Liphardus and Urbitius

ON SS. LIPHARDUS AND URBITIUS, ABBOTS OF MEUNG IN GAUL.

ABOUT A.D. 501.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Cult, Acts, Translation, and Miracles.

Liphardus, Abbot of Meung in Gaul (S.) Urbitius, Abbot of Meung in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

Magdunum, a town of the Duchy of Orléans on the river Loire, four leagues below Orléans, presents itself on the right bank of the Loire to those sailing to Blois, popularly called Meun or Mehun: which by the dwelling, veneration, and miracles of S. Liphardus and his companion S. Urbitius, gradually grew into a sufficiently illustrious town. In three ancient apographs of the Hieronymian Martyrology — Epternach, Lucca, and Blumian — S. Liphardus is still ascribed to the city of Orléans in these words: In the city of Orléans the deposition of S. Leifardus the Presbyter: but in the Corbie apograph the title of Bishop is wrongly attached. There is an illustrious eulogy in Florus, written in the time of Charlemagne, Sacred cult of S. Liphardus. in these words: At Orléans, in the village of Meung, the deposition of S. Liphardus the Presbyter, who was of such abstinence that he sparingly used an ounce of barley bread, composed with his own hands, and till the third day, with only the drinking of water. He, abounding in the greatest miracles, on high saw the soul of Theodemir, formerly Abbot of Micy, meeting the choir of the heavenly bands, and with joy borne with singing all the way to heaven. Written in his deeds. They were followed by Usuardus, Wandelbert, Rabanus, Notker, Bellinus, Maurolycus, Molanus, and other more recent authors with today's Roman Martyrology. To this one indeed from Surius is written Liphardus, who according to the variety of dialect is Leofardus to Rabanus, Laifardus to Notker, and to some Leifardus is; but to Usuardus most rightly Lifardus, as more apt to the propriety of the Frankish name, taken from the Teutonic language; and signifying one endowed with an Amiable disposition; but more aptly in these the letter f is used than ph, the mark of Greek origin, which yet after Charlemagne many affected, even in our names loving Greek style. The supposititious Bede on the following day writes thus of him: At Orléans S. Lifardus the Presbyter.

[2] His Deeds, cited by Florus, Lawrence Surius published some; but (as he prefaces) reduced into a compendium, but without detriment to the history. We give them whole, Acts from Mss. described from the library of the Queen of Sweden when she was at Antwerp, and they existed in the Ms. codex number 863. The same are in the Ms. codex of Erfurt of the Archbishop and Elector of Mainz, which we have collated with the edition of Luc d'Achery and John Mabillon in the first Benedictine century, by whom the Ms. codex of S. Germain des Prés and of S. Benedict of Fleury is alleged.

These Acts seem to have been written by a certain Monk or Abbot of the same monastery of Meung, when already the annual solemnity of S. Liphardus was being celebrated. We add a double Treatise, received from ancient Ms. codices of the collegiate Church of S. Liphardus of Meung, of which the former is on the Dedication of the said Church and the Translation of the body of S. Liphardus, which was made in the year 1104, on the 15th day of October, by the author one of those there present and the neighboring Abbots, who preferred to suppress his name. The other treatise is on the Miracles, likewise the history of the Translation and miracles from Mss. performed by the intercession of S. Liphardus, whose Author, a Canon of the Church of Meung, prefaces that he writes what he had received either by certain report, or had himself seen. So at number 13, as a young man with his Master, he met a man who, having been deaf for twenty years, there recovered his hearing. The last miracle is added, dictated by Bernard a Canon of Meung: in which two brothers, returning from Jerusalem, were saved, who lived in the time of Manasses Bishop of Orléans. We judge this to have been the first Manasses, created in the year 1146, at which time the city of Jerusalem was under Christian Kings, and more frequent pilgrimages were instituted there. The same Miracles, but here and there abbreviated, exist in the above-cited first Benedictine century, from the Ms. codex of Lord d'Heroval.

[3] Charles le Cointe, in the Ecclesiastical Annals on the year 549 number XVIII, recounts the Life of S. Liphardus, and then concludes thus: Whether they were of the Benedictine Order. The first Abbots of Meung, Liphardus and Urbitius, who flourished under Marcus the Pontiff of Orléans, and their synchronous Abbots of Micy, Theodemir and Maximinus the Younger (of whom mention is made below in the Acts), the Benedictine authors enroll in the Order of S. Benedict in their Martyrologies: but who would think one should agree with them? since, under the same Presulate of Marcus, B. Maurus first came into the Gauls. Thus Charles le Cointe. In the Appendix of the first Benedictine century there are extant Acts of Sancti Subditicii, who departed shortly before S. Benedict, and among these is reckoned S. Maximinus the elder Abbot of Micy, after whose Life is given the Book of Miracles by the Author Letaldus monk of Micy, whom Mabillon says flourished toward the end of the X century: in which book number 4 the distinguished disciples of S. Maximinus are numbered, and toward the end is so added: For B. Launomarus and S. Liphardus to have flourished from his own discipline, no one ought to doubt, and then in number 10: Theodemir being buried, the man of the Lord Liphardus and the Brethren of the monastery of Micy elect as Abbot Maximinus; and they substitute him in the place of the deceased: with a sufficiently evident sign that S. Liphardus introduced into his Congregation the same discipline which prevailed among those of Micy, namely of S. Maximinus the first, under whom he is said below to have taken the monastic habit. But whether there was ever at Meung a Benedictine monastery, we shall gladly learn more certainly: for we do not now dare to assert this for certain.

[4] Charles Saussay, in the Annals of the Church of Orléans, when in the third book number 25 and three following, he had set forth the Life of S. Liphardus in polished style, in number 29 subjoins these things: The Collegiate Church of Meung The Church of this monastery is at Meung, which today is called S. Liphardus, has twenty Canons, many Chaplains, four Dignities, the Deanery, the Cantorate, the Subcantorate, and the Capicery. Further there are preserved in that Church the bodies of SS. Lifardus, Urbicius, and Theodemir. And the feast of Urbicius indeed is celebrated on the thirtieth day of May, of Lifardus on the second (nay third) of June, and the bodies of SS. Lifardus, and Urbitius, of Theodemir on the nineteenth of November. Besides this Church of S. Lifardus of Meung, many are found called by the same name. One in the city of Orléans, in the place where he is believed to have been born; another in the village of Buciacum, another at Terminiacum, another at Triganum, another at Oynville and others; which in French are so expressed there: Bucy, Terminier, Trainow, Oynville. What pertains to S. Urbicius, we on the said May 30 referred among the Praetermissi and rejected to this III of June, because he was a companion to S. Liphardus, from the latter's withdrawal into the solitude of Meung, who are here joined together, up to his death, by whom then he was constituted successor, and was confirmed by the Bishop, who afterwards more sublimely erected the fabric of the monastery: but how long he afterwards governed the monastery, is not established. Mabillon notes that S. Liphardus is scarcely anywhere found called Abbot, except in the Benedictine Martyrologies. We also, because in the title was read Life of B. Lifardus Abbot, gladly with those Martyrologists call SS. Lifardus and Urbicius Abbots; just as also S. Maximinus first of Micy, as both Abbots. both in the title of his Life and by the said Martyrologists is also honored with the title of Abbot, although Mabillon in the general Preface page 11 confesses that the rule of SS. Antony and Paul was cultivated among those of Micy: which could have flourished among those of Meung.

