ON SAINTS GILBERT THE ABBOT, PETRONILLA HIS WIFE, AND PONTIA HIS DAUGHTER.
OF THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ORDER IN AUVERGNE.
IN THE YEAR 1152.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On the ancient cult and the more recent Life.
Gilbert the Abbot, of the Premonstratensian Order in Auvergne (St.) Petronilla his wife, of the Premonstratensian Order in Auvergne (St.) Pontia his daughter, of the Premonstratensian Order in Auvergne (St.)
BY G. H. THE AUTHOR
The Sammarthani in tome 4 of Christian Gaul, which is on the Abbeys of the Gauls page 695, say: Of Neuffontaines, otherwise of St. Gilbert, of the Premonstratensian Order, The Abbey of Neuffontaines. of the diocese of Clermont, in the Archpresbyterate of Limagne, in the Parish of St. Didier, was founded about the year 1150, by Gilbert, a noble knight of Auvergne, returned from Palestine, over which monastery he himself presided as first Abbot. Thus that author. In the Register of the benefices of the diocese of Clermont the Patron of the said Parish of St. Didier is said to be the Abbot St. Gilbert, of whom we here treat. The said parish is situated by the little river Sioule, not far from the town of St. Pourçain, and the Duchy of Bourbon. John le Paige, Doctor of Theology, Prior of the Premonstratensian College, and Procurator Syndic of the same Order, often to be praised below in the Life of St. Norbert, as a kind of prelude to his writings published in the year 1620 the Life of St. Gilbert, The Life written by John le Paige. Founder and first Abbot of the church of Blessed Mary the Virgin of Neuffontaines, and also of St. Petronilla his wife, Foundress and first Abbess of the monastery of Saints Gervase and Protase of Alberre, of the diocese of Clermont. The same John le Paige afterward published in the year 1633 the Library of the Premonstratensian Order, and in its book 2 page 482 and following inserted the same Life, partly, he says, from the Chronicle of Robert of Auxerre, partly faithfully drawn from a very ancient archetype Ms. of the same Church, as below in the Prologue, or dedicatory Epistle, which in the later edition he omitted, he teaches accurately enough.
[2] His birthday is indicated below in number 11 as this sixth of June, The birthday of St. Gilbert June 6 the same that is noted by the death of St. Norbert. On which day also in the Cathedral Church of Clermont his cult is prescribed in the Order of the divine Office, which we saw, printed for the year 1656 for the use of the said Church. Aubert le Mire in the Premonstratensian Chronicle page 167 asserts that his feast is celebrated in the whole diocese of Clermont; but on the fourth day of February, not the 4th of February, in which perhaps he was deceived by the name of another Gilbert, as we said on the said day among the Omitted. This is St. Gilbert founder of the Sempringham Order in England. Meanwhile le Mire was followed by James Branche, in the Lives of the Saints of Auvergne and Velay. Another day, sacred to his cult, is assigned as the third of October, nor the 3rd of October. to which John le Paige in his first edition had referred his death; and there were followed in this John Chrysostom Vander Sterre in the Births of the Saints of the Premonstratensian Order, and John du Pré in the Brief Annals of the Premonstratensian Order. Andrew Saussay, on the same 3rd of October, adorns him with a long encomium: where toward the end he has these things: The blessed man is venerated in his own Order and monastery, now distinguished by his name, with repeated sacred rites, on the eighth of the Ides of June, which is the day of deposition, and on that day the 5th of the Nones of October, which is of his elevation. But in place of the 5th of the Nones of October there is indicated in the Premonstratensian Breviary recently printed the 5th of October. his elevation and reposition the 24th of October. The same Saussay on the day of the 24th of October writes these things: In the country of Clermont at the monastery of Neuffontaines was made the finding and reposition of the body of blessed Gilbert, first Abbot of the same monastery, made in the year 1612. But whom here he calls only Blessed, with the title of Saint he honors on the 3rd of October, and on this 6th of June only reckons among the Pious.
