Bernard

ON SAINT BERNARD, OF MENTHON OR CALLED OF MONT-JOUX,

ARCHDEACON OF AOSTA IN PIEDMONT.

YEAR MVIII.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

On the Saint's cult; the Life, written by his successor Richard & others; on the year & day of death; on the translations of the Body & Relics.

Bernard of Menthon or called of Mont-Joux, Archdeacon of Aosta in Piedmont (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

Augusta Praetoria of the Salassi is a city, near the twin throats of the Alps, the Grajae & the Penninae, as in book 3 ch. 17 Pliny writes. Through both an iter from Italy into Gaul is opened. In the highest Alps The yoke of these to the author of the Tabula Itineraria, the Highest Pennine; to Livy, the Highest Summit; to Caesar, the Highest Alps; to the writers of the middle age, Mons-Jovis; now, the major Mount of S. Bernard is called, from the convent, which there with a hospital, for the convenience of those passing, S. Bernard founded, Archdeacon of Aosta. The same name also another summit now holds, distant by an interval of two days, & opening a way through the Graian Alps, founder of a double Xenodochium, Aosta to the city of Tarentaise of the Centrones, formerly perhaps the Cremonis yoke, or Mons-Graius,

then the Column of Jove, as some will, commonly the lesser Mount of S. Bernard; where a similar convent too with a hospital is seen, founded by the same Saint. Both are under the same Provost, & are governed from the institute of Regular Canons: whose proper Offices through the whole Order of S. Salvator Lateranensis, as if he were also of that Institute himself, is venerated on this XV June, with the rite of Double from the year MDCXXXIV; when before in the same Offices, printed at Rome in the year MDXCII, under the rite only of Semidouble, & this on day XVI May to be venerated was prescribed in the calendar prefixed to them which we have with us. The occasion of changing the day seems to have been given by the old usage of the Subalpine Churches, namely of Novara, Aosta, & Maurienne. For we have the Breviary of this last, is venerated 15 June, on which he was buried; printed in the year MDII, where on XVII kal. of July in the calendar is noted, a simple Office of S. Bernard of Mont-Joux, Confessor, is to be done. But such observance of the day is founded in the Acts, in which, on that day he is said to have been buried; but elevated on X kal. of April. But this without the note of the kal. finding written the author of the Florarium, X April noted the Revelation. There are those who say that Richard, Bishop of Novara, in the year MCXXII judged, that he should be honored with the cult of the Saints; when not yet of course it was provided that no one should be so venerated without the authority of the Roman Pontiff.

[2] who was there before venerated by the Regulars on 16 May, Long before, that the day XV June for venerating S. Bernard was assumed by the Regulars, they venerated the same under the rite of Semidouble on XVI May: & thus is noted in their Offices printed at Rome in the year MDXCII; which I believe was originally instituted by the example of those who in both monasteries of S. Bernard celebrated the feast of the Relics brought to them, as far as I can conjecture, some of the same Saint; & with the more distinct memory of that matter vanishing, that day began to be held as of death or deposition. Hence Molanus, who in the first edition of the Auctary to Usuard, had ascribed Bernard to XV June; with counsel changed afterwards transferred the same to XVI May, which soon Arnold Wion followed; & I know not whence persuaded, the convent, which was of Regular Canons, to be of Cistercian Fathers, wrongly numbered among them, & the Cistercians, & the Eremites. he ascribed him to the Benedictine fasti; & without further examination had followers in this Hugo, Menardus, Benedict Dorganius, Chrysostom Henriquez, Gabriel Bucelinus. More cautious than they Claude Chalemot, in the Series of Cistercian Saints & Blesseds, wholly passed over the name of Bernard; as sufficiently certain, that neither the person nor the place pertained to his. With no greater right perhaps the Regular Canons ascribe him to themselves, presuming, either that the Canonical of Aosta was such; or that Bernard from that to the Novariensian, the Canonical of S. Lawrence in which as guest he died & was buried, transferred. But those who called him Hermit Molanus, Canisius, the Carthusians of Cologne, Ferrarius, & Saussay, looked to the harshness of the mountains, in which Bernard founded convents: as if it were consequent, that he himself also led his life there. But these perhaps followed some apocryphal Life, about which below.

[3] Charles a Basilica Petri, Bishop of Novara, in book 1 on the Novariensian church, treats of him; & the sanctity of this blessed Archdeacon, he says, among the Alps & in the regions which lie adjacent on this side & beyond the Alps, The celebrity of the prior day in the whole Novariensian diocese is greatest, far & wide with incredible veneration is celebrated. In the Novariensian diocese certainly there is scarcely a village, in which thou wouldst not find either a shrine dedicated to his name, or an altar, or a vow of the whole people. Gabriel Pennott, in the Notations to the Proper Offices of the Regular Canons, writes, that in the whole Novariensian diocese his Birthday on the XV day of June is celebrated not without festivity; & below: his image is not lacking in almost any church of the whole Novariensian diocese. But especially memorable is the cult of the Saint, the chapel of the castle of Menthon where he was born. in the very castle of Menthon, whence among many he drew the surname. There is seen, in the topmost part of the building, a chamber turned into a chapel, whence through the window the Saint escaped, fleeing the bride: of whom also the trace of the hand is shown impressed on the stone of the lower window; although that depressed part of the stone does not so clearly bear the figure of the hand; to us, near the end of the year MDCLXVI, wrote our P. Petrus Verre, after the Sacrifice offered there, having accurately examined everything.

[4] The Life written by the coeval Richard & successor, The Legenda of the Life of S. Bernard of Menthon, Archdeacon of Aosta, & founder of the Hospitals of Mont-Joux & Column-Jovis, whose feast is venerated on the fifteenth day of the month of June, came to us by the hand of Petrus Franciscus Chifletius, as taken from a Ms. Codex of the neighboring church of S. John of Maurienne, & is the source of various later writings, in these words ending. But I Richard, Archdeacon of Aosta the aforesaid, who was there a Canon, & much familiar & known to the same holy Bernard; seeing his prodigies & innumerable miracles, casting in pilgrimage my thought in the Lord, & he nourishing me, returning through Rome, I inquired about the Chronicles in the places of Menthon, Aosta & Novara, & other surrounding places & cities of the diocese, where he conversed: & I saw, as much as I could & there was need, personally the chronicles, & procured many writings, & the above-written I reduced into memory: & thus I attest it is, with our Lord present, reigning through ages of ages. Amen. These at the end of the already said Life are read: nor wilt thou hesitate to believe, if with set aside, the interpolations which themselves manifestly betray, the genuine

text of Richard thou continuest, with those very things referred to the Annotations. But that this is the very Life, which in the Aosta church among the divine offices was being recited, is given from the Ms. with the interpolations rejected: is evident from that which in the year MDCXXVII at Lyons in French language published R. D. Roland Viot, Provost of the places founded by Bernard; but the Latin one in the year MDCLII Adam Schirmbeck of ours published at Munich, where in the same words are alleged from the Aosta Ms. the same passages, which here will be read.

[5] the same more contracted with style changed in 2 Mss. Such also we have, but different in style, & more succinct, especially in those things which savor of interpolation, in the Legendaries of the Bodecenses & Corsendokans Regulars; & from these, or also from the first Acts, his Paraphrasis could have woven Henricus Glareanus, the Helvetian Poet laureate; if truly it is his, of which a copy our Bolland having obtained, although he knew that Glareanus was a man not unlearned, yet from other works which he edited; he judged that paraphrase to redolent of erudition very little; & because it could add nothing to the history, by no means to be inserted in our work. Therefore, when the Maurianense Ms. had not yet been brought, nor the Latin version of Schirmbeck from the French, whence Bolland could know the style of Richard; among the principles of his lucubrations, having commented something about this Saint, in the first place he designated to be given the Acts, which I have said taken from the Corsendonkan & Bodecense Mss. as the very work of Richard, at least interpolated; but in the second place he judged worthy another Legenda, in the same Codex Bodecense following, & submitted by John Gamansius; for the reason that, although it seems much more recent than the first, it contains miracles passed over in the first. I approve the Master's judgment: with these omitted is given another for the supplement of the prior, but in place of the prior Life designated by him for the press, I place that which comes from the Maurianense Ms.: & I add the old sequence, of which much use the author of the later Life made. From all the aforesaid different is that Legenda

which as clearer & briefer from the Carthusian Ms. of Cologne was sent to Bolland by John Grothusius, requesting his judgment. Bolland however answered, that it seemed wholly apocryphal, which by the truer ones produced will be established, at the end of which it pleases to give it, that the contraries placed next to each other may shine forth more. Here truly I indicate, that Alexander Fichet of ours (as is in the Bibliotheca of the Society augmented by Nathanael Sotuell) in the year MDCXLIX edited another, which not yet seen by us, could have been useful to Viot.

[6] About the age of Bernard thus speaks Richard num. 13. The Saint dies in the age of 85, of Christ 1008 After he lived … eighty-five years, of which he shone as Archdeacon forty-two … with the feast of the holy Trinity solemnized … sick until the sixth feria after that holy Trinity, he committed his soul to God … whose body is buried in the devout church of the famous monastery of S. Lawrence the Deacon, near the walls of the city of Novara, in the year of Christ one thousand & eighth, on the sixth feria after Trinity, on the seventeenth kalends of July. In no way do the Characters agree. For with those posited, the feast of Trinity ought to have been celebrated on X June, & thus Easter on XV April, with the Dominical letter G running. And this from the year DCCCCLXVII to MXXXIX never happened; feria 6 after Trinity, 28 May but in the very year MVIII, under the Dominical letter C, Easter was celebrated on XXVIII March; & thus Feria VI after Trinity, XXVIII May. But who does not see the interpolation of some smatterer, confounding the day of death & burial, manifestly distinguished by Richard, by the inept iteration of these words already once placed above, feria sixth after Trinity? Let those therefore be expunged. & it will be understood that the Saint died on XXVIII May. To this correction the Author of the Ms. Florarium seems to have preceded, distinguishing both days explicitly; although both in the year of death he erred, writing MVII; & in seeking the natal day, & affixing it to the VII day of June, who in that year, having the Dominical letter E & Easter VI April, would only have to be noted VI June. The burial seems to have been delayed by the last will of the Saint, by which (as is held num. 14) he committed his soul to God, his body to the earth; a fitting portion of the bones to his Mother Church of Aosta, buried 15 June. & equally to the convent of Mont-Joux when it should be required. Hence consequent disturbances Viot says; with the cenobites striving to obtain the first parts in burying the body of their Founder; but with the Canons claiming him: whence it happened at last, that in the place where he had died, that is in the monastery of S. Lawrence near Novara, there also he was buried. It is wonderful that nothing of these did either Charles Bishop of Novara or Provost of Mont-Joux Viot notice, & without scruple kept the badly cohering notes of time. Wiser was he who contracted the Life, such as the Bodecenses & Corsendonkans transcribed, took care not to name the feria VI after Trinity anywhere. Meanwhile from what has been said it will be consequent, that Bernard was born in the year DCCCCXXII, made Archdeacon DCCCCLXVI, in his XLIV year of age.

[7] As for the rest the convent & church of Mont-Joux, although it lacks the body of its Founder; The Head at Mont-Joux, asserts however Constantine Ghinius, in the Natales of the Holy Canons, that the Head brought into the convent of the mountain, shines with miracles, equally as the Body in the church of S. Lawrence near Novara. The same Ferrarius, in the Catalogue of Italy, thus writes: The Body is buried in that (of S. Lawrence) monastery; but the Head after some years brought to the mountain, placed in the church of his name with becoming honor, the body at Novara is held in the greatest veneration. Similarly also Charles of Novara, writes that Bernard was buried in the church of S. Lawrence, with great frequency of Clergy & people; & after a few words adds; His relics to the year one thousand five hundred fifty-second in that church, translated to that city 1552 hidden in the altar of S. Bernard himself, when by the order of the Caesarean ministers it was being destroyed, were translated here, together with other sacred Relics, into the greater church, & placed in its library, by the care of Jacobus Trodelicius, to whom that monastery was, as they say, commended: about which matter is extant an instrument, which when asked Jo. Maria Clappa, Notary of Novara, made on the XXI day of July MDLII.