[5] S. Lifardus was not the brother of S. Leonard of Limoges; Of the time in which S. Lifardus flourished, the only character that is held is that Marcus, Bishop of Orléans, having heard his virtues, came to Meung, ordained him Priest, and built a modest church. The said Marcus was present at the IV Council of Orléans, held about the year of Christ 541: under whom S. Lifardus is believed to have been buried after his death, and S. Urbitius confirmed as Abbot, which could have happened about the year five hundred and fifty. Peter de Natalibus, in book 5 chapter 81, says Liphardus, Presbyter and Confessor, was the brother of S. Leonard the Great, in the time of S. Remigius Archbishop of Reims and of Chlodoveus King of the Franks, as will be said below in the Legend of S. Leonard, VIII Ides of November. But to Trithemius, in book 3 of Famous Men of the Order of S. Benedict chapter 164, Litfardus the Monk, is held to be the companion of S. Leonard the Abbot. In the Ms. Acts of S. Leonard, some foundation of this fraternity or society is found thus: When with the illustrious cenobite Maximinus, S. Leonard was tarrying, he knew through revelation of the Holy Spirit, that he was no longer to remain there, but rather to set forth toward the region of Aquitaine. The ministry of which matter to his most worthy brother B. Lifardus, who was his faithful companion, he made known, and wished to lead him with himself. But blessed Liphardus answered S. Leonard: Most holy brother, if it is not contrary to your will, here on the bank of the Loire I will prepare for myself some place of habitation: but you go wherever the Lord Jesus Christ shall lead you; that he may be propitious to you here and everywhere. And kissing each other mutually, they were separated one from the other. But Lifardus, where now he rests, sought Meung.

[6] Thus there, things which seem to have been transferred from S. Leonard of Vendoeuvre to the other S. Leonard. The Life of S. Leonard of Vendoeuvre to be given on October 15 we have from the Ms. codex of the Church of S. Lifardus of Meung, from which we extract these things. B. Leonard is brought to the cell of B. Maximinus situated by the Loire, but rather of S. Leonard of Vendoeuvre, whom at the entrance he had meeting him as if from the region; nor were religious companions lacking to Maximinus — Viator, Euspicius, Dulchardus, Rufinus, Liventius, Ducatus, Florentius, Lætus, and Lifardus brother of Leonard, all disciples of Maximinus, and instructed by him to the rule of religion. Therefore the affection of fraternal charity does not sustain the interval of any delay … Lifardus rejoices especially, and for his brother restored ceases not to return thanks in many ways to the Divine Majesty … Leonard and Lifardus that night did not depart from Maximinus. And with some things interposed, Leonard, having taken S. Lifardus with him, and bidding farewell to the others, with all his vows embraces the solitary life. Crossing also the river Loire, which was not far distant, with the grace of God his companion; they came to the stream which is called Malva: and there Leonard dismissed brother Lifardus, in a place sufficiently pleasant, and sufficiently suitable for those wishing to live as solitaries: where he weaving a cell there with rods and wickerwork, Leonard disposed to go into the hiding-places of the longer forest. He departed therefore into a place by an ancient name called Vandopera, and built a church in honor of S. Stephen among the people of Le Mans on the river Sarthe, which is now called the cell of S. Leonard.

[7] These things being set forth, S. Lifardus should be said to have arisen about the year 477 from an illustrious lineage of the citizens of Orléans and from the castle of Vendôme, Calculation of time. with his brother Leonard; and being forty years old, about the year 517, ordained Cleric and Levite, to have withdrawn to the monastery of Micy, and there received his brother Leonard; and about the year 520, in which S. Maximinus on December 15 migrated to immortal life, to have departed with Urbitius his companion to Meung; and there about the year 550 to have transmitted his soul to the heavenly reward, when he had lived seventy-three years. The rest will be examined in the Life of S. Leonard; and if there has been an error here, it will be corrected.

[8] On this same III of June is venerated in the Church of Tulle S. Ulfardus, and is held among the Patrons of the same Church, with S. Clarus Bishop and Martyr, as we have said more widely on his Acts on the Kalends of June. Étienne Baluze of Tulle in the Dissertation on the Holy Patrons of Tulle, page 26, writes these things. Whether under the name of Ulfardus he is venerated at Tulle. Who or whence S. Ulfardus was, is unknown to me: this only I know, that his body was brought to Tulle from Juliomagus the Metropolis of Anjou. But whether he is to be confused with S. Lifardus, which I see pleases some, is not yet persuaded to me, and I await someone to persuade me. Certainly I have found no one by whom Ulfardus is called Lifardus, except only Torres: elsewhere he is always called Ulfardus. His feast day in the old Breviary of Tulle is found noted III Nones of June, and again Nones of August, where he is always called Confessor. In the chapel of B. Mary, which is in the cloister of the Cathedral Church, S. Ulfardus is painted in Benedictine habit, in a sufficiently ancient painting: We desire greater light about him.

LIFE

From ancient Ms. codices.

Liphardus, Abbot of Meung in Gaul (S.) Urbitius, Abbot of Meung in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4931

FROM MSS.

[1] To illustrate by my style the deeds of the most sacred venerable Lifardus the Abbot, I have judged worth the trouble; wishing openly to show to men those things which stand bright before the gaze of God: that so much the more, by imitating the footsteps of the holy Man, Prologue. the mind may be vigilant for the cause of its own profit, the more often it shall have happened to hear his outstanding acts. And indeed I consider myself a stranger from the carrying out of them: but nonetheless I esteem myself to be given a worthy reward, if him whom I myself cannot imitate, I make manifest by writing as one to be imitated by the rest. Wherefore I supplicantly beseech the Reader, that in this very small work he seek not the words of urbanity, but rather the marks of the deeds; and let not the unpolished connection of the speech become contemptible to him, since the attainment of perennial life consists more in faith than in eloquence.

[2] Blessed Lifardus, therefore, born of the illustrious lineage of the citizens of Orléans, while he was in his youthful years, attained nobly the dignity of the present world. Lifardus skilled in laws, For he was in the laws of temporal causes

[3] When therefore he had completed his eighth lustrum of age, still using the dignities of the world; immediately by the instinct of the breathing Holy Spirit, he went to the Pontiff of that place, and asked to be made a Cleric. he is ordained Cleric and Levite, Whom when the same Pontiff perceived to be glowing with great desire toward the obedience of religion; gladly giving his assent, he did not delay to consign him to the office of Clericate, and forthwith heaping up the blessing of honor, enjoined on him the ministry of Levite. Which having been received, the man full of God, the honor of human affairs being forthwith laid aside, is armed with the true monastic a profession. There is a mountain in the territory of Orléans, which the inhabitants of the same region call Meung; on which by the ancients a castle had been built, which was utterly destroyed by the cruel devastation of the Vandals. With no inhabitant remaining, then as monk he withdraws to Meung with S. Urbitius, with woods growing up here and there; the same place, which once was filled with bright assemblies of men, was reduced into a most dense solitude. The hidden recesses of which venerable Lifardus sought, and there content with only one disciple as companion, Urbitius, beside b the river which is called Malva, weaving for himself a cell with twigs, began to dwell as a solitary; that, the frequenting of the people being avoided, and temporary honors, he might more freely submit his neck to the Lord's precepts.

[4] But now of how great holiness, of how great conversation, the man there proved himself, he uses an ounce of barley bread who could explain with human words? Whose life was so separated from earthly acts, that with the body set aside on earth, the holy mind seemed in heaven to dwell among the angelic citizens. For the good soldier did works worthy of God, prepared to fight against all the conflicts of nefarious spirits: and water on the third day: whose abstinence was so great, that the barley bread by which his body was sustained, and which was made with his own hands, was said to have the weight of only one ounce. He knew no drink at all in drinking except water: but even this, only on the third day, he used most sparingly. Further, what is to be said of the meanness of his garments, who delighted always to be wrapped in haircloth and sackcloth; by whom the beauty and softness of garments was contemned as filth; he is wrapped in haircloth, but harshness and shapelessness was chosen as if for beauty. For just as before he had striven by holy zeal to surpass the life of the laity, among whom he had lived; so finally coming to the monastic rule, he most constantly followed by perfect morals the footsteps of the most holy Monks.

