the penalties of his sacrilegious temerity from the very footstep. This among all the inhabitants of the place is most certain and experienced; and it is turned in their mouth as a natural proverb, that he who has not feared to be violent to holy Germanus, is either crushed by the fierce teeth of wolves, or without hesitation consumed by the rapid whirlpool of the river Meuse. By this wonderful dispensation of the just Judge, both an affection of love toward the holy one of the Lord is instilled into the pious, and a magnitude of fear, for cutting back their daring, into all the wicked. Let the powers of the age hear such things; and let them learn that damage must not be brought upon the churches, knowing most certainly that God is the avenger in the injuries of his servants.

[74] A certain thief besides, accustomed to the breakings-in of churches, of the monastery, entering the aforesaid basilica of the blessed Father, an opportunity of fraud being seized, took down a silver crown hanging before the altar, the rope being let down; which, as he grasped it with his profane hands,

was so fixed to the place by divine power, that he could neither withdraw his foot, nor by any means recall his rash hands to himself; until, the guardian of the sacred place returning, the sacrilegious man was held together with the theft.

There is said to be a certain castle of Adrianus pertaining to the power of the above-said monastery. This, placed by its arduous situation on the height of a steep mountain, nonetheless displays a church of blessed Germanus, to which the frequent abundance of virtues acquired very much of reverence and honor. A certain blind man therefore, most well-known in that region, having set out from a villa whose name is At the Lions, and which antiquity placed at the roots of the same mountain, in hope of recovering his sight, was hastening through the slopes of the rock to the aforesaid basilica; but when, weighed down by the difficulty of the ascent, he could not surmount the height of the mountain, lying down from weakness and labor alike, he gave his weary limbs to sleep. To him sleeping the most clement Germanus was present, and, soothing the wretch with caressing piety, ordered him to spare his labor; then, showing the trunk of an old thorn in a part of the mountain, commanded him to dig the earth with his staff, and to wash his eyes from the wave of the emerging [*] water. Withdrawn from sleep, a boy leading him, he seeks the place; he subdues the earth with his staff; he awaits the outcome of the miracle. A most copious fount leaps out; with it he foments his eyes for some time; soon, the gloom being shaken off, he enjoys a new day. His vows urging, he climbs the summit of the mountain; he publishes the miracle; he heaps manifold thanks on his Repairer. That fount, most fecund of remedies, frequented by many from remote places too, both relieves by washing, and delights by drinking.

[75] which The vice-lord of the same place, on a certain day, singular labor being given to settling business, oppressed the ecclesiastical household with iniquitous commands. All crying out against it, and testifying the open violence with tumultuous vociferation, he ordered one of them, who among the rest seemed more honorable, bound to a stake, to be mulcted with rods. All, moved by this cruelty, fall down at his feet, and supplicate more strenuously that, by the offer of their property, he would remove the indignity of the blows: which thing not only did not soften the man's savagery, but more bitterly provoked it. And when now they were dragging the wretch to violent tortures, he began to cry out with anxious voices for the protection of blessed Germanus. The judge, his gall being moved; Even if holy Germanus, he said, on this occasion soon succor you, what blows can do you shall experience by your own punishment. Scarcely had he completed these things; and, turned to one side, he fell most grievously, and compensated the temerity of his words by a leg-fracture. Thus blessed Germanus declared that he had been most present; while he both gifted the wretch with absolution, and subdued the contumacious one with a merited contrition. And when swift fame dispersed the deed everywhere, a certain matron of the illustrious class, the business of this kind being learned by relation, is raised into pride; and, kindling her frivolous mind by the levity of her words, is borne into a complaint of this kind: He had not, she said, taught that holy Germanus was in this part so ready, that he would destroy a man seeking his own with such great cruelty. A sudden vengeance seized her blasphemous discourses; for as she, raging, brought forth these things, and turned her steps at the word; an avenging penalty so crushed her right foot, that, almost lifeless, she was carried into her chamber by the hands of her maidservants. And so she who a little before complained of another's incommodity, now anxiously sought a remedy for her own calamity; and whom she had noted as unjust in the punishment of the proud man, she now proclaimed just in all things, rather to her own contrition: her friends and kinsmen being summoned, she confesses the business; she rebukes the levity of her mind against herself; she chides the readiness of her mouth; and, at last laden with vows and gifts, she seeks the church; she expiates her crime with tears; she demands back from the most blessed Germanus pardon with health; and, with no long interval of time, she felt merciful him whom she had lately experienced severe. Restored to health, chastised, she withdrew into her house, and thoroughly taught, by the example of the modern vengeance, that immodest discourses must be spared.

[76] Something quite similar in a villa of the Auxerre district, Montfaucon whose name is Abundiacus, we remember was wrought; in which a certain illustrious man, most well-known to nearly the whole region, had ordered a certain one of the inhabitants of the place to be beaten down with savage blows; and, that one crying out for the suffrage of the precious Father, not only was he not bent, but even, ordering the cruel business to be hastened, he mounted his horse in haste: and before he passed out the gate, the horse is raised on high; it shakes off its rider from its back; and, its hip broken crosswise, prostrates him by a wretched dashing. Nor did he merit health before he made satisfaction, by due repentance, to blessed Germanus, whose name he had spurned. This being thus inserted on account of the similarity of the deed, let us bring back the series to the place ^b which we omitted ^c.

[77] The lord of the above-said castle, complying with a wicked cupidity, is said. by a rash daring alienated the things pertaining to the church. Which being learned, the bishop of Reims, to whose diocese that place is known to pertain, the presbyter being summoned, interdicted him from expending the office of Mass to the sacrilegious man. And not much after, that one, coming upon them, demanded from the presbyter the celebration of the wonted office; which, after he learned was interdicted by the pontiff, the steward of the same place being summoned, he ordered what had been taken from the church to be restored, sureties being given. Thus, having gained the office of Mass, the goad of a sinister will urging him on, what a little before he had ordered to be restored, the interposition of his faith being violated, he again orders to be alienated. Nor did he rejoice long, before a penalty seized the sacrilegious man: for scarcely had he returned home; and, invaded by a malign spirit, he was unhappily tormented. His wife, conscious of the temerity, for the safety of her husband directed tapers and vows to the church; of which not even one could be kindled, the indication of the divine indignation persisting toward the unhappy one, which he had not feared once to provoke against himself by the example of his sacrilegious cupidity. To which most monstrous calamity the supernal mercy then at last gave an end, when, persuaded by the counsel of his wife and kinsmen, he both restored to the church what he had before taken away, and from his lawful patrimony granted as much other property. The same basilica a nocturnal thief, entering, carried out with sacrilegious hands all things pertaining to the adornment of the altar. And when he had betaken himself to his feet after his custom, the divine force so entangled him, that he could by no means depart from the atrium of the church: and so, walking the whole night, at the dawn of the following morning he was found in the portico of the basilica, both trembling in conscience, and laden with the theft. Thus the robber is confounded; the prey is recovered; blessed Germanus is declared, by evident arguments, to act liberally in his own place. Concerning the level and habitable places there is nothing which we say; if we do not declare that the mountainous and arduous places, and through this nearly inaccessible to human steps, are made passable by the virtues of Germanus ^d.

NOTES.

CHAPTER VIII.

His miracles which happened in the Alps, and in Britain.

LII.

[78] That the ridges of the Pennine Alps are illustrated no more by the whiteness of the snows, than by his merits, is the more certain, Concerning his oratory constructed among the summits of the Alps. the more experienced it is: for on the mountain which is called of Lesser Jove ^a, there is his church, modest in circuit, great in virtues; which, on account of the reposing of the sacred body, when it was brought back from Ravenna, is known to have been constructed in that place. This is inevitably passable to those going to Rome, and thence returning; because the public causeway, on which it stands, on account of the narrowness of the journey, denies all faculty of turning aside from it. There the innumerable benefits of the divine liberality thereupon shine forth, which compensate the roughness and solitude of the place by a copious fertility of remedies; so that you would justly confess that the majesty of heavenly munificence is not lacking even to the dry rocks. That each of the travelers, whom the horror of night rushing on, or the difficulty of fatigue hindering, or the burden of infirmity weighing down, compels to pass under the roof of the church, receives there the gifts of healings, is gathered thence clearer than light, that the presbyter, to whose care the place pertains, dwelling more frequently on the remote plain, if ever, about to serve the sacred rites, he climbs the mountains, beholds there many arguments of the recovering infirm; for both the tablets of the mute, by the shaking of which they ask alms; the litters too of the crawling contracted, are frequently found there; sometimes also the pavement wet with blood; but also votive sweetmeats left in diverse little gifts, gave faith to miracles wrought in the place by night.

LIII.

[79] It had once been familiar to the holy Man to seek secrecy and the abjection of his eye, That in performing miracles he always preferred secrecy. to hand over the things done by him wondrously to secret shadows, and, as much as was in him, to obscure all his virtues in the lurking-places of perpetual ignorance: hence certainly it is, that although many of his miracles became known to the world, and could not be hidden by the obscurity of the places, when he was betrayed by his virtues; yet there are innumerable which, shunning boastfulness, he did not suffer to come into the knowledge of men; being one who, having surmounted the measure of human possibility, enjoyed the angels as conscious witnesses and heaven as witness. This custom the excellent Father keeps even today, who, although he stands forth of incomparable merit with God, sometimes in more obscure little places, entitled only with his name, furnishes more shows of visible signs, than where we always venerate the sacred presence of his adorable body. But, because to all the unbelieving, and those who measure invisible things only from visible ones, it is familiar to seek signs with the Jews, and to be delighted only with present advantages; to me certainly, whose faith has now grown strong into robustness, whose purpose is to enter into life, who finally do not doubt that souls incomparably excel bodies, as much as immortal things excel mortal, as the lasting excel the perishable, these benefits will always stand dearer, which spiritually and perpetually bless the interior man, than those which corporally and transitorily relieve the exterior man: that these flow abundantly by day, these by night, from the tomb of Germanus, no one of a sound head would with reason doubt.

LIV.

[80] While, carried around through the inland places, we curiously investigate the individual matters, Concerning the Britons subject to holy Germanus by a special cult; it was almost that we should except the Ocean, wondrously girding the extremities of the world, from the privileges of our most excellent Father; with which although the whole world overflows, yet Britain glories in them more abundantly, an island among all either the first or the greatest; concerning which, as [*] authority bears: The end of the world was the shore of the Gallic coast; were it not that the island Britain, by its singular amplitude, merited the name almost of another world ^b. This island, submitted to blessed Germanus by a peculiar devotion, testifies that it is subject to his sanctity by many expenditures of benefits; namely because, illuminated by his doctrines, because through him it was more than once purged from the filth of heresies, because finally it was illustrated by the manifold lamp of miracles. Which, since they have been to some extent committed to letters by the zeal of noble scholars, do not need repetition. One is related as famous among the rest, of which the knowledge to us

came through the holy old man Marcus, a bishop of the same nation: who, indeed a Briton by nation, but educated in Ireland, after long exercises of pontifical sanctity, enjoined upon himself a spontaneous pilgrimage. Thus led over into France, and allured by the munificence of the most pious king Charles, at the monastery of blessed Medard and Sebastian ^c he exercises an anchoretic life, a philosopher of singular and unique sanctity in our time. He was wont very often to relate before many that the most holy Germanus (that I may use his own words), the apostle of his nation, at a certain time, while he was passing through the Britains, entered the palace of the king with his disciples. It was then a horrid winter, vehemently hostile not only to men, but even to the very beasts. And so, an intermediary being directed to the king, he asked hospitality for the oncoming night. The king refused, and, as he was barbarous both in nation and in mind, made light of the business. Meanwhile Germanus, persisting under the open sky with his disciples, endured the inclemency of the sky with unbroken minds.

[81] And now the day being drawn toward evening, the swineherd of the king, returned from the pastures, and concerning the hospitality of the swineherd, was carrying from the palace to his own hut the received portion of his daily salary. He, when he beheld the most blessed Germanus wasting with his disciples in the winter horror, approaching close, humbly prays that he would declare who he was, or from what cause he tarried there amid the excessive colds. And when he had perceived nothing of certainty from the answer, moved by the dignity of the person; I pray, he said, whoever you are, Lord, that you spare your body, and deign to enter the hospitality of your servant, and at last, if any services are at hand for my poverty, to receive them: for I see it to be of no small moment, to temper the straits of the impending night by however cheap a dwelling. Not spurning the quality of the person, he entered the hospitality; and gladly received the services which were expended on him by the poor man. There was to him in his little property only a cow and a calf: and, turned to his wife; And do you not understand, he said, how great a guest you have received: gird yourself therefore, and, killing the only calf which we have, set it before those about to sup. She obeyed the word without hesitation, and places the cooked calf on the table. The bishop, abstaining as usual, enjoins the eating on the rest. The supper finished, blessed Germanus calls the woman, and orders that she place the bones of the calf, collected more diligently, upon its little hide before its mother in the manger. Which done (wonderful to say), the calf, without delay, rose up, and, standing beside its mother, began to pluck fodder. Then, turned to both, the Prelate; The reward of your charity being safe, he said, receive the rights of hospitality compensated meanwhile by such a benefit. The wondrous outcome of the matter all extolled with united heraldings.

[82] and the king being deposed. On the morrow the Pontiff seeks the palace again, and awaits the king's going-out to the public audience. Him, proceeding from the inner chambers, Germanus receives, and, with a powerful objurgation of words, severe, inquires why the day before he denied him hospitality. The king, fixed with stupor, grew torpid, and, astounded at the constancy of the Man, failed of an answer. Then Germanus, with wonderful authority; Go out, he said, and leave the scepters of the kingdom to a better man. That one hesitating, Germanus, impelling the delaying one with his staff; You shall go out, he said; and, as it is established to be determined by the Lord, you shall by no means henceforth for eternity abuse the royal power. The barbarian, dreading the heavenly authority in the Prelate, goes out with his wife and children indifferently [*], attempting thereafter by no reasoning to retain the doors of the palace. Then Germanus, one of his disciples being directed, calls the swineherd with his wife; and, the whole palace being astounded, places him on the summit of the kingdom. From that time to the present, kings proceeding from the swineherd's stock rule the nation of the Britons, God through blessed Germanus wondrously ordering human affairs. That these things are thus contained among Britain in catholic writings, the aforesaid bishop confirmed to me by the interposition of an oath; whose probity whoever has experienced will by no means doubt to yield trust to his words ^d. O Man singular among the columns of mortals! O Man now bearing the symbols of the very Godhead! Not yet has he laid aside his muddy mass; and now with Christ he decides about the world, ordains powers, disposes kingdoms. I openly pronounce you insane, whoever you are who despair that peoples can be advanced to the heavenly kingdoms by the merit of Germanus, whom you consider to have been able to do so great things while still carrying his earthly limbs.

NOTES.

BOOK TWO.

PROLOGUE

of the same author.

[83] The series of the former booklet being run through somehow according to the capacity of my wit, the second, which remains, demands private labors, Hericus's affection toward the Saint; and the purpose of this book. now indeed to be begun instantly, but not also consequently to be consummated in every way: for these things being weighed which are handled at hand, if any things thereafter perhaps thrust themselves in by the merit of our apostolic Father, I will diligently pursue them; and what it shall please the Godhead to furnish, those things I shall not be grieved to put into my sheets without delay [*] ^a. But willingly may I be bound by this debt, nor would I ever wish to be exempted from it; and, paying it, and never paying it off, would that I might leap forth from the bonds of the body, the privilege of the highest and most ancient sanctity persevering toward the memory of Germanus. He has many more fit for so great a business, to whom, if his own were lacking, external services certainly would freely serve to his wish: but, while he once handled secular things, he knew to drink from gold, he knew sometimes also to dine from earthenware; and although jeweled cups were at hand for the prince, yet he did not shudder, for the time, to use even wooden ones for the use of manifold ministry. He will not spurn, I believe, that his heraldings be arranged by a most lowly and tongueless man; whose glory of merits is so great, that it suffices to bestow on the mute themselves an abundance of speaking about him: and it will be a kind of dignity, to take modest things from the modest, for him to whom it is possible to receive any huge things from the greatest. To me long since purposing, many things eagerly thrust themselves in to be said, of which I deem nothing prior, nothing more competent to be prefixed to the vestibule of the booklet, than that, in what manner our most munificent Father decreed, in our memory indeed, that his place should be succored. That there was such a consequence to that matter, is declared by the subjoined relation.

NOTES.

CHAPTER I.

The new fabric of the church of St. Germanus in the monastery of Auxerre, both begun and completed with miracles.

[84] Conrad, a most famous prince, colleague of kings, A commemoration of Conrad the elder, and among the courtly primates exceedingly illustrious, at that time shone by royal munificence with the greatest honors, and worthy of his own nobility ^a. He had a wife, Adelaide by name, herself likewise glorious by the titles of the foremost birth; being one who, sprung from the ancestral offspring of the ancient nobles, equaled the splendor of her stock by the lineage of a most august dignity ^b. These both the charity of marriage and the social grace of probity had joined, equaling the amplitude of their fortunes by the cults of religion toward God, of moderation toward the world. Wondrous in secular persons was their dutifulness, huge their devotion, inexplicable the magnitude of their faith; so that you could scarcely suffice to judge which of them appeared more inclined to religion, more fervent toward the Saints, more copious [*] in the care of the poor; thus they strove to anticipate each other by the offices of piety, potent above all both by the summit of their dignity, and also by the zeal of virtue to be emulated.

[85] and concerning his munificence. And whereas you may see very many even of the secular nobles at this time gape after ecclesiastical prelacies for the sake of fostering their ambition; that these were in our time either the first or the only ones, I would say with the leave of all, who, the power of the sacred places being undertaken, wished not so much to preside ^c as to profit; nor to satisfy their boiling avarice by the oppression of the servants of God, but to shut out utterly, or to temper tolerably, by their own wealth, the indigences creeping upon them. This, I being silent, everywhere in the world diverse churches cry out, either increased by the incomparable devotion of these with abundances of things, or notably distinguished by the glory of fitting ornaments. Our place especially attests this, which, increased by the manifold gifts of the same, by the orderly providence of the Godhead, began to be distinguished by a beginning of this kind.

II.

[86] The mentioned prince, when day by day he raised, by magnificent advances of honors, the summit of his singular power, it happened Concerning the light of the prince that his prosperous affairs were disturbed by the trouble of an incommodity suddenly rushing on: for so a calamity of one of his eyes had monstrously wrought, that, with the accession of time, the pupil failing by the overspreading of a thick cataract, with the loss of intolerable light heaped up daily the increases of pain. A crowd of physicians, gathered from the palace and all parts of the kingdom, had flowed together, about to expend upon the prince the manifold industry of the art, the forces of skill being conferred. Long and much was labored without profit of labor; whatever was of human experience was consumed in vain: so the full-grown plague and the morbid force, gradually growing fierce, had eluded both the vows and the hands of the most approved physicians. And so what is of the art either the greatest or the last, namely that what remained must be treated with iron and cautery, they decreed. The prince urged the deed; since with it infected, health was despaired of. The said day for attempting the business more insistently provoked the piously impious operations of the physicians [*].

[87] being repaired. And now it was at hand; when he, sufficiently anxious between hope and fear, as he had spent nearly the whole night sleepless, believed it pre-dawn ^d; about first to seek heavenly medicines by prayers, he approached, full of vows, the sepulchre of the most blessed Germanus; and, the brothers performing the nocturnal station after their custom, long he lay prostrate in prayer with the overthrow of his whole body. Meanwhile the pain raged more sharply; he however nonetheless persisted in his undertaking. The place was planted with herbs ^e: on these he, his hand cast upon them, for the sake of catching a cooling, fomented his eye for some time. A little of an hour intervening, he draws his hand from his forehead, and, the herbs being removed, marveled that all the gloom had yielded together with the pain. Thus, by the merits of blessed Germanus, it was provided for the most devout prince, that by the interest of one dawn he both put off the menacing terrors of the physicians, and thenceforth enjoyed the whole reparation of his lulled light. Praises to God, thanks to the Saint, are poured forth insatiably; and the conferred benefit is received with a double rejoicing, because it both came suddenly, and circumscribed the inevitable necessity of his unpeaceful health, beyond what could be aspired to by vows. And what was then found at hand, golden armlets, he offered to the sacred sepulchre. But he conceived so much of devotion and benevolence toward the Saint's place, as the huge outcome of things afterward proved. These things being thus unfolded, he withdrew into the estates of his own jurisdiction.

III.

[88] But thence, by daily advances, the intimate

ardor grew, Concerning the first conception of the eastern fabric. to undertake something new and likewise becoming, which should be both equal to his devotion and commodious to the dignity of the blessed Confessor. That a happy outcome is not lacking to pious cogitations about God, was declared also by the outcome of this matter: he calls his wife of excellent memory; and, the business being communicated with her, namely what settled in his mind, or what he decreed should be done, he intimated more evidently. She, because she was of singular wit, and born to the highest place, and also chief by the dowry of inborn prudence, at once perceived the matter most acutely: she snatched the word from the prince's mouth; and, because it was divinely inspired, persuaded that it should be hastened as much as possible; that she would most gladly undertake the mass of the whole business: if any things seemed difficult, they would easily yield to just desires; that it would come to pass that the matter, though arduous, would in a short time obtain the summit of the wished-for perfection. Animated by such thoughts, she believed it must be hastened; and, impatient of all delay, having set out by the prince's command, she came to the monastery of blessed Germanus; and first, the position of the place being more diligently inspected, after she saw that all things answered to her purpose, it cannot be said with how great fervor she addicted herself to press on the undertakings; provided that the Godhead, bent by the dispositions of religion, would grant the being-able to do what he had given her to will.

IV.

[89] The place was, by a certain natural situation, most commodious; and on the Eastern part, Concerning the opportunity the slope of the mountain gradually slackening, competently inclined and hanging, freely offered itself to the conceptions of a certain huge fabric. The matter is conferred with artisans most experienced in such things: their industry acceding to the opportunity of the place, an exemplar of the conceived work is fashioned, and, as by a certain prelude of the future mass of magnitude, is formed in small wax models with that beauty, that subtlety, which should be worthy of the king of angels and men, of the college of the Saints, of the majesty of the very place. Competent expenses being prepared, the exactors and masters of the works are chosen; by whose restless zeal and highest insistence the immense work is accomplished with incredible celerity, with so great facility of things, with so great alacrity of minds; that it was obvious to all, that divine favor had concurred with the business. Concerning the quality of which fabric there would be many things which by right might be committed to letters for the praise of the work; but because it is both set before the eyes, and most well known to nearly all round about, one must spare the page in such things, to be extended afterward for the more necessary matters.

[90] The work, accomplished by robust diligence, and about to last, God helping, and its position for many centuries, will thenceforth bear an immortal memory of the merits of prince Conrad and his most benign spouse; whose prone and incomparable benevolence from the heart toward us and our place, the hereditary devotion of their posterity too approved; namely the sons ^f of the most just parents, answering most similarly both to their probity and to their piety; to whom, beyond all that is human, the same place both settled in mind and evidently appeared most dear with an unspeakable love; whom, because you were already long tormented by the successes of our beginning felicity, forestalled by a bitter fall, O Fortune, ever envious of the advancement of the ages, you took away. Yet, lest you should everywhere prostrate us, intercepted from all hope of protections, as you had begun, the most prudent Moderator eluded your unbridled attempts and dire machinations, reserving this one, who, heaven being propitious, still surviving, plucks the vital airs, first for our safety, then for the use of many, finally for the advancement of all.

[91] of the place. This is Hugh, that I may confess the truth without the dye of flattery, both in name and in office Abbot; concerning whom whatever I shall say is far below his own merit; and it is better to be silent about him in all things, than to say little: for I have not now undertaken to treat anything about him; except that the excellent offspring, flowing from distinguished parents, represents these most similarly both in dignity and in manners. Hence it came to pass that, substituted, God assenting, to the paternal honors, mindful of ancestral glory, he stands forth a most robust heir both of the power and of the probity of his fatherland, blessed Germanus protecting, about to flourish, by our vows and those of all the faithful, for the glory of the holy Church, both very long and happily. But the memory of that man all the following years will receive. Since indeed matters were running down with a sweet lapse, it had been pleasant [*] to linger; did not the matters about to follow in order call away our minds, prone to pleasure.