[8] thence to the basilica 1561 Afterwards they were translated to the major altar by the Vicar general of Jo. Antonius Serbelloni, Bishop & Cardinal, which appears from a public instrument, of the same Notary confirmed in faith on the XXIX day of March MDLXII. We finally, when they were still held there as translatitious, enclosed in leaden chests in a marble ark, together with others brought from the shrine of S. Lawrence, rightly & safely placed under the major altar: about which matter there are extant public acts of Michaël Michaëlius, Episcopal Chancellor; one indeed, of recognition, on the II day of November; the other of deposition, on the XV day of December of the year MDXCV. And of the Relics indeed of S. Bernard only a part was seen: more honorifically buried, since others are thought to have been carried elsewhere. For an old parchment was found in the vessel, with these letters: These are the Relics of S. Bernard, by the counsel of the Abbot & other Brothers placed here, because they were daily sought by the Canons of Mont-Joux & other Clerics. But the Head of the same holy man whole in a silver case, having the form of a human head, we then there recognized, with seven teeth: on which is read, with the Magistrates & people of Novara present it was hidden, by Ruffinus Abbot of S. Lawrence, on the XV day of June of the year MCCCCXIV, with Antonius Primus, Notary of Novara attesting. Thus he pg. 18; forgetful that before pg. 11, among the Relics of his Cathedral he had numbered the Head of S. Bernard, enclosed in a silver head; unless that should be understood of a particle. He adds, where also it had been in the year 1414. his wooden goblet, neither inelegant, yet worthy of a man zealous for poverty; which, he says, we have caused to be adorned with silver. Meanwhile from what has been said it appears, whence it came about, that Molanus in the Additions to Usuard, & after him Wion & Bucelinus, wrote, that the Saint rests at Mont-Joux, which from him was renamed mount of S. Bernard, His wooden goblet. taking namely a part for the whole & showing the Canons there: with whom meanwhile I do not know whether today the possession of the Head remains.

[9] The Head however now is shown at Trier, For when after the March was edited, as companion of Henschen I had set out for Trier in the year MDCLXVIII, I received six brief Lessons on the Life of this S. Bernard, of which the last thus ends: His Relics, especially the holy Head, are now kept in the major church of B. Mary the Virgin with great veneration: & every year on XV June by institution is festively celebrated, even in the highest Metropolitan choir. I then approached to the sepulchre of the Lord, which there is held beautifully sculpted, & to the Head itself placed above it, & quite decently adorned; as that I learned was always there displayed standing, except when into the Choir for the cause of the feast it is carried; & the cause of the continuous exposition is the frequent running of the people there, with Crosses blessed there in honor of the Saint, bringing back hope of recovering health for their sick, which often the desired effect follows. Whence, when, in what manner that sacred pledge was brought there, it is not known when & in what manner brought, no one either then could say, or afterwards by letters to those inquiring could declare: but neither from the Trier Annals

of Brower, or from the Additions & Supplement of Masenius, have I yet been able to learn anything, through the index of things at the word Relics, or the name Bernard; as if they nowhere treat of him. Again therefore & again I ask those whom it concerns, that if they can from the archive of the church teach anything about this argument, they cause us to have it for the Supplement of this month.

[10] Little Crosses there now accustomed to be blessed in his name, Meanwhile, with their good leave, it is permitted to me to doubt about the origin of the aforesaid little Crosses; nor firmly to assent to those saying, that from that S. Bernard, to the Clairvaux one wrongly transferred such a custom, by the Monks of Himmerod of the Cistercian institute. For sufficiently reasonably Gaspar Iongelinus seems to assert, in the Manipulus of Himmerod title 23 on Relics, that those Preachers, who had promulgated, that no Crosses dedicated to the honor of S. Bernard of Clairvaux were to be received, but to the honor of S. Bernard of Mont-Joux uniquely was to be left such a prerogative; were compelled by the best right to retract things rashly said. The origin of the controversy he himself indicates was this, that a certain Vicar of the major church, in the office Treasurer, by the Himmerod Abbot permitted to inhabit the houses of Bernard, of which the chapel originally sacred to S. Sulpicius, was reconsecrated in the year MCL … also under the title of S. Bernard (as there still testifies an old inscription) he under the pretext of more certain custody, [thus do not derogate from the little Crosses distributed of old in the name of Clairvaux,] carried into the same, both some other Relics of the major church, & the head of S. Bernard of Mont-Joux; into

in whose honor blessed Crosses were distributed at the major shrine, & are distributed today with no one's challenge, as Iongelinus speaks. After the death of that Vicar, with the Himmerod Monks claiming for themselves their house, he says that what looked to elsewhere was brought back, but the ancient patronage of S. Bernard of Clairvaux was not taken from the place: therefore the Cistercians can, both there & elsewhere, continue their custom of blessing the little Crosses, without injury of the other Bernard, also Saint, from the rite received from the Elders long before those times, & approved by evident signs & miracles. Nor does the most modest writer further contend. But if the Clergy of the Major church, could not oppose to the ancient custom of the Cistercians a custom of greater antiquity (that they could not is proved by the retraction of the promulgated decree) they will not easily exempt those reading these from the suspicion, so that rather hence they seem to have taken origin. that they themselves learned from the Cistercians, & on account of homonymy transferred to themselves a rite, of which neither at Mont-Joux, nor elsewhere through Piedmont (where without controversy & confusion this one of whom we treat is uniquely venerated) does any such custom appear.

LIFE by the Author Richard, Canon of Aosta, & successor of the Saint in the Archidiaconate.

From the Ms. of S. John of Maurienne, unearthed by Petrus Franciscus Chiffletius.

Bernard of Menthon or called of Mont-Joux, Archdeacon of Aosta in Piedmont (S.)

BHL Number: 1242, 1245

FROM MSS.

CHAPTER I.

Noble birth, holy adolescence; the bride dismissed; ecclesiastical Orders received.

[1] The God of powers, the king of glory, most holy Trinity; Father, to whom is all power; Son, to whom is all wisdom; & Holy Spirit, to whom all grace, both to the triune, & one Creator, are attributed; Menthon in the diocese of Geneva. predestined his servant Bernard a Menthonista to be Archdeacon of the kindly Church of Aosta, that from the mounts of Jove, & the column of Jove he might put to flight harmful demons, & destroy the profane statue, with the column of carbuncle of the same statue; born of noble parents, & there & elsewhere found hospitals, also regular convents of Regular Canons of devotion. Which Bernard Menthonista, by the strenuous Baron distinguished with military Order Richard, Lord of the greatest Barony of the castles & lands of Menthon, of the Geneva b diocese, was conceived in the womb of his legitimate wife, the renowned Bernolina c of Duyno, sprung from the lineage of the illustrious Oliver, from the peers d of the Franks, formerly Count of Geneva e…

[2] In the very f womb of the renowned Bernolina, the aforesaid Bernard was sanctified & born, in the year of Christ nine hundred twenty-third g, & in the sacred waves of baptism baptized, in childhood gives presages of his future disposition, held in baptism & raised by Bernard the Soldier, Lord of Bellifort, his godfather. For whom the Soldier Bernard, as kinsman german of Richard himself the father, who both from the same stock kindred proceeded, he was named Bernard. And the little infant existing in the cradle, palpitating with lips, seemed to teach prudence, & to entreat God avidly; smiling assiduously with joy to his nurses: nor did he irritate anyone joyous with any tedium. & egregiously advances: At the age of two or three having the facility of speaking, the book of prayers of the mother now thirsting to read, element to element connecting, he was combining syllable to syllable. But at the age of four composing prayers from dictions, the attentively read he subtly construed; & to the one celebrating Mass before the said mother, O unusual miracle h! all the necessaries of the Mass he diligently ministered. In the fifth & sixth years in the concord of music he was singing the chant, & of the chirograph soundly formed & serious in scripture composed the order: he recited canonically the divine Office with all the Suffrages of the church, assiduous in divine things; & with rough secret hair-cloth much macerated his flesh.

[3] Hearing afterwards in the schools of grammar innumerable miracles to be related of S. Pontiff Nicholas, of Myra by the sea; & how the idols with which that region abounded, especially the simulacrum of the nefarious goddess Digna i, attempting shipwrecks of ships & sailors in the deepest gulfs to drown, from those regions wholly exiled; to his life virtuous published by innumerable miracles k, Bernard Menthonista looking up by the example of S. Nicholas himself, Takes S. Nicholas as Patron; from the aforesaid mountains of Jove, & the column of Jove, & his own whole regions, & the most execrable aforesaid statue there elevated, with its demonic things, harmful to the salvation of souls, from then with great desire commended to annihilate. And he received that holy Nicholas as his patron & director, a suppliant to obtain from God suffrages l … In sanctity however persisting, very studious, especially attends to sacred studies, a Magistrate in the seven liberal arts, & afterwards in various general studies m, by the succession of times a Doctor of both Laws, lastly an eminent Professor in sacred Theology, he did not cease to enarrate the words of God in preachings.

[3] At length to him, very obedient, to the opulent palace of Menthon, recalled by his father to Menthon, to take a wife: in the county & diocese of Geneva recalled by the father, was gathered a multitude of Barons, of sweetest Soldiers & Nobles of either kind with diverse changing garments,

& with the melodious sweetnesses of lips singing songs of songs, in dances & citharas & abundant banquets concording, proposing to the same Bernard to espouse on the morrow an affable, generous, & most beautiful bride n; & the judgment & rule of the whole dominion & barony, with God & S. Nicholas invoked; as a staff of paternal old age, to commit very solemnly hastened Richard. But Bernard disdainful of these, & bearing the aforesaid as unwelcome, showing himself wearied; with supper completed to God the Father alone uncovering himself, he was led back to the chamber, in which alone in his usual secret manner he prayed in these words: O sweet founder of the stars, eternal light of believers, Christ, redeemer of all, hear thy servant; incline thy ear to me, & do according to the multitude of thy mercies, since thou dost not desert those hoping in thee. Free me now from the snare of hunters, that those flattering me may not prevail. In thee, Lord, having trusted I am not ashamed, nor do I fear to lose my prayer. Then to blessed Nicholas, his specific Patron: O sweetest pastor, holy prelate Nicholas, my most safe refuge with God, & his holy & most blessed mother always Virgin Mary; through thy most holy merits, I ask, entreat, that putting away these worldly things, he grant me celestial things for terrestrial.

[5] Whom then suddenly suppressed by sleepiness, S. Nicholas in spirit thus addressed: by this one appearing in dreams he is ordered to flee to Aosta: O good servant of God, Bernard, God never deserting those hoping in himself, calls thee to salvation, suppressing suddenly the javelins threatening thy salvation. To the Cathedral church of Aosta hasten thy steps, where by the counsel of a man of venerable old age, Peter the Archdeacon professed of goodness, who in thy vows being perfected will perfectly direct thee, thou shalt remain: I too being with thee, will not abandon thee. Bernard then awaking from sleep, with no one corporally appearing, with pious heart belched forth such: O how honorable are thy works, Lord, in the multitude of thy virtuous operation, & so writes farewell to parents & protection! Thou hast done goodness with thy servant: thy mercies in eternity I will sing. Praise, honor, virtue, & glory be rendered to thee in the ages: since thou hast commanded thy commandments to be kept exceedingly, I also will obey in whatever: because thou hast consoled me. And taking the pen, he wrote a schedule in these words; O sweetest parents, rejoice, I ask you. The King Saviour has led me; I go with him to be saved: nor seek me further, nor make such expenses: do not care further about me: I do not wish to take a wife, nor to rule earthly things, but to ascend heaven.