[5] Of his miracles it is pleasing to touch some briefly, that it may be fixed in the memory of all who desire to read these things, how rightly by the merit of his religion he stood elected before God, to whom such a marvelous supplement was administered from the treasury of Christ. In the aforesaid wilderness, of which we have spoken that he was the cultivator, the servant of God, a most immense serpent dwelled, against the attempts of the immense serpent; which was reported to be full of unclean spirits. The fear of this had so grown over the inhabitants of the neighboring earth, that with foolish temerity they asserted that he was for this reason being reserved; because at some time going forth, he would consume all the fields of that place, and whatever he should find in them, with the flames of his fire. A fountain finally there issued forth delightful waters, which no one for fear of this beast presumed to approach for the sake of drinking, except the athlete of Christ Lifardus, or his disciple, by name Urbitius. And when now the supernal Arbiter decreed to make the merits of the holy man manifest to the people, that the lamp lit might no longer lie hidden, but in the house of Christ might shine with most splendid light upon all; on a certain day, with the enemy of the human race instigating, this most fierce serpent, moved against the man of the Lord, with the highest effort strove to hasten to his dwelling; that, a lethal wound inflicted, he might atrociously wrench human life from him. This was by no means hidden from the man of God: and forthwith calling Urbitius, he directed him to the place where he already knew the serpent to be: nor did he show him for what cause he was being sent there; that the pious master might prove the faith of the disciple. Who going swiftly, met the horrible serpent; and terrified with great fear, he took to flight: whom he heals through S. Urbitius his disciple, what he had found on the way, in fear he announced to his master. To whom Lifardus, smiling with placid countenance; Why, he says, did you fear, O of little faith? And giving him his staff: Go, he says, fear not, and do not hesitate to fix this staff in the ground before the gaze of the threatening dragon. He went, and protected by the sign of the Cross, accomplished the commands of his master.

[6] But Lifardus, more ardently devoting himself to prayer, was begging the support of God for the salvation of the whole people; namely that the same dragon might be utterly extinguished, lest through him the treacherous enemy should any longer have power of harming men: and the Lord received his prayers, to be killed by his staff and prayers. nor did He delay what was asked by His servant from being done. For by the divine command operating, as soon as the bloody serpent furiously saw the staff fixed before him with his eyes, swiftly creeping he drew himself out, and stretched his scaly neck to its upper part: and biting it with his pestilent mouth, with the remaining mass of his body he wound around the length of the lower part; but since the whole could not be gathered there on account of his magnitude, his anterior part clung to the wood, the posterior to the earth: and thus the most savage dragon, while he could not injure the man who had fixed the post, rousing the fury of his ferocity against the same wood, was striving to put it down broken on the earth: but it was so strengthened by the prayer of the soldier of Christ, that in no way could it be bent by the cruel beast. And while thus the terrible serpent hung, on account of the immense weight of his body he straightway burst in the middle: which when the venerable man knew to be accomplished, he came with his disciple to see the miracle: and for so great a triumph he gave thanks to his Creator.

[7] On account of the voices of the demons crying out for Lifardus, Furthermore the demons being expelled, whose temple the serpent was said to have been, were crying out through the air. Spare us, they say, Lifardus, servant of the most high God: why do you drive us out before time from the dwelling in which we have long sat? At a cry of this kind the whole wilderness resounded, so that even the inhabitants of that countryside, hearing the horrible sound, stupefied asked one another; what could the noise of voices mean which were heard in the solitude? Is it perhaps, they say, that pestilent dragon, who hitherto has lain hidden, comes forth from the cavern of his lair, that he may consume us and all our possessions, through whom the Almighty, with the merits of our crimes demanding, has disposed to take vengeance on us? At length listening more attentively to what was being cried out, they hear Lifardus called by the demons. he is found by the neighboring inhabitants: Which heard, by those who knew him, Lifardus was declared to have been absent from the people some time before. Forthwith therefore flying to the solitude, they silently seek Lifardus; fearing namely lest by the formidable dragon, if he still lived, they might be struck: and they found the holy man, vacating to his usual zeal of prayers; and the serpent, whom they greatly revered, in another part overtaken by deserved death. Which seeing, all wept for joy, and praised the glory of God in the highest, saying that to themselves salvation had been bestowed from heaven in the death of the dragon: and they reckoned this day, for the joys of so great a trophy, as most celebrated.

[8] c Marcus meanwhile, Pontiff of the Church of Orléans, residing then at d the village of Cléry, which is three miles distant from the town of Meung, involved in certain affairs of utility; when he heard of the virtue of the holy man from those reporting it, the Levite of God, he says, prevalent in holy works, can no longer be hidden. Behold his work Christ has declared to us by most manifest signs, that of what merit before Him he was, the man to be imitated by us in all things, might be able to be discerned in his acts. he is ordained a Priest, And rising at once, to the place where the holy man was dwelling, he hastened most quickly: and salutary colloquies with him being completed, on the same day he enriched him with the honor of the Priesthood; and a small church which until today remains, he built there. And these things so done, the Bishop returned to his own. We perceive, behold, that now in this man was fulfilled what we read of the Saints, that they shall judge Angels: for he judged Angels, when after the example of Christ he expelled the crying demons from their own dwelling. From that time, then, the reputation of this one shone forth through all the boundaries of that province, so that all venerated him with wondrous affection; and let him be venerable to all: all believed themselves freed from the dragon by his merits, and protected by his prayers before the Lord. Very many also, leaving the world, faithfully adhered to him, that they might be instructed by his disciplines. Whose miracle since we have reported, in which through the support of God we recognized him conquered in the serpent by a man, who through the serpent had first deceived man; it is well that we report another distinguished one, in which the secrets of men, by revealing grace, the same was able to know.

[9] For at a certain time, when the cold of winter was very greatly shuddering (as is wont); a certain one, hiding his garments on the side of the said mountain, had approached him with bare limbs, he detects a man wishing to deceive him: who was demanding that a garment be bestowed on him. But the man of the Lord, understanding through the spirit what had been done, soon directed one of his to the same place, and ordered the garments hidden there to be brought to him. Which being brought, he gave to him who had asked alms, saying: Why, O unfortunate one, by lying have you presumed to tempt the servant of the Lord? or was I not present there, while you were committing this theft against yourself? Behold, he says, take for yourself what you sought. Who recognizing himself most easily caught, received what was his, and confounded departed: and thus while he had thought he could deceive the man of God, he himself was rather deceived.

[10] But I will narrate also another of his virtues: by which in the restoration of human health, how much through the grace of God he shone forth, may be known. On a certain day a certain noble girl, having withered hands and weakened knees, came to him; and falling at his feet, he heals a girl's withered hands and weakened knees. she besought him that health be restored to her. Moved by her petitions, he, at once prostrating himself on the ground, prayed for some time. Christ Jesus, he says, who to Mary e the sinner, on account of the flowing streams of tears, didst relax the crimes of all her offenses, and didst restore the cleanness of her former life; restore, I pray, this girl, presuming on thy mercy, to her former health: that all may know that thou art the true Physician and Savior of the world. Having said these things, he rose, and anointed the hands and knees of the girl with blessed oil: who immediately received the health of body, with thee, O Christ, giving. And what wonder if he merited to obtain these things from thee, whose heart, turned into a temple most pleasing to thee, was overflowing with the gifts of thy grace. For with those Saints, with those Apostolic men in all things this man is to be compared, whom over the sick

you had once foretold would lay hands and restore good things.

[11] Meanwhile this seems to me by no means to be passed over, that, with Lord f Theodomir, Abbot of the monastery of Micy, about to migrate from this world, Lifardus was admonished in a dream that he should hasten more quickly to serve at his exequies. He sees the soul of S. Theodemir borne to heaven. Who when he had awakened, taking with him one of his own, came to the monastery to which he had been divinely commanded: when, having entered the door, he saw on high the choirs of the celestial bands meeting the holy soul with chanting, and bearing it with joy all the way to heaven. He heard this psalm being chanted by them: Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen, O Lord, and hast taken; he shall dwell in thy tabernacles. Which having heard, the blessed man entered the cell in which the Saint's body now lifeless lay, the Brethren paying there the due offices, and offered his service to his funeral: and him being buried, he constituted there as Abbot the nephew of B. Maximinus, and prayer having been made returned to his own cell.

[12] But he himself, when seventy-three whole g years had passed, having known that the day of his recess was at hand; the disciples being called together, foretold the dissolution of his body, and exhorted them more ardently with divine colloquies and gentle words. Foreknowing his death, he exhorts his own: Dearest ones, he says, abstain yourselves from carnal desires, and pleasures of the world: keep the commandments which the dogma of the sacred Gospel has commanded: thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, and the rest. Strive to enter by the narrow and strait way, which leads to life. Resist the devil and his thousand arts of harming. Thus against the demons fight as against bloody beasts. In their temptations do not fail, knowing that blessed is the man who endures temptation, who when he has been proved, shall receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. He designates Urbitius as successor: Exhorting them at length with these and similar words, he calls Urbitius into the midst, and to him before all delivered the care of his governance.