[92] The work being magnificently elaborated, whatever things could be for its adornment were most insistently prepared; Concerning the brothers' and since in our province an abundance of marbles was by no means at hand, they decreed that these must be sought in remote regions. For this cause certain of the brothers, having twice undertaken the difficulty of a perilous expedition, and undergoing amid the vast whirlpools of the Rhône a journey full of peril, proceeded to Arles, and then to Marseilles, which is the last of the Gauls. To whom this was the condition of mind, that they bore all bitternesses, all insolences of things, and certainly all extremities, not only bravely, but also gladly. There, having engaged with huge perils, they overcame many things by craft, many by daring, craftily bold, boldly crafty, not unmindful that all great things cost greatly, and that the daring are aided by fortune. And so, the ruins of the old buildings being cleared of rubble round about, they gathered a huge abundance of precious marbles, partly by favor, partly by price; and, the ships being laden with a most preferable prey, by a victorious success of their bold undertakings they twice conducted a memorable triumph. That the divine favor was not lacking to them through the horrible journey, I would without hesitation say; because, unbroken in mind, unwearied in strength, they surpassed both the swelling of the menacing sea, and the ferocity of a faithless nation. Very often they felt the most present patronage of blessed Germanus; when, his name being invoked, delivered from fatal chances, they wondered that they had suddenly changed adverse things into prosperous.

[93] expedition Or that too, of what kind, and how evident it was, which from among many we believe one sufficient for the decreed brevity? Those things being fulfilled for which they had proceeded, most insistently hastening their return, they commit themselves to the rapacious Rhône: on a certain day, about to mount the ship, the serene morning had deceived them, as mornings are wont, with a false hope of daily tranquility; but a tempest suddenly arising made savage the natural rage of the sea by the concurrences of the acceding storm. A huge terror impelled all, wearied of the waves, fearful of the perils: and first, to the pilot exploring the face of the elements more diligently, it seemed best, as quickly as possible, that the shore must be sought, the peril yielded to, and the navigation then begun spared; because the air, more vehemently than usual commoted, would scarcely within the following three days lay open a placid passage among the waves. Their gazes therefore being stretched into the distance, a church is discerned; approaching which, they held the safe harbor of the wished-for land. Those going out, a sharper insistence of their bodies to be cared for urged: for procuring this, diverse men seeking diverse things, it was learned from the inhabitants of the place that that church, sacred by the name and merits of blessed Germanus, claimed so much of reverence among all; that no one dared to presume anything of the things pertaining to the place, no one even to usurp a twig from the surrounding hedges; and moreover that the whole neighborhood of the surrounding country stood so safe by the majesty of the place, that, leaving their garments hung here and there for whole days or nights, both on the hedges and on the trees, they could reside in their own houses without the fear or peril of a thief. Thus, by trust in the most blessed Germanus, all things dwell in safety; and it is a kind of miracle, that things exposed to peril do not perish amid the danger.

[94] This being thus learned, they relieve their minds of their anguishes; alacritous, they seek the place; into Provence, they embrace the name of their peculiar Father with known affections; applying themselves more devoutly to prayer, they render thanks for past things, they conceive vows for future ones. Thus commending themselves and all their goods more familiarly to God through the merit of their glorious Protector, they seek again the station of the shore; when suddenly, their gazes being directed round about, in a long prospect they discern that all the inclemency of the air, beyond what could be hoped, had sunk down; that the winds, and all the elements, their pernicious ferocity laid aside, had grown mild into their former temperateness. Without delay, alacritous, they seek again the despaired journey, and, their strength being brought forth for brave deeds, they drive prosperous courses upon the sea, secure of chances, confidence being once drunk in, and, in respect of the Godhead conciliated through Germanus, despisers of whatever of the emerging storms could withstand. He had once laid low the sinister legion upon the British Ocean, when the virulent obstinacy of the ancient enemy begrudged that this man tended to the reparation of the perishing peoples. Now too who would doubt that it was of his virtue, of his merit, that, after the sudden perils of the waves, the proclaimed joys of serenity shone again?

[95] I judge it next to a miracle, that, the marbles being brought to the destined place, for the sake of the marbles. whatever of columns was conveyed agreed with so great a fitness to all parts of the fabric, as if, without discrepancy, and, as they say, to the nail, shaped by those very same lines, they had answered to the proposed exemplar. In the placing of which, what wondrous or evident thing shone out among the rest, I judge should not be kept silent. One of these, of no contemptible magnitude, placed upon its base, a gathered hand of the strong men, the vault being led over above, their forces conferred, they were inserting; and, all striving with the utmost might, when now it stood almost erect, the monstrousness of the mass conquered those impelling it, and now, slipped from their hands, was borne by its own weight to ruin. From fear of the peril all had yielded, awaiting, not without a scruple of inmost grief, the fall of the marble soon to be crushed to fragments. God being present, the matter yielded contrary to expectation; and what the human hand had not been able to accomplish, by the meeting of divine virtue was accomplished much more gratefully, and much more easily; and with as great an impetus as it had before rushed downward, with so great an impetus soon it was seen, without visible protection, to demand again the heights by its own mass. Thus, fixed in its place, it thrusts upon us a beautiful and unconvulsed memory of a perennial miracle.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

The translations of St. Germanus illustrated with miracles; the relics also of the holy bishop Amator, and of the Martyrs Urban and Tiburtius, brought to his church.

VI.

[96] The work being finished, and all things which set forth adornment being consummated, Concerning the transferring the most holy body of B. Germanus, venerable to the whole world, was translated into a crypt worthy of so great a treasure, with great ambition of apparatus, with a huge kind of obsequies ^a. Long ago indeed, some years before ^b, by the command of the emperors Charles and Louis ^c, it had been transmuted by Heribald ^d, the venerable pontiff; when from the time of his passing, from which it was brought back from Ravenna, for about four hundred years it had rested in the same church, in the place where it had been delivered to its first burial. There were present then too the chief arguments of his merits, more solemnly commended not without the privileges of miracles. The inmost parts of the precious sepulchre being at length laid open, the venerable body appeared thus at last with all the adornment of garments whole, inviolate, and beautiful with every kind of incorruption; so that it could easily be persuaded to anyone ignorant of the matter, that he had recently died, recently been hidden in the tomb, recently been girt about with the apparatus of garments. There acceded here the splendor of a public miracle, not to be kept silent for its magnitude.

[97] A certain unhappy man, whose name was Helenus, of the sacred body, a horrid force had so consumed, that besides the unlucky losses of tongue and ears, he was also miserably tormented through a long time by the violence of the black demon. And now, the Creator propitiously pitying his calamity, it happened that he was present at the spectacle of the above-said translation. He related afterward, that, having thrice attempted to go out of the church, he was thrice recalled into the church by the meeting of a certain grave and venerable person. It is likely that between the malign and the benign spirit, about the saving or not saving of the man, in those turns of going out and coming back, there was for some time a struggle; while both to leave to this one the vessel once possessed, and to the other that the workmanship of the supernal Artificer be held longer by the enemy, was reckoned most inhuman. At length, at the third return, as if driven more violently by a certain impulse, he fell upon the pavement; and soon flowed out through mouth, ears, and nostrils with a prevailing effusion of gore [*]. Thus, by the protection of him whose sacred pledges were being translated, restored to safety, he both lacked the plague of the demon, and received back the revived ministries of his necessary senses into their former uses.

[98] To the faith of the miracle, surviving afterward very many days, and a commemoration of the first translation. he declared a conscience not unmindful of the benefit received, by services competent to his slenderness, at the memory of blessed Germanus. This was done in the year of God made man 841, Charles now reigning, the most pious son of the emperor Louis; after he, returned victor from the civil battle ^e, raised above all his brothers the summit of royal power. But in the year of the same incarnate Word 859, which is the nineteenth of king Charles, the same basilica being amplified, and adorned with the beauty of crypts, as was above arranged, the most holy mausoleum of our oft-said and oftener to-be-said Father was again removed from the place of the first translation, to be transferred with public cults to the above-written vault, prepared with new and laborious diligence. That matter (as is almost most well-known to all) ran down in this order.

VII.

[99] Louis, king of Germany, violently emerging from the parts across the Rhine, A commemoration of the treason rashly gaped ^f after the kingdom of his brother's lot, once confirmed by the judgment of the Franks by the most holy interposition of an oath, without any respect for the struck treaty ^g. This the unfaithful factions of the traitors had done, to whom indeed a mind impatient of quiet, but a bestial rage and beastly restlessness of daring anything, however monstrous, supplied strength and spirit: which kind of men, of their own accord setting out for slaughter and madness, transferred their impious right hand to the killing of citizens. And now nearly all the nobles of the whole kingdom had defected from this one to that; nothing consisted in equity, all in force; all things were carried by slaughter, rapine, burnings; the title of Christianity did not recall them from their monstrous undertakings, nor the contemplation of the human treaty, nor God, everywhere fully and fully present in all places, and through this inspecting all things from above, nor finally the consideration of the future judgment, the world being consummated, to be weighed with equal scales between the well-deserving and the ill-conscious.

[100] among kings. Amid these things the most gentle king Charles, in the arts of war and peace ever to be compared to the modesty of David, when he had thoroughly perceived that he could not by human forces resist on equal terms his brother's savagery, obstinately growing cruel from day to day; not unaware that all things are rolled by turns, and accustomed from a boy to bear casualties bravely and, God being propitious, to overcome them, judged that he must yield to the time, rather than, with loss to himself and to the commonwealth, lie under blind and extraordinary perils. And so, animated by a more wholesome counsel, and one which so befitted a prince, the hope of temporal help being set aside, he betook himself to the divine guard; knowing it pernicious enough, as to distrust divine things, so also to strive too inconsiderately with human forces. And, bordering between hope and fear, touched by God, he approached the monastery of blessed Germanus with the mentioned expedition.

VIII.

[101] Therefore, the opportunity of place and time being seized, he decreed the translation of the sacred body must be accomplished without delay; In what manner the aforesaid king translated the same sacred body. both because he was uncertain of his own return, and because he did not doubt that very much of strength could be acquired to him by the offices of the devotion conceived toward the Saint. Therefore on the holy day of the Epiphany ^h, all things being solemnly prepared, he reverently approached the memory of the glorious body: very few stand round about; namely venerable bishops, and most approved priests, accompanying the king within the holiest of holy things: the rest indeed he kept off from the inmost parts. But those sounding hymns and psalmody untiringly, he commanded to persevere with diligence in the Office. Hence, hastening the business full of reverence, he opened the sepulchre. The most precious members, just as of old, whole, beholding with suppliant eyes, he venerated with fitting honor. What vows he there conceived, what affection he expended, how purely he sacrificed himself upon the very altar with spiritual contrition, was and is established to God alone; who declared from the footstep that this had been most pleasing to him. After these things, suffering the venerable body to be handled by the hands of the pontiffs alone, he decently encircled it again with laborious palls. Moreover, offering the grateful odor of his faith with much expense of balsam, much of incense, through blessed Germanus, to the Creator who beholds all things, he placed the incomparable treasure of his adorable body, transposed with lavish ambition, with huge glory, and finally with princely reverence, in that place where it is now venerated and cultivated. He magnificently heaped the place with royal liberality and gifts; and appointed that day, spent with festive apparatus, perpetually celebrated for the succeeding ages ⁱ.

IX.

[102] Soon therefore, the salutary things of his devotion being performed, committing himself with a suppliant vow to the most strong God, who gives salvation to kings, In what manner he drove off the enemy, God protecting him, by the intervention of the most blessed Germanus, confident of mind, and as if secure of a victory already obtained, a levy being made, without delay he hastens to meet the enemy, about to accomplish the warlike matter more by faith than by arms. And so, using Christ as leader, he drove off the hostile forces without blood, gifted with a double benefit, in that he both took a trophy from the enemy, and declined the guilt of homicide, or rather of parricide, God protecting him in all things, about thereafter, God bestowing and blessed Germanus protecting, to possess affairs, and to reign happily ^k.

[103] It will be fitting to piety, and will stand salutary to us, if to the honor of the blessed Pontiff be subjoined, An abridgment whatever miracles after these illustrated the series of time. No long course of days intervening, a certain youth, weak alike and deformed by a damage of his hams, the temple of the blessed Father being entered, through some days by assiduous vigils prayed for the necessary recovery of his walking through the merits of the sacred body. It was then the night of the Lord's day, which is known to be the middle day of the sacred Lenten observance. And when about cockcrow the officiousness of the nocturnal function was being performed by the brothers, most powerfully reformed to his genuine rectitude through the merits of the Prelate, he offered a great spectacle to the standing people, and to the divine praise through the mouths of all a noble matter and a memorable increase. To this another miracle succeeded at the same season, and itself too publicly celebrated under the eyes of many. A certain man deprived of the use of speech, while he betook himself to the Saint by the patronage of a robust faith, by the suffrage of received speech went out from the lurking-place of damnable silence. Tessellated tablets, hung in the vestibule of the temple, were a monument to that matter.

[104] By the declaration of the following miracle the year 869 of the incarnate Lord was rolling; of miracles a certain Adalricus, by fatherland a man of Sens, most well-known everywhere by the very kind of his debility, was so dragged with his whole body crawling; that debility added to deformity seemed to have taken away from the man the more necessary offices of the body. Nature had not produced him such; but a calamity rushing on out of time, God alone conscious of the cause, he had now for the twelfth year been dragged. He anxiously but ineffectually sought the relief of his unhappiness by frequent [*] visits to the memories of the Saints. It most certainly stands out, that this one was reserved to the merits of our most blessed Father. Therefore when to the solemnity of the Kalends of October, to be celebrated with the public joys of the whole world, a numerous throng of peoples had flowed together after the custom, he too took care to be present at the assembly by what effort he could; not so much for the sake of recovering health, as he himself afterward confessed, as that he might be helped by the alms conferred by those coming together: but God, the artificer of humanity, to whom it is familiar to bestow freely many things even on those not asking, by the expense of one miracle conferred both the glory of the day, and on the wretch the medicine which he had despaired of. For nearly the middle part of the sacred vigils being measured out, when by the turns of the alternating choir the Psalm which is inscribed, "A hymn becomes thee, O God, in Sion," had begun to be sung, so great a clamor of the reconvalescing wretch filled the church; that not only the frequency of the crowd, but the very choirs of the divine Office, a trembling horror invaded to the marrow. By the coming-on of health, the loosened frames of his sinews, and his members returning into their former vigors, had roused the unhappy one into disordered clamors. To the voice men run together from here and there in rivalry; and he is found collapsed, with body and members almost dead: a little after, his strength being resumed, and the use of steps returning, he brought the leaven of divine praise to those present, transmitted it to those to come. For the assertion of this work that very man leads a surviving life, and, expending to the sacred body the debt owed for himself, well deserving, according to his strength, carries about with him the indications of his own health.

[105] The night of his sacred passing was led with the wonted officious vigils; after the second and a certain one of the brothers, so religious, an inmost grief of his vitals miserably wearied; and there was to the man an inconsolable mourning, an immoderate grief, not so much that he was pressed by the violence of infirmity, as that, failing in strength, he could not be present at the due services of the solemnity. Amid these things sleep falls upon his wearied limbs. To him sleeping St. Germanus shows himself present; he commands that he declare without hesitation what he did, or what he suffered. That one professing his troublesome sickness, he seemed to have applied a placid hand in place of the grief. Full of vigor he rose at once; and, to the huge miracle of all, glad he inserted himself into the choirs of the psalm-singers. It cannot be said how much of fervor accrued to the minds of all in the praise of God.

[106] of the sacred body The festal day [*] of his most holy predecessor Amator had come, and, the bishops being gathered, his venerable body was translated with princely reverence. To that spectacle the college of blessed Germanus too

to withdraw, was not so much unbecoming as nefarious. About to receive relics of the sacred body, they decreed that nothing more competent must be asked, than the fingers of the right hand, with which he had once violently plucked the hair from Germanus. This being obtained, they carried them back with ambitious pomp, with festive joy. And when, having entered the basilica, and about to perform the divine service, they were setting down the sacred pledge before the sepulchre of blessed Germanus, it was ready at hand to recognize, that two lights of preeminent merit had concurred with pious joys, with new glory: for a certain woman, brought by a litter, because, crawling with her whole body, she lacked the natural offices of her limbs; soon reformed to a becoming stature, by the merits of both she brought back full joys of health. The clergy with praises, the people with clamors extolled the deed, by which both the day was illustrated, and the ancient familiarity of the holy Pontiffs among themselves seemed proved by perspicuous arguments.

The sacred days of Lent were rolling; and it happened that a deaf woman from the district of Sens arrived. She had been forewarned by a dream, that she should make a rope for the bell [*], and carry it to the basilica of blessed Germanus. She obeyed the word; she brought the rope; it was applied to the bell. When she had struck it with her own hand, at that same moment the bronze gave a sound, the woman received hearing.

[107] the translation. In the year 873 of the Word made human among men, the public religiousness of the faithful peoples was spending the day of the Kalends of October with votive joys. There was present among the rest a certain native of the district of Anjou, from a village called Basilicæ, Adalsadus by name, carrying about the damages of his contracted knees through a course of nearly thirty-three years: therefore, the solemn celebrity of Masses being begun, having entered the church, as he himself relates, he began to boil with immense fervors; seeking a place to mitigate these, he goes out again outside. Soon, the heat yielding, he was seized with so great a horror of cold; that he almost believed he would be killed, unless he entered the church again. Having at length entered there, he is again inflamed with the former heats. Amid these things his knees leap apart; his sinews are loosened; the church is filled with clamor. And now on the ambo the responsory was being sung: he is brought close to the holy sepulchre; under the eyes of all the frames once dead are distended; the dryness of his sinews is animated; his knees are straightened into their former disposition; the assembly of the faithful is kindled to the praise of God; and with doubled gladness, mouths are filled with voices, cheeks with tears; the sermon to the people is turned to the splendor of the festivity; blessed Germanus is proved by an evident benefit to be present to his own day. Still, he of whom we speak survives, and confesses himself mindful of the received benefit, by what servitude he can. And great and manifold, O Christ, are the medicines at hand for thee, and since thou art the founder of the universe, things standing wrongly thou dost, in ways well-pleasing, both order by restoring and restore by ordering.

XI.

[108] I fear it must be excepted from the heraldings of our highest and incomparable Father, that, his grace of merits intervening, the same place merited to be heaped also with the pledges of the holy Martyrs from the city of Rome. Now this, I believe, the provident Godhead was setting forth beforehand, when among the other ^l structures of the above-mentioned work the secretarium ^m too of its vault was prepared, neither for one, nor for one only: namely that others would come very soon from somewhere as patrons, In what manner the pledges of the holy Martyrs, brought from the City, who would supply the place with their presence, protect it by their merits, illustrate it by their virtues. Which, because it is most inhuman to draw over with silence, nowhere do I see it more opportune either to be inserted, or that it could have been inserted.

[109] Therefore in the year of the incarnate God 862 certain of the brothers, instructed alike with royal mandates and letters, the same place merited. sought the city of Rome, both for the sake of prayer, and also with zeal for certain ecclesiastical causes; which, God procuring the business, they both alleged strenuously, and effectively fulfilled. The most prudent Nicholas the Pope ⁿ, to be looked up to with the highest reverence of veneration, then presiding over the Roman Chair, bore the office of the Apostolic summit both in dignity and in zeal: who, when for some days he had most fully made himself available to the aforenamed legates for all things which they wished, to those about to depart, with great grace of himself and of his ministers, delivered the relics ^o of the holy martyrs Urban and Tiburtius, both precious in virtue, and preeminent in quantity. Thus by the favor of God and the protection of king Charles, what otherwise had been either most laborious, or impossible, they accomplished with an easy business.

NOTES.

* otherwise: profluxit.

* otherwise: frequenter.

* namely 1 May.

* i.e., of the bell.

CHAPTER III.

Prodigies done in the translation of Sts. Urban and Tiburtius, Martyrs; likewise of Sts. Maurice and Innocent, Martyrs; a catalogue of the Saints buried in the crypts of St. Germanus of Auxerre.

XII.

[110] What of pledge, what of treasure was being carried from the Romulean city, Concerning by the frequency of the virtues following began to be declared from the footstep: superfluities being removed, if any things are to be related, they will become more grateful by compendium.

Having gone out from the City, at the first lodging they came to the church of St. Alexander. There, while they passed the night, a candle of prolix length, kindled at one head, after a little while blazing from the other part, was seen to have shone from both sides. Having embraced the deed with huge devotion, they perceived that thereafter the chief memories of the two Saints must be served with twin lights. Thereupon the illustrious man Lothair, companion of the same expedition, seized by a most powerful fever, brought a candle answering to his stature, and, passing the night before the sacred relics, on the morrow felt himself relieved of all trouble of languor. Done at Vulterræ ^a.

Meginarius, presbyter of the same Lothair, not much after kindled by a most violent fever, a candle being applied to the Saints, was as excellently as easily cured. It thereafter became familiar to all, to avert the weaknesses rushing upon them through the whole journey, by constantly imploring the patronages of the Saints.

[111] these being wrought. The Alps being crossed, they turned aside to the holy Martyrs of Agaunum ^b. There, received by Hubert ^c, a most famous abbot, how familiarly! they relieved the fatigue of so great a journey by the full benevolence of the man, by the huge affection of the religious, and finally by the lavish indulgence of all liberality. Thereupon, judging that it would not be integral for them to leave untried the opportunity of the business offered to them, they decreed that the relics of the Agaunum Saints must be asked from the aforenamed prince. He, God willing, most gladly received what was asked, both because he was most familiar to the men, and, inasmuch as he was meditating only secular things, not avaricious enough in granting the patronages of the Saints. Wherefore, the guardian of the sacred bodies being summoned, he commanded without hesitation to bestow a part of the relics of the precious martyr Maurice to be embraced, with the venerable head of St. Innocent, once his legionary. Which although all bore most grievously; nevertheless the command of the prince obtained that what he wished be done indifferently [*]. Being masters of their vows, they seek the journey again, exceedingly glorifying God, who ever favors just dispositions.

The splendor of their services toward the Saints, and the frequency of signs, gathered the surrounding peoples everywhere to the spectacle; some yielding, others succeeded; while both the new grace of the received benefits impelled these, glad, to withdraw into their own homes, and the hope of the benefits to be received impelled those alacritously to hasten.

[112] with miracles There is a place publicly famous and famously public, which they commonly name Orba ^d. When they had come thither, an infant girl of that place, Osanna by name, whom nativity had produced both mute and contracted, hearing the voices of the psalm-singing peoples, was tormented by wondrous desires of reaching the Saints. Because she could not do this by words, she declared it by the gesture of her body and by the gnashing of her jaws. At length, wringing out a crawling step with dry sinews, by the effort she could, she arrived. Soon remunerated with the fruit of so great faith, she received, all marveling, the use of an unknown rectitude. Hence communicating in the Sacred mysteries, at the priest's command she answered, Amen. From that time, master of full speech, she followed the Saints as far as the place which is called Arlia.

Thereupon, when they had come into a villa whose name is Botgalia ^e, a certain man of that place, epileptic from a boy, so that on individual days he suffered the epileptic dashing not once, ran hastily to the Saints; he bore the litter; having followed for three days, he at length suffered nothing of evil.

[113] Hence they came to Salinæ ^f. A father, carrying on his shoulders his little son, a compendious weak by a contraction of his limbs, placed him under the litter. A little after he began to be raised, and anxiously to cry out for his father. All roused by his voices, run together from here and there; they find him whole: the father, receiving under the eyes of all his son sound, immensely glad carried him back to his own home. Done in the church of St. John the Baptist, at a public village.

Those who had entered the forest of Mortkalia ^g the arrival of a new hilarity breathed upon: for amid the impetuses of the winds and vehement rains, two wax tapers, going before the sacred pledges, endured with an unextinguished light through the whole day. Thus more evidently protected by the grace of the Saints, to whom they were being carried, by an untiring office they despised both the rains and the blasts.