[6] These things Bernard himself. With which writing placed in a more apparent place of his oratory, he hastens there; with all now in deep night sleeping in their little beds, Bernard through devious paths o with quick step hastened to Aosta. But in the morning on the morrow those hastening, adorned with ornaments desiring to perform the nuptials, not finding Bernard reading through the schedule, turning joys into laments, all sad lamenting returned to their own p. Holy Bernard in the church of Aosta, with his prayer there completed, the good man Peter the Archdeacon q, by the fervor of devotion, by verbal modesty, where received by Archdeacon Peter, by the sweetness of the Lord reclining, & with the necessary nourishments, of which he hungry was in need, refreshed addressed him: & both mutually, who one, & who the other, uncovering, about the past & to be done plenarily together concluded. Bernard then to the supposites r of the church through the Archdeacon presented & a Cleric ordained, the vestment s for the Cathedral Clergy dedicated put on, at all hours to the divine Office with the Archdeacon devoted assisting, was serving the Lord. With the sacred Orders too by the judgment of the Archdeacon received, & initiated into the sacred, the Mass by him celebrated, the word of God preached; & detesting the works of the damned profane statue, did not cease to preach to the peoples t.

[7] With the devout Archdeacon Peter the elder dead, & his body delivered to ecclesiastical burial, is substituted for him having died in the year 966. with God permitting, who had preelected u Bernard as his successor, with a clear uniform election of the Clergy & of all the people & nobles made about him, into the Archdeacon they together elected. But Bernard himself refused, asserting himself unworthy of so great dignity: afterwards at the vocal exhortation of S. Nicholas, relating that the Archdeacon made would conquer demons; with him supporting, Bernard, magnificent detester of idolatry, plenarily accepted the office of Archdeacon in the year of Christ nine hundred sixty-sixth.

ANNOTATIONS D. P.

After the sweetest nourisher of human nature Jupiter, son of the Japhetite Saturn, of the sweetest nature itself & disturber of men, Fables on the origin of Augusta in the time of the end of the labor & life of Noah, in the nine hundred fiftieth year of the same, had fled for fear of the said father the Alpine mountains, & his german brother Cordeles, for the name of the said brother, with him founded

called the Eye-of-the-statue; through which infirmities would be seen from farther, so that they might more quickly be healed; which afterwards they named Mount of the column-of-Jove. And because then & after the flood properly the celestial Planets were not named, not having namers on earth; the Planet Saturn, killing human creatures by the influences of diseases, was named Saturn, from the said rigid disturber Saturn. And with years from Adam elapsed five thousand one hundred ninety-nine, with John born the precursor of the Saviour, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of June; in the same time, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of December was born Christ. John the Baptist was beheaded in the year of Christ thirty-second, on the twenty-ninth day of the month of August. with a Chronological synopsis from Christ But Christ in the year of his nativity thirty-third by his passion died, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of March: in which year on the Nones of August Stephen was stoned; but Paul in the following year, on the eighth Kalends of February was converted. Who & Peter, departed in martyrdom, in the year of Christ seventieth, on the penultimate day of the month of June, & triumphed entering eternal glory. Charles too the Great, son of Pepin King of the Franks, reigned from the year of Christ seven hundred third to the twentieth. to Charlemagne very faulty, The most Christian same Charles purged Christendom from pagans, & especially through Roland in the Augusta region. At which time shining with most virtuous works were the most glorious Pontiffs holy Gratus of Aosta, & holy Theodulus of Sion, Bishops of the Churches, of most noble birth: who the bones & relics of the holy Theban Legion (which in the year of Christ two hundred seventieth under Maximian the Emperor refusing to idolatrize, received martyrdom at Agaunum of the Sedunensian diocese) devoutly gathered, in the churches of S. Maurice of Sion & Aosta, honorifically reposing them. Which S. Gratus the head of B. John the Baptist divinely from a well, also about the Holy Bishops Gratus & Theodulus by the commission of the supreme Pontiff, raised: whose jaw in his own Aosta church wonderfully by Apostolic concession placed, with miracles daily flashing, & preserves those submitted from any tempest. But blessed Theodulus obtained pardon from God for Charlemagne the Emperor, for a nefarious sin; whence the Sion church rejoices in all royal things given by the said Emperor. These there, which in the two Mss. are read more contracted. Glareanus, that he might extricate the fable about Jove reigning among the Salassi or rather entangle it more, made Cardellus, whom others fictioned as Brother of Jove, an adorer of Jove; who in the times of Henry I Roman Prince reigning at Augusta, founded the town of Cardellus, & in the whole region established the cult of Jove. Another & truer origin of Augusta Strabo & other ancient historians hand down; namely the Salassi, often rebelling, in the year of the City 728 by Terentius Varro defeated & sold under the spear: in whose place afterwards by Augustus three thousand Praetorians sent, in the very place where Varro had his camp founded the city, & named it Augusta Praetoria. The rest, full (as it appears) of errors, is not worth the trouble here to correct; since it is known, that Charlemagne (to be silent about others) began in the year 768, died 814. Roland, as Prefect of the Brittany Limit, is celebrated in the fabulous writings of the higher age: that he was killed by the Wascons with his troops Eginhart narrates in the Life of Charlemagne. But Saints Gratus & Theodulus, whose Acts will be illustrated 7 September & 16 August, long before Charlemagne in the beginning of the 4th century flourished.

Viotus preferred to write, Bernard moved by the miracles, which at the Relics of S. Nicholas, not long before from the Orient brought into Lorraine, were being performed there. We have about these a little book printed in French at Nancy in the year 1686; where is said to have been brought from Bari an article of the finger about the year 1100.

through unknown paths to the gates of the city of Augusta he was led.

p Many things here about the indignation of Miolanius Viotus, as if the injury, done to himself (as he thought), with arms taken up against Menthon to avenge, could scarcely be pacified; which can seem added for the cause of ornament. With more certain notice I believe is held, what our Mss. so narrate: His bride herself, with these heard & understood, entered holy Religion (in a monastery near Grenoble, as Viotus says) in which holily & religiously she closed her days. But father & mother, from inmost grieving, sought beloved Bernard through Savoy much.

q The same Viotus adds, who on the preceding night warned by S. Nicholas, at the same time was waiting for him.

r There was here some manifest defect. But by Supposita are understood Canons of the Church. Two Mss. say, that the Archdeacon presented Bernard, to the most devout man Bishop of Aosta. The Offices of the Canon Regulars from the word Vir, make Ursus, as if he then was Bishop, which the Bishop Charles does not seem wholly to reject. The Catalogue of the Aosta Prelates, in Ughellus quite imperfect, from the year 876 to 966 has only three, Gallus, of whom no monument is extant, except the body in the same place where that of S. Gratus was hidden; & Hugo & Gripho, consequently described in the tables of that Church; & after these Luttifredus, who in the year already said 966 was present at the Milan Synod, & easily could have received Bernard. But the Cathedral church bore the title of S. Mary.

s Hence is to be corrected Ferrarius, who, from the preconceived opinion about the Regular Canonicate of S. Bernard, wrote, He received the Habit of the Canons, whom they call Regular, in the Canonicate of S. Ursus the Bishop. S. Gratus had two holy disciples; Jucundus, who succeeded him in the Episcopate, & Ursus the Presbyter, by some believed to be a Bishop also himself. About this one we treated 1 February, about that one we shall treat 30 December. The latter is said to have ruled the convent of Canons as Prior.

This is more certain, what Bergomensis says about the year 985, that Alaramus, Marquis of Montferrat, son-in-law of Otto II, among other things, constructed a Monastery not far from Augusta Praetoria under the title of S. Ursus the Confessor of the order of Regulars of S. Augustine, or rather, that which before under the name of S. Peter had stood, & desolate was lying, restored under the title of SS. Peter & Ursus, of whom there the body of old was preserved, & then perhaps was found again. Thus indeed in Ughellus is said Humbert, the first Count of Savoy (others place Berold, father of Humbert before) to have given the dominion of a certain place for two parts to the chapel of B. Mary of the Cathedral church, but for another part to the convent of SS. Peter & Ursus. Pennott, claiming Bernard for his own, His image, he says, is painted with the habit of Regular Canons; namely with the gray supparum, which then most of the Regular Canons, especially the Gauls or Allobroges, used, with the linen garment, called rochet, with sufficiently wide sleeves, which also formerly our Society used; & with the Stole hanging from the left shoulder under the right, in the manner of Deacons. But what if those images are not very ancient, & ordered by the Regulars? what also if of the seculars & Regulars in the 10th century the habit was the same?

t Two Mss., after the words said above, by which he is said presented to the Bishop, add, who promoted him to the sacred Orders, & afterwards received him as Canon of the church of S. Mary of Aosta.

u The same Mss. understand of Peter, who had elected Bernard before death as his successor; because that, with God permitting; they were referring to the death & burial of Peter, who &c. But this would have been against the Canons; nor otherwise could it be excused, than by benignly interpreting the phrase, as if by prophetic spirit he had prenounced Bernard to be elected as his successor.

CHAPTER II.

With the demons driven out the Xenodochia & Monasteries are erected: the rest of the life, death, burial.

[8] But the devil, the enemy roaring, & with all diligence watching for evil, [Against the demon through his statue accustomed to cure diseases, & to seize every tenth one for himself.] through that very profane statue surrounded with diabolic loquacious voices, was striving to destroy in hell the growing Christianity: because languors procured by him to be eliminated a by his frauds, & was believed to be healed by the deceived; & what is more, every Christian, of whatever throng passing by, the tenth, retaining for himself as a tithe, by inclining him to easy fear of idolatry, he was striving to subvert. But sterile in jealous & precipitous recesses of rocks dwelt those demons, more than twenty stadia from any human habitation; that the more they dwelt in deserted places, so much greater immense concourse of seduced peoples might bend to their deceiving remedies. Which indeed Bernard, by the dignity of the Archdeaconate of Aosta most holily exalted, humble & devout, commanded by S. Nicholas to fight, greatly horrifying such ruin prepared for human salvation, asked the suffrages of B. Nicholas. Who appearing b as a Pilgrim, was heard saying: O Bernard, let us ascend the high places of the mountain, let us pass through the precipices, we shall put to flight the demons, And that statue of Jove, surrounded by demons, so disturbing the Christians, we shall destroy into fragments, & the Column of the carbuncle of that statue: afterwards there we shall found useful hospitals, & convents of Regular Canons. Thou wilt be the tenth in the throng, the demon will not be harmful: thou shalt bind the statue by the neck, & shalt break it; thou shalt adjure the demons, in the chaos of the mountains thou shalt bind & place: until the day of their judgment, they will be able to harm none. c

[9] & boldly proceeding After which Bernard the mountains more avidly, of the throng d the tenth ascended, holding in hand the burdon e of presaging victory, from then dedicated to be carried in the divine Offices, the Archdeacon of Aosta for the time existing; f he passed through the statue, that the demon himself, according to his profane custom, for the tithe might try to suppress him. him, bound with the stole, drives into the desert; Whom, the demon dreading, equally also the statue, with the blessed stole, converted into an iron chain besides what he held in his hand, by the neck he bound. And with due divination adjured, into the great chaos & tartarean depth of the abyss of the chiding neighboring mountains g malethorum, between three dioceses (namely Aosta, Geneva, & Sion) always hidden, with caliginous clouds enclosed, until the day of their judgment able to harm none h, he objurgated. The statue first, & afterwards i the column of shining carbuncle, called the eye of the profane statue, wholly into fragments he broke, never to harm any other.

[10] After these things immediately brought back diligently to the rule

of his own proper Archdeaconal dignity of Aosta, officiating the divine Offices, in his sermons assiduous; & on either side a hospital with a convent he founds: the routing of the demons & the overthrowing of the statue, column, & carbuncle the Lord granting, he declared: & hospitals & convents, necessary to be fabricated both for the needy & the opulent, he intituled, as afterwards were ordered & adorned, on either mountain one k. Whose Bernard's sanctity farther & wider everywhere by words & works published, by all from then called Saint, preaching the words of God, was striving to perform the evangelical documents. Whence when Richelinus the Englishman, returning from Rome a pilgrim, there had experienced such great miracles, & so great sanctity of Bernard; his castle called Castrum-cornutum, with its rights, of great estimation in the kingdom of England, converted into a monastery & church, to the convent of Mont-Joux devoutly bestowed.

