ON SAINTS BERTHALD AND AMAND, HERMITS AND PRESBYTERS,
IN THE DIOCESE OF REIMS IN GAUL.
6th Century.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Berthold, Presbyter and Hermit, in the diocese of Reims in Gaul (S.)
Amand, Presbyter and Hermit, in the diocese of Reims in Gaul (S.)
BHL Number: 0326
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
§. I. Concerning the acts and Cult of Saint Berthold.
In the Province of Gaul called Champagne, whose metropolis is Reims, there are two mountains, in the Abbey of Chaumont a feast with an Octave of which one is called Bald, the other Beautiful, commonly Chaumont and Beaumont. These owe their celebrity to two hermits there, whom fame holds to have been ordained presbyters by Saint Remigius, the first Bishop of Reims, which most holy prelate flourished from the year 459 until 533, so that they can be reckoned to pertain to the 6th century. These were the holy Berthold and Amand, of whom here in turn it will be treated from the Chaumont monuments supplied by the Reverend Lord Casimir Oudin of the Premonstratensian order, a Religious in the monastery of Bucilly near Rethel, known by his published books. and in a proper office in which it is said, The life of Saint Berthold the people of Chaumont relate in summary, to be recited at Matins on the feast day and through the Octave thus customarily.
[2] Berthold, son of Theold King of Scotland and of Bertha, from his first years instructed in the humaner letters, and holily educated in Christian piety: stirred by those words of the Apostle, Christ suffered for us, Berthold born in Scotland leaving you an example that you should follow his footsteps: by the imitation of Christ he preferred to be illustrious rather than by Royal blood.
Wherefore, joining to compunction of heart the mortification of the flesh, and pious and salutary meditation on the Lord's Passion, he undertook a religious pilgrimage to those places where Christ, after immense labors and torments, and having set out for Jerusalem with Saint Amand endured death for us. By the sight and sanctity of which places, made more ardent in the love of God, divinely (since he was a man of desires) he went out from his land and from his Kindred and from his father's House; joining to himself as companion Saint Amand, young indeed in age, but a faithful servant of Christ: leaving parents, homeland, and having completed (not without much labor) a very long journey, at last he came into the County of Porcien.
[3] There was a mountain there, whose name was Mount Bald, full of poisonous reptiles and serpents, and on which the cries of malignant spirits were heard. is said to have come into Gaul, to Mount Bald To it Berthold goes with his Amand, and by his prayers and presence frees it from their injury, and on it builds a little hut of branches and stakes. But behold, while the pious men cultivate holy voluntary poverty and seek food from door to door, the inhabitants suspect that some danger threatens them from the arrival of foreign men, and, fearing snares, cry out that they must be driven from the land.
[4] Things being gradually calmed by divine virtue, the name, virtue and sanctity of the servants of God is spread far and wide, they are visited by many in the solitude, that he was famed for miracles, who are instructed by them in piety. The afflicted are consoled or, health recovered, depart having obtained their wish. Of which thing the envious common adversary of ours stirs up various conflicts against them, which by constant faith, prayer and pious exercise they put to flight and overcome.
At that time the blessed Remigius governed the Church of Reims, by whose virtues and doctrine Berthold being stirred, with his Amand sets out to him. By whom benignly received and instructed in sacred doctrine and adopted as a spiritual son, at length he is gradually promoted to the sacred order of the Presbyterate. ordained presbyter by Saint Remigius, Affected with which honor, he joyfully returns to his accustomed dwelling with his companion: to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass together with prayers and vows holily and religiously in the oratory which he had built not far from his little hut, in which he was often refreshed with divine visitations.
[5] From his very childhood years having entered the way of the commandments of God, shining to all with excellent morals, he cautiously fled youthful companionships as poison, and diligently attending the elders, he labored to make himself conformed to their morals; but as his age advanced, he excelled with such honesty of virtues, that he was the best example to all, and tempered his own acts with such weight of humility, that those beholding him glorified God. For he himself was the rule of equity, the light of truth, the mirror of chastity, the bond of charity and the image of Christian poverty. But of how great perfection he was, and of how great honor, one could scarcely relate. For so great sanctity shone in him that he raised the dead, freed those oppressed by demons, and conferred the aid of health on all the languishing who came to him.
[6] Now when the blessed Berthold had been in the aforesaid place more or less fifty-three years, to all a mirror of divine obedience, abstinence, chastity, patience, voluntary poverty, humility, and altogether as an exemplar of true piety: and after fifty years died most piously. now full of days, foreseeing his death, he calls his Amand: to whom, after he had set forth the thoughts of his mind and in what place he wished to be buried, crying with a great voice: Into your hands, Jesus Christ, I commend my spirit, he gave up his blessed soul to be carried into heaven. After his holy death, those who labored with various languors, coming to his sepulchre, were healed. Infinite miracles were afterwards done through him, and great things he daily works who, three and one, lives, God blessed unto ages of ages.
[7] The Breviary of the Metropolitan Church of Reims, published by the authority of Louis of Lorraine Archbishop of Reims, and with the consent of the Chapter of the same Church, in the year 1630, on the 16th of June contains an Office of three Lessons concerning Saint Berthold, Confessor and Abbot, with a peculiar third Lesson of this kind: Berthold, Elogium from the Breviary of Reims. son of Theold King of Scotland, preferring by imitation of Christ to be illustrious rather than by royal blood; undertook a religious pilgrimage to those places where Christ endured death for us. By the sight and sanctity of which places made more ardent in the love of God, leaving parents and homeland, God favoring well, he came from Ireland to the village of Castrice; with Amand as companion, young indeed in age, but a good and faithful servant of Christ. Who by the counsel of Saint Remigius choose a place to inhabit at Mount Bald: in which when Berthold had been more than fifty years to all a specimen and exemplar of obedience, chastity, poverty, and true piety; crying with a great voice: Into your hands, Lord Jesus Christ, I commend my spirit, he rendered his blessed soul to God. Of Amand nothing further is added: but that a cult common to both is held will appear from what follows.