[3] The cult of Petronilla and Pontia. The aforepraised John le Paige, in the title of the Life published in the Premonstratensian Library, adds that there are given together the Life of the Blessed Petronilla his wife, and of Pontia their daughter, Prioress of the same monastery after her mother. Saussay adjoined the Elogium of both to the Encomium of St. Gilbert on the said third of October, and toward the end adds these things: Petronilla, his most blessed wife, with Pontia his most meritorious daughter, on the third of the Ides of July, is namely venerated, as he had said before: to which day however he does not mention them. The said Petronilla they celebrate on the cited day, the 13th of July, Chrysostom Vander Sterre in his Births, James Branche in the cited Lives of the Saints of Auvergne, where he refers St. Pontia to the day of the 16th of May. But the commemoration of St. Pontia the Virgin is prescribed in the diocese of Clermont on the day of the 20th of May, as we then noted among the Omitted, and we remitted her to this 6th of June, where we treat of all together; because all that we have hitherto been able to know is contained in these Acts.
THE LIFE
By the author John le Paige, of the Premonstratensian Order.
BY JOHN LE PAIGE.
PROLOGUE.
To the most noble and most illustrious man, the Lord, D. Gilbert Baron of Alberia, most valiant Knight of the holy sepulcher of Jerusalem.
[1] From the time that I first devoted myself to this study, that whatever pertained to the Canons of the Premonstratensian Order, and their institutions, beginnings, increases, privileges, antiquities, men distinguished both for learning and especially for sanctity of life, I should track out by all traces, and make public; I always above all cherished St. Gilbert, that Founder and first Bishop of the monastery which is in Auvergne among the people of Clermont, and was formerly called the monastery of Neuffontaines, now St. Gilbert's; The author from his affection for St. Gilbert embracing the sanctity and piety of the man, not by the common and vulgar practice, but by a certain proper zeal, by a certain proper inclination of mind. And on that account, that I might take a sampling from his life, or rather demonstrate certain things, I deemed that I should by no means acquiesce in those things (although of great authority indeed) which I had brought from ancient records, both printed and written by hand, into my commentaries. I betook myself, especially since the reason of that duty and of my office as Visitor required it, having set out to his monastery to that monastery of St. Gilbert (as is abundantly evident from that report which I inserted into the life of the divine Gilbert), from whose records and diplomas I plucked many things, not a little to profit my proposed work. Hence indeed having set out to the monastery of St. Marian, which is among the people of Auxerre; I examined the manuscript codices of Robert of Auxerre, once a Canon of that convent; and to Auxerre, of which the Reverend Father Brother Edmund Martin, a most meritorious Abbot, by his singular humanity made me a copy. From these and several other parchments, but especially of two Doctors of this our Paris faculty, and having got various monuments in both places, James of Arras of the Monastery of Mont-Saint-Martin, and Eustace of Lens of Belval, most vigilant Archimandrites, when I had made for myself rich commentaries, I was then already destining them for the public light; and although graver cares interrupted that plan of mine in great part, yet they never wholly fell away. The life of St. Gilbert (which I had above the rest in mind) I described, as a kind of prelude, he publishes this Life, with as much brevity as I could; and also following those manuscript codices of blessed Rainerius the Prior of the Premonstratensian foundation, and first Abbot of St. Marian among the people of Auxerre, especially of Robert of Auxerre. But whatever here is of my labor and little work, and dedicates it to Gilbert the Baron to whom could or rather ought it to be dedicated and consecrated, than to Thee? For who is there who, having professed veneration and cult toward the divine Gilbert, does not look upon the same in thee as in a mirror? John Savaron, President and Prefect of Auvergne, by the example of Savaron, distinguished as much by piety as by learning, when he had written a little book on the life of St. Gilbert, consecrated it to thy name. For to whom (said that most illustrious man) should I dedicate this rather than to him who not only by the singular benefit of God put on the name of St. Gilbert, and his habit in his first seven years; but also, following that author and leader, betook himself into Palestine, that he might prostrate himself at the sepulcher of Christ: where by the votes, nay by the wishes, of all, he was received into that pious and noble cohort of the Knights of the holy Sepulcher; and who (as if he had this one thing in mind, that he should prove himself a Gilbert) sought out even among foreign nations those things by which the things written by others about the life of the divine Gilbert might not a little be illustrated and enriched? Receive therefore this slight gift, and love it not so much for its own worth, as for the zeal of my regard toward Thee, and for that cause by which thou art wont to embrace all that is ours. From the Premonstratensian Gymnasium, in the year 1620. the day before the Ides of July, in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred twenty.