[11] Which convents very well instituted Which convent indeed, & another on the other mountain of Column-Jovis; both under the name of S. Nicholas for patronage, with all necessaries supported he had constructed, & endowed, & adorned, & there Canons Regular praising God, serving the needy & rich in foods & services he instituted, which he himself Blessed Bernard first by exposing his goods benignly procured; & also ways & journeys through precipices to be smoothed. Darknesses into lights, labors into rest, roars into chants, father & uncle of his largely give: groans into sweets, sorrows into joys, sad into joys, sterile into udders, colds into warmths, demons into Angels, hell into paradise, Saint Bernard then Archdeacon of Aosta, with his sweating labors & preachings, sweetly led back. Of Bernard the Archdeacon namely Richard the father in the very Mount-Jovis, & mount of column of Jove; Bernard Lord of Bellifort, godfather & uncle, who had raised him from the sacred font of baptism, & to the same l had come; by the exhortations of the same S. Bernard, churches endowed from their own property, sumptuously founded.

[12] Bernard himself at Aosta living severely, Saint also Bernard the Archdeacon, persevering in his bright life virtuously, sparing his goods for the poor, at his own table assiduously to them opulently ministered. But he himself in foods, without delights, & in clothings of humility, not precious, who in the paternal house with gold, silk, various precious clothings could have been clad, used [but] vile ones. Diligent too, & first sitting in the divine Offices assiduously, & last springing back from them, in the Cathedral church arranging proportionally, by words & matriculas m he ordered: whose subjects in the Chapter & their oaths he received. Clothings becoming to the Clergy he wore, & most exactly fulfilling those things that were of his office, & sang psalms graciously; mildly tempering the rebellious, admonishing the subjects, that they ought to reside in the divine, & to serve the Lord; ministering the prepared gabelle in synod, & doing true judgments, & promoting the worthy found by pure examination to the sacred Orders; & sufficient to obtain benefices to the Lord n Pontiff he presented; & in his triennial Archdeaconal visitations, not seeking what is of the purses; but what is of God, he laudably instituted. He caused Scholars laudable in manners, knowledge, & life to be erudited; & to the schools of chant & grammar suitable masters, in the city & whole diocese, as Archdeacon of Aosta, he provided: & all things incumbent upon his Archdeaconal dignity, & equally necessary for salvation, with most devoted diligence he fulfilled, for the salvation of whatever souls to be obtained o.

[13] But after he had lived virtuously in the miserable misery of this transitory age eighty-five years; in the 85th year of age, of which he shone as Archdeacon forty-two, salutary things he preached, & worked; with the feast of the holy Trinity solemnized p, last with his last sermon finished, in which he humbled the proud, made udders for the avaricious, restrained luxury, tempered the gluttonous, pacified the wrathful, exhorted the emulous, hastened the slothful, & restrained the cunning; on the feast of SS. Trinity, prewarned by S. Nicholas, sweet in document, example, & work; serene in face, jovial in word, fragrant as the spikenard of the perfumer, with the feast of the holy Trinity day serened, in his secret oratory devoutly praying to the Lord, he overheard the voice of S. Nicholas most sweetly resounding; O devout servant of God Bernard, since virilely thou hast fought, God calls thee to rewards. And again; By thy merits the dead will be raised, the pregnant will bring forth, the sterile will give udders, demoniacs, the falling, deaf, mute, slippery, blind, lame s, gouty, fevers, teeth, heads, viscera, groans, evils, & pains will be healed; fires, lightnings, tempests, ruins, mortalities, & demons will not harm the just, who through thee shall have sought suffrages.

[14] on the next 6th feria he dies, And when the same holy Bernard, always to virtuous things had worked, now sick, after prolix & devout prayers, & continuous until the sixth feria, after that holy Trinity recommitted his soul to God, his body to the earth; a fitting portion of his bones to his mother church of Aosta t, & equally to the convent of Mont-Joux when it should be required; exhorting his successors Archdeacons, that the aforesaid convents with their subjects, as initiated from the Archdeaconate, they should deign with chief favors: enjoining the primicerii & cenobites, that the Archdeacons of Aosta, going through their places, as their founders, with honest subsidies offered, they should receive honorifically & reverently. Then he gave forth his blessed spirit sweetly, with the Angels jubilating with most sweet praises, raised to the Lord through the ether, with whom he reigns in glory. & on 15 June is buried in the year 1008. Whose body is buried in the devout church of the famous monastery of S. Lawrence u the Deacon, near the walls of the city of Novara, in the year of Christ one thousand eighth x, on the seventeenth Kalends of July: & in the following year was elevated y there, on the tenth Kalends of April z. But I Richard Archdeacon of Aosta, who was there a Canon, & much familiar & known to the same holy Bernard, seeing his prodigies & innumerable miracles, Testimony of the Author familiar to him while living. casting in pilgrimage my thought in the Lord, & he nourishing me, returning through Rome, I inquired about the Chronicles in the places of Menthon, Aosta, & Novara, & other surrounding places, & cities, & dioceses where he conversed; & as much as I could & there was need, personally saw; & procured Chronicles & many writings, & the above-written I reduced into memory. And thus I attest it is, with our Lord present, reigning through ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS D. P.

The lesson of the holy Gospel, dearest Brothers, has been clearly recited to us: in which we are commanded to gird our loins. For we gird the loins, when through the maceration of the flesh & the operations of virtues, we constrain luxury in all members. We bear the lantern in our hands, Exhortation to the imitation of the Saint, when through the augmentation of good works we drive from us the dark vices of sins, by the example & doctrine of holy Bernard Menthonista, Archdeacon of Aosta, the glorious Confessor. Who after he put to flight the demons from the Mounts-Jovis, & Column-Jovis, & the profane statue, & the Column of the shining carbuncle the eye of the statue, miraculously broke into fragments, the demon put to flight he confined, hospitals he constructed, & convents he disposed, in the maternal womb beatified, in the loins & in all members most girt, most bright lantern, most virtuous worker, virgin always most pure, confessing defects most contrite, fasting in foods most temperate, orator most devout, with hair-cloth most corroded, in continence most fervent, preacher most useful, reformer most joyful, humble always sweetest, generous donor most abundant, chaste most upright, patient most meek, in charity most ardent, marrier most federated, moderator most grave, macerator most lenient, host most human, recogitator most abundant, & enumeration of his virtues. eruditer most listened to, reprehender most cautious, repairer most accustomed, indulgent most liberal, comforter most pleasant, greeter most sweet; in all the aforesaid twenty-eight virtues with others stood out most ready; for the commandment of God he abandoned all the felicities of earthly life & the prosperities of the world. Never asperity, never malice, never vigor, never pride, never avarice, never voluptuousness, never wrath, never envy, never gluttony; but all humility, generosity, continence, chastity, patience, diligence, sweetness, & temperance in him always remained. Thus, O dearest Brothers, let us perform equal things: & as much as of goods we receive more from God, also greater goods obliged to render, let us labor to multiply the talent committed to us. Then truly the eighth Lesson thus is proposed to be begun: That very S. Bernard Menthonista, Archdeacon of Aosta, after he lived virtuously &c.

p Two Mss. about this sermon thus briefly speak, & the place at the same time where the sermon was held, & he himself died, indicate; About the feast of Trinity, with a certain wonderful sermon finished, in the city of Novara, in a certain monastery of S. Lawrence near the walls, entering into a certain oratory, &c.

r To uberate for to be fecundated I have not yet read elsewhere, & much less in a metaphorical sense, as above, for to be made liberal.

s Guttosi from Gutta, that is arthritic. Ms. Corsendonk. Gutturnosi, that is laboring with scrofula. Bodec. Gibbosi (hunchbacks).

t Schirmbekus from Viotus a little otherwise. Lastly he signifies that he wishes to be buried in the Cathedral temple of Aosta, or certainly at Mont-Joux: which yet, on account of

many disturbances following, could not be done. But the Mss.: As testament he committed his soul to God omnipotent, his body to the earth: his goods, one portion to his Mother Church of Aosta. & another to the hospital of Mont-Joux, he ordained.

u Indeed rather Presbyter Mart. (as has Life 2) who at Novara from the Western parts was brought in the time of S. Gaudentius the Bishop in the 4th century: whose there the feast is kept on 30 April, as we then said; but his body, extracted from the ruins of the same church in the year 1552, into the city was brought, with cult renewed for the better; whose obscurity in the middle age furnishes excuse to the writer, with many believing, that very church to be of S. Lawrence the Levite, who is venerated 10 August.

But when in the year 1595 the same Charles the Bishop who had translated, again more solemnly to be elevated took care; it can happen that he also was the author to the Capuchins brought to Novara, of consecrating their church within the city to that S. Lawrence, for that which outside had been destroyed.

x I have expunged the words, the sixth feria after Trinity, here ineptly repeated, & furnishing the cause of all confusion about the day of death.

y Viotus, interpreting this from his own sense, says, that, on account of the manifest miracles at the sepulchre, & the frequency of the people running to it, on XX May with solemn rite he was ascribed to the Catalogue of the Divines. Which done his sacred body with great apparatus again was exhumed, & placed in a marble loculus elegantly cut, in which as it were on an honorary cathedra he rests… It was indeed constituted, he says, that he be translated to Augusta of the Salassi or to Mont-Joux: but it seems to have been otherwise of heart to God: since the Provosts of the monasteries & hospital shrines could never present the expenses, necessary for the translation; either because wars & public disturbances opposed, or because alms & gratuitous largesses were fewer, or finally because it pleased God to procure for the sacred Relics of his servant the place & honor, without further apparatus of mortals. He could have added, that the same, when they could not other, had enough that they had obtained the Head; & now & then obtained something of the sacred bones, as testifies the schedule, found within the ark in the year 1595; whose remembers the Bishop Charles, with the words alleged at the beginning.

What follows, taken from the text, here at least for the fourth time interpolated, sufficiently appears not to pertain to it.

And afterwards in the churches initiated by him under the name of S. Nicholas, was added S. Bernard himself as Patron; about whose wonderful sanctity great deeds arise & fragrant miracles. O how much should rejoice, how much honor him, & how much hope receive of every Christian profession, & of either sex, his progeny. The same in our twin Ms. thus also more prolixly are expressed: And in the churches & hospitals founded by him under the name of S. Nicholas, S. Bernard himself is added as Co-patron. O how much should rejoice, how much honor, & praise him the Menthonista neighbors, who feel themselves to have such a kinsman reigning in heaven! Let the Archdeacon of Aosta too rejoice, who merited to have such a predecessor in that dignity. Let the Church of Aosta rejoice, which by such an Archdeacon in its times merited to be adorned. Let the valley of Aosta rejoice, which by such a victor from demons is found liberated. Let all the Savoyards rejoice, who by such a protector unharmed & sound through the journeys of the mountains can pass. Let the whole world rejoice, which through the subsidies & benefits of the same Saint, from its necessities by passing is refreshed & sustained. But our interpolator further proceeds, &; By God it is read, he says, that in the year of Christ one thousand eighth by his successor Richard, of the Lords of Festi, of the valley of Isère, The Author with companions liberated from shipwreck through the Saint. of the Tarentaise diocese, Licentiate in decrees, Archdeacon of Aosta, & his companions to the holy sepulchre of the Lord as pilgrims, crossing the sea, disturbed by waves, into tranquillity & refuge being called the same S. Bernard, the mast & sails of the stern, broken by a most foul & strong tempest, more quickly restored: & the demons flashing with hoarse tumults cried out; This is that Archdeacon Bernard Menthonista, devolving us: such a preacher, our great disturber, who at Mont-Jove enchained ours. Let us flee, come, more quickly, lest he order us to be burnt by flames. And with the pilgrims without delay remaining consoled, others from then maritime & terrestrial, obtained their requested help, who repels all malignant things in waters & on land. Hitherto the Interpolator, whom Viotus did not know to distinguish from Richard the author of the Life, to whom alone, he says ch. 10, we owe these monuments about the life of Bernard. The same names the Canon of Valdiserio in French Val d'Iser: the appellation wholly received from the Lords of Vallis-Isaræ, one of whom Papirius Massonus alleges, in the description of France through rivers pg. 413, treating of the river Isère, rising among the Tarentasians, & finally devolving itself into the Rhone. But here a peculiar dominion of Festi seems to be noted, enclosed in the boundaries of Vallis-Isaræ, whose situation I leave for the Savoyards to seek: I have enough to have noted, that besides those miracles which Life 2 refers, another treatise of the Miracles of S. Bernard existed, in which that was described as read; as done in the year 1008, in which the Saint had died; or rather 1018, after Richard had written this Life; who concluding the same, indeed shows himself to have pilgrimed before, but not beyond Rome, but after some years he could have also pilgrimaged to Jerusalem. Some similar treatise, besides the Sequentia to be brought below, the Author of the second Life seems to have had; where so often is said, It is read about the holy man; elsewhere certainly than in the Sequentia, where with only three words individual things are touched.