[8] Guilelmus Marlot in book 2 of the History of Reims chapter 16, treats of Berthold's retreat at Mount Bald, and writes these things: Of Berthold very few things, and indeed from obscure codices, are read, which Another account from Marlot from the same Reims source lay entirely hidden from Flodoard and authors of the same age. He is said to be the son of Theold the King, who, when he had come from Ireland to the village of Castrice after many pilgrimages, with Amand his familiar and companion, obtained this place from blessed Remigius to inhabit: where he lived as a penitent for fifty years. So the Reims codex. Others relate that, nourished from his early age in the fear of God, he burned with desire to visit the sacred places of Palestine, and undertook the journey, to render his vows as a suppliant at Jerusalem, and others. where the Savior of the world willed to be immolated for us. Returning here to his homeland, beholding the delights smiling upon him, he resolved to hold for nothing the height of worldly glory and its fleeting roses, in comparison with the thorns of Christ, with poverty and retreat. Which that he might more easily accomplish, he crossed the Ocean with Amand the companion of his pilgrimages, and, having traversed several regions of Gaul, safely arrived at Reims with a lion as guide, he is said to have had a lion with him, which lion he is reported to have had in place of a companion throughout the whole journey, until, brought to the village of Castrice, he clung firmly at Mount Bald: which, laboriously cleansed of thorns and brambles, with a little cell erected on the summit, he sanctified with arduous penance. The aforesaid lion is said never to have deserted Berthold, but to have had him everywhere as a faithful companion, even when he went to Reims to visit Saint Remigius: by whom, his sanctity being known, found suitable for sacred Orders, he was ordained Presbyter, with the faculty besides given him of building an oratory beside his cell, which gave the beginning to the Chaumont monastery of the Premonstratensian Order. Berthold, after some years spent in the ascetic life, from a recruit becomes a teacher of sacred philosophy; and began to have disciples, whom he formed to virtue: among whom two Virgins are mentioned, Oliva and Libertas: who at his admonition seized a strict manner of living. The memory of these still flourishes in as many fountains, bearing the names of Oliva and Libertas, and that he was famed for miracles: in the wood which they inhabited living a solitary life. Still those suffering from fever and held by other diseases draw from there healthful water, as it is said, for recovering health. Berthold, after fifty years of penance hidden indeed and latent, but known to God, passed—not without grave conflict with the demons trying to call him away from his purpose—happily exchanged the miseries of life for the delights of heavenly glory on the 16th of June, in about the year five hundred forty-five, in the seventy-third year of his age. These things Marlot sets forth, as related by various authors, though not of the best faith; which we wish to be received and esteemed by the reader as they were written by him. Of his companion the lion it is also read in the Gallic Life, which Brother I. Lietau, died in the year 541. Prior of the Abbey itself, gave to be printed at Reims in the year 1634, with Saints Berthold and Amand placed on the front plate in eremitical habit.
[9] In Saussay's Gallican Martyrology, on this 16th of June, is celebrated Saint Berthold, Confessor at Reims, illustrious for merited blessedness. The same Henry Fitzsimon inscribed in his catalogue of the chief Saints of Ireland on this day too. the cult of Saint Berthold is noted; But Greven, in the Supplement to Usuard, printed about the years 1515 and 1521, on the 14th of June, refers Berthold the Confessor, whom we think to be this Berthold.
[10] As to the acts, we scarcely doubt that they were written in the 11th or 12th century or perhaps later, from a simple tradition, preserved there through five or six centuries. Whence those things which are produced concerning his homeland or parents do not appear to us so very certain. For although by Scotland, with Marlot, Fitzsimon and the Lesson related above, we understand Ireland: it is not persuasive that the homeland of him or of his Companion was Ireland. the names of Berthold himself and of his parents Theold and Bertha do not savor of anything Scottish or Irish, but rather of the French or Teutonic language; so that the parents may have been Toparchs, powerful in nobility and riches in some lordship of these regions. Amand is a Roman name; whose parents, as below named, are Germanus and Amanda; his siblings, Lucius and Proba; show nothing less than a Scottish origin: but rather persuade that all were natives of Gaul itself or of the neighboring regions; for even after the kingdom of the Franks was established in Gaul, those sprung from the old inhabitants, as they used Roman laws, so also used nearly Roman names.
[11] Nor is it sufficiently ascertained by us what Relics of Berthold are kept at Mount Bald
of Saints Amand and Viventius, of whom this one is venerated on the 7th of September, but his body, given to the Clerics of Braux on the Meuse, write Colvener, Other Saints there. Saussay, the Sammarthani, and in the Catalogue of the Saints of Reims sent to us, he is said to be venerated chiefly at Mouzon, where his body is held, which will be examined in its own time.
§. II. Concerning the Relics and Miracles of Saint Berthold and the indulgences granted to the place.
[12] Before we treat of the varied fortune of the Abbey of Chaumont, a translation made in the year 1248: it pleases us to add certain things from his Gallic life: in chapter 20 of which the author Lietaud says: That the translation of the sacred bodies, by the Religious and their Prior Brother Nicholas Bugnet, with the permission of the Archbishop, was made as secretly as possible, lest the people impede it, on the Vigil of Saint John the Baptist and the octave of Saint Berthold. But how long before, namely in the year 1248, the same sacred bodies were translated into new chests, is established from the following Instrument preserved in the archive of the Abbey itself. Guido, by the grace of God Bishop of Soissons, to all the faithful of Christ who shall inspect the present letters, salvation in him who is the salvation of all. Let your whole community know that We translated the Bodies of the blessed Confessors Berthold, Viventius and Amand, and of the holy virgins Oliva and Libertas, from the old caskets into new ones, and we inspected the names of the same Saints on schedules placed with their Bodies, as we learned from men worthy of faith. Done in the Year of the Lord 1248, on the Kalends of June.
[13] Toward the end of the said Gallic Life are also noted two miracles, performed in the year 1631 by the intercession of Saint Berthold in this manner: Anna de Bonnaire, widow of Guilielmus Rambaldus, in the village called Harpy, from a certain acute fever had her brain infected; by which malady she was vexed for a long time, as both the words she spoke in the year 1631 two frenzied persons healed. and her other actions gave testimony, as both parishioners and others saw and declared. This widow was led about Easter by her daughter Margarita and her son-in-law Joannes Coutier to the church and sacred Relics of Saint Berthold, and after prayers continued by custom through nine days, she returned sound in spirit and intellect and declared the grace done to her, with her daughter and son-in-law already mentioned and several others, before Quentelot, the deputy of justice in the said village of Harpy. Carolus de Sein, husband of Nicola Hardieburga, in the village of Serincourt, after a grave disease fell into frenzy and a certain perturbation of spirit. Being therefore led by his wife and Ioannes le Sein, receiver of the said Serincourt, and his wife Anna Baviana; after many disputations and foolish actions, when the sacrifice of the Mass was begun by the priest before the sacred Relics, the sick man cries out, addressing the said Receiver his kinsman, Do not detain me longer: now by the grace of God I am well. And at the same instant, taking up his garments, which in confusion he had cast off, he served the celebrating priest. Which both Carolus himself and the others named above attested before the Judges of Serincourt.
