Landelinus the Abbot

ON S. LANDELINUS THE ABBOT, SS. ADELINUS AND DOMITIANUS DISCIPLES.

AT CRISPIN IN HAINAUT.

SEC. VII OR VIII.

Landelinus the Abbot, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Adelinus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Domatianus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

G. H., BY THE AUTHOR D. P.

There flourished in the seventh century of Christ a great lover of monastic life, & founder of four monasteries in Hainaut, S. Landelinus the Abbot. His life, Life from Mss. polished by his style, Laurentius Surius edited. We give in the original phrase, from various manuscript codices, especially from the library of the monastery of Lobbes constructed by him, submitted by Lord Everard d'Auvang, & likewise from the Ms. Bodecense described by our Gamansius, & we have compared with that one which Dacherius & Mabillon in tome 2 on the Acts of the Saints of the Order of S. Benedict from the Ms. of Compiègne of S. Cornelius published. The Author did not append his name, but in the Prologue asserts, that he narrates, what he has learned from the narration of truth-speakers. From our Annotations to it the reader will best learn, Other by author Philip Abbot of Bonne-Espérance. that the author is worthy of faith, especially if it is compared with the other Life, which from the Ms. of Utrecht of the church of S. Salvator received we subjoin, altogether ambiguous, whether this one is more ancient. That one certainly alone seems to have used, often retaining the very words writing in the eleventh century, Philip Abbot of Bonne-Espérance in the same Hainaut: which Life, since among his works it is held printed, we consider superfluous to print again here. Very many things too similar to these has Fulbertus in the Life of S. Autbert, to be illustrated on XIII December. Finally Philip Brasseur, Presbyter of Mons, in the year MDCXXXVI edited the Life of S. Landelinus in French under the title of Iconism, whence we subjoin certain miracles, in the manner of an Appendix.

[2] Sacred cult. The name of S. Landelinus is inscribed in various Martyrologies, & in the very ancient Ms. of Tournai of S. Martin to this XV June these are read: At Crispin the birthday of S. Landelinus Confessor & Priest. In various other Mss. under the title of Usuard, but for the use especially of Belgic Churches augmented, these are held: On the same day in the Valentinian territory, in the convent of Crispin, the deposition of S. Landelinus Abbot & Confessor, who by B. Autbert Bishop of Cambrai was raised from the sacred font. Crispinium is between Valenciennes & Gislenopolis a Benedictine monastery, which Baldric calls of Canons in book 2 of the Chronicle of Cambrai ch. 41: who in the same place ch. 37 treating of the Lobbes convent, has a long elogium about S. Landelinus: such as also Molanus in Natales Sanctorum Belgii, Miræus in the Belgic Fasti, & others bring forth, but all are drawn from the Life itself, to which more commodiously we have drawn the reason of time: & thence, what is otherwise resolved by the more recent, is spontaneously emended. In the Antiquarian Propylaeum before tome 2 of April edited part 1 ch. 7 we rejected the fictitious charter, as if made by Dagobert I for S. Landelinus; perhaps some was given by Dagobert II, son of S. Sigebert, killed in the year 680; & his reign not recognized, transferred to the elder Dagobert.

[3] The Translation of the body of the same S. Landolinus, on this same XV June made by Godfrey Bishop of Cambrai, Translation 1 in the year 770 is indicated by Molanus in his additions to Usuard. The French Life understands the first of that name, others Godfrey, son of S. Arnulf Martyr, who having been ordained in the year DCCLII, in the first year of his Bishopric performed that Translation, afterwards surviving to DCCLXX, as the Sammarthani have. Thence for a hundred years all things flowed prosperously for the Crispinians, 2 in the year 1105. until in the year DCCCLXX the tempest of the Normans involved them, who (as Mabillon says) destroyed the Abbey of Crispin, & all the monuments of its primitive dignity & sanctity. By the gift indeed of Charles the Simple, as is held from the Chronicle of Balderic book 1 ch. 67, the Abbey was subjected to the Holy Mother of God Church of Cambrai; & then was detained by military men taxed with a benefice, in the age of Balderic himself, that is in the XI century, as you have book 2 ch. 41. But this calamity the French Life says lasted to the year MLXXX; when the monastery was restored to the Benedictines, by Baldwin Count of Hainaut & Rochilde his mother, Relics in various neighboring places: with the counsel of Gerard then Bishop of Cambrai, by that name Second: by whom the fifth Odo, in the year MCV on the XXI day of September, is said to have celebrated a new Translation of S. Landelinus. That his body still is at Crispin Rayssius writes in the Belgic Hierogazophylacium pg. 178: who pg. 81 says that the arm & rib of S. Landelinus are preserved at Cambrai in the church of S. Autbert of Regular Canons, & pg. 470, the bone of his arm in the church of the holy Sepulchre of the Order of S. Benedict. The Bronian Monks say themselves also to have the arm of S. Landelinus, brought from Crispin by S. Gerard the founder, by whom also the monastery of S. Gerard is named, situated in the Namur county. Of this arm treats Rayssius pg. 126, who pg. 20 also says, in the Aulne convent, formerly constructed by S. Landelinus, is held in veneration some thorn of the back.