Now furthermore it pleases to propose to the Reader to be considered that Life, which as clearer & briefer, exists

in a certain Ms. of the Charterhouse of Cologne; that it may appear what difference is between the inventions of idle men, & the solid relations of coeval writers. Thus it is woven. B. Bernard, He is feigned to have been Duke of Savoy, noble by race; but by faith, sanctity, & works of virtues was far more noble. This holy Confessor & Hermit, was son of the Prince or Duke of Savoy, who was powerful & rich. But when both his parents had entered the way of all flesh; Bernard, the only son, & true heir of the land of the Savoy Duchy; & a powerful Prince, by hereditary right & succession, he became. Who by the instinct of the Holy Spirit taught, & with his goods divided three ways, not wishing to set his heart in the affluence of temporal things, but considering the salutary warnings of the Lord saying; Amen I say to you, whoever shall have left his house &c. shall receive a hundredfold, That he might merit to receive that hundredth fruit with the Most High, from his patrimony he made three alms. The first he gave to the Church, the second to the servants of God, the third to the poor, & he made himself the poor of Christ. But because it is less to not do evil, unless each strive also to sweat over good works; immediately spurning the world with all its delights, withdrawn into the desert; & entering the vast solitude of the desert, he began diligently to sweat over good & holy works. In which all days

To have reported these things, is to have refuted them. Guillielmus Guichenon, having scrutinized at Ducal expense all the archives of Savoy & Piedmont & neighboring regions, & having embraced the Genealogical History of the House of Savoy in a vast work, found no one before Berold or Bertold, the great-grandson of Otto I from his son Henry, (not before the year MXIV to be found in authentic writings) in Savoy, who bore the title, I do not say of Duke (for that first used in the year MCCCCXVI Amedeus IV, the same who afterwards was created Felix Antipope by the Baselians) but of Count: nor among them hitherto found any, who was called Bernard, except one, the fifth of the children of S. Amedeus, dead in the cradle, & William altogether none. With these therefore delegated to fables,

receive the old Sequentia, found in the Bodecense & Corsendonkano Mss.; but the more to be valued, because of it much use will be found by the Author of the second Life.

SEQUENTIA.

From the Bodecense & Corsendonkano Ms.

Bernard of Menthon or called of Mont-Joux, Archdeacon of Aosta in Piedmont (S.)

Let us, companions, celebrate the solemnities of the eminent Confessor Bernard.

Born of noble stock, in manners here adorned, he was from infancy.

Archlevite of Aosta, pleasing to God, by word, life, he was made in all things.

Of the Christian people there, sowing the words of sound life, he was extirpating vices.

Warnings, by preaching in the city far & wide, he was giving salutary ones.

Fasting here he watched, for himself, many, & he was praying that pardon be given.

When he could have precious clothings, truly he was bearing hair-cloths.

He was eating hard bread, which seemed harsher in his province.

The grape did not provide him drink, but water he so drank, often wormwoods.

He made a house of charity, where the given are given freely, nor are rewards sought.

Where bread, wine, wood never grow; but malign things are there contrary.

Snow & cold, hard way, smoke, clouds, & dark things are there perennial.

To the house made by Bernard, comes to it, whichever man has necessities.

That house always is open, the Procurator never hides, providing food.

Now let us bring forth the signs of Bernard, & let us speak his virtues, prodigies.

Nicholas appeared, was seen as a pilgrim, said to the Saint such:

Let us ascend Mount Jove, let us compose a hospital, in the way of the highest rock.

That House is fabricated for such great men, & endowed, having benefices.

To the blind he restored sight; to a sterile mother he gave a son, whom she asked.

He destroys the pest of locusts, which were harming, & not a little, And the bites of little beasts.

This one preached against the miser, destined him to poverty; Which the outcome proved by the anxious pest of fire.

King Henry comes to Rome, that he may destroy the Pope as iniquitous, evil, altogether enemy: with the malice known,

He dissuades the King from evil, hence threatens adversities, At the end of the matter is demonstrated to the Saint thus who is proved.

May pardon be given to us. Amen.

ANOTHER LIFE

From the Mss. of the Bodecense convent.

Bernard of Menthon or called of Mont-Joux, Archdeacon of Aosta in Piedmont (S.)

BHL Number: 1244

FROM MSS.

PROLOGUE.

[1] About to describe in part the life of the venerable Bernard, we do not trust in the presumption of our strengths, nor in the eloquence of Cicero or of other Rhetoricians, nor do we strive to be imbued with the Castalian streams, or with the arguments of philosophers, but with his dew who through the Prophet says: Open wide thy mouth & I will fill it. And for the help of our locution we beseech those, who will read our writings, that they should strive to live by the example of the blessed man. Ps. 80, 11 For I think they will help us to write, if we know them about to imitate his manners: The deeds of the Saints to be imitated. nor do I think the deeds of the Saints were described, so much for their praises, as for the edification of the souls of the surviving; which can be discerned by the testimony of Scripture, which says:

It is not enough to roll the commandment of the Lord on the tongue. Wherefore let each of you work what in the Canticle of Canticles you promise to fulfill, In the odor of thy unguents we will run: for the virtues of the good are called unguents or aromata: for as the mind of some perfumer is recreated by odor, so by the perfume of virtues the soul is refreshed, unless the fault of those reading has hindered. Cantic. 1, 3 And it is to be noted, that the good odor of preachers either pertains to salvation or to damnation; with that one testifying, whose doctrine has been diffused through the whole globe of the lands: We are the good odor of Christ in every place, to those who are saved, & to those who perish. 2 Cor. 2, 15 Therefore it is to be considered by you, my Brothers, lest the narration of this Saint's life become rather for destruction than for salvation. And what the odor of his virtue avails for you, not only his acts, but also his name indicates: for he is called Bernardus, as it were Vera-nardus (True-nard). For what is Nard, unless a good odor? what does a good odor signify, unless the good opinion of the Saints? Whence it is read; My Nard has given its odor. 1 Cant. 11 Therefore strive to follow the sweetness of this Nard, lest our discourse flow in vain.

However much true etymologies be unknown, especially to foreigners, this affinity of the name to Nardus, the fragrant herb, may be wont to please; yet those skilled in languages do not doubt, but that it is truly a Teutonic name, to be explicated from the paternal roots, as also all others in Ardus, or Hardus; from Aart, disposition, or Hart, heart. But Bern has a triple signification; for when it is a verb, it signifies, I burn, when a substantive, son, boy; when an adjective, from Ber, bear, it notes Bear-like. Hence a multiplex explication of the name arises, which also through aspiration is written, & indeed always in this codex which we use.

CHAPTER I.

The virtues miracles of S. Bernard.

[2] S. Bernard preaches Christ, Holy therefore Bernard, born of noble lineage, & fully instructed in upright manners from boyhood, in the city which is called Aosta was endowed with the office of Archdeaconate: where he was admonishing the Christian people to cease from the squalors of vices, & to gather the seeds of virtues, by preaching the name of the Lord. Nor only in that region, but proceeding everywhere around, he was refreshing the Lord's sheep with salutary warnings; remembering that which is enjoined to Timothy: Argue, beseech, in all patience & doctrine. And when far & wide by casting divine seeds he was multiplying the harvest of God, it happened that into the mountains a of the Novariensian climate he came, & imbued its inhabitants with the precepts of the Lord. 2 Tim. 4, 2 Whose preaching lest perhaps anyone should render contemptible, according to Paul the Apostle, he was castigating his body, & reducing it into servitude: for macerating himself with fasts & vigils, famous for piety, austerity of life, abstinence: he was attending to prayers day & night; which not only for his own, but also for the delicts of others he was pouring out to God: & for the salvation of the interior man, sometimes afflicting the body with exterior whips, thus to Christ he was compelling himself to serve. 2 Cor. 9, 27 Content with hair-cloth next to the flesh, when he could be clothed with most precious things, he was using vile ornaments. Food was present to him as bread without the delight of victuals, neither made of fine flour, but which was found rougher in the province in which he was dwelling. Drink was not provided to him by the grape, but rarely by water; but most often he drank the juice of wormwood or of such herbs. In words he was so cheerful, that he did not desert severity; so severe, [3] that he retained cheerfulness. He was constantly insisting on vigils & fasts, & afflicting his body; that when he preached to others, he himself should not become reprobate: which preaching indeed he was daily strengthening by the performance of signs. About which I proceed to narrate a few, lest the talent delivered to me, & hidden from posterity, be the cause of the destruction of my soul.

[3] It is read of the holy man, constituted in his devotion, He builds a Xenodochium on Mont-Jovis: how to him S. Nicholas appearing, was seen as a pilgrim, & thus addressed him: Let us ascend Mount-Jovis; let us compose a hospital, in the way of the highest rock. To whom the holy man acquiescing, ascended Mount-Jovis; making there a house of charity: where the given are given freely, nor are rewards sought from it. There bread, wine, wood never grow; but malign things are there contrary. Snow & cold, hard way, smoke, clouds & dark things, are there perennial. To the house made by Bernard, comes to it whichever man has necessities. That house always is open, the Procurator never hides, providing food. Wherefore deservedly this hospital from the supreme Pontiffs, with Apostolic indulgences & privileges, through the globe of lands has been sublimely sublimated.

[4] Again it is read of the holy man, that there was in the aforesaid region a certain woman b, who without offspring had long lived with her husband. She therefore when she had recognized the presence of the man of God, hastily proceeding to him, asked the aid of filiation. To whom he answered: I am not, he said, of this merit, Sister, nor can I effect what thou askest from me; to a sterile woman he promises offspring, nevertheless hope in the Lord: by whose patronage of clemency a son shall be given thee. Which, as long as the holy man remained in this life, was not fulfilled; but with his body now buried, the woman came to the tomb, about to ask what he himself had promised; & as if rebuking the slowness of the promise, complained before the sepulchre with such words: O man of God, why hast thou promised me, what I do not obtain? Why didst thou console me, who sit in sadness? It was better not to promise: it was better not to console. To whom nothing is promised, is by no means deceived: to whom consolation is not applied, the confusion of grief is less. Remember moreover thy promise; remember, Father, also of the consolation. Beseech, I pray, God; to whom thou art believed to be familiar. Remember what the Lord said to his disciples: Amen I say to you; whatever ye ask praying, believe that ye shall receive, & it shall be done to you. Marc. 11, 14 Nor do I believe thy prayers with God to have had more vigor in life, than now, when thou art nearer to him, & he more visible to thee. Saying these, & making offerings as she could, she returned to her own: & before the space of one year was completed, she merited to be gladdened with the offspring of a son. Who, although placed in infancy, showed himself about to go by the footsteps of his intercessor. For they report, that from the eatings of flesh & eggs & milk c peculiar he abstained at such a tender little age, beautiful in form, severe in face, more vigorous than his coevals; whom dead his son receives a son, from infancy a Saint. he made the minds of all visiting him exceedingly cheerful: with such documents therefore to God omnipotent, & also to her petitioner she seemed to give thanks. Which fact no one doubts is praiseworthy, since it is celebrated in Samuel: for asked was this one, asked also that one; whence Samuel; that is, Asked d, was called.