When they had come into a villa of the district of Amaus, which is called the field of Vellius ^h; a woman mute from the very maternal womb by her birth, full of faith, ran together; she pours out a prayer; she obtained the effect of her prayer. Straightway the inmost parts of her jaws took up the melody of the voice long denied, and by a prompt affluence of words compensated the damages of long silence. Thus exaggerating the granted benefit by the exercise of speech, she followed as far as the Saône ⁱ, praising together God, who had pitied his own creature, both by affection and by voices.

[114] Hence, as they were passing through the district of Oscar ^k, an infant girl, a relation. born in an honorable place, who herself too suffered the detriments of kindred silence, leaping out from the bosom of her nurse, with a most rapid course to the Saints

came; and, having embraced the litter, again and again, insatiable, she cried out that her Lords were present. Thus, the bond of her tongue being loosed, heaping praises upon praises, she persevered as an inseparable companion as far as the castle of Dijon ^l. Her father and mother afterward destined to those making the journey gifts competent to the journey.

After these things, passing through the district of Alise ^m, in a villa which is called Fanum, they decreed that the night must be spent. The church of that place is solemn by the name of blessed Germanus. In this they placed the precious pledges of the Saints. A girl nearly twelve years old had arrived; whom a contraction of the neck and nape, having embraced her shoulder, disfigured with a damnable deformity. She, leading a wholly wakeful night in the church, both restored to her longed-for health and to absolute beauty, loaded heaven itself with vows and praises; and, having followed the Authors of the benefit to Auxerre, spent a whole year in salutary services.

Coming into a villa called Pompejacum, in the church of St. Christopher they performed the vigils of the nocturnal station. A well-born boy, Herimbertus by name, was tormented by a monstrous access of fevers: brought by his parents, he put off the incommodity; he heaped up for those wishing it the joy of robust health.

XIII.

[115] To those setting out thence a solemn reception was prepared at Auxerre; Concerning the celebrated reception whither at length on the day before the Kalends of November they arrived, with much glory, with huge pomp, with inexplicable excellence of things. From that time miracles grew, visibly corporeal, invisibly spiritual, the more subtle, the more useful, unceasingly assiduous, undoubtedly profitable, and the more perennially to endure, the more certainly to profit.

Folcoldus [*], a cleric from the monastery of St. Julian ⁿ, vexed by a quartan incommodity through nearly the space of a year, humbly betook himself to the Saints. Soon gifted with the reward of faith, health being restored, he departed from his languor.

Not after many days, a certain colonus of the household of St. Germanus, from the country whose name is Sorgiacus, the fame of the virtues being learned, brought his mind to tend his step thither. He was indeed loosened in all his limbs by the violence of paralysis. On that night, on the morrow of which he was preparing his departure, to him sleeping a man, in the habit of a pontiff, conspicuous with comely grey hair, appeared; and, confessing himself Urban, Behold, he said, made whole, thou hast departed from thy incommodity; nevertheless proceed straight whither thou hadst decreed; and remember to pay fitting vows for the health received. Obedience, his companion, received the edict of the one commanding; and, proceeding, as had been commanded, he openly unfolded what had been done with him.

[116] of the Saints. Thereupon, to many seeking the place they furnished innumerable benefits; to all at last duly supplicating they showed themselves most present by the undoubted evidence of things: and that they hold it grateful, that honorable services be paid to them in the place, though proved in very many ways, will be established by one only, and that a very brief, relation. The anniversary day of the passion of the blessed martyr Tiburtius had come, and the pious devotion of the brothers was insisting more officiously on nocturnal vigils. Amid these things, to a certain one of the brothers prostrating himself more secretly in prayer, and to some extent snatched up to the summit of divine contemplation, he showed himself to be seen, in that disposition of form, in that beauty of youth, in which he is more expressly [*] described in the text of his Passion. He was seen, moreover, before the coffin of his relics, with steps balanced in the air, to stand by, and, with hands spread to the east, one of which bore a golden rod, to supplicate more instantly for the health of the whole people. This one afterward related this to us with tears. This, wondrously grateful to all, conduced both to present and to future devotion.

Besides, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 865, the venerable Herchenraus, by the merit of his religion, bishop of Châlons, coming to the monastery of St. Germanus, obtained by the largess of the brothers the relics of the precious Pope and martyr Urban; and, these being received, he constructed a monastery in the district of Perthes in his honor. In which place afterward miracles shone so great and so frequent; that, if all were committed to letters, they could of themselves furnish forth their own volume ^o.

To the commemoration of the Saints brought from Rome we have, as I think, in a few words paid our respects; now the matter demands, these being deferred or omitted, to set out to the rest.

XIV.

[117] After the work comprehended far above seemed both congruous to ecclesiastical decorum and worthy of arranging the pledges of the Saints, the exercised sentence of the wise judged it best to be done, that the above-mentioned relics of the Martyrs, and also the bodies of the blessed pontiffs of Auxerre, In what manner the bodies of the Saints were translated; once entombed in that very church, should be translated into the crypts, and be laid up around the body of the most blessed Germanus with the chief diligence of office: by a divine mind, by an upright counsel; that those whom the same royal court of heaven contains, the capacity too of the same habitation on earth might associate. So it was done; and on the right side indeed, that is on the Southern quarter, the bones of blessed Urban the Pope with the head of St. Innocent the martyr were placed in the same coffin. Hence the body of the venerable Alodius, once his successor [p], and then of three holy pontiffs, Ursus, Romanus, and Theodosius. On the side of the feet, that is the Eastern quarter, beside the altar, the most sacred members of the precious confessor and prelate Aunarius repose. The left, that is the Northern side, the pledges of the glorious martyr Tiburtius occupied, with five venerable bodies of pontiffs subjoined, that is of St. Fraternus bishop and martyr, of Censurius, Gregorius, Desiderius, and Lupus; and beyond these, of the holy boy Moderatus, once crowned with martyrdom. Because we have set their names before, if any things about them have flowed to our knowledge, let us run over them in modest compendium.

[118] And first Alodius, of what merit or dignity he was, and of the pontiffs can hence be gathered, that, blessed Germanus being still alive, he presided as archimandrite in his monastery, and, that one being afterward sublimated to the heavenly things, he merited to succeed him in the lot of the pontificate [q]. He, imitator and heir of his Master, after he had ruled the church of Auxerre for 30 years, 1 month, 12 days, rich in the stipends of the best merits, departed in peace; and was decently buried in the same basilica of blessed Germanus. He departing, the city remained without a bishop for 10 years, as we noted also in the proem of the little work, namely on account of the savagery of the barbarians laying waste the Gauls; these being ended, St. Fraternus is substituted to the pontifical chair. He, on the day on which he was ordained bishop by the faithful, was crowned with martyrdom by the barbarians on the 3rd of the Kalends of October.

Hence Censurius was appointed to the pontificate. This is he, in whose time Constantius the orator, at the request of St. Patiens, bishop of Lyons, published the Life of Blessed Germanus with a wonderful style, and afterward directed it, elaborated with all diligence, to be had by him. He, after having duly administered the priesthood for 38 years, 3 months, 6 days [r], died on the 4th of the Ides of June, full of sanctity, and copious in all goods. He was buried in the church of the most blessed Germanus.

But blessed Aunarius, of how excellent a privilege he was, the relation of his Deeds sufficiently and superabundantly declares. Who, among the other illustrious things of his sanctity, enriched also the basilica of blessed Germanus with magnificent estates; because he was both most splendid by birth, and copious in the amplitude of possessions. He, both living and dead, glittered with the glory of signs; and, having discharged the priesthood for 43 years, 10 months, 20 days, on the 7th of the Kalends of October, full of the Holy Spirit, departed; and was placed in the basilica of blessed Germanus near his body with due reverence, to his fathers.

[119] Why should I mention blessed Desiderius? Whose secular dignity too was so great; of Auxerre, that no one, however most powerful, could compare himself with him on equal terms: for he was a kinsman of queen Brunhild, and of her sons the kings of the Franks; by whose princely munificence too he obtained a huge amplitude of estates. His mother, Nectaria by name, reposes buried in the monastery of St. Amantius, which is situated in the district of Périgord [s]; which same monastery he afterward, in memory of his mother, adorned with honorable gifts and the greatest dowry of lands; as the page of his testament declares. As far indeed as it was permitted to investigate from the collation of times, he was contemporary with the blessed Pope Gregory. There are extant his letters to him, commending the celebrity of the man also with Apostolic letters [t]. He was so rich in lands; that no principal church either of middle Burgundy [u], or of the province of Aquitaine, is found, which he did not increase with most opulent goods. Indeed the church of blessed Stephen, over which he sat, he amplified with wondrous adornment, a huge vault being applied on the part of the East, and adorned most splendidly with gold and mosaic, in the likeness of that which Siagrius, bishop of Autun [x], is known to have made. Transposing thither also the ancient altar, he dedicated it on the 13th of the Kalends of May. The same church too he solemnly extolled with many and great patrimonies, both in diverse places, and especially in the district of Saintonge [y].

[120] who are buried in the same place, Besides, he increased the basilica of blessed Germanus, in which he disposed to repose after death, with many goods, which today attest alike the liberality and the excellence of the man: he conferred very many golden and silver vessels, both the fashion of whose workmanship and the quantity of whose weight through each one, most diligent in such things too, he inserted into the testament made by him. He commanded the basilica of the holy martyrs Gervasius and Protasius to be constructed by the hands of Marinus his deacon [z], and endowed it with his own goods. The same Marinus reposes in that church. In what manner he substituted Christ and the Church as heir of his goods, the authority of his most ancient and twice-above-mentioned testament discloses, and which, still preserved in our archives, more copiously attests the great dignity of the man, his very great largess, his dispositions circumspect ever with cautious diligence. Concerning whom, because more things are at hand than the brevity of the undertaken work suffices to explain, these being omitted, let us pursue the rest. His course of life being accomplished, on the sixth of the Kalends of November having obtained his supreme day, he was translated with due veneration into the church of B. Germanus.

[121] a succinct Romanus is substituted to the chair; of whom it is reported, that, since he was a most holy man, he consummated martyrdom by the cutting-off of his head on the day before the Nones of October, the time of his function being fulfilled at 3 years, 15 days.

Of blessed Ursus, it is spread abroad by faithful relation, that, enclosed beside the basilica of St. Amator, he led an anchoretic life; where today there is an oratory, sacred to the memory of his name. It happened at that time, that the city, breathed upon by a sudden fire, blazed up. When the clamor of the people, raised on high, had reached the man of God, thinking that the peril must be succored, he directed thither his familiar staff: he himself, with earnest prayers, how instantly he applied himself! That being placed among the menacing flames and the things which as yet remained whole, quicker than said, the whole fire burned out. This occasion, the merit of the holy man being declared, the pontiff of the city departing, they substituted him, drawn out by force, to the prelacy. His cell passed into a church. He discharged the priesthood for 6 years, 4 months: and precious in manners and merits, on the third of the Kalends of August he departed from the mass of frailty.

Theodosius the bishop, after having governed the see for eight years, twenty-four days, on the sixteenth of the Kalends of August received his last day; and for the merit of his sanctity obtained a noble burial in the church of B. Germanus.

[122] Gregorius, himself too a holy bishop, presided over the church for twelve years, a commemoration. six months; and, the office of his turn being discharged, on the 14th of the Kalends of January, laying aside the human, he obtained the supreme gift in the church of blessed Germanus.

Lupus the bishop, as was noted in the most ancient marble of his epitaph, and as we mentioned in the former booklet, came thither with Crotechildis, the venerable queen, at the time when she was building the basilica of B. Germanus; and, forestalled by his own end, was buried in the same place. There reposes in the same basilica St. Optatus the bishop with two presbyters, Sanctinus and Memorius; with whom first

was first buried in the church of St. Christopher the martyr, which he himself had built; afterward, the years gliding by, their bodies were translated into the church of St. Germanus so officiously, so solemnly; that in all the Martyrologies, and especially the most ancient, the day of their translation is held inserted on the sixth of the Nones of the third month [*]: but their passing or deposition is noted on the day before the Kalends of September. Indeed in the same sarcophagus they all repose together.

Concerning the boy Moderatus this only has been ascertained, that, a boy crowned with martyrdom, he long reposed in his own basilica. Afterward, miracles growing bright around his sepulchre, he was transposed into the church of blessed Germanus, to be venerated more copiously with the cult of Offices and the expenses of lights.

NOTES.

p Of him, that is of St. Germanus. Concerning St. Alodius it will be treated on the 28th of September; concerning St. Ursus see yesterday the 30th of July; concerning St. Theodosius on the 17th of the same month: concerning St. Romanus it will be able to be treated on the 6th of October; concerning St. Aunarius on the 25th of September; concerning St. Fraternus on the 29th of the same month; concerning St. Censurius I have spoken above: St. Gregory is honored on the 19th of December; Desiderius on the 27th of October: concerning Lupus the bishop see the Notes above at number 38: St. Moderatus we gave on the 1st of July. Consult also, if you please, the History of the bishops of Auxerre.

q See the notes on the Constantian Life, number 37, letter k.

r Concerning this chronology of our author go to the Preliminary Commentary §4, number 37.

s Nay rather in the district of Cahors, as is more correctly read in the History of the bishops of Auxerre chapter 20. See the Benedictine Annals volume 1, book 11, number 34.

t See the Notes above at book 1 chapter 4, number 39, letter d.

u By middle Burgundy is here meant the Duchy of Burgundy: for "medianus" is taken for "medius" by the authors of declining Latinity, in Du Cange. Burgundy indeed was once divided into three parts, as Briet teaches in the Parallels of ancient and new geography volume 1, book 7, chapter 5, of which the first is the Jura Burgundy, the second the ducal Burgundy, the third, which they call the Free County or the County of Burgundy.

x St. Siagrius or Syagrius, bishop of Autun, flourished until about the year of Christ 600; he is honored moreover on the 27th of August, when it must be treated of him.

y The district of Saintonge, commonly Saintonge, is a province of Gaul on the Aquitanian Ocean.

z That Marinus was afterward a presbyter, by which title he is honored among the men of Auxerre on the 20th of July. Go to the Supplement at the end of this volume.

* i.e., at once.

* otherwise: Fucaldus, otherwise Fulcoldus.

* Labbe: expressus.

* i.e., of May.

CHAPTER IV.

A eulogy of the church of St. Germanus of Auxerre; and St. Hericus's pious exhortation to the brothers.

XV.

[123] By such and so magnificent honors an illustrious place, enriched with titles, glorious with privileges, to whom would it not seem to be venerated by the merit of its majesty? Concerning the dignity of the place heaped with the memories of so many Saints. The Hebrews once revered the holy of holies, because there the Ark of the Testament, and within it the rod of Aaron, and the heavenly manna, there the altar which was called of Incense, there the golden Cherubim [*] with the Propitiatory, and the other symbols intellectually typical and typically intellectual, and through this bearing the conjecture of the truth once to come, were covered. Does not the habitation of the highest sanctity seem to you to be much more earnestly venerated, splendid with the memories of so many Saints, sublime with trophies? Those things were laid open once a year and to one and the sole pontiff, about to pray for his own excesses and those of the whole people: these our things, both in fact and in name holy, lie open to individuals, lie open to all, daily easy, easily daily; and the more a sinner has thrust himself in, the more richly will he carry back the price of religious importunity. If any of the outsiders approached those things, he paid for his temerity by death: to these things all we outsiders too approach, that we may compensate the desert of death by the stipend of immortality. There the gore of brute animals was brought into the holy place through the pontiff: here the living Body of the supremely good Pontiff, and his most holy Blood, by the use of the heavenly mystery, is confected for the salvation of all Christians. So great a dignity is in the place, so great a sanctity of princely reverence. Which whenever, devout, thou hast entered, it is given to discern Christ sitting together with the Apostles, fighting together with the Martyrs, conversing with the Confessors, rejoicing together with the Virgins, and finally reigning together with all the Saints. Besides, so great there are the places of prayers, so frequent the altars of the Saints; that when thou hast traversed all, and wept at each, thou mayest rejoice that the better part of the day has passed to thy gain.

XVI.

[124] Nor do I judge that those must be patiently received, who rave that the souls of the Saints have sat down either in the bosom of Abraham, Against those who deny that the spirits of the Saints or in the place of refreshment, or upon the altar of God; and that they cannot be present to their own tombs, and wherever they will. It is altogether absurd, as the interpreter of the sacred History ^a attests, to cast bonds upon the Saints, that they be held until the day of judgment in a penal custody, and be not with their Lord, concerning whom it is written: They follow the Lamb, whithersoever he goeth. If the Lamb is everywhere; therefore these too who are with the Lamb are to be believed to be everywhere ^b: and those who enjoy God who beholds all things, penetrates all things, knows all things, there is nothing in the variety of manifold nature which they too do not behold, penetrate, and, without the opposition of tedious difficulty, know ^c. And so, although I would believe that the souls of the Saints are nowhere and never absent from God, and through this are both always and everywhere present by right to those invoking them; nor would I easily suffer myself to be cast down from this opinion ^d: yet that they love their own ashes and flit around them, and are always present, assisting them, both do I bear without hesitation in my mind, and constantly utter with my voice, speak forth with my mouth, and privately and publicly, secure of prejudice, will I profess.

[125] And when, unworthy, I shall have approached the memory of Germanus, this one will I look up to with the eyes of faith; his angelic face, are present to their own bodies. more frequently illustrated from the consortium of the word of God, and terrible to the very kings, will I sometimes contemplate; his gravity of mind seasoned with courtesy, his constancy of purpose, the reverence of his old age, will I admire; and, prostrating myself at the sepulchre, and kissing the holy stone, as though impending over my head, will I venerate more submissively. Sometimes indeed, if the opportunity be conferred, even to press his footprints; but, if he deign not this, at least the place where his feet stood, I will not cease faithfully to adore. And, not ungrateful, I remember that he furnished many things even to the absent; never would I impel my mind to distrust, that this one too, duly venerated, will be much more present to me, present and assiduous.

From the occasion of the proposed business something was accomplished, by which I reckon both a scruple has been injected into the temerarious, and something conducive procured for the sincere cultivators of the Saints: to whom I altogether reckon it must be a matter of congratulation, that, though the winds rush, the storms rage, the rivers swell, the house of God at least, of which they are both cultivators and ministers, obtains the untottering, immovable, and inviolate firmness of its own strength eternally, which, not resting on fluid sands, but propped on heavenly columns, and united to the perennial rock, God being architect, has issued into solid strength.

XVII.

[126] Come therefore, professors of the spiritual novitiate, accomplices of an excellent purpose, An admonition philosophers of the highest sanctity, whom a presaging grace of things has pre-elected, will has exercised, the chaste devotion of parents has made over, to grow accustomed to the sacred Order, to grow old in Religion, to die at their posts in virtues: give effort, furnish diligence, balance caution, lest the malign spirit infect the domicile of your breast, lest, mixed with your inmost senses, he defile the sanctity of the soul, and becloud that most splendid eye of the divine theorem by the allurement of a suborned persuasion. Let it be permitted to unfold upon you the matter once conceived, by the sentence and lines of an author not in all things to be despised ^e. The evil of the ancient enemy creeps through all the sensual approaches; he gives himself to figures; he accommodates himself to colors; he adheres to sounds; he subjects himself to odors; he infuses himself into tastes; and with dark affections, as with certain mists, he fills all the passages of the intelligence, through which the ray of the mind is wont to spread the light of reason. In this God, in this an innocent will, in this

the merit of a rightly-done deed shines forth: God is everywhere present; but then he is present to each one of us at once, when the unblemished purity of our mind shall have lain open in his presence. For as the sight of the eyes, if it be vitiated, whatever it has not been able to see, thinks not to be present (for in vain does the present image of things stand around the eyes, if integrity be lacking to the eyes): so also God, who is nowhere absent, is in vain present to polluted souls, whom the blindness of the mind cannot see. It is not mine, what I have said, I do not claim it for myself, I do not ascribe it (for I do not presume that the club can easily be wrenched from the hand of any most strong man), which indeed a pagan wrote about the mind to be cleansed for seeing God. But by that very Christian, both baptized, and dead, it was unfitting that what he had once rightly said should grow obsolete.

To what end these things sought from so lofty a beginning? Namely that you may recollect what is written: Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about, seeking whom he may devour. And: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. Of which the one profits for caution, the other conduces to divine contemplation.

[127] Take care in turn to remember, that Christ died for you; holy things that you who live may live no longer to yourselves; but to him who died for you; nor be puffed up against God out of his gift. Receive likewise what is written: He chose us in himself before the constitution of the world: not because we were holy and immaculate, or because we were going to be holy and immaculate (otherwise it would be reckoned not so much the prerogative of grace, as the recompense, or the relation, of merit;) but he chose us, that we should be holy and immaculate, that is, by choosing he brought it about that we should be holy and immaculate; who, unless he willed, could not be anything at all. To him submit your head; and presume not on your own, but on his goodness; under his most powerful hand be humbled. You will take a safe refuge in his mercy, who is always prepared to spare the subject and to war down the proud. You are the athletes of God, you contend in the spiritual stadium: one must strive lawfully, that the prize may be attained. You have been made a spectacle to this world; the eyes of all are directed upon you; your conversation, set as it were in a mirror, is the mistress of public discipline: whatever you do, all think must be done by themselves. Beware to commit what may either lie open to reprovers, or drive imitators into ruin. Set before yourselves, with emulous piety, the princes of this purpose, whose truthful doctrine and holy works imitating, hasten to the pastures of the heavenly kingdom. Unfailingly meditate on death impending at all hours; knowing, that nothing is long-lasting, in which there can be anything extreme; and that all must die, and that uncertain, whether on that very day. And when it shall have come to that, then whatever has passed, has flowed away; only that remains, which by virtue and rightly-done deeds thou hast attained. Struggle against your own wills; fight against pleasures, lest you too lie subject to the destruction of those, concerning whom the Prophet, complaining that they had passed into the affection of the heart, imprecates that their image in the city of God be reduced to nothing.

[128] If you have vowed anything to God, discharge it without hesitation, mindful, to the brothers. that it is ruin for a man to treat otherwise after vows ^f. And it is better not to vow, than not to render vows. Nor far, nor outside are the expenditures of our vows; but, as the Psalmist confesses, In me, O God, are the vows which I will render, praises to thee. In these unweariedly persist; these by day, these by night compose; to these, whatever soberly you can, add; because, although he needs not our praise; yet the devotion of his own creature is grateful to him: by your praise he profits not at all; yet by pious zeal you bring it about, that by it you yourselves profit very much. While others wage war, others till the fields, you are the third order, whom he has chosen into the part of a private lot, the more empty of extrinsic things, the more to be occupied with the functions of his service. And as others undergo for you the hard conditions either of soldiery, or of labor; so likewise you persist obligated to them, that you follow them up with the instance of prayers and the Office. And that I may prove one thing to be owed to the consorts of nature; another, to God himself: revolve that above all things ever in your eyes, that he himself made you; that he reformed you when lost; that he advanced you with benefits so frequent, so copious, so finally profitable; that hence, the matter of praising him being conceived, while you both have and render fitting thanks to him for the received gifts, you may become worthier thereafter for receiving both more and most things. But now, that in the heralding of the highest head the illustrious members too may be established to have something in common, receive that Davidic cheer of the one uttering these words: Praise the Lord in his Saints; as though, explaining the same sentence in a different manner, he should say: You do not act advisedly enough, if you judge that from the glory of the invincible emperor the triumphs and merits of his most faithful soldiers must be excepted: with the highest effort therefore, with the highest strength glorify God, freely bestowing on you all good things; venerate blessed Germanus, meriting these for you by the suffrage of his most powerful intercession; and the rest, consorts to him both of temple and of merit, follow with pious devotion, implore with anxious affections; that the place which they willed to choose, and to be most flourishing by their presence and sanctity, this, all the forces of the enemies being overcome by land and sea, and the truculent tyranny of the demons being shut out, they may exempt from disasters, lead away from ruins, prop by their merits, protect by their prayers, and defend from the manifold monstrousness of present and future perils.

NOTES.