[4] some are said to be at Boche on the Lippe: We have deduced these things more accurately, on account of the difficulty raised among the Germans. And first Gelenius in the Agrippinian Fasti on this day brings forth these: The same this day illustrates B. Landelinus the Confessor, deservedly to be referred among the Agrippinian tutelary Saints: because (as Eupo Count of Padberg, in the diploma of the foundation of the Flechtorpian monastery speaks) his sacred bones, from the diocese of Cambrai, were integrally translated through Baderadus of Padberg Bishop of holy memory, & in Boche on the Lippe river, a place of Cologne jurisdiction, placed. Thence the head of the same S. Landelinus have the Odackerian Nuns in the Duchy of Westphalia. These there. The cited diploma was edited among the Monuments of Paderborn by Ferdinand Furstenberg Bishop of Paderborn & then also Coadjutor afterwards Bishop of Münster pg. 141 with this exordium: Eupo called Count in Patberg, we desire to come to the notice of all the faithful, that we for the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ & of his holy Genetrix the Virgin Mary, & upon the reverend bones of B.

Landelinus the Confessor, which Baduradus Bishop of Paderborn of holy memory transferred from the diocese of Cambrai, & integrally carried to the place which is called Boca, have constructed a new plantation of the religion of S. Benedict on the river, which is called Lippia… Whence we have transmigrated the Abbot & his Brothers, into our village, which is called Fletorp, & there we began to consummate our structure in the year of grace MCI… Done

in the year MCIV on the third Nones of July. These from the diploma. Prince Furstenberg himself illustrates Boca there with iconism, verse, & prose: where among other things thus is read. Ferdinand … At Boca, formerly a celebrated district, where Charles the Great King of the Franks received the Angarii into his dominion, with hostages given & with oath confirming their faith of obedience, in the year DCCLXXV; & by Baduradus Bishop of Paderborn of holy memory, the Relics of B. Landelinus the Confessor, which he had transferred there from the diocese of Cambrai, were placed, M. H. P. that is, placed this monument.

[5] But it pleases to give all these things to be read more distinctly, from the autograph schedule of him, brought there in the year 836, who transferred the Relics from Flectrop to Odackera, Prefect of these Virgins, in the year MDXCVI, whose original words Gamansius thus describes for us. When in the year DCCCXXXXI in the time of Louis, S. Meinulphus Deacon, & other religious men, legates from Bishop Baduradus II of Paderborn, sent into Gaul for carrying away the Relics of the Saints, with the body of S. Liborius, & the Relics of SS. Pavacius, Turibius, & Gundanisolus, Bishops of Le Mans, & of other Saints, were returning from Le Mans; passing through the diocese of Cambrai, in the Crispiniense monastery, obtained the whole body of S. Landelinus, formerly Abbot of the same convent: & with the other Relics arriving at the diocese of Paderborn, placed the body of S. Landelinus honorifically in the church of the district of Boca, distant one milestone from Geiseca. In which place Erpo Count of Padburgh, in the time of Henry IV the Emperor, with the Bishop of Paderborn consenting, erected a monastery of the Order of S. Benedict in honor of S. Landelinus, & endowed it. But when the Landgraves of Hesse, after the death of Bravira, & thence to Flectrop in the year 1102 wife of Count Erpo, claimed it for themselves; the Count, on account of the ferocious threats of the Landgraves, determined to transfer the aforesaid monastery to Flectropia, with the Bishop consenting. But that, somehow torpid, he might accelerate to consummate the Flectropian monastery, by the scourge of God was stimulated. For when, offended with the townspeople in Haerhusen, he had proposed to destroy their town by fire from the foundations, & consume by fire, & was already throwing fire; some of those townspeople fleeing to the church of S. Magnus Martyr, seized the image of the Crucified Lord, & bore it to meet the Count already raging. He truly in fury rushed with drawn sword upon the bearers of the Cross, & what for a crown was placed on the head of the Crucified, struck, & cast a part to the earth. Without delay divine vengeance was present; for his fingers, with which he had drawn the iron to the contumely of the Holy Relics, & his hand, were contracted into the palm. The Count thus feeling the wrath of God against him, vowed to God to consummate the begun work: which he both brought to perfection, & largely endowed. Finally in the year MCI, he offered both himself, & all his things, & his ministerials to S. Mary: & to the said Monastery Boca, together with the Head, & better Relics of S. Landelinus, with a great part however left in the same place in the year MCII transferred: where they remained until the year MDXCVI.

[6] In that year the generous Count Soberen Erhardus, Provincial Satrap of Westphalia, but in the year 1596 to Odackeria, to the virgins consecrated there: most studious in acquiring Relics of the Saints, summoned Conrad Luther the Presbyter, Prefect of the Virgins at Odacker; & ordered that, with Lord Swibert Stephani, Master of Arts, Pastor of Brilon, applied to him as companion, he should proceed to Flectropia to bring the Relics of S. Landelinus. Which Priests, with a third certain Lord Peter, Vicar of Geseke, who offered himself as companion of the journey, head straight to Flectropia; & on the very feasts of S. Evergislus arrive there; & with each thing diligently sought out, by the indication & help of a certain Monk, who alone remained from the rest, the Head with some parts of the body (for many bones had been scattered & lost through the envy of the heretics) they secretly took away. Which Relics the aforesaid Conrad Luther offered to the Count at Arnsberg; with which by the Count looked over & seen, he urgently petitioned that they be brought back to Odackeria. The Count assented: they are brought back to the aforesaid Odackerian convent in the Arnsberg county, near the little town of Hersberg of the Cologne diocese, under the Most Serene Prince Elector Ernest Archbishop of Cologne, Duke of Bavaria, Angaria & Westphalia, Count of Arnsberg. The festivity of this Saint is annually celebrated by the Virgins of the aforesaid little convent, under the office of the highest Feast, on the very day of S. Vitus: & of the Translation on XXVI October under Double, on which day the Head & Relics were first carried to Odacker.