[5] To this is to be added also that, which through him the Lord wished to grant to a certain one. For a certain woman had a little son, in body wholly deprived of the sight of light. Setting out therefore to a certain Presbyter, by name e Theodaldus, (for perhaps she did not presume to approach) she asked that he should ask aid for her son from him. But that holy man, as he was of ineffable humility, humbly said to him: From such, he said, I do not intromit myself; To the blind he confers sight, by the sign of the Cross: but ask this from him, who alone can do all things. Hearing these the woman, as if more vehemently repulsed, delivered her son to the already said Priest, to be represented to the Saint through him. With whom seen, the servant of God first delayed a little, then having prayed the Omnipotent, a man of no small faith, of the greatest hope, over his eyes disposed to make the sign of the Cross, & brought it to the act. Soon with the grace of the Saviour working, as the same Priest f narrated; the boy merited to receive light. Let the Lord therefore be magnified, who deigned to bestow such things through his servant.

[6] Nor do I think should be passed in silence, what in the same province with God cooperating through him was done. For in those places g of locusts so great an immensity was redounding, that to those making the way it either wholly took away the walking, or greatly impeded. He drives away locusts, with a part of the grain offered to God, And what is very fearful, not only to pedestrians did they dare to do this, but also to riders. For everyone's horse shuddered, with the excessive roar of the little beasts running together in the middle of the way, & snatching the steps. The fruits of the earth too both in the valleys & in the mountains all destroying, made that place almost desolate & sterile. Which when the man of God had learned, condoling with the natives, thus began to them, saying: With the time of sowing imminent let each measure his seed, & a cumulus of sextarius let him zealously exhibit to God: for if anyone shall have done this, without doubt he will rejoice himself freed from this pest. Hearing such, they were made cheerful, fulfilling all the commands; & not in vain: for soon that calamity was so deleted, that none of those animals, except as in other places, could anyone perceive there.

[7] Now since we have shown the munificence of his mildness, we now desire to elucidate the gravity of his manners. When therefore S. Bernard was striving to extirpate all vices from the foundations; especially however to receive usuries by the testimonies of the Scriptures he forbade. With which words to the rest obeying, one entangled in the snares of avarice, dared to remain disobedient. But the servant of God soothing him with pious addresses, at length compelled him to promise that in the near future he would renounce usury; yet not spontaneously, as the outcome of the matter showed. For on that very day, on which he had promised this, attacking all his debtors, to a usurer profusely promising emendation, he was exacting from them the debt with usuries, that then at least with the interest he might be enriched with which he had not yet been satiated, & whom he was grieved that he would no longer be able to demand. But if anyone could not return the credit, in any way he was taking his things; he was invading the sheep of one, violently extorting oxen from another, stripping one of garments, capturing the vessels of another; he was austere to the debtors, & no less became also violent. Then they sad over the loss of their things, set out to the man of God: to whom consternated, weeping these they prefaced: It is necessary

we have, Father, of thy counsel, of thy too much we need help: we are deprived of our flocks, we suffer the plunder of our things: he is a rapacious wolf, who heaps these miseries upon us: for if he were a man, even a beast to a man would indulge: if there were in him anything of humanity, he would not have so much of cruelty. The creditor is he, whom by thy holy warnings, that he should cease from usury, thou didst scarcely compel to profess: but he will never have hatred of usury, whose desire shall not be filled. Therefore lest we all perish, let it be permitted to one to exercise what he unceasingly loves. For it stands

that he alone remain in perfidy, rather than that his cupidity oppress very many devoted to the Lord & to thee. Help us now S. Bernard; grant to merit what we petition thee, otherwise it is necessary for us either to be subjected to death, or to servitude. By the aforesaid laments the man of God moved, summoned the usurer, & said to him: Why hast thou determined to deceive God omnipotent, & me his servant, servant of the devil? For the lover of money is the servant of Mammon; but Mammon is the name of a demon, of him who presides over secular profits, & dominates those who love the world, of whom thou art one. Go now; what sits in thy mind, instantly perform; augment thy moneys, that from the world thou mayest go out naked. Be now rich, that perpetually thou mayest lie under mendicity. Let the Scripture saying be fulfilled in thee, he predicts the loss of all goods, which soon happens to him: He who is in filth, let him be filthy still. But know for certain, that thou art not only to be punished spiritually, but also corporally to pay the penalties of our injury. And thou who deniest to have mercy on others from thy riches, in the next time shalt become poor. Then the man very quickly proved the discourse of the man of God true; with fire devouring the greatest part of his property h. It is evident by these signs truly, how much it is fitting to favor holy preachers, while they coax; & to fear them, while they correct our evils: for then they coax, when they bestow benefits on us, as is to take away the dryness from the earth, or to give health to the sick; but then they seem to correct, when on those unwilling to be converted to God, they inflict some plague.

[8] Meanwhile when S. Bernard had adorned all the things of the Novariensian parish with words & miracles; he predicts the unfavorable outcome of the impious expedition. thence traversing the plain, glorifying castles, villages, & districts by his preaching he came as far as Pavia: in whose parts i a certain King Henry was gathering soldiers there in all ways, that for the cause of destroying the Pope he might seek Rome for destruction. This Pope was called by the imposition of those baptizing Hildebrand, but by the office of dignity Gregory: to whose destruction when the aforesaid King tended, the servant of God Bernard met him: & when he could by no means dissuade his nefarious counsel, said to him: Thou canst indeed go; but know, that thou wilt do nothing of thy will, & moreover wilt undergo damages of very many of thine. Which also was done. For with horses & most riders held by death, with few & those sick, he departed from the siege of the city.

ANNOTATIONS D. P.

Henry, King of Lombardy, was pressing his citizens with new tributes & burdens. Therefore Bernard approaches him, about to make medicine for this evil, such as so dangerous a disease could hope from such a physician. The King, although of more ferocious nature of disposition, & tenaciously biting on the sentence once conceived, yet exhibited to him much honor: & with Bernard's counsels heard, thence had far greater reason of public utility than before, with all the inventions of avarice cut off, whence his subjects had cause of praising God. But no such King is found to have been.

CHAPTER II.

Death, burial, & the miracles following both.

[9] But the servant of God having stayed at Pavia a little, proceeded thence to Novara & sought it & I believe with the Lord dispensing, the eve of the birthday of B. Lawrence the Priest & Martyr, on the very day on which he arrived, was being celebrated; with the Lord dispensing the day; because the men were being made joyful from the coming festivity of the Saint, joy was being made for them about to enjoy the presence of such a man. Sick he consoles all: Then approaching the monastery of the aforesaid Martyr S. Bernard, in the same place was received as a guest. But now more gravely with the infirmity, with which his holy soul from the prison of the body was about to go out; addressing the people in few, he sought the bed which he had rarely obtained, with the pain of fevers growing. In which doing six weeks & more, although weak, yet celestial admonitions he did not cease to bring forth. For to him there was coming a multitude of men, of rustics, of castellans, of citizens, of clerics, or laymen: whom he himself consoling with bland & divine discourses, from sad cheerful, & from cheerful more cheerful he was dismissing home. Who came sad to him, departed rejoicing: he hurt no one ever, profited all. For what else would he do, who declining from evil always was doing those things which are good; & was so striving to work them, that vain glory should not subvert, whatever he himself was carrying on? He did not wish to be enriched, refused to be honored: since to be of profit he esteemed more than to preside. And when he was wearied by the ambition of no honor, it stood clear, that neither was he elated by prosperity, nor cast down by adversity.

[10] Nor is it to be passed over, that while he was placed in languor, every day, as is the custom, he was confessing his sins to God & to men, [5] according to that: Confess your sins to one another, & all things are washed in confession. Nor consigning to oblivion, Forgive & it shall be forgiven you; if anyone had offended him, mercifully to him he forgave. Joan. 9, Epist. 1, Luc 6, 37 Daily also the body & blood of Christ he was receiving, observing that sentence of the Lord, by which he says, Unless ye shall have eaten the flesh of the son of man, & drunk his blood, ye shall not have eternal life in you. Joan. 6, 54 And mindful of what the same our Lord says, He who shall persevere unto the end, this one shall be saved; these & many more which we have said unceasingly until the going out of his soul he kept, which as the body went out, holily he dies: soon sought the kingdoms of heaven: & this his acts openly manifest, both the preceding, & the subsequent. Matt. 24, 13 And when while he lived the assembly of the Saints visited him, as the companions asserted; there is no doubt, but that those whose consort he enjoyed on earth, with their college he is conjoined in heaven. 1 Cor. 2, 9 But because, as is written, neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man, what the Lord has prepared for those loving him; about the joys & felicities of the soul let us be silent, & to narrating those things which happened to the holy body, let us now pass.

[11] Therefore the throng of Fathers & at the same time Brothers of the said convent, came with all reverence, & with pious chants carried the most holy body into the Basilica: is borne forth with distinguished pomp: to which from everywhere flowed the frequency of peoples, mourning indeed that they would lack his soul so holy & such conversation; but exceedingly rejoicing that they merited to handle the limbs his companions. 2 Cor. 6, 10 O how great glory, how great joy, how great honor is of those serving Christ! For they desire nothing worldly, & dominate over all things; as the Apostle says, As having nothing, & possessing all things. But to the lovers of the world, because they love the world, & despise heaven; both are denied. Behold to that holy body (with the soul placed above the heavens) was being held very great devotion of men & women: nor less was the expending of gifts being done. Among other things one of the citizens b donated a little casket for himself, in which the holy limbs would be hidden. The gift of a usurer he turns from, even dead. But because he was a usurer, & such was wont to detest, so that with them he did not even partake in food; the Lord did not wish him to be placed in it; lest even dead he should use the resources of those, whom alive he had execrated. Thus it happened, that to the eyes of all that little vessel displeased, & all declined the inconvenience.

[12] Those carrying do not feel the burden of the Sarcophagus: This therefore cast aside, presently another a man of good manners & a Soldier of great magnitude, with immense desire bestowed. Which placed on a litter c, although it was of immense weight; yet with the merits of the blessed man coming to aid was so led, that none now felt the burden of such great mass. But when it approached the basilica, where the venerable body was to be buried, of a sudden, with no one sustaining, upon the shin of one or another (alas!) it slipped: who long thus intercepted stood, until others came to help, on account of the gravity of the burden, in popular speech saying: The Lord lifts the cast down, the Lord looses the chained. Ps. 144, 14 And straightway rising with the rest, they began to drag the little casket unharmed. With all now duly prepared, the blessed limbs, although with excessive d heat of the sun the earth was burning, yet emitting no putrefaction, but incorrupt, lying on the bier for three days, the body free from putrefaction for some time: with due honors, & with worthy blasts, were delivered to the sepulchre. O man in all things worthy of God! o truly blessed! o servant of the true God, soldier of the true King! To whose tomb had come a choir of Clerics singing psalms f, an invariable troop of boys; of men a great army, of old men a not small

assembly, of women both virgins & joined to men or widows a copious multitude; rich, poor, noble, ignoble; all brought offerings for themselves, or expended something of decor. Which still devoutly is kept; with the peoples recalling his anniversary day on the seventeenth Kalends of June read July.

[13] But with the body buried, what of prodigies there with the Lord granting was performed, in the following will be referred. A certain Priest g, for one year made mute, at the relics speech recovered. came to the body of this holy Confessor: & there vowing a vow from the heart, which afterwards he fulfilled, having performed the celebration of Mass, speaking most aptly returned.

[14] A certain maimed man too, who B. Lawrence, & also S. Bernard, twice in a vision had seen restoring his hand to him, on the night of Pentecost sitting upon an ass, the use of the hand, & passing alone near the atrium of the church of the Saints aforesaid, thus by chance was praying: Would, Saints of God, that I now may merit to obtain by prayers, what twice in dreams I have seemed to have received! At the same hour, as if cast down by a certain impetus from the ass, upon his invalid hand he gravely fell, which with the nerves connected immediately was restored to health.

[15] A certain little three-year-old boy h, miserably destitute of the due offices of feet, hands, mouth, eyes; the soundness of all members, of all members; in the same place obtained.