* nay rather, Cherubim.

SERMON

Of the same Hericus, to be recited on the solemnity of St. Germanus.

[129] You recollect (most beloved) the day dedicated to the public joys of the Church; whose splendor, even if the sermon be silent, Today St. Germanus was taken up into heaven; yet the assembly and devotion of the religious proclaims: for with such honorable zeal, with such conspiring vows, you have conspired together into the cult and gladness of this day; that the magnificence of the festivity by its own titles sufficiently stands out of itself, even if from its praise the officiousness of the herald should stand off. The causes therefore of so great joys, and their kindling, you have learned by frequent, nay continual readings: and that you have received these with intent minds, you have declared by no obscure indication; while the majesty of the heavenly miracles thundering in the sacred pages, you have honored with inward sighs, and with a perspicuous affection at each. For today the precious Germanus, once the chief prelate of this church, but now also the eminent protector of the whole world before God, by a glorious passing deserting the lands, penetrating the heavens, has been restored to the presence of the Lord. What do I say, that he deserted the lands, whose conversation (according to the Apostle) was ever in the heavens? What, that he has been restored to the presence of the Lord; who with the most holy Elias stood unwearied perpetually in the sight of the living God? I will indeed say something about him; though not properly enough, yet not too ineptly; though less boldly, yet certainly truly enough: I will say, I say, that this is the day of the most blessed Germanus, not funereal, but celebrated; not mournful, but salubrious; on which, imposing an end to a long contest, the world being trodden down, the devil prostrated, he flashed forth a glorious victor; and, as another Elias carried forward in an angelic chariot, a triumphal athlete he ascended the heavenly Capitol.

[130] For rightly to this man is ascribed the triumph of Elias, to whom he is proved to answer on equal terms in all the insignia of sanctity and of virtues: like St. Elias, to whom he is compared, into paradise. for, to omit the rest, in which the holy men of God by pious emulation, by emulous piety, in turn forestall each other; in that certainly, by a singular privilege either of abstinence or of continence, I dare not liberally enough prefer the one to the other: for a not-to-be-despised authority attests each most holy, each most abstinent. Although neither has that slipped from my mind, that the Prophet tempered his hunger with loaves in the morning, flesh in the evening, the ravens ministering ^b; but the Pontiff's fasting, after mostly the seventh day, only barley bread refreshed: in the former the fortieth day loosed the continuation of his fast; in the latter the thirtieth year closed the profession of abstinence: Elias, comforted by the eating of bread baked under the ashes, drew out his fast as far as the mountain of God Horeb; Germanus, strengthened by the grace of the omnipotent Spirit, by fasting and praying ascended the citadel of the supernal city: in the former the liberality of the widow woman relieved the troubles of past labor; in the latter a daily cross consumed the familiar opulences of his native riches: Elias, declining the furies of his persecutors, for some time lived solitary among the beasts; Germanus, whose memory today we feed upon here, fleeing the favors of those complying with him (which is not so much rare as wonderful), remained a hermit among the peoples. And, that we may come from labors to the rewards of labors, Elias, snatched by a fiery chariot, an earthly paradise led away, to die in his own time; Germanus, propped by an angelic band, a starry throne received,

to rise for the judging too of the world with the Apostles in glory.

[131] Let all therefore keep this day as a feast; Not undeservedly therefore does mother Church exult in the triumphs of this man, whose singular examples adorn her. And universally indeed, in the commemoration of all Saints, reason persuades that we must exult; but in the excellence of this Father one must deservedly glory more copiously, who, our Pastor in the city, a Doctor in the whole world, obtained so much of dignity in that body (of which the head is Christ); that among its members he was reckoned chief both in name and in merit. Although therefore his eminent sanctity has merited a celebrated brightness in the whole world of lands; yet among us, and by us, he is to be more propensely venerated, whom the presence of his sacred body magnifies, gratifies with benefits, preserves by intercession. For this, this is the man, through whom the light of the Gospel, O Gaul, flashed for thee: in whom, and through whom the radiance of sanctity and of miracles shone forth for thee. This is thy Father, this is thy proper Pastor; who nourished the rude infancy of thy religion with the word, formed it by example; protected it in adversities, advanced it in prosperities; conciliating divine things, composing human. Many things he bore for thee: grievous expeditions by land and sea, the grace of the highest love toward thee enjoined upon him: he yielded not to labors, spared not his sweats, forgetful of his bodily weakness, forgetful of his aged longevity. For thy salvation he opposed himself to princes; for thy peace he set his head against the barbarians; to his love for thee, after God, he preferred nothing; for which, and in which, he granted to suffer certainly all extremes.

[132] the Gauls especially, whom the Saint both once living, And although the several parts of the world snatched him in turns, striving (since in him, and from him especially, at that time, the salvation and vows of all hung;) yet he preferred thee to all; thy public and private advantages he ever cared for with paternal affection. Thou didst receive him returning, cherish him wearied; thou wast the relief of his journey, thou wast the caressing rest of his labor. And so, even if to others he is not, to thee at least he is an Apostle: for the signs of his apostolate are we all in the Lord. Lastly, what is that, how vehement an indication of charity; how memorable an argument of a paternal, or rather maternal, breast? The heavenly calling now urged him wearied by a long soldiery: he had presensed his neighboring death: his mind with his end tended toward the stipend of eternal remuneration: for the relieving of the wretched, he imposed upon himself a troublesome pilgrimage, the old man not fearing the ridges of the Alps, nor the opposing masses of the torrents; nor finally (which is the greatest) fearing to die abroad; nay, making little of whatever can be most grievous in death.

[133] and now buried, most tenderly cherished and cherishes. Thus indeed, as I reckon, thus the order of things demanded; that thy Warrior, O Christ, whom Gaul had beheld fighting, Italy should receive triumphing. Elsewhere therefore he battles; elsewhere he is crowned. Long awaited, tardily received, the Italian world embraces him; and through imperial delights, through the services of priests, weaves caressing delays for the Man. Meanwhile Christ is present; he offers the viaticum to the one about to go; he invites his Friend to the banquets of the angels. Joys mixed with mournings are borne indiscriminately through the ample palaces; while they both grant tears to the one about to die, and (although in vain) applaud at inheriting the pledge of the sacred corpse. And they indeed were forging such things; but the immutable Arbiter had preordained better. For Germanus was pouring back his spirit to heaven, and providing salubrious things for his dear fellow-citizens. And so for the time satisfaction was made to both: dying he illustrated Italy; dead he visited the Gauls. But after death he would not visit, unless dead he also lived. He lives, I say, dead, who alive had raised the dead. Dead he consecrated for us the present day, who (if he be duly venerated by us) will obtain the eternal one. See therefore how excellently he has deserved of us, to whom he willed so greatly to be a patron. To whom when you expend the cult of due veneration, you prepare for yourselves a manifold interest at a fruitful usury; because through the presence of his sacred body you receive more than you bestow. Concerning whose glory, because we can say nothing worthy, now let us turn to him both our voices and our vows: let us encircle his sanctity, with submissive minds, with fecund prayers.

[134] Remember (most splendid Father), remember thy sons through the ages, A suppliant apostrophe to the Patron. nor let the ever-wakeful care of the Pastor forget the flock. We believe, that thou standest unpolluted at the tribunal of the Most High; refuse not therefore to relieve our frailty from the squalors of monstrous crimes. Thou canst indeed obtain for us a space of penitence from the most gentle Judge, thou who wast held worthy, in the sight of the Lamb, to sing a new canticle: only, thou who didst merit to be his foot-follower, deign to be a patron to us. Of the prayers which we pour out at thy sepulchre, be the most faithful interpreter before God: thou who wast to us a most strenuous preacher, be nonetheless for our calamities a most clement suffrager. Ask correction for our manners, tranquillity for our times, pardon of all sins, the compendia of eternal joys. Easily wilt thou obtain what thou shalt have asked; since we believe thee so joined to thy most powerful Emperor; that thou canst not will what he has not willed; nor wouldst thou wish to deprecate anything, in which thou hast not known him to be delighted, who lives, and reigns, and rules in every nation, place, and time, and through the infinite ages of ages. Amen.

NOTES.

APPENDIX ONE

to St. Hericus's second book on the miracles of St. Germanus.

By an anonymous author, a monk of the same monastery of Auxerre.

From the Chifflet Manuscript.

[1] A new deed of work, and with a gentle strain ^b, although unskillfully, we are eager to commit to the memory of posterity, Concerning the forest which, obtained by the merits of Germanus, an apostolic man, bishop of Auxerre, ought to be believed in every way, without hesitation of its truth. One of the brothers of the monastery of St. John of Réome, Hugo by name (who was the nephew of Dom Heldricus, an abbot of good fame of this monastery ^c, and of that monastery), narrated a wonderful miracle, which he saw with his own eyes, and handled with his own hands, most recently accomplished. There is in a certain place, which is commonly called Morvennus ^d, in the district of Hédui, a certain church constructed of old in honor of St. Germanus; but it wholly perished by fire. Which the same monk, eagerly desiring to restore, and voluntarily to give his effort to it, was his zeal; but in the doing there seemed to be a difficulty: because a forest of its own, whence it might be rebuilt, was lacking. While therefore he was hesitating, questioning about this matter for himself, and was anxious in inquiring, there came to him a certain man, beset with very many years, and flourishing with hoary head, saying to him: Why art thou anxious, lord brother; or what is it of thy will to be done?

[2] the forest recovered. He says: It has fallen to me to will to restore this church, which thou seest wholly collapsed: but a wood is lacking, by which it can be reformed. To which that one: In this matter I will tell a brief counsel; but nevertheless, as it seems, a useful one. This power of St. John is not (as thou thinkest and fearest) empty and destitute of a forest; but by the carelessness and sloth of foolish provisors it has been abolished and taken away from the jurisdiction of your power. Take therefore now the bringing-in of excommunication, and recite it in the church in the ears of the hearing people, lest anyone conceal by hiding, who knows himself to be an informer of the forest, which rightly adjoins to the lordship of St. John. I indeed know; but I dread to speak the truth, pressed by the dread of my lords, who know that they have long possessed it unjustly. Then the monk obeys, exulting: and, the excommunication being scattered among the people, all in common protest, that they do not know. That old man alone, the aforesaid, they set forth, proclaiming, that he was the knowing one of this matter. Straightway the ancient old man precedes, glad; he designates the boundaries to that brother, and to the servants who were present; he demonstrates the divisions of the forest, set in a more ancient time. By the aforesaid merits of the two Confessors ^e no one resisted; but, as the Prophet says, There was none that opened the mouth, and moved the wing, and chirped. Without any dispute of contest, even the least, the greatest part of the forest was recovered to St. John.

II.

[3] Then therefore they send the fellers of wood; they cut down the oaks with axes; Concerning they are polished with the adze into squared work, which should be congruous to the building of the church. One day therefore a wagon is brought to carry away the cut logs; he loads the cart; he himself on foot, girt with his cowl, with a goad and a gentle whistle soothes the oxen, that they may accelerate the journey. They, with straining neck, creaking, drag the wagon. And scarcely had they proceeded a little; the two lower wheels of the cart are so suddenly broken; that there was no hope of recovering them, and they seemed not to be fit, except for the fodder of fire. The brother, condoling at the sudden mischance, brings others; he makes the wagon whole again. Now they had accomplished a little more of the way than before, when suddenly all four wheels are so shattered (so that the naves [], and felloes [], and spokes) are so worn away; that by no one skilled in this carpenter's art they seemed able by any ingenuity to be consolidated. But that good man, before agile and swift in obedience, touched by so unhoped-for a damage of calamity, by excessive anger (which is a brief madness), with inmost grief of heart (for not only six wheels; but even the whole stability of the cart had been worn away), his gall blazing up, borne on by fury, burst into these injurious words, his hands clapped together, and his cheeks moist with tears: Come now, Germanus; hitherto I had reckoned thee among the first Saints of the apostolic order, retaining the memory of thee with me; but henceforth I would count thee not worthy even to be the last. It now appears in the open, how great thy sanctity was, while thou didst tarry in the world. For, eagerly longing to restore this church to thee, I was untiringly imploring the help of thy aid, invoking thee as helper, thee as aider. Woe is me! From how great a hope have I fallen! Nowhere hitherto may it please God, that anyone be the reformer of this thy church; because thou dost cease to become an aider for the constructing.

[4] These words, cackling, indulging too much his hooked nostrils, the cart he was proceeding, driving the empty oxen before him by goading; when, behold, with a sudden clamor the voices of two servants call him back, who were admiring the dissipation of the cart with bent head, suddenly, and in the twinkling of an eye, and quicker than said, restored to its former state, they wondrously behold (of these one is called Tetradus, the other Gaufredus.) They beseech their lord, that he return back, so calling with a clamor: Stay thy step, and turn back to us the going of thy foot; and thou shalt discern, that the wonderful Germanus has wondrously done, whom with swollen mouth, wrangling, thou didst harshly provoke with reproaches. Then indeed he, hearing with astonished ears, halted; and, flying most swiftly with nimble course, runs up; he beholds with his eyes; he feels with his hands; he wonders at so sudden and wonderful a work; he is wholly prostrated on the ground; and, he who before had wetted his face with bitter tears, now turned

in turn irrigates his cheerful face likewise with sweet little tears, sweetly pouring out these prayerful words: Pardon, I beseech, most pious Germanus; and grant forgiveness to the monk, who cast a thousand reproaches upon thee with a nefarious mouth. O God! How most swiftly the swift Workman! Whose framework of a placid and tranquil breast, in which was continually the rest of the Holy Spirit, and the wisdom of savor, his savory breast never did the auger [*] press, by which a hole might be made, by which the wagon might be joined, round: nor was his hand calloused by the well-cutting adze; but was worthily anointed with holy oil, prepared for sacrificing the sacrosanct Sacrifices, and for bestowing benedictions on the people: although with the flail of the rod he threshed out barley, and ground it with the rolling wheel; that he might temper the want of a voluntary hunger. Now, glad, I will insist on the work of thy church; which before, mourning, I feared could not be perfected on account of the penury of the worn-out cart; because thou, most blessed Confessor, hast just now become for me a swift aider.

[5] This one was able, as I think, Conscript Fathers ^f, swiftly to obtain it from the ear of the Divinity nearest to him, separated. he who restored alive the calf, devoured by his servants, and granted it to suck the warm udder of its mother, and gave it to recognize the voice of its mother the mooing cow: moreover he powerfully deposed from the kingdom an inhuman and iniquitous king, denying hospitality to him; and imperiously constituted the hospitable swineherd on the seat of the kingdom. Finally that wagon, divinely fabricated for the work of the church to be built, in carrying stones, wood, squared beams, and whatever was necessary for the structure, lasted so long, until the work was brought to perfection.

III.

[6] Now the altar of that church was placed under the open sky, and by the winter rain and glacial cold almost wholly dissipated: Concerning the lights divinely appearing over the altar. for the stones had flowed down from the sides, and the cement had fallen away. One day therefore the aforesaid brother, the day drawing toward evening, while going to discharge Vespers, discerns from afar, with his own companions, who were following him behind [], through the four horns of the altar four candles kindled with a most clear light, but divine, and in the middle a fifth, more eminent than the rest. Beholding therefore with corporeal eyes the divine light, they are stupefied, clinging in place; and, the light of the brightness being gradually withdrawn, they approach nearer to the altar. But in that very night, not even by willing can they touch it with the hand. On the following day he admonishes the workmen, saying: Let us consider this altar, if it will be possible, that it be not wholly destroyed; but be reformed with those same stones, which flowed down from the sides. Therefore, while they separate the stones from the cement, they find a certain little box [g], within of wood, without covered with deer-horn, but almost putrid, containing in itself the middle finger of the hand of a certain Saint (as is believed) still solidly compacted with sinews, and hide, and nail, with three joints, having a golden ring. But of what Saint the name was, is unknown; because the label [] could not be found, consumed by rot. The altar therefore being rebuilt, the relics are laid up within with the ring, as they had been before.

IV.

[7] Now there had grown up beside the edge of the altar a certain little tree, which is commonly called sacucus ^h; Concerning the goats, prohibited from the elder-tree. which the goats, that with fetid mouth they might crop the little pods and tender fronds, brought forth in the new spring, were wont to climb. Thou wouldst wonder, and scarcely restrain thy mouth from laughter, seeing it jocosely, if thou shouldst discern: because more swiftly they rushed to the earth, supine, below, than they had climbed, leaping, above; leaving the little branches untouched from eating. If therefore we consider this very small wonder, we are able to understand, if our magnificent provisor, Germanus, preserved this useless little tree unharmed from the putrid teeth of the kids; with how great providence and with how great diligence he preserves and guards, protecting, all his household of each order, who by faithfully guarding preserve his goods without the fraud of malignity. Three good works therefore here has the apostolic virtue of blessed Germanus wrought: the lost forest is restored; the worn-out cart is reformed, as was said; the altar is beheld illuminated with celestial fire. For they report (as fame is flitting) that he himself, returning from Rome, with his own hand blessed that church.

[8] The sentence deterring the delinquent is that, which says, that in that member of the body Concerning by which anyone has sinned more, in that he shall be more harshly punished. Which is said to have happened, by the vengeance of the avenging God, to a certain queen of the Franks, sprung of a noble germ, Emma by name [i], who was the wife of king Radulf ^k, of the same nation of the Franks. He indeed was the son of Richard, duke of Burgundy, a just and equitable judge ^l, and an eminent fighter. But the aforesaid king, although distinguished with royal glory, and in warlike arms and daring to be preferred to Hector of Troy in all things; having obtained her as wife, could scarcely restrain her from a deceitful tongue and excessive cupidity, which were bound together in her heart: for a certain villa, which adjoins the lordship of St. Germanus, this our Patron, which is called Quinciacus, and lies together in the district of Nevers, she had by womanly daring, invading, overrun, and had distributed to her new-fangled buzzards ^m to be possessed.

[9] Emma But suddenly an unheard-of calamity, and a plague of misery horrible to behold, descended grievously upon her from the divine anger. For her tongue (which, as the Apostle says, is a restless evil, full of deadly venom) going forth basely and miserably from her nefarious mouth, could neither be received nor enclosed within the fences of the teeth, as the use of human nature has it; but, gaping with open mouth, exhibited a pitiable and lamentable spectacle to all beholding her. But at length, touched by grief of heart within, and perceiving what she was suffering dishonorably without, and returning into herself, she caused herself to be led to the monastery of the most lofty pontiff Germanus, with a great crowd of lamenting attendants, by the indications of hands rather than by the sound of her voice; and she delivered two wondrous necklaces, which adorned her neck and her perverse breast, hanging down (which had been fashioned by the hand of St. Eligius, as the very illustrious work indicates to those inspecting it), as a gift to the holy Pontiff, for the amendment and restoration of the ill-invaded villa: for with her own hand she fixed them with nails at the front of the foot of the shrine of St. Germanus; as even today it can be clearly beheld by those looking.

[10] Straightway the regard of divine mercy was present from above, the queen. and the prayer of the supplications of the apostolic Germanus ineffably regarded that humble queen, praying pardon for her offenses. For continuously the tongue, wickedly cast out, from the inmost recesses of the jaws merited a passage: and gradually the sweet and natural cymbal of the voice merited the eloquent elocution of words: and she who before, with inflated cheeks, with swollen mouth, had been wont to wrangle insane words; thereafter, harshly and gently chastised by the supernal scourge, learned to speak soft and sweet words; and thenceforth was gentle, and sweet, and merciful.

But concerning this king Radulf, if anyone would wish to know, how lively his right hand was in war, and how he drove off by arms the Normans, devastating France and Burgundy by depopulation, he will be able to find it in the miracles of blessed Benedict. For, aided by his help, he put them to flight, routed in great battles ⁿ. Whose king's body reposes in the basilica of St. Columba at Sens, in the middle of the choir, honorably covered with dark marble. His father Richard's body too rests entombed in the crypt of St. Symphorianus at the right of the altar, in the same monastery. This Richard indeed, when, dying, he trod the threshold of death with his foot, and was exhorted by the bishops, who stood around him, to cry out his fault; because he had shed the blood of many; answered, saying: It repents me, that I did not do more; because while I destroyed one wicked man, I saved a hundred: and, for the destruction of one little robber, several accomplices restrained their hands from perpetrating evils.

NOTES.

* perhaps "&".

* read "canthi."

* nay rather "terebrum."

* or "pone"?

* i.e., a little slip.

APPENDIX TWO

to St. Hericus's history of the Miracles of St. Germanus, collected from various authors.

[1] St. Germanus frees his host from the illusions of demons: Besides the miracles which have been produced hitherto, certain others too are current, not altogether to be dissembled. Let the first be, which in the compendium of his Acts our membrane codex ✠ Ms. 87 has in these words: When St. Germanus was lodged in a certain place, and after supper the table was again being prepared, marveling, he asks, for whom they were preparing anew. And when they said to him, that it was being prepared for those good women, who go about by night; that night St. Germanus determined to keep watch. And, behold, he sees a multitude of demons coming to the table in the form of men and women. Who, commanding them not to depart, roused all of the household, inquiring, whether they knew those persons. And when they said that they were all their neighbors, both men and women; he sent to the houses of each, commanding the demons not to depart. And, behold, all were found in their own little beds. Adjured therefore, they said that they were demons, who thus mocked men. The same have, in the Legend of this Saint, Jacobus de Voragine, Peter de Natalibus, St. Antoninus part 2, title 11, chapter 18, §5; and the Auxerre Breviary of the year 1571, and another more ancient one; which add that this happened in a certain village of his diocese. And this is all the authority, which we have been able to attain for the confirmation of this narration. It is therefore, unless more ancient monuments be produced, in our opinion not weighty enough; since not even that our codex seems to have been written out before the 13th century.

[2] The other Dom Georges Viole finds (who also adopts the preceding at chapter 9) in some manuscript or other, he recalls to life a dead beggar; an Auxerre one on the Life of St. Germanus; which he himself too in the French Life of the same, chapter 17, expounds nearly in this manner: The holy Prelate, when he was thinking of going into Italy to accomplish the Armorican business, would not set out before he had saluted his friends, and especially St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes. But the men of Troyes scarcely now understand that he is arriving, when outside the walls they go forth in a great number to meet him, especially the poor, whom he was wont both to love more earnestly, and to cherish more liberally. Of these two had gone before the rest; between whom it had been agreed, by a truly malign counsel, that they might obtain a more liberal alms from him, thus: that one should feign himself dead for a while; while the other should beg alms from the passing Bishop to pay the last rites to his comrade. While the wretches do these things, the Saint is present; and he sees both the body stretched out, and truly dead, and the tears of the companion, which not so much the longing for his dead friend, as he was lying, as his own want wrung out, which had not left even that to him, whence he could procure for him funeral rites of any kind. Each spectacle moved the mind of the Prelate. And so soon, his knees being placed on the ground, he first commends the soul of the deceased to God; then he orders so much money to be poured out to the surviving companion, as should suffice both for the expense of the funeral, and to relieve his own want; and thus, the Prelate having proceeded a little farther, that sly fellow, about now to divide the prey with his comrade, found him wholly dead, who had feigned himself dead. Therefore the grief, but now feigned, changed into a true one, so goaded the man, that, having overtaken the Bishop with a most swift course, he cast himself at his feet, confessed the crime of his own accord, and implored mercy and help. The Prelate yields; from the footstep he returns to the dead man, and, the most holy Trinity being invoked, leads him back to life.

[3] which would that it were proved by more ancient monuments! But to the perpetual memory of this prodigy, the same writer there affirms, that a church was built in that very place, and consecrated with the title of St. Germanus, and illustrated by his benefits so frequent from time to time, that it gave occasion to a village to be founded there; which indeed, the old name of Villa Lincuria being obsolete, is now commonly called St. Germain, and situated on the royal road, which leads to Auxerre, only half a milestone from the city of Troyes: and further, that in this church the history already told is represented in more than one place, and especially in the panel of the highest altar, and in another, glass, which looks toward the nave of the church; where, he says, I myself contemplated it with great pleasure, when I betook myself to that place for that cause only, in this very year 1655. He adds moreover, that in an old manuscript Breviary of the church of St. Renobert of Auxerre a similar case too is narrated, which happened to the same St. Germanus, when he was preaching the word of God at the confines of the bishoprics of Vannes and Anjou. A most similar history we too gave on the 15th of this month, page 43, concerning St. James, bishop of Nisibis, from Theodoret; nor yet do we therefore judge that this must be adjudged away from St. Germanus. But truly, a prodigy so unusual, and indeed twice wrought by him in a public place before witnesses, and commended to posterity by a monument so celebrated, and so near to the city of Auxerre, could have escaped both the knowledge of Constantius, and the religious diligence of St. Hericus, if it is true—who will not wonder?