[14] To commend the memory of Saint Berthold conduce the indulgences granted to those visiting his church by various Cardinals and Pontiffs under the following tenors. Nicholas, by Divine compassion Cardinal Priest of the Holy Roman Church of the title of the holy Cross in Jerusalem, Legate of the Apostolic see in the Kingdom of France and the adjacent parts, to all the faithful of Christ who shall inspect the present our letters, salvation in the Lord. Since, as the Apostle says, we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ, to receive according as we have done in the Body, Indulgences granted in the year 1435 by Nicholas Cardinal of the holy Cross, whether it be good or evil; it behooves us to anticipate the day of the final harvest by works of mercy, and to sow so much in the earth, that we may be able to gather it again with manifold fruit in heaven; having firm hope and confidence, that he who sows sparingly, shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows in blessings, of blessings shall also reap eternal life. Desiring therefore that the Hospital, which exists founded in the monastery of Saint Berthold of Chaumont, in the County of Porcien of the diocese of Reims; in which, as we have received, great offices of charity are rendered to the poor of Christ, and in its church or oratory the Relics of very many saints are stored; where daily, through the merits of the Saints, miracles are seen to shine forth; that the worship of the Lord may grow by increase, and continually persevere in the accustomed offices of charity; that on this account the faithful may the more readily bestow their alms, the more abundantly they shall there feel themselves refreshed by the gift of heavenly grace; trusting in the mercy of almighty God and in the authority of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, to all truly penitent and confessed who shall stretch out helping hands to the fabric or ornament of that hospital, as often as they shall do it, we mercifully relax a hundred days of the penances enjoined upon them. Given at Arras, under the impression of our seal, on the day namely the 9th of the month of September, in the Year of the Lord's Incarnation 1435, in the fourth year of the Pontificate of our Lord Pope Eugenius the fourth.
[15] Hugo, by Divine compassion Bishop of Palestrina, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, called of Cyprus, deputed Legate "de latere" in the kingdom of France by the most Holy Synod of Basel gathered in the holy spirit, others by Hugo Cardinal of Cyprus representing the universal Church, to all and singular faithful of Christ to whom the present our patent letters shall come, salvation in him who is the true salvation. Although he, of whose gift it comes that he be worthily and laudably served by his faithful, out of the abundance of his piety, which exceeds the merits and vows of suppliants, bestows on those serving him well much greater things than they can deserve; nonetheless, desiring to render the people acceptable to the Lord, a follower of good works, we invite the faithful themselves to please him by certain alluring gifts as it were, namely spiritual indulgences and remissions, that thereby they may be rendered fitter for the grace of the Lord. Desiring therefore that the monastery of Saint Berthold of Chaumont of the diocese of Porcien of Reims, or the hospital situated in it and newly founded, and very recently desolated by the wars of the said kingdom, and so attenuated in its fruits and revenues, that without the alms of the said faithful the poor infirm and the demented, and the raging, and those vexed by malignant spirits and other infirmities, who flock there, and are miraculously delivered by devotion to the said Saint Berthold, could not be received and sustained in the accustomed manner, unless it be repaired and reformed in its buildings, and provision be made for the sustenance of the said poor infirm, and for the maintenance and increase of the Divine worship of the said impoverished monastery or Hospital; trusting in the mercy of almighty God and in the merits of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul and the authority of the universal Church, to all truly penitent and confessed who shall yearly devoutly visit the said monastery or Hospital, namely on the days of the Nativity, Circumcision, Epiphany, Resurrection, Ascension, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi of Our Lord Jesus Christ. As well as the Nativity, Annunciation, Purification and Assumption of the same Blessed Virgin Mary, the Nativity of Blessed John, of the aforesaid Apostles Peter and Paul, of Saint Berthold Patron of that Church, of the Finding and Exaltation of the holy Cross, of the Dedication of the Church, and of Saint Eligius the Confessor; as well as on the celebration of all Saints, and through the Octaves of those festivities, and shall offer pious alms of the goods conferred on them by God, and stretch out helping hands to the repair and rebuilding of the aforesaid monastery or Hospital, and the sustenance of the said poor, and the increase of divine worship; as often as they shall do this, a hundred days of Indulgences, on each of the aforesaid days, of the penances enjoined upon them, we mercifully relax in the Lord: in faith and testimony of which we have caused the present our letters to be made, and ordered them to be strengthened by the appending of our great seal. Given at Arras in the houses of our habitation, situated at the Gate of the great market, on the 14th day of the month of September, in the Year of the Lord's Nativity 1435, in the 13th Indiction, the sacred Council of Basel being in force, Thus signed, A Prato.
[16] And not only the Cardinals of the holy Roman Church, but also the supreme Pontiffs, at other times too, granted Indulgences to the said monastery of Saint Berthold, to all visiting the church on certain days of the year, Nicholas the fifth and Paul the second, of the following tenor.
Likewise by Pope Nicholas Nicholas, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the faithful of Christ who shall inspect the present letters, salvation and Apostolic benediction. The glory of perennial life by which the wondrous benignity of the Creator of all crowns the Blessed array of the supernal citizens, which, by those redeemed at the price of the blood poured out from the precious body of the Redeemer, ought to be acquired by the virtue of merits, among which that is known to be very great, that everywhere, but especially in the churches of the Saints, the majesty of the Most High be praised. Desiring therefore that the Church of the monastery of Saint Berthold of Chaumont of the diocese of Reims be frequented with fitting honors, to all truly penitent and confessed who shall yearly devoutly come to the said church on the festivities of the Purification, Annunciation, Assumption and Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and of the same Blessed Berthold the Confessor, and through the eight days immediately following those festivities, as well as on the anniversary day of the Dedication of the same Church, trusting in the mercy of almighty God and in the authority of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, we mercifully relax one year and forty days of the penances enjoined upon them. Given at Orvieto, on the fourth Nones of August, in the fourth year of our Pontificate.
[17] and by Paul II. Paul, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all the faithful of Christ who shall inspect the present letters, salvation and Apostolic benediction. Although he of whose gift it comes that he be worthily and laudably served by his faithful, out of the abundance of his piety which exceeds the merits and vows of those serving him well, repays much greater things than they can deserve; nonetheless desiring to render the people acceptable to the Lord and a follower of good works, we invite the faithful themselves to please him by certain alluring gifts, namely Indulgences and remissions, that thence they may be rendered fitter for divine grace. Since therefore, as we have received, although the notable monastery of Saint Berthold of Chaumont of the Premonstratensian Order, of the Diocese of Reims, was in its first and ancient foundation sumptuously erected and constructed in its structures and buildings, and richly endowed in fruits, revenues and proceeds; yet by the immense whirlwinds of wars, and very many other sinister events being the cause, it has fallen into such ruin, and its fruits, revenues and proceeds have become so diminished and slender, that the beloved sons the present Abbot and Convent of the said monastery cannot attend to its maintenance and repair, and support the accustomed burdens of the Hospital in the same monastery existing without any endowment, and sustain innumerable poor, infirm, and especially the frenzied, sent there daily and assiduously from everywhere with a certain singular devotion and for the sake of obtaining health, affirming a celebrated pilgrimage and thence there carrying back health by the help of God and the merits of the same Saint Berthold suffraging, unless by the charitable subsidies of the faithful of Christ intervening; We desiring that the Church of the said monastery be frequented with fitting honors by the same faithful of Christ, and that it
and the said monastery be repaired and maintained in its structures and buildings, and that the Hospital be endowed, that the Abbot and Convent as well as the poor and infirm there be sustained; and that the faithful themselves may the more willingly flock for the sake of devotion to the church of the said monastery; and may more readily stretch out helping hands to the aforesaid repair, maintenance, endowment and sustenance, the more they shall there behold themselves refreshed by the Gift of heavenly grace; trusting in the mercy of almighty God and in the authority of his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, to all truly penitent and confessed who shall yearly devoutly visit that church on the days of Saint Berthold and of the Dedication of the aforesaid church, and shall stretch out helping hands to the maintenance, repair, endowment and sustenance of this kind, five years and as many quarantines, of the penances enjoined upon them, in the Lord we mercifully relax, the present letters being valid for perpetual future times. We will however that if otherwise some other indulgence, in perpetuity or for a certain time not yet elapsed to last, has been granted by us to those visiting that church, and stretching out helping hands to the same repair, maintenance, endowment and sustenance, or bestowing pious alms there, or otherwise, the same present letters be of no strength or moment. Given at Rome at Saint Mark's, in the Year of the Lord's Incarnation 1466, on the sixth ides of March, in the third year of our Pontificate.