CHAPTER I.
The expedition with Louis VII King of the Franks to the Holy Land.
[2] When the Turks and Saracens were laying waste Palestine with their arms a, Louis the younger King of the Gauls, son of Louis the Fat, with all the Ecclesiastical
order, With Louis VII King of the Franks but most of all at the exhortation of the divine Bernard Abbot of Clairvaux, undertook an expedition against those most hostile enemies of the Christian name; and an army being gathered from Bishops, Abbots, and other men distinguished by piety, dignity, and virtue, with the Emperor Conrad (to whom he had joined himself and his forces, and with Conrad III the Emperor that the whole business might be more happily accomplished) through Germany and Hungary, he came first to Constantinople, then to Jerusalem.
In the year one thousand one hundred and twice twenty in the year 1146 And six, King Louis comes to Jerusalem.
[3] Among so many and so distinguished men, whether of Gallic nobility or of Ecclesiastical dignity, a certain man of Auvergne, Gilbert by name, he departs into Palestine; born of a noble grandfather and great-grandfather, bound himself by solemn vow to this warfare. To this indeed he was impelled by b Ornifius, that first Archimandrite of a certain monastery of our Premonstratensian Order, which is among the people of Sens, and is called c Dei-locus (Place of God), who was his confessor and counselor. To this also called piety and magnanimity, to this the nobility of his ancient race. For what more illustrious proof of piety to be shown, and of warlike valor, could he have obtained? He fortifies himself with the sacred blessing of Stephen de Mercolio d Bishop of Clermont: to St. Petronilla, his dearest and most chaste wife, he commends Pontia his only daughter; his daughter Pontia being commended to St. Petronilla, and most earnestly bids that she should daily show to the poor as much of nourishment as she had been accustomed to show to himself when present. Soon he commits himself to the journey, surrounded by a noble and strong band; he approaches and salutes the King, by whom he is received with that humanity and benevolence which his faith demanded—not only devoted toward God, and that alms be given, daily to the poor: toward Religion, toward King and country, but joined with military valor a certain singular prudence in conducting and accomplishing affairs.
[4] All land at Palestine: the battle-line is drawn up on both sides, hands are joined with the Turks and Saracens, the fight doubtful at the outset, until the Christians were turned to flight. himself a strenuous soldier Yet to no one then was the valor and magnanimity of Gilbert unexplored; whence also affected by the highest honors by the most Christian King, and set over most illustrious provinces, he so bore himself in them, that not so much was Gilbert made more illustrious by the administration of the military affair, as the very method and dignity of the military affair to be administered by the valor and industry of Gilbert. So great was the moderation in the most valiant Leader, the Christians being routed so great the constancy of right living and acting, that he who showed himself a strenuous and unconquered Soldier abroad, at home seemed wholly to act the Cleric; and to his own venerable, to enemies terrible, to all amiable. The line of the Christians having been routed in that conflict, betook itself to Baldwin King of Jerusalem: soon it girds the city of Damascus e with a siege; which however being vain and idle, the Emperor returns into Germany, the King into Gaul. Most grievously did Gilbert bear this disaster of the Christians, and almost pining away with grief, he sighed this one thing, with Daniel the man of desires: We have sinned, we have done iniquity, O Lord, against all thy Justice. Dan. 9. Let thy wrath be turned away, I beseech, and thy fury, from thy city Jerusalem, and from thy holy mountain.
