Bonifacius the Martyr

ON S. BONIFACIUS THE MARTYR,

APOSTOLIC LEGATE AND ARCHBISHOP OF MAINZ.

AND HIS COMPANION MARTYRS; EOBANUS, COADJUTOR-BISHOP; ADALARIUS OR ADALHERUS, WINTRUNGUS AND WALTERUS, PRESBYTERS; HAMUNDUS, SCIRBALDUS, BOSA, DEACONS; WACCARUS, GUNDECARUS, ELLEHERUS, HATHEVULFUS, MONKS; HILTEBRANDUS AND 40 OTHER LAYMEN.

AT DOKKUM IN FRISIA.

IN THE YEAR 755.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Bonifacius, Apostolic Legate and Archbishop of Mainz, Martyr (S.)

BY THE AUTHORS G. H. AND D. P.

§. I. The various writers of his life, of whom the chief is Willibald the Presbyter, likely distinct from the Bishop of the same name.

Among the Apostolic men, divinely destined from England into Germany and Frisia, may deservedly be reckoned S. Bonifacius, the first Archbishop of Mainz, the Apostle of Germany, who also watered Frisia with his own blood as a Martyr. His deeds very many have written, among whom, The Life written by Willibald, nearest in age and chief in authority, Willibald the Presbyter, as he calls himself in the Prologue or Preface, inscribed to the holy Lords and truly most dear in Christ, Lullus and Megingozus, Coadjutor-Bishops. Both did S. Bonifacius appoint as Bishop, Lullus his successor and the second Archbishop of Mainz; Megingozus, appointed in place of S. Burchard, who died three years before S. Bonifacius, in the Bishopric of Würzburg or Herbipolis. Compelled by these Willibald writes the Life of the said S. Bonifacius, as he learned it from his disciples, from sure account, long abiding with him, or reporting it themselves, as he asserts in the Prologue, which he then repeats at the beginning of the Life; and afterwards at no. 8 adds: As the faithful men of that man's intimacy testified for certain: and at no. 14, Which we take care to set forth both as we learned from the relation of faithful men, and indeed by the manifest disclosure of writing: and at no. 19: the things that follow, even as we have learned the matter done from those reporting it, we openly set forth. But Willibald sets forth such testimonies chiefly about things done in England, less anxious for those things which afterwards either at Rome, or among the Apostolic labors in Germany and Frisia, were performed; because those things could partly be confirmed from the Apostolic letters and Epistles of S. Bonifacius himself, partly were known to the eyes of those then still living, although also at no. 60 he says that he reports what was brought even to us (namely to Willibald himself) through the venerable man Lullus the Bishop (the successor of the Saint, as I said, in the See of Mainz).

[2] That Life Henricus Canisius of Nijmegen first published at Ingolstadt in the year 1603, in volume 6 of the Antiqua Lectio, it is given from Canisius and a Trier manuscript, a Jurisconsult and Professor of the sacred Canons in the Academy of Ingolstadt, using the manuscript codices of the monasteries of Rebdorf near Eichstätt and Windberg in Bavaria, and also of Albertus Hungerus, Pro-chancellor of the Academy of Ingolstadt. We have the same Acts copied from an old codex of Trier of the Imperial monastery of S. Maximinus, from which we subjoin the illustrious Supplement of various matters, with a Supplement hitherto unpublished. which had been by Willibald either omitted or not so exactly set forth: whose Supplement's Author, having narrated the deposition of the sacred Body among the men of Fulda, subjoins these things: Afterwards Willibald wrote the life and conversation of the man of God, and also the passion, because there still survived many who had been present at the same passion, in the place which is called the church of S. Victor, in the chamber of one cubicle, first on waxed tablets for the proof of Dom Lullus and Megingaudus, after their examination to be rewritten on parchment, lest anything carelessly or superfluously written should appear. Then is described the said church of S. Victor, in which Lullus and afterwards Rabanus gave themselves to prayers; and to which Willigisus, the Father of blessed memory, at length joined a monastery: so that the Author of this Supplement seems to have written, not long after the death of Willigisus himself, about the beginning of the eleventh century, perhaps a Canon in the very monastery of S. Victor.

[3] From the recited words of Willibald about this writing, Georgius Wicelius ineptly excerpted certain things, or published things ineptly excerpted by others, in the Hagiology on the Saints of the Church of God, Willibald a writer for some the Bishop of Eichstätt, printed at Basel in the year 1541, after the Life of S. Bonifacius composed by himself, where he has these words: I, Willibald the Bishop, etc., wrote the life and passion of Bonifacius, first on waxed tablets for the proof of Lullus and Megengaudus, etc. Which things from Wicelius Canisius attached at the end of the Life, and following him Serarius, in this Life published after the Epistles of S. Bonifacius in the year 1605; and Mabillon, in the Acts of the Benedictine Saints, part 2 of the 3rd century; who therefore make Willibald the writer of this life, not a Presbyter (as he himself writes) but Bishop of Eichstätt; which we too, citing this Life, have from time to time done. But, the matter now thoroughly discussed, we prefer to call Willibald a Presbyter; and we judge that he lived at Mainz under Archbishop Lullus, and perhaps presided over the church of S. Victor, rather to be called by us a Presbyter, who had no, or at least no singular, acquaintance with S. Bonifacius; and therefore professes that he writes those things which he had received from others, not those which he himself had seen or noted, especially in matters which, as we indicated above, had happened in England: since with Willibald the Bishop S. Bonifacius was associated and bound by the carnal coupling of nearness and blood, as is read in the old Life of S. Wunibald, brother of S. Willibald; and in the Life of S. Willibald himself S. Bonifacius is said to be an Angle by birth and a kinsman to S. Willibald: and the same is confirmed in the Life of S. Walburga, by the author Wolfhardus the Presbyter, illustrated by us on the 25th of February in the first place, where they are all said to have been of the same homeland, as by one who was an intimate and kinsman, namely born in Wessex, in these words: A branch of this eminent tree was Bonifacius. Of the same flowery and leafy British tree the branches stretched even to us, the two blessed Confessors Willibald and Wunibald, with their most chaste sister, the Virgin of Christ Walburga. Meanwhile the Author of the Life not only introduces no mention of his own consanguinity or even familiarity with these; but also, where he writes that Willibald the Bishop was appointed by S. Bonifacius, has of him as of a man plainly distinct from himself these things at no. 46: Two men of good industry he promoted to the order of the Episcopate, most different. Willibald and Burghardus, and the rest, which may be read there. Why then should we not say that this writer, in honor of S. Willibald, bore the baptismal name of Willibald, and afterwards as a Presbyter wrote this Life? Whatever it be, in calling him a Presbyter we do not offend; let others abound in their own sense. That the name of Willibald was used also by the Germans is established from Epistle 12 of Eginhard the Abbot, who sent Willibald the Presbyter to Ghent, but this man younger.

[4] Another Life of S. Bonifacius Laurentius Surius published on this 5th day of June, Another Life by the author Othlonus, but with the style changed and without the Author's name, which the above-praised Henricus Canisius, finding it in the parchments of the monastery of Rebdorf in the original style, after the now-indicated Life by Willibald

written, published, and taught that the author was Othlonus, a Presbyter and Monk of the monastery of S. Bonifacius, who inscribed it to the Brethren of Fulda; and he seems to have lived in another monastery of S. Bonifacius, and to have written about the beginning of the twelfth century. He in this writing of his premises that he chiefly does two things: namely, to disclose in a more open style (as he was asked) those things which Willibald in certain places had set forth obscure to the lowest understanding; furnished from the earlier ones and the Epistles, and at the same time he transferred various things, from the aforesaid Supplement, into his own Acts. The other is, that he illustrates those Acts with the epistles of S. Bonifacius and of the Supreme Pontiffs and others written in his favor. We too had begun to prepare the said Acts for the press, and to collate them with the various readings sent by Joannes Grothusius, while he lived most zealous of our studies; when we discovered that the former were everywhere more accurately set forth by Willibald and by the Author of the Supplement, nor was that obscurity, apprehended by others, to be found, if you remove the particle "quippe" and certain others uselessly intruded (as we did in certain places, marked with an asterisk *) and correct certain things noted in the margin; but that the Epistles of Bonifacius were much more accurately published separately by Serarius, and explained in his Notes, and thence found in the Libraries of the Fathers; besides that both his and the Supreme Pontiffs' epistles are read in the Volumes of the Councils with the Notes of Binius, Sirmond, and Labbe, nay also inserted in the Sacred Annals by Baronius and explained. Wherefore, that in their place we may set forth the monuments of others not yet printed, it is omitted. we resolved to set aside that great mass, distinguished by Othlonus into two books; since the curious Reader may read it in Canisius, first published, then expounded by Serarius in the third book of the Affairs of Mainz, and from these reprinted in Mabillon in the 3rd Benedictine century, and in the last edition of Surius. If however we shall judge any things necessary to be known, we will observe them in our Notes.

[5] Othlonus's Acts therefore being set aside, we give the second Life from the manuscript Codex of S. Salvator of Utrecht, who in the Prologue writes that S. Bonifacius The second Life is given from a Utrecht manuscript, was sent not long before his times, and through his provinces diffused far and wide the odor of great virtue. Then at no. 14 he says that there was still surviving a woman, but decrepit, who asserted that she had been present at the beheading of the soldier of Christ. From these and other things which are had in the Prologue and toward the end concerning S. Martin of Tours, and his Church of Utrecht, we judge that the Author was a Presbyter or minister of the Church of S. Martin of Utrecht, who composed this Life and martyrdom at Utrecht, perhaps at the same time at which Willibald wrote at Mainz. But from this Life were taken the Lessons for the Church of Utrecht, printed in the year 1508 and 1518. The same Life, but without the Prologue, Bolland also found in the codex of a certain Dom Schencking, as he noted in his own hand. But also Joannes of Leiden the Carmelite, by others Joannes Gerbrandus, formerly Prior of his Order in the Convent of Haarlem, who carried the Chronicle of the Bishops of Utrecht and the Counts of Holland down to the year 1417, as it is extant in Manuscript with us, the author perhaps dwelling at Utrecht: and is had printed at Frankfurt with the Annals of the Counts of Flanders of Reinerus Snoy, transcribed almost his whole third book from this Life word for word, which I wished incidentally to indicate to those curious about such matters.

[6] Then the third Life is subjoined from three manuscript codices, namely from ours, which has the Lives of the Saints distributed through the several months and into several books, then from the said Utrecht manuscript of S. Salvator and finally from the papers of Dom Lindanus. The third Life from three manuscripts. The same third Life Mabillon too had from a manuscript codex of Compiègne; and drew some things thence to his observations. Who or what kind the Author should be reckoned, there is no means to determine. What if it be said that he was some man of Münster? For he says at no. 4, with extracts from the Life of S. Gregory of Utrecht. that the volumes of the virtues of S. Gregory the Pastor, appointed at Utrecht by S. Bonifacius, are held by him; and these are those very ones which S. Ludgerus, Bishop of Münster, wrote about the Life of S. Gregory, in which there are many things about S. Bonifacius, which excerpted thence are subjoined to this Life. At length we will give some Analects, chiefly about the Relics of S. Bonifacius and his fellow Martyrs; and we will add some monuments about the Translation and Relics of SS. Adalarius and Eobanus, Analects. kept at Erfurt.

§. II. His homeland. The time of his life and martyrdom. The Archbishopric of S. Bonifacius.

[7] Saint Bonifacius, in his first epistle to Pope Zacharias, His homeland Wessex in England, which is among the Serarian ones the 134th, and is had in the Councils of Labbe, volume 6, column 1494, indicates his homeland at no. 5 to be Saxony across the sea, in which he was born and brought up: which was established and ordained by the disciples of S. Gregory, that is, by the Archbishops Augustine, Laurence, Justus, Mellitus: and these things S. Bonifacius the Bishop writes from Germany, with respect to which it was Saxony across the sea, which can be called the same as British: where West-Saxony, or the kingdom of the West Saxons, contained the provinces of Southampton, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall. Camden in his Britannia and description of Devon has these things: At the river Creedy, in the primitive Church of the English, an Episcopal See flourished in the town of the same name Crediton, and in Devon, Crediton, now contractedly Kirton, which is the native soil of that Winfrid or Bonifacius, who converted the Hessians, Thuringians, and Frisians of Germany to the faith. But now it is known for a less frequented market and for the houses of the Bishop of Exeter, but in the memory of our fathers it was much more known for a College of twelve Prebendaries, who now have vanished. These things Camden.

[8] born about the year 680, In this town therefore of Crediton or Kirton was S. Bonifacius born, about the year 680; and after passing his life from childhood in monasteries, first at Exeter in the same Devon, then at Nutscelle in Southampton, he was consecrated a Priest, being thirty or more years of age, about the year 712. Then he carried the statutes of the Synod to the Archbishop, and afterwards, about to preach the word of God, sailed into Frisia; he was in Frisia in the year 716, but on account of the war between Charles Martel and Radbod, King of the Frisians, he returned into England. This certain mark of the war, waged in the year 716, confirms the earlier times, and is confirmed by the following deeds. Some time being passed in his monastery of Nutscelle, having received letters from Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, Rome in the year 719: he set out to S. Gregory II the Pontiff, and with his letter, given on the 15th of May in the year 719, departed into Germany, and announced the word of God in Thuringia. In the same year 719 died Radbod, King of Frisia, by whose death understanding the door opened for preaching the Gospel of Christ, he departed into Frisia, and with S. Willibrord, for three years pressingly, he preaches in Frisia in the year 720 and following, labored in Christ, namely in the year 720 and the two following. Thence, after Hamanaburg in Hesse was somewhat cultivated and a monastery begun to be built, he departed to Rome to the said S. Gregory the Pope: by whom on the 30th of November on the feast of S. Andrew the Apostle he was consecrated Bishop in the year 723. Then, several letters being received both from the said Gregory, and, at his desire, from Charles Martel, he gave his labor to converting the Hessians and Thuringians, at Rome he is made Bishop in the year 723. whom the second Life indicates he cultivated six times at various periods. Meanwhile about the year 725 he came to the monastery of Palatiolum, near the city of Trier, and there was received by the widow Addala or Adela the Abbess, sister of S. Irmina the Abbess in the monastery of Horreum in the city of Trier, both of whom we have taught elsewhere were daughters of Dagobert II, King of the Austrasian Franks. He receives S. Gregory as disciple in the year 725. There Bonifacius received S. Gregory, afterwards Pastor of the city of Utrecht (who was grandson of the said Addala, by her son Albricus) as disciple and companion of his labors, then in the 14th or 15th year of his age, as will be more fully reported below from his Life, written by S. Ludgerus.

[9] Various things done in 13 years. Then for thirteen years he labored in the further conversion of the Hessians and Thuringians, and in Thuringia built a church at Erfurt, and not far thence the monastery of Ohrdruf. These things being done, the Pallium being received from Gregory III, held as Archbishop, he erected among the Hessians the monasteries of Fritzlar and Hamanaburg: in the meantime he went again into Frisia, where for the third time at interrupted intervals he labored. In Bavaria too in the time of Duke Hugibert he exercised the zeal of preaching; and then for the third time set out to Rome to Gregory III the Pontiff, in the year 738; but in the following year, returned into Bavaria, he came to Odilo or Utilo the Duke, then substituted for Hugibert; and there ordained four Bishops, and established the districts of each. So afterwards about the year 741 he gave to Eichstätt and Herbipolis as bishops SS. Willibald and Burchard.

[10] He holds Synods, Charles Martel having died in the same year 741, there succeeded Carloman and Pippin: but under Carloman the Saint celebrated five Synodal Councils. There had succeeded also Gregory III S. Zacharias the Pope in the said year 741, on the 19th day of November, to whom the same wrote various epistles and received from him. he writes various epistles to Zacharias and receives them from him: The epistles of S. Zacharias are marked given in Indiction 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, again in Indiction 1 and 5 on the day before the Nones of November, that is, from the year 743 to the year 751; and in the following year, the same Indiction 5 being current, S. Zacharias died, whose Acts we illustrated on the 15th day of March, and whose Chronology we corrected in the Propylaeum of May.

[11] Meanwhile, as the Author of the second life has it, when to B. Bonifacius the carnal deposition of the most sacred Bishop Willibrord had been revealed, and his transmigration to the heavenly fatherland … soon through the waves of the river Rhine he was carried to the town of Utrecht. after the death of S. Willibrord, About the death of S. Willibrord Ubbo Emmius in book 4 of the Affairs of Frisia thus writes: Willibrord, having for whole forty years actively discharged the Archbishopric throughout all Frisia, of great age at Echternach, in the monastery which he had built for himself, death took away on the 7th day before the Ides of November, when they numbered the year of the salvific birth 746 of Christ … But Bonifacius, hearing of the death of Willibrord, not only of his own accord, but also by the command of Carloman, undertook the care of that Church. he undertakes the care of the See of Utrecht. Hence in Joannes de Beka, in the Utrecht Chronicle: He is appointed the second Bishop: who, understanding the death of S. Willibrord, with the consent of Duke Carloman, by sailing came to Utrecht, and undertook in the name of God the governance of the desolate Church. Similar things have Joannes Gerbrandus of Leiden in book 3 of the Belgic Chronicle, chapter 3. Carloman withdrew in the seventh year of his rule, of Christ 647 (sic), having been made a monk at Monte Cassino. By others his death

of S. Willibrord is noted some years earlier, which however does not stand against this succession, about the year 744, and will have to be discussed on his natal day. S. Willibrord had been consecrated by Pope Sergius in the year 694: and because he was Bishop for fifty years, he must have departed this life in the year 744, which I embrace. Then therefore that Church was commended by Carloman to S. Bonifacius, which he himself testifies in epistle 97 to Pope Stephen, in which the fifty years of preaching are read written, of which Epistle the beginning is of this kind. In the time of Sergius, Pontiff of the Apostolic See, there came to the thresholds of the holy Apostles a certain Presbyter of wonderful abstinence and holiness, by the command of Carloman: of the race of the Saxons, named Willibrord, and by another name called Clemens: whom the aforesaid Pope ordained Bishop, and sent across to preach to the Pagan nation of the Frisians on the shores of the western Ocean. Who, preaching for fifty years, converted the aforesaid nation of the Frisians for the most part to the faith of Christ, destroyed the shrines and temples, and built Churches; and establishing an Episcopal See and a Church in honor of the Holy Savior in the place and castle which is called Utrecht, and in that See and Church of the Holy Savior, which he had built, preaching he remained until feeble old age, and substituted for himself a Coadjutor-Bishop to fulfill the ministry, and the days of his long life being finished, in peace migrated to the Lord. But Carloman, Prince of the Franks, commended to me that See for appointing and ordaining a Bishop, held as Archbishop of Utrecht, which also I did.

[12] These things S. Bonifacius, besides whom no other successor is admitted by Joannes de Beka, Wilhelm Heda, and other writers of Utrecht affairs. In the German Council under Carloman in the year 742, held on the 11th day before the Kalends of May, after S. Bonifacius and other Bishops Dadanus is named, whom we judge to have been the Coadjutor-Bishop substituted by S. Willibrord to fulfill the ministry: which Serarius too in his Notes to the Life of S. Bonifacius, though a little otherwise, intimated. But whom he ordained and appointed Bishop is not expressed: but on the 17th of this June is venerated S. Adulphus, with S. Botulphus, with whom he was buried and translated; and he is said in his Acts to have been raised to the Church of Utrecht as Bishop, which we shall there embrace as likely enough. Bonifacius, further, is said to have set out for Utrecht after the death of S. Willibrord, in the second Life, no. 12. But the Author of the third Life, no. 4, asserts that S. Bonifacius remained a long time after the death of S. Willibrord in the same Bishopric, abundantly administering the divine word to the cruel people of the Frisians; and confirming with the fortification of holy preaching the rudiments of faith, which had been begun by S. Willibrord. Then therefore, as is read at the same no. 4, S. Bonifacius, as a prudent steward, providing for the providence of the flock committed to him, set B. Gregory over the See of the Church of Utrecht as Pastor. with S. Gregory as Vicar general. And S. Ludgerus below at no. 9 asserts that S. Bonifacius, helped by his disciples, when by his doctrine B. Gregory irradiated Utrecht the ancient city, and the famous village of Dorstad, with that part of Frisia which at that time was reckoned by the name of Christianity. Then the same S. Ludgerus at no. 12 reckons the Archbishops of Utrecht, the first S. Willibrord, the second S. Bonifacius, whom, he says, B. Gregory my teacher succeeded, the pious heir of the same, ordained Pastor and Preacher of the nation of the Frisians by the Lord and by the Princes of the above-said Church of God. Othlonus too toward the end of the first book, when he had indicated the Ordination of Willibald and Burchard, adds: Then he directed Gregory, consecrated at Utrecht in the Episcopal (correct: Priestly) order. Lullus too at Mainz, while still living, he appointed for himself as Bishop. All these things being collated with one another, we judge that S. Bonifacius indeed administered the Bishopric of Utrecht by himself; but that, since, remaining Apostolic Archbishop, he often had to be away, he handed over that diocese as to his Vicar general to S. Gregory, esteemed by all for the holiness of his life and the lineage of royal blood.

[13] S. Zacharias the Pope, desiring S. Bonifacius to be appointed Metropolitan of Cologne, calls him in epistle 11 to various Bishops of Gaul and Germany Archbishop and Legate of the Apostolic See. He is approved as Archbishop of Mainz by Zacharias in the year 746. But because at that time Gewelip, admonished by the Saint, had of his own accord left the Bishopric of Mainz; by the election of the Clergy and people Bonifacius himself was adopted, in the year 740 (sic) undertook some administration of it: and Pope Zacharias gave counsel that he should by no means leave it, and at length he was absolutely confirmed in the same See by the aforesaid Pope; in the year 751 on the day before the Nones of November, as appears from epistle 13 in the Councils of Labbe, column 1527, whence we excerpt these things: While your Fraternity was occupied in these pious works, until now it has by no means claimed a Cathedral See for itself. But truly when God increased your preaching; you wished to obtain that we should confirm a Cathedral Church to you and your successors, according to the petition of the same sons of the Franks. And therefore by the authority of B. Peter the Apostle we sanction, that the above-said Church of Mainz for perpetual times be confirmed to you and your successors as a metropolis, having under it these five cities, that is, Tongeren, Cologne, Worms, Speyer, and Utrecht, and all the nations of Germany, which your Fraternity by your preaching has made to recognize the light of Christ. Thus far there. From that time therefore, because he could not more often go to the diocese of Utrecht, he joins Eobanus to S. Gregory: S. Bonifacius seems to have joined to S. Gregory Eobanus the Coadjutor-Bishop, to whom together with others he had written from Rome in the year 738 as to most beloved sons, and this man, consecrated Bishop, performed the Episcopal offices. Whose zeal, exercised together with S. Bonifacius in the last year before the martyrdom of both, Willibald and the Author of the third Life praise. So after his martyrdom Alubertus the Coadjutor-Bishop or Chorepiscopus was taken up by S. Gregory, as S. Ludgerus indicates.

[14] In the year 752, when Pippin had been raised up as King, under King Pippin: he began to set S. Bonifacius before him in habit and at once in honor, and to obey his precepts in the Lord. But the holy man, weighed down by infirmity of body, advanced and ordained Lullus to the grade of the Episcopate: he ordains S. Lullus Bishop. as is more fully reported below by Willibald, no. 32. To him, Bonifacius about to depart into Frisia, commended Thuringia and Fulda, and by Synodal authority and the consent of Prince Pippin set him over the Church of Mainz: but the Bishop of Cologne contending that the See of Utrecht was subject, not to the Roman Pontiff, but to him; the same Bonifacius wrote a letter to Pope Stephen (the former part of which we gave above) about the year 754, the Martyr dies in the year 755, as Autbertus Miraeus establishes in the Codex of Donations, chapter 9. How illustriously now an old man he traversed all Frisia, all the Acts speak below: and at length, as Willibald says, the fortieth year of his pilgrimage being revolved, when the seven hundred and fifty-fifth of the Incarnation of the Lord with the eighth Indiction is reckoned, on the day of the Nones of June, remunerated with the triumph of martyrdom, he migrated to the Lord. Which things copied thence Othlonus reports: but it was the fortieth year from his first pilgrimage into Frisia as we noted above. But there is a difficulty in the adjoined words of Willibald: But he sat in the Episcopate 36 years, six months, and 6 days. First the months and days agree, which intervene from the feast of S. Andrew on the 30th of November, to the 5th of June; but the years are only 31, so that the 5 years seem wrongly added, perhaps by some copyist, who, in the Epistle of Bonifacius, written toward the end of his life to Pope Stephen II, and printed in volume 6 of the Councils of Labbe, may have read that he discharged the Roman legation for 36 years; and thought those should be understood for his Episcopate, little anxious about the days and months, of which in the aforesaid Epistle no number is expressed, and so left them as noted, as he had found them noted by Willibald. The very Willibald may also have looked back to the first Roman journey, which Bonifacius made in the year 719, being bidden to discharge the office of the Apostolate and sent back into Germany by Pope Gregory, as we indicated above. But from there to the year 755, in which the holy Apostle died, whole years flowed by, 35, as many as we saw Willibald to have expressed.

[15] As regards present-day Frisia (for the old, whose royal seat was at Utrecht, extended much more widely) namely that which was the last arena of the Saint's Apostolic labors; this the most recent and most accurate topographer, Schotanus a Sterringa, divides into Ostergo, Westergo, and Sevewolde (in Latin we should say Eastern, Western, and Seven-forests) so that in the first is contained the place today called Dokkum, Dokkum in Frisia, but by the Authors of the second and third Life Dockinga. Yet another division Willibald will have indicated, when at no. 51 he says that the Saint settled by the bank of the river which is called Bordne, on the borders of those who in the rustic tongue are called Ostar and Westher. To understand this division, not well enough known to the very Frisians, the aforesaid river must be sought: but that the now obsolete name may be found, Bornwert and Bornwerthusen will serve, preserving the old name of that brook, otherwise ignoble, on either side of its bank. But those places stand on the western side of Dokkum, and the streamlet which flows between them, before it reaches the town, is poured into the river called Paessens; this divides the northern part of the Dokkum territory into two, into Oosterzyde Paessens and Westerzyde Paessens, that is, the regions of the Eastern and Western bank of the Paessens; whose borders Bonifacius touched, settling at Bordne. But the river Paessens itself, embracing with a twin arm a part of Dokkum, seems to make an island, namely that to which the second Life, no. 14, says the Saint put in by ship, and in the native tongue it is called Ostriki. To the southern side of this island and the town of Dokkum springs the fountain of S. Bonifacius, praised at no. 14 of the same second Life, from which today all their beer is brewed for the citizens; and beside is a grove called Morewold or Moorwaude, that is, the Wood of slaughter, of that committed on the Saints there: all which it will have helped to note for the easier understanding of the things to be said.

§. III. The sacred Cult of S. Bonifacius and his Companions.

[16] Memory inserted in old manuscripts of Bede, The venerable Bede died in the year 735: but twenty years after him S. Bonifacius departed: but so immediately was his pleasing memory inscribed in the sacred Calendars, that it is found even inserted in the best and most genuine copies of the Martyrology of Bede, as if he had migrated to the Lord before him. And so, as we indicated before the second Volume of March, where we brought into the light that same Martyrology long desired, in the copies of Dijon, the Vatican one of S. Peter, and another Roman one of Cardinal Barberini, at this 5th of June, these things are read: Of S. Bonifacius, Archbishop among the Frisians, reported by Rabanus, the passion of martyrdom was accomplished, and of Eobanus his Bishop, with other Servants

of God their companions. Rabanus, created the sixth Abbot of Fulda in the year 822, inscribed the same also in his Martyrology, in these words: On the Nones of June, of Bonifacius the Archbishop, whose passion of martyrdom was accomplished among the Frisians, and of Eobanus his Coadjutor-Bishop, with the servants of God Wintrungus and Walthore, Scirbaldus and Bosa, Hamundus and Aethelherus, by Usuard, Ado, Wancarus and Gundacarus, Willeherus and Hadavolfus. Usuard and Ado have the eulogy of Bonifacius alone; which is a sign that he at least was so found in the more ancient Calendars. And it is conceived in these words: Likewise of S. Bonifacius the Bishop, who, coming from the Britains, and evangelizing the faith of Christ to the nations, when he had subjugated a very great multitude in Frisia to the Christian religion, at last slain by the sword by the Pagans who survived, consummated his martyrdom, with Eobanus the Coadjutor-Bishop and other servants of God: To these Notker added some names from Rabanus; without which almost the same things as in Usuard and Ado are read in the present-day Roman.

[17] The memory of S. Bonifacius, Bishop and Martyr, is celebrated also in the Corbie and Lucca copies of the Hieronymian Martyrology, and in old manuscripts, namely added at the end, by the order of those who anciently took care that they be written. And in the Lucca one indeed the Saint is assigned to Austria, that is, to Eastern France, or Franconia, in which Fulda exists, in the diocese of Würzburg. In the old Utrecht Martyrology of the Collegiate Church of S. Maria, written about the year 1138, according to the sense of that city, such a eulogy is had: At Utrecht, of B. Bonifacius, Archbishop and Martyr. Who, coming from the Britains to Utrecht, in the time of S. Willibrord, the first Archbishop and Doctor of the men of Utrecht, abode with him. But after the passing of the most holy Bishop Willibrord, the said Bonifacius by the grace of God was raised to the honor of the same Archbishopric. of the Church of Utrecht, Who, when he was constantly evangelizing the faith of Christ in Frisia, and had subjugated a very great multitude to the Christian religion, at last slain by the Frisians by the sword, consummated his martyrdom, with his fellow-workers Eobanus and Adalarius the Presbyters, and fifty-three others. In the Trier manuscript of S. Martin these last are distinguished by this eulogy: In Frisia, of S. Bonifacius, Bishop and Martyr, with his companions Eobanus the Coadjutor-Bishop, Athalarius the Presbyter, and fifty-three others. and of Trier, In the manuscript Martyrology of the Queen of Sweden, which we have always judged to have belonged to the monastery of Fulda, there is extant a long encomium, worthy to be here added. It is therefore of this kind:

[18] On the Nones of June, the Passion of our holy Father Bonifacius, an Apostolic man, and adorned with all wisdom: who, drawing a noble origin from the nation of the English, brought up most religiously in the same place in a holy purpose, was no less distinguished in doctrine and renowned for miracles. But afterwards, admonished by divine piety, he went to the borders of Germany: he nobly instructed the nation of the Franks, ensnared in various snares of errors, and most pressingly overcame the depravities of the heretics. He was so preeminent also in Evangelical doctrine, that you might praise the times of the Apostles in his preaching. And so, his merits growing renowned on every side, summoned by the most holy man Gregory the Roman Pope, sent across for the enlightenment of all Germany, and by the same ordained Bishop, in the city which is called Mainz he merited to be raised to the honor of the Pontificate. There, placed among men, he exercised an Angelic life. The nation of the Franks, the peoples of the Thuringians and Saxons, he won for God, and was most glorious in all holiness. But at last, when he had subjugated many of the Frisians to the Christian religion, slain by the sword by the Pagans who survived, with the glory of martyrdom he migrated to the celestial realms: and his body, a very great throng of the faithful accompanying, carried to the monastery of Fulda, which he himself had built for himself in the solitude of Bocconia, with great praises of God, the body of S. Bonifacius being translated to Fulda, and buried with fitting honor, is renowned there for very many miracles. There suffered with him also others of his Clergy, religious men, Presbyters, Deacons, and Monks: but the nobler among them were Eobanus the Bishop and Adalarius the Priest: who first in the monastery which is named Tricht merited an honorable burial, but as the years emerged they too were translated to Fulda and rest quite beautifully in the Church of the Lord the Savior, Eobanus and Adalarius, beside the body of their holy Pastor and Martyr of Christ Bonifacius. These things were written in the said Martyrology of Fulda, at least when the Kings or Emperors of the Franks, descendants of Charlemagne, were reigning in Germany; and some abridgment of this eulogy is extant in the manuscript Martyrology of the monastery of S. Cyriacus, esteemed greatly by Baronius.

[19] I omit very many other Martyrologies, both written by hand and printed in type, and also the Breviaries of Mainz, Utrecht, Erfurt, and others, in which eulogies drawn from the Acts themselves are extant. It will be enough to bring the testimony of Cuthbert, Archbishop of Canterbury: who, the martyrdom of S. Bonifacius being learned, convened a Synod of Bishops and Abbots, The cult prescribed in an Anglo-Saxon Synod, and by common suffrage decreed that the fifth day of June, on which the Martyr had died, should be solemnly celebrated by all the Anglo-Saxons in honor of Bonifacius and his companions. Concerning which matter the letters, sent from the Synod to Lullus, Archbishop of Mainz, by the said Cuthbert, Serarius reports inserted among the Bonifacian Epistles, no. 70, where he says: Exulting at the admirable, or rather ineffable, piety of God, we give thanks, that the nation of the English, a stranger of Britain, merited to send forth from itself, openly to all, to the spiritual contests, and to the salvation of many souls through the grace of almighty God, so illustrious a watchman of the celestial library, so excellent a soldier of Christ, with many well-brought-up and best-instructed disciples; that far and wide the most ferocious nations, long wandering through devious ways, from the broad and spacious abyss of perpetual perdition, to the shining paths of the supernal fatherland, by the incitements of holy exhortation, and by examples of piety and goodness, he himself as leader and standard-bearer going before, and by valiantly conquering with God's help all adversities, might happily lead. That this was done so quickly, even the effect of things more gloriously than words demonstrates: and in those places too, which before him no Doctor ever attempted to approach for the sake of evangelizing. Whence therefore, after the incomparable mystery throughout the whole world of the Apostolic election and number, and the ministry of the other disciples of Christ then evangelizing, him among the excellent and best Doctors of the orthodox faith we both lovingly hold, and laudably venerate. Whence in our general Synod, where we conferred among ourselves more fully both about all the other things, which we now set forth to your Sanctity in few words, intimating his natal day, and that of the cohort martyred with him, we resolved to celebrate it solemnly with yearly observance: as one whom especially for ourselves, with Dom Gregory and Augustine, we seek as a Patron, and undoubtedly believe we have, before Christ the Lord, whom in his life he always loved; and in his death, as his grace merited, magnificently glorified. These and many other things Cuthbert.

[20] About the cohort, martyred with him, as is said above, or rather martyred, the authors do not sufficiently agree in number, The names of the 11 Companions, and in the writing of some they differ. In Willibald, as the most ancient and most faithful author, the names at no. 35 are thus expressed: Eobanus the Coadjutor-Bishop, Wintrungus and Walterius together with Adelherus, Priests; Hamuntus, Scribaltus, and Bosa, appointed to the service of the Levites; Waccarus and Gundecarus, Illeherus and Hathevulfus, raised to the monastic order of the Monks. The manuscript codex of the Trier monastery of S. Maximinus, in Serarius in the Life of S. Bonifacius, thus reports the same: Coebancus the Coadjutor-Bishop; Wintrungus, Walterus, and Ethelherus the Priests; Hamudus, Scirbaldus, and Bosa the Levites; Waccarus, Gundecarus, Illeserus, and Hathovulfus the Monks. In Rabanus and Notker these are written: Eobanus the Coadjutor-Bishop, Wintrungus and Walthere, Scirbaldus and Bosa, Hamundus and Athelherus, Wancarus and Gundecarus, Willeherus and Hadovulfus. Othlonus in Serarius thus names them: Eobanus the Chorepiscopus; Wintrungus, Waltherus, and Adalherus, Hamuntus, Skirbaltus, Bderso (in Surius Boso), Waccarus and Kundecarus (in Surius Gundeharus), Williherus and Hadolfus. The Author of the Supplement, the others being omitted whom Willibald had expressed by name, was content to name one Hiltebrant, the minister of the Episcopal table, perhaps therefore passed over by Willibald, because he was a layman like the rest: but that supplement the Martyrologists did not see, whence neither did they name him. Dempster, and following him Ferrarius, on the 9th of April, say of Kundacarus the Scot those things which ought to be referred here, if Dempster were worthy, who, taking the day from his own brain, should be regarded. I omit the more recent authors, who took from these. We in the title have given the names of each a Latin termination, besides whom others are mentioned in Willibald and Othlonus: but in the second and third Life there are indicated fifty-two Martyrs who suffered with S. Bonifacius: and in the third Life the bodies of the eleven named, and of thirteen others, are said to have been translated to Utrecht; other anonymous ones 41 or 44. but those of the others to have been buried in the place of martyrdom: hence the number of those whose names were given to oblivion, but written in the book of life, would be forty. In the Utrecht and Trier Martyrologies reported above, the fellow-workers Eobanus and Adalarius, and fifty-three others, are mentioned; and so the anonymous Martyrs would be forty-three. Later others add 52 companions, others more.

[21] Another controversy is raised about S. Adalarius, whether he is one and the same as Adalherus the Priest, as he is called by Willibald. Adalarius and Adalherus seem to be one and the same. But in the same way in the Martyrologies of Utrecht and Trier Adalarius or Athalarius is called a Presbyter. And in the Martyrology of Fulda, among the Martyrs who suffered with S. Bonifacius, the nobler are said to be Eobanus the Bishop and Adalarius the Priest: who themselves too were translated to Fulda, and then carried from the monastery of Fulda to Erfurt, but by posterity both held to be Bishops; as if Adalarius had been appointed by S. Bonifacius Bishop of Erfurt, and meanwhile, his diocese being left, joined in Frisia to S. Bonifacius himself, had there died a Martyr: of which matter among the ancients no vestige is extant. Meanwhile, as such he is venerated in the Breviary of Erfurt with a double rite on the 20th of April, as if that be the day of the Translation, which also in various, but mostly more recent, Martyrologies is so inscribed; whence not a little likelihood accrues to that tradition, which would be even much more likely (the Episcopal title however being removed), if it were established about the existence of the body at Erfurt. It is established from the first epistle of S. Bonifacius to Pope Zacharias and his reply, given in the year 743, that among the three Episcopal Sees recently established, the third is in the place which is called Erphesfurt, and that Bishops were ordained in them. But it is not added that the said Adalarius was given for the men of Erfurt: gratuitously therefore did posterity assume this. Besides, they are not said to be consecrated Bishops, but ordained or destined: and Bonifacius asks of the Pope that the Sees be confirmed and stabilized. But under a condition the Pope permits it, if the places merit to have Bishops, since in the sacred canons it is prescribed that Bishops should by no means be ordained in little villages or small cities, lest the name of Bishop grow cheap. But because the said

Adalarius is held the first and last Bishop in Serarius, note 29 (where he says that Erfurt is called by Bonifacius a city of pagan rustics), that Adalarius was appointed Bishop there must be confirmed; for Serarius adds, Note 46, that Adalarius seems to have been held a Bishop by later men of Erfurt, just as S. Gregory is everywhere called the third Bishop of Utrecht, although he was only a Priest, and Pastor of that diocese. Of the Relics of SS. Eobanus and Adalarius kept at Erfurt, there will be treatment below in the Analects.

§ IV. The image of S. Bonifacius, from an old stone and from seals, and also the forms of the Monastic habit of that time from paintings of the 9th century; likewise of the Kings of the Franks pertaining to the same.

[22] From the Antiquities of Fulda of Brouwer, Since the most distinguished man Balthasar Moretus, Royal Architypographer of the most noble Plantinian Office, the third heir by the same name and surname from Martina Plantina, daughter of Christophorus Plantinus, seemed for his accustomed kindness about to grant us not grudgingly, for the illustration of the following Acts of S. Bonifacius, those plates which had been used in the year 1612, in printing at the press of his aforesaid great-grandmother, then a widow, the four books of the Antiquities of Fulda written by our Brouwer, often cited and to be cited by Henschenius; that I might execute his will concerning them, left to me in writing, without interruption of those things which he himself wished to premise to the Acts in the best order and judgment; I resolved that this 4th § should be placed here. And now I was on the point of asking for those plates on loan; when it seemed better to contract them all into one, and to distinguish each part by its number. First therefore is exhibited the image of S. Bonifacius himself, which in book 2, chapter 15 Brouwer set forth, from an old stone tablet, on the mount of S. Peter, near the city, inserted in a work by no means ancient of the outer tower; which he reckons was sculpted from the very cradle of the place, that is, from the year 808: I think, after the death of Charlemagne, who died in the year 814, some years having elapsed, and I will give the reason below.