§. III. The History of the Abbey of Chaumont from the monuments of the place itself.
[18] Such a history, composed with great diligence, was supplied to us by the aforepraised Casimir Oudin, thus beginning: Known alike to the lowest and the highest, to the simple and the lettered, is the Abbey of Saint Berthold of Chaumont in the Archbishopric of Reims, of the Premonstratensian order, situated in the tract or County of Château-Porcien (commonly Chateauportien), the monastery of Saint Berthold, and copiously endowed, which flourishes with a sufficient college of Brothers and Regular observances. This is distant three hours from Rethel, and two from the aforesaid Castle; both cities being situated on the Aisne, on a certain rather arid summit, to which antiquity gave the name of Chaumont, where Saint Berthold with his companion Amand, coming from Scotland into Gaul, fixed his tabernacle and died. Every year, The Church, the body, on the day on which the holy Hermit departed from this world, a great multitude of the neighboring people flocks to this Abbey of Chaumont, to venerate his Blessed memory in the church consecrated to him, which keeps separately his precious body and his head intact. Nor does this happen only on the annual feast day, but also throughout the year, from various cities and towns even of distant parts, very many travel, who bring the insane and especially the furious to the temple of the holy Anchorite for the sake of paying a vow: who, remaining there through the Octave, and asking the divine novena of Masses for such persons, very often it happens that sound mind is restored to the insane and the rage of the raging is restrained.
[19] Whether the first disciples and successors of Saint Berthold professed the Scottish institute of Saint Columbanus, as several other monasteries throughout the diocese of Reims did, Of whatever institute the men of Chaumont were in the first centuries, as the very lineage of the Saint, derived from Scotland, might persuade, if indeed it is truly derived thence; or the Benedictine, which it is probable was there at least afterwards taken up by the example of the other monasteries of Gaul, I have nothing whence to define. It is certain that, the first inhabitants of whatever kind being dispersed or extinct, secular Canons were introduced there, concerning whose foundation the Lord Casimir thus writes to us.
[20] Raynaldus Count of Château-Porcien or (as the ancient monuments will have it) Count of Porcien, in the year 1045 or thereabouts (for the year is not determinately established) to the honor of Saint Berthold the Confessor, whom God had brought to the place of Chaumont, [Around 1045 their new church being founded, in the year 1087 Romancourt is given to it] that by his dwelling he might sanctify it; founds a college or Church of secular Canons, under the title of the said Berthold; to whom for endowment he assigns a great multitude of the woods nearby, the Tithe of the whole town, and various villas, with notable liberality, as will be established from a certain charter of the Lord Rodulphus Archbishop of Reims, of the year 1111, by which the said Raynaldus is asserted to be the founder of the Collegiate of Saint Berthold of Chaumont. He being dead, Rogerus son of Raynaldus, heir as of blood so of paternal piety, added in the year 1087, for the fuller sustenance of the said Canons, half of Romancourt, both in Tithes and in justice, with all the inhabitants pertaining to the same villa, as is evident from the following.
[21] In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity, of the Father and the Son and the holy Spirit, Amen. Be it known to all sons of holy Church, present and future, that I Rogerus, Count of the territory of Porcien, have handed over the villa of my right called Romancourt (it was afterwards a Priory of Benedictines depending on the Abbey of Saint Hubert, situated near Château-Porcien) with all its appurtenances, with the cultivated lands and certain adjacent lands, with woods, meadows, waters and watercourses, with the mill, with the ban and all justice, with all the inhabitants remaining in the same villa, and subject to me, with the whole household, to be had and possessed commonly in all things, to the Church of the holy Confessor Saint Theobald and to the church of Saint Berthold of Chaumont, for the remedy of my soul, and that of Ermengardis my wife, and of my daughter Sebilia, and for the quiet of all my progenitors; and free, in the presence of nobles and ignobles I made them, so that to none of my successors or ministers be it lawful to reclaim anything. The names, moreover, of the men and women whose head-rights belonged to me alone, are these: Fulmarus and his sons; Rainoldus, Anselmus and Ermeslendis; Ermeslendis and her sons; Fulco, Rainoldus, Radulfus with their sisters; Ermengardis and her sons, with the bondsmen Everardus, Constantius, Anselinus, Udela; Fulco the bailiff and his wife Bertrada; Rodulfus, Uldesendis with her daughters; Constantius, Josbertus, Herbertus the bald, with their sons; Balduinus, Rainaldus, Olda their sister, Burgundus, Harduinus his son with his sisters, Hersendis wife of Theobaldus. These moreover are the names of those whose services and advocacies, whether in the villa or outside the villa, I claimed for myself: Joannes and his sons, Rainerus, Adelardus, Acclinus, Durannus sons of Ermesendis; Albricus, Anselmus, Raynoldus the soldier with his family; Anselinus also called Bonellus with his wife; Radulfus son of Ermingardis; Thiebertus with his wife Corbuzeia with their sons; Theoldus, Harduinus sons of Hordiardis; Anselmus, Rodulfus, Hordiardis, Udela wife of Guarnorius with their sons; Anselmus with his family at that time bailiff, Everardus with his family, Albertus with his family: indeed neither must this be passed over, that if anything henceforth can be acquired in the same villa and allod, it shall be acquired equally by both churches, and the acquired things shall be divided in common. The witnesses of this donation were, whose names are subscribed, both of Roger the Count and of Albert the Count and Godefridus his son, of Ermengardis the Countess and of Sebilia and of Hugo the Scot and of Guidericus son of Gualcherus, and of Haroldus, and of Alemannus, and of Raynaldus, and of Gualterus, and of Gerardus and of Richerus and of Rainaldus and of Udo, and of many others. Done publicly in the year of the Incarnate Word 1087, in the 10th Indiction, while Philip King of the Franks reigned in the 28th year.