[7] Those Virgins, all were Noble, of the Benedictine Order, who in the year 1622 driven thence, (they are also sometimes said to have been Preacher) under the inspection of the Abbot in Graveschaft: & they stood at Odacker, until that very place occupied, burned, destroyed the profane soldier of Christian, the pseudo-Bishop of Halberstadt, in the year MDCXXI & XXII running through Westphalia in a populated manner: at which tempest the Virgins driven from the place, after one or another migration, with the holy Head & Relics, transferred themselves to Hersberg, the Prince's castle near Wasten; as related D. Gabelus Abbot of the Abdinkhoff monastery, & once tent-companion of D. Conrad Luther himself; about whom he also narrated, dead in the Wedinckhausen Abbey, yet for his distinguished affection for Odackeria, they with themselves carried them away to Hersberg, in the area of the destroyed temple there to wish to be buried, accustomed as often as he celebrated to dissolve into tears, who could not easily approach the altar when he foresaw them not to be present to him; accustomed also from devotion toward S. Landelinus to impose this name on those to be baptized as often as he could. John Velde of ours, in his Westphalian Fasti hitherto unedited, on this XV June asserts, that the Head of S. Landelinus Abbot of Crispin was received from the Odackerian Virgins by the Bishop of Osnabrück. & in the year 1648 sent the head to Osnabrück, This was Franciscus Wilhelmus Count of Werteberg, later Cardinal of the H. R. E. By his care the Sequentia about S. Landelinus, worthy that it be edited below, was sent to us in the year MDCXLVIII, by P. Joannes Mulma with this writing: That Sequentia about S. Landelinus was communicated to the Most Illustrious Prince of Osnabrück by the Virgins, religious of S. Benedict in the monastery of Odacker, of the diocese of Cologne in Sauerland or Angaria. For when, with the monastery consumed by flames, the said Prince had given some hundred Imperials to them as a subsidy for the new building, they in turn offered the Prince the head of S. Landelinus with the said Sequentia; composed for his feast among them or in Flectrop, for the use of the Mass. That there is something of Relics at Cologne in the Garden of B. Mary of the Cistercian Order, indicates Gelenius book 3, Syntagma 54.

[8] These about the Relics of S. Landelinus. Meanwhile the Crispiniense convent, as Rayssius writes, Cult of SS. Adelinus & Domitianus, has the bodies of S. Landelinus, Founder & first Abbot; of B. Adelinus, Confessor of Christ, disciple of S. Landelinus & indefatigable helper of him in the preaching of the word of God; of B. Domitianus the Confessor, also undivided companion of holy Landelinus: who in the Ms. of Utrecht of S. Salvator is named Deumianus. These we have proposed together in the title, because nothing is known about their Acts

other than is indicated here in the Life of S. Landelinus. Yet they have a peculiar veneration among the Crispinians; S. Domitianus on XXII June, in the Octave of S. Landelinus; & S. Adelinus on XXVII of the same June; whether they died on those days, or whether the Crispinians took up those days, after the feast of S. Landelinus. They are referred however on the same days by Molanus, Miræus, & other Martyrologists: & everywhere are held as Saints. Meanwhile their bodies, or parts of Relics, are nowhere shown or venerated, so that therefore only to the Crispinians they seem to be adjudicated, because no one claims them for himself. Hence however arises an occasion for me of composing the controversy between the Crispinians themselves & the Westphalians, & of opining, that although among one is only the body of S. Landelinus, among the other the body of one of the Companions, yet both are excusable, [And perhaps the body of one of them is the occasion of the controversy, between the Crispinians & Westphalians.] when each arrogates to themselves the more powerful, as long as each reasonably defends himself by his possession, nor is it possible to say which has the more powerful cause, except insofar as for the Crispinians a more probable presumption seems to stand. Thus on this very day we have judged concerning SS. Vitus & Modestus, or also S. Crescentia, to have happened, that those who have anything of them indistinct, believe these equally to be Relics of S. Vitus, & wish them so to be believed by others.