[23] The image of the Saint is had on an old stone, A great argument, says Brouwer, has this image, in its several parts, of the old Pontifical garment, of the infulae, and of the mitre: and the staff, which he bears in his hand, is not unlike that which is kept in the Sacristy. But I, before I pass to its consideration, note that he is far from the sincerity of that time, who, not content with old things, from the usage of his own time fits even modern things to the Saint. The insignia of the Kings of England, which, says Brouwer on another occasion (where he treats of SS. John and Paul Martyrs, book 2, chapter 8), is a contrivance of idle men, scarcely worthy of the wits of Poets, as though virtue and holiness could not protect their race and nobility, without the distinction of shield and colors. Now in that image I judge further worthy of notice, not so much the circle which surrounds the head, common to all Saints, as the shell within which it is enclosed; sculpted indeed only for the sake of ornament behind the head, yet more ancient than he easily thinks, who has not seen the Diptychs of our Wiltheim, expressing Anastasius, Consul of the East in the year 517, in Consular habit, with a plainly similar shell behind the head, whose mystery however I would not dare to define by conjecture.

[24] In the rest the Archbishop's Pallium is very notable, and in the seals of Fulda; in some way sewn to the Chasuble, cut out at the sides; and the Maniple, lightly cast on the joining of the left hand and arm: and the same form of the Pallium, but destitute of Crosses, I note in the old Seal of the City of Fulda; with the Chasuble indeed closed on every side, yet rolled up above for the free extension of the arms, as you see in figure 8. A similar Chasuble (but above which the Pallium, carried round the back, lightly appears) the Seal of the Convent of Fulda shows, published by Brouwer, and here expressed in figure 7. There you see the Archbishop, as if seated in the temple, and blessing the Monks, about to proceed to the sacred Lessons under the divine Office, and therefore clothed in Albs girt at the loins. But Brouwer notes the turreted summits of the temple here represented, which, if not in position, yet in the manner of figure, sufficiently express the roof of the Basilica, present to him as he writes.

[25] sculpted indeed after the year 1398, But it is established from the same Brouwer in book 4, that not only in the year 1387, after the chains of S. Peter, the basilica of S. Bonifacius was burned down by a mournful and destructive fire; but also in the year 1398 (after, by the privilege of Boniface IX, access was given to women, which had never been permitted, into the inner parts of the temple) the basilica itself with the monastery, struck by lightning from heaven, was almost utterly subjected to the destruction of flames and fires. Since therefore in the aforesaid Seal you understand expressed the figure of turreted summits, but according to more ancient prototypes. such as stood at the beginning of this century; consequently you understand that this Seal, the last, and likely also the first, does not exceed the beginning of the 15th century; though it is probable that both were expressed after the form of the preceding times, and nearer to the age of the Saint. And this at least makes it likely, the form of the Monastic Cowls, almost Capuchin; which Cowls even the Levites clothed in Albs have drawn out, I know not whether bare, or, which I should rather believe, wrapped in a linen veil (we call it the Amice). But that this may appear more clearly, from the paintings of Modestus and Candidus, flourishing at Fulda at the beginning of the 9th century, The habit too of the men of Fulda in the choir, in figure 4 I offer the Monks of that Abbey, prostrate for the Abbot's blessing, most of them in their cowls; among whom also the Abbot stands, with another Monk behind his back; another more closely sleeved, such as also the first of the prostrate appears: the scapular nowhere appearing, as being hidden under the cowl or another upper garment.

[26] But that you may not seek here the old and genuine form of the Scapular itself, lying hidden, and the old form of the Benedictine scapular. look at Candidus himself in figure 5, how he painted himself outside the more sacred choral garment, privately disputing with his companion Modestus in figure 6. Here you behold the true-named Scapular, which namely covers the whole shoulders and the tops of the arms, like a sleeved cloak, and constricted at the loins by a girdle, nor reaching to the knees. Hence further you may understand, what is that habit, in which Abbot John, head of the men of Monte Cassino dwelling in the Lateran monastery at Rome at the beginning of the 7th century, had himself painted. His effigy, standing before S. Benedict, lest it should have to be sought elsewhere, I will not be loth to give again to be reprinted; although already once and again used, namely before Volume 1 of May, after the Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides; and in the Chronico-historical Attempt, or the Propylaeum of May itself, after the eulogy of Pope Leo III; but with another purpose in each place.

[27] After the habit of the men of Fulda being thus known, in figure 9, there comes also to be considered that in which Ratgarius the third Abbot, and finally Abbot Ratgarius in a Tabard, and on account of his savagery against the Monks deposed in the year 818, the same writers and painters expressed, with the symbol of a Unicorn added, charging upon the sheep and scattering them, such as Candidus there describes Ratgarius. Brouwer in book 2, chapter 16, thinks the Archimandrite's garment is expressed by that figure; but as in the head fully covered with hair I see nothing Monastic, so neither in the garment, in which this Ratgarius stands clothed, recognizable as Abbot only by the staff. I reckon therefore that he is here set forth in an almost secular habit, or at most Canonical, such as at that time secular Prelates used, and such as Abbot Marquardus was clothed in, in the year 1288 (as the writer of his acts has it), when he was in vain asked by the Monks, that, especially in their presence, to designate his irregularity. he should appear only in cowl or cope, and replied that it was theirs to provide the discipline of the choir; his, to use a tabard or toga or whatever garment he pleased; and so when he began to go forth to the public procession, riding like a Lord … the Dean, not bearing this, and with him the chief men, went to the Abbot; and stripping him of the toga clothed him, though resisting, in the garment of the Religion. Therefore I believe the Tabard here too cast upon Ratgarius by the painter, not because he really used it; but because he proved himself unworthy of the garment of the Religion: although he afterwards, leading a private life, in the monastery of the mount of the B. Virgin, where once both the dwelling of S. Bonifacius, and the first parish of the men of Fulda had been, had an end equal to his praiseworthy beginnings, carried back into the Basilica of Fulda and buried, not without a eulogy.

[28] The images finally of two Kings, that they are not Carloman and Pippin; Besides the sacred antiquities already indicated, Brouwer adduces, received from the same church of the Mount of S. Peter, whence he had had the image of S. Bonifacius, two profane bas-reliefs, which, carried thither from the ruins of the old edifice for the sake of memory, he says were so fastened to a hidden wall, that they are covered by the corners of the altars, placed here and there in the inner temple. A work indeed very old, says Brouwer, and full of majesty: but the very habit of face and body, and the almost twin ornament of the garments, persuades that they are a pair of brothers. But of whom? he believes of those: to whom the cradle of the monastery of Fulda is owed, Carloman and Pippin. But all that we here see in figures 2 and 3 is Royal; but they, although after the death of their father Charles Martel, who died in the year 741, administered the commonwealth with full power; yet, content like their father with the title of Mayors of the palace, were so far from caring to usurp the Royal name and insignia, that in the third year of their common administration, they took to themselves as King Childeric: who bore that empty title, until the year 51: and in his place in the following year Pippin alone (for Carloman had left the world five years before, having become a Monk at Monte Cassino) received the kingdom offered him by the Princes of the Franks, by the permission of Pope Zacharias, crowned by S. Bonifacius.

[29] The same afterwards the successor of Zacharias, Stephen, in the year 754, again consecrated together with his sons Charles and Carloman: of whom the first was then eight years old, the other only four. But these can conveniently be believed expressed in some work, representing the whole family of King Pippin the First in order, of which these two fragments only survive. This conjecture they confirm, not only the youthful face of each, yet so that the one appears some years older in birth; but I judge his sons Charles and Carloman to be, but also the numbers II and III expressed beneath, to which Brouwer did not turn his mind, and which seem to indicate the order of birth. To Pippin certainly, besides four sons, there were three daughters, of whom two, Rothais and Adeleis, died young, Gisla, Abbess of Soissons, died only a few years before her brother Charles. If therefore we conceive one of the daughters born before Charles, another in the year 749 between the brother Kings, and then in their order the remaining offspring; but all sculpted together according to the prototype; then it was done, when Charles numbered about eighteen years, such as they were while their father was still living, but Carloman fourteen; all things will fit aptly enough: for neither could Carloman be expressed much older,

who died in the year 771. And so he is rightly expressed. But if anyone should wish to fetch the reason of the order from elsewhere; say from the series of succession in the kingdom, as if Pippin first, Charles second, Louis third, again Charles, namely the Bald, fourth, had been designated; he must yet fail, in giving the reason for so similar a face and dress, which is most conveniently had from the brotherhood of those there expressed.

[30] Charles was of a round crown of the head, with very large and lively eyes, although the work was made when they too were dead: with a nose a little exceeding moderation, with a glad and cheerful face, although his neck fat and shorter, as Eginhard saw and described him an old man in the Life, no. 27: of all which you may see some beginning even in the youthful figure here expressed, rather than in the other born later. But you will say, if these are the images of Charles and Carloman, just gone out from boyhood; and so taken from a prototype, expressing the Kings still living and indeed young; what does that bright circle around the head mean, wont to be fitted to the dead alone, and altogether such as the similar bas-relief image of Bonifacius, now a Saint, expresses behind his head? Indeed I have not yet learned by any example, that the Franks and Germans had the same custom as the Italians, to distinguish the figures of the living and the dead, and therefore expressed with a round circle behind the head: by fitting to these a circle behind the head, to those a square ball or tablet; yet so that, even if they themselves held that custom, the sculptors of this work of which we treat may be said to have wished indeed to express all, such as they were while Pippin, the head of the Royal family, was still living, that is, before September of the year 768; yet to have done it, when he was already dead together with all his children for several years. The argument for so replying is suggested by the age of the very church, in which the stones were found, because its first Dedication is found to have been made in the year 808, and so long after the age here represented; Charles alone then surviving, who lived until the year 814; and after whose death such ornament could be brought thither, since both he himself was already commonly held a Saint, and others were believed to have died piously in Christ. But if you collate those tablets with the tablet expressing S. Bonifacius, you will not without difficulty be persuaded that all are by the same hand; the similarity being recognized of the diadem, or wheel, drawn behind the heads around the shell arched and hollow, by rays going out from the center, presenting almost the appearance of feathers.

[31] other images of Charlemagne now older; A sign moreover of the earlier and youthful age I detect also in this, that whereas here the Royal cloak or mantle is fastened to the breast by a larger clasp or brooch, like a Cope (as we are wont to call it) of the rain-cloak; the same in Charles now older is always found to have the knot cast back onto one of the shoulders, in the Roman manner; and that not only in the signet rings, fashioned after the likeness of the Imperial coins; but also in the paintings representing the whole body, such as about the year 800 at Rome Pope Leo III caused to be expressed in Mosaic, both in the Leonine triclinium and in the church of S. Susanna. If anyone however wish to see the same Charles, expressed with his own face and dress, let him go to Mabillon's Italian Itinerary, page 70, and to Baluze's Capitularies, volume 2 and following, where four times he will find Charles expressed, thus cloaked. About these I add nothing more here, intending perhaps to collect all such images for the Supplement of January; where also there can be given from the Paderborn Monuments the monument of S. Wittikindus, Duke of the Saxons under the same Charles, in which he lies sculpted in almost the same dress and lily-bearing scepter as the Kings of France.

[32] Yet I cannot pass over without observing, that Charlemagne, whom at such age as we supposed above in the last of these the mustaches raised contrary to custom, it is no wonder to be sculpted beardless and with smooth chin; in the Roman Mosaics, where he is found expressed with Pope Leo in Frankish habit, is seen moderately bearded, with the mustache of the upper lip raised on either side. Which raising of the mustaches, since I see it attributed to Charles nowhere but at Rome, I am moved to suspect that it was in use among the Roman Nobles, and was not assumed except in their favor by their new Emperor for a short time: just as the man, ordinarily not tolerant either of foreign manners or of foreign garments, yet once, Pope Hadrian asking, and again Leo his successor entreating, is said by Eginhard in the Life, no. 28, to have been clothed in a long tunic and cloak, perhaps out of a certain indulgence toward the Romans: and shod with shoes fashioned in the Roman manner. Otherwise whatever of mustache was on the upper lip is seen turned downward, in his own Seals, and first in the frontal image of the Bible in Alemannus in the Lateran walls and Mabillon in the Italian Itinerary; which to have been painted before the children born of his wife Hildegard, and so about the year 772, the metrical explanation of the image proves, ending in these verses:

The noble wife on the left adorns according to custom, By whom illustrious offspring are duly prepared for the kingdom. with the young Charles having almost no beard,

[33] Since this year is of the Christian era 813, the penultimate of Charles's life; it is plain how greatly they err, who in later centuries began to fashion our Emperor, with a long beard reaching to the girdle; nor less was I formerly mistaken in the contrary direction, nor likewise to have shaved it off entirely. when, relying on the seal of a single diploma of S. Maximinus, representing Charles beardless for the 33rd year of his life, in the Propylaeum to Volume 2 of April; I followed those asserting that, the beard being shaved or at least clipped almost to the skin, even in extreme age, Charles should be expressed; that I likewise erred, when on that title of supposition I condemned a certain Osnabrück diploma, published among the Paderborn monuments: which our Author and Patron, desiring it to be justified, made me see its original, and without delay received the testimony of truth contrary to my former judgment; and this too I not unwillingly make public, desiring the faith given to the living to be kept also to the dead. Yet I would not render the diploma of S. Maximinus suspect for the sake of the seal alone, recognizing with Mabillon, page 138, that the Kings of the Franks, although everywhere they used seals expressing each his own image; both Pippin the father, and Charlemagne his son, or rather their Chancellors, when the genuine ones were lacking, sometimes used signet rings of whatever kind, even representing Bacchus, even Serapis, profane gods. Accordingly I now cease to seek in that of S. Maximinus the face of Charles, reigning in his 40th year; but I suspect that the effigy of his brother Carloman, dead so many years before, was used, and therefore that seal I add as a finishing touch in figure 14.

THE FIRST LIFE.

By the Author Willibald the Presbyter.

From the Trier manuscript and three editions, of Canisius, Serarius, and Mabillon.

Bonifacius, Apostolic Legate and Archbishop of Mainz, Martyr (S.)

BHL Number: 1400

BY WILLIBALD

PROLOGUE.

[1] To the holy Lords and truly most dear in Christ, Lullus and Megingozus, Coadjutor-Bishops, the Bishops Lullus and Megingozus being the authors who incited it, Willibald, though unworthy, Presbyter in the Lord. Having perceived the affection alike and the wish of your pious Paternity, not trusting in the literary knowledge of my own praise, but bestowing on your Sanctity the due service of obedience, I gladly obeyed; and the arduous work which you suggested, I began with slender strength, leading it to the very end of completion. But I beseech, that if anything should come out otherwise than your will required; you may bear with equal mind the weakness of my infirmity, and the sublimity of the imposed work: since it is the greatest indication of my reverence, when I do not refuse the labor of obedience to the command of your Sublimity. But if I shall have made anything worthy and profitable for our times, it must indeed be attributed to the divine gift and the desire of your precept: since the pious will of one desiring sometimes both imitates the hand of the polisher, and by the violence of its impression prepares at least some little sweetness of the desired knowledge, and refreshes the hungry by imparting.

[2] For your Sanctity decreed to make the unwise equal to the wise, and the less fit to the prudent, and to set him before them: and what, namely without our effort, you could reveal with prudent speech, this to impose on me as on one ignorant. But I pray, that he whom the wine-press of your precept presses down, he professes to write what he himself and others learned from his disciples, he may infuse by the prayer of assiduous orison; and that the mind, dulled with the darkness of sloth, the will of your spontaneous love may rouse from sleep; that to those things to which, you compelling it, it has been invited, it may be rendered more tenacious by the lively narration of words. For you compelled me, that according to the standard of those, whose either chastity of life, or holiness of morals, the holy Fathers without doubt by inserting into the pages with elegant winding of words handed down (at the request of religious and Catholic men, among whom, whether in the parts of Tuscany, or in the borders of Gaul, or in the approaches of Germany, or even in the limits of Britain, the fame and the flashing of the miracles of S. Bonifacius the Martyr resounds), as I learned from his disciples long abiding with him, or from you yourselves reporting it, I should insert in letters the beginning and middle and end of his life, with as much investigation as I am able.

[3] And just as, the handwriting of the first transgression being dissolved, and the ray of the true light shining forth, Hegesippus, who is said to have come to Rome under Anacletus, is reported to have published five books of ecclesiastical acts, for the use of readers; Eusebius of Caesarea, the most renowned Writer of historiographers, with Pamphilus the Martyr and his helper, weaving the histories of his own and of the times preceding him with wonderful skill of eloquence, published countless volumes in writing; and also Gregory, who was a man of blessed memory most learned in the studies of letters, sitting on the glorious summit of the Apostolic See, writing the Life of the blessed Confessors, showing himself a dialectician with wonderful moderation, expressed four books with logical reasoning; which, inserted hitherto in the libraries of the Churches, bring to posterity the elaborated dignity of knowledge; so the life of the blessed man, and his lofty virtues, and his worship of piety and the strength of his abstinence, you bid me demonstrate to the present and following ages.

[4] from a zeal of obeying. But although, for demonstrating the account of so great matters, I acknowledge myself to become a slight and small author; yet, your benevolence's will requiring it, this which you commanded, you bidding it, not relying on the insolence of my own presumption, but trusting in the assertion of Catholics, I will undertake the work; neither from the style of my littleness offering an example of my own praise, while everyone is instructed by these patterns, and is led by the perfection of his progress to better things.

NOTES.

* otherwise "with me"

CHAPTER I.

Infancy. Monastic life. Studies, Virtues. Priesthood. Journey into Frisia while Radbod was living.

[5] The illustrious therefore and truly blessed life of S. Bonifacius the supreme Pontiff and his morals, greatly hallowed by the imitation of the Saints, although hindered by the dimness of knowledge, yet on the slender warp of this little work, and with the simple covering of history, as we learned from religious men reporting it; who, diligently presented in his daily * conversation of discourse and religion, handed down to posterity for an example those things which they heard or saw, by a gathered variety of words, we strive by weaving to unfold;

and from the beginning even to the end, with as much investigation as we can, to reveal the holiness of his divine contemplation. For when, with the early grace of boyish age, much (as is wont) by the care of maternal solicitude he had been weaned and nourished; he was loved, indeed with great * affection, the love of the other sons being set after, by his father. But he who had now subjected to his mind all things falling away, and had disposed to think rather of eternal than of present things; In the 4th or 5th year of his age, thinking of the monastery, when he was about four or five years old; strove to subject himself to the service of God, and with much effort of mind continually to toil for the monastic life, and daily to pant for it with the strivings of his mind. But when some Presbyters or Clerics, as is the custom in those regions, had gone for the sake of preaching to the common people or laymen, and had come to the villa and house of the aforesaid head of the family; soon, as far as the smallness of his ability prevailed in his infancy, he began to treat with them, speaking of heavenly things; and to ask what would profit him and his infirmity in the future.

[6] And when he thus long thought of heavenly things with daily meditation of mind, his father at first opposing, and stretched himself wholly into the future, and raised himself to things above; at last he revealed to his father too these things which he bore in his mind, and asked that he would consult his will. Which being learned, the father astonished, with great insistence of rebuke, partly by threats forbade him to desert him, partly also by blandishments urged him to the care of secular business; that he might subject him to the temporary gain of a transitory inheritance, and leave him, when he himself should one day be dead, the guardian, nay even the heir of his earthly substance. With very many words indeed, using the fraudulent cunning of human craftiness, he tried to turn the tender mind from the completion of the begun purpose; and he promises with manifold adulation of speech that this active life is more tolerable for his infancy than the contemplative life of the monastic warfare; then chastened by illness, that even so he might restrain him from the effort of this purpose, and incite him to the softness of worldly luxury. But the man, already full of God in boyhood, the more he was forbidden by his father, the more, his mind's fortitude being seized, anxiously panted to acquire for himself the heavenly treasure, and to join himself to the sacred studies of letters: and it happens in a wondrous manner, as the divine mercy is always wont to act, that God, providing for his soldier of the weaker age, granted both solace to the begun matter, and increase to the anxious will, and a sudden change of mind of the opposing father; so that in one and the same course of time, both a hasty sickness crept upon the father, the sudden moment of death now imminent; and because, the more quickly, the boy's will, hindered by a great interval of time, grew up; and, the Lord God helping, by growing up was fulfilled and perfected.

[7] his consent being obtained, For after, by the wondrous judgment of God's dispensation, a great languor had seized the carnal father of the holy man; soon, the former obstinacy of his mind laid aside, he directed the boy, an agreement of the kinsmen being made, to the monastery, which by the term of the ancients is named a Adestancastre, of his own accord, indeed corrected by the Lord; and commended him, brought back, by faithful messengers of his legation, to the faithful man Wolfardus, who was also Abbot of that monastery. To whom, being still set in boyish years, he wisely addressed himself, his friends standing with him; and that namely for a long time he had desired to subject himself to the monastic rule, a reasonable petition being set forth, he is received into it, as he had been formerly taught by his parents, he indicated. To whom forthwith the Father of the monastery, the counsel of the Brethren being entered, and their blessing received (as the order of the regular life required), granted his consent and effect. And so the man of God, bereft of his carnal father, * followed the adoptive Father of our redemption; and renouncing the earthly gains of the world, he was thenceforth busy to acquire the merchandise of the eternal inheritance; that, according to the truthful voice of Truth, by leaving father and mother, or fields, or other things of this world, he might receive a hundredfold, and possess eternal life. Matthew 19.

[8] only seven years old: Having therefore completed, though summarily, the first order of our exposition, in what manner, at the beginning of his studious conversion, he submitted himself to holiness, we have briefly set forth; that, the foundation of the building being made by us, the sublimity of the structure might gradually be raised higher to the summit. After therefore the seven years of infancy are unrolled, the grace of boyish age coming on, a wondrous fortitude of knowledge also prevailed in him. For with great and ineffable gravity of mind, and applies himself to pious instructions: the heavenly grace inspiring, as the documents of this work that follow declare, he was enriched; and by the chastity of many virtues, according to the shown pattern of the Saints, subject to the institutions of the preceding and venerable Fathers, declared and adorned. For he so burned with divine genius, and gave himself preeminently to the exercise of reading, that with each added time, moments and hours, and the courses of years, there were increased even in him the heavenly aids, and the divine increases of the gifts of his protector: and the more he advanced under the pedagogy of pastoral teaching, the more (as the faithful of that man's intimacy testified for certain) his daily studies, with continual literary meditation of praise day and night, incited him to the advancement of eternal beatitude: and against the hostile persecutions of diabolical suggestion, which often among mortals are wont to cover the tender flower of youth as with a certain misty darkness of blindness, with great advancement: they wonderfully protected him: so that even, on account of the unceasing care of his long solicitude and the everlasting examination of the sacred laws, the alluring incitements of adolescence in him, and the impulses of carnal desires first impinging, the Lord God aiding, they for the most part calmed, and advance him more and more to the common teaching of the peoples: which, no long interval of time being passed, according to the Pontifical decree of Ecclesiastical definition, he began, expanded, and perfected.

[9] then he migrates elsewhere for the sake of studies, Since, despising the perishable ornaments of this world, he duly kept the standard of the monastic life in his infancy, under the moderate governance of the aforesaid Father, very many years; until, the wantonness of boyhood ceasing, and the adolescence of puberty beginning, a more ardent will of his little genius kindled him, that he might come also to neighboring monasteries, urged by the lack of magisterial reading, with the consent and counsel of his faithful fellow-servants and of the Father of the monastery. And when with vow and intention alike he asked unceasingly with great insistence of prayers that the aid of the Omnipotent might be present to him; at length, the divine grace inspiring from heaven, he came to the monastery which to this day is called b Nutscelle; and, provoked by the spiritual diligence of letters of Abbot Winberchtus of blessed memory, who reverently governed the aforesaid monastery under discipline, he chose the teaching, and the companionship of the Brethren living with him in the Lord.

[10] And so, joined to the fellowship of the servants of God, he showed a devout service to the Lord God, and the laborious insistence of vigils, then he teaches the Brethren: and the work of divine reading, with huge zeal of meditation: so that at length, imbued with the greatest erudition of the Scriptures, both with the eloquence of the Grammatical art and the modulation of the marrowy fluency of meters, and also with the simple exposition of history, and the threefold c interpretation of the spiritual understanding, and with skill of dictation, he laudably shone; so that at last he became to others too the pedagogue of the paternal traditions, and the author of teaching, who before did not refuse to be a disciple of those subject to him. Since it is the custom of the sacred conversation, that he should fear to set himself before the rest, who has preferred to be subject to others (because he will not be able to bestow the work of right obedience on those subject to him, which he does not justly show to his Prelates by heavenly dispensation), this also he so showed to all living in common, becoming an example of virtue, and especially to his Abbot under the regular discipline by monastic obedience, that with the daily labor of his hands and the disciplinary administration of offices, he unceasingly insisted according to the predefined form of right constitution of the blessed Father Benedict; offering to all an example of living well, in word, in conversation, in faith and chastity, that all might receive of his fruit; and he himself receive a portion of the eternal reward of all.

[11] Monks coming from every side, But the excellence also of his humility and charity He alone who is the knower of hidden things, God, knows by the consideration of his inmost inspection, by which he had joined all his fellow-soldiers to himself with skillful care, so that he was held by them both for fear alike and for love: and whom they had as a companion in divine reading, they came before with mutual honor of Apostolic admonition as a father. And so great a greatness of affability toward the Brethren and of heavenly doctrine grew in him, that, the report of his holy exhortation increasing, the fame shone most openly to many through the monasteries both of men and of Virgins of Christ: of whom indeed very many, strengthened by the strength of the male sex, and incited by the insistence of reading, flowed together to him; and drinking the fountain of most salutary knowledge, by reading reviewed numerous volumes of the Scriptures: but those in whom was the weakness of the weaker sex, and to whom the constant faculty of coming was denied, and holy Virgins consulting him through letters. caused the man of such great wisdom to be presented to them, the spirit of divine love breathing; and running through the series of the pages, they constantly clung to the heavenly search, and continually meditated the secrets of the sacraments and the hidden things of the mysteries. Whom the heavenly grace so raised up, that, according to the pattern of the excellent Preacher and the voice of the Doctor of the nations, having the form of sound words, in the faith and love of Jesus Christ solicitously running, he showed himself approved to God, a workman not to be confounded, rightly handling the word of truth. 1 Timothy 2.

NOTES BY G. H.

* discourses

* delight

* "to the best"

* "therefore"

* "caring"

CHAPTER II.

The Priesthood undertaken, the journey into Frisia while Radbod was living, then to Rome, hence into Germany, and again into Frisia to S. Willibrord.

[12] To the general form therefore of his daily contemplation, Studious in reading, and the long continence of his parsimony, the discourse directed by us is somewhat derived: that through each several ascent, we may the more readily follow, with a compendious fewness of words, the lofty works of this holy man, and pursue more subtly the study of the in all things venerable Bonifacius's life by investigating; so that, with an even moderation of balance, both the pattern of eternity may be made for us, and the powerful standard of Apostolic erudition. Who, happily climbing through the examples of the Saints the steep path of heavenly understanding, and offering a leading guidance to the peoples, the gate of the Lord our God, which the Just shall enter, himself entering opened; and from his infancy even to the decrepit old age of his years, imitated not slightly the wisdom of the past Fathers; while continually the words of the Prophets and Apostles, written with the pen of holiness, and the glorious passion of the Martyrs, namely inserted in the points of letters, but also the Evangelical tradition of the Lord our God, he daily committed to memory; and according to the Apostle, whether he had eaten, or drunk, with divine praise, or done anything else, he always rendered to God the proclamation of praise and the summit of devout jubilation both with mind and with mouth, according to that of the Psalmographer: I will bless

the Lord at all times, his praise shall always be in my mouth. 1 Corinthians 10., Psalm 33. For he so burned with desire of the Scriptures, with preaching, that with all intention he often joined himself to their imitation and hearing: and those things which are written for the teaching of the peoples, he himself, with wondrous skill of eloquence and most ingenious assertion of parables, effectively by preaching unfolded. In whom was such a temperament of discretion, that neither was gentleness lacking to the vigor of correction, nor vigor of preaching to gentleness: but him whom the zeal of vigor had kindled, the gentleness of love mitigated.

[13] To the rich therefore and the powerful, and to the free and to slaves, he showed an equal discipline of holy exhortation, so that he neither soothed the rich by flattering, nor weighed down slaves nor the free with severity: but according to the Apostle, he became all things to all, that he might gain all. 1 Corinthians 9. Who also did not seize the document of heavenly doctrine before his time by his own decision; nor acquired it usurped by the plunder of his obstinacy: but by the advancement of holy humility, being thirty or more years of age, in the 30th year of his age he is made a Priest: raised by magisterial and familiar election, according to the rule of canonical constitution he received it, and came to the grade of the Priestly office enriched with various gifts of bounty; so that he served thoroughly in deed and will, both in alms and in works of mercy, as far as he prevailed under the regular and monastic strictness. But also, anticipating the nocturnal spaces of the vigils at all hours, he exercised himself more solicitously with the laborious operation of prayer: whose patience neither did anger steal away, nor did fury move his long-suffering, nor did lust storm his continence, nor did gluttony violate his abstinence: but he so subjugated himself with all the frugality of fasting, that, drinking neither wine nor strong drink, he imitated the Fathers of both Testaments, and with the excellent Doctor of the nations said: I chastise my body, and bring it into subjection; lest perhaps, preaching to others, I myself become a castaway. 1 Corinthians 9.

[14] The sublimity of this holy man's virtues being gathered scatteredly above, the things that follow we judge by no means to be passed over in silence, which we both learned from the relation of faithful men, and take care to set forth by the manifest disclosure of writing, how great a perseverance of his strength he both clung to the good things begun, and incited his mind by hastening swiftly to other things. And when he longer tamed his mind with the virtues enumerated above, and from day to day advanced himself to higher documents of good things under the aforesaid grade of the Presbyterate; while a now reigning in the King of the West Saxons, there had fallen a certain sudden necessity, a new sedition having arisen: and at once a synodal Council of the servants of God was made by the Primates of the Churches, he carries the statutes of the Synod to the Archbishop: with the counsel of the aforesaid King. And soon all coming together into one, a most salutary question of counsel about this recent dissension wisely arises among the Priestly grades of the Ecclesiastical Order, and a more prudent consultation being entered, they deputed faithful legates in the Lord to be sent to the Archbishop of the city of Canterbury named b Berctwaldus; lest it should be ascribed to their presumption or rashness, if they did anything without the counsel of so great a Pontiff. And when the whole Senate and the whole order of Clerics consented to the collation so providently performed, forthwith the King addressed all the servants of Christ, and inquired on whom they would impose the message of this aforesaid legation.

[15] Then suddenly the highest Archimandrite in Christ, who was set over the aforesaid monastery, named c Winberchtus; and Wintra, who presided over the monastery which is called Disselburg; and Beerwald, who governed by divine governance the monastery which by the term of the ancients is named Glastonbury; d and also many other Fathers of this holy purpose, brought this holy man, summoned, to the King: on whom the King both imposed the message and the knowledge of the legation, and, companions being added with him, directed him with peace. Who, the message being imposed on him, according to the command of the elders, by a prosperous journey came to Kent; and to the Archbishop, endowed with the infula of the supreme Pontificate, wisely revealed all things in order, as he had been taught by the King: and so, a free answer being received, after not many days he returned to his country; and to the aforesaid King, the aforesaid servants of God assisting him, he knowingly brought from the venerable Archbishop a free answer, and conferred great joy on all: and so thenceforth, by the wondrous benevolence of God's dispensation, his name was spread abroad, and was held famous among all, both the secular dignities, and also the orders of the Ecclesiastical office; so that, advancing now into the future, he was very often present at their synodal institution.

[16] But because a mind dedicated to God is not lifted up by human favors, nor raised by praises; he had begun to hasten more attentively to other things, with much care of solicitude; and to shun the companionship of his parents and kinsmen, and to desire foreign places of lands rather than those of his paternal inheritance. the Abbot reluctantly consenting, But when thus for a long interval of time he most carefully deliberated with himself, that he might desert his country and parents; at length, the counsel of the aforesaid Father of blessed memory being received, he openly laid bare all the secrets of his mind, before hidden within his conscience; and with great insistence of prayers provoked the mind of the holy man to the consent of his will. Who, at first astonished with great wonder, denied for a time the desired journey to him asking and indeed supplicating, that he might calm the industry of the begun purpose. But at last, the providence of almighty God growing strong, the word of him asking also prevailed: and with so great devotion of the Abbot and his Brethren living with him under the regular discipline had he begun the adopted journey, and, the Lord God dispensing it, had completed it; that they even gladly bestowed on him the comforts of human expense; and with great commotion of heart, poured forth for him to the Lord long effusions of tears, and supplications of prayers.

[17] he departs to London, Here too, while, strengthened by spiritual armor, and raised by secular provision, he by no means lacked the wages of both lives; two or three Brethren being taken with him, of whose corporal and spiritual support he had need, he set out: and so, immense parts of the earth being traversed, exulting with the prosperous company of the Brethren, and thence sails to Dorestad, he came to the place where there was a market of saleable things, and to this day by the old term of the English and Saxons is called e Lundenwic: and no long return-time being passed, a new passenger indeed of the sailors actively, the shipmaster consenting, he boarded a ship; and the fare being paid, with a prosperous blowing of the winds he came to Dorstat; and there staying for some time, he rendered to the Lord God his due proclamation day and night. But since, a grievous onset of the Pagans pressing, a hostile f dissension having arisen, between Charles the Prince and glorious Duke of the Franks, and Radbod the King of the Frisians, disturbed the peoples on both sides; and the greatest part of the Churches of Christ, which before in Frisia had been subject to the empire of the Franks, at Utrecht he asks of Radbod in vain the faculty of preaching: by the pressing persecution of Radbod, and the expulsion of the servants of God being made, was laid waste and destroyed; the worship also of idols, the shrines of the temples being built up, mournfully renewed; then the man of God, perceiving the wickedness of the perversity, came to Utrecht; and there, some days being awaited, he addressed the coming King Radbod, that, many parts of those lands being surveyed and inspected, he might search out whether for the future any place of preaching anywhere should open to him: proposing in mind, that, if in any part of this people an approach should open, by which the Gospel might shine forth, he might minister the seeds of the word of God: which also, many courses of years being passed, the glorious testification of martyrdom proved.

[18] he returns into England to his monastery: But because the singular gift of the Saints is of holiness; while at their time they perceive a labor by no means flourishing without the verdure of the spiritual germ, they migrate altogether to other places fruitful of labor with fruit: since a place is inhabited in vain, if also the fruit of holiness be lacking. For the holy man, while he inhabited for some time the barren land of the Frisians, and a little time of summer and autumn passed; had now left the fields dry of the dew of heavenly fruitfulness; and to his native soil, with his above-said fellow-travelers, he migrated: and seeking the retreat of his monastery, even there, the winter of the second year, received with the love of the rejoicing Brethren, by wintering * he passed, that he might imitate the apostolic voice of the Doctor of the nations saying: For there I have determined to winter. Titus 3.

[19] The virtues of the holy man being now in part run through, the things that follow him, even as we have learned the matter done from those reporting it, we openly set forth: that a clearer path of his life and morals may lie open forever to those tending to the standard of his holy conversation. And when he had undergone the huge peril of the pilgrimage, and had escaped the loss of the whirlpools of the sea, he refuses to take the place of the dead Abbot: and had again returned to the society of his Brethren, and had spent very many days then in their companionship; at length he was seized with grievous grief of mind, and oppressed with fresh sadness of soul; while he beheld the now aged limbs of his Master grow infirm, and, the congregation of Monks standing by, the last day of his death, the immensity of his languor growing, by quivering and throbbing draw near; and at length, the prison of the body laid aside, under the sad gaze of the mourning Brethren, breathe out his last spirit. Because in the hearts of the Saints there often shines a piety especially condoling in compassion, by which they are wont for a time diligently to be saddened; but, clinging to the Apostolic precept, are continually consoled in the Lord; now he gently addressed the Brethren, and mindful of the paternal tradition exhorts them with spiritual discourses, that they should continually keep the form of regular constitution and the standard of ecclesiastical definition in all things; and instructed them that they should subject themselves to the command of some spiritual Father. Then all unanimously insisted with consonant voices, and all besought this holy man, who was at that time called Winfrid, that he would take upon himself the pastoral teaching of Abbot over them. But, the resources of his country soon being refused, and the chieftaincy of rule cast off, prompt and ready for things now predestined, he excused himself with skillful care, and by refusing renounced all the substance of the heirs.

[20] But when the winter season was now passing, and the heat of summer grew white, and the former intention of the gliding year was renewed; with all solicitude he strove to renew by repeating the omitted journey. Then, commendatory letters also being received from g Daniel of blessed memory, watchman of the people of God, commendatory letters being received from S. Daniel the Bishop, he attempted to come to the thresholds of the Apostles at Rome. Whom however the necessity of the Brethren resisting for a time, bereft of their Father, hindered, and the charity of those wailing and the compassion of those grieving on both sides for a time opposed; so that he was indeed pressed with great anguish of mind, and knew not to which part he should turn himself. For he feared lest the flock committed to his master, now without the custody of a watchful pastor, at his departure should lie open to the bites of the wolves; and he dreaded lest, for setting out abroad, the autumnal season should fail him. And when the Omnipotent, not unmindful of his accustomed clemency of piety, wished to rescue his servant, disturbed by so great a pressure of mind, from his anxious grief, and to provide a pleasant master for the flock; now the aforesaid Bishop's inward meditation about the Brethren was made, and he set a man of good disposition, named Stephanus, to preside over this Church; and this holy man, wishing to go through the long ways of pilgrimage, he directed unharmed to the places destined.

[21] Who forthwith indeed bidding farewell to the Brethren, set out; he sails into the Gauls, and the place, through long spaces of lands, which is now called the aforesaid Lundenwic, master of his vow, he reached; and quickly climbing the edge of a swift vessel, he began to attempt the unknown ways of the sea; and the rejoicing

sailors, the immense sails rose up as the northwest wind blew, and with full wind and prosperous course they more quickly behold the mouths of the river which is called h Cuent, now free of all peril of shipwreck, and come safe to the dry land. But also they pitched camp at Cuentawic, the Alps being crossed, until the coming multitude of their colleagues had gathered; and all being collected, on each several day, the cold of winter impending, they set out; and they visited by prayer many churches of the Saints, that more safely, the High-throned One helping, they might cross the Alpine ridges of the mountains, and feel more mildly the humanity of the Lombards toward them, and more easily escape the malicious ferocity of the soldiers' pride. he comes to Rome: And when, by the favoring patronage of the Saints and the Lord God dispensing it, all the cohort of his companions, clinging to the company of this holy man, had prosperously approached the thresholds of B. Peter the Apostle; immediately they render immense thanks to Christ for their safety; and entering with great joy the church of S. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, asking the abolition of their sins, very many of them brought various gifts.

[22] But not many days being passed, this holy man addressed the venerable Pope of the Apostolic See, of blessed memory i Gregory, the second from the first, and the earlier than the most recent (who is also called in the vulgar tongue of the Romans the Younger), and manifested to him in order every occasion of his journey and arrival; he treats of many things with S. Gregory II: and opened with what anxious desire he had long toiled. The holy Pope therefore, suddenly with cheerful face and smiling eyes looking upon him, inquired whether he had brought commendatory letters from his Bishop. But he, the pallium even being taken off, brought forth the paper rolled up after the custom and the letters, and gave them to the man of wondrous holy memory: who at once, the letters being received, granted him that he should go. But the Apostolic Pope, the letters being read through, and the paper of the commendatory writing reviewed, thenceforth had with him diligent discourse of daily disputation, until the summer season of setting out and returning was at hand.