[13] But the following night, the zeals of prayers and tears having been sent before to God, piously deceased the happy soul departed from human affairs: h which when it had been reported to the Pontiff, he hastened most quickly to the funeral of the blessed man. The body, now brought into the midst, was attended by the lugubrious service of the sad disciples: which that Pontiff, with very great diligence, with the same Brethren buried. He is buried by the Bishop: But Urbitius, the office of governance having been confirmed for him nonetheless by the same Bishop, after the departure of the most blessed Lifardus, more sublimely erected the fabric of the same monastery: he becomes famous for miracles: where hitherto, the merits of B. Lifardus demanding, many signs are seen to be done toward the infirmities of various people. But these are to be referred to thee, O Christ, these are by all means to be attributed to thee, whose suffrage with there is no doubt these can be done. For those things which we have brought forth about thy soldier, are thine: thine are, I say, all the miracles which with pious affection we recall thy Saints to have performed; without which nothing in them is marvelous, with which all things worthy of admiration are accomplished. We beseech, therefore, that through their intercession to us, and especially of thy blessed Confessor Lifardus, whose festivity we celebrate today, thou mayest grant the aid of thy grace: that, vegetated by thy gift, we may both here pursue their examples with right steps; he is venerated by an annual feast. and may merit to contemplate face to face with thee in thy kingdom those whom we imitate in the world; with thee aiding, who livest and reignest for ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS G. H.

TRANSLATION OF THE BODY

And Dedication of the Church of Meung.

By a coeval Author and eyewitness. From the ancient Ms. codices of the Collegiate Church of S. Lifardus of Meung.

Liphardus, Abbot of Meung in Gaul (S.) Urbitius, Abbot of Meung in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4932

BY A COEVAL FROM MS.

[1] In the year therefore from the incarnation of the Lord one thousand one hundred and fourth, the 13th Indiction, Philip being King of the Franks, for the dedicating of the Church, In the year 1104 there assembled, a Ralph the Archbishop of Tours, b Walo of Paris, c John of Orléans, d Christian the Abbot of S. Maximinus, among whom also our mediocrity invited was present; there was present also so great a multitude of Clerics and people, that, by reason of their multitude, there was no certainty of the innumerable number. For they flowed together not only from the neighboring, but also from the regions of distant cities, that they might both attend the solemnity of the dedication, and the transportation of the most blessed Body. Further, in the month of October e, on the day before the Ides of the month on the sixth feria, at the time written above, we assembled in the church to be dedicated on the morrow on Holy Saturday, that we might treat about the body to be transported on that same day. Oct. 14, while about the Translation deliberation is being made: The Pontiff of Orléans was preparing himself to celebrate Mass, and the Clergy of Meung was providing for the viewing of the body. While this and that preparation is being attended to, a thing worthy of relation happened, which manifested to us the present exhibition of the miracles of the most blessed Lifardus.

[2] For a little boy, born about two years, in the same church brought received the light of his eyes: a blind boy which by an accident occurring he had lost for many days and months; how it happened, the subjoined page shall promulgate. The father and mother, assiduously condoling the failed health of their bereaved son, as those whom paternal affection without intermission was instigating, many times from neighbors sought counsel, to whom for being conveyed to Geneva to S. John the Evangelist's, what could profit the blinded infant. They say that they ought to flee to divine medicine, since so it was plain that human had not profited them. There is a city, they say, Geneva by name, where the Rhône, gathered, breaks forth precipitously from a lake; in which city, nay in the church of John the Evangelist, God works copious miracles: thither we counsel that you bring your son, if you wish to merit God propitious to him. But because the way is long and unknown, the length of the way was an obstacle, and the labor immense of transport, and expenses are not supplied to you (which all show you the impossibility) we praise that you hasten to the Dedication of the church of B. Lifardus, which is nearest to us. For as we have heard, that Saint most familiar to God, from the place in which now he rests, on that day will be transferred; and truly you will perceive God placable, if you make His Saint hearable to your supplications: and we believe the blessed Confessor to be of such merit, that God cannot but hear him, if he will deign to supplicate for you. Act now therefore, break delays, and with us hasten to visit B. Lifardus.

[3] That man was incited by such words, and with swift foot with his wife is eager to hasten to the Dedication. Why should I delay longer? brought to S. Lifardus, The pilgrim enters the Church, prepares whatever offering he can, with the offering presents the little boy to God and to Saint Lifardus. Wondrous thing! The boy applied to the altar receives his sight: but because he had forgotten how to see, he began as if troubled to look about. he receives his sight: To the ears of the people the cry of both parents is borne. The little infant is set in the midst, and the knowledge of the neighbors what miracle had happened, to those stipulating, attests. From the midst is taken the ambiguity, because the venerable authority of legitimate men satisfies the inquirers. Everywhere they cry thanks to God, and from many the sensual motion of inmost cheerfulness wrings out tears. Bells are pulled, voices and joys are multiplied, the virtue of the pious Confessor is recognized as present, through whom God dispenses and bestows the accustomed healings from Himself: the inhabitants feel him more present, whom they rejoice to have as their peculiar Patron.

[4] Meanwhile the Clergy begins the Introit of the Mass, the Bishop celebrates Mass, the people frequent tumultuary praises. An inevitable necessity according to the tenor of the Canons demanded that, since the Dedication of the church was at hand, Two Abbots are deputed to transpose the body; from the church the most holy body, and all the Relics should be carried away; and again in the church rightly dedicated, they should be competently placed in their places. The Priests are clothed in sacred garments; and to open the mausoleum in which the Saint rested, about to approach, they are armed with the supplications of prayers. The Abbot of S. Maximinus, and I (since it was enjoined on us), we diligently take care that we place the most holy clod of Lord Lifardus committed to us in the bier, and approach in fear. I, because I believed my wretchedness displeased the Saint, condemned with me our conscience: I struck heaven with prayers, but the breast with my hands: the more I shuddered at the deformity of my fault, the more it was permitted to perceive the holiness of the blessed man.

[5] by whom that being raised from the sepulchre Trusting, however, both of the Pontiffs, and the Clergy, and the people, who with bent knees were devoting themselves to psalms and litanies, and to the prayers and whatever sprinklings of our eulogies, we stood at the door of the sepulchre: and the cover being removed, just as the holy limbs were separately, in that very sarcophagus we saw. The Clerics who were within, and me, I confess, the greatest horror invaded. I saw bare bones, which had been the familiar dwelling-place of the holy Spirit; and I recalled what would stand between the Saints and sinners. The Priests receive those bones with great devotion, and diligently place them in the cleanest cloth prepared for this. With much diligence they keep the ashes, and whatever could be found in the sepulchre they diligently hide. Me most wretched of the wretched! Me most unhappy of the unhappy! Who about a pious theft had long thought, yet could do nothing of theft: at this I am the more saddened, because I could not, than that about pious theft I had impiously thought.