[9] If thou askest the fortune of the Flectropian convent; discipline had begun to flourish again there in the year MCCCCLXIX, when it had acceded to the Bursfeldensian Union, for from then from the Aldinckhoff monastery successively it had five Abbots, most adorned with piety, doctrine, & use of affairs; & thus it still remained in the year MDVII, when Wilhelm Landgrave of Hesse, the most pious & most Catholic father of the worst & heretical son Philip, took it under his protection with the elected Abbot Iudocus, only of the devout & honest memory of himself & of his ancestors & posterity, in the customary Vigils & Masses of the dead, in turn agreed. To Iudocus, who with praise had performed all the chief offices of his Congregation, succeeded in the year MDXXX D. Meinolfus. Under this one, with the Lutheran heresy growing strong, many damages in spiritual & temporal things were inflicted: Fortune of the Flectropian monastery. for averting or repairing which seeing himself unequal; Meinolfus's successor, after a four-year rule, D. Joannes Rade, in the year MDLVII, returned to his Weismarssen Virgins near Lingen, whom before as Confessor he had ruled, & yielded to the right & title of Abbot. Substituted in this Balthasar Hackmeister, led so polluted a life, that with his conscience finally pressing he himself voluntarily allowed himself to be reduced to order in the year MDLXXX, with a solemn protestation professing his unworthiness for the crimes committed, & handing himself to penance in the monastery of Leisborn of his profession; until again he fled from there to a certain Lutheran Nobleman, with whom until his unhappy death he was as paedagogue for the children & grain scribe. Meanwhile died also D. Gerlacus Abbot of Leisborn, to whom the inspection of the place had been committed, then having only D. Hubertus as professed Monk: who often excusing his old age, unequal to the economic solicitude, & at length having died, the Count of Waldeck claimed the place for himself, as founded by his ancestors; & commended it to a certain married Amptmann, who would render to him accounts from the proceeds, & sustain twenty poor of either sex there.

SEQUENTIA.

From the Odackerian Ms., preserved at Osnabrück.

Landelinus Abbot, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Adelinus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Domatianus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

With joyful fervor of mind, voice & sweetness, Let the Trinity be adored.

For the splendor of merits & beauty of Landelinus, Let the Unity be honored.

Sprung of bright Frankish stock, commended to Audebert, to be instructed by the Bishop.

The Bishop devoted to God, the criminal dregs soon promoted

To the work of the devil.

He leaves the Master & plunders, slays & robs

With his companions.

He changes name, rule, life, the cenobite with the robber;

Ah, what a Metamorphosis!

But with Audebert holily supplicating God for the wanderer,

Salvation returns to the Prodigal.

A vision terrifies Landelinus, by which he saw, what a Demon

Was inflicting upon some one into tartarus.

That he might decline this punishment, return to Audebert,

An Angel standing by warns.

These seen, this heard, with swift step to Cambrai

He goes, with accomplices spurned.

He cast himself at Audebert's feet; what malice had perfected,

He weeps with many a tear.

The Bishop leads the wandering sheep, the way through joy

To the sheepfolds of Christ.

He proceeds to Rome thrice, & the crime weeping at the Saints' threshold,

He pours out prayers more largely.

Audebert's hand anoints him; Domitianus is joined,

And Adelinus as companion.

The one stripping them of garments, & hence trembling in his limbs

With assiduous prayer he heals.

Landelinus meditates eternal things, hence four-fold

He built monasteries.

In the manner of Moses as he placed the rod on the ground, a fountain flowed forth

Curling, in Crispinium.

To him lying down many stand by: he warns them; with fever he dies

Lying on a hair-cloth.

Landelinus, to repent & worthily weep for things committed,

Obtain for thy suppliants.

Here let us be burnt, here let us be cut; God spare, lest we be damned,

By thy holy prayers:

But, after the end of this life, to the threshold of celestial life

May we be admitted swiftly. Amen.

LIFE

From the ancient Manuscript Codices.

Landelinus the Abbot, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Adelinus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Domatianus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

BHL Number: 4696

FROM MSS.

[1] The benignity of our Saviour is ready prepared for the salvation of those, Prologue, whom he has predestined to seize the rewards of the future life; &, as he himself spiritually taught in the Gospel, calls some at the sixth & ninth hour, some even at the eleventh, to cultivate his vineyard; because to some in infancy, to some in youth or adolescence, to some in old age, he grants the labor of undertaking spiritual seeding. Nor is it difficult to his hand to correct inveterate habits of crimes, who has even recalled to life those swallowed by the teeth of Leviathan, by the bracelet of his mercy; & for receiving the confidence of his goodness, the very ones, whom he has thus shaken from his teeth, made them participants in the heavenly court. From these we know to be Prophets, from these especially is established that judging number of the Apostles, from these is the triumphal army of Martyrs, from these the distinguished number of Confessors & ornament of Monks wonderfully consists. Of whose college it is established that S. Landelinus also is: about whose life I a little poor in talent, not without great fear, presume to speak a little: but God is powerful to open my mouth, for publishing the great deeds of his servant; who unlocked the mouth of the ass for the rebuke of the Prophet. And so from those things, which to me by the narration of truth-speakers have been ascertained, I shall begin to narrate some.

[2] The glorious therefore & acceptable to God Landelinus, from the high & most noble progeny of the Franks, Landelinus instructed by S. Andbertus, in the Cambrai district & village which is called Vallis, in the times of Dagobert the renowned King, was sprung. And when the boy of good disposition began to grow up in his first years, his parents

eagerly committed him to B. Audebertus the Pontiff, who had received him from the sacred font, to be imbued with letters.