[23] instructed by his letters, But when the month Nisan, which is April, was passing; and Jair, which is May, now had its gates opening; then also, a blessing and k letters being asked and received from the most blessed Pope, he was directed to inspect the most monstrous peoples of Germany; that he might consider whether the uncultivated fields of their hearts, plowed by the Evangelical plowshare, would receive the seed of preaching. And so forthwith, a numerous multitude of Relics being collected, by the return of his fellow-servants in turn he came to the borders of Italy; and addressed the excellent King of the Lombards, Liutprand, l saluted with peaceable gifts; and honorably received by him, rested his limbs wearied from the journey: and Liutprand the King being saluted, and so remunerated, traversing the steep and level spaces of the fields, he crossed the precipitous ridges of the Alps: and approaching the unknown borders of the Bavarians and the confines of Germany, he proceeded into Thuringia, considering, according to the command of the Apostolic See; namely like a most prudent bee, he preaches the word of God in Thuringia, which flies around the fields of the plains drawing from them, and gently murmuring with its feathered wings flies around the numerous abundance of fragrant herbs, and tries with its plucking beak, where the mellifluous sweetness of nectar may lurk; and brings it into its hives, all the bitterness of the deadly juice being utterly despised; and, according to a certain likeness of the Apostolic ratiocination of eloquence, proves all things, and holds that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 2.

[24] The holy man of God therefore in Thuringia, according to the command implanted in him by the Apostolic Pontiff, with great fruit: addressed the Senators of the people, and finally the Princes of the whole people, with spiritual words; and provoked them to the true way of recognition and the light of understanding, which formerly before, for the greatest part indeed seduced by wicked Doctors, they had lost. But also the Priests and Presbyters, of whom some had grown warm with the religious worship of almighty God; some indeed, defiled with the pollution of fornication, had lost the continence of chastity, which serving the sacred altars they ought to have kept; with Evangelical discourses, as far as he could, from the depravity of malice to the rectitude of canonical constitution he corrected, admonished, and instructed. And then he entered France, the Brethren accompanying him: and at once, the death of m Radbod, King of the Frisians, being heard, he ascended the channel of the river by ship, rejoicing with great joy, and Radbod being dead he labors in Frisia, hoping that Frisia too might have received the word of God, and came to the lands uncultivated by heavenly preaching. And now, the atrocious persecution of King Radbod ceasing, he ministered the seeds of heavenly doctrine; and, the hunger for the word of God being driven out, he refreshed the hungry multitude of pagan superstition with the food of eternal preaching.

[25] with S. Willibrord, for three years: And when the spontaneous effect of the work suddenly followed the desiring mind, and the votive light of the predestined doctrine, the Lord God dispensing it, shone forth, and the empire of the glorious Duke Charles over the Frisians had been strengthened; now the trumpet of the heavenly word resounded, and, the fertility of the heavenly dew coming upon the preachers, the voice of God thundered: even through n Willibrord the venerable man and his fellow-workers the word was propagated. But this servant of God, who indeed saw the harvest great, but the laborers few in the harvest, became also a fellow-worker, for o three years pressingly, of Willibrord the Archbishop: and laboring much in Christ, no small people he acquired for the Lord, the shrines of the temples being destroyed and the oratories of churches built up, the aforesaid Pontiff helping.

[26] by whom he is to be ordained successor, But when this highest Pontiff had grown old, and was weighed down by very many years of age; he decreed also, the assembly of disciples suggesting it, that he should provide a solace for so great a ministry to his decrepit old age, and choose a faithful man from his small congregation, who could preside over so great a people. And this servant of God being summoned, he admonished him with salutary instruction, that he should take upon himself the grade of Episcopal rule, and come to his aid for ruling the people of God. Who also humbly suddenly refusing, declared that he was by no means worthy of the grade of the Episcopate; and besought that he should not impose on him the summit of so great a dignity, being still set in the years of adolescence; and since, according to q the standard of canonical rectitude, he had not yet fully reached the fiftieth year of age, he testified, that by every shifting of excuse he should decline from the height of this grade. The aforesaid Pontiff therefore of so holy a renown, he constantly excuses himself, rebuked him with placid words, and with diligent care urged him to the grade of this purpose, and greatly foretold the very great poverty of the subject people. But when neither thus corrected did he consent to take up the grade of this height, through long delays of demur a spiritual contention arose between them, and a consonant dissension of beautiful discretion was made.

[27] This one indeed, prevented by great humility, gainsaid the grade of so great an honor; but that one, ensnared by the appetite of most pious gain, coveted the salvation of souls. And when they had thus uttered to one another divers words of discourse; and asks to be dismissed. this holy servant of God, as if set in a certain spiritual stadium, putting forth altogether the discourse of a placid excuse, said: O Pontiff of highest holiness, O spiritual helmsman of the contest, I indeed brought a mandate from the blessed Pope Gregory r of holy memory to the German nations: I, discharging the legation of the Apostolic See, to the western regions of the Barbarians, of my own accord enjoined myself to the dominion of thy governance, and by the choice of my own will, the lordship of the Lords being unaware, joined myself, by whose pledge of promise I am bound even to this present day, and subjected to servitude: wherefore, without the consultation of the Apostolic See, and the mandate of authentic command, I dare not take up the order of so illustrious a height. But also he uttered some other words with reasonable supplication of petition, saying: I beseech therefore, that thou, by directing, send me, bound by the chains of my own promise, to those lands to which I was first sent by the Apostolic See. To whom forthwith the man of God, the cause of so great a profession being heard, a blessing being given him, gave leave of departing.

NOTES BY G. H.

* "had passed"

p An adolescent namely in the knowledge of the Apostolic function, and of the things to be done there.

q Edward Mayhew, in his Life, judges that in England it was observed that no one should be consecrated Priest before the thirtieth year of age, or Bishop before the fiftieth: and that this custom is here called canonical rectitude, since otherwise no Ecclesiastical law exists: nor was it everywhere observed, nay even he himself was ordained before that age by S. Gregory II. Mabillon thinks Bonifacius here looks to that of Numbers 8, verse 24, where it is prescribed that the Levites should minister until the 50th year, then be keepers of the sacred vessels, which S. Gregory in book 2 of the Dialogues, chapter 2, applies to the Pastors of souls.

r This is

here Willibald slipped altogether in memory, speaking of Gregory as of a dead man: for he died first in the year 731, when Bonifacius by our reckoning had passed the fiftieth year of age, being born about the year 680.

CHAPTER III.

The Hessians being converted, Bonifacius is ordained Bishop at Rome: he cultivates Thuringia, founds monasteries, and a third time goes to Rome, then celebrates Synods.

[28] He goes out to Amanaburg: Who also at once setting out, came to the place to which the name Amanaburch is inscribed, a nourished according to the Apostle with the words of faith and of the good doctrine which he had attained. 1 Timothy 1. For through each grade from the beginning we have touched on the documents of virtue and the constancy of labor in the Lord of this holy man, that we may recall to memory the following examples of his good deeds more subtly grouped together. And when he was acquiring a huge people for the Lord among the Frisians, and many, taught by him with spiritual doctrine, were coming to the recognition of the truth, the rays of the true light irradiating; and many being there converted, the Lord patronizing, he went to other parts of Germany for the sake of preaching; and the above-said place, over which twin brothers presided, namely b Detdic and Dierolf, the Lord helping, he obtained; and recalled them from the sacrilegious censure of idols, which under a certain name of Christianity they had ill abused; and a very great throng of the people, he builds a monastery: the way of right understanding being opened, the horror of errors being laid aside, from the malevolent superstition of Heathendom he drew back; and built a cell of a monastery, a congregation of the servants of God being gathered.

[29] He converts the Hessians: Likewise also near the borders of the Saxons, the people of the Hessians still wandering in Pagan rites, by preaching the Evangelical commands he freed from the captivity of demons; and many thousands of men being baptized, the Pagan oldness being purged away, he directed to Rome a fit and faithful bearer of his letters, named Binna: and to the venerable Father, Pontiff of the Apostolic See, all things which had been done about him, the Lord granting it, the mute letter indeed ministering, he revealed in order; and made manifest that a great multitude of men, the divine Spirit enlightening them, received the sacrament of regeneration. he informs the Roman Pontiff of his success: But also about matters which pertained to the daily necessity of the Church of God and the outcome of the people, he wrote several things asking for the counsel of the Apostolic See. For when this aforesaid messenger had remained some days in the aforesaid place, and the time of his return was now at hand, then also from the aforesaid Pontiff of the Apostolic See he received the mutual answer of his legation; and at once returned, the paper of the writing of the Apostolic See, now no long time being passed, he brought to his Master.

[30] and he himself setting out to him, And when the holy man had read the letters brought, he understood himself summarily invited to Rome, and hastening tried to fulfill the highest grade of obedience; and forthwith surrounded by a band of clients, and encircled by a company of Brethren, the borders and the soldiers' bounds of the Franks and Burgundians being passed, the hills of the Alps of Italy being now crossed, he migrated over: and the walls of the city of Rome being beheld, he suddenly rendered worthy praises of thanks to the High-throned One, and soon coming to the church of B. Peter, fortified himself with diligent prayer. And when his wearied limbs had rested a little, it was now announced to B. Gregory, Pontiff of the Apostolic See, that this servant of God was coming: who also, well received, was brought into the hospice. The fitting day therefore of their conversation coming, and the glorious Pontiff of the Apostolic See coming to the basilica of B. Peter the Apostle, forthwith this servant of God was invited: and when they had saluted one another with few and peaceable words, now about the Creed and the Ecclesiastical tradition of faith the Apostolic Pontiff inquired of him. To whom soon this man of God humbly answered, saying: Lord Apostolic, I know myself, now a pilgrim, unskilled in the speech of your familiarity: but I beseech that you grant me leisure and time for writing out my Faith, and let the mute letter alone reasonably disclose my faith. Who also forthwith granted it, and commanded that he should quickly bring this writing.

[31] When, some space of time being unrolled, he had brought the faith of the holy Trinity, written out with urbane knowledge of eloquence, he gave it to the aforesaid Pontiff: he hands the form of his faith in writing to the Pope: he waited nonetheless some days, then at least was reinvited; and brought into the Lateran, humbly with downcast face the blessing being asked, he fell at the feet of the Apostolic Pontiff. Who suddenly raised him from the ground; and the paper, in which the truth of his faith appeared whole and incorrupt, gave back to this servant of God; and made him sit down, and instructed him with the salutary admonition of doctrine, that he should observe this undefiled fortification of Faith without intermission, and pressingly preach it to others according to the possibility of his strength. Many other things too about the religion of holiness and the truth of faith he sets forth by inquiring; so that they passed almost the whole day alike in mutual conversation; and at last he inquired in what manner the peoples, before wandering through the byways of crimes, might receive the documents of Faith by his preaching.

[32] And when he had learned for certain, that he was indeed adding a very great multitude of the people from the sacrilegious worship of demons to the fellowship of the holy Church; he is ordained Bishop by him on the 30th of November, he intimated to him, that he wished to impose on him the grade of the Episcopate, and to set him over the peoples, before deprived of pastoral solicitude, and, according to the saying of the Lord our God, lying like sheep not having a shepherd. But because he dared not gainsay so great a Pontiff prelate of the Apostolic See, he consented and obeyed. And so the highest Pontiff of holy authority appointed the day of Ordination, that is, the day before the Kalends of December. And when the most sacred day of the solemnity, both the birthday of Andrew and of the appointed Ordination, had dawned, now the sacred Pontiff of the Apostolic See imposed on him the dignity of the Episcopate and of the name which is Bonifacius; c and accommodated to him a little book, in which the most sacred laws of Ecclesiastical constitution have been enacted in Pontifical assemblies; and commanded that from this this Pontifical discipline and order of institution should remain unbroken with him, and that the subject peoples should be imbued with these examples; but also he granted from this for the future the familiarity of the holy Apostolic See, both to him and to all subject to him; d and by his most sacred letters subjugated this holy man, strong in the grade of the Episcopate, to the defense and devotion of the kingdom of Charles the glorious Duke.

[33] But he, when through long windings of the ways he had reached the confines of huge peoples, Under the patronage of Charles Martel, now indeed came to the aforesaid Prince of the Franks; and reverently received by him, carried the letters of the aforesaid Roman Pontiff and of the Apostolic See to Charles the Duke; and subject to his dominion and patronage, returned to the borders of the Hessians, before besieged, with the e consent of Charles the Duke. Then indeed many of the Hessians, now subject to the Catholic Faith, he goes to the Hessians again: and confirmed by the grace of the sevenfold Spirit, received the imposition of hands: and others indeed, not yet strengthened in mind, refused to receive entirely the documents of the undefiled Faith; others also sacrificed f secretly to trees and fountains, others openly. But others practiced soothsayings and divinations, illusions and incantations secretly, others indeed openly: others attended to auguries and auspices, and cultivated various rites of sacrificing; others even, in whom was a sounder mind, all profanation of Heathendom being cast off, committed none of these things.

[34] By the consultation and counsel of these, he attempted to cut down a certain tree of wondrous size, which by the old term of the Pagans is called the Oak of Jove, in the place which is called g Gicesmere, the servants of God standing with him. And when, strengthened by the constancy of his mind, he had cut down the tree, he overthrows an oak wont to be worshipped, a great crowd of Pagans was present, who within themselves most diligently cursed the enemy of their gods. But the tree being cut to a little degree, forthwith the immense mass of the oak is shaken by a divine blast from above, and, its top of branches being broken, fell down, and as if by the solace of a heavenly nod was even rent into four parts; and four trunks of huge size of equal length appeared, without the labor of the Brethren standing by. Which being seen, the Pagans who before cursed, and now the case being turned believing, rendered a blessing to the Lord, the former cursing being cast off. and from it builds an oratory: Then indeed the Bishop of highest holiness, counsel being entered with the Brethren, built a wooden Oratory h from the material of the above-said tree, and dedicated it in honor of S. Peter the Apostle.

[35] Having set out into Thuringia, All the things which we have foretold being completed, and accomplished by the favoring nod of heaven, he set out to Thuringia; and addressed the elders of the people and the princes of the people; and provoked them, the blindness of ignorance being left, by repeating to the Religion of Christianity i long since received; because, the dominion of their Kings ceasing, a great multitude indeed of their counts, under the perilous chieftaincy of Theobald and Heden, who held a mournful empire of tyrannical rule over them, and one hostile of devastation rather than of devotion, was either by corporal death overtaken through them, or, the enemy carrying them off, made captive; and to such a degree, constrained by various evils, that the rest of the throng of the people which remained subjected itself to the principate of the Saxons. With which dominion of the religious Dukes ceasing, he triumphs over tyrants and heretics. the intention of Christianity and Religion ceased also in them; and false brethren seducing the people were introduced, who under the name of Religion introduced a very great sect of heretical depravity: among whom are k Torchtwine and Berchthere, Fanbercht and Hunred, fornicators and adulterers, whom according to the Apostle the Lord judged. These stirred up a most strong conflict against the man of God: but confuted by the true oppositions of his words, they obtained a sentence of worthy reproof.

[36] And when the brightness of the renewed faith had shone through the people, and the people had been rescued from the huge snare of error; the friends of the profane enemy being now expelled, and the above-said hostile seducers of the people; he indeed cultivated a great harvest with very few reapers, and at first sustained great penury and frugality of this world, he builds the monastery of Ohrdruf: and constrained by great straits of tribulations, propagated the seeds of the word of God. But when the multitude of believers gradually grew strong, the catalogue of preachers too was multiplied. Then also Churches are suddenly restored, and the doctrine of his preaching flowed forth in manifold ways; and a monastery, the unity of the servants of God and the holiness of monks being gathered, was built, in the place which is called l Ordorp (Ohrdruf), who acquired their food and clothing for themselves with their own hands in the Apostolic manner by laboring pressingly.

[37] he takes to himself more fellow-workers: And so the report of his holy preaching was spread abroad, and grew so much, that through the greatest part of Europe now his fame resounded; and from the parts of Britain a very great multitude of a congregation of servants of God came together to him, both of Readers and also of Writers, and of men erudite in the other arts: of whom very many subjected themselves to his regular institution, and called the people from the profanation of erratic Heathendom in very many places; and some indeed dispersed into the province of the Hessians, others also into Thuringia, preached the word of God widely through the villages and hamlets of the peoples. And when a huge multitude of each people received the sacraments of faith, many thousands of men being baptized; now Gregory the Second of blessed memory, m Pope of the Apostolic See, having died, he sends his messengers to Gregory III, and the glorious Gregory the Younger of the aforesaid See presiding over the Chair of the Apostolic summit, again his messengers came to Rome,

and addressed the holy Pontiff of the Apostolic See; and manifested to him the bonds of the former friendship, which were mercifully conferred by his predecessor on S. Bonifacius and his family. But also they narrated his devout subjection of humility for the future to the Apostolic See; and besought that he might thenceforth, devoutly subject, share in the familiarity and communion of the holy Pontiff and of the whole Apostolic See, as they had been taught.

[38] At once therefore the holy Pope of the Apostolic See sets forth a peaceable answer, and from him he receives the Pallium and Relics: and granted his familiarity and the communion of friendship of the Apostolic See, both to S. Bonifacius and also to those subject to him; and the Pallium of the Archbishopric being taken up, with gifts and various Relics of the Saints, he honorably sent back the legates to their country. The messengers therefore arriving, and reporting the free answers of the Apostolic man, now joyful, exceedingly strengthened by the aid of the devotion of the Apostolic See, he erects the monasteries of Fritzlar and Hamanaburg: and inspired by the help of divine mercy, he built two churches for the Lord; one at Fritzlar, which he consecrated in honor of the Saints Peter and Paul, the Prince of the Apostles; and the other at Hamanaburg, this he dedicated in honor of S. Michael the Archangel. He also joined two little monasteries to the two Churches, and substituted in these no small multitude of those serving God; so that even to this day glory, and blessing, and thanksgiving are devoutly rendered to the Lord God.

[39] All these being duly performed, in the times of n Duke Hucpert he went to the lands of the Bavarians; and exercised the zeal of preaching among them most diligently, and went around many Churches considering them: he exercises his zeal in Bavaria: and he was armed with so great a zeal of divine fortitude, that a certain schismatic, deceived by heretical depravity, named Eremwlfus, according to the decrees of the Canons he condemned and cast off; and corrected the people from the idolatry of his perverse sect, and again migrated to the Brethren of his diocese, for the sake of established governance, according to that of the Apostle, having a desire of coming to the Brethren. Romans 15.

[40] Therefore, the documents of this man's merits being somewhat excerpted, let us set forth in brief speech with what governance of religion he ruled himself unceasingly through all the grades of his age. For it is the long-standing custom of the Saints, that daily by the examples of others they advance themselves to better things; and, the reckoning of days decreasing, there grows in them also the virtue of inmost love. And when there was no small multitude of Churches built in the Hessians and Thuringia, and Custodians were provided for each, a third time he goes to Rome to S. Gregory III; then also a third time, on account of the familiar communion of the holy Apostolic Pontiff and of the whole Clergy, an assembly of disciples accompanying, he came o to Rome; that namely he might enjoy the salutary discourse of the Apostolic Father, and, now advanced in age, commend himself to the prayers of the Saints. But when, after the immense vastness of the journey, he was presented to the Lord Apostolic Gregory the Younger p the second, he was kindly received by him; and was held in so great veneration by all, both Romans and also strangers, that many flowed together to his salutary doctrine: for of the Franks and Bavarians, and also of the Saxons coming from Britain, and of other provinces, a huge multitude diligently clung to his admonition.

[41] on his return he goes to King Liutprand, And when he tarried no small space of a year in these regions, and had gone around the Relics of the Saints by traversing and praying; the venerable man and Pontiff of the Apostolic See being saluted again, with gifts and Relics of the Saints honorably enriched he returned: and coming to Italy, entering the walls of the city of Pavia, with King Liutprand of the Lombards, his limbs now weary with age, he rested. and Duke Odilo. And departing, he visited the inhabitants not only invited by Odilo q Duke of the Bavarians, but also of his own accord; and remained with them many days, preaching and evangelizing the word of God, and recalled the sacraments of the true faith and religion, and drove away the destroyers of Churches and the perverters of the people: of whom some had before falsely set themselves forth in the grade of the Episcopate, others also appointed themselves to the office of the Presbyterate; others feigning these and other innumerable things, seduced the people for the most part.

[42] He reforms the Presbyters, But the holy man, now devoted to God from infancy, not bearing the injury of his Lord, restrained the above-said Duke and all the common folk from the unjust sect of heretical falsity and the fornicating deception of the Priests; and divided the province of the Bavarians, Duke Odilo consenting, into four parishes, and made four Bishops to preside over these parts, he establishes 4 Bishoprics: whom namely, ordination being made, he raised to the grade of the Episcopate: of whom the first, named r Joannes, took the Episcopal Chair of the Church in the town which is called Salzburg; the second s Erembrecht, who held the principate of overseer of the Church of Freising; the third t Goibaldus, who undertook the pastoral teaching of watchman of the Church of the City of the Queen (Regensburg); the fourth u Vivilo, who obtained the dignity of sacred inquiry over the Church of Passau. And when all things were duly done, the order of Christianity being confirmed, and the rights of the Canons were recovered among the Bavarians; now by returning he went back to his own Churches: and bearing the care of the people committed to him, and looking around the folds of the flocks, and providing the watches of the people, he rescued the sheep from the wicked bites of the wolves.

[43] And when the temporal kingdom of Charles the glorious Duke was ended, x and the empire of his sons Carloman and Pippin was strengthened; then, the Lord God helping, under Carloman and Pippin, and S. Bonifacius the Archbishop suggesting it, the testament of the Christian Religion was confirmed, and the synodal institutions of the orthodox Fathers were corrected among the Franks, and all things were amended and expiated by the authority of the Canons; and both the unjust coupling of laymen with concubines everywhere, the holy man exhorting, was separated; and also the wicked conjunction of Clerics with wives, he restrains concubinaries and heretics: was disjoined and segregated: and so great a fervor of divine charity blazed up in the above-said Dukes through the doctrine of S. Bonifacius, that they freed the people much from the perverse censure of inveterate custom, which, entangled in its own choice, and deceived by the suggestion of heretics, had lost the rights of the eternal inheritance. For so much had the sect of the heretics suffocated the light of spiritual doctrine in the people, that the dark gloom of heretical deception had covered a great part of the people: of whom indeed Elberchtus y and Clemens, seduced by the profane greed of moneys, with continual zeal turned the people from the way of truth. But by S. Bonifacius the Archbishop, Carloman and Pippin the glorious Dukes consenting, expelled from the unity of the Church, according to the Apostle, they were delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 3.

[44] The Bishops and Presbyters, Deacons and Clerics, and every Ecclesiastical grade coming together into one, whom Carloman the Duke of illustrious memory caused to be summoned under the rule of his Kingdom; z a fifth synodal Council was made; in which Bonifacius, Archbishop of the city of Mainz, Carloman himself consenting and granting it, after the example of the 4 general Councils, presiding in the Pontificate, Legate of the Roman Church and of the Apostolic See, the numerous statutes of the Canons first of the four principal Synods, first sent by the holy and venerable Pontiff of the Apostolic See Gregory the Younger, the second from the first; and Gregory the Younger from the second, with the first the third, an honorable man; for the salutary increase of heavenly doctrine, admonished should be kept. And just as at Nicaea, Constantine the Augustus governing the monarchy of the world, the perfidy of the Arian blasphemy was overthrown; and the congregation of one hundred and fifty Fathers, Theodosius the Elder reigning at Constantinople, condemned a certain Macedonius, refusing that the Holy Spirit is God; and the unity of two hundred Bishops, come under the younger Theodosius at the city of Ephesus, segregated Nestorius, professing two persons in Christ, from the Catholic Church by a just anathema; and also the assembly of the Synod of Chalcedon of six hundred and thirty Priests, anathematized Eutyches, Abbot of the city of Constantinople, and Dioscorus his defender, rebelling against the Catholic faith, according to the predefined sentence of the Fathers; so indeed among France, all perfidy of the heretics being utterly eradicated, and the conspiracy of the wicked being rooted out, the increases of the divine law were augmented, and the synodal Canons of the general Councils were received.

[45] The synodal congregation also of the spiritual Council of Bishops, in the Synod he extirpates heresies: according to the predefined definition of authentic constitution, likewise came together: which, on account of the daily apprehensions of wars, and the hostile sedition of the surrounding barbarian nations, by which foreign and alien plunderers of the peoples tried atrociously to demolish France, was either made of least account, or even given over to such great oblivion, that, all memory of the present ages being utterly obliterated, it was now by no reason known: because the world daily naturally suffers the detriment of diminution even when recovered; but neither when renewed does it through all things vanish by its loss, and panting hastens to the predestined end. Wherefore if any things in this mortal life of this pilgrimage, for the common advancement of those sick in this world, have been medicinally discovered by spiritual authors, even if at some time they have been inserted into human minds, they are to be kept by Catholics with the strength of great fortification, and held with fixed immobility of mind; lest either human oblivion creep in, or even the alluring delight of worldly pleasure, the devil instigating, hinder them. For which cause this holy Bishop of the Lord, inspired by this care of most skillful solicitude, took care to rescue the people from the pestilent persuasion of the tortuous serpent; and most often incited Carloman the Duke to gather the above-said assembly of Synods; that to the present, as well as to posterity, the wisdom of spiritual knowledge might be disclosed, and, the circumvention of souls being turned away, the knowledge of Christianity might become known.

[46] And when he set up a certain mirror of canonical rectitude for an example of living well to all grades, and a manifest vestige of truth arose for all; now decrepit to himself and his infirmity by the long old age of his years, he showed salutary counsel, and according to the little standard of ecclesiastical disposition, provided pastoral teaching for the peoples: that, whether while he was living, or also when dying, the people might by no means lack the medicinal office of Pastors; and he promoted two men of good industry to the order of the Episcopate, he ordains Bishops, S. Willibald of Eichstätt, and S. Burchard of Würzburg: Willibald * and Burghard; and distributing to them the Churches committed to him, in the inmost parts of the eastern Franks and the borders of the Bavarians; and commended to Willibald the parish of his governance, in the place to which the name is Eichstätt; but to Burghard, in the place which is called Würzburg, he delegated the office of dignity; and appointed Churches on the borders of the Franks and Saxons and Slavs to his office; and even to the glorious day of his departure, he unceasingly opened the narrow way of the heavenly kingdom to the peoples.

[47] But when Pippin, the happy successor of the above-said brother, the Lord granting it, received the royal Kingdom of the Franks; and now, the disturbance of the peoples being somewhat calmed, he consecrates Lullus of Mainz. he had been raised up as King; he began anxiously to discharge devout vows to the Lord, and forthwith to recover the Synodal institutions; and to restore the canonical ministries, faithfully begun by his brother according to the exhortation of S. Bonifacius the Archbishop; and to set him before him in habit and at once in honor, and to obey his precepts in the Lord. But because the holy man, weighed down by infirmity of body, could not go to all the synodal assemblies of the Councils; now by the consultation and counsel of the glorious King, he determined to set forth a fit minister for the above-said flock; and appointed Lullus, his disciple of ingenious disposition, for instructing the multitude of so great a people, and in

advanced and ordained him to the grade of the Episcopate; and entangled him in the inheritance, which by pressing labor he had acquired in Christ; who was both a faithful companion of his pilgrimage in the Lord, and a witness on both sides of his passion and consolation.

NOTES BY G. H.

p Gregory III is called the Younger the second with respect to Gregory II, whom above he had said was called by the Romans Gregory the Younger; which is inculcated again below at no. 44.

q Odilo, by others Utilo, is said to have succeeded Hugibert in the year 739.

r Joannes is appointed the 7th Bishop of Salzburg, where the first had been S. Rupertus, whose Acts we gave on the 27th of March. He is set forth by Camerarius on the 9th of May, as the Apostle of the Bavarians and a Saint, as we said there among the Passed-Over.

s Erembertus the 2nd Bishop of Freising, "Superspeculator" in Latin (overseer), brother and successor of S. Corbinianus, appointed by S. Gregory II, whose Acts are to be illustrated on the 8th of September.

t Goibaldus, Gaibaldus, Garibaldus, after 10 Bishops reported by Wiguleus Hundius, is here appointed the first of those who began the chair and ordinary succession at Ratisbon, or the city of the Queen, commonly Regensburg.

u Vivilo, the 14th Bishop of Lorch, but that city being destroyed the first of Passau, the See being translated by the command of Utilo. Wolfherus in the Life of S. Godehard, the 4th of May, no. 4, treats of the 4 Bishoprics established, but in place of Vivilo places S. Willibald, of whom there is treatment soon at no. 46.

x Charles Martel died on the 22nd of October of the year 741.

y Elbrechtus, by others Adelbertus, of whom there is treatment below in the Supplement. Clemens, given to luxury, begot two sons of a concubine, and claiming the Priesthood for himself was shut up in custody by S. Bonifacius, who for that is praised by S. Zacharias the Pope, epistle 4.

z That fifth Council does not seem to be extant, as neither the fourth: for only three held under Carloman are reported in the New Councils. Meanwhile it will be permitted to suppose that certain Statutes published in Volume 9 of the Spicilegium of d'Achery, page 63, are of one or the other of them, from a small but old manuscript Collection of Canons of the Corbie Monastery, where among many other useful things, §. 31, every Presbyter is admonished to take care that immediately after receiving the Confession of penitents each be reconciled by a given prayer, which it will have helped at this time to note: and §. 36 it is commanded that on Sundays the Presbyters announce that throughout the year there is to be a sabbath-keeping in the first manner, i.e. the most solemn, for 15 days, besides the days of Pentecost which he had before ordered to be celebrated as Paschal: from which d'Achery in the Preface will have it seem on how few feast days the lay Christians were bound to be free or to keep holiday: but perhaps there followed there other things to be sabbath-kept in a second manner, lest "first" be said in vain, and so that observance is rendered uncertain to us.

* SS. Willibald is venerated on the 7th of June, SS. Burchard and Lullus on the 14th and 16th of October.

* foreign ones

* by no means

CHAPTER IV.

The Martyrdom of S. Bonifacius and his companions. His translation to Utrecht, Mainz, Fulda.

[48] But when the Lord wished to rescue his servant S. Bonifacius from the temptation of this world, About to depart he commends to Lullus Thuringia and Fulda: and to relieve him from the tribulations of temporal life; then also, the Lord dispensing it, it was determined, that he should come to Frisia, once omitted in body, but not indeed in mind, the servants of God migrating with him: that where first, entering the zeal of preaching, he had begun the increases of rewards; even returning from the world, he might receive the expense of remuneration. But by a wondrous presage of prophecy, he foretold to the aforesaid Bishop Lullus the following day of his death, and intimated with what end he would at last leave the world, and proposed to him in order about the building of churches and the teaching of the people, saying: For I desire to complete the purpose of going on the journey; I shall not be able to call myself back from the desired journey of setting out. For now the day of my dissolution is at hand, and the time of my death draws near: for now, the prison of the body laid aside, I shall return to the prize of eternal recompense. But you, my dearest son, the building of the churches begun by me in Thuringia lead to the end of completion; you call the people back most pressingly from the trackless way of error, and you complete the building of the basilica already begun at Fulda: and there lead my body, grown old with many courses of years. And these discourses being completed, he added still ampler words of this kind, and thus speaking said: Son, with your most prudent counsel provide for all things, which are to be joined for use on this our journey: but also the linen, in which my decrepit body is to be wrapped, place in the chest of my books.

[49] But when the aforesaid Bishop also of holy religiosity, not bearing his sighs, at once had given himself to tears; now S. Bonifacius, the conversation being finished, returned to other things; and not many days being interposed, he puts in at Frisia, he by no means withdrew from the journey undertaken; but, his fellow-travelers being taken with him, he boarded a ship and, penetrating through the channel of the river Rhine, sought by ship the nocturnal places of the harbors: until, entering the watery fields of the Frisians, across the lake which in their tongue is called Elmere, he came safe, and went around inspecting the shores barren of the divine germ. And when he had escaped the perilous crisis of the rivers, and of the sea, and of the huge waters; he fell now without peril into peril, and visited the Pagan nation of the Frisians, which, the waters lying between, is divided into the villages of many fields: so that, called by various names, they yet pretend the property of one nation. But because it is long to recount in order

if they should be repeated, we strive to lay bare by name only those who are truthfully set forth for the series of our narration: that both the place and the tongue may equally make known the holiness of the blessed man related by us, and disclose with what end he left this world.

[50] Going therefore through all Frisia, he pressingly preached the word of the Lord, the Pagan rite being repelled and the erroneous custom of heathendom destroyed; and he built churches with huge zeal, the name of the shrines being broken; everywhere with his companions he announces the word of God: and now many thousands of men, of men and women, but also of little ones, with his fellow-soldier the Coadjutor-Bishop Eobanus he baptized, whom, to come to the aid of the weakness of his aged years, the Episcopate being enjoined on him among the Frisians, in the city which is called Trecht a he substituted, with Presbyters and Deacons, whose names are these: Wintrungus and Walterius, together with Adhelherus, endowed with the Priestly office; Hamuntus, Scirbaldus, and Bosa, appointed to the service of the Levites; Waccarus and Gundwaccarus, Illesehere and Barthowlf, raised to the monastic order of the Monks. Who also, so far spreading the seed of eternal life widely through the people with S. Bonifacius, made it famous, the Lord God patronizing: that to those who, according to the standard of the Apostolic institution, had one heart and one soul, there might be both the same palm of martyrdom and the recompense of triumph. Acts 4:32

[51] the day for giving Confirmation being appointed, After therefore the splendor of faith, as we have foretold, had shone through Frisia, and the happy end of this holy life drew near; now indeed by the bank of the river which is called Bordne, b which is on the borders of those who in the rustic tongue are called Ostar and Whester, surrounded only by the number of his own clients, he pitched his tents. But because he had foretold to the people the day of the feast of the Confirmation of the neophytes, and of the imposition of hands and Confirmation of those lately baptized by the Bishop, now dispersed far and wide, each returned to his own home; that, according to the determined sentence of the holy Bishop, all might be presented on the predestined day of their Confirmation. But when the aforesaid day had dawned, the Frisians return, from friends become enemies: and the dawn of light burst forth, the sun being now risen; then also, the case being turned, enemies instead of friends, and at last new executioners instead of new worshippers of the faith, had come; and a huge multitude of enemies, brandishing spear-armed and shield-bearing arms, had rushed into the camp. Then suddenly from the opposite side the boys, leaping out from the camp, attack one another with arms on both sides, and strive to defend the Saints, afterwards Martyrs, against the senseless army of the raging people.

[52] But the man of God, the onset of the tumultuous crowd being at once heard, the choir of Clerics being summoned to him, the Relics of the Saints being taken which he had been accustomed unceasingly to have with him, whose force he forbids to be repelled by force, comes forth from the tent; and forthwith rebuking, forbade the boys the contest of battle, saying: Cease, boys, from the conflict, and lay aside the war of battle: for by the testimony of Scripture we are truly taught, that we render not evil for evil, but even good for evil. 1 Thessalonians 5 For now long has the day been wished for, and the spontaneous time of our dissolution is at hand. Be strengthened therefore in the Lord, and gladly bear the grace of his promise: hope in him, and animates his companions to martyrdom, and he will free your souls. But also addressing the bystanders, both Presbyters and also Deacons, and men of the lower order, subject to the service of God, admonishing them with a Father's voice, he says: Men brethren, be of strong mind, and be not terrified by these, who kill the body, whose soul, abiding without end, they cannot slay: but rejoice in the Lord, and fix the anchor of your hope in him, who forthwith will render you the reward of perpetual remuneration, and will grant the seat of the celestial court with the heavenly citizens of the Angels. Do not subject yourselves to the vain delight of this world, do not be delighted by the perishable adulations of the gentiles: but here constantly undergo the sudden moment of death, that you may be able to reign with Christ forever.

[53] and with them he falls: And when with such exhortation of doctrine he was affably inciting his disciples to the crown of martyrdom; forthwith the raging tumult of the Pagans rushed upon them, with swords and all the armor of warfare, and bloodied their bodies by the happy slaughter of the Saints: and at once, the mortal flesh of the Just being smitten, the exulting throng of the Gentiles seized the victorious spoil of their damnation, and depopulating the camp distributed the booty by plundering. But also they took away the chests, in which were many volumes of books, and the cases of Relics; believing there was there so great an abundance of gold and silver, they carried off to the ships, in which was the daily food of the Clerics and boys, and a little wine still remaining of the same allowance, the locks of the little vessels being shut (as they were): The slayers, discordant over the booty, are turned to mutual slaughter: and suddenly, the draught of the longed-for liquor being discovered, they began to satiate the gluttonous voracity of the belly, and to inebriate the stomach moist with wine; and at length, counsel being entered about the spoils of the booty received, to treat, by the wonderful disposition of almighty God; and to consult how the gold or silver not indeed seen they should distribute among themselves. And when they discoursed at length about so great an estimation of moneys, now and now a dispute of quarrels arose, and at last so great a discord of enmity was begun, that the crowd, raging even with the fury of madness, was divided into two factions; and at last they cruelly turned the arms, with which before they had slain the holy Martyrs, against themselves by fighting.

[54] Then therefore the greatest part of the raging crowd being laid low, now those who survived for the gain, and the books found instead of the hoped-for gold they scatter, acquired by the loss of souls and of life, ran rejoicing over the lying adversaries who opposed them concerning the treasure of cupidity desired by them; and the repositories of the books being broken, instead of gold they found volumes, instead of silver the pages of divine knowledge: and so, deprived of the precious price of gold and silver, the codices which they found, some they dispersed through the plain of the field, others bringing into the reed-beds of the marshes, others also hiding in various places whatsoever they cast away. But both by the grace of the Omnipotent, and also by the prayers of S. Bonifacius the supreme Pontiff and Martyr, unharmed and inviolate, after a great space of time had passed, c they were found; sent back by each several finder to the house in which to this day they profit the salvation of souls. But the executioners, saddened over the loss of the estimated money, returning home, after the respite of three days received both a greater loss of their domestic affairs, and shortly perish miserably: but also the loss of life by the requital of death received: because the omnipotent Founder and Reformer of the world wished to avenge himself on his enemies, and the blood of the Saints shed by him to punish with the zeal of his accustomed mercy, and the wrath long deferred to the worshippers of idols, moved by the new fury of fresh malice, publicly to show.

[55] other Pagans too are routed, And when the unforeseen temporal slaying of the holy Martyrs thence flitted through the villages and hamlets and the whole province; suddenly the Christians, the corporal death of the Martyrs being learned, gathering a very great expedition of an army, the warriors, ready then for future vengeance, seek the bounds of the borders; and, the above-said reckoning of days being revolved, safe but hostile guests of the infidels, they attack the land; and laid low with huge slaughter the Pagans meeting them from the opposite side. But because the Pagans could not resist the first onset of the Christian people, turned to flight they fell also with great destruction: and turning their backs, they lost their life together with their household goods and heirs. And so the Christians, the wives as well as the sons, and also the male and female slaves of the superstitious being plundered, returned to their own: or are led back to the faith. and it happens in a wondrous manner, that the surviving inhabitants of the Gentiles, broken by present evils, illuminated by the brightness of faith, rather avoided the eternal torments; and the document of the doctrine of the aforesaid Bishop, which while he was living they refused, now while he was dying, terrified by the governance of divine rebuke, they received.

[56] But the body of the blessed Pontiff, with prosperous sails and blasts of the winds, The body is received at Utrecht, crossing the strait which is called Elmere, and of the other Martyrs, after not many days was brought to the above-said city which is called Trecht; and there laid up and buried: until from Mainz religious and faithful Brethren in the Lord, sent by ship by Bishop Lullus, indeed the successor of this holy Pontiff and Martyr of Christ, came, to lead the body of the blessed man to the monastery, which while he was living he had built, and which is situated by the bank of the river which is called Fulda. Of whom one, who had been both the author of the journey and the company of the others, led a singular life of holiness and a private life of chastity and continence, named Hadda; on whom the aforesaid Bishop privately imposed the message of this legation and the conveyance of the holy body, with the Brethren setting out with him; that the greater honor of devotion might be bestowed on a man of holy reverence, and the testimony of very many might the more prevail, in those things which they perceived by hearing or sight.