[6] it is borne with solemn pomp, Therefore the bones being placed and sewn into the cloth, and partly the ashes; and again covered above with leather, with us standing by they commit that desirable treasure, but now to no one to be plundered: and we placed that holy deposit on the palled bier, willingly subjected our necks, and bore up the light weight of our own accord. John the Pontiff began the Responsory with high voice, and with weeping and joy the pious Father is led to the major altar: there with the throngs standing around he was placed, and was honored with due offerings by the people. You would see sobs and chants mingled; tears and joys: and each was moderately dispensed with due reverence. After abundantly, as many as the full capacity of the ecclesiastical hall had received, had honored the Saint with vows and gifts, and if any could have, with bent knees, prayed; since outside, with the throngs flowing together to the altar, there was given either ingress or egress; to the Church of S. Peter, again the Clerics take the sacrosanct burden, with all their strength leap aside through the swarms of the people offending, and to the Church of B. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, situated in the same town, and honorably palled to receive the venerable hospes about to come, they make a way. The Pontiff walked on foot, and we with an innumerable multitude followed; it was glorious to us before

the Saint to be humbled, and therefore we rejoiced to endure the troubled crowd. Great was the concourse of peoples, the same affection of peoples: through streets and squares running together they impeded themselves. I dare to say, the burial of no King ever moved either more copious or more affectionate exequies for itself: yet we do not say exequies, but obsequies; where those who assembled brought back the histories of former exequies. Behold, we believe B. Lifardus to live with Christ, whose pledges of mortality in our times we have followed with rejoicing. We come to the appointed place, Peter receives Lifardus, the Fisherman the Anchorite, the Apostle the Confessor: Peter the doorkeeper of heaven had long since placed Lifardus's soul in the heavens; behold, the same on earth receives his clod. Happy guest each, happy hospitality, happy college of so great guests. In the said church Lifardus is placed, commended to careful guardians: the Clerics passing the night celebrate vigils, the assembled people are busy at the watches: that night very many passed sleepless.

[7] which is dedicated October 15 When morning was made, from the Church to be dedicated the whole multitude is separated, the Pontiffs with the Clerics ministering, according to the custom of dedication, perform the celebrity: and they celebrate the consecration of the major altar, in honor of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and of the most blessed Lifardus the Confessor. All things rightly performed, the Bishops tend to a spacious place, mount an eminent step; there run together those who from every side had assembled, the dispersed are gathered; to no one was a free passage given, the fields and crossroads were filled with swarms of those flowing in. The assembled are warned beforehand of silence, the Pontiffs preach, the heralds of truth instruct the people, they institute that day as solemn for all years; and for the Translation of the blessed body, and for the most celebrated Dedication of the Church, and indulgences are conceded, they pronounce the same as solemn, that on the anniversary day they always assemble for the doubled festivity; about to have doubled exultation, and to receive relaxation of penances, and remission of sins.

[8] Again we proceed to the church of B. Peter, that we may bring back from there the rich treasure. The sacred Body is reposited in the crypt. The holy deposit we bring back, and place in the now dedicated Church. Behold the body placed rests in the former crypt, fabricated with no slight care and labor. But Bishop John, for an everlasting memorial that will also profit the Canons, in honor of the most pious Confessor, conceded or constituted, that whatever was given according to custom should be imparted to the usual stipends of the Canons, and that this largesse should not be revoked by his successors. These things all being celebrated solemnly, and the peoples fattened with the spiritual feasts of sermons, each one returned to his own with joy.

[9] These things therefore about the translation of the most sacred body of B. Lifardus, Exhortation to celebrate both solemnities. about the dedication of the same Church, dearest Brothers, we have briefly insinuated to you, that it may be permitted to none of our successors to be ignorant by what instinct it happened that solemnity to flow forth. Let the sons therefore ask the fathers, and they will announce to them; their elders, and they will tell them; let them read, and understand the cause of the dedication. But if perhaps you require which solemnity you ought to prefer; Great indeed is the Translation of B. Lifardus, by which on its day was truly presented to the votive peoples the dwelling of the holy Spirit; yet the Dedication of the Church is to be preferred, which both Solomon commended to us as mystical, and the Lord Jesus himself ennobled the Encaenia of the restored temple with the presence of his body; and how much he held the dedication, he made manifest to all. Act therefore, Brothers, and the Translation of B. Lifardus, as of your Patron; and as it were compare the Translation to the Dedication. Act also the most celebrated Dedication of the house of God, and for your double festivity double the merits; that in the land of promise you may possess double things, namely the beatitude of souls and bodies; which may he himself deign to bestow on us, who as God before times, in the end of times for us fitted to himself a body and a rational soul, Jesus Christ our Lord, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God, through all ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS G. H.

MIRACLES OF S. LIFARDUS

By the author Canon of the Church of Meung.

From the same Mss. of the Church of Meung.

Liphardus, Abbot of Meung in Gaul (S.) Urbitius, Abbot of Meung in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4933

FROM MS.

PROLOGUE.

[1] He who hands over to the letters of memory the wondrous deeds of the Saints, honors God wonderful in His Saints, forms himself in the present by meditating on honorable things, The Author either holds by certain report or has seen what he writes. prolongs the memory of himself in the future, profits the men of his own time, confers no little on posterity. By this one work therefore, embracing the charity of God and neighbor, not an unfruitful worker in the vineyard of God, he in no way seems unworthy of the denarius of eternal retribution. Animated by this hope, struck by the hand of the same love to dare something beyond my strength, certain miracles of the illustrious Confessor of Christ Lifardus, which I have learned by the report of grave and honest persons, certain also at which I myself was present, I shall try to narrate in few words. This, however, I presume to do not trusting in the words of human wisdom, nor as if breathed upon by a rhetorical spirit; but to you, dearest Brothers, who often deign to require this from my smallness, complying; and not distrusting in the aid of him of whom I am about to speak, simply I bring forth what I know. For I do not seek to extol my opinions with artful eloquence; but, insisting on the truth of the deeds done, like a humble myrtle, after cedars and firs, I labor to come to adorn the holy place of God: nor am I ashamed to betray my unwisdom, while I obey you, to whom it is religious not to oppose those asking such honest things. For I prefer, dearest ones, to believe of myself to you some things, who, I believe, not without divine instinct demand such things. For the Lord wishes in His Confessor to spread the praise of His name, that, in His Saint appearing wonderful, by his prayers and merits He may bestow strength and fortitude on His people; and so to Him, who has deigned to grant Himself so great a Patron, the people of the faithful may bless. Nor does it matter through whose mouth He does this, who out of the mouth of infants and sucklings is recorded by the Psalmist to have perfected praise. Ps. 8, 3

[2] Concerning this Saint our predecessors, although very few things, Very many estates obtained by S. Lifardus. whether through scarcity of writers, or the disquiet of wars, or some other causes, have written; yet how great things he did for us, the most ample largesse of estates most manifestly teaches. For if the volumes of precepts be turned over, which Kings and Dukes and Pontiffs, subscribed by their hands and sealed with their seals, left to our Church; none in the Episcopate of Orléans can anyone find more free or more copiously enriched. But just as for the most part the benefactions of our predecessors we now see profaned by a few inhabitants, so we suspect for the greater and entire part the writings about him to have perished in antiquity. Whence since we cannot, as we vow, restore the plundered estates, let us strive to restore the praises of God in His saint, which we can, however much He shall give to be able; lest we ourselves seem ungrateful, whose gratuitous benefits we cannot deny we daily receive. It remains therefore, dearest Brothers, that the effect of this business be sought from Him, by whose instinct you seem to demand these things: and pray that He may deign to open my rude though unworthy mouth and fill it, who promises to be present as a helper to those who speak of Him in simplicity of heart and truth.

CHAPTER I.

Captives freed. An unjust invader punished by death.

[3] Innocent captives A certain knight, Gillard by name, had taken certain innocent men; and demanding from them an immoderate price of ransom, was wearing them down with the gravest sufferings: whom, because his own house seemed less safe, to the house a of my mother, which is in the citadel of Meung, he led: and there in a most fortified prison, bound with chains and stocks, he shut them up, where vehemently afflicted, with tears and groaning day and night they sought the aid of the most pious Confessor of Christ, Lifardus. On a certain Lord's day, while they were praying unanimously, the eminent Confessor Lifardus at the first hour of the day visibly stood by; and soon with all the bonds loosed and the prison unlocked, he commanded them to depart. Who departing, before they could leave the outer door of the house, were caught and seized by the guards, and again bound with heavier chains, in the same prison, watched with great care, were shut back. To whom again praying, and asking with tears the aid of the most blessed Lifardus, appearing he frees them. the same pious Confessor appeared again; and, as before, them being loosed from chains, he ordered to depart from the opened prison. Who again before the outer door of the house being held back by the guards, and that a second time, all marveling how twice they had broken the chains, and how they could so suddenly escape so most firm a prison, before my mother, that she might command what was to be done about them, were led. Whom when she had carefully inquired who had loosed their chains, who also had opened the prison, with great confidence they answered; that B. Lifardus had appeared to them twice, and by his very presence alone the chains being loosed, had unlocked the prison; that they could be detained by no prison-guard, to whom evident aid of so great a Patron was not lacking.