[22] I Rodulfus, by divine goodness, though unworthy, Archbishop of Reims, to all redeemed by the blood of Christ, perseverance in the unity of faith. Granted to the same by the Archbishop of Reims Bearing the solicitude of the Churches committed to us, we are more expressly compelled by the administration of our office to gather together their dispersed goods, and the gathered to consolidate in their state according to our power; that, even if not as much as we ought by the dignity of the priesthood undertaken, we may at least in some measure fulfill the measure of our name. Wherefore the Church of Chaumont, formerly most honorably enriched by the great estates of the Counts of Porcien, namely Raynaldus and Rogerus his son, to the Canons serving therein, with all things pertaining to the same, we grant by our authority to be held, and both to them and to their successors canonically to be substituted, the aforesaid church with its goods, of which the names are subscribed, by this testamentary document we confirm to be possessed in perpetuity. Namely the altar of Adun with the mill, land, meadows; the altar of Zuizerco; the half part of the altar of Trion with half of the church; the mill of Giriniaco, the mill of Ronne; Campiniolas with all appurtenances; part of the allod of Hardiliaco; the allod of Justina, which Hugo the Scot gave; the allod of Ciresiaco, which Rodulfus the White gave; the fourth part of the allod of Saint Ferreolus, which Radulfus son of Rohardus gave; half part of Romancourt, with all its appurtenances, which Rogerus the Count gave; the allod of Luziaco; the allod of Heribertus, son of Theodoricus of Burimachimonte; he enumerates and confirms. the land of Rosur; the land of Rubiniaco, of Widericus son of Galcherus; the allod of Lady Seigundis of Beheniaco; land at Meinbreciacum; the land of Guisweio; the land of Ohardus of Ultremonte; the ninth part of the revenues. Wishing moreover this precept of our authority to remain indelible, we have caused it to be strengthened with our image, and we have corroborated it by the testimony of probable persons. The Sign of Hugo Abbot of Hautvillers, of Hugo Abbot of Saint Basil, of Joranni Abbot of Saint Nicasius, and of Hardericus Abbot of Mouzon, of Rodulphus Abbot of Saint Theodoric, and of Bernardus Abbot of Mortemer, and of Fulco the Archdeacon, and of Ebalus the Provost, of Joffridus the Dean, of Lambertus the Cantor, of Cyricus the Vidame, of Bartholomaeus the Treasurer; the Sign of Odo, Ada, Elbertus, Priests; the Sign of Gerardus, Richardus, Deacons; the Sign of Guido, Gualterus, Subdeacons. Done at Reims in the year of the Incarnate Word one thousand one hundred eleven, in the fourth Indiction, while Louis King of the Franks reigned in the fourth year, in the year 1111. and in the fifth year of the Archbishopric of the Lord Rodulfus. Fulcradus the Chancellor wrote and subscribed. That these Canons, moreover, were not Regulars, as without any proof the author of the Gallic Life asserts, but seculars; is evident from a certain commemoration, customarily made each year there after the reading of the Martyrology, according to the order of the Necrology used in antiquity, in these terms: On the 4th Ides of September, the commemoration of Robertus, Priest and secular Canon of this church, who in his lifetime gave to our church nine sesters of grain yearly.
[23] Also in the year 1142 Henricus de Castello, Count of Porcien, of Chaumont and of Grandpré; and Clarembaldus, Lord of Rozoy; men most renowned in the world and in riches; with the assent of their kinsmen and heirs, that they might have an impressed image of the perpetual virtue of Berthold, erect an anchorite-cell in the place where the holy Hermit had once remained, and endow it for the eternal memory of the thing, in favor of two Hermits, Rodulfus and Guarnerius, to whom they give an allod in the territory of the wood which is called Terrisola, at the rivulet which the inhabitants call Urb, and whatever of the surrounding wood they could clear by themselves or by their ploughs, An anchorite-cell founded and approved by the Archbishop all of which is confirmed by an authentic writing of the Lord Samson Archbishop of Reims, under the following tenor. In the name of the Father and the Son and the holy Spirit. I Samson, by Divine compassion Archbishop of Reims, to all the sons of holy Mother Church, both present and future, in perpetuity. Since among the other defects of human fraility, by forgetfulness of very many things
we are tempted, it has seemed useful to note down in letters what by the unfolding of time we are forced to forget. To present and future therefore we wish it to be made known, that Count Henricus de Castello and Clarembaldus de Roseto, their wives and sons consenting, to Lord Rodulfus and Guernerius cultivators of the hermitage, freely gave an allod in the territory of the wood which is called Terrisola, above the rivulet which the inhabitants call Urb, with regard to the supernal recompense, without any exaction of land-rent or of any due. They granted also that whatever of the surrounding wood they could clear by themselves or by their ploughs, with the waters flowing around as much as should suffice for their uses, they should freely possess. The Canons too of Chaumont gave the whole Tithe of the same place to the aforesaid Brothers. That moreover this series of our confirmation may remain ratified and inviolate hereafter, we have caused it to be corroborated by the impression of our seal, and by the entitling of probable persons. Done at Reims in the year of the Incarnate word 1142, in the 4th Indiction, while Louis King of the Franks reigned in the 7th year, in the 3rd year of the Archbishopric of the Lord Samson. Drogo the Chancellor recognized, wrote and subscribed. in the year 1142, So the copy sent by Oudin, in which that something is erroneous is evident from the discrepancy of the aforenoted characters, since the year 1142 numbers the indiction V and the year of King Louis VI up to August.
[24] To this anchorite-cell moreover, as also to the Church of Saint Berthold of Chaumont, the lawful possessors of them assenting, and some of them tending toward a stricter observance, in the year 1147 or a little before, at the solicitation of Gualterus Abbot of Saint Martin of Laon, with Henricus Count of Grandpré and Samson Archbishop of Reims assenting and consenting, the Canonical order of the Premonstratensians was introduced, which, like all the prior things, since they are established by most certain documents, a manifest error is found to have crept into the Necrology of the place, where it is prescribed: Commemoration of Reginaldus de Roseto, who conferred this place on the Premonstratensian Order, it is handed over to the Premonstratensians in the year 1147: and who also granted us the ban-oven in this villa. For no other can here be conceived than he whom I said above instituted the College of secular Canons at the church of Saint Berthold. From the Premonstratensians, moreover, the first Abbot instituted was Joannes, a Canon of Saint Martin of Laon, who in the aforesaid year 1147 obtained the confirmation of the aforesaid introduction, and of all the goods pertaining to the said Abbey, first from Samson the local Metropolitan, subscribed by the hand of Drogo the Chancellor, and afterward in the same year 1147 and with the same tenor another from Eugenius III the Supreme Pontiff, the Abbots of these there. given at Paris on the 16th Kalends of June by the hand of Hugo Cardinal Priest, acting in place of Guido Cardinal Deacon of the Holy Roman Church and Chancellor. This Joannes was acting among men, and was still working at the plantation of the new Church in the year 1154, as is established from a certain privilege of Henricus Bishop of Liège, by which he confirms certain donations of goods to Chaumont in the cartulary page 18. After him Cæsarius the Abbot makes an agreement in the year 1158 with Vido Abbot of Saint Nicasius of Reims, from the Cartulary page 103. The third, Julianus in the year 1172. The fourth, Alelmus in the year 1181 and 1182 from the said cartulary; then in the year 1193 Albricus.