[57] And when the honorable Brethren of so holy a fellowship came to the aforesaid city, some small collection of people was gathered to meet them. The Prefects of that city, finally, in their hearing, just as an edict d had gone forth from the glorious King Pippin, thundered an interdict; and it was decreed that the body of the aforesaid Pontiff should not be removed thence. But because the strength of the Omnipotent prevails more than that of men, a wondrous and memorable miracle, accomplished by Angelic rather than human knowledge, was at once heard by all the bystanders; and the bell e of the church, as a sign of the admonition of the holy body, the bells being rung of their own accord. no human hand touching it, was moved: so that all, struck with a sudden dread of fear, were astonished with great fear, and proclaimed that the body of this Just one should be given back. And so it was at once given back, and by the aforesaid Brethren of holy memory honorably taken away with Psalms and hymns, and, by the labor of the rowers, was brought on the thirtieth day after his death to the above-said city of Mainz. The same to Mainz,

[58] And by the wondrous providence of almighty God it came about, that on one and the same day, without an appointed day of predefinition, as if on the appointed day of predestination, both the legates bearing the holy body, and also from far-off regions far and wide, many of faithful men and women came together for the funeral rites of the holy man's death. But also the above-said lord Bishop, on the day when the Bishop himself had come with a great people; the successor of so venerable a dignity, who at that royal time was present at the Palace, altogether ignorant of this cause, unaware of the arrival of the holy body, came to the city which we have foretold, as it were under one and the same moment of an hour: and so great a sadness of grief had fallen upon all coming from elsewhere, or even on the citizens of that same city, and so great a gladness of joy abounded; that even, the temporary death of the body of so great a Pontiff being accomplished, they both grieved that he was lost carnally, and believed that he would be perpetually a Patron for themselves and theirs in the future. Wherefore, these twin causes existing, compunct in heart, with Presbyters and Deacons, and every Ecclesiastical grade, they led him to the place which while living he had predestined; and a new sarcophagus being made in the church, burying him after the custom they laid him; and all things being duly performed they returned, and strengthened with the strength of faith came to their own. and thence carried to Fulda,

[59] But in the place where they laid the holy body, divine benefits thenceforth abounded, and by the prayers of the holy man those who come oppressed by various infirmities to the same place, a salutary remedy both

of bodies, and also of minds, obtain: so that some, now dead in the whole body, and almost in all things lifeless, he is renowned for miracles: yet meanwhile breathing out their last spirit, are restored to their former health; but others, their eyes pressed with blindness, received their sight: others bound by the snares of the devil, and now mad in mind and raving, afterwards retained the integrity of their mind; and given over to their former health, praising glorified God, who deigned to enrich, honor his servant adorned with so great a gift, and to glorify him in the present and future times of the ages, by the flashing disclosure of miracles shown, the fortieth year of his pilgrimage being revolved; which is reckoned both the seven hundred and fifty-fifth year of the Incarnation of the Lord, with the eighth Indiction. But he sat in the Episcopate 36 years, f six months, and six days; and so in the order above-said, on the day of the Nones of June, remunerated with the triumph of martyrdom, he migrated to the Lord, to whom is honor and glory unto the ages of ages, Amen. g

[60] The deeds of the blessed man being therefore enumerated, in which in infancy and boyhood, or adolescence and youth, or even in old age, he had flourished; let us return to those things which, after the measured goal of this world, and the happy course of that life, wonderfully, A fountain springing up from heaven in the place of martyrdom, to make known to mortals the holiness of the blessed man's life, the Lord cooperating, were accomplished; and let us recall to memory a certain memorable and imitable miracle to the peoples; which was both learned from the glorious King Pippin, as those reporting it to him, who were present at this miracle, and was brought even to us through the venerable man Bishop Lullus, and thus, he announcing it, intimated: which happened in the place where once the precious blood of the holy Martyr was shed, when, by the counsel of the common folk and of a huge part of the people of the Frisians, they were building the structure of a certain mound, on account of the immense incursions of the lesser h and greater tide (which by the various order between them of the sea's swell and the Ocean's return; but also by the diminution and inflowing of the waters are moved) from the bottom even to the height; over which finally they were thinking to build a Church, as was afterwards done, and to place the dwelling of the servants of God in the same place. But when they were now building the aforesaid work of the little hill entirely, and completing all the building of that structure; and now, returned to themselves, the inhabitants and dwellers of that place, it is indicated by a horse falling there. were disputing among themselves about the penury of fresh water, which through all Frisia generates the greatest difficulty both for men and also for animals; then at last one, the Lord having mercy, who bore the office of the Prefecture, according to the edict of the glorious King Pippin, over that village and place, and was the chief of that work, named Abbo; his colleagues being taken with him, mounted a horse; and the hill being gone around, and the mound inspected, suddenly the nag of a certain boy, unexpectedly, its feet pressed into the earth, was tried as if about to fall altogether into ruin, and with its forelegs fixed in the ground was rolled; until those who had been more agile and more skillful, hastily descending from their nags, drew out the horse clinging to the earth. But forthwith a stupendous miracle and worthy of spectacle was shown to those who were present: and a most limpid fountain, beyond the custom of that land, sweetened with a taste of wondrous pleasantness, burst forth, and penetrating through unknown channels flowed forth, so that it now seemed to be a very great stream. Astonished by which miracle, exulting and eager they returned home, and divulged to the common folk those things which they saw.

NOTES BY G. H.

* Called Elmere, as if the noble Sea, now the Southern Sea, commonly called the Zuyder-zee.

SUPPLEMENT

By the Author a Presbyter of Mainz.

Bonifacius, Apostolic Legate and Archbishop of Mainz, Martyr (S.)

BHL Number: 1402

FROM THE TRIER MANUSCRIPT

CHAPTER I.

The Deposition of the Bishops Gewelib and Adelbert.

[1] In the times of the venerable a Carloman who is called the elder, and Pippin his brother, there was a certain Bishop, named Geroldus, who after b Raobardus governed the holy church of the See of Mainz. At that time c the Saxons were disturbing the region of Thuringia: so that they were compelled of their own accord to flee to the above-said Prince Carloman, that they might be protected by his patronage. Whom he, having received, both somehow loaded with gifts, and bestowed counsel. For it happened that the aforesaid Prince went with an army against the d Saxons, and at the same time Geroldus the Bishop with his men, favoring Carloman and opposing the enemy, was present at the contest. What more? Geroldus, Bishop of Mainz, being killed: the armies contending on both sides, the venerable Bishop Geroldus, the clouds of javelins rushing in, slain fell. e But there was at the same time a certain man named f Gewelib, most acceptable in the King's palace, said to be the son of the above-mentioned Bishop; who after the death of his father undertook to govern the same Church. He, with honest morals, as they say, fenced about his life, except only that he sported by himself with g hawks and dogs. Gewelib his son succeeds, But yet inquiring more diligently and searching out the name of the man who had killed his Senior; an army not long after h being gathered, together with the venerable Carloman, he proceeded to the same Saxons, where his father had been killed: and the armies sitting opposite on the bank of the river i Wisuralia (Weser); the Bishop himself ordered the name of him who had killed his father to be inquired: and it was answered that he was present. Ask, he says, that he converse with me in the middle of the stream of the river. and slays his father's slayer; And he, not sluggishly, his horse prepared, hastened to meet him, as he was invited: Behold, says Gewelib, take that by which I avenge my father, the iron: and with the word at once transfixed him, and he, falling into the river, breathed out his life: and on account of this, the wedges being joined, with all effort they fought on both sides: and the Saxons being overcome, Carloman with his men, the slaughter being despoiled, returned to his own. But the Bishop, returned from the slaughter, to a rude people, a still rude Bishop, although mature in age, yet immature in faith, is set; neither the King nor the rest of the Nobles reckoning that the avenging of a father was a crime, and saying that he returned a return for his father's death.

[2] At the same time therefore the venerable Bonifacius, the Lord leading, from Britain the nation of the English, entered Germany; seeking the material which he found of the best work of preaching and baptizing: and all the cities being surveyed as far as the Rhine, he cautiously, as a prudent Pastor, looked out, in what part he might see the sheep erring, and in what going on the right path, until he came to the great Metropolitan city of holy Mainz, the Lord abiding with him. That wicked deed of the Bishop being learned, but admonished by S. Bonifacius, at once to the head of the Kingdom, and to the comprovincial Bishops, with the fervor of the Holy Spirit, that he might make firm the broken things, and sew up the torn with the keenness of preaching the Gospel, he flowed together: lest the patch of old custom should defile the whole garment of faith: and to them, as he was of great genius, about the peril of the flock, and about the condition of the Bishop, he silently intimated. But he, called by the same and admonished by S. Bonifacius, lest he should create peril for himself and a precipice likewise for the people, of his own accord leaves the Episcopate, at once without resistance consents to the honest admonitions: and without synodal disputation, gave back the See and Parish from which he had received them, and handed over his acquired property to S. Martin, in money and slaves; because he had no other inheritance in those regions; and had received as a benefice the little villa of Spanesheim and the church which is called Caput-montis: and thenceforth for fourteen years lived honestly in his own house, and especially gave his labor to the grace of hospitality; and never afterwards came to the Convent or to the Synod, yet rarely, for the washing of feet on the Lord's Supper, presented himself in the churches for the sake of prayer. But Dom Bonifacius, most magnificently honored by the above-said Princes, and a legation being sent with him to the Lord Pope l Gregory, was appointed to the See of the Church of Mainz by the election of the Clergy and people. And the Pontiff, having honorably received him, ordained him Bishop, and S. Bonifacius succeeds him: enriched him with the mitre, changed his name, and directed him to France; that we may think it truly written of him by Solomon, The Lord led the just one through right ways, and the rest. Thereafter noble men began to commend their sons to him to be instructed: whom he, gladly received, nourished as helpers, as it were adoptive sons, and made them with him cautious Pastors of the flock of God; lest from elsewhere than through the fold, the wolves of heretical crookedness should enter the Catholic Church. Wisdom 10:10

[3] In the same times there was a certain pseudo-prophet, named m Aldebertus, who feigned in himself the grace of holiness, who led about certain men hired for pay, that they should say themselves to be feeble, lame, or blind, so that in the name of the Trinity he might give them health by deceiving. So raving, wandering and vagrant, and never stable, as it is written, inconstant in all his ways, he was seduced and seducing; he uncovers Aldebertus the Pseudo-prophet: so that he had almost brought the venerable Prince Carloman into the same simulation. James 6:8 Whence it came about that Dom Bonifacius, his cunning ingeniously perceived, persuaded the Prince to beware of his venomous discourses or fellowships, because, for the greed of money, which Paul named the servitude of idols, he constantly clung to him: Carloman

indeed heeded the pious admonitions, but the other persisted in his madness. Ephesians 5:5 At last however Carloman, now overcome by their altercation, permitted that, by disputing on both sides, whichever of them was a worshipper of the true faith should show it. Therefore on the appointed day, when they ought to bring forth their opinions in the midst; on the same night the man of God in his sleep thought that he wrestled with a bull: and both its horns being broken, he knew by such a conjecture that it was overcome. and convicted But morning being come, his Clerics Lullus and Megingaudus, and also Sturmius, persuaded him that he should cease to dispute with such a serpent. n But he, asserting his dream, said: Greater is he who reigns in us, than he who possesses him. And at once in the encounter of speech, the adversary being overcome, he orders to be shut in prison: confused, and handed over to the Saint, was degraded at Mainz as was fitting: and thence translated to the monastery of Fulda, thrust into the darkness of the prison, was long and far vexed. At last that wretch took to flight, and took with him nothing else for provision, except only one boot full of kernels, who is at length killed by herdsmen. and so along the course of the river Fulda wandered not knowing the way, and fell in with swineherds; who also killed him, despoiled him, and covered him with logs: and this was the end of his error. But the trunk which by gnawing he had cut off from the plate of the prison Suapanda, is transported to Mainz; and there long over the gate which leads to S. Alban, p as a miracle to those passing by and beholding, was hung up.

NOTES BY G. H.

p The church of S. Alban situated on a mount, on the southern part of the city surrounded with a rampart, in the memory of our parents had the name of New-citadel: but we saw it wholly destroyed; except that the Dean of Mainz, having his vineyard there, erected a chapel to the Saint.

CHAPTER II.

Various things established by S. Bonifacius, Bishops ordained.

[4] For so great a famine of divine preaching had besieged the Eastern parts, that there was no Presbyter across the river Wisurha, except one, named Winfrit, in Thuringia: who also was on his father's side, named Wart, a kinsman of the Bishop, but on his mother's side of the stock of the Thuringians. He sets the holy women Tecla and Lioba, called from England, over the Nuns. Whence it happened that, compelled by necessity, he called from his own province religious women; that his Clerics and the sons of nobles might be nourished by them, and imbued as ministers of the heavenly preaching. For Tecla he placed by the river Main, that in those places she might shine like a lamp in a dark place, that is, at Kitzingen; where even now the leggings and slippers of the Lord Bishop, as they say, are held for Relics: and also the Virgin Lioba b he appointed, a monastery being built at Bischofsheim: who provided to the multitude of Virgins in the same place the little standard of a right life by teaching and by living.

[5] He ordains SS. Willibald and Burchard Bishops: In those days too he set Pastors over the erring sheep, and sent laborers into the sprouting harvest. For first he separated from Regensburg and Augsburg and Salzburg, the Nordgau, and Saalfeld: and united one member of the Church, and there established an Episcopal See, and there ordained the venerable man Willibald Bishop; and to the place he imposed the name which it had before, Eichstätt: but Burghard, an approved man, he destined for Würzburg, and there ordained him Bishop. To whom terribly with his staff he commended his sheep, saying: By that common God of all I adjure you, that you bestow as great diligence of care on this flock, as you know you have undertaken of burden, and as great as I until the present have bestowed, and shall be bestowed for their souls.

[6] But at a certain time the above-said man of God, making a journey from the city of Mainz, came preaching and baptizing into the borders of the Eastern parts; and tending toward Thuringia, found a most pleasant field, and also a river running with a pleasant channel, and there, his tents fixed, spent the night. On that same night, a light from heaven shone around his dwelling, and he merited there to enjoy an Angelic visitation and address: which is even given to be conjectured from this, that he there dedicated both the place and a church in honor of the holy Angel. the food failing, But morning being come, the solemnity of the Mass being performed, he ordered a table to be set for him, and food to be brought. The minister therefore saying that he had no food on which he might eat; he answered: Did not he who could feed the multitude of the people in the desert for forty years, manna being sent from heaven, supply for me his last little servant the food for one day's refreshment? he receives a trout carried by a bird: The table therefore being set, and the praise of God being sung before the food; behold, a certain winged creature flying carried one trout, sufficient for that day's refreshment, and before the table, slipping from its talons, cast it down to the ground. Then, the Saint giving thanks to God, it was lifted up and roasted, and honorably carried to the table.

[7] It happened also after a little time that a certain Cleric, named Adelherus, an illness coming on, fell sick. He indeed, with chaste morals, clung more fervently to the Bishop: and a knower of his secrets, honestly bestowed services on him. And when he perceived the day of his death approaching, with the counsel of the man of God he handed over his inheritance to S. Martin of Mainz. Afterwards, the sickness growing heavy, he ended his life: and at once c his brothers seized whatever their brother had handed over to S. Martin in the bounded places, at Amanaburg, his brothers claiming it for themselves by perjury, and at Preitenbrunnen, and Seleheim. But when they had been called and questioned for cause of this matter, they promised to claim those things into their own right by oath: and the Bishop promised that he would be present there. And on the appointed day of the oath they gathered a multitude of their kinsmen, the man of God too being likewise present. And when they had drawn the swearers with them to the altar, he is said to have said: Swear you alone if you will, I do not wish that you destroy all these. But they swore: and at once the Bishop, turning to them, he foretells vengeance: said: Did you swear? And they, We swore, they say. And he says to the elder: A bear will kill you shortly. But to the younger he says: Never from your seed will you see son or daughter. d Which both the outcome of the matter proved, and so the church of B. Martin obtained the inheritance handed over to it.

[8] About to return into Frisia, But the man of God, the divine grace inspiring, was eager everywhere that the seeds of the word of God should sprout, and determined to go to the still untamed nations of the Frisians, that, the superstitious rite being abandoned, the worship of idols being laid aside, they might worship the true God, Creator of all. By synodal authority and the consent of Prince Pippin, he sets Lullus over the Church of Mainz. he ordained Lullus at Mainz, and first led him with him to Thuringia, and commended him to all the Nobles in that region, that as supporters of the Catholic faith they should assist him. But at last, by the precept of the Roman Pontiff, and the counsel of the venerable Prince Pippin, and the license of synodal authority, and of all the Bishops and Abbots, and also Canons and Monks, and all the Christians pertaining to his diocese, he set out. But also he bound Lullus beforehand by an oath, saying: Indeed I set out courageously, wherever the divine grace shall wish to direct me. But now give your faith: wherever I shall die, that you transfer my body to the destined places. And he indeed promised that he would keep all things, as possibility might allow.

[9] At the same time it happened that the Romans (as their custom is) insolently harassed f the Lord Apostolic Stephen, and the servants of S. Peter: Stephen the Pope, seeking aid from Pippin, and for this, a journey being undertaken, they being unaware, a sword being taken with him, he came into France, to the above-said Prince Pippin, seeking patronage; in this manner, that with two Presbyters and as many Deacons, within the chamber of one oratory, in sackcloth and ashes, together with the aforesaid Presbyters and Deacons, he lay on the ground: and by a messenger invited the King to him. And he too coming, thus said Pope Stephen: The honor of S. Peter is cast down, and the glory of his house is diminished: he is censured concerning the ordination of the Bishop of Metz, therefore we seek the patronage of the Franks and their King: and so, a sword being produced, he gave it to him; and in it, as far as it had been granted to him, gave him the power of patronizing. And he, messengers being sent, both avenged the injury of the Apostolic, and the rashness which they dared against the Saints: and afterwards stayed some time in the regions of the Franks. Then also it happened that the Lord Apostolic ordained Rutgangus g Bishop of Metz. About which matter the venerable Bishop Bonifacius resisted him to his face, saying to him; that it was not lawful to abandon his own See, and to transgress the bounds of the Fathers, and without the consent h of the Bishop, to whose Diocese the place pertains, whatever it be, to ordain a Bishop: but admonished by the King he acquiesces, which neither his predecessors had done, nor the Ecclesiastical rule teaches. And in this manner they contending in the presence of the King, the one gainsaying, but the other affirming that he had done it by Apostolic authority, King Pippin strove to reconcile them in peace, saying: It is not fitting, that you who are the head of the Church, should offer to the other members examples of contention: but it behooves you to be reconciled, me mediating between you. His counsel therefore being heard, as each of them was in the law

erudite in divine matters, they consented to his words, and were reconciled in peace: and the blessing of the Lord Apostolic being received, he set out to the destined places.

NOTES BY G. H.

b same note as a

CHAPTER III.

The Martyrdom. The Translations. Willibald the writer indicated.

[10] For as in all things he followed the divine commands, so that which, as of a singular precept, the Lord commanded—that he should be loved with the whole heart, and the neighbor as oneself—he both observed; and following the same charity, he gave himself, as Christ taught, for his friends, and the nation of the Frisians being surveyed, the treasure committed to him he did not hide bound in a napkin or buried in the earth, Before martyrdom he is honored with heavenly light: but offers it with increase to those seeking. But the time of his passion approaching, and his Clerics and Laymen with him cautiously watching against the snares of the adversaries; on that same night a light from heaven shone upon the tabernacle, in which the man of God all night rendered pleasing praises to God, and so persevered into the greater part of the day. The day therefore dawning he exhorted his men saying: Men brethren, be strong in mind: that, when the long-wished day should come, they might be ready. No delay: the adversaries rushing in, and he forbidding battle, a Hiltibrant, who was the minister of his table, half-shod, gave himself to destruction; and after him his brother Habmunt the Deacon, he is killed and thence to Utrecht, as soon as he had gone out from the tent, fell; then others and others, as the history of his passion narrates. At last the Bishop himself, crowned with martyrdom, bathed in his own blood, his palms raised to heaven, died. And at once in the very time as the holy man fell in the flesh for the Lord, the Clerics of the Church of Utrecht with their b Bishop seized the holy body, and wished to retain it altogether with them. Which when Lullus had learned, a multitude of venerable men of the Eastern parts being gathered, then it is carried to Mainz: of clerics, monks, and likewise laymen, a fast being appointed with psalmodies and prayers they proceeded, and with force took away the holy body; and honorably carried it to Mainz on the thirtieth day of his passion.

[11] where the blood then flowing, And when the body of the man of God is washed after the custom, his wounds, as if newly made, poured forth blood. But also Lullus c placed the washings in an earthen vessel, and buried it under the earth in the place where now the Church of S. Bonifacius remains built, to the north of the Church which is named the Baptistery of John, in which to this day (as they say) the garments in which he suffered and the garments are kept: lie in a wooden chest. In that same city, as its inhabitants think, nowhere, except in the bodies of the Martyrs, does so great holiness shine, as in the above-said church. For there were then many the men of Mainz striving in vain, who desired that the holy body should remain there. But Lullus resisting, and remembering the oath, the Saint (as they say) appeared to a certain Deacon, named d Otpercht, saying to him: Say, he says, to Lullus: that he transfer my body to the place of my rest. Many therefore hesitating, and not believing; Lullus the Archbishop, a multitude of Relics being gathered, made him swear that it was so, as he reported. And he, both arms extended over the altar and the Relics, prayed the Lord and his Saints, whose Relics were there present, so to aid him, as it was true what he had said. At last, the rest believing, Lullus the Archbishop honorably prepared the passage of the man of God beyond the Rhine.

[12] After therefore Lullus the Archbishop had washed the holy body, and wrapped it in fine linen; all the Presbyters, Deacons, and the whole Clergy, and also the faithful laymen who dwell beyond the Rhine, coming together into one; it was lifted on a bier, with a lighter (as they say) burden to the ship, the body is transferred to Fulda: than before they had carried it from the ship: and so great a multitude of men and ships was then present, of those who had come together for the translation of the holy man, that it covered the Rhine. And so with hymns and psalmodies they filled both banks, until they met with their wives and children all the nobility of the Eastern parts. Lullus therefore and his companions going out of the ship, at once, the throngs mingling, a huge mourning is raised; some for joy and purity of faith, others for grief and pain. Thence Lullus the Archbishop and those who came to meet him lifting the coffin, but the people of the nearer side, the stream of the Rhine being forded, returned to their own; thus also acting prosperously in all things, the Lord directing and governing: that in all places in which it happened to take midday rest or to spend the night, they impressed the signs of the Cross, triumphing for the Triumpher of all in his stadium-master. But also in certain of those places, now churches are seen built. But when they came to the entrance of the forest of Bochonia, the women returning to their own, the men too accompanied even to the place where the body had determined to await the last judgment.

[13] There was a certain Monk at the same time, named Ritant, brother of Wolfmar the fisherman, those bringing it are refreshed by abundant fishing. who was himself also a fisherman; to whom it was commanded by his Abbot Sturmion, for the coming of the guests then arriving, because as yet besides milk and butter and cheese there had not been many delicacies, that fish being gathered the reception might be provided. Then the above-said brother Ritant, knowing a place, on account of a building which is named in the vulgar tongue "Aucarium domus," where fish never failed him; thither in haste, obeying the precept, ran to the lake. To compress briefly what has been said, at the time of the arrival of the holy body, while he prepared to cast, suddenly all the fish that were in the lake were shown belly-up on the surface of the waters: and at the same moment in the lower part of the river he heard the collect sung by the singer, by which the holy body was carried over the bridge. And so he did nothing more laborious in the fishing, except only by gathering and filling the little boat with fish, sufficient food for this day's guests, which he carried with him to the monastery. This was the beginning of the signs, of the many which the divine power deigned to show through the holy martyr Bonifacius, after his martyrdom, in that same place.

[14] Afterwards therefore f Willibald wrote the life and conversation of the man of God, and also the passion, because there still survived many Willibald the writer of the life. who had been present at the same passion, in the place which is called the church of S. Victor, in the chamber of one cubicle, first on waxed tablets, for the proof of Dom Lullus and Megingaudus; and after their examination to be rewritten on parchment, lest anything carelessly or superfluously written should appear. But the above-said church of S. Victor, situated outside the wall of Mainz, is reported to have been honorably enlarged by the succeeding Bishops. For Lullus and g Rabanus there gave themselves to prayers. h But Willigisus, the Father of blessed memory, by the mediation of Dom Burchardus, Chamberlain of the city and Provost of S. Victor, the divine grace inspiring, set the supreme hand on the same church: establishing there a new and excellent monastery, i and establishing the service of twenty Canons in the service of God with vigilant care: and the dedication of that church, in memory of the blessed Father Bonifacius, he continued with his passion, the third Otto the Emperor being present: who also, by his estate situated in Thuringia, the same church, under the impression of his handwriting, confirming the endowment, enriched, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God, through all the ages of ages. Amen.

NOTES BY G. H.

THE SECOND LIFE.

By the Author a Presbyter of S. Martin of Utrecht.

From the Utrecht manuscript of S. Salvator.

Bonifacius, Apostolic Legate and Archbishop of Mainz, Martyr (S.)

BHL Number: 1401

FROM THE UTRECHT MANUSCRIPT

PROLOGUE.

[1] The uncertain and slippery condition of this life, and the various events of mortals and the wheel of fortune, to the foolish indeed for the most part delightful, but to the wise always unhappy, nothing either more strongly conquers or more imperiously rules than the fear of God, of which it is written, He who fears God will do good things. Ecclesiasticus 15:1 For what is more rightly or more fittingly opposed to worldly evils, than that which persuades a man to do good? Certainly this is the discipline of physicians, that contraries are healed by contraries: just as cold things by hot, By the fear of the Lord evils are avoided, and good things procured, and hot by cold, and other such things. So also he who labors with a universal disease is to be cured by a spiritual antidote: that he who is infected by the deadly poison of fortune may be healed by the assiduous fear of God, as by the most salutary draught of hellebore. For he who fears God, the more he avoids evils, the more readily he follows good things; and the more effectively does the good he can, the more zealously he desires to beware of the evils which he cannot wholly avoid. Wherefore I too, who consider myself worse, the more I admire so salutary a medicine; by which both evils are escaped, and one comes to perpetual goods. O truly worthy and ineffably blessed fear! which absolves a man from all the impediments of errors, and through the path of justice leads to heaven.

[2] This path the Apostles trod, and all the Apostolic men each according to his strength. Fortified by this fear the Saints walked, Through this the Martyrs walked, hastening to the celestial fatherland. The Confessors too went through this, leaving behind for those following them footsteps full of virtues. But about the Virgins I think it better to be silent, than that I should say anything unbecoming to their glory: for the Saints alone can scarcely sufficiently praise them: but for those who sin I reckon this the greatest harbor of salvation, if they have been able, I will not say to imitate, but at least to admire their merits. All the Saints therefore set out to the Lord by their own path, of which we spoke: and each one was the more blessed, the less he turned aside from it. Of whom there is an infinite number in heaven; namely Peter and Paul, the Apostles, with that most holy assembly of the Apostles; and, as it is truly said, the Lord's Crown, Stephen, the Martyrs, the first and genuine imitator of Christ, with the copious army of the slain who triumphed; Agnes, Tecla, Agatha, Barbara, Cecilia, with others, the Virgins, that is, with the most white choir of Virgins; Silvester, Basil, Martin, Augustine, Ambrose, the Confessors, with the most sacred college of Bishops; and with the most noble senate of Monks and Hermits: the Hermits, of whom the chief were in Egypt, in Ethiopia there were very many; whom the Thebaid had as patrons, Nitria as Doctors, the whole Church as champions.

[3] S. Martin taught this fear, But Gaul and Germany glory especially that they are defended by the shield of Martin; who taught these regions partly by his word when absent, partly freed them from imminent evils by his venerable presence. He therefore, just as the Apostles, after his passing merited to have Pontifical Sees under the title of his name, on account, I believe, of his singular doctrine, by which he so enlightened the Church of God, that you would say no one nearer in imitation to the first Doctors of the Nations; honored in the Church of Tours, if you read through all the sayings and examples of good works, which he did in his life. Of these Sees which I have mentioned one is that of Tours; where the relics of the sacred body make that place more honorable than all the palaces of Kings: the second that of Mainz; the third that of Utrecht. But these two, I say Mainz and Utrecht, after very many years from his passing, Mainz and Utrecht, on account of the great love of him, were distinguished with privileges of his memorable name: in which to this day Martin is praised and honored by the faithful, on account of the admirable and manifold healings, which there very many sick obtain from our Lord Jesus Christ through the intercessions of so great a physician. variously adorned out of love for him: Many therefore in ancient times, who, out of love of God and the most blessed Martin, strove to adorn these glorious Sees, partly with great buildings and painted ceilings, partly with gold and silver and gems and other such pomp: which ornaments indeed would show men a certain little glory outwardly, were it not that they wound those looking at themselves inwardly.

[4] But not long before our times there was sent by God a certain most wise architect, both in deed and in name Bonifacius; but how much more S. Bonifacius adorned them, who undertook to adorn the aforesaid Sees with another kind of ornaments. For instead of stones and cement, he determined that faith with hope should be built; instead of gold, he said the mysteries of divine Scripture should be understood; instead of silver, he asserted that the name of the Lord should be preached to the faithful; instead of painted ceilings, he taught that minds should be lifted on high; namely painted with that variety, of which it is sung in the Psalm, that the universal Queen is clothed around; instead of shining gems, he testified that the splendid life of the Doctors should be made clear: so that in them as in a mirror each hearer might be able to consider himself, and neither, being curious, search out things higher than himself; nor, being puffed up, wish to be wise more than is fitting; lest, seduced by vain glory, when they were nothing, they should think themselves to be something. Psalm 44:15 But he forewarned that charity should be placed above all these as a summit; indeed because it is exceedingly sublime, and in the kind of virtues is known to have nothing above itself. In such a manner therefore this man built; and persuaded those with him so to build. And not as very many Architects of our time, who, idle in this part, but insisting on another's business, make weak and ruinous structures; commanding imperiously enough, but living too delicately: imitating namely the manner of the lazy and useless farmer, who, sleeping and dissolute, commits the plow to another. by word and example, But no one ever so wanton profited his followers; nor did any Emperor, torpid in idleness, ever triumph with his army safe. But lest any sycophant cavil that the above-named man was suddenly introduced, as it were another Melchizedek; from here now I will begin to narrate, whence so great a flower of sweetness shone forth; who through our provinces diffused far and wide the odor of great virtue.

[5] And would that I might merit to speak of him so, that the dignity of so great a matter may not grow cheap to the hearers, on account of my rusticity, which certainly is too familiar to me, about whom, intending to write, he professes his own unworthiness, and proclaims me in all the crossroads to be inert and barbarous. And woe to me, wretched, who am wholly polluted, and dwell in the midst of a people having polluted lips. But I know and truly confess, that I am most unworthy, whose tongue should be touched by that coal, which, brought forth from the altar with the tongs of both Testaments, according to Isaiah, kindled to prophesy. Wherefore I will reprehend myself, and doing penance will burst into tears, and will pray to my Lord, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who for thy Church didst deign to be incarnate, crucified, and invokes the help of God. to die, and to rise again; hear me crying to thee, and according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out my iniquity; and give a right and well-sounding speech in my mouth, that my words may please in thy sight, and deign to accept from me the sacrifice of thy praise, who art blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. And behold now, O Lord, prepared to narrate about thy holy Martyr, as much as thou shalt grant, thy ray directing, thus I will first begin the thread of this web.

CHAPTER I.

The deeds done in England, Frisia, Germany. The first and second Roman journey. The Episcopal consecration.

[6] Blessed Bonifacius had his native soil in the island which is called Britain; which now is inhabited by the nation of the English, which is thought to have drawn its origin from the Saxons. But the English (Angli) are said not absurdly to be derived from "angulus," that is, the firmament of the kingdom: who indeed are strong and valiant, and, Christ's grace helping, render their provinces most safe by the defense of arms and robust strength: Among the Apostolic men the English, but sometimes they suffer hostile pirates coming from the northern part; whom however they strenuously by fighting drive from their borders. In the aforesaid island therefore there once was the paradise of God, from which flowed forth aromas so precious; that from the British sea even to the citadels of Romulus they perfused all regions round about with a divine odor. Of these aromas, it is read, were Furseus and his brothers; Willibrord too, the great propagator of the Christian religion; and this one, S. Bonifacius, of whom we treat, the admirable Bonifacius: and many others, whom Bede records to have shone with virtues in the book of the history of the English. He therefore, of whom the series of our narration is woven, when first he passed his boyish years, immediately betook himself wholly to the school of the divine law: in which, preeminently erudite in the celestial disciplines, in a short time he became a most renowned cultivator of true philosophy; namely to insist on prayer, instructed in doctrine and virtue, to macerate his body with fastings, to keep frequent vigils, not to seek the glory of the world, not to seek human favors, to obey his superiors, to be in concord with the brethren, to break bread for the hungry, to clothe the naked with a garment, to visit the orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep himself unspotted from this world. Further in all these things he was not puffed up, was not irritated, thought no evil; but meditated in the law of the Lord day and night; and was like a tree which is planted by the streams of waters, and therefore gave the fruit of martyrdom in his time.

[7] When therefore he had abounded in such great riches of good things; he began to deliberate with himself, that he should go out from the land of his birth, and hasten to the place, carried into Frisia, in which he might be able to be sacrificed to the Lord. And at length, an occasion being found, he crossed the sea, was carried to the islands of the Frisians, put in at the town of Utrecht; where he evangelized to the nations the kingdom of God, and converted many given to idolatry

to Christ. he returns to his homeland: But when very many had impudently resisted, the athlete of God, perceiving that the time of his passion was not yet at hand for him, returned to his own country; that he might in the meantime bear the care of his own, until the Holy Spirit should reveal to him where and when he was to receive the crown of martyrdom from the Lord. After some time, having set out to the Roman Pontiff, forewarned (as is believed) by an angelic vision, he proceeded to Rome; seeking indeed a blessing from the supreme Pontiff, but receiving it from Christ through his Apostles Peter and Paul. And when he had gone around all the oratories which were there; led thence with honor by Pope Gregory and other God-fearing men, he set out.

[8] But hearing that a very great multitude of the Germans was without God, he thither joyfully turned aside, thence he came into Germany, hoping that in these regions he might be able to be made a Martyr. And when he had poured out for them the riches which are without end; he coveted the silver and gold of no one, nor sought from them fertile fields and rich vineyards, nor soft meats, nor storerooms stored with or fragrant of Falernian wine; but rather the salvation of souls. This he sought; and, thanks be to God, this he found: for a copious multitude of the people in these parts he brought over to the Catholic faith. And they indeed before, in their groves and shrines, had worshipped ghosts and specters; but Bonifacius, holding the divine sickle in his hand, utterly extirpated all the Fauns and Satyrs, he routs idolatry, whom some of the Pagans call woodland Gods. Likewise also, the Dryads and Napaeae, and other such portents rather than deities, he persuaded all Christians to count as worth nothing. But because it does not suffice if evils be cast down, unless good things also be established; just as it does not suffice if you root up and destroy, unless you also build and plant; this man, full of the Spirit of God, in the places from which he had expelled the above-said vanities, he builds monasteries and churches: forthwith built renowned monasteries and excellent basilicas, and altars too for the divine sacrifices; and there appointed the name of the living God to be invoked, where dead idols had until then been worshipped by the natives.

[9] These things being thus done, when he had traversed all the provinces of the Alemanni, the Norici, and the Thuringians, and also certain borders of the Franks, setting fit ministers of God over them; he bade farewell to the brethren: and so setting out in the name of the Lord, he betook himself also to other provinces, he cultivates Frisia with S. Willibrord: that he might free those too from their errors through the grace of the Lord. But first he was carried back by ship to the Frisians, to whom he had already before preached; who, almost like fish, dwell in the waters, by which they are so enclosed on every side, that they rarely have access to foreign regions, unless they are conveyed by ships. These, remote from the other nations, and therefore brutish and barbarous, he the seed-word-sower of heaven approached; and as I have found written in a certain codex, he there clung to Willibrord, indeed a most bright candlestick of the holy Church, of whom mention was made above: who at that same time residing at Utrecht, was the keeper of a poor garden: but when he applied the help of so great a husbandman, the estate too grew. For these two excellent cultivators, their hands joined, dilated very much the space of the Lord's field; effecting by their prayers that instead of fern, that is unbelief, the new shoots of the Catholic faith should grow up; but instead of nettle, that is lust, virginal continence; instead of bramble, that is avarice, charity should germinate, which is the root of all good things.

[10] And when they had done these things, praying each for the other, they departed from one another: and Willibrord indeed settled at Utrecht, having set out again to Rome, he is consecrated Bishop, but Bonifacius again set out to Rome: whither when he had come, he was most officiously received by the above-mentioned Pope Gregory. And when for some days he treated of mystical and heavenly matters; the said Pope, seeing him already redundant with the springs of Angelic doctrine, the connivance of the Saints who were at Rome being applied, handed to him the sacred mitre of the Pontificate; corroborating him, as is thought, with this exhortation after the blessing: You have heard, Brother, and you yourself have seen, how many thousands of men in Germany are held by the old errors of idolatry, and of how great a number of sons holy Mother Church is defrauded, if the heavenly light shall be withdrawn from so illustrious a family. Now therefore, because you are an upright man and a distinguished Philosopher of our religion, consult for the salvation of so great a multitude; that you may merit to carry back to the Lord doubled the talent and is sent back into Germany. which is entrusted to you. Take therefore with you the pastoral wallet with the most limpid stones of the divine law; that when that giant, who has begun to demolish all Israel, shall vaunt himself of his most certain victory; you forthwith may meet the adversary of the human race as a Davidic warrior. And if in this contest the crown of martyrdom shall be offered you, gladly receive it: not hesitating that you shall receive, for such a transitory punishment, immortal riches. And these things being said he dismissed him with a holy kiss. Further Bonifacius, strengthened both by the Archiepiscopal blessing, and by doctrinal fortifications, forthwith revisited his Germans; and joining a most strong battle with the spurious cyclops, and triumphing with the sword of the word, rescued the Israelite camp from the plundering of the Philistines, Christ fighting by his hand.

CHAPTER II.

The third Roman journey. The Archbishopric of Mainz. His labors and their fruits. The Martyrdom.

[11] At length what was left over from the former victory, this in that encounter he fully overcame: a third time he goes to Rome: and at last, peace being composed through all those borders, he went a third time to Rome; desiring to be still more fully instructed in the discipline of the Christian warfare. But he who had learned from the Holy Spirit and spoke mysteries, had no need to be further instructed by any arguments of orthodox genius: and rather is judged by all that he could and ought to be made the leader alike and doctor of the great army of God. And so, strengthened by the threefold blessing of all the Saints of the Roman Church, he again made Germany happy by his so most salutary return; and returned into Germany, inasmuch as, offering himself to it then for the sixth time, he infused the light of the true faith. But as he pitched his tents by the channel of the river Rhine; behold, an innumerable people of the Franks of both sexes came forth to meet him, beseeching at once and adjuring, that he would permit himself to be enthroned in the See of Mainz, destitute of a Bishop and needing such a Patron. he accepts the Archbishopric of Mainz: Which when the most blessed man had seen, whom the revelation of an Angel never anywhere deserted, he yielded to the Holy Spirit; and undertaking the good work, did not apply pride; succumbing to labor, did not admit delights; having obtained the Pontificate, did not lose humility; nay rather, placing the necessities and hardships of each on his own shoulders, and submitting his neck to the burdens of all, in all things, according to the Apostle, he showed himself a faithful steward and an irreprehensible pastor of the sheep of Christ. Titus 1:7, 1 Timothy 3

[12] But now the time admonishes, that, these things being run through, which befit his worthy morals, which he had in adolescence; the lawful labors, then after most useful labors, by which he contended in youth; and also the holy conversation, by which in the Priesthood he shone like a most bright star; yet not according to the dignity of his deeds, but according to my strength; our little history may come to the relation of his martyrdom: which was therefore not so long deferred to him, because he himself dreaded either the punishment of passion or the onset of death; but, that I may speak boldly from the Gospel, His hour had not yet come. John 8:20 For if it had been decreed by the Lord, that among the very beginnings of preaching he should receive such a prize, that man had done in many ways, that among the barbarous Frisians, and many thousands of men imbued with faith, or among the most ferocious Germans, he might be beheaded. But the pious God, who wished that very many should be kindled to his example, did not permit his servant to be slain by the sword of the Gentiles, before he should draw out many thousands of souls with the hook of faith from the very jaws of Leviathan, and so consequently hasten to Christ with so great a host. The memory therefore of these and the series of the deed is thus. When B. Bonifacius had ministered to the Lord for very many days in the Bishopric of the See of Mainz, the death of S. Willibrord being heard, there was revealed to him the carnal deposition of the most holy Bishop Willibrord, and his transmigration to the celestial glory. And at once the strong athlete felt that he must again take up his wallet with his stones, must again wage war with Goliath the Philistine. But by no means uncertain what he should do (for the Holy Spirit revealed all things to him) he forthwith hastened thither by ship, where he was about to contend with the devil with all his might: having set out to Utrecht, he is benevolently received: and soon through the waves of the river Rhine he was carried to the place most known to him, that is, the town of Utrecht. And when he had put in, he saw coming out to meet him the Angelic choir, which Willibrord the excellent Doctor had gathered in that monastery, to the praise and glory of the name of God. With these therefore he proceeded to the church; and prayed with those praying, groaned with those groaning, wept with those lamenting, keenly mourned Willibrord with those mourning: for he himself too had been bound and confederated to so great a Father with the highest love.