[16] A certain woman i, devastated with blindness, approaching the sepulchre of the man of God, & sight. for three days there tarried; who however was not consoled with light, but was returning sad: but when she had proceeded two milestones, she obtained what she had begged. Who immediately returned to the tomb of the man of God, & to God omnipotent with an oblation gave thanks. O Bernard of Menthon, since virilely thou hast fought, God has called thee to rewards. By thy merits the dead are raised, the pregnant bring forth, the sterile shall give udders, demoniacs, k the falling, deaf, mute, slippery, blind, lame, scrofulous, fevers, teeth, heads, evil viscera, Other miracles. gnashings & pains are healed; fires, lightnings, tempests, threats, mortalities & demons will not harm, those faithfully seeking thy suffrages, with him granting, who in the perfect Trinity lives & reigns one God, in the ages blessed. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS D. P.

APPENDIX.

From the French of R. D. Roland Viotus & the interpretation of Adam Schirmbeck S. J.

Bernard of Menthon or called of Mont-Joux, Archdeacon of Aosta in Piedmont (S.)

FROM FRENCH.

[1] A certain one fallen from on high, where he had slept, headlong, was grievously hurt: thence they fled to the protection of the Saint: who restored the wretched man to himself wholly entire, as he was before the fall. Another, afflicted with greater inconvenience, broke also the bones, although the fall was less dangerous: who however did not hasten to any other remedy, than that, for recovering health, Two fallen from high are saved: his familiars should become suppliants to the Saint, by whose benefit he convalesced. In Lombardy a certain one, very devoted to S. Bernard, when he saw a heavy tempest with such great destruction lying upon his lands, that it seemed not much later to bring devastation to all; had nothing of strength or counsel, which he might oppose to the iniquity of the time: wherefore he determined to commit himself & his things to the protection of D. Bernard. The tempest is calmed: A wondrous matter! The tempest, having consumed the whole vicinity, spared the possessions of the client of Bernard. A certain usurer of blinded mind, by I know not what spur impelled, at his tomb suspended a pound of silver; but the Saint, who in more familiar congress formerly damned such bloodsuckers, neither after death wished to be nourished with their or rather others' blood. The offering from usury is rejected from the sepulchre: And so the silver was always found cast far from the sepulchre; & seemed not to be affixed for any other end, than that again it should fall down. At length it was wholly removed: & the rest learned, to offer nothing such to God & the Saints.

[2] A certain infant had now from this miserable life migrated to a better: then for him to S. Bernard prayers were poured forth, the dead is raised, & soon the mother took her son alive from dead into her hands, with that joy, which in this article can fall into a mother: while she recovered him again, than whom she had nothing dearer among the living. A worthy matron previously lost the use of her ears after prayers obtained it, various diseases are cured, poured forth to S. Bernard. An old man likewise taken in the eyes in extreme age, by the merits of S. Bernard began again to see. A noble man, Lord of a dominion to which from S. Agatha is the name, seized with the comitial disease, approached the sepulchre of the Saint, where after prayers performed he convalesced. A woman, miserably tortured with the articular disease in hands & feet, by his aid obtained the soundness of hands & feet. That was especially worthy of wonder, & to many for consolation, that, although they labored with fever, yet to the sacred shrine of S. Bernard situated on Mont-Joux they endured to go: where with vows conceived to the Saint, for the price of the laborious journey they brought back health. A certain public Notary, a rich man, long was laboring with the evil of teeth; to whom when he could apply no remedy, he was held by great unquiet. Therefore he determined, with liberal alms & the merits of S. Bernard to obtain health: & with XXVIII pounds of wax offered, a disorderly youth is corrected, in turn was relieved from all pain. The sudden change of a Ticinensian youth, badly corrupted & wholly criminal, made by the protection of S. Bernard, has always seemed to me one of his chief miracles. His parents daily of the badly mannered son had as many wearinesses, as they were hoping themselves to be heaped with joys. Therefore, since they could effect nothing with the youth, & foresaw that he was going to destruction & ruin, which could only be redeemed by penitence; they commended his conversion to S. Bernard. He so changed the mind & disposition of the degenerate son; that into a mild, tractable, prudent, modest man, & in conducting business circumspect he came forth.

[3] The splendor of miracles, issued by this Saint, so detained the eyes of all, who inhabited the neighboring dominions, Feasts are kept, that God seemed in this vicinity to have nourished him for this end, that he might help their businesses & public necessities, with singular aid & grace, which in heaven by his sanctity he merited with God. The city of Ticinum was being exhausted by an immense pest: nor could any kind of misfortune, loss & calamity be fictioned, in such kind of scourges of God castigating to be accustomed to come; grave diseases are cured, which could not be said to vex the Ticinensian citizens. But after with a vow made to S. Bernard they added an offering, immediately the end of the evils followed. At Vercelli was a pious & religious man, for some time tortured with grave pain of the head: who with the aid of the Saint implored, convalesced. The same grace S. Bernard granted to a certain Abbot at S. Andrew of Vercelli, who was invaded by such diverse & frequent diseases, that he never deserted the bed, but immediately repeated it: which inconvenience rendered the reason of his office very difficult for him, claiming all to himself: to which yet that he might attend, as much as he wished, he could obtain no truce from the diseases. Thence he had cause, of seeking health from the Saint, which he might use for the convenience rather of others than his own. And the prayers were so happy, that from the Saint, what he wished, he begged. Equal necessity was keeping the Archdeacon of Turin from the access of the temple, laboring with colic: hence to him he turned himself, who so happily cured all kinds of diseases; & soon was given health, by which both his piety & office he could attend. The suburb of Biella the flame had seized, gradually consuming the houses: & it was so present a danger, that by the sentence of all a little after the whole city was believed to be reduced to ashes. These too, after water, sought the last remedy from the Saint; who as soon as possible stopped the course of the flame & of all the tears. a fire, tempest, inundation, are restrained: The vines of that monastery, in which his sacred body is preserved, a grave tempest most badly afflicted; so that it was believed, that all was over with the vintage. But when to his Relics they turned, they felt present aid: for on the morning of the morrow, all things were found to be safe. A flood of waters with such great impetus from the highest yokes of the nearest mountains was precipitating, poured into the village of Chamfern, that all things seemed to be wholly overturned. There was therefore a running to S. Bernard, as to another Moses: who so powerfully commanded the waves, that obeying him, they brought to the inhabitants of the place more advantage to the fields & sown things, than they had created fear.

[4] If I should now wish here to recense in order the catalogue of energumens, demons are driven out, who were restored to liberty by that power, which God gave to his servant; we shall abuse the leisure of those, who will wish to read through the miracles of S. Bernard. Let it be enough to say, that demons shuddered at his tomb, & were driven into rage; taught by their own evil, that they experienced in the merits of S. Bernard a new & crueler torment, than that, to which for their rebellion they are addicted, & preferred to depart from the possession seized, than to retain longer; while they were compelled, to bear the immense torment. And what makes greater admiration to me; we see, that the prodigies of our & the preceding century are more memorable than the first: as in any matter the more adult age, would have more vigor than youth & the first beginnings. And hence is, that a miracle performed in the year MDLIX, & with the assent of three witnesses worthy of faith, Humberti Aurillonii, In the year 1559 the violator of the feast is punished. otherwise called Decuriani; Mauritii Aurillonii, & Mauritii Mottierii, born from there, where what we shall say was done, approved, [7] seems to be more luculent than all others. A certain one called Aurillonius, from the village called Court of the Tonosan parish, on the eve of S. Bernard was thinking to carry home on the very feast day the cut hay; although that district held this day feriated. But the neighbors thought such an improbous crime by no means to be borne: wherefore they admonish him, let it suffice him for now, what he had gathered in a heap, not without the neglect of reverence & piety due to S. Bernard: especially since the serene weather seemed to persist longer, & made him hope, that commodiously on the morrow he could finish that work. But the wretched one had this so fixed, that he determined to lose all things, that he might bring his hay under the roof. And he was carried to such madness, that he said, whatever S. Bernard against him should attempt of maleficence, yet he would not for that reason omit, what

he had decreed to do. A wondrous matter! The hay was scarcely accumulated in the estate; when a tempest of rain, mixed with hail, came over, & with great force rages into the hay-shed of the farmer; consumes the hay & all the cattle, & whatever could come into the part of this sacrilege: nay, signs of divine justice he left on the earth, which had been attributed to the foundation of his possessions, with perpetual sterility induced upon it.

[5] Gradually we descend to our times; which make, In the year 1617 a fire is extinguished, that we direct our eyes the more into the glory of the holy man & become more pious toward him, the more it becomes us with grateful minds to recognize those benefits, of which we too are rendered participants. In the year MDCXVII in the month of February a horrendous fire burst out in the town of Montey of the Valesian dominion, & with such celerity seized the houses, that in a brief space all were to be burnt. Many well knew, that no one could tame the flames more timely than D. Bernard. To him therefore they promise, that they themselves would be obnoxious to a vow, which they would immediately pay, when first the flame should cease to rage. Soon the wind, obeying the prayers of the citizens & the command of D. Bernard, turned the flame from the town: & what in such a miracle was further to be wondered, the fire passed by that shrine untouched, into which the collected alms, promised by vow to D. Bernard, they had brought, although in the middle of burning houses. After these all paid the promises, & for a public monument of grateful mind, brought into the acts of the Xenodochium & Monastery of S. Bernard the greater. The fire of a certain town in the same dominion beyond Martigny had occupied all the houses in the year MDCXIV, on IV May; likewise 1614, nor for monument of the destruction had left anything other than some standing tracts of walls; thence fell upon the villages situated above the town. Then a certain woman, seeing the flame already imminent to her barn, made a vow to the Saint, & at the same time fulfilled it: which done the fire raged no further.

In the commentaries & documents of S. Bernard exhibited in the year MDCXIX I found, that a fire from modest beginnings in the forest of the town of S. Peter in Mount-Joux gradually creeping further, & 1619, finally fell into the orchard, planted with the choicest trees. That devastation affected the inhabitants of the place gravely, especially because they perceived, that they too were being touched by that evil, on account of the love, with which toward the lord of that garden, who had merited well of them by various benefits, they were borne. Therefore by common vow they decree, that they will go as suppliants to the temple, placed on Mount-Joux. Immediately from then the flame sank in itself, & ceased to spread the fire. & 1620. In the year MDCXX, fire in three places had invaded the house of Caspar Jeu citizen of Fribourg: who when he vowed, that he would set out on pilgrimage to Mount-Joux, without delay the flame with no one extinguishing it was extinguished; as is to be seen in the tablet, affixed in the hospital temple of S. Bernard, for testification of grateful mind & of the matter done & publicly approved.

[6] Doing something else near to we come to years near to us; in which not less liberal himself God showed to his own through the prayers of S. Bernard, than in the past. We say therefore, that in the Belfagensian parish among the Helvetians, by excessive dryness of the earth, with which the inhabitants of the place were laboring, they were compelled to solicit S. Bernard: which they did, & closed their prayers with a vow, by which they bound themselves, that they would submit a certain measure of grain to a certain religious Order. Nor long was the rain absent, which most dense recreated the lands of the inhabitants; that after a brief interval of time the crops gave great hope of a copious harvest. That truly is to be lamented, that as for the cause of our convenience we grasp at God's aid; so, when we have obtained what we asked, so easily & spontaneously we forget the duty, by which we ourselves bound ourselves in adverse things, that we might allure God to bring help to us. And so it happened, that the citizens, Rain is obtained. who had conceived the vow & caution, broke faith & promises: whence the rain again stopped; as if it had only that much fallen from heaven before, while it invited the wretched to keep faith. Therefore with great diligence & due liberality they expedite the vow; with which finished, again it began to rain, as if they had never before compelled God to testify his perception, by which he reproached the stain of ungrateful mind, so opposing to his liberality. But when S. Bernard manifested his glory to foreign regions; it is not to be doubted, that he was far more liberal toward those, who inhabited the place, illustrated by himself in life by so many miracles.