[3] And when he had now come to the youthful age, the aforesaid Pontiff wished to tonsure him for the office of Clericate. is seduced by relatives, Which hearing some of his kinsmen, coming began to recall him from the love of celestial things by their persuasions, saying: O how great beauty of youth is being persuaded to renounce the world! Do not, brother, we beseech, so act; because if thou shalt have so acted, we do not know whether thou shalt be useful to thee or to thy parents in anything. It is better therefore, dearest brother, that consenting to us thou leave the monastery; & proceeding with us, that thou enjoy the world & its delights; than as if dead thou rest here. For if thou go with us, we will give thee all things, which shall please thy mind, & we will make thee abound in delights & honor. These & similar to these turning over, persuaded him: & entering flight, he departed from S. Audbertus: & proceeding together with them, lived in the manner of robbers, occupied with plundering & slaughters. For whom the pious father Audbertus, consumed with sorrow, mourned him as dead. And truly he was dead, because he was serving the devil. & lives wickedly, Yet the holy Pontiff was praying the Lord assiduously, that he would restore freedom to the captive, life to the dead, & give remedy to one wounded by a diabolic wound. What more? The badly sound mind, what it had unjustly begun, was laboring to perfect; & changing his name, & changes his name: he orders himself to be called Maurosus; lest namely by the indication of his name he be found, who had hidden himself in the lurking places of perdition. Meanwhile for many days enduring in this nefarious work, he served the devil, who had become a fugitive from Christ.

[4] At length divine power, invoked by the prayers of B. Autbertus the Pontiff, by the death of a companion was present; & in its usual manner & usual benignity, disposed to restore the erring son to the holy Mother Church. It happened therefore that he was hastening in the usual manner with his accomplices to plunder the house of a certain rich man. And when night had come, in which they were hastening to perform such a nefarious work; it happened by the disposition of God, that one of his companions, caught by death, exhaled his spirit. Meanwhile Maurosus, vehemently afflicted with grief over his companion, when he had given himself to rest, sees the soul of that wretched one being led by demons to hell. And when with great trembling he was beholding this, & with the Angelic warning there stood by an Angel of the Lord, & to him terribly trembling begins: O Landelinus, now behold the remuneration of thy labor: with what punishment thy companion's soul is being led to the places of hell. See therefore what is better for thee, with such torment to be led into the abyss of gehenna, or with us to enjoy the celestial mansion. Leave therefore the works of the devil, & take up the military service of Christ: cut from thee the blindness of the dark heart, by which thou canst behold the brightest light of Christ. Flee even now the servitude of the ancient enemy, by which thou mayest reign with Christ after death. Hear therefore B. Audbertus the Antistes, & recognize him to be thy spiritual father: receive from his mouth the warnings of celestial doctrine. These truly & many other things teaching him that supernal Angelic spirit, sought the heavens. Therefore Landelinus rising, coming to his senses, returns to S. Autbertus; greatly terrified by the vision, leaving his companions & all his things, hastened on his feet to go to Cambrai, where he knew the holy Audbertus to be: & prostrate at his feet, asks penance to be given to him for his past crimes. But the pious Father, rejoicing in his vows, received him as a penitent, whom he had long wept as departing from himself; & opening to him the bosom of divine mercy, restored him to the holy Mother Church.

[5] In the monastery therefore living under secular habit, he was doing penance for past crimes: macerating his body with fasts, withdraws into the monastery, which he had stained with secular enticements. Therefore baked by long penance, he determined to leave purely the affairs of the world, that he might more fully meditate the celestial. Finally he asked the aforesaid Antistes, that from him he might receive the tonsure of the head, & take up the cloak of celestial military service. To which the most holy Prelate rejoicing, Made a Cleric cut off his hair of the head, from whom he had long since driven away the stains of the heart. Having obtained finally this glory of dignity, he determined to go to Rome: that he who had now dismissed the pomp of the world, might also gain the crown of pilgrimage. With the blessing therefore of the pious Father Audbertus he set out, taking up squalid journeys, at length he came to Rome: he pilgrims to Rome. where he knew the Judges of the world to rest by body. Most sweet therefore on their thresholds fixing kisses; he was praying that his crimes might be purely cleansed. With his desire perfected he swiftly returned to Gaul, long unwilling to be away from his Patron.

[6] Then the man of the Lord Audbertus, considering the virtue of sanctity to grow strong in him, Ordained Deacon. promoted him to the ordination of the Diaconate; for which he appeared so apt, that it became clearly evident to all, that by God's grace he had been chosen for this. For he was benign in mind, supplicant, humble, & devoted; rendering obedience to all, & loving all with pure affection. The Lord granted him such ardor & compunction of heart, again he goes to Rome, that he was not content with the life of good cenobites, but rather raising himself in God's servitude, & with groaning & tears in the affliction of vigils, fasts & prayers frequently placed, exercised the life of the Saints, & in no way gave rest to his body, & a third time as Priest, macerating himself with hungers, nakedness, cold, thirst, & many tribulations. Therefore after a few days transacted, a second time he went to Rome: & fulfilling his desired vows, & happily returning, from B. Audbertus the Bishop he received the office of the Presbytery. Elevated to the summit of this honor, it cannot be narrated, how much he grew in the height of sanctity. with SS. Adelenus & Domitianus Therefore again wishing to augment his labors, although already weary in body, again he went to Rome; with two companions namely his disciples, Adelenus to wit & Domitianus, who had long since adhered to him in the preaching of the word of God, & happily returned to his own.