[4] He restores a dead little ass to life; The third, by no little more widespread, yet nonetheless wonderful, is thus read: But neither does that seem to be omitted; that the Lord conferred on his Servant the grace of vivification not only of men, but even of animals, according to that prophetic saying: Men and beasts thou wilt save, O Lord. Therefore when, out of zeal for religion, Placidia, mother of the Empire [], had called blessed Germanus to a banquet; not for this only [], that he might use royal viands, but that from his benediction they might draw refreshment, he did not deny his presence to her asking religiously and faithfully. And when in the place [*] of his lodging he resided far from the palace; his aged limbs, worn out by fasting and vigils, a little ass carrying, are conveyed to the palace. But indeed amid the feast one of the ministers whispers in the queen's ear; that the animal, by which the holy Pontiff had been conveyed, had been laid to rest by a sudden death. She ordered these things to be kept silent from the blessed Prelate: anxious however, lest, deprived of his wonted conveyance, he should return sad from the banquet; in place of the lost animal, a Persian horse of wondrous gentleness, to be sat upon, is brought forth. Beholding which, the Man of God: Let my wild-ass, he said, be presented to me; because no other conveyance will carry me hence, than that which brought me. Then the lifeless and distended carcass is shown. Approaching which, he says: Rise, little fly; let us return to our lodging. And, admonished by the Saint's staff, it trembles: and straightway, leaping up, its back and ears being shaken, it attests by lively vigor that it had suffered nothing adverse. Thus, until the death of the blessed prelate Germanus, a sweet conveyance is expended with all commodity.

[5] which nevertheless we know not who first narrated. I have said, that this miracle is more widespread than the former: for it is handed down by Viole in the French Life, chapter 21; by Girolamo Rossi in the Life of St. Peter Chrysologus; by Werner Rolewinck in the Fasciculus of times under the year of Christ 434; by St. Antoninus part 2, title 11, chapter 18, §6; by Peter de Natalibus in the Catalogue; by Vincent of Beauvais in the Mirror of History, book 20, chapter 14, to omit very many others too in ancient manuscript codices. But indeed if it is asked about the certain antiquity of the narration, or its author; we profess that we have hitherto attained neither this, nor that: for in our codex ✠ Ms. 87 (which Jacobus de Voragine followed, and the church of Auxerre itself in the Breviary of the most ancient impression) no author is ascribed. In another, some old codex or other, concerning which he who had read it, our Alexander Wiltheim, warned us, it was ascribed separately, out of order, at the end of the Life of St. Germanus, composed metrically by Hericus; yet so that it seemed by no reasoning to pertain to the work of Hericus. In the membranes which Labbe used, it is attributed to St. Hericus, book 1 on the Life and miracles of St. Germanus, chapter 52; but both against the faith of the other codices, and so insipidly; that the copyist must have been exceedingly dull, who intruded it into a place so alien. Finally our Chifflet likewise found it in the Life of the Saint written by Constantius the presbyter, of which it was in the second book chapter 19 according to a very ancient codex of St. Lazarus of Autun, from which he copied it out for us, as we have already exhibited. But in this respect again this codex disagrees from all others, which we have seen; although in this matter Mombritius copied a similar one. We confess therefore that it is ancient in some fashion; but from what source, or with what fidelity it has flowed, we are ignorant.

[6] Now what shall we judge concerning that, which in the French Life chapter 26 Viole relates? The Saint's reliquary, led through the air without a bearer. Mention is there made of the body of St. Martin, bishop of Tours, brought to Auxerre on account of the Normans ravaging in the ninth century now full-grown, and deposited in the church of St. Germanus, until after thirty years and more, the fear being removed, it was carried back thence to Tours with solemn pomp. It is said indeed that when that sacred deposit was being carried out from the temple of St. Germanus, the reliquary of this one too, moved of its own accord from its place, and no one applying a hand, as it were led the departing guest as far as the doors of the church, and, he now having gone out, sought its own place again, borne by celestial virtue. A great prodigy indeed, says Viole; but by how much it is greater, by so much it is more difficult of belief, unless fit witnesses be produced; such as are not those whom Viole produces, namely Nicolas Gilles in the History of France (which, on the testimony of Le Long in his Library number 7433, is full of fables scraped together at the end of the fifteenth century,) and an Auxerre manuscript on the Life of St. Germanus conceived in the vernacular idiom; and this indeed disagreeing from Gilles: for it narrates, that the shrine of St. Germanus, when it had accompanied the relics of St. Martin as far as the threshold of the temple, halted; nor suffered itself to be carried back to its own place by the men of Auxerre before they had translated the body of St. Martin as far as the limits of his diocese. But of all these things there is nothing in St. Odo in the Treatise on the return of B. Martin from Burgundy; where nevertheless he describes the history of this same translation with all its adjuncts of set purpose.

[7] A miracle of better note is that, which in the History of the bishops of Auxerre, in Labbe, Library of manuscript books, volume 1, page 448, is written to have happened to John, bishop of Auxerre, The Saint appears to the dying bishop, in the year 998. whom some call blessed. He had been exceedingly studious of St. Germanus; in the month of January too (in the year 998), touched by a pain of the body, he began to be infirm: who, brought down almost to the last breath of exhalation, snatched in an ecstasy, saw a sufficiently comely vision. Who, immediately calling forth the most illustrious man, and most friendly to him, Achard, then provost of the monastery of B. Germanus, but abbot

afterward, related to him a vision of this kind, saying: Just now, he said, my Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me, and together with him the most blessed Germanus, and very many other most splendid men; whose presence conferred on me the greatest relief both of my pain and health of mind: who also promised me, the Lord having mercy, that as soon as I shall have been called from the body, I shall forthwith be united into their consortium. These things said, uttering in prayer the names of the Saints with the tips of his lips, and looking to heaven with frequent sighs and tearful eyes, he departed from the body on the 12th of the Kalends of February. I omit another, by which about the same time the Saint is said to have appeared to a certain woman, whom a little before he had freed from many demons; as is in the Acts of St. John, abbot of Réome; which, if it please, consult on the 28th of January, page 867, number 10 and following.

[8] Nor is it of inferior authority, what Rodulphus Glaber, Against the forces of king Robert once a monk of Auxerre (as he himself intimates below at number 13) narrates in the History of his time, book 2, chapter 8, to have happened in the year of Christ 1004, in which, he says, Robert, king of Gaul, ascended into Burgundy with a great army of fighters, leading also with him Richard, Count of Rouen, with thirty thousand Normans; because the Burgundians were rebellious to him … The king also, coming first with his whole army to the city of Auxerre, surrounded it with a siege. Who, long sitting there wearied with frequent assaults, did not prevail against it … For the city being left, the king with all his warlike apparatus turned himself to storming the castle of the blessed prelate Germanus, which, prevailing by a fortified rampart, cleaves to the city. For the army of Count Landric of Auxerre had walled it about, and also the familiar men of that place, fearing indeed the plundering of the sacred flock by the enemies. Meanwhile there met the raging king Odilo, venerable abbot of the monastery of Cluny, desiring to intervene between both parties … Who, perceiving that what he had decreed could less be done, exhorted the brothers, only eight, who had been left for the custody of the Confessor (for the rest, with their abbot, Hilderic by name, the king's command had compelled to go out thence,) that they should press assiduously on prayer, if perchance the mercy of the Lord would deign to snatch them, and likewise the place, from so great a siege.

[9] he defends his castle and church. Therefore on the sixth day of the siege dawning, the king, seized by excessive fury, clad at once with cuirass and helmet, and sharpening his whole army with words … To the king, now placed in readiness, met the above-said abbot Odilo, rebuking him, and refuting his chief men, since they had risen up against so great a pontiff of God, namely Germanus, with hostile hand: to whom especially, as is found in his Deeds, it was of use by the help of God both to check very many wars, and to resist the ferocity of kings. Giving less heed to his words, they arrived whither they were tending; and, girding the above-said castle in the manner of a crown, about to storm it in rivalry, they entered battle. And while both parties long and much contended in turn, to the party of his own house God's present help was suddenly at hand: for the whole capacity of that castle was so filled in the hour of battle with a most foul cloud; that to none of the enemy from without was there an accessible approach of hurling; while from those resisting within they perceived themselves to be laid low by a grievous slaughter. And thus, with the cutting-down of their own, especially of the Normans, they left the castle unharmed. Whom it repented, though late, to have taken up arms against a place of great merit. It happened also, that at the hour at which the king's army had begun to enter the contest against the sacred place, a religious man, Gislebert, a monk of the same place, upon the altar of B. Mary ever Virgin, which more becomingly than the rest stands at the summit of the same church, as at the third hour of the day he had been daily wont, began to celebrate the sacraments of Masses. Which deed indeed agrees well enough with the victory furnished from heaven. The same is narrated in the History of the bishops of Auxerre chapter 49, in Labbe, Library of manuscript books, volume 1, page 449, and in the Deeds of the abbots of St. Germanus of Auxerre chapter 1, in the same place page 572. Nor is it wholly unlike, what much later from a manuscript Chronicle of the cathedral church of Auxerre Viole describes in these words: In the year 1058 the castle of St. Germanus was taken by a clandestine irruption by the soldiers of Robert, duke of Burgundy, and of Theobald, count of Champagne. Who, having entered, terrified by a divine nod, went out as quickly as possible within the venerable days of Lent.

[10] Miracles of St. Germanus To our Saint too seem to be referred, the things which in the same his monastery, for conciliating reverence to the church, the same Glaber, book 5, chapter 1, attests to have happened. Wonderfully however, he says, we remember to have happened at Auxerre in the church of B. Germanus. There was there a brother, Gerardus by name, whose custom it was, after the solemn Matins, to tarry in the oratory. It happened to him one morning, that amid his prayers he fell asleep. Who, immediately pressed by a heavy sleep, was carried out, as if lifeless, out of the monastery; but how, or by whom, is hitherto unknown. Who, awakened, found himself in the cloister, outside the monastery, cast out, marveling indescribably at what he saw done concerning himself. In a similar manner indeed it happened to a certain presbyter, passing the night in the same monastery: while in the lower crypts, where many bodies of the Saints repose, he fell asleep, about cockcrow he found himself carried away behind the choir of the monks. For concerning the same church a certain relation is established, that, if it happen that by night a lamp be extinguished, until it be rekindled, the guardians of the same church can obtain no rest [*].

[11] Besides there was a certain brother, who was wont to pray frequently at the altar of St. Mary, for conciliating reverence to his church. which stands most excellently, and to pour out groans and tears of compunction. One thing therefore was his, which happens to nearly all, frequently amid prayer to spit, and to emit saliva feebly (that is, weakly, or from weakness). It happened indeed at some time, that, oppressed by sleep, he fell asleep. There appeared to him, standing beside the altar, a certain one surrounded with white garments, bearing in his hands a most white cloth, and burst into words of this kind: Why, he said, dost thou smear me, striking me with thy own spittle? For I, as thou seest, take up the gift of thy prayers, bearing it to the sight of the most merciful Judge. By which vision seized, that brother both restrained himself, and took care to admonish the rest, that they, as he himself, should, as far as they were able, restrain themselves in sacred places … That the aforesaid place therefore shines forth long by the merits of B. Germanus, and of the other Saints reposing there, with signs and prodigies both in gifts of healings, and in the vengeances of retributions upon those plundering things pertaining to him, is manifest. For if any of the chief men of the fatherland arose as invaders or plunderers of the goods of this place, God thereupon, the avenger, was wont to reduce their stock with their goods to reproach, and almost to nothing. For an evident testimony of this, among the rest of our assertion, stands the vengeance upon the stock of a certain Bavo, and also of his son Alwalo, and the most frequent confusion of Silliniacus, a most sacrilegious castle.

[12] Besides, I myself once was asked by our fellow-servants and brothers of the same place, Another, which happened to Glaber himself adorning the same church; that I should reform the titles of the altars, which had once been composed by the scholastics (that is, the lettered), but, decaying by age, as nearly all things, hardly appeared. Which, as was fitting, with a willing mind, in what manner I was able, I studied to fulfill. But before I brought the work to the heel of the begun task, from too much standing of the body, as I reckon, on a certain night, stooping on my couch, I was so contracted in all my members by a jaundiced affliction, that I could in no way raise myself, nor turn to another side. But after three days, on the following night, held by excessive straits, there appeared to me a man venerable with hoariness; who, raising me in sleep by the arm, said: Fulfill as quickly as possible what thou hast begun: fear not to grieve further. Straightway indeed awakened, marveling at myself, and shaking myself from the little bed, I ran to the altar of the victorious Martyrs, namely of Victor, and Apollinaris, and George, because their oratory was contiguous to the house of the infirm: and there, rendering most humble thanks to the God of all, alacritous I fulfilled the solemn Matins. But on the following day, being most soundly whole in my whole body, I composed there a title with the proper names of those Martyrs.

[13] and the punishment of the monk, destroying that work out of envy. Finally, of the greater church (namely of St. Germanus) the altars were twenty-two in number; which, as was becoming, with titles fittingly arranged in red ochre from hexameter verses, and the epitaphs of the Saints being repaired, I took care likewise to adorn also the tombs of certain religious men. Which was exceedingly pleasing to men of sound mind. But, as father Odilo had been more often wont to lament, so it happened: … for a certain man, hateful to the brothers of his monastery, departing, came to ours; by whom, as their custom always was, he was devoutly received. But he infected the abbot with the venom of envy, together with some monks, driving him into so great a hatred against me; that they destroyed all the aforesaid titles of the altars. But forthwith, the Lord being avenger, there was present his avenger, he who had been the kindler of the fraternal discord: for he was mulcted straightway with a damnable blindness of eyes, stumbling with his feet irrecoverably until the end of his life. The event of which matter furnished no small admiration both to those near, and to those placed far off. These things that man relates concerning the place, where the body of the most holy Prelate was kept deposited; but now we subjoin another, who concerning the sole finger of the Saint translated into England will record things as many as wonderful.

* perhaps "imperatoris".

* otherwise "non tam".

* otherwise "cum locus".

* perhaps "possunt".

APPENDIX III.

Concerning the miracles of St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, at Selby.

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.

From the History of the Selby monastery in England, published in our Philippe Labbe, New library of manuscript books, volume 1, from page 594.

CHAPTER I.

The author's preface to the first book; the cutting-off of St. Germanus's finger punished; and the translation of the same into England commanded.

[1] The author writes these things being asked and commanded, To the infinite prayers of thy love, most dear to me of men, by which thou ceasest not to make me a historiographer, there are very many things, which have hitherto forbidden me to obey. For to obey such and so great requests everywhere an immature age forbade me, an unskilled littleness prohibited, a shadowy ignorance drew back. These are the chief causes of my obstinacy, these the just excuses of silence, these the violent compulsions to excuse. But thy sagacity, what by friendly simplicity it was not able to obtain of itself, by astute cunning it has almost violently extorted through another; since indeed thou hast associated to thy prayers the commands of that one, namely of Dom the Prior, whose orders neither reason suffers to gainsay, nor the regular institution permits. Thus, forces being joined, thou by friendly prayers invitest to the study, that one by imperial obedience compels to compliance: to thee indeed, because thou art a friend, I ought not obstinately to resist; that one, because he is lord and father, I neither wish, nor am able, to gainsay.

[2] Therefore I will take care of the business, which you impose; I will approach this arduous work, dull and unknowing, indeed setting your merits before my own strength, I indeed a young man; but by the faith of the elders. and trusting more in your prayers, than in my own possibility; I approach, I say, the excellent work

[3] In the first reading indeed, concerning the finger of our venerable father and patron Germanus, In what manner a certain monk which is the cause and matter of nearly our whole narration, in what manner a certain one once violently plucked it from the right hand of the Prelate, I have judged it worthy to manifest. Which indeed to thee, reader, for this reason I have taken care to insinuate at the very front of the reading; that when I shall have begun the historical narration, the discourse may be continued without the fashion of a digression, nor be it necessary to digress from the history to other things to be narrated, since, what it behooves to know about the finger, will have been before laid open to thee by the preceding relation. There was in the monastery of Auxerre, where the little body of the most blessed Germanus reposes incorrupt and whole, a certain brother, who also there discharged the office of sub-secretary ^a, who stood forth kindled with the fire of a special love into the love of the most blessed Confessor, continual in his praise, assiduous in his memory, studious in his service. This one, that the memory of the Prelate might be to him more frequent from frequent, his hope surer from sure, his cult more devout from devout, by the suggestion of I know not what spirit conceived, that he, a furtive invader, should withdraw some monument from the most holy body of the Saint.

[4] This I would easily believe, that this mind was conceived by the persuasion of a sinister spirit; plucked off the finger of St. Germanus. since both the burning of love compelled him to the fault, and a simple and pious intention animated him to the daring of presumption. This kind of affection being conceived in mind, he panted with all desires to bring the affected work to effect; he awaits the opportunity of time, he watches for the congruity of the hour. Nor delay; the nocturnal silence of the monks, and the absence of the guardians, the withdrawal of his companions and of the guardians, conferred a congruous hour, a constant mind, the trust of silence, for executing the thing conceived in his mind. The man believed that a deed done under the shadows ought to lie hidden, and to avoid the notice of mortals, that which was perfected under the aspect of God alone. Confirmed in this hope in his soul for the deed, he approached the place where the body of the most holy Prelate reposes; and, having premeditated, as I believe, what he had wished to snatch, guilty of sacrilege, he destroyed the middle finger of the right hand either by biting, or by cutting off.

II.

[5] Scarcely had the rash one drawn himself back from the presumptuous daring, when he presensed upon himself the admirable and for ages unheard-of vengeance of the offended Confessor, What an admirable vengeance which is so admirable, and full of stupor; that it is difficult to recognize, whether in it more the anger of the Prelate is commended, than his clemency; more his mercy, than his judgment. For soon as the guilty one had committed the guilt, agitated by a certain impulse of the Divinity, and coerced by virtue, he began to strike his guilty breast untiringly with either fist, ever with a tearful voice, declaiming with continual lamentation: Holy Germanus, have mercy on me. Afterward, as long as he survived, from this wonderful kind of satisfaction he could not cease, except when he either cherished his little body with the rest of sleep, or refreshed it with the reception of foods. Look, I beseech, and marvel, that the wonderful Germanus has wondrously done; look and marvel, that the clement Pontiff was not unmercifully moved by the injury toward his son; and if moved by the injury, yet sufficiently clemently he repressed the burning of his paternal [*] commotion; while not to the loss of health or virtue, but for the obtaining of pardon, for the satisfaction of the offense, for the merit of beatitude he exercised the discipline of vengeance.

[6] the same underwent for his guilt. So therefore, while the guilty one felt himself apprehended by the majesty of the Divinity, he replaced the finger upon the altar, coerced by necessity, persevering in the aforenoted satisfaction with continual lamentation. Nor did delay intervene, when fortune led to him certain of the brothers: they behold and marvel at a miracle to be admired for all ages: not long could a thing worthy of a spectacle be concealed; first foreknown to a few, it came to the notice of very many in a moment: the monks run up, and while each hastens his step, in an hour all are congregated: in the public assembly the guilty one, concerning the event of the assembly, expounds the cause; he set forth the manner; he confesses the deed committed; the finger is shown on the altar, which he snatched; the sentence is made manifest, which from the plunder he merited: the monks bewail the Prelate so vehemently offended, they bewail the immense error of the brother, the sons bewail the injury of the Father, they bewail the carelessness of the fraternal guilt.

III.

[7] By the common counsel of the brothers thereupon the body of the Prelate is replaced in such a place, is so fitted; that without the consent of very many it can neither be beheld, [Concerning the reposition of the holy Prelate's body and the diligence of service.] nor approached: for the sarcophagus is enclosed round about everywhere with a strong wall, only one iron door admitting access to the honor of the one reposing: a lamp there perseveres kindled with unfailing light; which, that it might commend the presence of him, to whose honor it serves, around the circuit of the sacred sepulchre, was seen for nearly fifteen days and as many nights, while it ever burned, to have shown nothing of diminution. Nor is that to be kept silent, that if by fortuitous chance it happened to be extinguished through that night, as is written in the book of his Miracles ^b, no rest is indulged to the guardians, no faculty of enjoying sleep, until the service of the failed light be repaired: sometimes they are assailed more troublesomely by the impulse of a certain hand; that it be permitted to no one to doubt with impunity, that the due services to the place must be exercised not ineptly, not sluggishly. But the finger, placed in an ivory pyxis, honorably in place of the body stood eminent, set upon the altar; which, as an invincible argument of the incorrupt body, so perseveres adorned with the integrity of flesh and skin; that the hairs even below the middle joint so firmly adhere to the skin; that, to the admiration of those beholding, by them the finger can and is wont to be lifted on high. These things being thus arranged, let us approach the exordium of the historical narration.

IV.

[8] At about the same time, at which William, duke of Normandy, had invaded England, In what manner Benedict was made a monk, and with powerful right hand subjugated it to his empire ^c, there was in the aforesaid monastery of Auxerre a certain brother, by name Benedict; and not undeservedly indeed called by such a name; for, as if having obtained his name from the thing, he merited to have benediction from the Lord and mercy from God his salvation. This one, educated in the same monastery, had long and much served the abbot ^d of that place under a secular habit; and now the time had come, at which both the services of the excellent young man demanded their own rewards for him, and the benign Lord, not ungrateful for his services, was preparing to remunerate him honorably; and lest the remuneration should offend the young man's mind or wish, he set before him the option of two things; that namely he should choose which he preferred of two, either the belt of soldiery in the world, or the soldiery of monkhood in the monastery.

[9] Therefore, as the abbot proposed an option of this kind [*], Benedict answered the abbot, Better is, he said, one day in thy courts, O Lord, above thousands; I, provident, have chosen to be abject in the house of the Lord my God, rather than to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners; because God loves mercy and virtue; the Lord will give grace and glory. Infinite is in the world the multitude of those soldiering; but, what is a shame to say, serving vices rather than virtues: it is an infamous soldiery to soldier by name alone, and an unbecoming disgrace to serve vices and sloth under arms: to these spiritual camps I betake myself, where neither will virtue lack its reward, nor honesty the honor of reverence: I will soldier for that Lord, who corroborates his soldiers with virtue, gladdens them with rest, crowns them with glory and honor. Nor delay, Benedict, thrown into the monastic disciplines, and applied to letters, learned in a short time the order of monks and the service; because in the law of the Lord was his will, and on his commandments he meditated day and night. So therefore, while he walked from virtue to virtue, while he disposed ascensions in his heart, the Lord granted him to discharge the priesthood, and to have praise in his name; and then, as though in manners and birth he were a Levite, he was made the guardian and confidant of the sacred secrets, for the merit of his life, for the honesty of his manners, set as prelate over them.

[10] Which office while he discharged for a very long time, and was proved a faithful and prudent servant in little and in greater, In what manner St. Germanus appeared a third time, blessed Germanus appeared to him in a nocturnal vision, and addressed him, as another Abraham, with such words: Go out, he said, from thy land, and from thy kindred, and from this house of thy Father; and come into the land which I shall show thee. There is a place in England, and it is called Selby, provided for my honor, predestined to the services of my praise, about to be celebrated and a glory by the titles of my name: which, situated upon the bank of the river Ouse [], is not very much distant from the city of York ^e. Of this place I, provident, have both foreseen and pre-elected thee the founder to my name; and thou shalt found for thyself [] a cell in a royal possession, which namely nearly [*] pertains to the right of the king. And lest thou alone shouldst dread to undertake so great and such a pilgrimage, believe me, thou shalt be consoled by my company, thou shalt be confirmed by my counsel, thou shalt be fortified by my protection. My finger too, which is upon the altar, thou shalt carry with thee in my memory; which, that thou mayest be able to bear it securely and without peril of losing, thou shalt open thy arm between the elbow and the shoulder-blade with a little knife, and within it thou shalt place the finger. Nor fear to do this, because thou shalt neither shed blood, nor endure pain.