[13] But when the days of mourning and sadness had passed, the most eloquent Bishop was kindled to preach, and the most invincible soldier was girded to contend: and as he sought a place fit for preaching and contest, it was answered to him divinely, that there were certain nations, situated on the shore of the Ocean, to whom he ought to evangelize; that among them he would receive the crown of life, which God promised to those loving him. Forthwith therefore he committed himself to the river storms; and the south wind seconding his journey, and thence crossing into Frisia he becomes a Martyr, carried to the island which in the tongue of the country is called Ostriki, he gave thanks to God; confident that hereafter neither mourning, nor outcry, but neither pain would in any way harm him, since he was to pass through all these in that same island. So too of old Paul, hastening to the victim, came to Melite. But Paul was humanely treated by those inhabitants; this one was provoked by the Frisians with insults and terrors. The viper bit the hand of the one, the impious executioner cut off the head of the other. Paul sailed thence to Rome, Bonifacius there consummated his course. Yet many documents of virtues concur, one will, an equal voyage, a like labor, to be compared with S. Paul; an equal affection. But Paul the master, this one the disciple; he the Doctor of the Gentiles, this one the Preacher of the Germans; he shall sit to judge on the throne of the Apostles, this one shall stand at the right in the number of the Saints. He shall therefore have with Paul a fellowship of felicity, in likeness to whom he received the blow, and left the world: but Martyr shall congratulate Martyr, Doctor Preacher, Apostle Priest, in the sight of our Lord Jesus Christ. The holy one of God Bonifacius therefore completed his course standing and praying, and offering his throat to the tyrant to be beheaded, and he is venerated on the 5th of June: on the fourth day after the Kalends of the month of June. Whence also this tetrastich is written, and is sung by the Church in the solemnities of his Deposition:

June on the Nones brings a venerable feast to us; in which the Brethren exult with the citizens: for then Bonifacius merited the heights of the heavens,

to ascend, having purchased perpetual life with his blood.

[14] But as I inquired in that same region about him, the Gospel being placed on his head. whether I could write anything: it was reported that there was still surviving a certain woman, but now very decrepit, who asserted on oath that she had been present at the beheading of the soldier of Christ: and she said that, when he was to be struck with the sword, he placed the sacred codex of the Gospel on his head, that under it he might receive the blow of the slayer; and might have in death the protection of that whose reading he had loved in life. And his disciples too were slain with him, in the place which is called Dockinga: where afterwards in honor of so great a Martyr a noble basilica was built; a church erected at Dockinga near the fountain: beside which a fountain of fresh water flows, when elsewhere through all that region the waters are salty and bitter. And they report that this fountain was found and sanctified by Bonifacius, and therefore distinguished with such great sweetness, and accommodated enough for the drinking of all.

[15] And so his venerable body was first carried to Utrecht, afterwards translated to the monastery of Fulda; in four places he is renowned for miracles. which indeed he himself had built from the foundation, and in which the renowned pastor had devoted to Christ a most honorable flock of true innocence gathered together. In four most happy places therefore, that is, Dockinga, Utrecht, in the city of Mainz, in the monastery of Fulda, the presence of the blessed Martyr is frequently felt by visible signs: in which, through his intercessions, very many healings are granted by the Lord, and other benefits, even to this present day.

CHAPTER III.

An excuse for miracles not written. What kind were wrought by him?

[16] While these things, assigned by the office of the pen, and digested into a little book, I recited publicly, the Brethren asking it, certain impure men, nay, as it is said, Scourge-bearers, as if emerging from a tangle, stood by me, who, dissembling that they dared anything against the Martyr of Christ, but raging against me with a canine mouth, Those murmuring that miracles are not reported are answered, began thus to bark: You, they say, desiring to extol this so great man with immense and almost divine praises, have defrauded a certain part of the price of the field; namely you who are convicted of having narrated no signs and prodigies done by him, as is read of other Saints; when by these especially it is wont to be shown, of what merit each is before almighty God. To whom forthwith objecting that Evangelical saying, Unless, I say, you see signs and prodigies, you do not believe. John 4:48 As if indeed either I had promised that I would record or write all the good things he did; or those who were before me, if they had known any precious and praiseworthy things about this man, had kept silent. Or perhaps the things which were written by me a sinner about him, do they think so to be lightly esteemed; that they attend not to the majesty of so great a relation, but rather to the person of the wicked and most vile writer? But it is not so expedient: for neither are roses therefore neglected, because they grow on a thorny bush; nor does grain therefore become foul to men, because the earth saturated with dung produces it; but in both, not what is horrible is weighed, but what is necessary and delightful is judged. Wherefore spare me too, I beseech, O unlovable friends, that if I stink to you for my foulness; yet this treasure, which I offer most precious from the British borders, envy ceasing, may become pleasing.

[17] Further if you reprehend me for having forgotten the virtues and signs of so great a Martyr, receive it thus excused. Signs indeed and prodigies the Apostles wrought; but within was he who worked, within he who governed, and who drew idolaters and unbelievers to the faith. but his signs and prodigies he says to be his On this account indeed the signs did not puff up, but edified; they did not effect them boasting, but commiserating; not being proud, but compassionating; not glorious in the riches of the world, but illustrious in the poverty of Christ. And so the Spirit divided to each as he willed: To one he gave faith, as to Peter; to another eloquence of preaching, as to Paul; to this virginity, as to John; to that manliness, as to Andrew; and to the rest indeed in the same manner. But all these things one and the same Spirit works; virtues, the conversions of men, who filled this one likewise, because he loved him likewise; instructed him equally, because he first loved him, whence he himself too was renowned for the same virtues. Finally, having faith, he renounced all things which he could possess, and taking up his cross followed Christ; abounding in the word of edification, he traversed Germany and Italy, sowing good seed in the Lord's field, and perfusing the mouths of the Rhine with the flower of doctrine; pure in virginity, he was held worthy of the Priesthood; supported by manliness, he merited the palm of Martyrdom. And if reason, the index of truth, is permitted to have right conjectures, he is to be believed to have imitated also the other Apostles, who through the East and the South preached the Sun of justice to the nations near the Sun. But now in this time some of ours do far otherwise: for whatever they can acquire, they strive to possess without fellowship: joining field to fields, they scarcely concede to the sea that it make its own boundary: then if they set out anywhere, they take with them sacks of money; and fill their wallets, not with stones, but with silver coins; and go around the whole world that they may obtain something.

[18] the care bestowed on spiritual diseases. Not so therefore Bonifacius, not so: but wherever he went he always carried books with him. This was his treasure, this his possession. But in making a journey he either read the Scriptures, or sang psalms or hymns; or certainly gave something to the needy. But he wrought great signs and prodigies among the people; as one who drove invisible diseases from sick minds, preserving human nature in a wondrous and marvelous manner; while the spiritual physician within cut the inner man, even though the body were weak, within anointed, within healed. He cured therefore all. If any were lame, on account of unbelief; blind, on account of ignorance; deaf, on account of hardness of heart; dumb, the lame, the blind, and others. on account of inexperience of the law; afflicted, on account of avarice; scabby, on account of detraction; heart-sick, on account of envy; rotten, on account of lust; stomach-sick, on account of gluttony; bilious, on account of intemperance; dropsical, on account of drunkenness; and if there be any others, which defile the wretched soul with a dire contagion. Likewise also those whom anger had made frenzied, hatred headache-sick, error stomach-sick, impiety insane, pride epileptic, sloth lethargic; and all the passions of the erring mind, he restored to health both by the surgery of penance and by the poultice of consolation. Indeed these are the vices which corrupt our nature, and make men apostatize from God; and therefore it is said not undeservedly that blessed Bonifacius was an admirable worker of signs and mighty deeds; since very often he cured by the medicine of doctrine those who could obtain any remedies by no other means.

[19] In corporal things he teaches that boasting is to be avoided, But if you attend only to the health of bodies, and equate to the Angels those who restore the weaknesses of limbs to integrity by fastings and prayers; great indeed is what you say; but this is in some way common to Saints and physicians, as is manifested by frequent outcomes of remedies. For David too, although chosen by God, is yet proven to have mitigated the madness of King Saul by medicinal art. And Pythagoras is reported to have cured a certain frenzied man by natural exercises and pleasant fomentations, the sweetness of melodies being added. But indeed whoever is sublime in such miracles, ought to fortify himself with great circumspection; that neither boasting emerge, nor the appetite of praise steal in; lest perhaps, when he has healed others, the virtue cooperating with him, he himself, wounded by his own vice, perish. Whence also that Dominical sentence is to be meditated by us not without the weight of terror; because he forewarned that he would punish in the judgment those who glory in virtues, saying: Depart from me all workers of iniquity; for I know you not.

[20] by the example of the Saints whom humility made secure, In that day therefore the Apostles will be secure; who here, running about among the infirm, and working great things, strove always to have their own infirmity before their eyes. The Martyrs, Confessors, and Virgins will obtain security, esteeming themselves at the same price of humility before God and men. That most beautiful flower of ours too will rejoice in security, who with Paul can without rashness be called the Apostle of the Gauls, namely the most blessed confessor of the Lord, and the great splendor of the Christian people, and the immovable column, Martin; who, when he raised his Gauls by signs and miracles above almost all mortals, yet himself poor and modest, and as if a certain heavenly hedgehog truly having the rock as a refuge, kept himself in it from all arrogance, and from all vanity of this world.

[21] But neither will the lofty Martyr, and to be numbered among the best, be without this security, as he made S. Bonifacius an imitator of S. Martin, the torrent of sacred eloquence Bonifacius; who, when he had six times illustrated with the great light of virtues the provinces of Germany, beset with the horrible darkness of crimes; but had thrice freed Frisia, shipwrecking in the rabid swells of the surrounding waves; and at last had consecrated the little villa of Dockinga with the blood of his Martyrdom; never yielded to the devil, to show himself off; never dissented from his Martin, to lose his humility: nay rather, following his footsteps in all things, so conversed on earth, with his companions that in mind he dwelt in heavenly things; where now happily remaining, he exults with perennial joy, with those who are clothed with white robes, and follow the Lamb wherever he shall go: to whom is honor and glory unto the ages of ages, Amen. The number too of the holy Martyrs, who suffered with the blessed Pontiff Bonifacius for Christ, was fifty-two. translated to Utrecht. But the bodies of the holy Martyrs were gathered by the faithful of Christ, and put into a ship with the blessed Pontiff Bonifacius, and with happy joy and prosperous course came even to Utrecht. There they were received with hymns and psalmodies, and buried with all fear and veneration in the church which is consecrated in honor of the holy Trinity. In these places, namely Utrecht, Fulda, Dockinga, in signs and virtues, through the merits of the holy Martyrs, benefits are divinely granted to the faithful people, the Catholic faith growing through Jesus Christ unto the ages.

THE THIRD LIFE.

By the Author perhaps a man of Münster.

From three manuscript codices.

Bonifacius, Apostolic Legate and Archbishop of Mainz, Martyr (S.)

BHL Number: 1404

FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS

[1] After the renowned nation of the English, through the teachings of S. Gregory the Roman Pontiff, had received the faith of the Christian name, which long before had been divulged through the whole world; S. Bonifacius a noble and pious Angle, very many of the same nation were so kindled with the salutary fire of divine love, that they not only despised the riches of this world, but also left their parents and country. For in doing this, they imitated the voice of Truth, saying in the Gospel: If anyone leave house or brothers or sisters or father or mother, or wife, or children, or fields, for my name; he shall receive a hundredfold, and life

eternal he shall possess. Matthew 19:29 Of whose number was a certain man, named Winfrid, from his very cradle devoted to God, and sprung from a noble stock of the English: who according to the Dominical voice, saying, He who does not renounce all things which he possesses, cannot be my disciple; for the love of God, all things being set aside, followed Christ, who will bestow the rewards of eternal life, no less by deed than by faith. Luke 14:33 For he, refusing all ambition of earthly honor, and forsaking the familiarity of his parents, chose to be for himself poor and a pilgrim in this world; that he might merit to become a coheir and partaker of the Saints in the future. When the holy man had proposed these things to himself in mind, not a deaf hearer of the Scripture, which says: Let him who hears say, Come; whomsoever he could exhort to the purpose of so great salvation, he invited with him by gentle exhortation. with the companions acquired Apocalypse 22:17 Soon, Christ his companion, with the Brethren united to himself, he began to make a voluntary journey.

[2] But the borders of that kingdom being traversed, he came to the shore of the stormy sea. He comes to Utrecht, There too, boarding a ship, he crossed the wavy shoals; and setting out thence, entered the mouths of the Rhine. Namely, the Holy Spirit as guide, the same man is led even to the castle, which now was called Tricht, anciently Wiltenburch. This too at that time B. Willibrord, of the above-said nation of the English, manfully governed, and with S. Willibrord and there to the Frisonic nation, then newly having the faith, preached the word of the Lord unceasingly. But when he had understood that a man of such great holiness was coming to him, forthwith, gladdened at his arrival, he received him with great joy and honor. For he had begun to exhort him with salutary admonitions, that he should be a supporter to him in the work of the Gospel, and that, the studies of both being joined, they might emancipate the Frisonic nation from the obedience of the ancient enemy, he preaches the word of God in Frisia: and subjugate it to the empire of Christ. For that nation, still recent in faith, and for the greatest part with blinded heart served gods and demons, and knew not the way of eternal felicity. By whose salutary counsel and the now paternal precept of admonition the holy man forthwith devoutly obeyed, and with him, for thirteen years without intermission governing the management of the Church of Tricht committed to him, extirpates the filth of idols wherever he could. But the man of God Willibrord, perceiving him very strenuous for the discharge of this ministry, and, according to the voice of the Lord, simple as a dove, and prudent as a serpent, desired to raise him to the Episcopal grade, and so to appoint him a fellow-worker in the same province. He refuses to be made Bishop, Which he much resisting, on the contrary said with a like voice, that he was unworthy of the dignity of so great an honor, and ought not yet, on account of his immature age, to take up the Pontifical grade.

[3] But because the man full of God, Willibrord, learned from the Holy Spirit narrating it, that he was to be raised to a greater honor, he consented to his will; and permitted him to go to Rome, as he wished, to the thresholds of the Apostles. Whom the most blessed Pope Gregory, the second from the first, honorably received, at Rome he goes to S. Gregory II: and learned in order, he himself narrating it, the whole series of his will. But the blessed Pope Gregory, seeing the holiness of his purpose, and at the same time discovering the probity of his industry; forthwith asked him with pious love, nay even by Apostolic authority commanded, that he should go beyond the Alps, and in those parts where heresy chiefly sprouted, by his salutary doctrine utterly eradicate it. Who, obeying the precepts of the supreme Pontiff, he converts the Thuringians and Hessians: and discharging the legation, proceeded to the Thuringians and Hessians; b by the doctrine of the Evangelical speech, the Holy Spirit favoring, he changed their morals, dissipated heresy: and so strenuously fulfilled the work of the Lord which he had begun. These things being thus performed, now the fame of the holy man flew through all France, since in it he extirpated the erroneous faith. Soon the glorious Duke of the Franks Charles, with the other Princes of the same and the consent of the people, he goes to Rome a second time, to be ordained Bishop: compelled him with great entreaty, that he should go again to Rome, and from the supreme Pontiff receive the Pastoral blessing. But the holy man, long reluctant, affirmed that he was unworthy of the honor of so great a dignity: but at last, overcome by the prayers of the Princes, he approached Rome again. Whom the Lord Pope Gregory received with all veneration, and according to the petition of the glorious Duke of the Franks Charles and the other Princes of the same kingdom, ordained him c Archbishop; and on account of his good works imposed on him the name Bonifacius, and so, raised by Apostolic authority, sent him back again to the work of Evangelizing.

[4] But the holy Bonifacius and future Martyr, returning to Charles the Duke of the Franks, he is created Metropolitan of Mainz: commended himself to his patronage: and, he too consenting, preached the word of God through Thuringia and the region of the Hessians confidently. But not long after, Charles paying the debt of all flesh, his glorious sons Carloman and Pippin undertook the rule of their father's kingdom. They therefore, with the Bishops and every Ecclesiastical grade of that region, gathered a synod, and made B. Bonifacius Archbishop to preside over the Metropolitan city of Mainz. But the holy Bonifacius, perceiving around himself that there were few propagators of the Divine word, as it is read in the holy eloquence, The harvest indeed is much, but the laborers few; as a prudent physician gathers an abundance of herbs, that he may heal the wounds of the sick; so that wise architect chose for himself several physicians of souls. Luke 10:2 Some indeed from his own nation, others from the part of France, some also from the borders of Ireland, he acquires fellow-workers: that they might be to him fellow-workers in the vineyard of the Lord: of whom were these, Wigbertus from the part of the English, blessed Gregory from a noble stock of the Franks, the venerable Sturim, and Lul, Memgoz, Willibald and his brother Winibald, and several others, whose names it would be too long to enumerate one by one.

[5] After the death of S. Willibrord, But after these things, not many courses of years being passed, it happened that B. Bonifacius learned by report, that S. Willibrord had migrated from this pilgrimage to the celestial fatherland by a happy death. As soon as he heard this, he groaned grievously for the death of so great a man. Amid the most grievous laments of grief and the sighs of deep groaning, it came to his mind, that he ought as quickly as possible to gather a synod. No delay, the Bishops coming together into one and the whole choir of the Ecclesiastical Order, with the consent of all of them, and with the decree of King Pippin, who then, his brother Carloman being dead, was made King, he appoints Bishops and Abbots: he chose for himself the venerable man Lul as successor of the See of Mainz, but appointed the venerable Sturim Abbot in the monastery of Fulda, charging him to bear the care of the flock committed to him. To Willibald indeed he committed the governance of the Pastoral office in the place Heystede (Eichstätt), and to Burchard he delegated the parish of that city at Wirceburch (Würzburg). Wigbertus too he appointed governor of the Brethren in the monastery which is called Hersfeld. These things too B. Bonifacius and future Martyr, as a wise architect, disposed all: and some Brethren being taken with him, boarding a ship, he came even to Utrecht. There fittingly received, he associated to himself that notable college, which had there been gathered by S. Willibrord.

[6] He goes to Utrecht: But he remained a long time in the same Bishopric, abundantly supplying the food of the divine word to the cruel people of the Frisians, and confirming with the fortification of holy preaching the rudiments of faith, which had been begun by S. Willibrord. But when to the Blessed Pontiff Bonifacius and future Martyr the reward of his pilgrimage was imminent, that by a precious death he might migrate from this world to the Lord—because precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints—he learned through the grace of the Holy Spirit that he must undergo the victory of a happy martyrdom. But because the wedding garment was not lacking to him, he had chosen companions for himself to the same palm, some of those whom he had found there, others of those whom he had brought thither, who for Christ would wish to undergo the glorious death of martyrdom. and there he places S. Gregory as Pastor: But the holy Bonifacius, as a prudent steward, whom the Lord set over his family, providing for the providence of the flock committed to him; lest, no Pastor protecting, after his departure, rapacious wolves should invade the Lord's fold; set the Blessed Gregory, of whom we made mention above, of whose virtues also volumes are held by us, over the See of the same Church of Utrecht as Pastor. These things being thus arranged in order, he embarked on a ship with the companions chosen by him; having entered present-day Frisia, and by the conduct of heavenly piety, and surrounded by the happy company of his fellow-soldiers, by a prosperous journey crossed the river which is called Alcmere, and came to the villages of the Frisians which are called Ostroche and Westroche; and there, surrounded by a band of the Blessed, fixed his tents. No delay, taking too the Christians, whom he had already long known to have been converted by S. Willibrord, he confirmed them in the faith by his holy preaching; and to the Neophytes after the Apostolic manner, by the imposition of hands, conferred the gift of the sevenfold Spirit.

[7] Setting out thence, armed spiritually with the heavenly sword, together with his Coadjutor-Bishop, namely named Eobanus, and likewise with the happy college of companions, he traversed all that land preaching, he preaches the word of God: baptizing, recalling the erroneous nation from the worship of idols, and converting them to the worship of the heavenly King. What more? The herald of the Evangelical speech sounded through all Frisia with the salutary trumpet. But the ancient serpent, envious of all good things, and from the beginning of the world always the enemy of the human race, instigated certain men of the cruel race who had not yet been emancipated from the diabolical superstitions, namely his satellites, against the servant of God and his fellow-soldiers: for they said that they preferred to die than to abandon their ancestral rites. As soon as the athletes of God heard these things, with their own Pastor as quickly as possible rejoicing they went to the village which is called Dockinga: he goes to Dockinga, in which they knew that executioners with a bloody multitude had gathered, to slay the servants of God. But the holy Bonifacius exhorted his companions saying: Manfully for the faith of Christ, Brethren, stand, in hope unanimously remain; and do not fear those who can kill the body, but the soul by no means. But they, unanimous, said: We know, Father, that S. Willibrord taught us this, that for this we should receive the faith, because for Christ we ought to lay down our souls; since he died on the cross, that he might redeem us with his own blood. The holy Martyrs therefore, he animates his men to martyrdom: exhorting one another, went to the spectacle praising and blessing the Lord, who predestined them to life, and ordained them for this, that they might merit to enter the celestial Jerusalem with the palm of victory, and to rejoice together without end with the holy Martyrs. The day therefore of the glorious contest dawning, S. Eobanus, his fellow-worker and Coadjutor-Bishop, together with the other companions, namely Presbyters, Monks, Deacons, whose names are these: Wintrung and Waltere together with Adelhere, raised to the Priestly grade; Hamund and Scirbald, and Boso, marked of the Levitical order; Waccar and Gundecar, Illehere and Batewlff, subject to the Monastic life. These all came to the blessed Pontiff, and is in turn strengthened by them, giving him counsel, that he should by no means cease from the insistence of holy preaching; but should so much the more preach the word of the Lord, the more the raging people raged: for in

them all there was one heart and one soul, and they loved their souls even unto death.

[8] For so great an exhortation therefore B. Bonifacius, filled with unspeakable joy; as quickly as possible taking the codex having the words of the Lord, teaching the Gospel to the tumultuous people, began to preach Christ to the tumultuous people, and to show the way of salvation. But the executioners, with their leader the devil (who supplied them strength, gave them audacity, conferred madness) armed with swords and lances raging, rush upon the servants of God, no otherwise than ferocious wolves upon defenseless sheep, he is killed with his 52, slaying them with a bloody death, and prostrating them to the ground without resistance. But the holy Martyrs stood immovable, rendering good for evil, exchanging blessing for persecution, in living prostrate, in dying made victors; and offering their bodies for Christ of their own accord to the torments, because they believed that without delay they would receive the joys of perennial life as a reward. So too the holy Martyrs, with willing mind and spiritual joy, consummated a glorious martyrdom with their own Pastor. But the holy Martyrs of Christ suffered on the day of the Nones of June, the 5th of June, our Lord Jesus Christ reigning, to whom is honor and power unto the ages. The number too of the holy Martyrs, who with the blessed Martyr and Pontiff Bonifacius suffered for Christ, some buried at Utrecht, was fifty-two. But the bodies of the above-named Martyrs and of thirteen others, were gathered by the faithful, and put into a ship with the blessed Pontiff, and with happy joy and prosperous course came even to Utrecht. For there they were received with hymns and psalmodies, and buried in the church which is consecrated in honor of the Holy Trinity with all fear and veneration. The other bodies too of the holy Martyrs, some in the place of the passion. whose names through sloth and negligence were given to oblivion, but without doubt are written in the book of life, were buried by the faithful people in the same place where they received the palm of martyrdom: in which afterwards, Christ being propitious and by royal precept, in honor of the holy Martyrs a church was built. In these places, namely Utrecht, Fulda, Dockinga, in signs and virtues, through the merits of the holy Martyrs benefits are inwardly granted to the faithful people, the Catholic faith growing, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

NOTES BY G. H.

EXCERPTS

From the Life of S. Gregory, Pastor of Utrecht.

By the Author S. Ludgerus the Bishop.

Bonifacius, Apostolic Legate and Archbishop of Mainz, Martyr (S.)

BHL Number: 3680

BY S. LUDGERUS THE BISHOP

[1] My discourse is about Dom Gregory, the Abbot, and my Preceptor from infancy: who, begotten of a noble a stock of the Franks, by the nobility of his morals and the documents of his wisdom, adorned and surpassed the nobility of the world. S. Bonifacius a strenuous laborer, Which spiritual nobility and prudence indeed he obtained from the holy Martyr Bonifacius, his Archbishop and Master; who in the days of the most noble Prince of the Franks King Charles, coming from Britain and the nation of the English as a certain most bright star to France, under the Kings Carloman and Pippin, the most glorious sons of the same King Charles, like a sun glowing in holiness, spread the rays of his virtue and preaching; and almost all kingdoms, while living in the body, refreshing with the most lavish banquets of his doctrine, he bettered both in faith and in life: and after his passing from this world by holy martyrdom, the same kingdoms of the Franks through the chosen grains of his disciples, after the example of the Lord's seed, he made to bear fruit, and to advance even to this present day. Among whom B. Gregory was found a column of the Church of God: who, in the days of the most religious King Pippin succeeding his Master, was sent as a Preacher to the nation of the Frisians; to which Master and Martyr Bonifacius B. Gregory began to cleave in this manner, and to undergo his discipleship.

[2] When the very elect of God Bonifacius the Martyr, after b thirteen years of preaching performed in Frisia, in which, in the Southern part of the Lake Almari, an Evangelical poor man, and almost a solitary, he had passed his holy sojourn in three places, whose names of the places are these. The first is called c Wyrda, on the bank of the river Rhine, where he dwelt seven years. The second is called d Attingohem near the river Fehta, where he dwelt three years, in which place he first began to have a disciple named Gembertus. The third place is called e Felisa, which was nearer to the Gentiles and Pagans, where he likewise remained three years. After these thirteen years, I say, when, admonished by God, he had begun to make a journey to the Hessians and Thuringians, the eastern regions of the Franks, received at the monastery of Palatiolum by Addula, for the sake of winning peoples for God; he came to the monastery of Virgins of Palatiolum near the city of Trier, on the bank of the river Moselle, over which then presided an Abbess named f Addula, very religious and fearing God. Who, when she had seen the Athlete of God a pilgrim and needy, gladly received him into her hospitality, fulfilling the Dominical exhortation, I was a guest and you gathered me. Matthew 25 And when that most sacred wayfarer Bonifacius, according to his accustomed manner, had performed the mysteries of the Masses, as he was wont to do almost every day; they sat at the table, namely he and the handmaid of God Addula the Abbess with her family. But they began at that holy banquet to seek more than the food, the solace of holy Scripture, by which the faith of the hearers might be kindled, and hope and charity renewed toward God, who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

[3] he hears S. Gregory, her grandson, reading at the table, Then a reader was sought: and according to the will of God, there was found the chosen boy Gregory, who at that same time, lately returned from school and the palace, still in a lay habit, about the fourteenth or fifteenth year of his age, by the instinct of God came to his grandmother, that is, to the mother of his father Albricus, the above-said God-fearing Abbess Addula; and a book was given him. Who, the blessing received, began to read, and according to the manner of his age to read through well. But the Master, perceiving the boy's sagacious mind and good disposition, began, the reading being finished, moderately to praise him with these words and to say: You read well, son, if you understand what you read. But he, wise as a little one at this time, and speaking as a little one, professed that he knew what he read. Tell me, he says, how do you understand what you read? But he repeated from the beginning his reading, wishing to read as before. But the holy Preceptor put him off a little; and said: Not so, son, do I ask that you say to me your reading; but according to the property of your tongue, and according to the natural speech of your parents, expound to me what you read. By this reason convicted, he confessed that he could not do it. But the holy Bonifacius said: Do you wish, son, that I tell you? I wish, he says.

[4] and instructs him, Then B. Bonifacius: Repeat, he says, from the beginning your reading; and read distinctly. Which while he did, the holy Master began, and with clear voice began to preach, both to the Mother and to all the family. From what fountain this preaching proceeded, is clear in the conversion of Gregory the ingenious and sagacious boy; because not from human eloquence, which frequently for a time deceives; but from the grace of the Holy Spirit, according to the promise of the Gospel in the manner of a river of living water, it flowed from the belly of the Doctor; and penetrated the prudent and docile heart of the boy Gregory with such virtue and swiftness, that at one exhortation and preaching of a Master hitherto unknown, he forgot both his parents and his country; and at that very hour, while the holy Master completed his preaching, unwilling to be any longer parted from him, he went to his grandmother the aforesaid Abbess, the venerable Addula; saying that he wished to go with the man, and to undergo his discipleship for learning the divine books. John 7 But she, constrained by carnal affection, at once repelled him, and in every way refused that this could be done, because indeed she knew not the man, nor whither he went. But as it is written, Many waters could not extinguish charity. Canticles 8 The boy Gregory remained in his purpose, and said to Addula his grandmother: If you will not give me a horse that I may ride with him, by walking on foot without doubt I will go with him. So therefore disputing about the unknown journey they long argued with one another: but at last the charity of the chosen boy Gregory prevailed, and, as was fitting, spiritual love conquered carnal love. The handmaid of God Addula therefore, seeing, because she was a prudent woman, the inflexible mind of the boy, gave him boys and horses, and let him go with the holy Master, into the work which they completed together even to his holy martyrdom.

[5] You understand, Reader, pious and prudent, whom the chosen boy Gregory followed in this deed, that, his parents and all his kinsmen unconsulted, and receives him as companion and disciple: and the very grandmother who was present resisting, he was so suddenly changed: for the same Spirit seems to me to have then worked in this boy, who inflamed the Apostles of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God to this, that at one voice of the Lord, the nets and the father being left, they followed the Redeemer. Parents therefore and country being despised, and all things left behind, which could carnally flatter the mind of the adolescent; according to the saying of the Psalmist the blessed boy Gregory, for the words of the lips of God, followed hard ways. Psalm 16 For it was hard and very harsh, that he who in the house of his father, a very rich man, had been brought up in sports and delights, should follow one pilgrim and poor man, not knowing whither he went; and should so far obey him,

that he, like a deaf man, did not hear all other men, both the powerful of the world, and his own parents, provided that he obeyed his precepts in all things. For how great an authority shone even then in the future Martyr Bonifacius, who could estimate, which incited the boy's heart with so sudden a change; or what ardor of charity inflamed the mind of the youth to obey an unknown master, so that, suddenly forgetting himself, he followed the poor man of Christ, destitute of all worldly substance. This was not done by the love of gold and silver, not by the desire of estates and proud boasting, of which there was nothing in the case; but this was done by the supreme craftsman, the one and same Spirit of God, who works all things in all, dividing to each as he wills.

[6] Then the elect of God, performing the desired journey, came to Thuringia. Further, for the increase of their good, and for the proving of the constancy and long-suffering of their mind, they found that people in such great poverty, he labors in Thuringia: that scarcely anyone there had whence he might live, unless he gathered some little from afar, that for a short time he might sustain his penury: for that whole region, placed on the border of the rebellious Pagans, was at that time burned, and laid waste by a hostile hand. Which penury however could by no means terrify the ministers of Christ, that on that account they should shrink, so as not to announce to them all the counsel of God: but according to the Apostolic example, they began to labor with their hands, the things which were needful for themselves and for those who were with them: and to remain firmly with that people in their temptations, and by preaching round about to invite them to the celestial realms. 1 Corinthians 4 Persevering therefore in these studies according to the form of the primitive Church, they had one heart and one soul; and God increased daily with a manifold number, those who were saved in the same.

[7] in great penury and persecution: Then the fame of the holy Master and future Martyr Bonifacius began to spread through all the Eastern kingdoms of the Franks. The chosen adolescent Gregory too began to advance in his discipleship, in age and wisdom; and to become so lovable to his Master, that he loved him as an only son, now having him a faithful helper in every good work. But this so great advancement of the elect of God was not begun through opulence and worldly delights, nor through the security and prosperity of mortal life: but in hunger and nakedness and many labors: in all which they were both compelled to live by the work of their hands, and sometimes for fear of death to flee with the people at once into the city from the neighboring persecution of the Pagans, and there to dwell on black bread and in straits for several days; until the citizens, their multitude being gathered, with a stronger hand again put them to flight. Since therefore this contest was waged through innumerable times between the Pagans and the Christians, therefore here and there a great part of those regions was reduced to a wilderness. But in so strong and perilous a struggle in those days, in so great a battle and disturbance of the contending peoples, the chosen Pastor Bonifacius could never cease from the guard and instruction of his flock; but he was so much the more constant and ready to lay down his soul for his sheep, the more frequently he saw the rage of the wolves and saw it more atrociously imminent. Likewise also his faithful disciple Gregory, an indefatigable helper in the work of God, remained with his Master in the guard and education of the flock of Christ, made the second Pastor.

[8] But thus far these things were so carried on until through the grace of Christ the Christian band triumphed, and full peace was restored to the Churches of God. And they were more and more increasing and advancing in the work of the Lord, as at present it is seen by those considering those regions. But what shall we wretched, lazy and inert, in the peace of the Church of God, be about to say? who, seeking not the gains of the flock, but always our own comforts, scarcely ever in the guard of the sheep, against the rage of the wolves, send forth even one bark of the least speech: who, with huge fruit of souls: as I said, in the peace of the Church are lazy, and drowsy in the guard of the flock, but in carnal gains too strenuous and watchful. But these, of whom we speak, in so great a disturbance and contest of wars, not only remained in their inmost and chaste guard with pure hearts; but also in the gain of the flock and the instruction of disciples were dilated with such great blessing of God, and multiplied by their own vigilance through the help of God.

[9] Then the chief and more prudent of the Franks, who could know and understand the elect of God Martyr Bonifacius, and his disciples the venerable Gregory and his companions, in such great virtue of works and fortitude of constancy, began more diligently from day to day to offer them their own things, and not to conceal the praise of so great beatitude and unity before the King of the Franks the elder g Charles: and the King himself too began to wish to see the man of God Bonifacius, and ordered him to come to him. aided by Charles Martel, Who when he had come, was not at once at the beginning received by the King with honor worthy of himself, but thus suitably put off, because there had been certain pseudo-doctors and flatterers, who tried to obscure the fame of the holy man and his disciples, and to hinder it with the King. But nevertheless from that day grew the love and honor of the man of God and his disciples with all, who desired to know and to investigate inwardly their faith and life; and according to the saying of the Gospel, Wisdom is justified by her children. Luke 7 The elect of God returned again to their own, remaining in the begun work without any hesitation, among the Thuringians and among the Hessians, where at that time their doctrine was most needed, on account of the nearness of the Pagans and the unlearned people. And there they began, men offering for the love of God and the salvation of their souls, he builds churches at Erfurt and Fritzlar. to receive small places and territories, and to build churches in them; and in this work too, as also in their preaching, with the blessing of God to advance much. Of which places, one is in Thuringia named Erpesford (Erfurt), and another in the Hessians, Frideshlar (Fritzlar), with certain others, which the elect of God initiated, and cultivated with the divine worship. Then the places grew in riches, and the number of disciples grew, and advanced in the virtue of works. The blessed adolescent Gregory too grew with his Master, in all virtue of works and the beauty of divine wisdom, according to the form of the Master, from whom he had learned. And so in all these things according to the saying of the Psalmist, who gave to the elect of God the law in the virtue of works, gave also blessing in multiplication: and so they went from virtue to virtue, daily advancing for the better and growing in every good work. Psalm 83.

[10] Meanwhile, while these things are so done by the elect of God, Bonifacius and his disciples; there succeeded in the kingdom to their Father Charles his religious sons Carloman h and Pippin, the father paying the debt of all flesh, and passing from this world. Then the pious sons, esteemed by Carloman and Pippin. succeeding their father in the kingdom, because to them on every side through the grace of Christ a greater quiet of wars was granted than had been to their father; began in their kingdom, God inspiring, more intently to seek and to better the offices of religion. B. Bonifacius the future Martyr and his disciples began also to hear this, and began more frequently to approach the palace than they had done, and to speak with the Kings, and to preach according to the grace given them by God to the people of God in the very palace. And they came into so great favor with the above-said Kings and all the people of the Franks, that all with one voice said and agreed, that B. Bonifacius was most worthy of the Episcopate and of all honor, except those pseudo-doctors and flatterers, whom I mentioned above, who also sometime sought to kill him; but the Lord his protector did not let him come into their malevolent hands, until he should announce, according to the saying of the Psalmist, the arm and power of God to the generation which was to come. Psalm 70 Therefore they alone began to gainsay, and to blaspheme him as much as they could, and to affirm that he was not worthy of the Episcopate, because he was a pilgrim.

[11] So far were the Laymen then of sounder counsel than the Clerics, seeing the wisdom of God and grace to be in that man, that the more those most perverse men, I do not say i Bishops, to whom that name was given undeservedly, tried to disparage him; so much the more was he loved by all, and extolled with praises, he conquers his adversaries, until they came into contest before the Kings, and before all the Senate of the people of the Franks. But what need is there to speak of that disputation, which they had then with one another; namely those most perverse men, whom I will not name, on the one part, and S. Bonifacius on the other with his disciples Gregory and his companions? when, confused and refuted by all the Senate, and by the Kings themselves, the adversaries departed thence; and S. Bonifacius the future Martyr came to this, that without anyone's contradiction, with one voice of all, he was chosen to the most sublime grade of the Episcopate, and the Metropolitan Church of Mainz was given him by the Kings to be provided for and ruled. and is made Metropolitan of Mainz: From that day how greatly his wisdom shone to all the kingdom of the Franks, and how great Synods with the religious Kings for the correction of the people he afterwards instituted, is not now to be said in this little work; while like the sun he shone in the temple of God, and by his preaching and examples put to flight all the clouds of unbelief and heretical depravity; since all these things, in the little book written about his passion, are fully and clearly made manifest.