[7] he constructs monasteries When therefore he had returned in peace, with license & blessing received from the blessed Pontiff Audbertus h, he set out into the district called Hainault, into a place situated upon the river Sambre: which, Lobium, from the name of the rivulet running down into the aforesaid river, is called Laubacus: & there he constructed monastic habitations for himself & his disciples: & what he with God assenting began, faithfully afterwards by his successors, who through his ministry in the same place k were gathered, was happily completed. He also constructed another monastery in the Sambrean district by name Alneum, separated from Laubacus by three thousand near the Sambre, Alna, which shines with the pledges of the Prince of the Apostles, & is fortified by his most distinguished virtues. He also built a third convent in the Templute district called m Wasslaus, separated by eight thousand from Lobbes, Waslare, his first monastery; which, as the upper ones, he had consecrated by the name & sanctity of the Key-bearer of the supernal King, namely S. Peter. Of these two indeed he enriched the habitations with great commerces: but Lobbes he honored with royal gifts, & filled with an indescribable abundance of villages & servants. Whatever also of the munificence of the pious Kings he acquired everywhere

through the kingdoms of the Franks, he delegated to the aforesaid Lobbes convent, that the venerable Congregation of Brothers serving God there, might not lack those things, which would be suitable to Monks.

[8] These things thus n done, & the prescribed places honorifically built, preparing another place for habitation, & to the Brothers there militating for Christ, with necessary victuals abundantly attributed; by the instinct & permission of God almighty (as we believe), he migrated to another place, which is situated upon the river Hion, & adjoins it the forest called Ambligis; & there with his two disciples, Adelenus namely, & Domitianus he began to extirpate the brushwood, that there too for himself & his he might construct a worthy little place of habitation. At which time indeed

(I am about to tell a wondrous thing) when they were instantly laboring, & as is wont to happen, the lord of the place opposing him their cloaks were placed lying on the trunk of a tree; it happened that the lord of that place coming over, & finding them extirpating his forest, took their cloaks as if for a pledge, & conceived to go away. But the wondrous clemency of the Omnipotent is present, immediately invoked. For while that same man turned his step to depart; soon stupefied in all his members, & as if caught in the appearance of death, & therefore punished by paralysis, in his own punishment he felt, that he was not acting rightly toward the servants of God. Therefore prostrate at their feet, he asks pardon to be given for the committed crime; & their cloaks that they receive, he began with great voices to demand: & at the same time vowing that the middle of the same forest he would deliver to God through the hands of the Saint, if the pious Lord would deign to grant him what he had inquitously done. is healed, Soon in a wondrous manner restored by B. Landelinus to pristine health, & instructed by the preaching of the divine word, he was dismissed to his own with peace. But the man of the Lord, giving thanks, that the mercy of the Founder was assuredly present to him, constructed there a small oratory in honor of B. Martin the Bishop, & there with the aforesaid disciples, attending to divine hymns & prayers, was daily requesting the benignity of the Lord.

[9] On a certain day too, the Holy Priest of God Landelinus, draws forth a fountain, lustrating all places round about, found there was no fountain there, from which the Brothers should draw water for their uses. But with prayer made, he struck the earth with the blow of his staff: & straightway a fountain of wondrous depth bubbled up, which with curling waves began to flow down: & immediately on account of the matter which happened he named that place Crispinium. Therefore many then, with his sanctity heard, began from various parts to flow to him in throngs, & there was gathered in the same place no small multitude of people. & he calls it Crispinium: But the man full of God, not wishing to mingle with the multitude, holding solitude dear above all things of the world, lest namely the actions of many should dull the gaze of his mind from the state of rectitude, going down not far from that place, dwells in a sequestered abode. But in that place, where the river collects into itself the stream of Crispin's fountain, building a church in honor of B. Peter the Prince of the Apostles, among the supernal choirs of Angels themselves, so to speak; & if not yet by the vision of the flesh, yet by the contemplation of the mind he was conversing, being able to say with the Apostle Paul; Our conversation is in heaven.

[10] He sets SS. Adelenus & Domitianus over other places: It seemed moreover to B. Landelinus, that he ought to absent his aforesaid disciples, Adelenus & Domitianus, in separate dwellings, so that they too, through the ministry of the divine word, might augment the gain of souls for the Lord, each in their places, every day: & he himself, as a most avid lover of true Philosophy, might more freely give attention to the contemplation of celestial things. He therefore placed S. Adelenus far from his monastery near one league, upon the river Hion; but Domitianus on the other side about two leagues, upon the river Hayna.

[11] With these things performed with the supreme clemency helping, the holy & immaculate sacrifice of Christ, seized by fever, by manifold contusion & by the examination of fire, in the manner of a holocaust, & now to be immolated to the divine sight proved; namely the holy & worthy of God Priest Landelinus to that, so to speak, celestial altar was now drawing near. gives last warnings. For when God omnipotent had now decreed to remunerate him for the labors, with which he daily sweated; o his senile members, which the prolix narrowness of this prison had worn down, began to be struck with a slight little fever. With the Brothers summoned from everywhere therefore, he indicates to them that he is now being released from the prison-house of the prison. Soon a tearful voice resounded, one of them saying, What further will be a help to us, most holy Father, & having died, when thou the shepherd leavest the sheep acquired for God, to be devoured by the teeth of the devil? Then the man of the Lord said: Let not my absence sadden you, best Brothers; the eternal Pastor, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be present to you wholly, if you strive to adhere to his charity more attentively. Serve him in fear, & exult to him with trembling. is buried. For no adversity will be able to harm, if no iniquity infests. With these & such discourses exhorting the Brothers, lying upon ashes & a hair-cloth, & with the Brothers whom he had acquired for Christ standing around; his soul, adorned with the flowers of good actions, he directed to the glory of the Angels. But the disciples honorifically delivered the body of the eminent master to burial in the same convent: where with his merits intervening many signs are done, with our Lord Jesus Christ granting, who lives & reigns through all ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS G. H. & D. P.