[5] He felt then already I know not what loathing of human affairs. Phil. 3. He reckoned all things, with the Apostle, as dung, that he might gain Christ. Returned home, he takes counsel with his most holy wife, of establishing for the future a solitary and holier life. He is received by kinsmen and friends with great preparation and cheerfulness; they marvel at him being sadder than usual; he returns sad. they inquire whether anything adverse had happened concerning domestic affairs. No (he says) loss have my affairs taken: the public calamity vexes me. Cast out hence the flute-players; there is a certain excess of your banquets, they are more festive and more sumptuous than Christian modesty, and the reckoning of the times, requires. For who would deem it fair, when religion is set in the greatest perils, that Christians should feast, and be delighted with those amusements and banquets? Let the recollection of our past life terrify us, and the fall threatening our necks. Let our music be mourning, our delights fasts seasoned with tears, lest our affairs suffer anything worse.
NOTES OF G. H.
b Ornifius taken from the monastery of Vivariensis, afterward called Valle-secreta (Valsery), in the diocese of Soissons, of whom is treated on this day in the Life of St. Norbert num. 77. Now he was instituted first Abbot in the year 1135.
c Called Dei-locus from the sanctity of the Canons then living there, which place Henry Sanglier, that is, surnamed the Boar, made Archbishop of Sens in the year 1122, dead in the year 1144, granted to them.
e In the year 1147.
CHAPTER II.
Two monasteries built. In them the holy manner of life of himself and his wife, their death and cult.
[6] Gilbert therefore and Petronilla, most holy spouses, reckoning amid the highest riches that they possessed nothing, He and his wife and that there was no greater treasure on earth than voluntary poverty; spend one part of their goods on relieving the want of beggars, distribute their goods to the poor, the other on building two monasteries of the Premonstratensian Order. Pontia their daughter approved this so praiseworthy counsel of her parents: the Bishop of Clermont, and Ornifius Abbot of Dei-locus, advised it. And so they wished one of the monasteries to be a nunnery, that is, destined for girls and virgins; the other for men. And that one indeed was first built at Schola, and they build a Nunnery, a village of Auvergne, under the invocation of Saints Gervase and Protase the martyrs, which today is called the Priory of Albaperra, commonly d'Aubeperre, and is distant from the monastery of Neuffontaines by almost two leagues. Over this nunnery blessed Petronilla then first presided, with such probity and sweetness of manners, where she was Abbess with such observance of monastic discipline, that she recalled noble women from the enticements of the world, and allured them to the institution of a holier life; the allured she bound most strictly to Christ as if by certain bonds of piety and sanctity, so that now, anxious about nothing of human affairs, they should say this one thing more lovingly with the mystic Bride; Our Beloved is ours, and we his, he shall abide between our breasts. We have found him whom our soul loves, we hold him and will not let him go. How beloved are thy tabernacles, O Lord, our soul longs and faints for thy courts. There was in blessed Petronilla so great a splendor of virtues, that at her sight and addresses there immediately vanished whatever dust and gloom this nefarious world is wont to draw over good minds. And at last full of days and virtues she died on the third of the Ides of July, and in the pronaos, dead on the 13th of July she is venerated: that is the front part of the church, which is commonly called la Nef, was honorably buried on the left, conspicuous for various miracles before and after death, and that day is celebrated as her feast. To her mother in ruling the monastery succeeded Pontia, St. Pontia the daughter succeeding: not at all unequal in piety and sanctity, as if she had this one thing in mind, to prove herself the heir of her mother's virtue.