[12] But to all these things, he was not slightly aided by his chosen disciples, after the Master most bright preachers and columns of the Church of God; he has as disciples S. Gregory, of whom each one illuminated his city and region, like the morning-star rising, with his examples and doctrine. B. Gregory irradiated Utrecht, the ancient city, and the famous village of Dorstad, with that part of Frisia which at that time was reckoned by the name of Christianity, even to the western bank of the river which is called k Lagbeke, where was the border of the Christian Frisians and the Pagans, all the days of King Pippin. Lullus, and others, Lullus inhabited Mainz the Metropolitan city, with the greatest part of the Christian Frisians, who stood in the parish of that city. Megingodus, the venerable Father and Pastor, seasoned and guarded with the salt of his wisdom and doctrine the city Würzburg of the flock committed to him, with its appurtenances in his lot. l Willibald, the chosen Bishop of God, the Bishopric which is called at Hehstedi (Eichstätt), in the part nearest to us of the Bavarians: the same in the Nordgau m in like manner, as a pious Father, raising it from the foundations, bettered and guarded it. And also the brother of the aforesaid Willibald,

named Winnibald the Presbyter, very dear to my Master B. Gregory, he too holily and happily illustrated his place and region; who, what he did while living, he showed more after his death by miracles. But the venerable Abbot Sturmi, one of the number of those elect of God, how much he advanced in his hermitage after the martyrdom of the holy Master, the forest of Bocanna is in testimony; which before was in every way uncultivated and a desert, but now from the East even to the West, from the North even to the South, is filled with churches of God and chosen branches of Monks. Which Abbot Sturmi too merited this privilege from God and the holy Master above his fellow-disciples, that he should merit to possess and to initiate that very place, which the holy Master chose for the burial of his body, and to receive his holy martyred body in the same, and to advance and glorify that place so much, that before his departure from this world he was the Father and Preceptor of about four hundred Monks (besides the bell-ringers and other lesser persons, whose number was very manifold in that monastery, likewise Wigbertus and Burchardus. placed beside the river Fulda). But two of those elect of God, Wigbertus n and Burghardus, migrated from the world before their Master: but they are not without the palm of their election, since they merited to precede their Master to the celestial realms, and in their regions are held for Saints of God and venerated by all, who could know their life and virtue with God. You see, O understanding and diligent Reader, how great charisms were in one man; and what that poor man, who long had been a solitary in the parts of Frisia, did through the time of his manifestation for the fruit of the Church of God. But he himself could not do these things by himself, but according to the Apostle, The grace of God with him did all these things and established them. 1 Corinthians 13 Therefore, because for a little, on account of the common praise of the disciples of the holy Master Bonifacius, I have slipped from the proposed journey of the narration, now again I will return to that from which I digressed.

[13] Then B. Bonifacius the future Martyr, the religious Kings being willing, with the consent of all the Senate of the people of the Franks, was sent to Rome to be ordained to the grade of the Episcopate by Pope Gregory, o the third from the first; and there his name, now known and divulged to all, together with the blessing and the grade of the Episcopate, on account of the fluency of his tongue, ordained Bishop at Rome, and the grace of his lips given him by God, was bestowed by the Apostolic Pontiff—Bonifacius, who before was reckoned by the name of Winfridus. And so the holy man, both adorned with the grade and the name, before all the Clergy and family of B. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, and before the very Pope Gregory, prostrated himself, and prayed, that for God and the love of S. Peter there in the very Church, with suppliant devotion all the Clergy who were present should bend the knee for him; and unanimously all should pray the Lord, and invite Blessed Peter as intercessor and helper of his prayer, he asks the prayers of others, that he might merit to terminate and conclude his days with a good and God-pleasing end. Who too, all, God inspiring, unanimously with the highest devotion, bowing themselves before the Relics of B. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, fulfilled his petition, the sacred prayer both of the Pastor and of the Flock being poured out to God. Which prayer, agreeing with his holy merits, how much it prevailed with almighty God, his holy Martyrdom testifies, accomplished in the days of his old age, and now then of the great weakness of his body, while, set in decrepit age, he could not live longer in this world.

[14] Behold how the wise architect and the chosen Pontiff of God Bonifacius, not on the fluid sand of human counsel and proud contumacy, but on the safest rock of divine counsel and Apostolic humility, built his house. And therefore, when the floods of human adversity and disturbance came, and the winds of diabolical temptation and cunning blew, and beat upon his house, they could not move it; because, according to the saying of the Lord, it was founded upon the firm rock, which rock was Christ. Matthew 7 Our now intercessor, and most certain Patron before God, considering and weighing in how great peril and misery human infirmity is established, did not place his confidence in himself, he places his confidence in God: after the manner of the proud of the adverse part; but had recourse to Apostolic humility and that of the sons of God, and into the bounty of divine mercy, and the devout supplication of the Church of God, made firm his hope. For so also the Apostles of Christ and their successors and coheirs in the kingdom of God, in all their labor and tribulation, aided without intermission by the prayer of the Church of God, could fulfill all things which were commanded them by the Lord. Come, Bishops and Preachers of the people of God, adorned with the same honor and equal grade in this world, look and understand, and take the example of the just man; that, when, called by God and chosen by the Church of God, not blinded by gifts, you shall come to the grade of the Episcopate and to the holy rule, according to his form you may be able to institute yourselves, and to bring forth fruit that shall remain unto eternal life.

[15] And in that journey too, while the holy Martyr Bonifacius at Rome, as was said above, was raised to the sacred grade, B. Gregory my Preceptor remained an indefatigable companion to the chosen Master; and Gregory accompanying him, going in and out and proceeding at his command, as he was always wont in every good work. And not only in this same journey did he perform the merit of his humility and obedience, as it is fitting that juniors be subject to their elders and superiors in all things; but also several volumes of the holy Scriptures, the Lord granting it, he there acquired; and carried home thence with no small labor, for his own advancement and that of his disciples. But also two boys, with the consent of the Master, into his discipleship, namely p Marchelmus and Marcuvinus, of the nation of the English, he brought thence with him. Of whose elder Marchelmus, a most religious and holy man, as is fitting, God granting it, in his place I will say something more fully. Then the happy company, namely the holy Master, and his chosen disciples, both by their own merits and by the intercession of all the Clergy and family of S. Peter commended to God and his Saints, with great fruit he promulgates the faith, returned home, growing and advancing from that day in every good work; teaching and instructing in the way of God, in which they themselves went, not only the people and Nobles of the Franks, but also the very religious Kings they seasoned not slightly with the salt of divine wisdom. And so in the consent and unanimity of the Kings and all the people, through all the kingdom of the Franks, there began daily to be made more and more losses to the devil, and increases to the Church of God; the heretical depravities not to appear, and the Catholic faith to glow in all, and pure and unspotted religion to shine far and wide.

[16] But neither is this to be covered with silence, which I learned from the venerable man Marchelmus relating it, of whom I made mention above. That after the martyrdom of the holy Master, by whom, through the grace of Christ and the merit of his holiness, all the neighboring nations were enlightened; the blessed Gregory too received from Stephen the Bishop of the Apostolic See, and from the illustrious and religious King Pippin, authority of sowing the word of God in Frisia: in which first S. Willibrord, surnamed q Archbishop, in the conversion of that nation began the rudiments of the Christian faith with his disciples: after S. Willibrord Archbishop of Utrecht, then, he growing old in the work of God, and the Bishopric being established in the place which is called Utrecht, and by another name Wiltaburg, and he migrating to the Lord from this light, there succeeded S. Bonifacius the same Archbishop and Martyr, whom I myself saw with my eyes, white with gray hair and decrepit with old age, full of virtues and the merits of his life. At which time in his discipleship, as I mentioned above, B. Gregory my Preceptor had been nourished from his earliest age, to whom he succeeded a pious heir, ordained Pastor and Preacher of the same nation of the Frisians by the Lord, and by the above-said Princes of the Church of God. And with the same charity, as also firmness of faith, with which his predecessors—namely the holy Willibrord the Archbishop and Confessor, and Bonifacius the Martyr and Archbishop—with lavish and mellifluous erudition, he irradiated the people together with his Chorepiscopus and helper r Alubertus, who came from Britain and the nation of the English, strong in great merits of life, and with the same benevolence according to his strength strove to acquire gains of souls for the Lord.

NOTES BY G. H.

p Marchelmus, by others Marcellinus, is venerated on the 14th of July: to whom spurious contrivances about S. Suibert are attributed, as is at length set out at his Life on the 1st of March.

q In the same sense, namely, in which Bonifacius, not yet fixed to any See, is called by the Pontiff himself, as we saw, Archbishop, because ordained for the conversion of the nations, and subject to no other.

r Alabertus was taken up in place of Eobanus, the Coadjutor-Bishop and Martyr, to perform the pastoral functions: this Author calls him Chorepiscopus after the usage of his age; about which see Du Cange in the Glossary; now we should call him Episcopal Vicar.

THE BONIFACIAN ANALECTS.

Bonifacius, Apostolic Legate and Archbishop of Mainz, Martyr (S.)

BY THE AUTHORS G. H. AND D. P.

CHAPTER I.

Whether and what was done by Pope Zacharias and S. Bonifacius in the promotion of Pippin to the kingdom of the Franks.

[1] We had resolved to be wholly silent about the elevation of Prince Pippin to be King of the Franks, and his unction, because of these no mention is found either in the various Acts of S. Bonifacius or in the epistles of Pope Zacharias. But because the most ancient testimony of both matters is found inscribed in a most ancient manuscript book of Gregory of Tours On the Lives of the Fathers, which without doubt the lovers of truth will gladly learn, in their favor it pleases to give it here, and to corroborate what is there said by collated attestations from elsewhere. This codex once belonged to the College of Molsheim of the Society of Jesus in Alsace, from which we acquired it by an exchange made with other books, and have long kept it with us. To this book at the end is thus added: Testimony of the fact written in the year 767, If you wish to know, reader, in what times this little book may seem to have been written, and published to the precious praise of the holy Martyrs; you will find it in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord seven hundred sixty-seven, in the times of the most happy and most tranquil and Catholic Pippin, King of the Franks and Patrician of the Romans, son of Charles the Prince of blessed memory once, in the sixteenth year of his most happy reign in the name of God, Indiction five; and of his sons, the same Kings of the Franks, Charles and Carloman, who, by the hands of the man of holy memory the most blessed Lord Pope Stephen, together with their aforesaid father, the most glorious Lord Pippin the King, with sacred chrism into Kings, by the providence of God and the intercessions of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, were consecrated in the thirteenth year. For the aforesaid most flourishing Lord Pippin the Pious King, by the authority and command of the Lord Pope Zacharias of holy memory, and the unction of holy chrism, by the hands of the blessed Priests of the Gauls, and the election of all the Franks, three years before was raised to the throne of the kingdom. Afterwards by the hands of the same Pontiff Stephen anew, in the church of the aforesaid blessed Martyrs Dionysius, Rusticus, and Eleutherius (where also the venerable man Folradus is known to be Archpriest and Abbot) into King and Patrician, together with his aforesaid sons Charles and Carloman, in the name of the holy Trinity was anointed and blessed.

[2] For in that same church of the blessed Martyrs, on one and the same day, the most noble and most devout Berterada, most devoutly cleaving to the holy Martyrs, the wife of the aforesaid most flourishing King, the aforesaid venerable Pontiff, by a Dionysian Monk likely present, clothed in Royal robes, blessed with the grace of the sevenfold Spirit; and at the same time confirmed the Princes of the Franks with blessing and the grace of the Holy Spirit: and bound all with such an interdict and law of excommunication, that they should never presume to choose a King in any age from the loins of another; but from those whom both the divine piety has deigned to exalt, and by the intercessions of the holy Apostles, by the hands of their Vicar and the most blessed Pontiff, he disposed to confirm and consecrate. These things therefore we have briefly inserted for your charity in the very last little page of this book, that through the relation of succeeding times and of the common folk the offspring of posterity may be able in any age to know them. These things the learned Writer, and likely a Monk of S. Denis, twelve years only having elapsed from the death of S. Bonifacius: but he indicates that Pippin, by the authority and command of Pope Zacharias, and the unction of sacred Chrism by the hands of the blessed Priests, and the election of the Franks, was raised to the throne of the kingdom.

[3] How these things were performed, the old Annals of the Franks will explain, which Andreas du Chesne, the Royal Geographer, a man of keen judgment, selected, and inserted in the second volume of the Writers of the history of the Franks. it is confirmed from the Tilian Annals, In him, in those which the old Tilian Codex exhibited, drawn from the year 708 to the year 808, page 12, it is thus read. In the year 749 Pope Zacharias by Fulradus commanded that Pippin should be raised to be King. In the year 750 Pippin, according to the custom of the Franks, was chosen to be King: and anointed by the hands of Bonifacius the Bishop of holy memory, was raised by the Franks into the kingdom, in the city of Soissons. The Loiselian Annals, drawn from the year 741 to the year 814, the Loiselian ones, page 25. In the year 749 Burghardus, Bishop of Würzburg, and Fulradus the Chaplain were sent to Pope Zacharias, asking about the Kings in France, who in those times were not having Royal power, whether it was well or not. And Pope Zacharias commanded Pippin, that it were better that he be called King, who had the power; than he who remained without Royal power, that the order might not be disturbed. By Apostolic authority therefore he ordered Pippin to be made King. In the year 750 Pippin according to the custom of the Franks was chosen to be King, and anointed by the hand of Bonifacius the Archbishop of holy memory, and raised by the Franks into his kingdom, in the city of Soissons.

[4] The same things are extant from the autograph of the Bavarian Library in Henricus Canisius, but drawn only to the year 793, and others, and in Eginhard in the Annals On the Deeds of King Pippin. The same also are read in Volume 3 of du Chesne in the Bertinian Annals, sent by Joannes Bolland. The same finally we have in our very ancient codex, where the two following years, void with nothing noted, are thus supplied: In the year 751 Hildericus, who was falsely called King, was tonsured and sent into a monastery. In the year 752 Pippin, S. Bonifacius admonishing, restored to certain Bishoprics either the halves, or the thirds, of their goods, promising afterwards to restore all. likewise the Fulda ones, In the Frankish Annals of Fulda these things at once are contained at the year 752: Pope Zacharias by the authority of S. Peter the Apostle commands the people of the Franks, that Pippin, who used the royal power, should also enjoy the dignity of the name. Thus King Hildricus, who, the last of the Merovingians, ruled the Franks, was deposed and sent into a monastery. But Pippin in the city of Soissons, anointed King by S. Bonifacius the Archbishop, was raised to the honor of the kingdom. Similar things about Pippin, elevated to be King by the authority of Pope Zacharias, and consecrated, or anointed, by S. Bonifacius, have, in Labbe in the New Library, Hugo Abbot of Flavigny in the Verdun Chronicle, and others, and the Chronicle of the Affairs of the Franks digested even to the death of the Emperor Lothair; then also Ademarus the Monk of S. Eparchius in his Chronicle. Besides, several are produced by Serarius, Note 43 to the Life of S. Bonifacius; namely Egilwaldus in book 2 of the Life of S. Burchard, Bishop of Würzburg, chapter 1, Marianus Scotus, Regino, Sigebertus, Lambertus of Hersfeld, Otho of Freising, and others. Baronius at the year 752, no. 1, asserts nay, by the reckoning of all. that all the writers of Frankish affairs, whether old or more recent, without controversy attest it.

[5] These things being thus produced not by my sense, but that of others, without any interpolation, but only in the words of others; I would wish to ask the most learned writer of the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, that I, Henschenius, be not again called injurious to the glory of the Frankish kingdom, that the Frankish Annalist cease to accuse the Dagobertine Diatribe, as I am called in the Index of Volume 3, the reader being referred to the year 673, where I am charged at no. 20, a Hispano-Belgian man, of having written in the Dedicatory Epistle, prefixed to the Diatribe on the three Dagoberts, Kings of the Franks, certain things against the majesty of the Frankish Crown, which never acknowledged a superior in temporal matters. That Diatribe I published in the year 1655, when namely the controversy about the birth of Childebrand had been stirred up by Joannes Jacobus Chiffletius; about which writing against him someone at Paris in the year 1659, so approved my disposition, most fair to whichever party for the truth, that, although I was a Hispano-Belgian, by my judgment alone, he wished all those Chiffletian controversies to be settled and defined, provided Chiffletius should promise to abide by it. I saw the little book in passing at Frankfurt, setting out for Rome in the year 1660; would that afterwards too, returning thence and staying at Paris a whole three months, I had been solicitous to procure it for myself: if for no other end, certainly in testimony of my equity toward the Franks, so clearly acknowledged by the very Franks, that he did not doubt, about to bear a sentence in a historical question, against the Spaniards themselves too, if a more certain reason were proved to stand against these: for nothing else could have moved that writer to form such an opinion of me, than the aforesaid Diatribe, received with the highest applause throughout France, as the letters thence given by several learned men announced. But this very thing was the cause, that being wholly secure on that side, I thought nothing of collecting the approbations of the Franks, admonished by no one, that there was in my writings anything of which anyone would wish to complain.

[6] But what of the Dedicatory letter, named in the charge? I did not indeed compose it myself: yet obliged to give an account for it, I explain its author and its aim in a few words. When I was wholly engaged in writing and publishing the said Diatribe, the aforesaid Chiffletius published the Childerician Anastasis, occasion being taken from the body of this King then by chance dug up at Tournai. This treatise my Master and arbiter of my studies Joannes Bolland of best memory read; he read then also my Diatribe; and out of his affection toward me his disciple and colleague, wished to write a Dedicatory letter. In this it seemed good to him to institute a comparison, between the Childeric of Chiffletius, and Dagobert II drawn by me out of darkness, taken from this, that the former, a heathen, occupied the dominions of the Roman Empire by arms; the other, a Christian, peacefully possessed a hereditary kingdom, long before confirmed to his ancestors by the assent of the peoples, the authority of the Roman Pontiff, and the approbation of the Eastern Emperors. or the Dedicatory letter prefixed to it by Bolland: What here, I beseech, did either Bolland the author of the Dedicatory letter so greatly sin, or I who allowed it to be prefixed to my Diatribe? About the assent of the peoples, the Annalist himself of his own accord congratulates himself; about the approbation of the Eastern Emperors, he refuses or explains away Procopius as witness. It displeased therefore, either only or chiefly, that the authority of the Roman Pontiff was brought into the matter. This too could be conveniently understood. For why could it not? When in France itself was found a writer, contemporary with Pippin, and so many others following him, who, in transferring the kingdom to Pippin, acknowledged the authority and command of Pope Zacharias, whom Baronius testifies all the Writers of Frankish affairs, whether old or more recent, attest.

[7] I should indeed prefer never to write a single letter, than to give to any even private person, much less

to the Royal Majesty, an injury. "All things have two handles." I ask therefore all, that they may not so sinisterly wish to interpret any word of mine or of my companions, and not to interpret innocent sayings the worse way. perhaps slipped out while doing something else, and drawable into another than the sense we intended. Let the Annalist re-read his own Dedicatory letters, he will find many things, not so easily to be taken in a better sense by the Spaniards, even the most moderate, which however I would not wish to reproach to him, or to make him guilty of lèse-majesté as he does me. These things I wrote, and finished this treatise about S. Bonifacius on the very feast of All Saints, in the year 1677, now an old man; and reckoning the years, transitory indeed, with the century, at whose beginning I was born; but having continually the eternal in mind, and uniquely desiring to be numbered with the Saints of God in glory.

[8] Henschenius lived after these things were written almost six years; and while I was occupied in the May edition, he gave himself wholly to preparing June, That exculpation of Henschenius, as he did even to the last day of his life, even arranging those things which he wished left to me and my companions; but to perfecting these, scarcely at last was it permitted me to come in the eighth year after my Master's death; so many things had I undertaken to see to for May, to be extended into seven Volumes. Meanwhile the writer of the Frankish Annals, Carolus le Cointe, too died, who how little he moderated his disposition, wherever even the least handle is offered of disparaging nations diverse from the Frankish, that he may extol this one, I leave to the very Franks to judge. In one thing certainly he was very unlike Henschenius, that whereas this one seems to some even excessive, in naming with praise all and singular, from whose labor and zeal he profited, and among them the very Author of the said Annals; that one, taking many things from Henschenius, either rarely or never confessed him as the Author, whose opinion he wished confirmed by adding his own reckoning; nor almost anywhere named him, except when he thought he must hold a different view.

[9] now less necessary for him; Both however being now dead, I doubted indeed whether I should let this whole Chapter, no longer to be read by him for whom it was written, go into the light; especially since the monument described at the beginning was long before set forth by me to the Franks at no. 35 of the preliminary Exegesis on the Genealogy of the Dagobertine Kings before Volume 3 of May; to which Henschenius does not seem to have turned his memory when he wrote these things. But since I, in turn ignorant of those things which he had reported in this place, published, 13 years after that, among the Paralipomena to my attempt on the Roman Pontiffs, a new Dissertation, the twenty-sixth in the order of the others, On the Royal Title among the Franks, transferred by the authority of Pope Zacharias from the first to the second Stock; and since in that Dissertation I have advanced a little beyond the simple citation of Authors, why it is now published here, within which Henschenius here contained himself; I thought it might even be, that this exculpation of his might serve me too sometime, if perhaps (which hitherto I have not yet heard) someone of more malignant disposition shall find a word, less conveniently turned to his sense, about which he would wish to expostulate with me, as envious of Frankish glory.

[10] But while I deprecate this nation, that it may not easily believe that anything was written by me to its injury; and what by his example the editor asks, I judge it far more equitable that I obtain this from the Spaniards, Italians, and Belgians, if ever Truth, more powerful than all national affection, shall have compelled me to traduce certain new or old contrivances, and to convict them of falsity; popular favor being set aside, which I could acquire by either more obstinately defending them, or slothfully dissembling them. The same I would wish all Religious Orders asked, being myself Religious, and indeed of that Society which gladly professes itself, as the most recent in time, so in comparison with others the least. For I too, after thirty-five years passed in this literary stadium toward the Acts of the Saints, and almost fifty in the Religion, begin to descry the goal, at which an account of all my deeds and writings must be rendered to the supreme judge, in which if anything has been sinned through ignorance or less cautiously set forth out of zeal for illustrating the truth, that I am so far from wishing to hold stubbornly, that I propose to augment and intensify with keener zeal the promptitude in correcting such things, which I have used hitherto, more perhaps than any before me, in that God has made the rest of the time of life to be spent on the revision and supplement of this first half-year, to which I ask all to contribute their observations if they have any.

CHAPTER II.

The monastery of Fulda built by S. Bonifacius; and his body there deposited, and then translated into a new church: The History of the Translation and dedication.

[11] The monastery at Fulda erected in the year 744: In that part of Germany which the Franks called the Eastern inhabit, there is a place, named from the name of the neighboring river Fulda… in which S. Bonifacius established a monastery of Monks, in the tenth year before his passion, which was the seven hundred and forty-fourth year from the Lord's Incarnation. So in the Life of B. Rabanus, published by us on the 4th of February, Rudolfus the Presbyter, a Monk of Fulda, the disciple of that Rabanus, who died in the year 856. Nay, S. Bonifacius, as the same Rudolfus in the Life of S. Lioba to be given on the 28th of September adds, sent to Monte Cassino his disciple Sturmin, a man noble in race and morals, that in the monastery which the blessed Father Benedict instituted, he might learn the regular discipline and life and morals, according to the Rule of S. Benedict, and, the future Pastor, become a disciple, and in his subjection learn how he ought to preside over others, by him appointed Abbot of Fulda. Then, as Christophorus Browerus, book 1 of the Antiquities of Fulda, chapter 4, from very ancient Monuments, about the boundaries and bounds of Fulda has, this little charter was written. Bonifacius, German Legate of the Holy Roman Church, to the religious and God-fearing men established in the kingdom of the Franks. I think it not unknown to several, how Carloman the illustrious man, who rules in the kingdom of the Franks together with his brother Pippin, granted us a place in the Buchonia forest fit for building a monastery, and gave it perpetually to the servants of the Lord. Therefore it pleased us, that the same place, from the concession of Carloman; as it consists in certain bounds, we should note; and confirm it below with fit witnesses, who were present at the handing-over and investiture of that place by the aforesaid Prince. The boundary therefore of the church and monastery of the Holy Savior, which is situated on the bank of the river Fulda, is first on the Eastern side the fountain of the brook which is called Crumbenbach: and, the rest being omitted, which may be read there, it thus concludes. For thus this place was handed over by Pippin, and by the aforesaid Prince Carloman, that the same place be commended and useful to our Savior unto the end of the world, for gathering and nourishing his servants, without any hindrance or usurpation of others. The mark of Bonifacius the Archbishop, who caused this charter to be written for the knowledge of all ✠. The mark of Burchard the Bishop. ✠ Of Sturmi the Abbot … In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 747, but in the sixth year of the principate of the noble men Carloman and Pippin his brother, in the month of March on the 22nd day, the charter of Record was written in the monastery of Fulda, first by Megenhelmus the Presbyter, by divine command and permission. Thus far there. Carloman withdrew still in the said year 757 (sic) into Italy, and on Monte Cassino was made a Monk.

[12] But S. Bonifacius did not cease to promote this most beloved monastery of Fulda, and a letter being written to Pope Zacharias, made subject to the Roman Pontiff: reported by Browerus, book 3, chapter 10, he procured that the Pope should ordain, that, he says, the monastery of the Holy Savior, established under the jurisdiction of our holy Church, be submitted to the jurisdiction of no other Church; so that unless he be invited by the Abbot of the monastery, no one at all may presume to celebrate the solemnity of the Masses there. The whole letter is the 14th in the Councils of Labbe, and is contained in volume 6, column 1528. There then flourished Fulradus, Abbot and Archchaplain of King Pippin, whom in the letter there reported by Browerus, Bonifacius asks, that he would entreat the King for his company. For they are, he says, almost all pilgrims; some Presbyters, established through many places for the ministry of the Church and the people; some are Monks, through our cells; and infants, appointed for reading letters; and some elders, who long living with me have labored and helped me. About all these I am solicitous, that after my death they be not scattered, but that they may have the counsel of your reward and the patronage of your highness, etc. That S. Bonifacius began in the same monastery of Fulda the building of a basilica, and commended to S. Lullus that it be completed at his last departure from the city of Mainz, there S. Bonifacius is deposited; and prescribed that his body should be carried thither from his death, Willebaldus indicates above at no. 33. Which how it was done, is there narrated. Further, as to the situation of the sepulchre, says Browerus, book 2, chapter 1, it is clear that the Martyr rested in a portico or arched work, enclosed in the middle of the temple, toward the rising of the sun in the apse, and at distinct intervals, on this side from the North Lioba, on that side Sturmin the Abbot toward the Southern part, each buried in his own apse.

[13] S. Sturmin the Abbot having died on the 17th of December in the year 779, there were appointed, first Baugolfus, in the year 815, then Ratgarius, and to him in the year 818 Aegil the fourth Abbot. By these three was built the new Church, whose magnificence in book 2, chapter 2, Browerus describes, a new church then built, as he could; and what he could not in words, he tried to set before the eyes in a copper plate, on which he caused to be engraved, such as in figure 10 above you saw, the form of the wooden chest, once wont to be placed on the Bonifacian sepulchre, which then when he wrote was still kept in the crypt of the chief shrine. For although no old painting is found, which represents the form of this Basilica of which we treat; yet that the very same is kept preserved in that wooden machine, is persuaded by this argument, whose form above is believed expressed, that it befell him to behold in the monuments of the Basilica of Hersfeld, now profaned, a similar chest, which exactly expressed the description of the old temple, as the skilled narrated. Of the dedication of that church in the Annals of Fulda at the year 819, the second of Abbot Aegil, these things are read: This year the basilica of S. Bonifacius the Martyr, in the monastery of Fulda, dedicated in the year 819 on the 1st of November. was dedicated by Hecstulfus the Archbishop, in honor of the Lord the Savior and all his Saints: and the bones of the holy Martyr were translated on the Kalends of November. On which day Rabanus, the fifth Abbot and successor of the said Aegil, inscribed these things in his Martyrology: In the monastery of Fulda the dedication of the church of S. Bonifacius, and

the translation of the body of the same holy Martyr. The series of the dedication and translation Candidus explains in verse of this kind in the Life of Aegil.

of the perpetual Sun; the Bishop proceeded to consecrate the hall. Then the Relics are raised on high, to be laid up within. There had gone before in bright order the Pontifical mitre; the red banners of the triumph of the magnificent King are likewise raised into the air; then the throng of Priests, of Monks, and of powerful Counts, fitly attended with rosy lights, and also the lesser order following behind, crying out, follows, and three times calling on Christ the thunder-voiced. For Christ is invited with mighty power, and the holy Mother of God herself, the Virgin Mary: and the Litanies being recited, by vows the heavenly hosts are summoned to aid, and thereupon all the army of the Saints. And when the Bishop had completed three circuits with these prayers, and the throng itself following likewise in a joyful band; forthwith, before the eyes of the people and the faces of the men, to the King of virtues, the King's herald commanding, and to the victorious God, the thresholds of the temple lay open. The Bishop enters, led by the divine Power; and at the same time the Presbyters and the Ministers of the altar enter, about to perform within, after their custom, the commands of the Mighty One. For the spoils of the Saints, guarded with joyful dances, are brought in; for outside the rest of the throng, insisting on prayers, excluded, looks on, until the good Bishop consecrates all the altars to the high-throned King, the present ones being there, except five, which I leave to myself to be recorded again.

[15] Forthwith meanwhile again, the herald commanding, the high and kindly house of omnipotent God is opened. The exulting band of the people rushes in; suddenly too they pressed themselves in turn through the doors by rushing within. the altars are consecrated For right hand holds right hand, and man leads in man, after the manner of Laymen offering kisses to one another's cheeks. Hence, the clamor too being quieted and the throngs removed, the Ecclesiastical order, gathered from here and there into one, is forthwith turned to the tomb of the Martyr. Which then is known to stand in the middle of the temple, the people too is present as witness: the omnipotent Founder himself becomes witness, who in perpetual majesty ever everywhere remains, and all his army, that at that same hour of the arrival then of the high Godhead, the Godhead being invoked in which the Martyr of Christ is taken from his former seat, it became clearly known to many in the sacred hall. Meanwhile the venerable old age of the Bishop insists on the prayers of Haistolfus, asking the consolations of Christ, that the sacred work begun by the divine gift he may be able with his companions to conclude with a holy end.

[16] But after these things, nearer, relying on the protection of Christ, the same Bishop going, instructed that the venerable body be raised. He himself first raises this hymn with strong voice, The body of S. Bonifacius is raised, filled with the magnificent fragrance of praise of the Begetter and the Begotten and likewise of the kindly Spirit: "We therefore praise thee, O God, and confess thee Lord, thee the perpetual begetter all the earth venerates: for to thee the Angelic, wonderful standing order, and the powers of heaven, all to be venerated, the Cherubim too, and the Seraphim likewise, reverently, to thee alone by right, with unceasing voice cry again: Holy, Holy, Holy: for the one Lord God of Sabaoth, the great heaven and the earth are filled with the glory of perpetual majesty: thee too the Apostolic company, the strong and renowned order, and thee the praiseworthy number of the Prophets equally, and the hymn Te Deum is sung; thee the bright burning army of witnesses praises. The holy Church, spread through the world, sings of thee. For the Father of immense majesty, to be venerated, and thy true Son from thy own bosom, the Holy Paraclete breathed forth with equal Godhead— thou King of glory and of light, lofty light, Christ: thou art the eternal Son of the Begetter without time: thou didst take man, to free the world, nor did the high power shudder at the womb of the Virgin: the sting of death being conquered, thou victor everywhere, having mercy, didst open to the faithful the realms of the heavens. Thou reignest at the Father's right with perpetual power: thou wilt come from above, the certain judge of the world. We beseech thee bowing, defend thy own husbandmen, whom thou, O Savior, didst redeem with thy own blood from the world. Make safe thy people, led back from the jaws of the enemy, and deign, O God, to bless thy inheritance, and rule by thy help, exalted forever: for every day we bless thee on high, and praise thy name through all ages. On this day, O mighty Christ, deign to keep us; nor let the contagions of a foul life stain us. O have mercy on us, O God, have mercy on us. And let thy compassion toward us be large, with fixed heart as we trust in thee. In thee, supreme God, I hope, let me not be troubled forever."

[17] This hymn the Ecclesiastical order, trembling, suddenly took up at once from the mouth of the Bishop, singing praise to the High-throned One in lofty modulation. it is then carried into the church, For the bier of the coffin, in which the sacred limbs of the kindly Martyr lie enclosed, bearing it in the front, both grave and both old men, Haistolfus and Aigil; and likewise behind, the Monk and Priest Ercanberctus, brother of Baugolfus; and the Abbot Theotgarius, and Bruunwar, together with Hrabanus, he too went equal in number, and sang Christ: with whom, mingled on this side and that, a part of the pious Presbyters, and the throng, pressing around with light with much force, rejoices to touch the coffin with the right hand. For the royal way, fitly with white cloths, which leads to the great altar of the perpetual King, was strewn, where the same Priest Ercanberctus, exulting, devoted to the love of Christ of the Martyr, exhibited; heaping up besides a stiff pall of purple he increased it for himself and his. These things being thus received, the Pontifical mitre extended its step to the altar, attended with great honor, performed in the western part after the Roman manner.

[18] Meanwhile suddenly with the popular voice the foreign people raises "Kyrie eleison"; the cry goes to the stars from the worshippers of Christ; they burn deeply with fresh fervor of the Godhead infused; but, wondrous to say! to the Tuscans the voice of praise is not made equal to all as usual; the joys of the mind pour forth tears; gladness, tears, and songs are mingled into one. where after the Kyrie eleison, and the Gloria, Hence the inheritance of the Lord sang another song in like measure, full of the great sweetness of praise, "Glory to the great Lord in the highest, and to men of good will peace on earth: we praise thee too and sanctify thee, for thy magnificence and high honor." This jubilation of the lofty voice sounded so long, until they enclose the limbs in the stone sepulchre, it is enclosed under the apse, and thence leave them, closed, to rest. For thus the Martyr, buried with western honor, lies high in the adorned altar of the High-throned King: over which an apse, built up, looms huge, which I myself, once nourished in this hall of Christ, the Presbyter and Monk Bruno, a vile Master, painted, forming with slender wit and small skill, and expressed various faces in dark pigment. painted by the author himself. These things too being accomplished, the celebration of the high Mass thundered with worthy praises; which being duly performed, weary with their companions, a great crowd murmuring, Haistolf and Aigil, led, hasten back under the roofs. Behold, within the high walls the Bishop joyful, and the Pastor himself at once, then the lesser of both soon approach the banquets: then the swift ministers of the Father by chance bring the gifts of Ceres (bread), sought with much sweat in baskets: but others insist on bringing the dishes besprinkled with various fragrance; for others mingled in the glass, in composed order, the renowned cups of Bacchus. Nor less was present likewise at the paternal feasts the kindly Reading: for it is the strong and solid food of men, satisfying the attentive with the fatness of the heavenly word.

CHAPTER III.

The praise of S. Bonifacius, renowned for miracles at Fulda. The Donations and Indulgences granted. The Relics now kept at Fulda, Mainz, Cologne.

[19] S. Bonifacius celebrated by B. Rabanus, Abbot Aegil, after the rule of five years, having died, B. Rabanus was appointed in the year 822, afterwards in the year 847 created Archbishop of Mainz, among his Poems, of which he published very many, wrote one in praise of S. Bonifacius, in which he shows that he shone renowned for miracles, in this tenor.

When the renowned glory of the Saints grows everywhere, to be compared to the Apostles, and the splendor of merit shines in the sun's world; Asia magnifies James, Ausonia Peter, and Ephesus John, Africa Cyprian; no less does Germany, celebrating, exalt the praises, and the kindly work of Bonifacius the Martyr. Rome ordains him, and Britain his mother sends him a Doctor to the peoples, this ornament of the Church, Doctor, the highest Bishop, renowned for the lightning of signs, bright in eloquence, excellent in morals: whom so great a grace of prophetic honor supports, that he reported many things to come, as if new. Prophet, Whom the Frank, and the Frisian likewise, and the Saxon, a minister of eternal life, proclaim to be for them.

[20] Although the nation of the Frisians, always savage in morals, therefore defiled their hands with the blood of the Martyr. Martyr, But the most true voice of Christ foretold, what now is seen to be fulfilled in several places; that the grain dies in the earth, brings forth very many seeds, and strives to multiply the fruit. And so the most joyful harvest of the Lord's Priest grows, to be glorified from a few grains. Behold, dead now, and strong, as before he was wont, he gains for Christ wandering hosts. The signs move the peoples, the blind behold the mighty deeds, and the very sound thunders in the ears of the deaf. and illustrious for miracles: The stains of diseases flee, the impious fury of the black demon withdraws from the prayers of the Martyr. And so Christ enriched his servant with honor, that he reigns in heaven, and commands on earth. May the Lord grant the eternal praises of the many to grow, whom the merit of faith had made holy. But deservedly are praised in the world the Masters of the Church, whom work and word and faith prepare. to be praised for his merits, Therefore the man of the Lord, spurning worldly things, left all for Christ, who would give better: and reaping here a hundredfold fruit he receives an ample one, and besides possesses eternal rest.

who thus had closed the goals and the numbers of his age. Now a dweller with the Lord, he had now conquered the savage enemy, now a dweller with the Lord he reigns with Christ. Now joyful he has entered the great joys of God, and thence and heaven attained by martyrdom, he invites us to the great joys of God. For by his own blood he procures for himself kindly rest, and by his own blood obtains this for us. With martyrdom he adorns whatever Germany nourishes, and adorns his own offspring with martyrdom. O fatherland! O people! enriched with so great a Patron and given to us as a Patron. through whom life comes: O fatherland! O people! And worthy thou hadst been, O thrice and four times blessed! worthy of this Bishop and this king thou hadst been. Glory worthy of God, who gave him to be such, and who gave him to us, glory worthy of God. Great glory to God ever through all ages, let us all say; Great glory to God.

[22] Another glory of the highest God and posthumous honor of S. Bonifacius is eminent in the piety and beneficence Another glory shines in the donations offered. with which men attended the monastery of Fulda, because his sacred bones rested in it. Various documents of this matter Browerus exhibits, book 3, chapter 11, of which the First shines in the four Episcopal Sees, divided and ordained by him in Bavaria; of which each was wont to confer illustrious places or other gifts. The Second is exhibited in the handing-over by S. Lullus the Archbishop, and four most noble

men; whom he had roused, that they should confer their parts together. The Third consists in the liberal donation of S. Willibald, Bishop of Eichstätt. To these are added the fourth and fifth from the very many and illustrious offerings, both of the peoples imbued with the Christian law by the zeal of S. Bonifacius, and of all the faithful of Christ indiscriminately. These donations and handings-over of goods and slaves, accurately taken from the very Original charters, are extant in three books published by Joannes Pistorius, with the Great Belgic Chronicle and the Life of Conrad the Salic, at Frankfurt in the year 1607, from page 445 to page 588. But from all is established the singular piety and devotion of all toward S. Bonifacius, since everywhere the several places and possessions are marked as handed over "to S. Bonifacius": and the distinct donations are at the least four hundred and sixty. Would that with such great diligence the miracles had been written, which God, by the merits and intercession of S. Bonifacius, there wrought! For we do not doubt that they would have surpassed the aforesaid donations in number and excellence. Meanwhile from the relation of B. Rabanus we know that the blind were enlightened, hearing given to the deaf, the sick afflicted with whatsoever diseases were healed, and the possessed freed, the demons being driven out.

[23] Browerus, book 1, chapter 8, treats of the Relics of the Saints, which were wont to be exhibited at Fulda, where he writes these things: There are extant also, inscribed in the old monuments of books, the indulgences of the Pontiffs, Indulgences granted, by which our forefathers were invited to the veneration and more frequent cult of the Patrons. From these books it is easy to perceive in what price and honor they once were. To the image of S. Bonifacius stands Pope Alexander IV with this writing: Alexander, to all truly penitent and confessed, coming to the monastery of S. Salvator on the feast of S. Bonifacius, Simplicius, and Faustinus, The Body still in the year 1259 kept at Fulda, whose bodies venerably rest here, and on the anniversary dedication of the church, we mercifully relax a hundred days of the penance enjoined on them. At Anagni on the 5th day before the Ides of December, in the 5th year of the Pontificate. This is the year of Christ 1259. But Browerus continues. Hence follows a long series of Pontiffs, similarly bringing forth such expiations from the treasure of the Church here. But, by the repeated losses of fires and wars, by which both the mass of the old temple, and other neighboring churches, were not once shaken almost from the very foundations, it cannot be doubted, that, the pavement being confused with rubble, and the interiors of the crypts burned, scattered by fires and wars. various abolition of the Relics arose and a removal of the chief parts. Wherefore where we cannot pursue all the least, let us pursue these greatest, which God has left us remaining, as pleasing to the Heavenly Patrons, so also not unpleasing, I hope, to posterity it will be. S. Bonifacius goes before in the primacy of all virtues and of memory: whose bones, though by the impulse of burning desire have from time to time been dispersed also into other places of the lands, yet this church retains for itself the title in the index of Relics. The chest of S. Bonifacius, in which are contained the Relics of the same S. Bonifacius Archbishop and Martyr, who corporally rests in this monastery. The skull enclosed in a silver statue, in the year 1420, Further the head, taken from the rest of the body, I find, in the year of the Lord 1420: whose cranium was placed on the breast of a silver statue of a mitred and infulated Bishop; and on the very day of S. Luke the Evangelist that gift was consecrated by Everardus, Bishop of Sebaste, Suffragan of the Church of Würzburg.