[25] This Abbot was long-lived if up to the year 1241, before which no other is found named, he ruled the monastery; and to his times must be referred the fact that in the year 1219 the church of Saint Berthold received a great increase by the excellent beneficence of Rogerius Lord of Roseto and of Chaumont, from whose instrument on that matter I take a fragment by which the same Rogerius endows the Church of blessed Berthold of Chaumont, which, he says, a new endowment accrues to them in the year 1219. before the other churches under my dominion serving God I love, and of which church I am a brother and wish to be both in life and in death, and in it with a solemn vow I have chosen my own burial. Then he confirms all its possessions under the date of the aforesaid year. Thus far that fragment, to which I find appended that the burial of the aforesaid Rogerius was recently found at Chaumont. After Albricus are found named Abbots, in the year 1241 Odo, in 1246 Petrus, in 1252 Joannes, in 1285 and 1310 Simon, in 1441 Petrus, in 1517 another Petrus; in which series it is certain that some are wanting, whose names have fallen out, or whose acts are nowhere found; the last, and a long-lasting Regular Abbot, from the year 1524 to 1570, was Gobertus Cousin, who (as is read in his commemoration) caused many silver vessels to be made in the church, and acquired many possessions for this monastery; he died moreover at Paris and was buried in the church of the Augustinians. Afterward the Abbey fell into the Commendam of Master Claudius le Roy, under whom by the heretics of Sedan in the year 1589 all things there were profaned and desolated.
[26] Meanwhile the merciful Lord showed how great was the merit of blessed Berthold, since from the time when the holy Confessor returned from earth to heaven, and willed a Church to be built to his name, he made it illustrious for his invocation's intercession by various miracles through several centuries, Attestation of the year 1430 and makes it illustrious to the present time. An attestation of these the Vicars General of the Archbishopric of Reims conferred in the year 1430, under this form. We the Vicars General in spiritualities of the Most Reverend Father in Christ and Lord, the Lord Raynaldus, by the grace of God Archbishop of Reims, obtained in his city and diocese of Reims, to all and singular faithful of Christ who shall inspect and hear the present letters, eternal salvation in the Lord. To the future and eternal memory of the thing. Because it is written, to manifest the works of God and of the Saints is honorable, and to publish among the faithful of Christ the evident miracles daily occurring by the merits and prayers of those very Saints; that thence to God through true Christians praises and thanksgivings may be rendered, and also almighty God be glorified in his Saints; We make known, and by the tenor of the present truthfully attest, that for a year, as well as for two, three, six, ten, twenty years and more, in the church or monastery of Saint Berthold of Chaumont in Porcien, of the diocese of Reims, certain infirm persons of both sexes, both males and females, even small children and adults, who were vexed and very often are vexed by unclean Spirits, of whom some with horses and carts, others on foot, others on horseback, for the sake of devotion and of recovering health were brought and very often are brought to the said church or monastery of Chaumont built and constructed in the honor of God and of Saint Berthold himself, of the energumens wont to be cured by the invocation of Saint Berthold, who had been before and many times are furious, demented or out of their mind, and therefore with hands and feet bound it was necessary, and many times is necessary, to keep them, on account of the rage and fury by which they were held, and from day to day, public report relating, are held: yet without doubt, as in many and for the greater part, after nine days, from their infirmities and the fury of rage and the vexations of demons, by the pious intercessions and merits of the most blessed Berthold the gentle Confessor of God, as is piously believed, were delivered, and recovered their pristine health, and from day to day are delivered and recover health, and from the said monastery often and very often departed and depart sound and unharmed, praising and glorifying God and Blessed Berthold: as upon these, at the request and supplication of the venerable Father in Christ, the Lord Abbot of the said church or monastery, it was made evident to Us, from the testimony of certain men worthy of faith, examined by us, their oaths being solemnly taken, in the presence of our Notary undersigned: to whom and to whose depositions we give full faith. In testimony of all and singular the aforesaid, to the present letters we have judged the seal of the Metropolitan Curia of Reims, which we are wont to use, to be affixed. Given and done at Reims in the Year of the Lord 1430, on the 19th day of the month of March, according to the use.
[27] Now the Abbey, plundered by the Huguenots in the year (as I said above) 1589, was treated no better by the Royal soldiers under the Count of Saint-Pol; who a few weeks after, the Huguenots being driven thence, After various hardships endured on the mountain fortified the place with a garrison, lest it again be a refuge for them. Meanwhile the Religious had withdrawn to the neighboring municipality of Château-Porcien, and there exercised their offices in a chapel there, pertaining to the monastery of Saint Hubert. Although moreover the Abbot Claudius had at some time restored the Abbatial buildings, yet by a chance fire those were again burned. Besides this, the temporal Lords of the castle of Chaumont did not cease to disturb the solitude dear to the Brothers: who, when by themselves and through their domestics they had even with sacrilegious daring struck, wounded, and worn down to a cruel death some of those Brothers; Stephanus Galmet, Priest and second Abbot Commendatory, transferred this monastery to a valley, at least one hour distant from Chaumont; a valley I say pleasant, fertile, to which the common people gave the name of Piscina (the Fishpond), on account of the convenience of a spring. The work was begun in the year 1623 as is established from the following marble inscribed at the greater door of the church: Stephanus Galmet of Orléans, in the year 1623 the Abbey is transferred. Counselor and Almoner to the Most Christian King, Abbot Commendatory, transferred and built this monastery, for the sake of preserving Ecclesiastical immunity, in the Year of the Lord 1623. It was completed moreover at immense cost, with excellent Abbatial buildings, and a spacious enclosure, but with a modest and simple temple and cloister, about the year 1634, in which the church was dedicated by Henricus by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See Bishop of Tarsus, as is evident from what is immediately subjoined:
[28] Henricus by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See Bishop of Tarsus, Coadjutor of the Bishopric of Avranches, as well as Vicar general of the most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord, the Lord Henricus of Lorraine, Archbishop Duke of Reims, first Peer of France; this Church with its altar, transferred and built by the Most Reverend father and Lord, the Lord Stephanus Galmet, Counselor and Almoner to the King, and Abbot Commendatory of the present monastery, in honor of God the best and greatest, and of his most holy Confessor Berthold, we consecrated; and to all the faithful of Christ who shall piously and devoutly visit the said church on the anniversary day of the Consecration, each year 40 days of true indulgence, in the form accustomed by the Church, we granted, in the Year of the Lord 1634, the first Sunday of the month of May. Signed Henricus Bishop of Tarsus. Liethaud, Prior of the same Abbey, in the Gallic Life of Saint Berthold chapter 10 asserts, that to this Abbey are annexed twelve parochial churches, with some Priory and various chapels, among which are two parishes in the diocese of Liège, Ogy and Maisnil, whose collations belong to the said Abbey.