[7] But Saint Gilbert withdrew to the place which is commonly called Neuffontaines, as into a desert; he himself lives in the place of Neuffontaines: where he so cultivated the method of living piously and religiously, that, clad in rude clothing and a hairshirt, and with harsh food, content with bread and water, distinguished by charity, humility, patience, and the other virtues, he led a life not human, but Angelic and heavenly. Whence deservedly Robert of Auxerre concerning him: St. Gilbert (he says) from a powerful Soldier of the world, In his Chronicle for the year 1152: most humbly a soldier of Christ, was admirable for the examples of alms, abstinence, poverty; the greatness of whose merits the greatness of his miracles declares. When therefore the fame of his virtues daily grew, and many flew to him both for the sake of piety and of recovering health, he laid the foundations of the monastery which he had purposed in his mind. the monastery by the counsel of others But since the place of Neuffontaines was unhealthful and little convenient (being indeed marshy, and beset with brambles and thickets) although by the solitude of that place he felt himself delighted, yet by the counsel of friends, and especially by the command of the Bishop of Clermont, he was led to think of a more opportune site for the monastery. He chose therefore the place which is commonly called le Creu des a fosses, and is distant from Neuffontaines by almost half a mile. Beginning to build nearby, by a heavenly warning But when the masons and carpenters were building that edifice, birds sent divinely began to flock together in troops; so that they not only hindered the workmen, but with their beaks and claws collected the small chips, and carried them away to that place of Neuffontaines; where they sang with their native song I know not what more sweetly, especially at those hours at which the Canonical prayers are wont to be celebrated in the Church.
[8] he returns to Neuffontaines: By which omen blessed Gilbert felt that the place was most pleasing to the divine Majesty, and that he ought by divine command to return to it, whence he had departed by human command. That his mind devoted to God rejoiced it had cause. For what would not this argument of divine goodness and benevolence bring of cheerfulness? With greater alacrity therefore he began to apply himself to the works of charity; and before he resumed the structure of the monastery first undertaken and begun, he built a certain ample hospital: he builds a hospital, showing himself its prefect and curator, not only by commanding, but by acting. For he omitted no kind of duty and hospitality: he was at hand for the sick even in the meanest things; reckoning this the surest token and pledge of future nobility, if he had shown himself ignoble on earth. he serves the sick, The ulcers of lepers and others, horrible even by the very sight and thought, he feared nothing to wipe; nay even to kiss; and anointing them with his spittle he often healed them.
[9] he heals an emaciated girl, A certain noble woman mourned and was anguished in mind, that she could not rear children and bring them to perfect age, and that of many she had one daughter languishing and emaciated; in whose cure diligently laboring, she had spent in vain the aid and all the industry of physicians. She therefore brought her daughter to blessed Gilbert, who, prayers being poured out to God, and sprinkling her with lustral water, soon restored her to health; so that now she did not walk languidly leaning on her mother's hand, but contended with her at an equal pace. others by the imposition of his hand: The fame and rumor of so great a miracle spreads through the whole region: there are brought from everywhere children languishing, feverish, coeliac; laboring with hemorrhoids, dysentery, epilepsy, and other diseases of that kind. On whom St. Gilbert imposing his hands, recited this Gospel; Suffer the little children to come to me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God; and rendered them to their parents sound and unharmed. Mark 10, and Luke 18
[10] He was also most zealous for peace, so that either by himself, or by prayers poured out to God, he composes peace he led back to concord those contending and at variance. The oppressed, the poor, orphans, widows he cherished, defended, he cherishes the wretched: sustained: and while he most keenly pursued Simoniacs, Schismatics, and disturbers of the Church,
he propagated to the best of his powers the sacred order of Clerics. he defends the Clergy:
[11] Then at last, his monastery of Neuffontaines sacred to the blessed Virgin being nearly built, he takes the Premonstratensian habit: he received the habit of the Premonstratensian Canons in the aforesaid church of Dei-locus: and there, the monastic profession completed, he brought certain illustrious Canons of the same church (of whose number Gofridus, b excelling in piety and learning, was substituted to St. Gilbert in the Abbatial office, as he had foretold him) to his monastery of Neuffontaines in the year of restored salvation one thousand one hundred fifty-one. in the year 1151 The burden of which administration, those Canons demanding it, he unwillingly undertook, and lived with them in admirable sanctity. he is set as Abbot At length, worn out by fasts, vigils, and assiduous prayers, shining wondrously in good works, and most renowned for miracles, he migrated to the Lord, on the eighth of the Ides of June, he dies on the 6th of June in the year 1152 on which day his feast is kept among his own, and on which the day of the death of our holy Father Norbert is noted, in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred fifty-two. And that he might leave some example of his humility to posterity, he wished to be buried in the cemetery of the poor of the guest-house built by himself. buried in the guest-house But miracles increasing at his sepulcher, Peter the third Abbot of the aforesaid church of Neuffontaines (to which afterward the name of St. Gilbert was given), in the year 1159 he is translated to the church in the year of Christ one thousand one hundred fifty-nine, in the fifth year of the Pontificate of Pope Adrian the fourth, ordered the body of the holy man to be translated from that place in which it had been buried; and to be honorably placed in the same church near the choir, toward the north, in a stone tomb set upon four columns, and to be kept with the highest reverence.