[24] These things Browerus: who again treating of the same, book 2, chapter 9, among other Relics of the holy Pontiff, and other Relics, first lays up the ornaments of the Priestly worship, the Maniple, Stole, Ring, Girdles: and also the Staff, polished with rude work, which shines as though of ivory, but the better opinion holds was fabricated from the bone of a sea fish. But that head Browerus closes with the excellent Amice, in which the body of the Martyr lay wrapped: which, when it was escaping the memory of men, it happened in the year of salvation 1605, on the very day of S. Lucy, that by the nod of the most Reverend Balthasar an examination of the Relics was made, by which he might gratify a noble German Dynast. There was present then the Reverend and Noble Joannes Fridericus a Schwalbach, with a Sudarium found in the year 1605: Dean of the church of Fulda, by whose will and zeal when we search the interiors (says Browerus, as if he too were present) brought by chance into a hidden little box, this garment, of a most fine texture of double linen or byssus, of its own accord gave itself into view, with this inscription: The Sudarium of S. Bonifacius the Martyr. The sacredness of the linen was attested by the frequent cutting-out of parts, which pious souls, to restore the honor of the Martyr and to obtain his intercessions, had once carried away from it. The Fathers my colleagues add, that to them, passing through Fulda in the year 1688, on the 29th of May, was shown, besides all the things already said, also a dagger, one span long, by which the Saint is thought to have been killed. That his Arm too is kept at Mainz, from Serarius is noted by Beierlinck, the arm at Mainz, in the Theatre of the world under the title of Relics, page 283. At Cologne in the Chapel of the Dutch College of SS. Willibrord and Bonifacius, now translated to Louvain together with the Relics, there were, and still are at Louvain, Bones at Cologne, a rib of his and certain other things; nay in the same place in the custody of the Relics it is said that a part of the cranium of S. Bonifacius is kept. Likewise at Cologne in the Collegiate Churches of SS. Gereon, Severinus, and Cunibert, that there are found among the Relics some of the same S. Bonifacius, Gelenius testifies in his Colonia Agrippina. At Mechlin there are also some in the College of the Society of Jesus; at Mechlin, by the gift of the Lady Adriana de Ridder, which we judge were brought from Holland: and we at Antwerp in the sacristy of the Professed House have a great Bone, at Antwerp, under the name of the same Saint. The Dean too of the Church of Prague, at Prague, in the Phosphorus, reckons among the Relics of his Metropolitan, of S. Bonifacius Bishop and Martyr and his fellow Martyrs some parts, of which one larger was brought from lower Germany by Charles IV in the year 1372. But it is rightly said "of Bonifacius and his companions": for I think it cannot prudently be defined, whether those things which are everywhere held under his name are theirs or his own.

[25] But what of Dokkum or Dockinga? Neither is it itself without Relics of the Saint, made a Martyr for itself and with it. For a Priest of our Society, at Dokkum a part of the Cranium, a Chasuble, a Cope, caring for the Catholic cause there, keeps a part of the sacred Cranium, a quite large one; namely the crown, enclosed in a silver head, with a Chasuble and Cope of old fashion. That is closed on every side and of white color, this of various color, especially blue, and has a pointed cowl adhering above, all which the faithful religiously venerate, especially on the yearly feast of the Saint. But near the forest next to the town, Moordwaude, named from the slaughter there committed, it is believed there dwelt a baker; who, asked by the Saint or his company to provide bread, to those offering the price; when he had sworn, that he would rather see all, then lately baked by him, changed into stones, than sell them to the enemies of the ancestral gods and rites; saw done what he had wished; and those stones are shown, having the form of oblong loaves, in various houses of the Catholics who keep them.

[26] Our Serarius, Note 47 to the Life of the Saint, enumerating his Relics, Among the Saint's books one larger excels, wont to be exhibited at Fulda; adds also the books of S. Bonifacius: about which, found a great space of time after the slaughter, and sent back to the house, in which to this day they profit the salvation of souls, by each several finder, as is said at no. 54 of the first Life, since I promised here to treat; receive the following from Browerus. Of first mark among these is that which, on a shorter parchment (or a folio almost of just size, but shorter, as Serarius says) torn by the scars of the martyrdom, presents Lombardic writing… For this book, with a double covering of text, has for warp gilded leather, which, shining through various figures, makes a beautiful appearance, but so deformed by the sword-point, that from the top to the breadth of half a finger, cut variously by the sword; and hence again to the left, the vestiges of the sword's own scar penetrate: finally these wounds together descend wedge-wise almost into the figure of a scalene. In the lowest part of the book too are weals inflicted, one by stabbing, the other by cutting, penetrating the breadth of a thumb; finally by a transverse blow the leather and wood of the covering are cut through. The contents of the treatises which are written in this book are inserted in our Serarius's Affairs of Mainz. In this order: The Epistle of Pope Leo, to Theodorus Bishop of Friuli. The Disputation of B. Cerealis which contains various treatises of the holy Fathers, against Maximinus the Ariomanite, on the Trinity and Unity. The Epistle of Agnellus to Arminius, on the account of faith. The little book of S. Faustus the Confessor. The Sermon of S. Ambrose the Bishop, on the Holy Spirit. Testimonies concerning the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Rule of the Catholic Faith. The little book of S. Ambrose, on the good of death. An account of the regions and cities, in which the venerable bodies of the holy Apostles and Evangelists rest. The Synonyms of Isidore, book 2. So Serarius, by whom it is strange that there could be passed over, what my colleagues found and noted there in the first place, the Epistle of Paulinus, to Flavianus Bishop of Constantinople.

[27] The author of the second Life, no. 14, says it was reported to him from the mouth of a woman, then, when he himself wrote, still surviving, that when the Saint was to be struck with the sword, he placed the sacred codex of the Gospel on his head, that under it he might receive the blow of the striker. [yet this does not seem to be the one which the Saint placed on his head, set under the blow,] Something of the kind too Othlonus had understood, and so added, that this book of the Gospel too was found among the rest; which although by a sharp sword, as can still be proven by those inspecting it, was cut through the middle, yet lost the integrity of no letter by that same cutting. Hence the usage prevailed, that those about to sculpt or paint Bonifacius place in his right hand a sword, to which clings a transfixed little book. And it is altogether like the truth, that such a book, as Othlonus says, the blessed man for his sanctity was wont to carry continually with him, after the example of very many other Saints; but then especially when he proceeded to death, he had it with him. Such a one too is kept at Fulda: but as Browerus notes and our colleagues observed, [but this was the little book of the Gospels which he was always wont to carry about,] small in size, and fit to be carried about, but violated by the stroke of no blow. Nor does the second Life assert even this, but from uncertain tradition Othlonus wrote it, and from that larger and not so easily portable book, which he had heard was cut through, transferred the cutting to the manual book of the Gospels: and with the same facility, he imputed it to a greater miracle, than if the unharmed book had received the driven sword, in that no cut letter was blotted out. For letters are not wont to be blotted out by cutting, but to be divided, so that even after it they remain legible, such as our colleagues remember to have found: but it would have been a great miracle, if not even any of the letters had been cut: wherefore neither Serarius, nor Browerus,

believed that there was great force in that matter for proving the holiness of the Martyr. Meanwhile it is likely that the larger book, which is found cut through, was so ill-treated after the Saint's death by the slayers, searching the chests, and gnashing that nothing of gold was found in them, but only books.

[28] Those who collated this larger book with the aforesaid Gospel and studiously considered it, the aforesaid colleagues, written, as is reported, by the Saint's own hand, dare to assert that both are by the same hand, and so of S. Bonifacius himself. For thus of the latter Browerus: The other Codex is of the Gospels, in a smallish octavo, the holier for this, that the furrows of the letters were impressed by the hand of S. Bonifacius, with the letters so interwoven with one another, that they counterfeit snares and the meshes of little nets. At the end is a notable attestation, in a golden character of a round hand… whose tenor is this. This Gospel S. Bonifacius, the glorious Martyr of the Lord, as has been learned by us from the relation of our elders, wrote with his own hands. Which also the Venerable Abbot Huoggi (he ruled from the year 874 to 912) obtained by earnest prayers from the most pious King Arnulf, and honorably restored to the holy Church of Fulda: to whom, O Savior Christ, [and as such restored to the men of Fulda by the Emperor Rudolf about the year 890:] mercifully render eternal rewards for his devotion in the heavens, and grant that he may happily rule over us for long times: but he ruled from the year 888 to 899; so that it appears these things were so written, both the Abbot and the King being still alive. But since the golden letters, although very well and distinctly written, yet by the long lapse of time faded, almost escaped sight; care was taken that on the reverse side of the little page the same might be read, rewritten by a more recent hand, which the aforesaid Fathers testify they saw; and also the Icons, expressed in colors at the front of each Evangelist, with the name of each added; which indeed was necessary, since otherwise all are of a most similar figure among themselves. To each too verses were added, which perhaps the same composed who wrote the book or painted the images; but Browerus, as he could dig them out, thus rendered them:

Matthew establishes morals by the path of virtues, And Mark gave the laws of living well in just order. John loves the eagle flying between earth and heaven. Luke governs all with a holy gliding, and more fully describes the battles of Christ.

[29] The third Codex, in a narrow folio scarcely equaling the breadth of a palm, as also the little notes to the Epistle of S. James. shows at the front the harmony of the Evangelists and its canon, by tables and numbers; all in majuscule and almost semi-uncial letters; except that at the Epistle of S. James, in a thinner and wonderfully chained script, annotations and glosses are read, by the very Martyr's own hand, as I think, says Browerus. Before these, however, as a more genuine offspring of the Bonifacian hand and devotion, I should think the Life of S. Livinus should be esteemed, To him is attributed the Life of S. Livinus, the Patron of the men of Ghent in Flanders; if it, as Aubertus Miraeus believed, and persuaded Serarius preparing his Affairs of Mainz, were truly written by the divine Bonifacius, Bishop of Mainz, as Author. That it was such the writers of the Utrecht Passionaries for the Church of S. Salvator believed, when they made it this title: Here begins the Life or Passion of blessed Livinus, the excellent Martyr, which B. Bonifacius, Archbishop of Mainz, wrote, at the instance, prayers, and relation of the disciples of the aforesaid Martyr, namely Foillanus, Helias, and Kylianus. But that they and others so believed, was caused by the name of Bonifacius prefixed to the Prologue, which we have from the manuscripts of S. Bavo of Ghent, of S. Maximinus near Trier, written at the request of his disciples; and of Anchin, with this beginning: Bonifacius, a sinful man, servant of the servants of our Lord Jesus Christ, to all the Churches founded under the authority of the holy and undivided Trinity upon the firm rock, in the highest felicity the glory of eternal felicity. But since S. Bavo (to whose sepulchre S. Livinus is said to have come in the third year after his death, and to have been killed one or two months after) died in the year 657, as at the Life of S. Amandus on the 6th of February, §. 13, Henschenius shows; but Bonifacius of Mainz was only born about the year 680, nor before the year 720 began to preach to the Frisians and Germans; it does not appear by what reason he could be asked by the disciples of S. Livinus to write his Life.

[30] but these had died before Bonifacius came from England, Add, that to do this he must have been asked, either in England or at Utrecht; but it appears even from this beginning, "The venerable triumph of the glorious passion of the most blessed Livinus has sanctioned today's solemnity of our joy, to be ceremonially celebrated by us in the honor of great veneration … exhorting us to the joys of this devotion at the very solemn time of the bedewing (perhaps renewing) year, in which … the same most victorious Combatant … joyful migrated … to be enthroned in the confession of the Martyrs." It appears, I say, even from such a beginning, that these things were composed for those, and it, although it pretends to have those witnesses, to whom the yearly festivity of the Passion was wont to recur, that is, the men of Houthem in the territory of Alost, once reckoned to old Brabant, with whom the sacred body was until the year 1007; or after this year the Monks of S. Bavo of Ghent, who in the said year received the body to themselves. But although the Author of the Legend names himself Bonifacius; and professes that he writes asked by the aforesaid three disciples of S. Livinus, who also, kissing the hands of the Author, yet is proven by its anachronisms, and bending their knees prostrate on the ground, with sick sighs of tears, that those things be written which they reported about their holy Master, and committed to the memory of posterity; although, I say, the Author asserts these things in his preface, yet much more recent than the age of the holy Bonifacius himself, the very style both of the Life and of the aforesaid Translation proves the same, and it by no means similar to that which S. Bonifacius uses, far more polished, in his epistles; nor grave enough, but inclining to fables, nor aptly distinguishing places or times. For, against the usage of the first eight centuries, written in the 12th or 13th century, he distinguishes the Scotigenae from the Hibernians; and yet he makes Livinus a Scot cross the Ocean, as if born in Ireland, to go to Augustine the Apostle of England, by whom he had been baptized when he was born; who also, having retained him with him for five years, ordained him Presbyter, and sent him back to his country, soon there by the will of King Colomannus to be substituted, Menalchius the Archbishop of Scotland being dead. The names of the King and Archbishop, unknown to all Scottish history for the 7th century, we dare not receive from the Author, so basely deluded about Augustine himself, that he dared to feign that the infant was baptized by the same Augustine, and consecrated Presbyter; ignorant that he, having put in first to Britain in the year 597, did not live beyond 608. Far be it therefore that we should believe the legend of S. Livinus written by S. Bonifacius, much less by another more ancient: nay rather let us think that it is itself a fiction of the 12th or 13th century: for it even mentions another Translation, made by Walter Bishop of Tournai about the year 1250.

CHAPTER IV.

The Relics of the others, and chiefly of SS. Eobanus and Adalarius, kept at Erfurt.

[31] The second Acts of S. Bonifacius, by a certain Utrecht author already published, have, The bodies of the other Martyrs translated to Utrecht, that the bodies of the holy Martyrs, who suffered with B. Bonifacius, were gathered by the faithful of Christ, and put into a ship with the Pontiff Bonifacius, came by a happy course to Utrecht, and were buried in the church of the holy Trinity with fear and veneration. But the third Acts say that only the bodies of eleven named Saints, and of thirteen others, came to Utrecht, and were buried in the said Church of the holy Trinity. The other bodies of the holy ones, or deposited in the place of martyrdom: in the same place where they received the palm of martyrdom, were buried by the faithful people, in which afterwards in honor of the holy Martyrs a church was built. These things from the old Acts. What was done with the chief bodies is unknown. The above-praised Gelenius asserts some Relics at Cologne: that in the said Chapel of SS. Willibrord and Bonifacius, erected at Cologne by the Dutch, were kept three small bones of the Martyrs of the Society of S. Bonifacius, and some others deposited there in custody: all which we judge were likewise translated to Louvain. Molanus in the Natal days of the Saints of Belgium at this 5th of June says that the church, above called of the holy Trinity, is now called of the holy Savior, on account of the sacred image of Christ the Lord the Savior renowned for miracles; The bodies of SS. Eobanus and Adalarius at Utrecht, and that in the same place the bodies of SS. Eobanus the Coadjutor-Bishop and Adalarius the Presbyter, and some others, were elevated in biers: and that their names are expressed in the Litanies of the Church of Utrecht, as is done in this Collect or Prayer: O God, who didst deign to call the multitude of peoples to the recognition of thy name by the devout insistence of thy Saints Bonifacius, Eobanus and Athalarius, and his companions; grant propitiously, that we may feel before thee the patronage of those whose solemnities we venerate. He adds finally that the Body of S. Athalarius rests in a portable tomb at Utrecht in the church of S. Salvator. But that it once rested there indeed, then at Fulda, but then with the body of S. Eobanus was carried to Fulda, and rested most beautifully beside the body of S. Bonifacius, is established from the manuscript Fulda Martyrology reported above.

[32] With this tradition agrees the history of the Translation of SS. Adalarius and Eobanus the Martyrs, now at Erfurt, copied from a manuscript codex of the monastery of Bödeken in Westphalia by Joannes Gamans, where the bodies of SS. Eobanus and Adalarius are said to have been carried to Erfurt, and buried with fitting honor in the monastery of B. Maria, Eobanus placed toward the Southern, Adalarius toward the Northern part. But many years being unrolled, the monastery of the B. Virgin Mary, which S. Bonifacius had built, through age fell crushed, harming none. translated in the year 1154, Which when it had to be built in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and fifty-four, the bones of B. Adalarius were translated on the twelfth day before the Kalends of May, but the bones of B. Eobanus on the seventh day before the Kalends of August. In whose translation so great an odor arose, that all who were present marveled. For all kinds of infirmities there found a remedy: on account of which also many from foreign parts flowed to the intercessions of the Saints. Whence the Archbishop of Mainz, the Lord * Christianus, desiring to venerate the merits of the Saints, ordered that the Clergy and people of Erfurt should celebrate the days of their translations, within the walls of the city, each year solemnly and devoutly. Thus far there. Serarius, book 5 of the Affairs of Mainz, under Arnoldus the 29th Archbishop, cites the Breviary of Erfurt, and writes these things: In the year of the Lord 1154 the bones of S. Adelarius on the 12th day before the Kalends of May, but the bones of B. Eobanus on the 7th day before the Kalends of August, were translated: in whose translation so great a pleasantness of the fragrance of a wondrous odor shone forth, that all who were present marveled. they are renowned for miracles. For the blind, lame, deaf, dumb, lepers, frenzied, epileptic, obtained the grace of health there. We have the Breviary

of Erfurt printed in the year 1513, in which is prescribed under a double rite the cult of S. Adelarius, Bishop and Martyr, on the 20th of April, and of Eobanus, Bishop and Martyr, on the 26th of July. But about the last inspection of the Relics Petrus Richart of the Society of Jesus transmitted these things to us from Erfurt.

[33] When in the year 1633, those surveying the aforesaid Relics, Inspection of the bones made in the year 1633, and noticing the extreme part of one foot to be wooden, an occasion of doubting was given, whether the bodies of the said Saints were whole and incorrupt, or only the Relics of bones there; for the manifesting and making clear of the matter, on the 28th day of October, about the first hour after noon, the Dean, Scholastic, Cantor, and the rest of the Capitulars of the Collegiate Church of Erfurt, before a Notary, the required witnesses being present, and also Religious of various orders, came together in the chapel of the sacred Blood; they exposed the Bodies with due reverence, surveyed them, and found that in the said higher tomb a double wooden frame of bodies is contained, one with the bones of S. Adelarius, the other with the Relics of S. Eobanus: the former is situated toward the Northern part, the latter toward the Southern. This frame, each of wood, as has been said, was constructed to the form of a human body in this manner; that the front part wholly represents the human form, the back part is hollowed out in the back. In each of these wooden statues there are certain bones joined with the wood; but the chief part of the bones is enclosed in the very wooden bodies on the side of the hollowed back. Joined outwardly are, at the heads indeed, parts of the cranium, cut in the upper part of each head in the manner of a circle: about which, when it was doubted how great they were, by the work of a surgeon the head of one was uncovered in the old fissure, in which certain parts of the cranium, the occiput and sinciput, were held and judged for true (except the lower jaw, the ears, the nose, and the eyes; all which, to avoid deformity and a horrid aspect, were fabricated of wood, and smeared with a fleshlike color). Within in the said head are enclosed bones of every kind, even the more principal; namely a part of the cranium, and four parts (by the surgeon's judgment) from the spine of the back; there are also other smaller particles enclosed; about which judgment is suspended, whether they be of the hands or the feet, because by the lapse of time they were diminished. All these things after being surveyed reverently, were then laid up again in the very hollowed head. In the wooden faces and jaws on both sides are inserted some true teeth, and besides the bones of the two arms from the shoulders to the elbow are true. About the parts from the elbow to the hands it is doubtful. The ribs, girding the upper part of the man, are doubtful, of which some, perhaps by the antiquity of times, and from another cause, appear blackish, sandy, and spongy, chiefly S. Adelarius. From these too, as being somewhat more prominent than others, one may see how the rest of the bones are glued to the very wooden statue in each body. On each side too of each body are true hips, with the hams and legs, tending from the thigh to the feet exclusively, and much prominent in the very hollowed back. But the rest of the bones, very many, as has been said, are placed on the very wooden frame, on the side of the hollowed back, a linen cloth being spread over them, and affixed with little nails: so that in each frame we judge that most of the bones are present, which are required for the composition of the whole human body.

* nay, Arnoldus

CHAPTER V.

The Relics of SS. Bonifacius, Hilarius, and Cyrobaldus, kept at Bruges. Their various translations.

[34] A most beautiful and most ample city of the Flemings is Bruges, in which is eminent the Collegiate basilica of the Virgin Mary the Mother of God, The Relics translated to Bruges in the year 1124, begun to be built from the year 1091. This had as its first Provost of Canons Gummarus, the second Reifridus, about whom in a most ancient Table, containing the Election of the Provosts, are had the following. Reifridus, the second Provost, chosen by the Chapter of this Church in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and fourteen, survived about forty years: in his times, namely in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and fifteen, the Lord Canons of this Church obtained from Godebaldus, Bishop of Utrecht, the Relics of the holy Bonifacius and his Companions in a certain little ivory shrine, which by them was carried hither with great reverence and devotion. The same Table Antonius Sanderus cites, in Flandria Illustrata, page 223; but calls him Hundebaldus, who, by the testimony of Beka and Heda, the Utrecht Chronographers, and that very table, was Godebaldus, and presided over his Church from about the year 1122 until the year 1128, in which on the day before the Ides of November he died. The year 1124, and the 22nd day of August of the Relics received, is indicated in the most ancient tapestries of the Church, in which this distich is woven:

M once and C, three times tripled and eight, Mary's Bruges has the Body; on the Octave the Assumption shines.

[35] deposited in a new bier in the year 1471, Jacobus Meyerus, book 17 of the Annals of Flanders, at the year 1470 writes these things, as performed in the following year: On the sixth day before the Ides of March, at Bruges, at the church of the Virgin Mary, the translation of the Relics of the divine Bonifacius the Bishop into a new bier, by the Bishop of Sarepta, Suffragan of the Bishop of Tournai, in the presence of six Abbots and much nobility. Desiring to learn more, I sent certain things to be sought at Bruges through P. Gislenus Perduyn, preacher of the Society of Jesus in the said Church: which when he had offered to the most Reverend Lord Petrus Balthasar van Cortbemde, Presbyter Licentiate of Both Laws, Canon of that distinguished Church, and the most Reverend Lords Provost and Canons from their Secrets and Capitular Acts; a diligent examination being made, there was sent to me by them a Copy of the instrument of the translation of the holy Relics, of the glorious Saints, Bonifacius the Archbishop, Hilarius and Cyrobaldus the Martyrs, laid up in a small shrine of a new bier, the 10th, not the 13th, of March. beside the said holy Relics. It notes the year 1471, Indiction 4, but the 10th day of March, concurring with the Sunday Reminiscere, that is, the 2nd Sunday of Lent, when Easter was to be celebrated on the 14th of April. Which marks all agree so well among themselves, that it is strange by whose information led Saussay in his Gallican Martyrology wrote that that Translation was made on the 13th of March. But of the aforesaid instrument this is the tenor.

[36] In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Be it known to all who shall see and hear the present public instrument, that in the year, day, and place below written, the reverend in Christ Father Lord Wilhelmus Bishop of Sarepta, by the Bishop of Sarepta, five Abbots and others assisting, Vicar and Suffragan in Pontificals of the most reverend in Christ Father and Lord, the Lord Guilielmus Bishop of Tournai, and by the express consent and mandate of the same Lord Bishop of Tournai, the Venerable Fathers the Lords assisting him—Raphael of S. Peter of Oudenburg, Petrus of S. Andrew near Bruges, of S. Benedict; Jacobus Capelle, of B. Maria of Ter Doest of the Cistercians; Nicolaus of S. Bartholomew of Eechoutte, of Bruges, and Adrianus of Dulcis-Vallis, Abbots of the monasteries of the Orders of S. Augustine of the Regular Canons, of the Diocese of Tournai; clothed in Copes and other Ecclesiastical ornaments, and using their pastoral staffs; and also the Venerable and circumspect men the Lords Theodoricus Lesdarve Dean of Toul, Petrus Vlenke Cantor of B. Maria of Courtrai, Vicars general of the aforesaid Lord Bishop of Tournai, Petrus Bogaert Archdeacon of Valenciennes of Cambrai, Carolus de Campis Provost of S. Peter of Thorout of the Churches of the diocese of Tournai—at the most humble prayers of the Lords, of the Venerable Vicar, and of the circumspect and noble Lord, the Lord Arnoldus de la Laing the Provost, then absent and abroad, of the Canons, Curates, and Chaplains, of the Masters of the fabric, and of the Provisors of the table of the poor of the Collegiate Church of B. Maria of Bruges, in the presence of our Notaries and a very great multitude of the people standing there, and of the witnesses below written, specially called and asked for this; the Venerable and holy Relics of the glorious Martyrs Bonifacius, Hilarius, and Cyrobaldus, in the said Church from of old reverently and decently laid up in a certain old casket, from that old casket solemnly and devoutly translated, and placed and collocated in a new casket much adorned with gold and silver and precious stones made for this, in which the present instrument is enclosed; and indulgences of forty days, on the part of the aforesaid Lord of Tournai, and as many on his own part, to all the faithful of Christ being present therein, and who yearly on the feast of such Translation shall visit the Church itself, he granted and indulged, the other solemnities being applied wont and accustomed to be applied in such things. Of and upon all and singular the aforesaid the aforesaid Lord Vicar, the Provosts, and Canons, Curates, Chaplains, Masters of the fabric, and Provisors of the table of the poor of the said Church of B. Maria of Bruges, asked of us the undersigned Notaries that there be made and handed to them one or more public instruments. These things were done in the Nave of the same Church of B. Maria, in the year from the Nativity of the Lord one thousand four hundred and seventy-one, Indiction four, but on the Sunday on which in the Church of God at the Introit of the Mass "Reminiscere" is wont to be sung, the tenth of the month of March without delay before the high Mass, in the year 1471, the 10th of March, in the seventh year of the Pontificate of the most holy in Christ Father and our Lord the Lord Paul by divine providence the second Pope, there being present in the same place the Venerable and great circumspection Men, the Lords and Masters Jacobus Schellewaert, Portionary of the other portion of S. Salvator of Bruges, Joannes Parmentier and Joannes de Pascuis, religious of the aforesaid Monastery and Order of Ter Doest, Professors of sacred Theology, Presbyters; and the noble Lords Joannes Raenst Knight, Burgomaster; Joannes de Nieuwenhove Sheriff; Master Paulus van Overtveldt, Counselors of our most Illustrious Lord, the Lord Charles, Duke of Burgundy, Lorraine, Brabant, Limburg, and Luxembourg, Count of Flanders, etc., inhabitants of the said Town of Bruges, and very many other Witnesses called and asked for the aforesaid. Signed by the venerable Men the Lords and Masters Joannes Flamingi, scribe of S. Donatian, Joannes Allarts, scribe of the Chaplains of B. Maria of Bruges, Martinus le Bulleteur Presbyter, and Adrianus Dullaert Cleric of the Diocese of Tournai, sworn public Notaries by Imperial authority of the sacred and Apostolic and venerable Episcopal Curia of Tournai.

These are the verses written below on the base of the aforesaid bier.

most pleasing to Christ, desiring the documents of good things, hither tends to Rome, leaving his country and his parent. He boards a ship, the castle Treth (Utrecht) bears him as he comes, In Treth then Bishop Willibrord resided. Winfrid by giving prayers, that he should wear the mitre, he refused. He came to Rome: Pope Gregory honors him much, bids and prays that he preach to the Thuringians and Hessians. Made Legate he proceeded, governed them well. By speaking the faith of Christ, he destroyed the sects there. He dismissed the sects, the fame of the Franks flew, and hence at the prayers of Duke Charles he returned to Rome. Gregory, seeing his good deeds, changed the name of Winfrid, adding Bonifacius, Archbishop, Here he is made Bishop of Mainz, the office of the Pontificate Lul holds: Utrecht receives him: Frisia after takes him: there he preaches, shatters the idols,

He strengthens his companions, the ferocious throng wearies these with slaughter: Fifty-two underwent death with him, The bodies through the ship were buried at Utrecht.

[38] On what occasion further that precious casket was broken up, is not found expressed: one thing is established, that there was substituted for it some time afterwards a tin one, of which it is thus written. In the times of the Reverend and most Ample Lord Provost Gaspar de la Torre, in the year of the Lord 1624 on the fourth day of the month of June, the day before the feast of S. Bonifacius the Martyr, Patron of this Church, and in the year 1624 into a new casket. there was solemnly celebrated a new Translation of the Relics of the holy Martyrs and his Companions, in which namely the aforesaid sacred Relics were venerably placed from a casket or bier of tin, into a silver one, by the most Reverend Lord Dionysius Christophori, the sixth Bishop of Bruges, a great multitude of Clerics and common folk flowing to this Church in this manner. First, in the front of the Church before the rood-screen was erected a stage adorned with tapestries: about the second hour the whole Choir gathered in the sacristy (where the Relics rested), in processional manner came to that stage. The aforesaid most Reverend Lord went before, bearing the sacred Relics with the Reverend Lord Nicolaus van Troostenberghe Abbot of Eechout. And when the whole Choir had come there, and had sat around in order, then also, the Reverend Lord Provost being present, the aforesaid most Reverend, standing in the midst of all, opened the old bier (a sermon however being first held to the people flowing together) and showing the holy Relics joint by joint to all, placed them in the new silver bier. But meanwhile a continuous ringing of all the bells was heard for three hours. This placing of the Relics being made, they were solemnly translated through the Church in processional manner to the middle of the Choir, and there placed for eight days: at which time a great concourse of people was made to this place, partly to venerate the sacred Relics, partly to behold this magnificent bier.

[39] The solemnity observed on the feast: The aforesaid Lord Cortbemde the Secretary added to these, that the Feast of S. Bonifacius on the fifth day of June was once wont to be celebrated through the whole parish of the Virgin Mother of God by the people, abstaining from all servile work, which from some time has been changed. But still even on the fifth of June in the morning a solemn procession is instituted through some part of the parish, in which the sacred Relics in the silver bier, adorned with precious plates, by the Clerics all present there, with great frequency of the people, are carried about. There follows a sermon on these holy Relics, and then the solemn Sacrifice of the Mass, the said Relics being exposed in the Choir: at which Mass are used those most precious vestments, such as I know not whether are found in the whole world, of gems and gold, wont to be brought out only on this occasion: which by the gift of the Emperor Maximilian and his wife Mary, the last heiress of the Dukes of Burgundy and Counts of Flanders, the Church has, and they are to beholders a marvel. But if this feast fall within the Octave of Corpus Christi, the said Relics are exposed in the Choir, and after Vesper Lauds are carried with procession to the Sacristy. We have a Breviary for the use of the Church of S. Donatian printed in the year 1520, in which is prescribed the Office of S. Bonifacius and his Companions; and the Lessons are taken from their Acts. From which, since the names of Hilarius and Cyrobaldus could not be had, it is permitted to presume that they were received from the tradition of the men of Utrecht, to whom, besides the twelve named companions, the Author of the third Life at no. 8 writes that thirteen other bodies too were carried, whose names they could have known.

[40] Finally P. Henricus Labus, also a Preacher of our Society there at Bruges, transcribed for us what was done anew about the aforesaid sacred Relics in the year 1679, a repeated showing of the Relics in the year 1679, by a Letter given thus on the 17th of April. Yesterday after midday in the temple of the Virgin at the 4th hour with the highest solemnity, at the instance of the Duke of Norfolk hitherto staying here, the Relics of S. Bonifacius, Patron of the said Church, were unsealed by our most Illustrious one, which then were offered to be kissed. That unsealing had not been made for 74 years: what concourse there was therefore to the said temple, after all had been invited there by the other preachers, you may easily conjecture. I was some part of the throng. The Relics first brought forth from the chapel in which they had rested, in the larger silver shrine, commonly "Rive," the most Reverend Lord Abbot of Eechout (Quercetum), mitred, and the Ample Lord Provost of the Virgin shouldering it, there followed immediately the most Illustrious one himself, mitred in his Pontifical habit, then the Duke with the Nobles, the Duchess with her women's company, and at last the mixed throng. There was erected in the middle of the temple a platform, on which a table and some seats brought there from the Episcopal palace. On the table first the shrine was placed, then the Bishop with his Assistants ascended the platform, where he broke the seals, and drew out the Relics; which, showing each by hand, and turning himself in a circle with them, he exhibited to the people, his Secretary meanwhile reading aloud a huge Bull, which had been placed in the same little case. What it contained I could not hear. The Duke and others offered their Rosaries, which then by the Bishop and Abbot were put into the urn. Afterwards the most Illustrious one himself sang solemn Lauds.

[41] The whole matter, at our request, and by the care of P. Philippus Taisne of pious memory, the Episcopal Secretary Lord Broukman caused to be transcribed in the year 1689, from the Register of the Acts of the Bishopric of Bruges, in which under the date of the 16th of April 1679 among other things are had the following: Today, namely the 2nd Sunday after Easter, transcribed from the Episcopal Register, the most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord Franciscus de Baillencourt, Bishop of Bruges, about to satisfy the pious desire and great devotion of the most Excellent Lord Duke of Norfolk, a refugee in this city from England, on account of the persecution monstrously raging there against the Catholics, instantly supplicating that to his own eyes and veneration, and those of his family and the people, be exposed the Relics of S. Bonifacius the Martyr, Patron of England, kept in the distinguished Collegiate Church of B. Maria of this city; betook himself to the same Church about the fourth hour after noon: where, a brief exhortation to the people about the veneration of pious Relics being finished, pontifically vested and assisted by the Reverend and Venerable Lords Joseph Beerblock, Abbot of the Monastery of S. Bartholomew in Querceto of Bruges of the Regular Canons of the Order of S. Augustine; Hieronymus Albertus Megrode de Liedermans, Provost of the said Collegiate Church; and Joannes Pynckel, Archdeacon of Bruges; processionally accompanying from the Choir the said Relics, enclosed in a silver shrine most elegantly wrought; ascended a stage purposely erected in the nave of the Church; and there ordered the aforesaid shrine to be openly opened, with the ceremonies wont to be applied in such things: in which, conformably to the letters patent of the most Illustrious and most Reverend Lords as they had before been shown in the years 1585 and 1624: Remigius Driutius and Dionysius Christophori, Bishops of Bruges respectively, of the date of the 4th of June 1585 and 1624, enclosed in it, whole and sound, and duly signed and sealed, he found two bundles, covered with red silk and golden threads, with the Relics respectively of the holy Martyrs Bonifacius the Bishop and Illarius, together with a certain little box, not indeed opened for lack of a key, but yet (according to the aforesaid letters of the aforesaid Bishops) judged to contain the Relics of S. Cyrobaldus.

[42] These remaining thus closed, only the Relics of SS. Bonifacius and Illarius, and after their adoration, the aforesaid most Illustrious and most Reverend Lord Bishop showed to be beheld with reverence by the above-said most Excellent Lord Duke, his family, and all the people standing by, who had flowed together numerously to that solemnity, and exhibited to be venerated. These things being thus performed, meanwhile while various Hymns, Responsories, and Collects were sung, the aforesaid Relics, in the said two bundles duly fortified with his seal, together with a writing commemorating this solemnity, placed back again, he replaced in the wooden little box: which then closed, and in various parts of it fortified with his accustomed seal, he enclosed in the aforesaid silver shrine, the above-commemorated Reverend and Venerable Lords assisting on both sides, and also there being present the Reverend Lords, Paulus Baudens, Curate of the first portion, Judocus Frans, Joannes Mol, Vincentius Ignatius Letins, Jacobus Coddesmit, Franciscus de Gooris, Joannes du Wault, Petrus Balthazar van Cortbemde, Joannes d'Egels, and Robertus van de Goesteene, they were again duly closed. Presbyters Canons of the said Collegiate Church, and various Presbyters and Chaplains of the same Church, and very many others both Ecclesiastical and Secular persons, notably noble, honest, and discreet men, Cornelius van Hegelson, Petrus Nieulant Lord of Bruaene, Joannes Wouters, Antonius de Meulenaere, Franciscus Crits, and Alexander van Bisthoven, sextons of the aforesaid Church: all which being performed in the manner aforesaid, the aforesaid most Illustrious Lord carried the silver shrine processionally to the Choir, as before reported; and in Pontificals celebrated solemn Lauds. Which I testify, at Bruges, this 16th of April 1679: and it was signed L. Collart Secretary.

CHAPTER VI.

On the cult and Relics of S. Bonifacius in Eichsfeld.

[43] There is between Hesse and Thuringia a dominion subject to the Archbishop of Mainz, says Serarius, Note 20 to the Othlonian Life of S. Bonifacius, page 472, which is called either from the old oak-groves Eichsfeldia, or from frost and cold Eisfeldia. Into this from Hesse, On the mount of Stuffo, the idol being destroyed; crossing the river Werra, came S. Bonifacius. But on a very high mount of that region an idol, to which the blind and pitiable nation gave divine honors, was called Stuffo; and thence the mount itself Stuffenberg or Stuffonius. When therefore the Saint seriously labored to draw out and free that people from that blindness and misery, he ascended that mount; and abominating this vain mountain deity, commanded the demon, who gave responses from it and maddened men, to depart forthwith in the name of Christ Jesus, and cast down the very image and utterly broke it. Fame further has carried even to present posterity, that, pressed by so great a command and so great a force of the name, that wicked spirit departed at once, and rushed and hid itself in the caverns of the mount, I know not which, whence there survives today the name Stuffensloch and Stuffenshole.

[44] Similar things the same Serarius pursues, Note 21, and from a certain Preacher writing the Life of Charlemagne, a Lutheran indeed, but using codices both written by hand and by the press, and hitherto unseen, and elsewhere the image of Fortune being cast down, and tasting certain things about S. Bonifacius, chapter 11; transcribes the following pertaining to the same. That S. Bonifacius, from the mount of Stuffo, proceeding toward the North into the territory of Göttingen. There, on a mount, where today is the town of Hardesianum, the deity of Fortune stood: which when the Saint wished to cast down, he was then indeed hindered by a raging multitude of Gentiles, and came toward Göttingen into a solitude, where now is the village of Wenda, and there spent the night; and wished a chapel to be erected in honor of S. Peter, as afterwards was done; but on the next day into Eichsfeld

he returned. likewise of Retto and Biel, Hence the same man says, chapter 12, the Saint came to Mainz, and by the supreme power which he had obtained from the Pontiff, visited the monasteries and churches; and into Frisia through the territory of Hildesheim, by the Bremen road, ran out: and then between Brunstein and the monastery of Wilbrechthusium, he overthrew an idol of renowned fame and costly victims, whose name was Retto, from which now too Retto's-mount, der Rettersberg. Hence into Thuringia the Saint betook himself: and on the way in the Biel mountains, toward the river Rhuma, where today is Katelnburg, he cast down another false god Biel: and in that place, and of other little gods, where now is the monastery of Osterode, formerly Brunonisroda, again another, who was called Astarod. Yet some of the idolatrous Saxons sought that Biel of theirs with great care; and near the place, in which now is the monastery of Hefeld, they erected and adored him again, whence even today the place is called Bielstein. But when S. Bonifacius had learned these things, he pursued the enemy, and again laid low him renewing the former forces of idolatry, and the prostrate one he utterly crushed. At almost the same time the Saint broke other idols, Lahra and Jecha, from which today the citadel Lahra in the Hagnen mountains, and Jecheburgum.