[4] and nonetheless held Then the mother, as a noble and devout woman, judging it impious any longer to resist the divine will and the reverend Confessor, having summoned Gillard, began to entreat him kindly, that he should not contradict so evident a miracle; but should permit the men, twice freed by the Saint, to depart free. And when the man, obstinate and pertinacious, would in no way acquiesce to her, nor impute what had been done to divine virtue; she would not bring force on him because he was a beneficiary: but casting them from her house bound, with anger and execration she ordered them to be returned to that profane man. Whom when he was dragging with hands tied behind their backs before the church of S. Lifardus, raging tyrannically with anger and pride; he began to swear, that he would deliver them to so strict a custody, that neither Lifardus nor little Lifardus could in any way drag them out from there. and led to stricter custody O wondrous patience of God! O ineffable goodness, who both through Himself and in His Saints so clemently endures contempt from the impious, suffers Himself so dissimulatingly to be irritated, defers to take vengeance so long-suffering, that very few do not move their feet, do not pour out their steps, while zealously they see unworthy speeches, so great peace of sinners. But because to know fully why it is so done is labor before us, until we enter into the sanctuary of God, and understand in their last things; let us leave these to the disposition

of the divine, which strongly and sweetly disposing all things, seems to wait for some for correction, to sustain others that they may perish for ever and ever. Let us only strive, according to the measure of our fragility, to imitate the example of its benignity and patience; who, when with the smallest nod He could avenge all the injuries that seem inflicted on Him, yet indulging with fatherly goodness, deigns to await the space of penitence.

[5] Therefore when the said tyrant had hastily dragged those wretches to his own house, from there also delivers them, which was far from the cloister; their legs with two great beams joined together, and adapted for the use of this kind of torment, he most strictly bound; and with their hands tied behind their backs, in the obscure ergastulum of the lower house, he closed them with great diligence. So through that whole Lord's Day, by hunger and thirst, and by the most hard attrition of the bonds tormented, with weeping and the greatest wailing they did not cease to implore the aid of the most holy Lifardus. And when, now as the day was growing toward evening, the said tyrant was dining in the portico, which was before the door of the house in which they were shut, now as if secure and victor, and was insulting the Saint as if impotent; for the third time the eminent Confessor appeared to the wretches calling on him, and with all their chains immediately loosed, he commanded them hastily to follow him. They at once rising, while in the all-closed places they looked around for an exit, the greatest part of the wall by which they were enclosed fell down; and giving them light, opened a free passage for going out. By whose noise the hostile tyrant terrified, those following struck with blindness: the matter being perceived hardened and contumacious made, was unwilling to show any reverence to God so often wondrous in His Confessor: but began to follow the departing with an armed band. Whom the Lord at once, with all who accompanied him, to declare the merits of His Confessor, struck with such a kind of blindness; that while he saw other things placed around him in the usual manner, those who were fleeing him, although placed even near before him, he could in no way see, nor however slow by hunger and the attrition of the bonds, could follow them, until their leader and protector Lifardus, with the highest joy of the people flowing together from all sides, led them into his church.

[6] the miracle multiplied for the correction of others. That those thrice loosed by the Saint could be twice taken, let no one wonder, who reads that the Egyptians were afflicted with twelve plagues, when one might have sufficed to compel them to obey the commands of God; and has heard of so many elevations of the hands of Moses, when one would have been worth to bestow victory by God's permission. For on account of the hardened and incredulous hearts of men, God the searcher of hearts deigns to work such things; that, stupefied by the magnitude and frequency of the miracle, and convicted, they may presume to impute so evident a divine work neither to human industry, nor to any mobility of fortune: that those held by not one error, by not one showing of a miracle, may be compelled to return to the light of truth.

[7] How pious a helper to those humbly invoking him the Confessor of Christ Lifardus has shown himself, dearest Brothers, you have heard; how severe an avenger he is in the persecutor of his Church, from the example of one vengeance, now I beseech, you may consider. A certain Precentor and Provost of the Church of Meung, by name Erwin, had cultivated for some years the land of S. Lifardus, which is in the place which is called ^b c Alnetum, by the permission of the Canons for his own use, Of the land of S. Lifardus a wicked invader, so that in each year he rendered tithes to it, and paid out other revenues according to custom. He being deceased, his son Eudo, with the surname Badinus, desiring to possess by hereditary right the above-mentioned land, which his father had held in the manner of an Ecclesiastical procurator, violently invaded: and the oxen of the Canons, which they had sent there to plow, fustigated cast forth, seized the herdsmen; and cruelly flogged scarcely permitted them at length to depart. One of whom, with garments torn and smeared with blood, at the time when Mass was being celebrated, came to the church, and announced the matter as it had been done to the Canons. Who not so much by their own as by the innocent man's injury moved; not placing flesh as their arm, but casting their care upon the Lord; as soon as the Priest had said Peace be with you, against the perturber of their peace, before the Body of the Lord and the sepulchre of the venerable Lifardus, according to ecclesiastical custom began to make outcry prostrate. And as they were crying out, it happened that that Eudo, sitting on his horse, returned with shield; and with proud mind still threatening many things to the Canons, before the church through the cloister he was passing arrogantly. amid proud threats And when hastening to his house, which was contiguous to the cloister, he was stretching out; struck divinely with a great groan he suddenly cried out, divinely struck, but no word afterwards could he bring forth. And rightly being struck by God he became dumb, who had not feared to heap impious deeds with threatening and proud words. And now not leading the horse, but with the horse leading, having been carried home, the wicked rider could indeed not descend; but scarcely received by the hands of his servants, and carried to a small bed, afflicted with pains and excessive torments, lay like a useless trunk: and he who had presumed to disinherit the sanctuary of God, persecuted by the tempest of God, and snatched like stubble before the face of the wind, after a short time did not appear.

[8] At hearing of which, Anna his wife and acquaintances, partly by compassion for the man, but especially moved by the miracle of so sudden divine vengeance, flowed together to him; and instantly began to admonish him, that he should both do penance for the offense, and as far as he could make satisfaction to the most pious Confessor Lifardus. By their admonition more than by devout compunction of heart (as the outcome of the matter taught) compelled, he handed his glove to friends, and in vain seen to be contrite, and on the altar of the illustrious Confessor, not with words but with such signs as he could only, in token of satisfaction commanded it to be placed. But God the searcher of hearts and reins, who contemned the prayers and great promises of proud Antiochus, extorted by fear of dire sickness; and did not receive the late penitence of Judas; was unwilling to receive a forced satisfaction, and did not relax His avenging hand — into which it is horrendous to fall — from a man already condemned by d signed tablets: and so for three days that he survived, devoid of drink and food, sending forth the most frequent groans and deep sighs and a formidable gnashing of teeth, he wretchedly expires. with the greatest admiration and terror of those standing by, he expired: and he who just now, trusting in his own strength, had not feared to harass the church of God and the ministers of His most illustrious Confessor Lifardus; in a moment destitute of strength, and like the herbs of grasses quickly falling, by his detestable death left to the rest a manifest example of correction.

ANNOTATIONS G. H.

CHAPTER II.

A blind and a mute healed: a captive freed.

[9] This also I do not judge to be passed over in silence, that some time ago in the time of the same Erwin it was done, as honest and religious men, not only Clerics, but also laymen, have attested to us more than once. A certain blind man, The blind man receives sight, by name Peter, was brought to the Church of B. Lifardus, invited by the frequency of miracles, from a region placed far off; and there for some days asking, and humbly imploring the aid of B. Lifardus, at length received the lost light of his eyes. For which cause restored most joyful, he vowed that for all the remaining time of his life he would remain in that church, and serve B. Lifardus in whatever ways he could. With such a holy proposal he began most diligently to prepare cleaning the church, sounding the bells, on festal days arranging the ornaments, and the rest necessary according to his measure. and serves S. Lifardus: His frequency and devotion the said Precentor Erwin perceiving, received him into his house, who charitably ministered to him even more than what was necessary.