[12] And to it indeed to this present day many flow together, drawn by the multitude of miracles, which, as concerning all, so most of all concerning children either dead in the mother's womb, renowned for miracles concerning children, even dead. or gravely affected and languishing with disease, while the former are brought back to life, the latter to perfect health, happen divinely at the sepulcher of so great a man. Many also, that they may obtain offspring, implore the aid of St. Gilbert; as those things testify which are inscribed on the windows of his chapel. Others, that they may keep their offspring sound and unharmed, vow them then first to blessed Gilbert, and clothe them with the white habit of the Premonstratensians, which by the parents' vow they wear either five, or seven, or nine years; which elapsed, and the sacrifice of the Mass being offered for those same children, and their white garment being left in the sacristy of the monastery, they return sound and safe to their parents. The girdle of the same St. Gilbert, of black leather, and his pastoral staff of common and unwrought wood, are shown there to arriving pilgrims. On the wall of the cloister of the Abbey of St. Gilbert toward the church, these things are had in very ancient meter and letters:
In the year a thousand, a hundred, and thrice ten, Epitaph Twice the twentieth, migrated from the depths on high Saint Gilbert, filled with much virtue, This place is given to thee, O Christ, by him: And then it was founded here, hence built.
[13] At Clermont is a chapel of St. Gilbert, At Clermont in the front part of the church of the Canons of the blessed Virgin du Port, there is a certain chapel sacred to St. Gilbert, in which every year his feast and that of St. Bonitus is venerated on the seventh day of June. There the image of blessed Gilbert is seen painted, under the habit of the Canons of the Premonstratensian Order, cult, holding in his right hand a pastoral staff, image, in his left a book; and with his right foot trampling on a cuirass, a helmet, iron, and other arms of that kind. Sick children, who can neither be brought nor carried to the monastery of St. Gilbert, miracles. are clothed in the same chapel with the white habit, which, the vow fulfilled, they lay aside sound.
NOTES OF D. P.
CHAPTER III.
The finding and elevation of the body. Some miracles.
[14] Nor indeed among so many and so great miracles is that to be passed over, In the year 1612, which in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred twelve, happened in that monastery of St. Gilbert. The bell-tower of the temple was a certain raised tower, in the manner of a lantern, from which a pyramid stood out; and the whole mass, of cut and polished stones, rested on the four columns of the choir: which when a little before it had been weakened by a stroke of lightning, by the fall of the tower and not restored with that speed which the matter required; on the seventeenth day of the month of October, at about the tenth hour, the choir and sanctuary being broken suddenly fell at night; and by its fall, not only the choir, but the sanctuary, and the buttresses of the temple it broke and laid low. But in so great a ruin the sepulcher of St. Gilbert remained unharmed and intact, the sepulcher unharmed. unharmed also the wooden railings by which this sepulcher is enclosed, although surrounded by an immense mass of stones.