Baldric book 2 of the Chronicle of Cambrai ch. 37 & 38: About to withdraw S. Landelinus from Lobbes, he set over that place the blessed man of God Ursmarus. S. Landelinus was then 60 years old.

ANOTHER LIFE

And perhaps older than the prior.

From the Utrecht Ms. of the church of S. Salvator.

Landelinus Abbot, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Adelinus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Domatianus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

BHL Number: 4698

FROM MS.

[1] Landelinus, a holy man, in the time of Dagobert king of the Franks, From the discipline of S. Autbertus, from the village which is called Vallis, like a star arose, & by S. Autbertus Bishop of Cambrai, at the petition of his noble parents, from the sacred font was raised & blessed. But when he was an adult boy they sent him back to the same Bishop, & committed him to his sanctity; that he might both instruct the little one in sacred letters, & with diligent care distinguish him in good manners. Whom the Antistes receiving, with paternal affection brought him up as a son. But when the Prelate noticed him to have advanced more honestly, & to have transcended the years of puberty in manners & knowledge; having no small hope of his salvation, with tonsure & Clerical habit he illustrated the boy Landelinus. But the ancient enemy, enemy of all goods, seeing this & envying, did not thunder terrors or threats, but with astute malice spewed forth into him the poison of deadly persuasion: he is led back to the world by friends who found some kinsmen & friends, sufficiently apt for this, through whom he might pervert his tender age. Brother, they say, we too wish to provide for thee, & thou shouldst hear us. See therefore, beloved, that thou be not seduced by anyone, nor wish to tarry longer in the monastery, or to be idle with the musicking Clerics. With these words they shook the rude mind of Landelinus, obtaining that he should withdraw from the monastery & the consort of the Clerics. To whose wills, by the counsel which he himself knew, God yielded; & yet his care for his chosen did not entirely recede from him, but for a time was silent.

[2] And perhaps for this divine grace for some time withdrew itself, that after grave faults he might more devoutly & humbly repent, & while he weeps for him. & afterwards more cautiously abhor evil. Finally David, after the sin of Uriah, asks himself to be saved & washed by a more ample washing; & after the denial Peter is read more bitterly to weep; & each rendered more devout & robust after the ruin. Beholding which the holy Prelate is inconsolably saddened, & laments over that lost one; not ceasing to offer prayers, weepings, & victims to the Creator. Meanwhile his seducers of Landelinus, both by words & examples, instantly urge him to sin, & hasten to entangle him with themselves with plunderings & robberies. Fallen to robberies. To confirm whose hope he changed his name, & made himself to be called Maurosus; that as a new robber, by a new name he might be reckoned; that whence he came, or who he was before, might not be known: by which he might more freely apply himself to new works; nor would the ancient mention of the name recall him. Headlong therefore Maurosus, exercised his free hands to whatever crimes, & as the leader of evils above all was held.

[3] Who when on a certain night he was disposing of one rich man's

house to break into, the soul of a companion seen carried off to the dead, & with violent hand to plunder his goods; divine dispensation recalled him from such a purpose, & changed the bad purpose of the robber. For on that night one of his companions is overtaken by sudden death; whose soul the malign spirits cast into the depth of hell according to his merit. With whose death known, Maurosus wastes away with sorrow, groans, & wails; & to such a degree the sudden sorrow grows heavy, that for excessive sadness he is compelled to fall asleep. To whom there appeared in sleep a man, displaying a gracious face, & demonstrated to him what place receives his companion, what fruit of malice. There Autbertus the Prelate, he says, weeps for thy danger: & while the slow death of sin holds thee in sleep, he weeps, & with vigils, & by the Angelic warning comes to his senses; prayers & sighs labors for thee. To him therefore it is necessary that as soon as possible thou return; & with the works of darkness left, obey his salutary warnings; that thou be not drawn to hell, but in celestial things enjoy our & the Angels' consort. And soon awaking, with the love of sinning & the fury of mind laid aside, with his companions left he presents himself to the Bishop.

[4] The Prelate noticing with what affection the youth weeps; he too weeping & rejoicing stretches benevolent hands to the returning, & received by the Saint & promises indulgence to the penitent. Whom also in lay habit for some time he made to converse in the monastery; until whatever he had contracted following the allurements of life, he might wash by the bath of salutary penance. Whom the Prelate when he noticed thoroughly cleansed by suitable satisfaction, distinguished by the crown & habit, by due blessing he made a Cleric. Who having obtained the dignity of such great grace, worthily considering the weight of the matter, with desire of greater sanctity, determined to go to Rome. Where devoutly to the pavement, with weeping & tears he prostrated himself, & asked the blessed Apostles more with vows than with voices. With prayers humbly performed with other good works, he returned to his own, & ordained Cleric. Deacon. Priest, & addicted himself to the magistery of the blessed Prelate, & forbade himself the delights of this life; more seeking labors, instance of prayers, fastings, vigils, than solace. Whose worthy sanctity advancing the holy Prelate seeing, promoted him to the office of Diaconate. Made a Deacon he went again to Rome; & to Cambrai, as before, again returned; thrice he sets out to Rome. & duly presented himself to the holy Pontiff: whom the Prelate after some days ordained Presbyter. Who

when he was performing the priesthood, lest he should be held ungrateful for such a great benefit, again visited the holy Apostles at Rome.