[11] and admonished him to cross over into England to Selby with his finger. These things said, the vision of the most sacred Confessor was taken away. Therefore, morning being made, Benedict, unwilling to observe dreams, which have made many err many times, neglected the vision, nor attended to it. To whom blessed Germanus, showing himself in a repeated vision, rebuked him, why he had neglected what he had seen: he commanded, that he should busy himself to fulfill all things as quickly as possible. Benedict still neglected the vision, as he had already done before, nor did he think anything about the execution of the vision. Nor unmindful of the undertaken business, a third time the blessed Confessor showed himself to the monk, as he had already done a first and a second time: whom, addressing more severely than usual, he thus accosted with a harsh reasoning: Ho there, he said, am I held of so much by thee; that thou deignest [*] to fulfill my vision? Now a third time in vain have I appeared to thee, I have opened my vow and my will; nor yet hitherto hast thou prepared to obey my commands. I foretell therefore, and in truth pronounce, that, unless thou fulfill my command more quickly, thou shalt receive and bear a grievous vengeance of thy disobedience.

NOTES.

CHAPTER II.

The prodigious translation itself of the sacred finger to Selby.

VI.

Terrified by this voice, Benedict thereupon began

to deliberate within himself about setting out. How the Benedictine And since

he wished to fortify his departure with the liberty of reason and permission,

he entered the chapter and asked

leave to depart; yet concealing altogether the cause of his departure

and the miracle of the vision. And when

he was unable to obtain what he asked at the first attempt, he patiently

deferred the business; and on the following day he sought leave

again, quite eagerly; but each one cries out against him,

all resist him, and against the reproaches of the monk

the voices of all the monks burst forth together,

clamors resound, wranglings are uttered,

Harsh voices, revilings, wranglings, quarrels,

Strife breeds it, the Order stirs it, fury bears it, wrath foments it.

Having therefore suffered an insulting refusal, and compelled by

necessity, he thought to depart secretly;

and the finger of the glorious Bishop, just as he himself had commanded him,

he seized in the silence of the night; and opening his own arm,

he placed the finger within. In this deed alone many miracles

flash forth; for neither did the wound find

blood, nor the wounded man the discomfort of pain:

there was added also to these a splendor and glory of no lesser wonder,

for when he had brought the precious pledge

to his arm, for its reception

the wound at once opened itself sufficiently with the swiftest gaping,

and, the finger having been received, it again closed itself with a fresh

sealing. Yet he bound the wound with linen cloths,

as though he had a cauterized ^a arm.

[13] This having been done, and having done the other things which

the preparation for the journey compelled him to do, he withdrew from Auxerre, commending himself to God

and to his most holy patron Germanus; at midnight

he went forth from the monastery and set out upon the road

which led to the shores of Gaul. And now the next

day had dawned, and his absence could no longer

lie hidden: first indeed to his companions and the guardians of the holy things,

and then to all the brethren his departure

became known: he is sought in the monastery, and is not found:

inquiry is made throughout the city, and no

certainty about him is learned: search is made through the church

quite anxiously, whether all things be safe; whether, at his departure,

all the things which had been under his charge remained

untouched. While therefore all things are examined,

and each item is scrutinized, at last

they discovered that the precious finger of the Bishop was missing. Then

through the monastery; then groans and laments through

the whole circuit of the city are raised;

Then grieved everyone—woman, man, stranger, citizen;

From this side resounds the groaning of the young, from that of the old:

The learned, the dull, the foolish; the sensible, the small; the grown,

Woman and man wept, and were drenched with flowing tears.

[14] To pursue the monk, at last, along very many

roads very many are appointed: and he arrived in England.

The throng of raging monks pursues the monk,

And threatening slaughter, here the horseman, there the footman.

Many pursue one man: with one accord, pursuing,

they find him; finding him, they seize him; seizing him,

they gently * accuse him, indignantly rebuke him,

vehemently reproach him; at last Benedict is accused

of sacrilege, and about the most sacred finger secretly and openly

he is confronted: he denies the charges laid upon him; with steadfast

reasoning he testifies by living voice that he is neither a sacrilegious man

nor conscious of any sacrilege: but those whose heart

was hardened, whose hand was outstretched, neither accept his

excuse, nor approve any

reasoning. Rather, bringing force and violence,

they lay hands upon him; they strip him of his garments; they search

all things in vain; at length, their labor completed,

because they searched unjustly, they failed in a fruitless

search as they searched; and being unable to find upon him

what they were seeking, confounded with the greatest disturbance,

they returned to Auxerre. But Benedict,

reaching the sea, with a prosperous and

happy course came with the precious treasure into England.

VII.

[15] And so, with the second breathings of the winds, Benedict

began to make inquiry at the English shores for Salisbury ^b instead of Selby;

How instead of Selby he went to Salisbury, and being informed of it by the islanders,

he hastened to it, as to a place divinely predestined for him;

While, swift, he hastens, so that his foot too might seek what his mind seeks,

Completing it briefly, he shortened his journey.

There was at that time in Salisbury a certain citizen,

Edward by name, a man shining forth in all honesty of manners,

and denying, amid worldly affairs, a worldly life and manner;

yet in habit and appearance the mark

of secularity appeared in him; who also,

enriched no less in fortune than in sense with honor,

on account of the abounding heap of diverse riches

was surnamed "the Rich." This man, therefore,

received Benedict on his arrival at Salisbury with a solemn

office, relieved the one received with devoted service, and comforted the one relieved

with faithful and friendly counsel. And when

Benedict tarried with him for a few days,

he became so intimate, so friendly to him,

that ever afterward, as long as the aforesaid Edward survived,

he cherished him as a friend, loved him as

These three things constantly preserve a true friend;

Use in them proclaims it; a friend always loves.

[16] and received by Edward This is attested by those gifts of his, no less precious

than beautiful, which, led by charity,

for the adornment of the house of the Lord, for the reverence of the most holy bishop

Germanus, he afterward bestowed upon Benedict:

for he gave him, for the reposing of the precious finger,

remarkable in size, clear in quality,

wonderful in its engraving, precious in workmanship;

which, preserved to this day in the monastery of Selby,

kindles all who behold it no less to its own

praise than to admiration for the dignity of its ancient

workmanship. He also gave him, for the

altar, a certain linen covering, adorned with wonderful

workmanship, containing the images of the Majesty of the Lord with the four

Evangelists, and also of the crucified * Lord,

and likewise of the twelve Apostles,

worked over in featherwork embroidery. It would be long

to recount all the things he bestowed upon Benedict. Let it suffice

to have recorded only these things as a memorial of the faithful man,

especially since to this day both are preserved

in the monastery.

[17] and that he was honored. When therefore, as I had begun to say, Benedict, arriving

at Salisbury, was received in hospitality by this

man worthy of perennial memory,

he set forth in order to his venerable host all the things which had befallen him;

namely the apparition of the glorious Bishop;

the address of the one appearing, the command of the one addressing him,

the execution of the command. Yet he withheld some things,

nor did he narrate more of the vision's command

than sure and firm experience had * proved certain.

The sum of the whole narration was this, that

blessed Germanus had appointed him to Salisbury in England:

for so he thought the Confessor had said,

because the name of Salisbury was very famous;

but that of Selby at that time was quite unknown; and

because Benedict had earlier often heard Salisbury named,

he thought he had been sent thither by blessed Germanus.

Therefore, to give faith to his hearers, Benedict

showed his arm, containing the precious finger

of the Bishop. All render the highest thanks and gratitude

to God and to blessed Germanus; they proclaim

that he had come in good time; they profess that the place would be

happy under the patronage of so glorious a Bishop.

And then Benedict thought that he had arrived at the place

predestined for him by God. But when he perceived that neither

the city of Eboracum nor the river Ouse

was in those regions, then, greatly

saddened, he began within himself to be very much scandalized,

and to fall away from faith; especially because the place which

he had heard through the vision, as he thought; but he had not found the signs of the place;

yet, bearing gladness and joy

on his face, he cunningly dissembled the anxiety and scandal which

he was suffering,

His face serene, its gladness feigned to soothe his sorrows,

The man dissembles the bitter scandals of his mind.

VIII.

[18] Now that evening had risen, the later hour had drawn itself out,

and the weariness of the journey, [How St. Germanus appeared to him in that same place, and showed him Selby in a vision:] the anxiety of

mind, the trouble of his thoughts invited Benedict to refreshment,

to sleep, to rest:

When toil, anxiety, and a wandering mind admonished sleep,

The good man sleeps, that thus he may restore his vigor.

Him, pressed down more deeply in sleep, blessed Germanus,

appearing and smiling a little, addressed with such

words, saying: Why, Benedict *,

so new a guest and stranger, are you confounded with so abundant a sadness

and sudden grief?

Say, what are you doing, what ails you; say, what is the cause of your sorrow?

The evils * you suffer within are open without.

Have you found a place suitable for your dwelling?

If you had diligently sought, anxiously inquired, urgently

knocked; you would rejoice together over the most certain acceptance, over the most ready

finding, over the opening. I did not

tell you Salisbury; but that you should seek Selby.

Which name blessed Germanus, drawing out the seven syllables,

repeating, said: But,

lest, the name of the place again slipping from you, error turn you aside

from the passable way; now I will show you the place itself; so that,

when you have come to it a second time, you may know how to recognize

the turf which I have chosen. Having thus spoken, the man being caught up

(whether in the body, or out of the body, I know not;

God knows), showing him the whole situation of the place,

This, he said, is my rest for ever and

ever; here I will dwell, for I have chosen it. These words

being said, the vision of the Confessor vanished.

IX.

[19] And when morning came, Benedict set forth to his host

what he had seen; how, arriving at Lynn, he found a ship, and after not many

days had passed, having received from that same host a certain cleric,

Theobald by name (who, namely, was to be his

interpreter), Benedict came all the way to Lynn ^c.

And when he had arrived there, he found in that place a merchant

ship, which was directing its course to the city

of Eboracum. But, delayed by the inclemency of the winds,

for the passing of fifteen days or more

the merchant ship had lain there. I should indeed believe, and not without reason,

that this adversity of the winds was stirred from heaven;

so that, the vessel being thus detained, the service of conveyance

might not be lacking, ready for Benedict as he arrived there:

which is given quite plainly to be understood from the very change of the air;

for on the second day, on which

Benedict had arrived there, the air being soon changed, the

opportuneness of the winds, the serenity of the breeze, the tranquillity of the sea

summoned those about to go to their voyage.

[20] The lord Prior asserts that he learned these things at Lynn

from a certain very decrepit matron, who had lain there loaded for 15 days. who *

related that as a young girl she had seen Benedict

lodged in her father's house, and that, when infirmity had perhaps

compelled the same Benedict to make use of the baths,

continually holding his right arm, in which the

glorious finger was contained, up on high away from the waters,

he took the utmost precaution lest the finger be harmed by the injury of

the waters; and when those who were present had seen this,

and inquired why he did this,

at first he said he had a certain infirmity

in his arm; but afterward he narrated the truth

and order of the matter to his host, and said that he had come thither,

so that, boarding a ship there, through the flowing of the waters

he might reach the place predestined for him.

[21] Therefore the sailors of the aforesaid ship,

learning Benedict's wish, How, arriving at Selby in that same ship, he built the dwelling of the Saint. and trusting that at his boarding

they would be blessed, receive him with the greatest joy

into it, devotedly conferring upon him all things

which were necessary for him. And so, Benedict

having been added to their company,

A gentle breeze is given; the skiff flies over serene waves;

The bark flies across the deep waters, sound enough.

Nothing grievous, nothing sad does the sea show, with you as guide, O Christ:

The helmsman, as he had wished, first plows the waves.

And thus, flying over the sea with a prosperous impulse of the winds,

they glided into the river Ouse. Nor was there delay;

they draw near to the place which is called Selby: which,

seeing from afar, Benedict, and at once recognizing it from

his former vision, said: Here, here

bring me back to land; for here is the place which the Lord

has chosen. And thus, being set down to land with his companions by

the sailors, he immediately, upon the bank of the river, to the honor

of the Lord, raised the sign of the Cross, and then beneath

was called Strihac, on royal domain,

he built a little dwelling of boughs and leaves,

about the year of the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand

sixty-nine, which is the fourth year

of William the First, king.

XI.

[22] Then, exploring and traversing the whole situation of the place in every direction,

Benedict, walking about the territory, How gladly he embraced that place;

the borders, and the boundaries and limits of the estates and possessions,

diligently learned what lay within each domain;

and seeing a most pleasant place

planted with so frequent a grove,

crowned with so abundant and varied a river,

as though a certain earthly paradise, embracing

it, he rejoiced no less over its useful opportuneness

than over its swift discovery.

But since occasion offers itself, something more particular

and more open must be said about the situation or quality of the place:

whose name is called Selby * in English,

which, interpreted in Latin, is called "the town of the sea-calf";

which name it obtained because fishes

of this kind used frequently to be caught there in ancient times.

It is situated upon the bank of the river Ouse, namely to the southern

region of the city of Eboracum, distant from the same

not very far, but as it were by a space of ten miles,

and with an intervening manifold surrounding of groves and woods

on every side it is crowned, which

confer much of adornment upon the pleasant place, yet contribute even more

of usefulness; among which groves there are very many

remarkable in size and choice in quality, which

properly lie adjacent and appended to the domain of the same place.

[23] and concerning the situation of the place itself. It enjoys also so great a nearness of waters,

is fortified, girt about with so many and so great courses; that,

apart from the lakes and pools, which are copious in fish

and nearby, by which also the mills are driven,

the place rejoices in the proximity of three royal rivers, namely the Ouse, the Derwent,

and the Aire, flourishes in usefulness,

and is sustained in plenty: for the aforesaid

three rivers are very notable, and abounding in every kind of fish

that is found in fresh waters.

By the convenience, therefore, of these two things, namely the groves

and the waters, Selby, being pre-eminent,

is endowed also with an abundance of a third no less useful thing, namely

most apt for every carving.

What more? There are had in the same place, or

in places belonging to the same place, whatever things,

so to speak, are required for the governance of a kingdom.

Moreover, the monastery sits so beautifully, so notably

in that secret retreat of its own; that from every

side, to those walking from afar along the public roads, the tower

of the church, and certain other roofs of the workshops,

which rise up somewhat on high,

appear and are shown. Whatever also is conveyed by ship

to Eboracum from parts beyond the sea, or from any of the ports

of England, or is carried away from it,

is accustomed to pass before the gates of the monastery of Selby.

But since, in expounding these things about the quality of the place

by a digression, we have withdrawn somewhat from the narrative we had begun,

let these things be omitted, and let us return to pursue

what we had begun.

NOTES.

CHAPTER III.

The veneration of the same one there began to be established by miracles.

XII.

When therefore, as has been foretasted, Benedict had built himself a little

hut, or rather a shelter,

How a mute man, signed with the finger of the most sacred Bishop, rendering continual praises to that precious pledge,

namely the most sacred finger, administering constant

vigils, he attended

with the utmost care, lest ever divine services

should be lacking to the venerable relics; he exhibits the office to the sacred things;

quite dutifully he provides, that service be not lacking to them

diligently. But, lest that precious lamp,

placed too long under a bushel, should lie hidden

concealed in that solitude of the desert, but rather should be exalted in public,

and shining to very many, be venerated by all,

fortune had led to Benedict's dwelling a certain

mute man; who, assenting by a nod, asked

that some blessing be made for him. Which Benedict,

beholding, and there understanding the matter of his demonstration

and advancement, turning to his most kind Patron,

said: Behold, most blessed

Germanus, placed in a barbarous pilgrimage we are not

known, sunk in a woodland lap we are not

seen, thrust down into the solitude of the wilderness we are

ignored by all: show therefore upon this wretched man

your mercy, that we may be seen; exalt

your power, lest we be ignored any further.

[25] Having thus spoken, taking the precious finger of the Bishop,

over the mouth of the mute man he traced the saving

sign of the cross. he obtained speech. And thus, the fetters of the fore-condemned tongue

being loosed, in wondrous manner the office of the mouth

is released for the use of speaking.

The mouth, while the finger thus touches it, breaks its bonds;

The passion lies conquered, no longer is the tongue silent;

The veins are cleansed; the harmful reins are broken;

The mouth opens; the tongue speaks; speech is given.

Then, this miracle being everywhere divulged throughout the extent of the region,

no less in reverence and love of Benedict

than of blessed Germanus,

the affections and minds of all the fellow-provincials are kindled.

An immense rarity of monks also, which

existed at that time, doubly excited the zeal of all

to honor and cherish Benedict:

for through the whole shire of Eboracum ^a, except

the congregation of Durham ^b, neither a monk nor

any place of monks in those days could easily

be found.

XIII.

[26] Now it happened at the same time that the sheriff

of Eboracum, How Hugh the sheriff visited Benedict, namely Hugh, son of Baldric,

passing by, was conveyed by ship near Selby; who,

when he had beheld the token of the cross raised upon the bank

of the river, asked for what cause

the cross stood elevated there; and when he had learned the matter,

he at once ordered the ship to be brought back to land,

that he might go out to address the servant of God. Now there accompanied

him no small multitude of soldiery,

because, the fierceness of the war-fleet still enduring, not

yet had the tranquillity of perfect peace released the soldier from arms and battle-line.

In those regions this was broken by the untamed ferocity

and unconquered constancy of the English,

who, ever rising up against the Gauls in their own vengeance

beyond their strength and power, wherever they met one another,

strove to test which of them could do more in strength.

For this cause, hemmed in by so great a

multitude of soldiers, the aforesaid sheriff was

proceeding.

[27] and received him into intimacy and friendship. When he had come to Benedict's little cell,

he found him by chance lying prostrate in prayer before the sacred relics;

and, having awaited the end of the prayer,

he humbly saluted the monk as he rose from prayer,

and most devoutly proclaimed that he had come in good time.

Whom Benedict, gratefully saluting in return,

set forth to him in order the cause and manner of his coming;

openly showing to all of them the finger of the most holy bishop Germanus,

which he had brought, he said that he was a newcomer and pilgrim,

having no one known in those regions, no one

known beforehand; that he was strengthened by the help of no one but God alone and blessed

Germanus. Wherefore,

he said, submitting myself to your protection, committing

myself to your counsel, I suppliantly entreat your clemency,

that, for accomplishing that which I have begun

for the love of God, you may inform me with your counsel, follow

me with your aid, console me with your skill.

At once the faithful man assented, and inclining his ear most kindly

to the prayers of the servant

of God, said: I will do

most willingly the things you pray for, because, God

granting me safety, you will have me as a fellow-worker

in your undertakings, a favorer in your vows, a cherisher

in prosperity, and a helper in adversity.

XIV.

[28] Saying these things, he soon ordered his tent

to be pitched; that, in place of a lodging, it might receive the glorious finger, How the sheriff left his tent pitched there, and had a chapel built.

and might honor it with the service of reception: which

when he had accomplished, and the duty of his charge did not permit

him to delay there any longer, the tent, just as it was

pitched, offering it to the host whom he had received in it,

he left behind; asserting that it was unwonted, the host remaining,

to carry away the lodging; and thus,

with the other nobles who surrounded his side,

bidding farewell to Benedict. Soon all charged

their wives to appoint carpenters to build a chapel

for Benedict, and to furnish all things

which were necessary for them. Which they

soon most devoutly carrying out, carpenters being sent,

caused a little oratory to be built in honor of blessed Germanus, namely in

the same place where up to now the chapel of the town

remains erected.

XV.

[29] But the sheriff, not unmindful of his aforesaid promise, strove to promote Benedict in all things [How the king gave Benedict the place and license to found a monastery, and other lands,] which

he could, according to his strength and power;

but since, in royal domain,

without the king's knowledge, he had fixed his dwelling, he took counsel,

that as soon as he could, Benedict should show

himself to the king; that, fortified by his authority,

he might more securely complete what he had begun. And being brought by the sheriff

before King William the First, when

he had narrated to the king the cause and manner of his coming,

the king most kindly granted him to found a monastery on

his domain, giving him from his own table

of land ^c, on which the monastery and the town which is called Selby

were built; and a certain grove,

called Flaxley; and a certain town, called

Rawcliffe; and another half carucate

of land in Brayton; and with all these one

fishery, which is called Whitgift.

XVI.

[30] Having received these things from King William, Benedict, returning

in peace, set about building the regular workshops around

his chapel. Straightway very many began

gradually to betake themselves to his company;

and, having laid aside the image of secularity, to humble the necks of their heart

and body to the sweet yoke of Christ; whom

Benedict prudently receiving as they came; but

also others, [How, having received what the king had given, Benedict gathered the convent of St. Germanus.] and especially those whom he knew

to abound in good disposition, alluring them with very many exhortations,

within a short time he gathered to himself a convent

of brethren. For the man was enriched with a good endowment of wisdom,

and specially eloquent and fluent in his own tongue,

although he was not sufficiently instructed in the liberal arts,

Whose mind, tongue, cheeks—prudent, fluent, serene—

Furnish for good manner the things to be done, to be spoken, and grace;

A Tully in speech, but a Cato in mind, and a Paris in comeliness,

Having within the gifts of grace, and its signs without.

XVII.

[31] Now there was at the same time a certain chief

of robbers, [How the right hand of a robber, who wished to break into the chapel, stuck to the wall.] named Swan, son of Sigge;

who in the neighboring groves, with the accomplices adhering to him,

wandered about in continual raids; from

whose company a certain accursed man, envying and lying in wait against Benedict,

at the instigation of a wicked spirit

being corrupted, so that the things which Benedict had, a stealthy

plunderer might carry off, came violently to the chapel

in the silence of the night; then, sacrilegiously seeking to bring force and violence

upon the sacred things, in order to lift the door

from its hinge, he thrust in his rash hand

without hesitation. Nor did the provoked kindness of blessed Germanus

any longer delay to show its virtuous power

and powerful virtue: for as soon as it happened,

the malignant right hand adhered to the wall of the chapel

so firmly that it both lost its strength, so that it could not

accomplish the harm; and lost its power, so that the man,

not being repelled, could not turn himself away from the crime. Thus he who had

come to take away another's goods, and was not permitted to depart even by himself alone,

trembling and unwilling awaited the light of day & and the coming of the monks.

At last found by the monks, and having confessed his crime,

binding himself also by the interposition of a vow, that never

by doing evil to them would he offend blessed Germanus,

the monks praying for him, he scarcely earned it,

that he was allowed to go away free.

XVIII.

[32] Of the many and great miracles which at that

time very often shone forth, How the son of the sheriff there are but a few

which could come to the knowledge of our posterity;

whence it must be guarded with the utmost care,

lest anything remain unrelated which from the truthful

relation of the elders we were able to learn.

From Ernissius de Burun, then sheriff of Eboracum,

Benedict, taking one hundred marks at that time,

entrusted to him the finger in place of a precious * pledge, for the

amount of so great a price ^d: and when he was about to receive the aforesaid

weight of silver before witnesses,

bringing forth that precious pledge from its little box,

and by the hairs which within the middle joint

adhered to the skin, raising it on high before all,

said to the sheriff: To what pledge

I shall hand over to you in the little bag, diligently attend, what

or of what kind is the pledge of your money that you receive, whose

quantity is indeed beyond estimation, whose quality is beyond definition,

whose price is beyond price, whose virtue and support

is beyond comparison. And thus, placing the most precious finger

back in the little box, he committed it to the sheriff's

care.

[33] Which he, receiving with the utmost reverence,

cherished with so great devotion, that he was cured of the falling sickness through the finger. guarded with so great honor;

that on this side and that he always provided and procured two burning lamps

for its service. Nor

without the reward of piety did he exhibit the reverence of so great veneration

to the relics of this notable Confessor:

he received at once the benefit which the piety of faith,

which the reverence of devotion had earned:

for he had a son of quite tender age, Hugh

by name, who, weighed down by a lamentable kind of infirmity,

used to be vexed by the falling sickness.