[15] In the year 1615 the author having set out to Neuffontaines, In the year of salvation one thousand six hundred fifteen, when there had been commissioned to me by our Most Reverend Father general Provost the province of visiting and reforming nearly all the churches and houses of our Premonstratensian Order which are situated in France; these being traversed, I betook myself at last to the aforesaid monastery of St. Gilbert. Where when I had determined those things which seemed to pertain both to the community of life and the method of monastic discipline, and to the buildings, either to be kept in repair or to be restored; from the venerable Brethren the Prior and Religious, he asks for some Relics of St. Gilbert, I humbly and earnestly requested this, that they should give me from the bones and relics of blessed Gilbert something to be carried to Paris, to be the sacred carving and singular ornament of that temple which I proposed to build in our Premonstratensian Priory and Gymnasium, and which now by the highest benefit of God has been begun.
[16] To this they: Of the divine Gilbert (they say) we now have nothing except his girdle and his staff, that the hidden body might be found, fasts, prayers, sacrifices are appointed: nor is it known to any of us where his body is placed and hidden. Made sadder by this answer, because I had almost fallen from hope; yet I did not desist from my purpose, but myself began to inquire, scanning all things more diligently with my eyes. But at last I turned my eyes upon myself, and feeling myself unworthy of so great a benefit, I judged that I should give myself to fasts and public prayers. And when they had approved this counsel of mine, we labored to carry it out for some days. On the twenty-fourth day of October, which was destined for tracking down the sacred body, each one shook out his own conscience, and as far as in him lay endeavored to cleanse himself from every stain. The sacred rite being performed by the individual Priests, the Novices approached the sacred Synaxis. The sacred Missal, which is called of the Holy Spirit, I offer under the invocation of St. Gilbert with solemn preparation.
[17] Then with religious rite and habit, and public supplications, we proceed to the cemetery of the guest-house, sought in vain in the cemetery of the guest-house, which is now a garden planted with fruit-bearing trees, in which St. Gilbert had commanded himself to be buried. We noticed a huge stone, judging that to be the very thing we sought. Many sent in with sickles cleaned the place, and the stone being removed, dug to about eight feet. When the entrance had been opened up, we carefully look in; but since nothing appeared except earth, returned to the temple with solemn supplication, we order the ground to be opened between the four columns by which the sepulcher of St. Gilbert was supported. A certain huge urn meets us, covered, and filled with a certain black and thick earth. A silent sadness came over and fixed the minds of all.
[18] Again we pray and beseech God, that he would grant this to the expectation of all, and would indulge not so much us as the Christian people, who had flowed together there. Set therefore between fear and hope, when opinions tended in different directions; and some said the holy body lay in the middle of the choir, others before the altar, others in another place; in the temple behold, unexpectedly someone proposes that it seemed to him the body of St. Gilbert was enclosed in that stone which rested on the four columns. We approve this counsel; under the 4 columns, there are separated the two stones which lay on that larger one, almost equal in length and breadth. There appears in the middle stone a certain very ample recess, and one that would be enough to contain a man, and in it a linen cloth is seen. the stones being removed, Rejoicing we exult, the surrounding crowd presses, and asks those two stones to be removed at once. Which being drawn off, there breathes forth a certain most sweet odor, and more than myrrh-like; it is found with a most sweet odor, and there is beheld in the recess of the larger stone the whole body of saint Gilbert, wrapped in a grayish linen with certain parts eaten away, with this inscription: Here Lies Saint Gilbert Founder and First Abbot of this Church. We with glad minds burst forth into thanksgivings, and undertake the solemn song of victory, We praise thee, O God. Meanwhile I carry out from the sepulcher the sacred Relics; it is placed on the altar dedicated to him and I place them, wrapped within for the straits of time, upon the altar of the chapel which was dedicated to almighty God under the invocation of St. Gilbert near his sepulcher, a new and white linen being offered by Brother Claudius Varvuille of happy memory, then claustral Prior of the same monastery.