[10] but afterwards having stolen a horse, But after some years, the pertinacious enemy of the human race, envying both man's salvation and the glory of the Confessor of Christ; whom before, with God permitting on account of his sins, he had deprived of bodily sight, even of the light of mind he undertook to blind; that, the interior being taken away first, he might more easily again extinguish the exterior light. He suggested, therefore, that a horse, which Erwin had as the best, the same Peter steal: and easily, because he was a familiar, and on occasion of the time (because the feast day of B. Lifardus, in which less precaution would be taken from such great solemnity, was at hand) the cunning tempter easily persuaded. So while at night according to usual custom all were attending to vigils, his master's horse the said Peter mounted, and secretly departing went out of the town, again he is struck with blindness: and as far as the place of the public Cross with no one noticing he came: and there soon by divine permission again by the devil in his exterior eyes blinded, all night through fields and vineyards wandering he erred: nor however could the contemner of the Cross prevent the horse from always returning to the said Cross. But morning being made, when from neighboring places everywhere he heard the faithful people hastening to the church for the festival; he began to cry out; Take me, the faithful infidel, seeing the blind man, and lead me back to my master, whose horse with sacrilegious daring I have tried to steal, that I may pay the deserved penalties as thief and sacrilegious; who have both betrayed my host, and the eminent Confessor, by whose merits I had been illuminated, even to my former blindness have offended.

[11] So crying out he was seized, and led with his horse all the way to the altar of the reverend Confessor before all the gathered people, by the hands of those seeing he is set down blind; and there confessing the just judgment of God; and because he had gravely offended B. Lifardus, and led back to the altar of the Saint penitent, recognizing that these things had rightly happened to him; for nearly the space of one month he remained in his blindness, and he did not cease to weep that he had merited this more than blindness itself. To whose affliction the Canons of that place compassionating, began to strike the most pious ears of the Lord with assiduous prayers, and unanimously to implore the often-experienced aid of the most benign Lifardus; that he would spare the contrite and humbled; and in him, for whom he had once already obtained salvation, to the praise and glory of God and the most evident declaration of his merits, even now he might double a miracle. To whose petitions the most pious intervenor Lifardus did not fail; again he receives sight, and not only obtained from God that the light of the exterior eyes be restored to that blind man, but also that the most firm illumination of the mind afterwards be given to him obtained by his merits before God. So indeed again illuminated he stood in the service of the same church, that he sooner withdrew from the present light than from the obedience of his light. a O man worthy of the greatest admiration and reverence, who when injured so gravely takes vengeance, and when entreated so clemently spares, and not only obtains from God the health of bodies, but much more to all the salvation of the soul.

[12] Another miracle also I will not pass by, which while still a boy, with him narrating it who had been freed, a deaf man for twenty years on the same day on which it was done, not alone I heard. A certain Italian, who for twenty years deprived of the office of his ears, could understand nothing except by signs; after many suffrages of various Saints implored,

coming to Meung, in the time of Lent, on the sixth feria of Holy Week, on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, he entered the church of the reverend Confessor Lifardus for the sake of prayer with his two companions; and there before the tomb of the most blessed man he lay prostrate for a long time; and besought God with the entire affection of his heart that, through the intercession of that Saint, whose name he did not yet know, He would deign to open his ears. And while his two companions, who were serving him, bearing heavily his so great delays of prayer, complained to each other, and said, that they could not at such a time reach Orléans, where they could according to Lord's-day custom with the people adore the Lord's Cross; he recovers hearing, he who was deaf, now not deaf, but most openly hearing, cried out: I hear, most faithful companions, by the grace of God; I hear; and the divine aid, sought through so many dwellings of the Saints, here through the merits of this most holy man, whose name I have not yet even heard, I most certainly perceive to be present to me. Seeking out therefore his name, let us return thanks by name to God and to his so glorious faithful one; lest we seem to exist ungrateful to the bestower of so great a benefit.

[13] When the name of the most holy Lifardus having been perceived, weeping for joy, they had returned immense thanks; departing, they were brought to me and to Hubert my master, a learned and religious man (who had led me around with certain other honest men through the various oratories, according to the custom of that day). and to the writer and his Master, Then he, whose ears had been opened, perceiving (as is wont to happen) my master, a learned and honest man from his very gait and habit, began most diligently to inquire from him whose country B. Lifardus had been an inhabitant of, of what condition and proposal he was, and leading what life he had come to Christ. Which singly the Master, as a skilled and eloquent man, briefly and clearly expounded to him, and from glad rendering him most glad, gave him sufficiently instructed. But after the Master had made an end of speaking. That Italian, with the highest affection of mind; True things, he said, reverend Father, I believe you have prosecuted in all; and I believe that far greater than what has been handed down in books about him, have been by present experiences: he narrates the miracle: but my ears, which through twenty years on account of my sins had been closed, just now (while before his sepulchre I was asking the mercy of God, and the intercession of him before whose presence I was lying prostrate) the Lord has deigned to open; and what to me, through such a space of time, traveling through innumerable patronages of the Saints, He delayed to grant, to declare the merits of His glorious friend, in a moment of time He has bestowed. Render therefore hymns and due praises to God, who has deigned to illustrate your country with so great and such a Patron. Having said these things, turning to the church of B. Lifardus, humbly with bent knees he returned thanks; and bidding us farewell, with great joy and exultation departed.

[14] To a captive imploring help This also seems worthy to be committed to memory, that in our times through His Confessor Lifardus the Lord deigned to work. At a Castle, very neighboring to the people of Meung, which they call b Balgeneiacum, a certain man named Pontius, a Burgundian by birth, was held captive in one and horrendous prison of the most firm and most dense tower of that castle, and was wearied with grave chains and continual hunger. He therefore, seeing every human consolation lacking to himself, turned to the divine, which is denied to no one asking faithfully for aid. Invoking, then, the patronages of very many Saints, of B. Lifardus, as placed nearby, and most famous for miracles at that time, he began more frequently to make memory. And more specially with poured tears to commend himself to him. On a certain night, then, to him watching and praying, the so-often-invoked Confessor appeared, and ordered him forthwith to depart from prison. The Saint appearing once, Then he, stupefied with great admiration, began to ask who was he, who at such a time could enter so most firm a prison. To whom the Saint responded that he was Lifardus, whom he had so often invoked; and added that he had come for the sake of freeing him. At hearing his name, that one to whom he was speaking made most joyful, began to ask from him how, bound with fetters and all doors closed, he could go out. Then the Saint, showing him a tiny window (which, neither a half-foot in width nor a cubit in height, supplied the only light to the prison), commanded him to follow him through it. Which he reckoning as impossible, while he responded that that very small window, nor could he without a ladder ascend it; the Saint, as if tacitly upbraiding his pusillanimity and disobedience, departed, nor that night appeared to him further.

[15] and again But another night, when to him weeping and praying again the Saint had appeared, and as before ordered him to go out through the same window; the same response of doubt was received from the wretched man, and as before, arguing the doubting and disobedient one, departed. On the third night also to him grievously wailing, and a third time, and more often iterating the name of B. Lifardus in prayer, to the wretched one being called the Saint was present, and reproached his sloth and madness, and commanded him to follow without any doubt. Whom he forthwith followed all the way to the aforesaid window, while he hesitated about its ascent and exit; before he felt himself loosed from a fetter, ascending the window, that it had withdrawn from the earth. And when now secure of the ascent he looked around for an exit, he saw the huge stones of the most dense wall as if terrified yield to him, he leads him out in a wondrous manner, and by yielding to provide a most ample exit. With his whole body sent out, therefore, hanging only by his hands from the window, while he feared a grave fall from the high precipice, being weak from fasting and weighed down with fetters; he felt the earth, which in the presence of the Saint had as it were swelled with a certain joy, to be under his feet; and supported by its assistance, descended unharmed. Thus the Saint led the delivered man all the way beyond the outer gate of the town, and there admonishing him to fear no more, vanished from his eyes.