Who, by his father's both command and admonition, when on a certain night

he had performed devout vigils at the relics, by the merits of the most clement

Germanus was enriched with such a gift of salvation and safety;

that, freed from the trouble of the whole sickness,

never afterward was he weighed down by the affliction of that sickness … ^e.

XXXIV.

[34] After whose [f] departure a certain Durannus was elected,

presided over the monastery for nine years; namely up to

the last year of King Henry [g]. In whose

time—that of Durannus—a great thing happened, full of amazement;

which, that it may shine forth inserted in these pages, I shall briefly

recall. By a wondrous dissolution of snow and ice,

the river Ouse, marvelously swelling, had vehemently overflowed its

banks; whose inundation had been so sudden

and unwonted, that when, the signal for Matins

sounding, nothing appeared, before the brethren

had chanted through Matins, throughout the whole cloister

and the workshops the water had spread itself. Then the chapel of the town,

which was contiguous to the channel of the river, was so much more endangered

by the assaults of the waters, as it was struck by the greater

force of the river. Concerning which the powerful kindness

and kind power of blessed Germanus showed itself quite present;

for when the water, swelling for nearly fifteen

days, had lifted itself above the walls of the chapel,

which had been covered with brushwood, by nearly five

cubits, it was nevertheless never able within

the chapel to pass beyond one step, which was before the altar;

although, the walls being everywhere consumed by rot,

holes throughout the circuit lay open both very many

and very great. It was therefore seen and more diligently

examined; and the water was found to be two cubits

higher outside than within. This miracle became so known

and divulged, that even now, as it were a proverb,

it flies about through the mouths of all. They say also

that in the same chapel burning lamps were often

seen; often the voices of those chanting and singing

were heard and understood; but in the days of abbot Durannus

this miracle of the water which we have related happened …

[h].

NOTES.

CHAPTER IV.

The preface of the same author to his second book; and some miracles of St. Germanus done in that same place under abbot Elias.

The parchment of the volume above being now run through on both

sides by my writing, I had proposed to finish the labor of the present

little work; The modesty of our writer, which, while you do not permit me

to do, you act indiscreetly; because you both vex my

slenderness with so immoderate a labor, and

stir up against me the envy of the envious, if there be any;

you make me odious to the Canaanites and Perizzites,

the inhabitants of this land. For to them you increase the matter

of envy, while you administer to me causes of honor

and glory. Whence quite trembling and doubtful

I pursue this little work of your command;

because I fear what I foresee will happen, lest on account of the writer

the page be despised; lest on the occasion

of a lowly historian the precious history be sneered at and rejected.

For there are very many at this time

who attend not to what, but to who, you say:

who, making a perverse metonymy, wish to approve not the person

from the words, but the words from the person.

I fear what I now see impending, lest

such men as these, on account of my littleness, sneer at the history written

by me, nor deign * to read

things which they know so lowly a person to have produced.

Wherefore I had proposed to draw back my hand from this labor;

but you, who almost violently compelled me to begin this,

more violently compel me also to fulfill it:

I am become foolish; you compelled me; for indeed

I came not to do my own will, but the will of him who

sent me: I resisted my own wishes, that I might satisfy yours;

I reduce my own will to nothing, while I labor to fulfill yours.

Neither my iniquity, nor my sin;

without iniquity I ran, and directed my course:

as for the madness of the envious, and the scandals of the little ones which

perhaps will be contracted from this our zeal, I judge that you

ought to look upon them upon your own head *; because you

are the helpers * of this work, I the servant.

[36] But there are some to whom answer must be made;

who, wishing to cloak their envy, as though

by just reason strive to condemn this our little work, and its ends.

saying that a thing ought to be written by no one

except by one who could also have seen it; nor ought anyone to

believe from hearsay a thing which he could not prove

by sight. What then? Is not faith from hearing? How great things

have we heard, and known them, because our fathers

have narrated to us the works of God and his mighty deeds,

that they might not be hidden from their sons in another generation?

And yet the greater part of the history, namely from abbot

Hugh ^a to the end, I judge myself to have seen

rather than heard; because I have spoken with the mouth

of those who saw. I invoke as witness him

who is conscious of secrets, that I have narrated nothing other

than what I heard from those; who also are such that

to disbelieve their maturity is a sign of infidelity

and a mark of perfidy. These things the malice and detraction

of the envious compelled me to have said in few words, not without

great sorrow of heart. But they will do well, if they

correct themselves from a vice of this kind, who conscious of themselves

recognize that they are here noted: but if the sinner adds

to his sinning, his excess will not pertain to us:

let his blood be upon him: we, having Paul

as Apostle, will be the good odor of Christ,

both in those who are saved, and in those who perish …

^b.

[37] It happened therefore in his time ^c, that Henry

de Lacy, who was his kinsman, Of a man, having taken

counsel with him, raised a castle in Selby.

Nor did a week pass, when, learning this,

Earl William … who had a conflict with

Henry, hastened to besiege the castle he had begun:

first, therefore, assailing the town with anxious

and furious assaults, when for a long time he was repelled

by the pressure of the fighters, at last he obtained a clandestine entrance

through the workshops of the monks. Meanwhile,

on account of the fear of the invading enemies, on account of

the unbridled onset of the plunderers, to the refuge of the cemetery,

to the protection of the church, each one had betaken himself

with his belongings. The bands of enemies

and plunderers, therefore, having entered the town, to the seizing of plunder,

to the heaping up of pillage, each one brought their strength and

zeal. But when they had found the houses empty and vacant

of goods and of inhabitant, the cruelty of rapacity

drew several of them to the invasion of the church;

of whom one, bolder than the rest for evil,

in order to cast the doors of the church off their bars,

thrust a levering stake under the door at the threshold. Then

one voice of all those standing without is carried up to heaven;

that he might defend himself, protect his own house,

resist his enemies, blessed Germanus

is entreated.

[38] who wished in the war to break the doors of the church; Nor had that criminal, that sacrilegious man, proceeded

further in his crime; straightway, worn down by the judgment of divinity,

he fell backward, taught beyond doubt not

to be wiser than he ought, but to be wise unto sobriety.

Straightway the wretch began to swell with so vehement a tumor through all

his limbs, that by his very inflammation

his stretched skin was almost burst; and then,

the tumor persisting, to be obscured with so deformed

besmeared ^d with pitch or soot: at last, lifted up

and carried to his lodging by his companions, laid on a bed of pain,

then, the passion being somewhat abated,

and the pain relaxed, returning to himself, he caused

the monk named Benedict, who presided over the work, to be summoned,

that, being absolved, he might bestow his goods on him.

Who, when he had come and had seen him, by so sudden

horror and fear was he seized, as if he had beheld a demon

face to face: but being asked

that he receive the goods of the sick man for the uses of the work,

he answered thus: The offerings, he said, of the impious

are abominable to the Lord, which are offered from crime.

This man is wholly handed over to Satan, nor has the Lord

from on high. Scarcely had he completed the words, and

soon the reviving calamity so wearied the wretch,

that, in the presence of the monk, by I know not what divine power,

the force of the pain straightway cast out one of his eyes.

Then, fear and horror compelling, when the monk

had hastened to go out, before they had come to

the door, the eye which had remained to the wretch, from his head,

like the former, burst out: for in the manner of a

premature plum, which, when it is pressed with the hand,

is wont to spew out its stone, so his eyes,

pressed down by the anxiety of the passion, with a congestion of blood departed

from their seats, and burst out.

[39] It is to be noted, that perhaps the vices which in him

were struck, and how he was struck. were marked by the qualities of the very stroke;

for by the tumor of the body, the pride of the mind;

by the darkening of blackness, the malice

of conscience; by the loss of the eyes, the blindness of the heart

was shown. For therefore, as Gregory says,

outward miracles are done, that the minds of men

may be led to inward things; so that through this,

which is visibly shown as a marvel, those things which are more marvelous

may be believed, though invisible. Wishing therefore,

the excellent Confessor, through the destruction of one to save many

from offense, denoted the causes of the scourge in

the scourge; that men, knowing this, might fear vices

to reign in themselves, which they had known to be so strictly punished

in another. Vexed, therefore, that wretch by the pain of so great

scarcely sustained the third day in his languor, before the malady

of the passion took away from him, like his eyes, so also his soul, with great

anxiety of torment; and thus

it came about, that very many were restrained from such attempts by his

destruction, nor did anyone dare to offend blessed Germanus,

who had either seen or heard the admirable and unhappy event of that

condemned man.

VI.

[40] Yet there were some, who on that same day,

before his destruction was made manifest, Of the soldier who seized a horse from the cemetery. to a work

similar, though to one not altogether so rash,

stretched forth their hands; whose sacrilegious presumption might perhaps have

lain hidden, had not the subsequent divine vengeance

made it public. For a certain one of

the soldiers, a pagan, Foliot by name, on that same day

seized and led out a horse from the cemetery; but not

with impunity, the reverence of the Confessor set aside, did he

presume this; whose indignation he straightway bore,

and experienced his wrath: for to the avenging of the misdeed

soon, before he could go out of the cemetery,

he received a mortal wound, condemned by whose irremediable

trouble, he lost the health both of mind and of body:

for as the body contracted languor from

the wound, so also the mind contracted madness from the languor.

But in this matter this was seen as marvelous,

that, although he had been wounded with so very sharp a wound,

yet in what manner, or by whom he had been wounded, he was utterly

ignorant. When therefore he was weighed down by a persisting malady,

and the growing languor exceeded all manner and measure,

within a few days, by a singular calamity entering the way of all flesh,

he ended the misery of the present life.

VII.

[41] The greediness of plunder had drawn another horseman to such

madness, Of the soldier who seized and led out a certain man from the church. that from the very church by force and

violence he dragged away a certain man, and led away

the one dragged off as a captive. Whose rashness,

the delay of time being set aside, the companion vengeance pursued.

For by the sentence of divinity his limbs being drawn together and bent,

deprived both of the use and function of his members,

he withered. Who, being struck, grieved, and worn down

received discipline; because he profited so much the better

from the scourge, as he was the worse afflicted from the crime.

And thereupon granting liberty to the captive, and binding

himself by the promise of a vow, that he would seek out the Confessor

whom he was offending, to make satisfaction for the offense,

the convent of monks interceding for him,

he was restored to his former soundness.

VIII.

[42] Having therefore foretasted these three examples, diligently,

I beseech you, Of the fact that no one can escape without experiencing some scourge, prudent reader, take heed how strict

an avenger of injuries to himself and to his own blessed

Germanus is. This we read in the book of his miracles,

this we learn from the examples set down therein,

this we frequently prove in the outcomes of our enemies,

this, holding as it were a common proverb

in their mouth, our elders assert, saying

that either scarcely, or never, had they seen anyone who

had provoked blessed Germanus by theft, or by fraud, or by the removal of any

thing, who could have escaped without experiencing some

scourge. Some are punished with want; others are scourged with malady and

infirmity; some (which is harder) before death of the integrity

of memory; some are deprived of soundness of sense;

which we assert so much the more freely and undoubtedly,

as, I say, we have seen this proved by very many, though we be

lesser men.

[43] whoever has offended St. Germanus in any way. But whether this striking of sinners is to be attributed to the clemency

of the Confessor, or to his fury, let no one

rashly presume to define: for the causes * of the strikings

are diverse; and there are some

whom the clemency of the judge wears down with scourges, that he may

purge them; but some indeed, whom his fury afflicts, that he may

condemn them: for every divine stroke, according

to Gregory, is either in us a purgation of the present

life, or the beginning of the subsequent penalty: but more unhappy

are those, whoever commit deeds to be punished, without penalty or scourge;

because, according to Augustine,

nothing is more unhappy than the felicity of sinners, by which

like an inner enemy, is strengthened. But, just as

blessed Germanus is proved to be strict in avenging injuries to himself or to his own,

so in coming to the aid of those who presume upon him he is altogether

clement and most kind.

Which indeed quite evidently the following narration

of miracles will declare.

IX.

[44] For after the enemies had invaded the town,

and, having invaded it, had plundered it with the violence of rapacity, Of the chapel, which amid the fires

at last, gathering themselves from so dissolute a dispersion,

they collected into a battle-line. But the castle,

fortified only by the garrison of Henry alone, when

with all their forces they had assailed it for the whole day, gaining nothing,

grieved at evening that they had spent that day in vain labor.

Seeking therefore to avenge their repulse somewhere,

fires being kindled, they condemned the town to burning.

The fire, therefore, finding fuel on

every side, once kindled, did not rest,

until it reduced the fabric of almost the whole town into one

burning as of a furnace. Then around the chapel

of the precious bishop Germanus, of which above

in the earlier little book we made mention, a miracle quite

evident and notable was shown: for, girt about with the boiling

burnings of the flames, it remained

untouched; and endangered by the thunderbolts of the raging fires,

it persevered unharmed; although with such proximity

the buildings of the houses adhered to it on this side and that;

that when the fire had kindled the nearer ones,

beyond the chapel, coming as it were into one lock of hair from the opposite side,

the flame seemed to gather itself. Which thing

filled even the enemies themselves with such amazement, that, marveling,

they spoke to one another: If upon this hut

we should heap up fire, it would sooner melt

than * it would burn.

[45] it remained unharmed. I would say confidently, that he, namely the clement

Germanus, is present, that he snatched this chapel

from the peril of burning, who once, weighed down by the trouble

of a worn foot, protecting his lodging from being burned up,

saved it from the peril of fire. And this we ought to hold in the greatest

honor, to hold as our highest consolation, to venerate

with special devotion, that the ancient miracles

which he wrought in the body, by a certain reiteration

the clement patron deigns among us to renew.

For by one kind of virtue, and the same quality of miracle,

there the flame, fearing the lodging of the Bishop,

here the church, in both places his presence,

leapt over, raging beyond and short of it: and amid the globes

of flaming fire, the tabernacle, which

the enclosed inhabitant kept, shone forth unharmed. Nor

ought we to pass over this, that when a certain cross,

which is adored in the same chapel, had been brought outside against

the fire, straightway the burning checked itself,

and, twisting itself back into itself, seemed as it were to try to flee

that cross, wherever it was carried.

NOTES.

CHAPTER V.

Continuation of the miracles under the same abbot.

Therefore, when the aforesaid Earl, after some days,

had obtained the castle, casting out from it the soldiers of Henry,

established his own within; That the soldiers could hold no captive in the war on account of St. Germanus. who, given over to plunderings

and pressing on with the plunderings of the province, oppressed all

over whom they prevailed in strength.

But their cruelty obtained a grievous neighbor in blessed Germanus *;

who was wont to threaten them with every kind of harm: for either rarely, or never,

could they retain any captive who had conceived even the least

faith in blessed Germanus,

but that they lost him, snatched away by the clemency of the most merciful

Confessor; which by the examples set down we have

quite plainly proved.

XI.

[47] Their ill-starred cruelty had seized a certain furrier * from Pontefract;

Of the furrier, how, invoking St. Germanus, he was freed from his chains. from whom, when

they demanded a price for his ransom, which he was

unable to give, as though contrary to their wishes and will,

for a long time and much they afflicted him with diverse

torments. Who, feeling that every human consolation was lacking

to him for a remedy of escape, to the divine

help inclined himself with all his desires: he proclaims holy

Germanus with continual lamentation, invokes him with unceasing

groans, seeks him with continual devotion.

Whence the guards being moved with fury, on a certain day,

when all went forth to a raid, binding him

with chains of every kind as firmly as they could,

they thus derided him with ironic mockery:

Cry out, one said; cease not; as with a trumpet

lift up your voice; be not silent, before you loose your chains

by crying out: if he can do anything, let him help you,

that holy Germanus of yours, taking pity on you, whom

you invoke. And thus hastening to the plunder, they left him

as guardian of the lodging, weighed down by the burden

of the chains. After their departure scarcely an hour passed,

when his hands, which were bound behind his back,

suddenly began to be loosed; which, drawing to himself,

and spreading out at will, he rejoiced that the chains were burst

by the virtue of his crying out. And when

he pondered with himself about the deed, he suddenly saw the nails

emerge from the wood which had pressed his feet;

the wood loosen from one another; the fetters slacken;

the bolts be removed. Striving therefore to draw his feet

back to himself, he felt the restraint of no obstacle.

Rising therefore as quickly as possible, as though anxious

for his own safety, he betook himself to the protection of the church,

freed in a wondrous manner by the help of the Confessor.

XII.

[48] Likewise a certain man had left a little son as a hostage among the

captives for his own ransom to a certain soldier;

which little boy, taught to invoke the holy one

Germanus, in the same manner as the former,

deserved to be freed from his chains. Of the little boy, who was freed by the invocation of St. Germanus.

XIII.

[49] A certain woman, until her husband should pay the debt,

had given herself as a hostage for the same

to the enemies; but when the term had come, at which

her husband had appointed to pay nine

marks, he sent to his wife nine

pennies; which, when she had offered them to the soldier [Of the woman, who had given herself as a hostage for her husband; how she escaped.]

to whom they were owed, she vehemently moved

him to indignation, and kindled him to

wrath, which was so savage, and full of fury, that

the aforesaid horseman threatened her with the cutting off

of her breasts or her hands. Then a winter harsher than usual

had grown fierce, which, breathed upon exceedingly by the

storms of the winds, had made everyone happy who

deserved to be found under the protection of roofs. Seeing which,

the soldier, or rather the wretch, he (because nothing is more wretched

than not to know how to have mercy) placing that poor woman

almost naked all night under the open sky,

compelled her to endure the whole horror of winter's rigor.

For with her hands bound behind her back, and her feet through

the middle of a wall constricted by the tightening of fetters and chains,

he made the wretched woman bear a twofold

torment; namely, with the trouble of the wintry tempest,

the lamentable affliction of the bonds and chains.

Whence, turned with all her inward parts to the clement Germanus,

she asked his help the more devoutly, as it was also the more

opportune. Nor was there delay;

her hands and feet being loosed from their chains by divine virtue,

at midnight, when the brethren had sung

the matin hymns, she came to the church safe and

glad.

XIV.

[50] Likewise a certain cleric was held in chains as a hostage

for his father's ransom; Of the cleric, who was held as a hostage for his father, nor had his father

paid the debt. Now the appointed term

had passed, nor had he sought a postponement * of payment.

The falsity of whose faith and the deceit of whose fraud redounded wholly to the detriment

and torment of the innocent son: for on account of the injury

of the paternal transgression the innocence of the son is punished;

who is confounded with shame,

is abjured with reproaches, is worn down with torments,

is fore-condemned with threats. For on a certain day, when

the soldier, about to dine, was washing his hands, the youth, to hold

the sleeves of the one washing, drew near. Whom he, repelling

with the rancor of indignation, said: Why,

most vile dog, do you presume to thrust yourself among men?

Flee more quickly; and meanwhile have this

comfort, that this table shall not sooner be removed

from my lap, but that I shall take a worthy and grievous vengeance upon you.

[51] how he deserved to be freed. Repelled in such a manner, during the eating, leave being asked,

he went out from the court's part bound with a guard,

and seeing the church, said: O holy

Germanus, deign to have mercy on my misery;

let me experience in myself, I pray, how clement * toward others

that so kind clemency, which I have often heard of, may be. Scarcely

had he completed these words within himself; and, behold, he suddenly

felt the ring of the fetter slip from his foot;

which, lifting with his hand, and with swift course leaping through the middle

of the house, he hastened to the church as quickly

as he could. Very many pursue him from every

side; and although many could have touched him;

yet none could lay a hand on him, that he might be retained.

And thus, the clemency of blessed Germanus protecting him,

he entered the protection of the church, none

resisting.

XV.

[52] From the company of one district there were seven men,

who under one custody together in chains were held

afflicted. Of the 7 men, whom St. Germanus, visibly appearing, For guarding whom the custody had proceeded to be so much

harsher, the care more anxious, the vigilance more cautious,

as a richer ransom was hoped for from them, a more lavish

payment, a greater sum of money. Wood had bound their feet;

chains their hands: they were afflicted with so

immense a weight of chains, that an iron

mass rather crushed them than a circle constrained them.

Nor yet did the captivity inflicted upon such captives render the soldiers

secure; the accustomed compassion of the most clement Germanus had ever made them doubtful and

suspicious, and the marvelous faith

and devotion of the captives ever invoking him, who, ever holding him in their heart,

and never with their mouth willing to cease from his invocation:

whence, guards being appointed,

the anxiety of the soldiers had provided them a constant

and untiring custody; that, if the chains could not

retain them, at least the sagacity of the guards and watchmen

might prevent flight.

[53] When therefore on a certain night, needy, in straits,

afflicted, loosed and led out. wretched, groaning they sat, having guards

with lamps on every side;

the door being suddenly unbarred, which was constrained with bolts,

with such words: Why, he said, do you cry out

to me? Rise quickly; and seek the refuge of the church as

quickly as you can. But he, with tears, said: O

Lord, how could I flee, who,

prostrated by the chaining of so many bonds, am rendered

immovable? And if I were loosed from the chains, I could not

go out, fore-condemned by the presence of these guards.

And the person: Now, he said, you shall see

what I shall do. Do not delay to rise; and striving

to fulfill what I admonish, betake yourself to the protection

of the church. Then he, striving to draw his feet back to himself,

felt no hindering obstacle.

The other chains likewise being loosed, he found himself freed,

and felt himself unencumbered. Scarcely had he told the lot

of his loosing, when all likewise found themselves

loosed: and straightway rising, none

resisting, none retaining them, the person going before,

they came to the church. All these things the guards,

seeing and understanding, were so struck by divine

virtue, that they lost both motion and

voice, until the fugitive band had come to the middle of the town.

XVI.

[54] When therefore the soldiers had thus seen themselves mocked

by the power of the Confessor, Of a certain William, who from the top of the castle they were confounded more by the enormity of their shame

than by the greatness of the harm:

whence, as though striving to rebel against the clemency of the Bishop,

they entered into a plan against him, that by guarding

at least one of the captives from his rescue they might seem

to have resisted his power with their own strength; and

in this they believed and held that they would well avenge

the loss of all the other captives, if only

one of these, as though stronger men, they were able to retain

from blessed Germanus's liberation. Therefore, that these things might be done,

each one eagerly contributed their counsels. So, seizing

one, William by name, they shut him up within a certain

house at the top of the castle.

From a distant region especially for this cause

they had brought a chain of wondrous size and horror.

This, hanging from the roof of the house, where they had fixed it to a certain beam

with nails, they placed about the neck

of the captive. Moreover his feet were bound in fetters,

and his hands in iron manacles. By such

custody fore-condemned, the wretch was wasting away with the wound

of pain and anxiety, yet he had placed his hope in blessed

Germanus, whose help with continual

devotion he asked.

[55] Nor in vain had he so urgently sought his help,

he escaped marvelously. whom without delay of time he deserved to have

as helper. For now, a week having run its course,

the Lord's Day had dawned, on which all the soldiers

and servants had descended from the castle to hear the solemnities

of the Masses; the doorkeeper himself also, who

had been the captive's guard, the door of the house being barred,

went out as though about to return quickly. Then, beholding

himself left without a guard, the captive, being bound,

invoked the clement Germanus. Nor was there delay;

the devotion of the one faithfully asking deserved the loosing of his hands

and feet: who, straightway stretching out his hands

to mighty deeds, tore apart the roof of the little cell, and taking

on his shoulders the beam adhering to his chain,

escaped through the opening; and thus climbing over the bristling

points of hedges and barriers ^a,

leaping over the depths and abysses of ditches (how or in what manner, he knew not),

at last passing by the meeting of the peoples

returning from the church, he came to the protection of the chapel,

none disturbing him.

XVII.

[56] [Of the peasant, who, invoking St. Germanus, knew how to feel the torment of no torture.] When they had seized another peasant, and the soldiers did not wish

to disturb themselves any longer with the trouble of his custody;

that they might the more quickly extort from him the price of ransom,

they afflicted him with very many torments.