[5] Afterwards having returned to the Bishop, with two companions Adelinus & Deumianus, Constructs monasteries, of Lobbes, Landelinus by the grace of God providing prepared monastic cells in the Hainault district near the river Sambre, in the place which is called Laubias. And there they were macerating their bodies with fasting & abstinence, so that through the whole vicinity their good repute spread itself. Which spread, very many came there, rejoicing that in a humble field they had found an incomparable treasure: & many were associated with them, & others with generous hand offered temporal substances. of Alne, But Landelinus seeing many from different parts of the world gathered in the same monastery with their goods, that they might live more religiously; bidding them farewell he withdrew, with love & desire of poverty; & coming to a place which is called Alna, there prepared for himself a dwelling, rejoicing that in solitude with few he militated devoutly for God; not laying aside the rigid manner of living but day by day placing graver on grave: to whom many contributed very many things, of Waslare. & with him presiding they constructed a monastery. But when he had consummated the Alnense monastery with labor & diligence, withdrawing from there, another in the Templute district similarly he began, & in a brief time by the munificence of the faithful greatly expanded. And as he had visited B. Peter at Rome thrice, so also these three monasteries he wished to dedicate, & to assign his three-fold labor both of pilgrimage & of building to the Apostles. To whom also divine disposition designated another place, to which it destined him, with the things we have aforesaid fulfilled.

[6] Who with the aforesaid companions Adelinus & Deumianus taken, [About to construct a fourth, the lord of the place, resisting & punished, he heals,] arriving upon the river Hon, dwelt there: & there the forest which is called Amligis, seems to adjoin the same river. Which place, noticing, & finding nothing empty, where their new little huts could be placed; they took instruments that they might prepare a place for themselves. With them laboring the paterfamilias came, & harshly rebuked them, why they presumed to extirpate his forest; who also seized their garments, that struck by this loss they might not dare to proceed further. Whom divine vengeance pursued, inflicting upon him such great injury of his body suddenly, that lying stupefied on the ground he believed himself to survive the passion of death. Who understanding himself to be struck divinely, did not despise the holy man, but humbly supplicated, that he would deign to entreat God for his excesses. Whose pardon if the holy man unworthy taking pity should obtain, through his hands the same forest he would resign to God, that in it the holy man might thereafter according to his pleasure work. And the benign Priest seeing him almost dead, poured devout prayers for him to the supernal piety, & immediately he was made sound. Then the Saint there in honor of S. Martin prepared a small oratory, in which with the aforesaid disciples of Christ he immolated victims of penance to God.

[7] & from the fountain there raised it is called Crispinium; Water there was carried with labor to the necessities of the house, because the fountain of water in that place was not. But with the Saint praying, & with only the blow of his staff striking the surface of the earth, immediately a living fountain broke forth. Where when he had gathered a great flock of Monks, finally at last received by sleep, into the joy of his Lord he is led to be crowned. Whose body left in ashes & a hair-cloth, the disciples honorifically with psalms & prayers buried in his convent. And there having died is buried. Where from then & thereafter from those standing by him & serving him his protection does not absent itself, for to their vows & merits with generous benefit he presents himself; standing by Him on whom he desires to look upon the divine face, so that yet ready to be at the devout petitions of his he does not cease.

APPENDIX

From the Life printed in French 1636.

Landelinus Abbot, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Adelinus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

Domatianus, disciple, at Crispin in Hainaut (S.)

[8] The fountain of the Saint & a salutary gem: The fountain of S. Landelinus, of which mention is made in the Life, embraces in its circuit a hundred & more feet. It is believed & known by experiment to be salutary to those who are sick, who drink from it. But especially wonderful is, that the son of a baker of Crispin, submerged in it, & not extracted thence except dead, began to give back the waters he had swallowed & to revive, as soon as the father, most afflicted with that sad fall, commended the son to the Saint, according to the counsel of the Monks. An onyx also, The submerged boy revives. taken from the sacred chest & applied to the eyes, is said daily to bring relief to them. By which & other things the piety of the faithful excited, almost two hundred years ago, forged a pious lay Confraternity of forty, in honor of S. Landelinus, which still perseveres at Crispin. But to this monastery when pious & noble sisters, Bertha & Aegidia, of the Bossut family, had contributed many estates of their allod; & Godefrid & Yves, their brothers german, were striving to make the donation void; Sacrilegious profaner of the chest casts forth his entrails, the Monks carried the bier of S. Landelinus to Bossut, that he himself might plead his cause there. At the sight of the sacred bier Godefrid grew hot; & taking up his bow he shoots an arrow at the bearers; which harming none of them, fixed in the very case stood. And when the sun soon darkened announced an angered God; the throng indeed astonished stood, but Godefrid wholly trembled; & pressed by the sudden necessity of loosing his bowels, with the feces at the same time also discharged his entrails, & died.