[16] Then he, who from exceeding admiration had been placed in ecstasy and as it were in a dream, returning to himself, found himself led outside the fortification of the town, and recognized that he was loosed from one fetter. Therefore rendering immense thanks to God and to His most pious Confessor Lifardus, he began to seek Meung, with what haste he could. Meanwhile the guards, who were keeping watch before the door of the prison, learning of his departure from this, that being called he did not respond, the aids of fellow-servants drawn together from everywhere, with dogs also taken with them to investigate him, the one whom the Saint had led out, began to pursue as a thief and breaker-in. But he, and protects from those pursuing. through the noise of the men and the barking of the dogs, perceiving the guards to be pursuing him, while still far from them turned aside from the way: and asking with all the affection of his mind that his most pious and so well-experienced aider and helper Lifardus be present to him, in a certain cornfield, which had grown up dense there, he hid. To whom the dogs, going before their masters, with sagacious sense of smell coming; on seeing him, forthwith all barking having intermitted, and terrified by the divine virtue which accompanied him, withdrew fleeing, and far removed from him and turned away barked, and so led their masters deceived in different directions. Magpies also, whose custom it is by their garrulity and importunity to betray those hiding, with day now growing light flew over him; and on seeing him with silence forthwith returning, when they had flown far off, then as if there they had found someone, made noise with shameless voices. c O mind of perverse men blinded by malice! O folly more confused even than the brute animals! God, whom the dogs revered, men, preferring an earthly Lord to Him, did not fear; and whom the magpies revered, the more shameless than the magpies themselves did not understand. For their wickedness, between God and them, as the Prophet says, d had woven, and did not permit them to perceive the wondrous works of God; and so by the barking of the dogs, the chattering cries of the magpies, those persecutors deceived, and tired by running through pathless places, sad and confused, with the sun now restored to the earth, returned to their own.

[17] Then he who lay hidden, with the clamors fading away on account of the distance, perceiving the enemies to withdraw, the fetter spontaneously falling in his Church. and trusting in the protection of his leader, hastily came to Meung; and while still, on the first Lord's Day after Easter, the ninth Lesson at Matins was being read; he most joyful entered the church of his helper and leader Lifardus: and immediately before all the multitude of those standing by, before the sepulchre of the illustrious Confessor Lifardus prostrate, while he was giving thanks to God and his leader; the iron clamp, by which that remaining fetter clung to his leg, without any human touch sprang back, and with great noise fell upon the pavement with the fetter. At which noise, all who were present running together, and asking how this had happened; the said Pontius in order related what had been done, and as if certain witnesses of his word placed his fetters upon the altar. Which having been perceived, the Clerics, for the solemnity of the Lord's day, also for so great a perpetration of the miracle, with doubled joy, sang Te Deum laudamus with the highest voices; and through that whole day with the same Pontius, in the praises of God and the veneration of the most illustrious Confessor Lifardus, stood exulting.

ANNOTATIONS G. H.

CHAPTER III.

Dictated by Bernard, Canon of Meung.

[18] What in our times has happened, the assertion of authentic relation testifies, we propose to commit to the memory of letters; that in His most holy Confessor Lifardus we may praise the Lord, Two brothers in danger of being submerged, who has deigned in our age to illustrate him with miracles. When placed in great danger, and with much struggle of sea and air two brothers, by surname les Potars, namely William and Albert, with the savagery of the elements increasing, now were despairing of escape from death; confessing to a minister of the Lord the evils they had done, they began to implore God's help and His mercy upon all their excesses. To the anguish of a contrite heart the Lord comes, and powerfully dwells in it, and the accepted compunction of a sincere breast merits an Angelic vision. For those laboring, as we have just said, and in vow placing an end to their guilt, saw the most blessed Confessor Lifardus standing by, holding in his right hand a staff, which in vulgar word is wont to be called a potentia. He stood there, then, in a white stole, of white color, with living face, with a flame-like countenance b, with girded loins, with bared shoulders, most like a prepared warrior. Furthermore he was demanding from the said knights the tithe of his right, whose invaders they had been, and from a long time now detainers. For there is a village in Beauce, neighboring Puiseaux, which they call c Villa-Dominica, the tithe of which, violently and wickedly occupied, the aforesaid brothers had defrauded the Confessor. penitent for the withdrawn tithe, Whence it happened that, fear having been struck by the terrible sight of the Confessor on the said brothers,

they confessed the error of temerity and the boldness of presumption. But the confession of sin does not avail for pardon, unless penalty is taken on by penance d. He has not at all cut down the tree, who has left its root uncut; nor has he wholly vomited out his sin, who has retained the will of sinning: for then guilt is integrally remitted, when penitence has cut off the affection. Repenting therefore not in heart but in lips, and vowing for the rest to commit nothing such, although they were unworthy of pardon, yet because by vow they firmly bound themselves, with the prayer and merit of the Confessor supporting, they are freed: from the imminent danger they were rescued.

[19] Therefore those returned from the visitation of the Lord's sepulchre, the condition of the promise compelled to dismiss altogether the abjured crime: but the contagion of human cupidity polluted them to such a degree, but the same returning to the same injury, that, unmindful of vows and of the escaped danger, they extended their accustomed hand to the Tithe. To their notice perhaps had not come, that he who returns to his vomit is the more sharply punished; and the wickedness spat out has more of crime, when there is a return of the spitter to it. For he who binds himself by vow, and digresses from the vow, is indeed patiently supported by the Lord; but what is admitted contrary to the vow, we have not seen justice to pass over unpunished. For the delay of vengeance does not free the offender, but when the transgression of the vow doubles the offense, kindles the judge, and exacerbates to a greater punishment: for relapsed malice, worse than the prior, makes his sin to be imputed doubly.

[20] one of them dueling, It happened therefore that against one of the brothers, by name Albert, no long course of time having passed, after his return from Jerusalem, by the most strenuous youth William of Artheneium a calumny was moved over a certain land. He was striving by the caution of many and hired eloquence to lay to sleep the calumny: but what had been provided by God's judgment, the other contending, on account of the snares of human cupidity and venal craftiness, ought not and could not be impeded. In this point of strife the advocates withdraw, e cambiones are left in the arena. They charge each other commonly, and fight sharply; and not now of the land is it acted, but contended of death and salvation. They trusted therefore in their strength, and presumed from the size of their limbs; and expecting the honor of the contest, with greater confidence they fought. But the outcome of war is always doubtful, the Saint terrifies, and he is convicted of not having well contended, whom in the end victory does not crown. It happened, therefore, while the battle was being fought, that the blessed Confessor of the Lord, whom we have mentioned, extended his hand to the shield of Albert; and humbling him to the ground, through the boss tenaciously apprehended, more freely opened his persecutor to be struck by adverse blows. At this sight Albert's spirit shuddered: and confused by fear, and considering equally his slaughter to be impending, and the youth eagerly acting for the land, and the Confessor offended for the Tithe.

[21] At his brother's fear William shuddered; and now with his brother colored by terror, now coming languidly to the blows; the withdrawal of the combatants and a most brief quiet from the guards of the field he merited to obtain; and messengers sent he obtained that Lord f Manasses Bishop of Orléans come quickly. But the coming of the Bishop increased the joy for the said brothers: for through his mediation they expected most certain composition. and compels both to restitution. For they had heard and often seen the said Bishop ending grave discords, and those despairing of the beatitude of peace, by the skill of his intervention. Calling aside, then, the Bishop, they explained to him the vision which we have described; and the sin of transgression having been exposed, to the Confessor of the Lord, the Tithe of his right through the Bishop's hand they returned: whence it happened that the same Bishop absolved the said Knights from the guilt of transgression, and laid to sleep the aforesaid calumny about the land with justice assigned to both parties. g

[22] It is not safe for man, dearest Brothers, to contend with God, Exhortation of the writer. nor to provoke His Saints to anger. For to him who moves scandals against God, the solace and fruit of future joy is lost, and the fires of eternal calamity are prepared. Let not therefore adverse whirlwinds deter us, and the angry thunders of fleeting things, nor the pomps of the world, nor the blandishments of vain joy deceive, of which the end is wormwood. Let us desist, Brothers, from vices, let us pray continually, that He may cleanse us from every contagion, and grant us the joy of perennial life, our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honor and glory through infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS G. H.