But when he had invoked the name of the most merciful Germanus, so great

that, as though girt with royal protection, he knew how to feel

the trouble of no passion, the torment of no

torture: whence, deriding the torments together with his torturers,

he despised all the injuries which the enemies

could inflict upon him: for when, weighed down by the mass of coats of mail,

the tyrants hung him now by the hands,

now by the feet, placing a rope beneath in the smoke,

they were able to inflict nothing of torment. Likewise in the winter

months, when they plunged him in,

and drew him now this way, now that, with cords

under the ice; suffering no injury, he rejoiced, though afflicted,

that he had attained a place of quiet

and refreshment. And thus, protected by the help of the Confessor from the pains,

he deserved also straightway to be freed

from the enemies' captivity.

NOTES.

CHAPTER VI.

Several prodigies of the Saint upon one man; and then others witnessed under abbot Germanus.

XVIII.

A stealthy plunderer had carried off fifteen marks from two soldiers

in the silence of the night; [Of Martin, who,

wishing to falsely accuse a man of St. Germanus,] laying the guilt of which

crime upon a certain one of their squires, whose

name was Martin, they said that he was either the author

or the accomplice of the theft committed:

which, when he denied by living voice, in order

to extort from him a confession of the matter, in manifold ways

and with many torments they afflicted him. Who,

placed in straits, in order either to escape or to defer the impending torments,

because he knew no true confession,

composed a lying one against himself.

For he said that he had stolen the money,

and had committed it all to a certain one of the men of holy Germanus,

Robert by name. To the monks

on this account there was thereupon a concourse of soldiers, unanimously

complaining of the harm done to them by the deed:

with them also that wretched servant of theirs had come,

about to falsely accuse a man of holy Germanus of participation

or reception in the theft.

[58] [could not

speak.] Whom, full of iniquitous thought, a certain one

of the monks, namely William the Great, understanding, said:

On the part of God and of holy Germanus

I forbid you to send forth a false clamor

upon this man. Soon the wretch's tongue clove

to his jaws; and the office of speech being interdicted, the force of voice

in his throat, being condemned, failed. The soldiers press him,

that he speak; all exhort him that he tell

the manner of the matter, or of the guilt; but he did not deserve to be loosed

from the bonds of his condemnation, before he had wholly purged his mind

from the iniquitous thought

by which he had proposed to falsely accuse an innocent man. Changing therefore his mind,

and casting away all will of lying,

the use of speech being recovered, he burst forth into such

words: One ought to obey God rather than men:

one ought to speak the truth, from whom all faculty of lying

has been taken away: whence in truth I profess,

that never did this man, to my knowledge, have or know anything

of your money, either small or great.

XIX.

[59] When the soldiers heard this, suffused with a shamefaced

blush, How, when the soldiers had hung him up they returned together to their lodgings.

Again with the

sharpest pains the wretch is condemned, is afflicted with torments,

is examined by tortures. Who, of so great a passion

by the pressure, as he had done before, thinking to break away

after some interval, said to the soldiers: Now,

since there is no comfort of hope of escape,

I will give you good and true counsel about the recovery

of your money. Go to the fishpond, and there

seek the little purse, which you will find quite quickly;

for there I confess that I hid the money, sinking it

under the river. Nor did the soldiers delay to test such

counsel, if it were true. With rakes

and hooks all day long they tear up the bottom of the pool;

but being able to find nothing of what they hoped for, they failed,

deluded, in wasteful labor.

[60] Whence, filled with vehement fury, to avenge

so great a mockery all rise up. St. Germanus saved from death. With one mind

and concordant counsel, taking that servant,

on the morrow in a secret recess of the grove they condemned him

to hanging. Returning thereupon to their lodging,

when now, the fury being settled, the tranquillity of mind

had admitted the light of reason, thus one of them addressed the others,

saying: A foolish thing and ill-advised

have we done, who presumed to condemn this man without the definition

of a judicial sentence, without the proof

of any crime; for indeed toward

the Lord and toward men we have earned a just condemnation,

we who have unjustly condemned this man.

Let us hasten therefore, that, taking him down from

the stake, by the industry of some art we may cloak our

rashness. Coming quickly, therefore, to the place where they had condemned him,

whom they thought they would find already dead, they found

him safe and unharmed. And when he had seen them come to him, he said: Withdraw,

for the love of God, withdraw; and do not

wish to disturb me any further. Holy Germanus,

whom I have invoked very often, has saved me from all

peril of danger. He himself upheld me with his hands on the cross,

nor permitted me to feel any trouble of the

noose.

XX.

[61] Loosed at last, and led back to the lodging,

he is again subjected to new torments. How the same Martin, wounded even to death, Whom the mad cruelty

of the enemies so vehemently afflicted, that, absorbed

by a more abundant sadness, he chose rather to end his torment

by ending his life, than by subsisting longer

to find more slowly a remedy for so great a danger.

By chance a woman had been sewing garments near him;

whose shears he boldly seized, and twisting them

apart into fragments, struck himself in the heart,

and pierced himself with all the strength he could.

Straightway the wretch Elannus * fell, and drenched

with continually flowing blood, like one dead, he lay

motionless. Soon a sudden clamor of the people arises;

fame flies through the town; that Martin

had killed himself was carried through the mouths of all. Which,

hearing, that monk whom I named before, William,

with the others hastened running, that he

might rebuke the soldiers with insulting reproach.

[62] was restored to health within the third day. You, he said, are held bound by the guilt of this crime;

since for the perpetrating of this deed

there was not so much occasion, as violent compulsion,

your cruelty. Or now at least, when he can no longer

be punished, let our * madness cease to wish to punish him.

Give him now to me for the honor of blessed Germanus;

that, if it is true that holy Germanus saved him from death

on the wood, he may now by his virtue restore

him to his former health. When the soldiers

had willingly assented to this, the monk had the wounded man, scarcely

having a vital breath in his body, brought

to the cemetery of the monastery; and straightway

making for him, with a mixture of blessed water, with which he had washed the relics,

of the most merciful Bishop, he restored him

to his former health. Having therefore briefly noted these

miracles, which came to our knowledge by the relation of many,

let us return to the sequence of the historical

narrative, if your prudence, reader, will recognize this,

that for the sake of abbreviation we have passed over very many things,

lest, if about each single thing which

we heard and proved true, we should tarry,

the heaped-up prolixity of the reading should breed weariness

for the readers. …

XXVI.

[63] Nor let it be irksome to insert into the reading the miracles which,

about his bier in the pilgrimage of preaching, blessed Germanus deigned to show: Of the little chests, which had fallen into the river, for

when in the times of the above-mentioned abbot Germanus ^b

the brethren labored somewhat with the bier for the sake of preaching,

that he had the greatest care of his own,

the excellent Confessor frequently showed by many signs

and very many prodigies. Of which, omitting

many, these few we have deemed worthy to commit

to memory, lest the divine works which happened to the praise

and glory of the Saints, we might seem to have wholly

passed over in silence. For when at a certain time

they were making a journey, it was necessary for them to cross a certain

river by a bridge; and when they had crossed over,

it happened that the pack-horse, which carried the little chests,

in the middle of the river, its foot slipping, fell.

[64] how the one which contained the relics was found dry. The clamor of all is raised to heaven; the protection of blessed

Germanus the one voice of all sought.

The monk whose name was Benedict, prostrate on the ground,

and bathed in tears, feared more for the wetting of the sanctuaries

than for the peril of the horse.

Yet with joined strength, and counsels compared,

with great labor they at last drew the horse

with its burden to land: to draw out the injury of the waters

they quickly open the little chests;

of which one contained the garments with the relics; the other

the wax-lights, the little napkins, and the other things necessary for those making a journey;

but when they had found this one full of

water, that one which served for preserving the relics

they found so dry and untouched,

as if never any flow of liquid had touched it.

XXVII.

[65] Passing at another time through a certain district,

they caused a cart loaded with their belongings to be led before them. Of the two-year-old boy, A two-year-old infant standing by chance in the doorway of a certain hut,

when he wished to flee more quickly for fear of the cart,

suddenly fell, and was rolled all the way to the middle of the road.

The driver of the horse, not knowing this, when

he proceeded without hesitation with the cart, one wheel

of the vehicle passed over the belly of the lying infant:

which, when those who followed had seen, with raised

voices, that he should take care, that the driver of the cart should stop, they urge him.

Astonished at whose voices, he suddenly stopped,

and drawing the horse back a little with the rein ^c,

caused the wheel again to pass over the infant's chest.

The boy's mother, suddenly leaping out from the hut, filled heaven

with groaning, the air with clamor; she lifted the boy

from the ground, stretched out, lifeless, having no sign

of life.

[66] There accompanied the bier at that time the lord now

Prior, whom the wheel of the cart crushed. than whom none was ever more devout toward holy Germanus:

who, seeing what had been done,

and fearing lest some tribulation should thence arise for them,

full of sorrow, turning to the merciful Patron,

as though to a familiar or an equal, spoke thus:

What, holy Germanus, have you done? We

proclaim that you have raised the dead; and you on the contrary

kill the living. Do you wish to have the messengers, as homicides,

led to the praetorium, to be subjected to the judge's

sentence? Now do what you will, for not

before will the bier be moved from this place, than when from

this offense you have rendered us free and immune. Having thus

spoken, soon leaping down from his horse with all the others,

he made a prayer for the boy. Meanwhile beneath the bier

the mother held the infant; who, the prayer being completed,

when between his mother's hands he had not recovered, to the ground

beneath the sanctuaries, the monk commanding, was set

down; and as soon as he touched the earth, as if indignant

that he was placed upon the bare ground,

in a wondrous manner he rises up alive again; and, as if he had suffered no

trouble, saved by the virtue of holy Germanus,

he fled away leaping.

XXVIII.

[67] Proceeding thence, they passed the night in a certain church;

to whose wall a certain recluse ^d had a little cell

contiguous; who, when sitting at her window that same night, Of the recluse, to whom St. Germanus appeared, and showed Selby in a vision. had perhaps fallen asleep while praying,

holy Confessor Germanus appeared to her,

addressing her with this reasoning: Why,

he said, are you weighed down by sleep, when it rather befits you

to keep vigil? Or do you not know how holy, how

precious are these sanctuaries, which you behold present

before you? My house also, whence these are,

I will show it to you. And soon leading her through a vision to Selby,

and openly showing the situation of the whole place, the church,

the monks also chanting in the choir, the cemetery,

which was planted with nut-trees, he said: This is my

house; these are the monks: do not forget on the morrow

to seek out their fraternity, very necessary to you after your end:

to the cleric also, who speaks to the people for the relics,

say this on my part, that

unless he restrain himself from dissoluteness and levity, within

disobedience. When morning therefore came, the faithful woman,

committing herself to the prayers and good deeds of the monks,

set forth in order all that she had seen through the vision.

And to the cleric, Ralph by name, all that

the Confessor had commanded, she narrated. Which when he

did not heed, in that same year, as the Confessor

had threatened, he incurred a great misfortune full of

shame.

XXIX.

[68] Nor was that unlike this vision, that

when a certain woman, [Of the woman, whom St. Germanus rebuked in a vision, when she had not more attentively honored his servants.] who had received them in hospitality,

had ministered to them less devoutly, the following night

holy Germanus appeared to her; and, why she had not more attentively honored his servants

and the sanctuaries,

with harsh objurgation inquired; and commanded, that on

the morrow, wherever they were in the province, she should summon them,

and, anticipating them with devout services,

with worthy satisfaction amend her former negligence.

The same woman also, when she was a young girl, had foolishly done

which, consigning it to oblivion, she had in every way negligently

violated; which blessed Germanus, bringing to her memory,

to whom, when, and where she had done this,

manifestly declared; and, that she should strive to correct the excess

of so great a guilt with humble confession,

diligently admonished her. All which she, fulfilling

with the utmost diligence, with prayers and orisons

on the morrow humbly and devoutly committed herself

to the monks.

XXX.

[69] A canon was so vexed by the trouble of a quartan

fever, Of the canon freed from the trouble of a quartan fever before the bier. that, unable to be freed by the help of any medicine,

under the peril of death he was wasting away more from despair

than from the disease. This man, coming before the bier

with the reverence of the highest devotion,

and imploring the help of the most merciful Germanus with great contrition

of heart, having drunk the blessed water with which the relics had been washed,

every calamity of malady being driven off,

was restored to his former health.

NOTES.

CHAPTER VII.

The remaining miracles up to the year of Christ 1174.

XXXI.

At Dunwich there had been a certain poor woman,

who for fifteen years, as she said, [Of the poor woman, who had labored fifteen years with an infirmity, how she was healed.] had labored under so great a

malady, that she could never walk without

the support of two staves. She,

when the bier came thither, with the others she too,

as she was able, ran to meet it, and most devoutly followed it

into the church of St. John, where it had received its station.

And when she had for a long while implored the clemency of the most merciful

bishop Germanus, the crowd of the common people departing,

she too sought back her dwelling. When morning came,

she perceived that so much strength had accrued to her, that the support

of one staff well sufficed for her. She came to the church;

she did what she could; she gave what she had;

the faithful matron offered a fragment of bread at the bier.

The monk, when he had learned what had happened, said: Have

good hope in the clemency of holy Germanus:

tomorrow you will be present, and I will confer upon you a health-bringing

potion from the blessed water. The woman assented;

on the morrow she came without a staff, protesting that she had as much strength

and soundness as she never remembered having had

from her birth.

And thus, tasting the health-giving cup, by the merits of the most merciful

Germanus she deserved to retain the remedy that had advanced * her

health.

XXXII.

[71] There was present before the bier on the morrow a woman of no lesser

faith, Of the little boy contracted and healed. surrounded by a train of four daughters clinging

to her: there was present a fifth child,

of a contraction: for with the sinews contracted

and bent in the hollow of one foot, he had lost

both step and motion. For his health, to make supplication,

the mother and sisters had come, having candles in their hands;

and when they had prayed for a long while for the little one's health, the mother

drew near to the monk; and, that he might touch the boy's languid knee

with the relics, she asked with tears.

Which the brother assenting to, taking up the relics, placed them

upon the infant's knee, chanting the fiftieth Psalm

with prayers and a collect. The boy straightway

bursting forth into tears and clamor, began to be

distressed, as if he were suffering the cutting of his whole leg:

the sinews, stretching themselves, began to crackle *, as

if someone had there broken certain thongs: and thus

by the merits of the Saints, whose relics were there carried,

the mother freed from the misery of sadness, the boy from that of infirmity,

they returned home with the greatest joy.

XXXIII.

[72] Wishing to enter a certain church, that they might there

pass the night with the bier, Of the girl near to death, how she received health before the bier. they found the door

constrained with bolts; the monk, about to fetch the key,

sought the priest's house. When he had come there,

he found the priest's sister weighed down with so great an infirmity,

that on the next night she ought, as a protection for her departure,

to be anointed with the unction of the Chrism. Weeping and groaning had so occupied

the whole household, that scarcely even a brief reply about the matter

could the monk extort from them.

Then, imparting to them salutary counsel, he said: Why

do you confound yourselves with tears, the sick woman

with clamor? Make her a candle,

which this night may serve to the honor of our relics;

and I believe, that if your faith does not

stand in the way, you will quickly see about her a sign of divine

operation. And it was done, the mother for her daughter

by night performed devout vigils with a candle at the sanctuaries.

When morning came, the sick woman felt herself so bathed

with relief, that, leaping from her bed, supported by the hands

of her friends, she came to the church; where, when,

hearing the Masses, and persisting in prayers, up to

the ninth hour she had performed vigils, ministering to the bier,

improved more copiously by divine virtue, she returned home,

needing the help of no support.

Hence to those things which we have seen done in this our time,

let the discourse proceed to unfold them.

XXXIV.

[73] In the year, as I judge, from the Incarnation of the Lord

one thousand one hundred and sixty-seven, Of the languishing man,

which is the seventh year of abbot Gilbert; a certain languishing

man, Ketel by name, brought by his friends in a cart

to Selby, had descended in the little village which is called Gateford

to the solemnity of the holy bishop Germanus.

On the night of the festivity, carried into the church

by his own people, he is set down between the choir and the altar with a light.

Then, as is the custom with the languishing, before the cure

he began to be more vehemently pressed, and to be vexed

by so much the harder a languor, as the time and hour of his salvation

more swiftly drew near. He pressed on indeed

with such pitiable voices, with such tearful groans,

with such plaintive sighs, that all of us

who were in the choir were greatly moved * by compassion for his pain.

About the second nocturn

he felt his limbs and inward parts disturbed with so great a commotion,

as if all his inner parts were turned by a certain

revolution. Then, laboring long and much with nausea,

the remedy of health at last drawing near to him, he vomited out

the poison of his malady which had infected

his breast.

[74] And thus, sleep being for a little while taken, when he had awoken,

the trouble of infirmity being shut out, how on the night of St. Germanus he felt that the support

of perfect health had accrued to him by divine virtue.

Rising therefore straightway, and making his

offering, showing nothing to anyone of the recovery

of his health, he returned home little by little.

Nor yet could the matter be concealed, which ought not to be concealed.

There is sent therefore, by the counsel of the whole chapter, a faithful

brother, who should verify the outcome of the marvelous thing,

inquire into the manner, explore the truth. Who, coming

to the aforesaid district, called the elders of the place into the church:

there is set in the midst the one who had been healed;

he is questioned about the recovery of his health.

Then he said: I, lord, through

these five years, as all present know,

was weighed down with so great a languor, that never

could I stretch out my hands to any work; never

take any food, which I did not more quickly vomit up; never

could I even go to the church without the help of others.

[75] restored to health. And when, together with his wife, all who were present

testified with the sentence of one acclamation that they had seen

this, that the matter was thus, he added:

Condemned therefore, lord, with a trouble of this kind,

I visited very many places of the Saints;

but always made worse, from the labor of the journey I returned

weaker than I set out: wasting away with so great a misfortune,

I resolved not to go out, not to journey any further:

and when I well held to that resolve, there appeared

to me on a certain night a most beautiful man, saying

that he was holy Germanus; and, when, being bound,

I entreated him for my health; To

my church, he said, you shall come on the solemn day of my festivity,

if from this trouble under which you labor

you desire to be freed. I came, as he had commanded; and from my infirmity,

by the grace of God, as you see, I have been freed.

Led back therefore by the monk, and shown to the people in the market

of goods on the Lord's Day, he is presented to the holy church

unharmed. With a solemn procession

we received him, and singing, We praise you, O Lord,

with as much devotion as we could, we blessed the name

of the Lord, to whom is honor and glory forever

and ever. Amen.

XXXV.

[76] On the morrow of the festivity of our Pontiff,

the universal Church throughout the world celebrates the solemnity [Of the man

vexed by a demon,]

of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles,

which is named "in Chains." On which day the minstrels, who come

to our festivity, are wont to offer a festive taper

at Vespers. When in the aforesaid year

they had done this with the wanton boasting of players and dancers,

the whole common folk following them,

within the church a demon seized a servant of a certain monk, who had come

to the festivity, and cast him to the ground. Straightway the wretch

was vexed with so great madness, filled with so great fury, that,

if he had been permitted, he would have torn himself to pieces with his own teeth,

biting. But restrained by the force and

strength of the peoples standing by, when he could no longer

well be held with hands, stretched out and bound upon a plank,

he is set down before the altar; he is commended to the clemency

of blessed Germanus, bound everywhere with ropes.

When he was so constrained, that no member in him

could be moved, with rolling and wholly frenzied glances,

and untiring voices, in barbarous

and unheard-of speech he proclaimed his madness.

[77] how he was cleansed by the relics. When therefore the brethren beheld him vehemently vexed without

ceasing, condoling with his misery,

they strove to come to his aid in some work of mercy:

making a prayer for him,

they placed the kerchief of our holy bishop Germanus

upon his head; and upon his breast a phylactery

containing the flesh of the holy virgin Agatha with the other

relics. Amid so

holy sanctuaries the treacherous invader, the malignant enemy,

being constrained, had not whither to flee, whither

to turn himself. This one thing he found possible for himself, that, leaving

the invaded man, he should by a sudden escape

avoid the presence of the sanctuaries. Leaving therefore foul

paths behind him, full of stench,

he leapt out, cast out by vomiting through the mouth of the lying man. And thus,

the man being freed by the merits of the Saints, in a moment cast off

all ferocity of countenance and of mind, and, like

of his eyes into sleep. On the following

day, after the Gospel of the greater Mass, we received him sound

and unharmed, with the ringing of the bells, and the festive

"We praise you, O Lord," blessing the Lord

in his gifts, and most holy Germanus

in all his works, who so frequently showed by so many signs of virtues

and miracles that he had the greatest care of

his church.

XXXVI.

[78] A certain peasant in the province which is called Elmet

of the holy Confessor, had entered upon this day of his festivity

to work his garden. But,

not being permitted to violate any longer by working the day of so

great and so reverend a solemnity *, the guilt

which he had contracted from such presumption, he soon learned by a revealing

penalty. For when with all his strength

he was digging up the earth, the spade [b] which he held suddenly adhered so firmly to his hands,

that it could in no way

be shaken off them, or taken away. Nor did he deserve

to be freed from the bond of this kind of condemnation before he had confessed

his guilt to the priest, and bound himself also by the promise of a vow,

that he would seek out the church of holy Germanus

with his offering, and always thereafter,

as long as he should live, would solemnly celebrate

that day. Then at last freed by the clemency

of the most clement Germanus, coming to Selby with his

offering, and making satisfaction for the offense,

he set forth to us the danger which he had rashly incurred, and had happily

escaped.

XXXVII.

[79] Nor is it to be passed over, that not only among

us, but also in all places, wherever

anyone in tribulation shall have invoked our Bishop, Of the man swollen up,

and shall have promised with a faithful mind to seek out his

church, he deserves to obtain the desired effect

of his prayers. This we have often learned by the rescue

of sailors and shipwrecked men, this we have frequently experienced

by the salvation of the sick and ailing; and this indeed is wont to happen much more often,

than that it should need to be proved by examples. Yet this

one example, before the book is closed at the end, let it be related.

A certain man from the district which is called

Drighlington, on a certain day before the octave

of holy Germanus, had gone out to labor in the wood; and when

he had eaten the food which he had brought with him, without drink,

he incurred, from the excessive burning of the sun and the pressure of labor,

so great a thirst, that unless it were quickly

allayed by the draught of some drink, you would have thought

he would breathe out his soul. Seeking water therefore long and much,

and finding none apt for use, at last he found and took

rainwater, standing exposed. Which, absorbing rather

than drinking it with incredible greediness, with

the unhappy cup he swallowed also an unhappier pestilence.

For as soon as he had drunk, he began to swell with so great

an inflation, that before he could reach home,

[80] And so, laid on his little bed, when at every single

moment the tumor with the languor increased, how, invoking St. Germanus, he was healed.

all hope of health being shut out, in the senses of the dying man

there reigned only the image of coming death. As he labored in so great

tribulation, his neighbors, consoling him, frequently

ran to him. With the others there entered to the sick man

wasting away with so great a malady, said: Dearest son,

if, conceiving some faith in holy Germanus,

you would permit * yourself with a faithful mind to seek him out with your offering,

I believe that by his merit

you would quickly recover health. To his festivity

I had descended; and there I saw so many sick people recover

the remedy of their health; that I should hardly believe

that anyone having good hope in him should not

more quickly earn the effect of his vow. This * sick man,

lifted up into the citadel of devotion, vowing a vow, promised

that he would seek out the walls * of holy

Germanus with an offering, if he should recover. Measuring himself at last by a lamp-wick ^c,

before the hour had passed, improved by a certain

divine antidote, he cast out by vomiting all the poison

which had infected him: and thus, the pestilence of his whole

malady being drawn out, within the third day restored

to his former health, then paying his vow,

he came all the way to our church, and set forth to us in order

what had been done concerning him.

Now this was done in the year of the incarnate Word of God

one thousand one hundred and seventy-four, the one hundred and sixth of the foundation

of our church, the fourteenth of abbot

Gilbert; in which year also we set about

writing these things, the grace of God going before and following

our effort, who lives and

reigns, three and one, forever and ever.

Amen.

NOTES.