[29] That Gallic booklet ends with the Litanies, customarily chanted to Saint Berthold, in which he is called, Imitator of Jesus Christ, Visitor of holy places; Lover of the cross, of charity, Litanies concerning Saint Berthold of chastity, of all virtues; Father lovable and admirable; Good guardian of his faithful, Benign lover of his neighbors; Faithful as Abraham, Obedient as Isaac, A wrestler as Jacob, Chaste as Joseph; Despiser of the world, Vanquisher of demons, Worker of miracles,
Salt and ornament of morals; Follower of humanity, Mirror of perfection, Rule of poverty, Norm of abstinence, Flower of piety, Light of devotion, of prayer, of contemplation; Form of penances, Protector of those crying to him, Refuge of the wretched, Raiser of the dead, Consort of all the Saints: and this Prayer is subjoined at the end:
Almighty everlasting God, who through the glorious examples of Saint Berthold the Confessor showed us the triumphal way of humility and poverty; grant, we beseech, that the way of saving penance, through which that venerable Father of ours went before unharmed, aided by his excellent merits, we may follow without error.
§. IV. Concerning Saint Amand the hermit of Beaumont and his Relics and cult at Reims.
[30] The Chaumont monuments, from which we have hitherto proceeded, treat thus of Saint Amand, from Beaumont where Saint Amand lived and dying was venerated as if, the inseparable companion of Saint Berthold for fifty years until death, he had left to posterity no other memory of himself except the Relics of his body; meanwhile it is established from the tradition of the monastery of Beaumont, now devolved to the right of the men of Chaumont, that he so instituted the eremitical life at Beaumont, that he gave the beginning to the said monastery founded there. Nay, even the Legend of the Saint, such as was afterward translated to Reims together with the Relics, runs through entirely, without any mention of Berthold, to whom, if he was his survivor for long, it scarcely appears credible that he himself was his disciple and much younger. the Relics translated to Chaumont A more probable conjecture perhaps would be that Amand with Berthold, whether before or after taking up the eremitical life each in his own place, equally—not to Jerusalem, whither Berthold at the beginning of his conversion had set out, but to Rome to the thresholds of the Apostles—made a pilgrimage and cultivated familiarity, and was present at his death, being summoned, being now himself the Abbot of several disciples, equal in age and in fame of virtue; whose body, after he died, was still at Beaumont, when the aforesaid Legend was written. Then, the place being desolated, a notable part of the body was translated to Reims to the greater Hospital there; and the Hospital of Saint Mary of Reims a part retained by the men of Chaumont.
[31] Flodoard in the History of Reims book 3 chapter 10 mentions a Xenodochium (hospice) magnificently constructed and endowed by Archbishop Hincmar, who flourished in the mid-9th century, in these words: For the Canons too of this Church of Reims he established a Hospital for the reception of pilgrims or poor, fitting things being deputed for it, with the consent of the Coepiscopi of the Diocese of Reims, and their subscriptions. That that very Hospital is the one which under the title of Saint Mary still survives today near the Metropolitan church, though it has suffered various chances and changes, the aforepraised Marlot strives to persuade by many arguments in book 3, chapter 29, and says that it has more or less twenty Veiled women ministering by turns the necessaries to the sick, and four Regular Clerics, to whom the care of souls is left. Casimir Oudin indicated to us that it was done not so long ago that the veiled women, or Nuns professing the Rule of Saint Augustine, enclosed in a chest, for greater devotion, the notable Relic of Saint Amand which they had, likewise that there exists among the same a Choral codex more than two hundred years old, from which he sent transcribed the Legend of Saint Amand himself with Antiphons, whence taken from the Manuscript Life which says, that Responsories, etc., with rhythmic modulation not uncultivated, which being omitted, I shall be content here to give the life.
[32] Amand, an Ascetic of our Lord Jesus Christ, by nation Scottish-born, was descended from a notable lineage. His father indeed was called Germanus, his mother moreover was named Amanda. These indeed, with the Lord assenting, begot three offspring, namely the aforesaid Amand, and Lucius his uterine brother, and one little sister of theirs, called Proba by name. But indeed Amand, a little boy of good disposition, was by his religious parents handed over to the study of letters. Who in a short time so drew in the whole fountain of spiritual understanding, that he needed utterly no teacher, after excellent progress in studies except him who is the Master of all. Nor is it wonderful, where the Holy Spirit is Master, there is no delay in learning. Thereafter indeed the strenuous boy strove with all his might to become a perfect man: he made little account of present things, as he had vowed in boyhood, esteeming as nothing all things except that which was the joy of eternal salvation. But after he was imbued with the five keys of wisdom, he began to advance from day to day for the better: namely to recall the discordant to concord, to feed the needy, to clothe the naked, to seek many churches for the name of Christ. To these, why say much? Ordained Presbyter, At last by the judgment of his Prelate he obtained the summit of the Presbyterial Order, and so much the more burned in the divine work because he knew himself most strictly bound to works and discourse. He offered every day a holocaust to the Lord, not from another's flock, but from his own breast; because he was increased with sacerdotal preferment. After other and many innumerable things, the divine grace inspiring him to desert his native soil, for the sake of obtaining the supernal prize, and having made a pilgrimage to Rome, together with his parents and his uterine siblings, and a household of both sexes eighteen, he set out joyfully on the Roman journey. Then indeed, while they passed through many perilous journeys, through rocks, they sought Rome, the grace of the holy spirit going before them. There indeed having tarried somewhat, having seen the Relics of the Apostles and Martyrs which rest there, frustrated of having these at all for the Churches of his homeland, he had resolved to return to his own with bare feet.