[19] some bones are set apart; The Fathers the Prior and the aforesaid Religious requesting, certain bones were set apart, which should be set forth to pilgrims to be viewed and venerated; as testifies the brief history of the matter, which was then composed by me, they being present and approving, in these words. This mausoleum of St. Gilbert Confessor and Abbot, at the request and in the presence of all the Canons of this church, was opened by us, examined, and renewed with white linens; in which we found the body of the same Saint whole. And that we might satisfy the devotion of the aforesaid Religious and of the faithful, from the same sepulcher the lower jaw, two teeth from the upper jaw, one arm, the lower jaw, 2 teeth, an arm, 2 ribs one joint of a finger, and two ribs, which should be shown to arriving pilgrims to be venerated and worshiped, we took out. In faith and confirmation of all which, we strengthened these presents, written by our own hand, with the signatures of us and of the aforesaid Canons Religious, on the twenty-fourth day of October of the year one thousand six hundred fifteen.
[20] This little tablet being signed with the signatures of the aforesaid Religious, and also of the venerable Brother John Leger, the remaining body is enclosed in the same sepulcher: Prior of the monastery of the blessed Virgin of Mont-Saint-Martin (who was joined to me as companion in the visitation of our monasteries), and with my own handwriting, the remaining bones of St. Gilbert (while by the same Religious and the pious crowd the Hymn, This Confessor of the Lord consecrated, was devoutly and sweetly sung) we carried back into that sepulcher, with the sacred ashes, and the greater part of the old linen, covered with a new linen; on the sacred body we placed the same little tablet of parchment; and after many prayers, we caused the sepulcher to be closed, the two stones which had been taken off being laid over and cemented. And that the whole matter might be more attested, a certain Royal Notary, Gilbert Mizon by name, an Auvergnat, drew it up into Commentaries, and signed it according to custom, and gave a copy to the Religious and to me.
[21] These things being thus accomplished, and those bones of which I made mention in the report being religiously set apart by the keeper of the relics, a few days after I requested from the aforesaid Fathers the Prior and Religious, that they would grant me from the sacred bones some, the author receives 2 teeth, 2 ribs, and the bones of an arm, which I might place in the temple of the aforesaid Premonstratensian College. All readily assented, and granted me two teeth, two ribs, and the bones of one arm; which by the grace of God and the merits of St. Gilbert I myself brought here, and enclosed in a reliquary of Cyprian brass (later to make one of silver, if God and the alms of the pious shall grant) with certain other Relics of other Saints, all being present who were Religious in the said College for the sake of studies, and at Paris places them on the altar. then placed them with the little coffer on the altar of the chapel. I will say indeed, what is of faith and truth; that from that time piety flourishes here, monastic discipline, the studies of letters more and more daily reflourish; and that not only have the buildings been restored, but a certain ampler church begun. Whence that of Genesis 39 may deservedly seem able to be attributed to us; And the Lord blessed the house of the Egyptian for Joseph's sake, and multiplied all his substance both in the buildings and in the fields. Or, that of 1 Kings 6: And the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all his house, on account of the Ark of the Lord.
[22] And to conclude from this, what either I can certainly affirm as an eyewitness, the wounds of a shin are cured, or has also happened to myself. A certain man's both shins were teeming with various ulcers, indeed most dangerous in this, that by being treated they crept the more. He implored the aid of St. Gilbert. And when to both shins he had applied something of that old linen, in which St. Gilbert had been buried; a few days after, the scars were reduced to smoothness, nor ever afterward broke out again. That matter brought me I know not what of confidence and security, so that I plainly believed the same would happen to me, God favoring. For when in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred thirteen, in the Advent of the Lord, I had been sent as preacher to the city of Bruyères, which is in the diocese of Laon; by a certain fall from a horse my left knee was dislocated and bruised for me. I could not be so healed but that for two years I limped, and the dislocated knee of the author. and walked with a step not firm enough, and suffered most grievous pains. That linen placed on my knee, with what reverence I could I carried by a novena vow; which fulfilled and completed, not only were the troubles diminished, but utterly extinguished. And from that time I neither limped, as before, nor felt any pain at all. This I say in passing, to the honor of almighty God, who is glorious in his Saints, and lest I should seem ungrateful and forgetful of a benefit, and to have hidden a light under a bushel.