All the Augustan Clergy among the Salassi even now boast, that in their assembly they had a man of such great sanctity: such as he is, they learn from so many miracles, both done promiscuously for the grace of all; & those which he had destined also for his own Colleagues: but they celebrate especially that miracle; which happened in the year MDCXVI. S. Bernard, as a monument of his power, In the year 1616 a lost ring is found, had given a ring to each both Canons & other ministers; as had been observed by perpetual custom through the hands of those succeeding in the monastery & xenodochium of Mount-Joux. It happened afterwards, that that very ring was lost, which S. Bernard was wont to use, which they, as a sacred thing, were preserving: nor did any industry suffice, whatever was applied for recovering the ring, & fulfilling the desires of some of finding it. Then it came into the mind of someone, that it would be advisable, if the chest, which in the sacristy was preserved filled with papers, were opened, never, what anyone of those present could remember, opened in their lifetime. Which counsel although it seemed ridiculous, nonetheless to think was ready (after to that matter nothing had been omitted, which reason & human prudence could suggest) that God by a prodigious event wished to second their desires. The ark therefore is opened, & the papers torn with dust & age are taken out: at length in the middle a little casket is found woven with silver threads, with recent elegance still to be seen. With it opened they find the ring of S. Bernard, beautiful, shining, & resplendent, as if just first abstracted from his finger.

[7] & a sacrilegious thief is punished: I shall not omit to ascribe here some things worth mentioning, which a certain one, by surname Peter Valet Parish priest of Vacharellis & Vaglet, & his predecessor, consigned in writings; although they are not so recent, nor do they cohere with the prior in the series of times.

I shall not here make mention of the testification & assertion of the witnesses, which at any time can be seen in the autograph. About the year MDCXVI Claudius Tupinus, a shoemaker by trade, once visited his Parish priest; & to him unaware took a small image of S. Bernard, cut in wood, with a torch; &, as he was dissolute & badly mannered, he held it in mockery. Hence walking about the city, all the comers he was forcing in play to kiss the icon: the rest of the day he passed in such a serious matter with scurrilous jokes & cavils. At length about midnight he received himself home; & immediately on his whole body fiery ulcers of the magnitude of a nut swelled up. Then truly the wretched one to cry out & to wail, so indeed, that soon the neighbors aroused contended to his house. Nor do they omit to summon the Parish priest; who applied every effort, by which to right opinion about divine things, & true grief about his guilt this atheist he might excite. At length he recognized his error; & duly absolved from sins, promised, that through his whole life on the day, the disease of cattle is relieved, preceding the feast of S. Bernard, he would pass with fasting. In this manner, before the day shone forth, he was entirely restored to himself.

I do not know, whether this animadversion, or truly the necessity, which was exercising the Hubenate inhabitants, taught, that they should be more devout to S. Bernard, than they had been hitherto. All their cattle, kept in the Alps of that place, were vexed for some years by various diseases, with great damage to the dwellers. To whom the Parish priest showed a small little image of S. Bernard, which he had with him; exhorting them, if they wished to remove that pest from the herds, that with the Most Reverend Francis de Sales Bishop of Geneva they should act, that to them it might be permitted on that yoke to the honor of the Mother of God & S. Bernard to build a chapel, where on every third Sunday of each month divine service should be performed (which custom to this day perseveres); which when they had done, a fire is extinguished. all the evil disappeared.

When in the Esgleten district a flame was infesting ten houses, & was believed to be about to attack next the houses of the father of the Parish priest, who gave faith to this miracle; he prostrate on his knees against the fire, himself with two neighbors commits his houses to God & S. Bernard, that from fire they might remain untouched. Nor did the fire dare to harm, raging on other houses, which lacked this seal & protection of the Saint.

[8] The situation & harshness of both mountains, The Xenodochium furthermore & monastery on Mount Jove, which is called Bernard-the-Greater, is situated on the highest, coldest, harshest mountain of all Europe. Toward the south it looks to the valley of the city of Aosta, in the North the Pennine region, in the East Lombardy or Cisalpine Gaul, in the West it looks toward the high & stiff with ice Faussignian mountains. The place is almost perpetually with cold, no less cold in summer than in winter, never without snows; the rest obnoxious to bad weather, caligula, whirlwinds, masses of snows, & other evils with great dangers. Above the mountain, the half part the Xenodochium; the other a lake, mostly congealed with ice, occupies. The way, from one foot of the mountain to the other, is twelve leagues; on either side are six from the place, which is called S. Branchier in the Pennine dominion, to the city of Augusta: of these twelve leagues five are, three on this side, two beyond, altogether harshest, & never inhabited by anyone outside the said Xenodochium: & the opportunity of the hospitals built there: for there is neither earth, nor forests nor pastures, but bare & sterile rock. The Xenodochium on Column-Jovis, which is called the lesser-Bernard, is situated on the same yoke of mountain, but far removed from Bernard-the-Greater; & entirely built upon the summit of the Graian Alps: from there the way from the Augustan valley leads to Tarentaise which in altitude, harshness & uncultivated horror scarcely yields to the other. Nevertheless on account of the hospital houses each place is much frequented, inasmuch as by the royal way from hence from Gaul, from there from Germany to Lombardy people contend. In these hospitals all travelers are received, from wherever they come, the poor equally as the rich, & with as much charity as can be done are held, as each one's condition postulates. Three days, indeed, if necessity should require, more are retained: yet to no one is it lawful from anyone to exact price or compensation, unless he wishes to be gravely punished; much less from them to explore the causes & counsels of the undertaken journey. The sick too, as is fitting, with all services are helped.

[9] The Religious of that place apply diligent labor, that pilgrims may not lack helps & means of conveyance or beasts, that they may be taken from dangers, or, their discipline, if any have died, may be committed to burial. Hence daily two from their assembly they destine, who from this place & that go around the mountain, with bread, wine, & flintstone, fomentation, & other things necessary for the conveniences of the travelers furnished. Meanwhile others to sleep with divine things are occupied: nor ever

Sacred things, wont to be performed both with submissive voice & with chant, neither the Matins, nor the prayers of the other Hours are missing: which daily with great piety, especially for the tutor of the house & others well meriting of it, are chanted. The expenses moreover for nourishing the guests are incredible: yet with such great care & zeal it is provided for them, that to those passing through nothing, if not for delights, certainly for sustaining life is lacking, although all things be done at great expense. And since nothing grows there, it is necessary to convey wood even by a whole day's journey, through yokes horrid with precipices, & the subsidies contributed for the intended end. & that only for three months of the year. For each year for drink seven hundred wagons of wine are to be procured. The relish for the greater part consists of salt meat: although every three days fresh meat is brought. But foods suitable for fasting, for the measure of necessary use, are brought from elsewhere. Wherefore since the annual census, to bear such immoderate expenses, does not suffice; they are compelled to implore foreign alms & aids. For which end certain Religious of that place are constituted, who collect subsidies, & accept gifts sent from neighboring provinces, both Catholic & others. As for the rest, with no reason of faith or sect held, promiscuously to all is open access & hospitable charity, which receives all humanely; on account of the necessary passage through those places & the greatest aids, which to nations of every kind, Gauls, Spaniards, Germans, Helvetians, & others are offered; whom necessity compels to travel through there. But the said Xenodochia rest under the protection of the Most Serene Dukes of Savoy; who annually in this place exercise great munificence. Hither their contribution also the Chiefs of the Pennine Region, whom they call Dizeni, contribute, whose dominion is contiguous to the greater Xenodochium.

[10] But a singular & memorable favor of divine goodness is, Some miraculous prerogatives of both places. that no one either has been extinguished by pestilence in the said Hospices, or from elsewhere has brought it into the Xenodochium. The gift of the Omnipotent is, that no one has been struck by that contagion. A matter too worthy of wonder is; although neither by night nor by day are they free in the house from guests & strangers; yet none of the Religious by precipice or by the fall of snows

has been snatched away; although many others there have been buried. Then it has been observed, that neither the lords nor the faithful ministers ever have taken a bad end, or stripped of fortunes, or deceived faith of creditors; while on the contrary those who badly administered the matter, have felt the vindicating hand of God, punishing their sacrilege. To these no one by theft, fraud, & evil arts has claimed anything for himself, who detected, was not chastised by a deserved expiation. A perpetual flowing of divine goodness into these houses too is, that so many Supreme Pontiffs & Princes have favored them, & received them into their protection. Honorius IV received the said hospital shrines, & all their goods & dominions, into the trust of S. Peter & the holy See, & adorned them with great immunities: as appears from the Bull of Nicholas the Pontiff, who again confirmed them: Privileges of the Pontiffs. which others also, as John XXII, Martin V, & John XXIII, Eugenius IV, Pius, &c. did. John XXIII from the power, visitation, correction, subjection & command of all Archbishops, Bishops, & others, whether they be ordinary judges, delegated or sub-delegated, exempted the Provosts, Religious, temples, houses, & members of the said Xenodochia, with present & future inhabitants, their possessions, villages, castles, churches, whether they had care of souls, or were free from cares; as clearly appears in the Bulls. The same privileges, as to temporal jurisdiction, were granted to them by Louis Duke of Savoy, with the Provosts & Religious so postulating in a suppliant petition. All which were done for that end, that they might more freely attend to the service of God, Restoration made in the year 1437. & more commodiously bring aid to those passing through. Amedeus Duke of Savoy & Mary his consort deigned the same xenodochia & monasteries with their protection & greatest benefits. Lastly in the Rochefort castle a volume written by hand was found, in which the order & restoration of the said houses is contained, made by command of Eugenius IV in the year MCCCCXXXVII, where rules & statutes so distinguished & so aptly written, that nothing better can be thought out: nay, by the seal of John Cardinal of the title of S. Peter in Chains, on either part of the book, in the envelope, according to the authentic form, are inserted; since to him as delegate this office had been committed. But above all things peculiar to this place, the sanctity of the Author eminents, which consecrated his work: whose memory will always be in benediction, & glory comparable with the chief of the Saints.

[11] Uncertain order of the Provosts; Follows in the printed book the Syllabus of the Provosts, who presided over either House: but since none such are named before Peter, in the year MCCXX Provost; from the two, who before him for the year MCLXVII are named together, Uldrinus & Armandus, it is given to be understood, that each House from the beginning of its institution had its own Prefects, whose names lie hidden. But that the first of these were S. Bernard, & his successor in the Archdiaconate Richard, is gratuitously presumed: since it is more credible that they & their successors, Archdeacons of Aosta, content with the title of Patronage right, thus attended to the conservation of the Houses themselves, that they themselves the seculars did not mix in the private rule of the Regulars. After Peter are reckoned, Talius, in the year MCCXL; Martin, in the year (unless I am mistaken) MCCLII; for the year 1232, with vice impressed (as appears, from the year of the prior Provost) I think can be corrected by putting closest affinity cipher 5 for 3. Unless thou prefer to assume the letter 8 for 3, that it be less necessary to admit some hiatus until the times of Honorius IV, who first into the protection of the Apostolic See took the new (so to speak) Order. until the year 1320; when the union of the houses seems to have been made, To the first conjecture favors, that between 3 & 5 there is greater affinity than between 3 & 8, & only by the prenomen is named Martin. The beginning therefore of the Union is to be said taken in those, who after Martin, by name & surname are indicated without any interruption; & are, John Digny, MCCCXX; William Thoraze, MCCCXXIV; William Pisy, MCCCL; John Viguier, MCCCLX; Rudolph de Biolle, MCCCLXII. Succeeding to these Amatus Cisalcae, Patriarch of Jerusalem, brought a part of the Crown of thorns of Christ our Lord, which is kept in the Xenodochium & monastery of S. Bernard the greater, in the year MCCCXCI. From then furthermore are numbered by name eleven others, of whom nothing worthy of memory is narrated, until the predecessor of Viotus himself, Andrew Tillier, who from the year MDXCIV until MDCXI presiding, is praised, because he tried, to recover the revenues, diminished here & there by the iniquity of times: he also constituted that the divine Office without intermission should be continued; & for the charity due to travelers, with the family matter exactly cared for, gained eternal praise for himself.