[33] But passing through Italy and upper Gaul, they sought the Province of Reims, Saint Remigius the Archpriest at that time procuring the pastoral care of the Church of Reims. he came into the diocese of Reims, It befell the Saints to pass through a certain little place, situated in a certain wood, which is called by the people Pulchermons (Beaumont) up to this present day. There the Saints, desiring to give their wearied bodies a little rest on account of the labor of the journey, prostrated themselves on the ground. There they took boiled food, set with herbs and roots, carrying nothing with them except a staff. But so great a thirst attacked them all, that they nearly breathed out their spirit, since it had grown excessively hot upon them, for it was then summertime. As all cried out from the ardor of thirst, especially the mother of the gentle Amand (since she was already exhausted and wrinkled with much labor), the Confessor of Christ, hearing the cry of the people which was with him, prostrated himself on his knees to the ground, and began from his inmost lips to implore the power of the Almighty, that he would deign to come to the aid of those in peril from thirst. Heaven indeed lay open to his prayers, and his prayer ascended before God like the smoke of incense. he drew forth from the earth a spring for his thirsting companions And in a wondrous manner there came forth divinely, beside the staff which was fixed in the ground, a most copious spring, so that he himself drank together with his mother parched with thirst, and his whole company. The man of God understood at once that there would be the gate of heaven, and made a vow to the Lord, never to depart from the aforesaid little place, because it seemed to him acceptable to God, since it was remote from the world and planted around with woods on every side. Therefore the lamp could no longer lie hidden under a bushel, and the possession of the place being obtained he built a shrine: but was placed on a candlestick, that it might shine to all in the house of God. After such things indeed the gentle man approached Clovis, King of the Franks, a Christian, recently baptized by Saint Remigius; and obtained for himself the granting of the aforesaid little place, with all that lies around in a circuit. Returning therefore the man of God from the Court of the King, he constructed in the aforesaid place a certain Basilica of Saint Peter the prince of the Apostles. The people indeed began from everywhere to see his presence, and to praise the clemency of the Savior, and most devoutly to drink from that most sacred spring divinely given: because indeed there was in him such virtue, that none approached him so sick; and there was buried by Saint Remigius. for the sake of drinking or for the sake of washing, but he departed home sound without delay. Now too many virtues are wrought in this place, by the merits of the aforesaid saint, who was buried by Saint Remigius. There sight is restored to the blind, walking to the lame, solace to the sorrowful, freedom to the demoniacs, as is evident up to this present day to all the faithful. Not to be passed over, but to be handed down to the memory of the faithful, are the miracles which were performed by the merits of Saint Amand.
[34] The Christian people indeed, hearing the prodigies and signs, which were done by the most copious merits of the Saint; began in throngs to frequent the place from all parts, where the man of God was buried. Now seeing the Prelate of Reims that his Basilica would be too narrow, for receiving the people coming in; he decreed by the counsel of all to construct a larger one. Afterward indeed they set out on a journey to a certain village situated in the district of Laon, For building a more ample church, with carts and wagons, in which there were squared stones abundantly frequent, from which they loaded the carts and many yokes of oxen, and returned to the aforesaid little place, through the ford of a certain river, which is commonly called Asneum, exceedingly perilous. As all came out of the ford, a certain poor little widow remained behind, accompanied by her own only son, who had a huge squared stone placed upon her cart, so burdensome that it would break the axle of the cart, before they should reach the bank of the river. The little woman, seeing the breaking of the axle and the fall of the stone, which was fit for the work of God; most swiftly crossed the river, and fell prone on her face. Thereupon therefore she rose as quickly as possible to her feet, the stone carried and fallen into the Aisne emerges by a miracle. and began earnestly to implore the clemency of the Almighty, lest the stone brought with great labor be lost. Afterward indeed, while she ran here and there and sought help, and very often looked back, she saw divinely the aforesaid stone floating upon the water, and two doves drawing it with their beaks to the bank, not without the people's great admiration. The very stone is still held in the structure of the same Oratory, as is clear to all who behold, to the praise of the name of the supreme king, who stands wondrous in all things.
[35] On a certain day moreover a certain free woman, with another company, sought the aforesaid Basilica for the sake of praying, The hand of one plucking a pear from the place that the Saints, whose Bodies rest there, might at some time deign by their intervention to come to her aid. The prayer being finished, she went out. Seeing near at hand a certain pear tree, which was planted beside the monastery, very greatly laden with pears, she desired exceedingly to take its fruit. Who at once approached the tree, stretching out her hand with all effort, to take its fruit. Alas for grief! So suddenly did her hand cleave to the branch of the aforesaid pear tree, that in no way could she move herself from that place. The woman indeed, seeing her own hand to have cleaved to the tree, began from her marrow to lament, and to implore the clemency of the Savior; and to call by name the holy servant of God Amand, that he would deign to obtain for her indulgence with the Lord, that she might deserve to return home unharmed by his most holy prayer. But in a wondrous manner her former hand was at once restored to her divinely, cleaving to the tree, is freed when she repents. by the obtaining of the Saints who rest there and by their prayers. By which
thing being compunct, the little woman again enters the oratory, revisits the bodies of the Saints which are held there, that she might deserve to abolish the offense committed, by their most holy prayers. The prayer being finished, with thanksgiving, she handed over with her own hand both by branch and by clod, a certain very fertile cultivated plot lying beside the aforesaid Basilica, to be had by the same Church in perpetuity. And if anyone shall wish to detract anything from it—which be far—or to defraud the Church, let him be subject to excommunication by the authority of Saint Peter and Saint Remigius the Archpriest and Saint Amand the Confessor, as well as of all the Saints whose bodies rest in this church, our Lord Jesus Christ assenting, who with the father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns through all ages. Amen.
[36] The Relics translated into a new chest Thus far the Life found in the same place in which Marlot had found the Legend of Saint Berthold to be described summarily as we saw above. Hence it occurs to wonder that he treats so meagerly of Saint Amand that he does not seem to have read his Life set before it. More wonderful, however, is that, finishing the aforecited chapter with an enumeration of the Relics venerably kept in the Hospital itself, he did not mention the reliquary of Amand. But perhaps it was not yet made, when in the year 1666 he published the first volume of his history. Be that as it may, from the Gallic Life of Saint Berthold we know that some Relics of this one too were translated from Chaumont to the Hospital itself together with the Legend which Marlot described, and that his feast is kept there on this day. Chiefly however Saint Amand is venerated there, and that on the 16th of August on account of the aforesaid translation then of his Relics from the old chest into a new silver one, namely the head and certain bones, on the 16th of August, festive for that reason. which Lietaud presumes to have been translated from Chaumont to Reims, recognizing that those are lacking at Chaumont. To me it appears more probable that they were brought directly from the monastery of Beaumont; on account of the Legend, of which at Chaumont there seems to be no knowledge.
[37] I finish with a certain annotation of Marlot placed in the margin, by which he warns that Saint Amand is perhaps Altimundus or Antimundus, of whom he had treated in chapter 10. Who this Antimundus was, he says there, or of what disposition a man he was endowed, Matthaeus de Pres relates in the Morinian Chronicle, where he says, not far from Reims there lived a poor man in a hut, not altogether rude in letters, but modest: whom piety had called away from forensic matters to the sacerdotal office, then to a segregated life. Where again in the margin he annotates, that this Antimundus was perhaps the companion of blessed Berthold of whom in chapter 16. Which pleases less: for, even by Marlot's own confession, Antimundus is said to have been destined by Saint Remigius to evangelize the Morini, and to have been made Bishop of Thérouanne: about whom Malbrancus can be consulted in book 2 on the Morini chapters 39, 43 and 44, where he confesses he has not yet found the day of his death.