[45] And let these things be said in passing, both because in the Bonifacian Acts here published they are not read; and to demonstrate that perpetual custom of the Saint, the Saint builds an oratory, which we said he kept when Stuffo was overthrown, when on the top of that mount he built a sacred little chapel, where, says Serarius, he left one of his Priests, from whom the surrounding peoples might thereafter receive fuller instruction in the most holy faith of Christ and the Sacraments. But out of that, Charlemagne afterwards caused a church to be made; and in it placed the Cross which he was wont to have carried before his forces by a certain distinguished man named Heizo, when he had obtained an illustrious victory over the Saxons by God's help after crossing the three fords of the Werra, which gave a name to the present-day town of Treffurt. For then, about to give thanks to God, which Charlemagne turned into a church, he ascended to the chapel of S. Bonifacius, and openly and clearly said, Here God helped us; and hence that mount was called the Auxiliary, or indeed the mount of Help, der Hulffersberg: and that appellation was corroborated by the frequent and wonderful working of various aids, in diseases, wounds, lamenesses, and other difficulties of that kind, divinely granted: whose witnesses were there so many votive offerings, seals, crutches, oblations, that out of a part of these a pious Priest erected the Carthusian house of Erfurt, and established it with revenues.

[46] Nicolaus Schaten, also one of ours, in his posthumous Annals of Paderborn, called of the mount of help, from the victory there won, after he had narrated at the year 783 the victory, referred by the same Charlemagne to Detmold, in the same plain where Arminius overtook Varus and, joining in a most fierce battle, almost destroyed him to extermination, with huge loss and grief of the Emperor Augustus; just as then Charles laid low Widikind and the whole strength of the Saxons; these things, I say, being narrated, he adds, that that so illustrious victory impelled the first Christians of those times, that not far from the place of the battle, in grateful memory toward God, they built a sacred edifice on a mount, which was called the Chapel of divine help, the common folk called it the Mount of holy Help, as also another near Detmold. on account of the heavenly benefit, as Crantzius records, by which God stood by Charles fighting, in the doubtful battle. A monument indeed more illustrious than every trophy, which to the age of Crantzius remained conspicuous by the worship of religion, and the access of the neighboring peoples, and many heavenly benefits and miracles: and to which, as the Calendars relate, from the city of Detmold a frequent yearly supplication of the people was led, and from all memory backward, to the year of Christ 1548 was continued. After which times then, because that heresy corrupted those places of the County of Lippe and the religion of their ancestors, and vexed with mockeries those coming there from abroad, the piety was interrupted. The sacred edifice itself then, which is shown on the mount of S. Anthony between Detmold and Osterholz, fallen, exhibits nothing but ruins.

[47] The history of the former published in German in the year 1671; I would not define by conjecture, which victory was the earlier in time; although the presumption stands for Eichsfeld, and the appellation of the mount already known there, from a similar cause, could easily be carried elsewhere. I only note that that was the more fortunate, because the religion at it, interrupted only for a short time, quickly and more abundantly sprouted again. This is established for me from a German little book, by the author P. Joannes Muller of our Society, caused to be printed at Duderstadt, under the date of the year 1671, which the numeral letters of the Latin title thus set forth: "The Mount of Help or of Christ the Savior." He, after he had narrated from Serarius how a third part of the oblations was assigned there to the Priest, where, the religion fallen through heresies, it is restored, caring for the sacred things; who by these daily increasing was so enriched, that one of them in the year 1372 left so much by testament, as his executor believed sufficient to found the Carthusian house of Erfurt. These things, I say, when he had narrated, As, he says, is established from the things said, that that place from the time of Charlemagne, even to the Lutheran heresy arisen from hell, flourished with constant religion; so it could not but be that, that gradually prevailing, this too for forty years grew obsolete and was almost extinguished among the people persuaded by the decrees of the new Gospel, that prayers, fasts, afflictions of the body, pilgrimages, oblations, and other such pious and penal works, confer nothing to a man for salvation.

[48] the Society of Jesus being brought to Heiligenstadt, But that calamity lasted, until Daniel, Archbishop of Mainz elected in the year 1555, undertook to visit by himself the region, in vain most fruitful of grain, for sustaining bodily life, when scarcely anyone attended to refreshing souls with spiritual food, leading thither with him some Priests of our Society for whom at Heiligenstadt (about which place we shall treat more fully on the 16th of June at the Acts of S. Aureus) he founded a College, that by sermons and catechisms they might either recall the rude people from heresies, or confirm them in the ancestral faith. Which when they did strenuously for some years, the piety of the Anrod Virgins of the Cistercian Order was moved, to whose right the Mount of help belongs, that they should invite them thither, to perform there by temporary excursions the same things which they saw so usefully continued at Heiligenstadt. A beginning of this matter was given in the year 1567, at which in the manuscript History of the College it is thus read: The first journey by our men to the mount of Help instituted with happy auspice on the 14th day before the Kalends of July; and a sermon held, which wonderfully pleased; so that even, it being heard, a Lutheran Preacher took care to salute the Preacher. This Mount, from the times of Charlemagne, on account of the help of the divine Power, which he had there manifestly felt, fighting in line against the Infidels: and which not a few in the following centuries had experienced, who for piety's sake, and for the grace of divine aid, had visited the place, most renowned through Saxony and the rest of the surrounding regions; to which in the year 1567 it began to make excursions, had ceased on account of the Heresies, of that frequency and religion with which it was once celebrated; so that although there were not rare those who came for the sake of praying, and discharging vows; yet it was unusual that any of the pilgrims should expiate himself by sacred Confession, and take the Eucharist. But after our men began to preach, and also to sit to hear Confessions, the number of those arriving was greatly increased, and the use of the Sacraments grew frequent.

[49] From that time, says Serarius, page 473, so great is the multitude of men making pilgrimage thither, sometimes even from heretical places, that some thousands are at times numbered in the procession: and excited by the hearing and fame of this matter, the present Pontiff Clement VIII granted an Indulgence of the punishments which are due to sins to those who, with true penance and remission of sins, with great fruit of the pilgrims, receive there the most holy Eucharist at certain times of the year, as his diploma given at Rome in the year 1598 on the 20th day of January, and this whole history copiously, the aforesaid Lutheran Preacher reports in his Charlemagne, chapter 19. To which year the History of the College confirms the same thus. To the Mount of Help a huge force of men comes together, of heretics as well as of Catholics: for since they see men there divinely helped, although they dissent from us in mind and religion, from time to time hither, both sending embassies, and they themselves coming, ask that aid be afforded them by God. Of this kind the Duke of Brunswick had grievously afflicted two noble men, so that he even tried to strip them of their possessions and drive them from their seats; first they humbly asked that prayers be made for them by us at Heiligenstadt, even of heretics: then, having gone to this mount, they were aided. The Catholics from the third hour of the morning to the ninth hour detained our Priest in making confessions. From a base life, from adultery, from grievous sins many emerged. One, after ten years' confession interrupted, approached that Sacrament with such feeling, that he abundantly wetted the pavement of the temple, and his tears flowed in a stream into the bosom of the Priest; who at the same time, a vow being made there and refreshed with the holy Eucharist, departed home with great joy of mind. There were present all the Catholic Nobles of Eichsfeld, also noble Virgins and Matrons, and noble Youths, who with lighted candles wonderfully adorned the supplication.

[50] One of the flock of Preachers wished to obscure this gladness: for he dared, when the people had almost dispersed, to mount the pulpit; and to the very few who remained, his adversaries not with impunity sowing contempt of it, more foolishly and petulantly than truly, to hold a sermon; but soon he was received by the guards with a notable cudgel, and driven from the temple and the mount almost crippled. Not long before, at the foot of the mount, a notably Lutheran man had celebrated a wedding. From the wedding two burst into the temple, that they might bring thence some spectacle to their fellow-citizens. They filched two props or crutches, of those which either in hope of restored health, or in testimony of health received, the wretched are wont to hang there by vow. Leaning on each arm, like lame men they crept into the banquet; pretending that a great miracle had divinely been wrought in them, that, sound, they had ascended the mount, and now lame returned. This mockery is said to have cost them not a little: for a little after, excited by a tumult of the Tribochi, he who had played the first parts in the scene, fell at the very first skirmish.

[51] and indulgences being proposed for the feast of SS. Bonifacius and Michael: The day, designated by Clement VIII for gaining Indulgences and more frequented by the flowing pilgrims, Muller indicates is the feast of S. Bonifacius; and says that the same grace was renewed in the year 1669, by Pope Clement IX of the same name. But before, Pope Alexander VII in the year 1665 had granted a similar Indulgence for the feast of S. Michael the Archangel, the 29th of September, there too wont to be venerated more solemnly, that the beginning and end of the summer time be celebrated with equal devotion. But since the place is distant only four or five hours from Heiligenstadt; thither, says Joannes Knachrich in his Letter to me, frequently through the year, especially

in summer, and on certain feasts we travel out there at least four times, carried in the carriage of the monastery of the Virgins of Anrode, not without spiritual consolation to our soul, on account of the remarkable harvest of souls which we bring back from the administration of the sacrament of Penance and from preaching to four or sometimes six thousand people his Relics also being brought there, who flow together to that place for the sake of piety. So very ardent indeed is the devotion of the people gathering there, that in the year 1667 it drew thither the Archbishop of Mainz, John Philip von Schönborn, who was then staying in Eichsfeld: he, having there celebrated Mass pontifically, with his own hand administered the sacred Eucharist to several thousand persons. That devotion was also increased not a little by the Reverend and Most Exalted Prince Joachim, Abbot of Fulda, who in the year 1670 gave to that church a notable portion of the arm of St. Boniface, which, enclosed in a gilded breast-statue with arms, he ordered to be conveyed thither with solemnity, and which is set out for the veneration of the people on the customary feasts. Finally, the popular devotion is much kindled by the ten stations of the suffering Christ, set up there by the work of two of our members six or seven years ago, with most beautiful paintings representing the individual mysteries. Thus far that one of our members the Stations having been erected who was at one time Rector there, who first advised me to commemorate the Bonifacian cult of that place among the Analecta.

Now furthermore receive certain miracles from the manuscript History of the College and from its Annual Letters (for both are distinguished among us, and the former is often supplemented from the latter), described for us by the same person; these are also reported in German, for the most part, in the little book of Müller, as if received from there.

CHAPTER VII.

The miraculous graces ascribed to the cult of St. Boniface on the Mount of Help.

[52] In the year of Christ 1588 there was at Heiligenstadt a girl a girl of unbridled tongue, after a sacrilegious communion, Catholic indeed, but, by her own and her father's confession, depraved by the habit of swearing, easily surpassing all her equals. To this impious custom she had added even this, that when she wished to approach the sacred Communion at Easter, contrary to the Ecclesiastical statutes she approached not fasting. Scarcely a day intervened, when she paid grievous penalties for both her rashnesses. For on the day after she had received the most holy Sacrament, being handed over into the power of witches, for some months she was most wretchedly both deluded by spells and afflicted with the most bitter pains of the body. She lay at home fixed to her bed, deprived of the sense and use of all her limbs, more like a stump than a human being: she could neither take in a voice with her ears, nor look at anyone with her eyes, nor move a foot. She often foamed at the mouth invaded by a furious demon, gnashed her teeth, and fell into the disease of epilepsy eight or ten times in one hour with her mind alienated; and, as if so many evils had not been enough for the heap of misfortunes, she was repeatedly carried off into the most hidden corners of the house; now into the lowest part, now into the highest; now outside the walls into the orchard: and there, long sought, she was at last found, either hanging from a tree with her voice cut off, or lying upon the beams almost strangled by a twisted neck, or, with a huge stone placed upon her chest and her mouth and nostrils blocked, being next to death. Her parent, stupefied by the unusual spectacle, in order to take counsel hastens to us: he begs as a suppliant that we should be willing to come and to snatch his daughter from such great evils.

[53] We obeyed the one asking: we tried everything which we thought could be tried in this matter and in any way to drive away the illusions. after exorcisms applied in vain The first and greatest defense was in prayers, which were made very many with a gathering of the citizens; privately, publicly; in churches, in schools, in houses. The house was purified with a solemn ceremony; images of the crucified Christ were hung in the chamber, sacred Relics and an Agnus Dei at her neck; a three-day fast was enjoined upon the family, and all the other things which seemed to pertain to appeasing the divine Power. But nothing was accomplished by such great expenditures: the crafty enemy all but mocked all our labor and zeal. He hid himself sometimes, as if terrified, in hiding-places; yet a little after he again crept out of the thickets, and behaved much more savagely than before; he poured out the holy water, tore apart the sacred images, and with a kind of noise and roaring tore the holy Relics from her chest; when he had kept their reliquaries for some days she is led to the Mount and freed, in mockery he returned them either empty or filled with dung, and at last even the Relics themselves: and so he mocked us in wretched ways, so that nothing seemed more horrible to see or more difficult to bear. One refuge remained, that of the Mount of Help. To this place the Senate conveys her at public expense, in the hope that there she might find a remedy. Nor did they augur in vain: for when, a vow having been pronounced at home, she had been conveyed to the place a second time, all that force of the spells was broken and weakened, with her health reserved for this one purpose, that God might confirm the ancient piety of pilgrimage in the souls of Catholics by a recent miracle.

[54] In the year 1593, a certain woman had for fourteen years, from her marriage, lived in a heretical place, and had several times partaken of that profane supper. likewise a woman a heretic for 14 years But when at last she recognized her shipwreck, she began to be most grievously agitated by the waves of conscience, and to be vexed by horrible specters. She forms a plan of seeking again the harbor from which she had departed. Therefore the utmost things are threatened by the tempter of men; namely that she would perish by waters (as it seemed to her she heard through a voice) unless she desisted from her undertaking. But she pursues that undertaking, and seeks the Mount of Help: she detests her past life before our Priest, holds the harbor of the Church, and obtains serenity of mind.

[55] In the year 1595 there was at Halberstadt a Catholic man and a jurist and a pious Catholic from prison, who upheld the rights and liberty of monasteries and ecclesiastics with as much help as he could, professing the ancestral religion; as for civil cases famous for many victories, more however from the skill of his talent than from a master or instructor. These things, which could have been to his praise among the prudent, envy turned into hatred and calamity: for, burdened first with grave suspicions, then cast into prison, by its long duration he endured many hardships. Suppliant hands are stretched out by his relatives to the Prince, not ignorant of these machinations: but the most bitter mind could be bent neither by prayer nor by reasons. It seemed worth the effort to his friends that, in the captive's name, they should pronounce a votive pilgrimage to the Mount of Help in Eichsfeld. And indeed the vows were not in vain. The will of the most estranged Prince is suddenly changed, the prisoner is released from prison, he hastens here into Eichsfeld to the mount, in order to fulfill the vow.

[56] An apostate priest returns a missal In the year 1598 there came to the same place, with his little old wife, a man more than a hundred and seven years old, formerly professed a Monk in the Palatinate, afterward a Preacher of Hesse; but then removed from the office of Preacher. He came with great effort and desire of visiting the Mount, and offered to the church a Missal Book, which he affirmed he had hidden at home for fifty years; but when this had been discovered, the office of preaching had been forbidden him by his fellows, as being less of an upright Lutheran life; and so he returned the book to those persons, to whom, if he had returned it long ago, he would not have come into that crisis of his fortunes.

[57] In the year 1603 a noble Virgin, Catharina von Keusel, while she was in her fifteenth year a heretic girl healed of a goiter, a vow having been made, a swelling grows on her neck under the chin, which by daily increases turned into a deformed goiter. Her parents apply what care they can: the hand of a wound-surgeon cuts out the evil once, again, a third time, and not without danger to her life; yet it does not avail. The sore grows with the wounds, and no hope of beauty and health remains for the virgin and her parents. Meanwhile a country woman, of old faith and trust in God, comes from a nearby place to the virgin, half-dead with grief and sorrow. This woman, among other discourses, affirms that it seems to her entirely that there is no cure for this evil except in the divine hand. She therefore advises her to conceive a vow, to be discharged to God the Savior on the nearby mount. The plan settled in the heretic girl's mind deeper than expectation; yet the matter seemed difficult, since the vow was both contrary to her religion, and, as she was placed under her parents' care, nothing was her own: moreover to beg a votive offering from her parents was unsafe, to steal in secret a gift hateful to God. It occurred among these things to the virgin's mind that a two-year-old calf wandered among the household herd, hers by gift. But it seemed too much to give this to God; she could discharge it with a lesser vow. So for the next solemn day of supplication she conceives a vow of one pound of wax, to be carried either by her own hands (if it could be done with her parents' good leave) or by another's. And, marvelous to believe! with no medicine the deformity of the neck gradually subsides: fit for going out, on the appointed day she sets out on the way; she ascends the mount, she fulfills the vow. But hear what was done at home to the calf. It had lived. On that very day she, returning, found it dead, without any preceding illness: and the girl perceived the friendly hand of God, healing the evil, but also avenging avarice.

[58] One year and another slips by, and the heretic girl, healed, not mindful of her Savior and, that being delayed, it grows again, interrupts the pilgrimage: and, as the girl's soul pleased God, so little by little he made the scar in fatherly fashion grow sore again and ache, and she feels her neck swell up again. She is silent: she covers it as she can with womanly adornment; but not for long. Her father's eye notices the disfigurement. "Hey, you," he says, "my daughter, your neck is swelling again under the chin." The fatherly word pricked the virgin's mind, more grievously than her eyes, prone to tears, could bear. Swiftly stealing herself away from there into the nearest chamber, she abundantly loosens the reins to watery streams; and the drops go falling copiously and freely, because she herself went free of company and alone, where inwardly her physician was calling her without her knowing. Mindful of her vow amid her sobs, in her own judgment ungrateful to her benefactor; she renews it, she resumes it. Nor in vain: the ache and swelling vanish. Made more cautious by the warnings it is removed once it is discharged, every year she frequents the accustomed work of piety, the pilgrimage. But indeed, while of her disease, by which she escaped the deforming ache of the neck, she began to feel a graver tyranny in the citadel of her soul, which her now suspected religion was producing for her; so that she noticed in her mind that it rolled together with her the least of virtue and piety, but very much of vice and impiety. Frequent reading of Catholic books (she had found them unexpectedly left by her grandfather) increases her conscientiousness. Nor was it done for long: she becomes certain that the preaching Ministers and she herself is converted are not Pastors, but betrayers of their own souls and those of the common people: yet there was no one anywhere to whom she could entrust these secrets, and who might direct, teach, and strengthen her. Thereupon, with a steadfast heart, having bidden farewell to all the sermons and suppers, she openly professes among her own that she can neither safely entrust her soul to these Ministers of the word, nor wishes to. She therefore seizes occasions, hurries here (Heiligenstadt) to hear and approach our members. She also visits the nearby monasteries of sacred Virgins, in one of which, during the Easter holidays, having found and sought out our Priest, she sets forth the whole matter; she abjures heresy, by sacred Confession she returns whole into grace with God, and enjoys the sacred Table; and she remains thus far unmoved, amid all the vexations of her parents and kinsmen; deprived by them of all aid, she lives a life, as to her condition, miserable.

[59] In the year 1605, three days before St. Michael's, a certain farmer deprived of speech by a demon companion recalls, among many drinking-cups, a pledge given to deceive a virgin who was to be married. Invited by two drinking-companions to the dedication—or shall I say carousal?—of a neighboring village, he agrees to go along as a companion. But having gone out, his companions having slipped away elsewhere, he meets another guide and companion, an unknown man. While they make their way together, fixing his eyes for some time on this companion, he notices a man black in face, with burning eyes, breathing fire about his mouth and neck. He shudders and stops in his tracks; soon also he falls down lifeless: then arming his chest with the Cross, he makes the specter, in the form of a flaming dragon, fly away into the air. Yet it was not done for long: the spirit returns, and again invites him to the rest of the journey; and indeed it mocks the terrified man, whom it boasts it has so handled that within these three days he will not betray who he is. So indeed: for it had taken from the man the use of speech. When the mute traveler had collected himself, he returns to his own people unable to speak: he recovers it in the same place by signs he tells what he does; thereupon, devoid of hope and help, he hastens with his companions to our College. Our members advise the Mount of Help, and the imminent day of pilgrimage. He obeys, and there appears before our Priest: by signs and nods he recounts the events of his life, as best he can. He is bidden to conceive in his mind the help of the divine hand, to entreat by vows and with his mind. He does so diligently, and together with his companions, in the very church, as is the custom, intending to spend the night, he gives himself to rest. Soon in sleep he sees an Angel standing by him: who, touching his lips with a gentle touch, addresses him that he may recover the use of his tongue. And indeed at once, with all who had known him speechless astonished, he speaks out whole. Therefore fallen again upon his knees, he gives thanks to God: and at first light, repeating and completing his Confession again, he gives his pledge that he will never loose this use of his tongue except to good things, and returns home. Father Müller adds (perhaps from the Annual Letters) that by this Miracle a certain seventy-year-old man was so moved that he embraced the Catholic faith.

[60] In the year 1606 at Ecklingerode, a village in the territory of Duderstadt, there dwelt Andreas Spilner overwhelmed by a collapse with his wife Margareta, peasants. This man, having gone out with two fellow workers toward Bremen, a neighboring village, to dig up marl from the ground together; having entered a cavern, while they press on with the work, the hollowed-out mass above rushes down, and enveloping that man it buries him in the collapse. His fellow workers, intending to bring what help they can, press on with the labor with every effort for another hour, in order to free him buried under that weight. As soon as they catch sight of the man's head, but without consciousness, the rest of his body submerged, thinking he had survived, they hurry off with him to the village: they report the sad news of the deed done to his wife and family. The wife, as she heard it, fallen upon her knees, resolves her mind and voice into a vow: "I will present my husband and myself at the mount of the Savior, if my husband survives the danger." Then all to the cavern. he is saved by the wife's vow Soon the rest of the buried man's body is dug out, deformed, crushed: his mouth gapes split into four parts, the earth had driven his front teeth into his throat: the spine of his back broken by compression, the ribs shattered, the bladder ruptured; one spirit alone breathed gently amid the pains. The physician refuses medical help, and human art itself despairs, because a more divine hand had now presented itself: by which it came about that in a short time he felt his strength gathered.

[61] Furthermore, that this more illustrious divine healing might deceive human opinion, the same man imperiled by quinsy evil is succeeded by evil. For pus and much humor gathered in his neck blocks his throat as he breathes; nor was anything nearer than a second death, unless a second cure too should be at hand. Certainly there was for the wife no other hope than in another vow, which she conceives; two candles of wax, one to the Blessed Virgin and St. Valentine, Patrons of her village church; one to the Holy Savior, on the mount already named. They hear the vow, and with no one caring for anything, the swelling subsides, the pus goes away. The sacred day of Pentecost, the annual feast of the Mount of Help, presses for the pilgrimage. Therefore Andreas, leaning on two supports, begins to creep out of the village; and he crawls a good four large miles toward the mount; with such happy effort indeed that the nearer he is and the stronger, the more his strength, the more his spirit grow: purging which here by Confession, he discloses the whole matter in order to our Priest, together with his companion wife: and then by sacred Communion he is so restored to himself that, the props—witnesses of his infirmity, his fortune, and his divine healing—being deposited as a votive offering, he recovers his health on that very same day (it was approaching the eleventh hour when he bade farewell to the mount) treading those same four miles on foot, he came back to his own house, whole in strength and full of joy. Afterward, in those same houses of his, he relates to the same Priest visiting him; that nothing more desirable for his soul could have happened, in that he seemed to himself by this collapse to have escaped eternal death; that this one thought indeed kept recurring again and again, while he lay buried alive under the earthly mass: "O most wretched of men, what will you answer to your judge?" he must repay eternal thanks in place of so great a benefit received.

[62] In the year 1608, a certain woman named Catharina Henle of Calmerode a boy's broken leg is restored had a son of fourteen years, named Joannes. When he had fallen onto a wagon, he broke his shin-bone, which, all remedies having been tried, by no art could be made whole: therefore, human help being despaired of, she took refuge in divine help, at the urging of a pious woman, who asserted that she had seemed to herself to be warned in her sleep that help was to be sought from the Mount of Help by the merits of St. Boniface. The mother therefore vows that, if her son's leg be restored to its former vigor, she with her son, for the sake of Confession and Communion, will undertake a journey to the Mount of Help; and will hang up a waxen votive offering, a monument of the benefit bestowed, to St. Boniface. This vow having been pronounced, the boy's wound closes over, the bones are made whole, the foot is restored, so that not even a scar remained as a trace of the injury: and so on the Monday of Pentecost, mother and son discharge the vow: Confession having been made and sacred Communion taken, they publicly hang up the waxed foot to St. Boniface.

[63] In the year 1609 there shone forth on the mount, which takes its name from help, much greater religion and piety of the people than in past years. For it was possible to see, not only the people of this country in greatest number the same religion is confirmed hastening at various times of the year to earn the Indulgences; but also men of the highest dignity, by very long journeys, laden with various kinds of votive offerings, hastening to the sacred shrines of this place, with the greatest edification of others. Which indeed we ascribe at this time to a singular benefit of God, since in the nearest places surrounding this sacred mount, in this very year a pestilent plague of the Calvinists was propagated: whence we judge it a most fitting antidote sent by God against so great a poison, for promoting the growing religion of this people. Nor did the divine goodness withdraw its help from such great piety: since by several evident miracles, as if by sure testimonies of the Catholic faith and the divine mercy, it willed to make illustrious the renown of this place, though the heretics raged; all of which, lest I be too tiresome in narrating them, it will suffice to have noted here a very few.

[64] a blind man enlightened There was an inhabitant of one village almost nearest to this city, named Westhausen, Georgius Schuler. He in a short time was deprived of both eyes. His wife, ignorant of human counsel and remedy, took refuge in heavenly help, namely in the sure help of this mount; binding herself and her husband by a vow, at the nearest opportunity to present themselves in this sacred place, if God should succor them. A thing worthy of admiration! On the day after she had vowed, although some traces of so great an evil were left for the certainty of the miracle, yet he recovered whole health of his eyes: for which benefit both, after preceding Confession and the taking of the divine Food, gave great thanks in this place. Another, from the diocese of Hildesheim; laboring with a grave and dangerous disease, which the physicians on account of a perpetual flux of humors are accustomed to call fistulas, after he had spent a great deal of money on physicians, for the sake of healing the wound, to no purpose; a vow having been sent forth to this sacred mount, not only did the flux begin to be retarded; but moreover whole health of the foot followed. Wherefore, to show himself the more grateful toward his benefactor, he vowed an annual journey to the same place…

[65] Still more clearly did the protection of the same mount shine forth in a lost man. and by the cure of a fistulous foot He, drunk, having gone out from a tavern, intending to return home that same evening to his household gods, having scarcely measured half the journey, is overwhelmed by the darkness of night. Soon, as he hesitates at a crossroad, a wolf leaping out of the thickets attacks him, or rather, what is truer, the demon himself: with whom, having struggled for many hours with vain effort, he was wretchedly beaten; of which thing it was no small proof, that, found in the morning prone on the ground, he had drawn in so much cold by mouth and belly likewise of a paralysis induced by a demon, that he seemed wholly deprived of the use of voice and feet. At last, when he had now lain for three days despaired of by his own people and by others, not without the prompting of the divine Power, one of our Fathers came upon him: who persuaded the wretched man, after receiving his Confession, to invoke the heavenly help of the Mount of Help, since human help was denied. He acquiesces in the one warning. Why say more? On the next day, to the Pastor of that place coming to hand him the sacred Eucharist, beyond everyone's expectation, to all the questions, no longer by a nod, but with a full voice he answered: indeed the strength of his soul being refreshed through the sacred Communion, he was so restored to himself that on the same day, having set out to the neighboring city, he prudently carried out his business.

[66] In the kind of conversions to faith and a better life, and of manifold disease in one woman the Mount of Help supplies us with most abundant material, which God in these parts, on account of the very great frequency of those approaching the Sacraments of salvation, seems to have chosen as a kind of heavenly pharmacy, from which afflicted men may demand amulets and antidotes of every kind, against any pests of the soul. The very great frequency of the sick confirms the esteem of the holy Mount, sick not so much in body as in soul, whom the goodness of God consoles in grave temptations with the hope of sure salvation, to be obtained in this place. A proof can be one woman, born from the remote places of Saxony, crawling here at least fourteen miles, afflicted with many diseases of the soul; which the trumpeters of the new Gospel tried in vain to cure with their honeyed and flattering words. But at last on this mount she found medicine, for all the wounds of her soul, through a sincere Confession of her whole past life; with so great a consolation of her soul, that she gave the greatest thanks both to God and to her spiritual physician. God most good and great increases this esteem, not only in the souls of Catholics, but also of the surrounding heretics, by various miracles, which through the summer of the year 1610 were wrought at the invocation of the holy Mount. Out of many it will suffice to have noted one or another.

[67] There was a certain Youth, born of Eichsfeld, who for almost a whole year had swollen shins, to whose swelling a graver evil had later been added, namely the sacred fire, as they call it. Which evil

within a short time, surgeons having been consulted in vain, grew so much that all hope of cure seemed placed in surgery alone. Devotion to this sacred mount was the salvation of one despaired of: for, a vow having been sent forth, he soon began to recover, so that he was able to discharge that vow with healthy shins, and to refresh that grateful spirit of his with the heavenly banquet. the sacred fire, epilepsy, blindness are cured The same piety wholly restored the light of the eyes to a woman who for eight weeks had been deprived of the benefit of her eyes. Greater admiration was produced among men by the cure of one of our pupils, conferred through a vow of going to this sacred mount. He, seized by Epilepsy elsewhere, when he had returned to his father's house, the disease growing worse, all hope of longer life is daily cast away. Our Priest is summoned to receive the Confession of the sick man. At last, to the solicitous and anxious parents concerning their son's salvation, our member advises a vow to this sacred mount. The mother of the son, having conceived trust in God and this mount of help, not only accepts the salutary counsel, but moreover fulfills it in the very deed; God regards the maternal affection, and restores her son, beyond all expectation, to his former health, so wholly that from that time no accustomed remains of the disease recurred. I pass over the many who, from nearby and remote places, even heretical, were divinely warned to undertake a pilgrimage to this sacred place, and felt the divine help present in adverse circumstances. By these so various benefits, both of body and of soul, it can scarcely be told how much the souls of all the Catholics who dwell in these northern regions are inflamed to the cult and reverence of this so salutary mount.

[68] In the year 1611, on the same mount a certain citizen of Heiligenstadt found health of body a long-lasting disease, when he had long lain abed from a grave disease. For his family, on the very day of Pentecost, being occupied with the sacred Mysteries with us; he alone at home felt cast into him after the midday meal a desire of going to the Mount, and of approaching the sacred Table there on the following day. Therefore he beseeches his people, returned home, to take him as a companion on the way. They deny that he can complete a journey of at least five hours, who could not even reach the neighboring parish. But at last his constancy prevailed: he sets himself on the way, and the farther he advances from the city, the more he feels his strength confirmed to himself; until, the mount itself being surmounted, and fortified by the Sacraments, he is wholly restored to his former strength.

[69] In the year 1612, vows conceived to the sacred Mount of Help were the salvation of those infected with the pestilential plague: one recovered from dropsy. A citizen of Heiligenstadt recovered the use of his lost voice; and while there, in fulfillment of his vow, he unfolds his conscience to the Priest, he experienced his voice gradually returning clearer to him. Three driven into madness recovered sanity of mind by the vows of their people. A certain woman had thrown herself headlong into a well: whom her husband drew out of it sound both in mind and in limbs. and several other evils Another, having vowed a foot made of wax, by which she drove off the evil from her gravely afflicted foot. In the year 1613, when a certain man had several times mingled himself with the crowds of suppliants, not yet enlightened by the light of faith; at last, doubts about religion having arisen, on account of the miracles which he saw there wrought by God, he was enlightened: which same thing is wont to befall many. When someone, for the sake of discharging a vow, was hastening to the same mount; when he reached the foot of the mount, lifting a heavy stone onto his shoulders, for the sake of afflicting his body, he carries it all the way up to the summit; and the same man, the vow being discharged, carries it back to the place from which he had lifted it: and although several times growing weary under the burden, he failed in spirit and strength; his breath always recovered, he did not yield to the burden. But these exercises of the Mount of Help furnished help to the whole Province. For when those were flourishing on it, and a most grievous storm fell, the sky burned with lightning, the clouds, burst asunder, threatened destruction to all with their crash and their downpours; nevertheless the neighboring crops remained untouched, only one or another peasant's hut being overthrown; whereas in the bordering Thuringia and Hesse, not only were damages brought upon the fields, the flocks of men and cattle suffocated, but even villages, citadels, and towns, if not utterly overthrown, yet were so undermined and shaken by the force of the rushing waters, that the disaster received cost much. In the year 1614 a certain man's sick leg had so swollen from a hidden disease that even, propped on a staff, he could scarcely walk. He, a vow having been sent forth, with the greatest labor and difficulty, crept to the Mount of Help, offers wax formed in the shape of the affected leg, and is healed.

[70] In the year 1621, a certain man from the country of Fulda came cheerful to the mount with two crutches placed on his shoulder the power of walking is restored, and hung them from the rear dome of the church: seeing whom, our Priest, having called him to himself, found a man of middle age, well constituted and strong in the powers and limbs of his body: he asks him for what cause he runs up so glad with crutches: the Pilgrim answers (Henricus Fell is his name, from Buchonia) "I will tell the matter itself, but in few words. For two whole years I could not stand on my feet; but when, all hope of recovering health being despaired of, no remedy remained, it came to my ears and mind that a vow was to be made to this place. I vowed a pilgrimage, and recovered my health. In testimony of this matter, behold for you the wooden feet which I have brought with me, intending to hang them from the curve of the dome, in perpetual memory of the prodigious thing for two years feeble, obtained from God most good and great." Praises being given to God, the Priest exhorted him to recall this benefit with a grateful spirit, and dismissed him to the offering he had conceived. But afterward the same Priest, when, with others present, he more carefully examined the said crutches; noted that they were covered below with iron, but well worn (for so the sick man had had it done as a sign of the desperate evil) which renders the miracle not a little celebrated; as also does that, that he completed thirteen German miles on foot from Buchonia, carrying the wooden crutches on his shoulders, without weariness.

[71] Other sick people also, of whom most had been despaired of by physicians, this year and various diseases are cured were divinely helped in this place. There was one who had labored with a troublesome disease of the head; two others with an evil of the arms, two others of the feet; one with a trembling of the side and heart; three others had been vexed in the chest by a desperate pressure: all these, a vow having been published, felt the divine help at this place famous for miracles; as they themselves confessed to a certain Priest of ours, when, after Confession, he inquired in passing the cause of their pilgrimage. A certain man, when he had carried a withered arm for some thirty years, from the day and year he is accustomed to go to this mount, felt no more trouble.

[72] In the year 1628, a certain unusual and persistent pain of the teeth had for some days granted no portion of rest to one of our members (Master Joannes Richler): and now the evil, by the swelling of the jaws, betraying its savagery, a toothache is relieved had so deformed the man's face that he was scarcely recognized by us. He therefore, induced by the fame of this place, renowned for so many ages now both by the magnitude and by the multitude of miracles, having judged that medicine for his own evil too was to be sought from here; offered for this purpose his first pilgrimage, to give thanks to his helper. Nor did the physician deceive him: for scarcely had he conceived in his mind this vow or proposal of his, when behold for you, immediately after this, the suppuration began to flow, the jaw to subside, and all the pain to depart, about to exhibit no more trouble thereafter.

[73] A certain soldier, named Wilhelmus Flinsberg, otherwise called Messerschmit, in the war against the Danes an incurable wound is made whole, had received a wound under the wing of his right arm, which a certain camp surgeon had cured up to a point; but, the scar broken by coughing, it had grown raw again, so that it could not be healed anew, but continually gaped, and emitted and received breath as if through a mouth. Therefore the soldier had had made for this wound a certain fitting silver tube, which he carried for many years, and on alternate days warmed with a new plaster. But it happened that, through fear of a certain military Officer or Master of Horse staying at Mühlhausen, which is a noble town of Thuringia, he had to flee, and came to the village of Friede: where he was persuaded by his host to seek a remedy for his evil on the Mount of Help. Following which counsel, in winter through deep snows he ascended the mount, with this effect, that he laid aside the tube, and within eight days was perfectly cured of the wasting wound, only a thin scar being left. Whence converted to the Catholic faith, he perpetually preached this miracle, even among those who heard it with unwilling ears. He then practiced the tavern-keeper's trade, first at Geismar, afterward at Bickenrode. There survives a truthful witness of the whole thing he did, says Father Müller in his little book; he then recounts a few other things, which he seems to have received not from the Annual Letters or the History of the College, but from elsewhere: of which I commemorate only the last…

[74] Master Sebastianus Schmiet, Senator and Chamberlain of the city of Mühlhausen (who, illuminated by a special grace of God, was converted to the Catholic faith in the year 1651, and, his seventieth year of age being completed, happily, as we hope, died in the year 1653) began to labor with so great a vertigo of the head, vertigo of the head is removed that he was often compelled to sit on a stone publicly in the street at the houses of the citizens. Therefore he conceived a vow to the Mount of Help, and on the Vigil of St. James he sent there his two sons, Masters Sebastianus and Christophorus; whom he himself followed on the next day, and was most perfectly freed from the evil of his infirmity, so that he felt no more trouble from it: and he himself either bore, in each of the following years, or sent through others to this sacred mount, his offering. After these and similar miracles of graces, then are reported some miracles of divine punishments against mockers, of which I have mentioned two above; I now add two others.

[75] In the year 1599, a certain Lutheran youth, mingled among Catholics, whom he repeatedly ridiculed, ascended this sacred mount: and when they had reached the spring named after St. Boniface and (as they say) brought forth by him; for a heretic about to drink from the saint's spring the water sticks fast the Catholics with great piety drew from the spring and drank; when the mocker too approaches, and wishes to draw water. A marvelous thing! The water, which was wont to flow continually through the little pipe, immediately sticks fast, so that it let go not a drop. Which when the Catholics saw, and reproached the mocker on account of the present vengeance of God, because even the water fled him; the youth, vehemently dismayed in spirit, uttering not a word in his own defense, departed like a dumb ox. As he withdrew, the water again began to flow, not without the admiration of the Catholics, who were strengthened in their devotion.

[76] A little Calvinist Minister In the year 1649, on the Monday of Pentecost, a Calvinist Minister from a neighboring town, with some citizens, ascended this mount, not for the sake of devotion, but of curiosity, in order to observe the Catholics' rites and to ridicule them. When therefore in the procession around the church (as is the custom) the Venerable Sacrament was carried by the Priest under a canopy; that Minister of the word was heard in these blasphemous words

to break forth; "Behold, there comes the devil"; and again: "Is this not the work of the devil?" The procession finished, he alone, without the companions with whom he had come, wishing to return home, descended from the mount. But the just God by no means permitted this blasphemer to go off unpunished. For when the rest too, a little after, lagging behind his back, were descending the mount; blaspheming the Catholic rites they find their Pastor lying on the ground beside the Quarry (which is the name of the place), as if epileptic or struck by apoplexy. Therefore they cry out to him: "Lord Master, what is this matter? how did that misfortune befall you?" But they obtain no other reply from him than: "Ah, where is the Mount of Help? Where is the Mount of Help?" which he repeated several times. When therefore his fellow citizens had seen that he could neither move from the place nor rise, they carried him home, placed on their shoulders and on a wagon: where, having long used many medicines, when he now thought he had recovered sufficient strength to be able to climb up to the pulpit to deliver a sermon; he indeed climbed it around the feast of the Nativity; but, having begun the sermon, he brought forth such feeble he is punished with paralysis, incoherent, and insipid words; that the Consul of that place, through a public official, ordered him to come down again from the pulpit. But that infirmity lasted until his death, which in the following year 1650, by the just vengeance of the punishing God, he met. More examples of both kinds could be brought forward, which happen every year and even still, if expense and zeal were applied to recording them in public registers.

And here ends the last letter brought to me about these matters, given on the 5th day of this May, by which the printing of these Analecta had to be finished, so that more from these last years could not be awaited: but neither is there reason why more should be desired.