Odo

ON BLESSED ODO,

ABBOT OF ST. MARTIN OF TOURNAI, THEN BISHOP OF CAMBRAI.

IN THE YEAR 1113.

Preliminary commentary on the writers of the Life.

Odo, Abbot of St. Martin of Tournai, and Bishop of Cambrai (Bl.)

G. H.

[1] Blessed Odo flourished in the 10th and 11th centuries of Christ, summoned from Orléans to Tournai in the year of Christ 1087, and there presided over the public schools up to the year 1092, The time of his life and death. when he began to cultivate the monastery of St. Martin under the rule of St. Augustine; and afterward in the year 1095, the habit of St. Benedict being taken, established Abbot, ruled the said monastery up to the year 1105, when he was made Bishop of Cambrai, and at last in that dignity migrated from this mortal life to Christ, on this 19th of June, in the year 1113. The Chronological characters are more conveniently illustrated below at the second Life.

[2] The first writer of his Life was Amandus de Castello, Prior of the monastery of Anchin, by whom Blessed Odo in his last illness was most tenderly received, The Life by an eyewitness author: treated with great solicitude, refreshed with divine colloquies, and sustained with spiritual consolation: to whose name too Odo himself is said to have consecrated some little work of his toward the end of the Life which some call a funeral Oration. This Life we give from an old manuscript of the monastery of Marchiennes (over which the said Amandus afterward presided as Abbot) collated with that published by Arnold Raissius in Belgica Christiana, another than that which Franciscus la Barre, Prior of Anchin, beginning to write in the year 1646, inserted into the monastic History arranged in eight Parts and 13 volumes, comprising the same the institutions of almost all the monastic orders, inserted into the monastic history, a manuscript of the year 1596 and of the illustrious men who were from the beginning of the nascent Church, up to the renowned men of the institute of the Cistercians; likewise the names of very many monasteries and of the first Abbots. That vast work I myself saw described by the proper hand of the Collector in the monastery of Anchin: but I have it transcribed in as many volumes in our Museum; for the Monks of Anchin were unwilling that it should be taken from them; but Rosweyde believed it greatly mattered to him, to have it whole and ready at hand; already then having conceived in mind the work, as it is transcribed among us. which after his death Bollandus began to bring forth. Of the first Part therefore of the said work, we have a copy of the manuscript of Marchiennes, faithfully transferred thither by the aforesaid Barre: which Barre with how great honor and reverence he followed Blessed Odo, he manifests in his additions to the margin, in which he adorns him with the title of Saint in these words: "The love of St. Odo toward the people of Anchin. The virtues of St. Odo. The first institution of the life of St. Odo. The conversion of St. Odo to monasticism. etc." With the title of Blessed only the said Raissius honors him both in the cited Belgica Christiana, and in the Auctarium to the Births of the Saints of Belgium published by Molanus, and in the Hierogazophylacium Belgicum p. 57. The same the Sammarthani do in Gallia Christiana, where they treat of the Bishops of Cambrai.

[3] But also the aforesaid Amandus, in the Life no. 7, says that this Blessed one died on the 13th of the Kalends of July. Moreover Molanus in the Births of the Saints of Belgium, when he had treated on the 9th of October of Blessed Goswin Abbot of Anchin, a rescript of the reverend Prior Francis Barre being cited, a compendium from Molanus. adds this Appendix: "In the same church rests, covered with white marble, the venerable Odo, Bishop of Cambrai, before the first Abbot at Tournai at St. Martin's: who himself writes in the book on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, that Anchin was to him a sweet refuge of his exile, while by the royal power he was driven from the see of Cambrai, because he refused to receive again the staff and ring, which consecrated he had received from the Church, by the gift of the Emperor (who was Henry the fourth). He died on the 13th of the Kalends of July, and presently Amandus the Prior wrote letters, full of grief about the sanctity of the deceased Father: whose beginning is: 'The humble Congregation of the monastery of Anchin, to all who are solicitous for their salvation.'" These things Molanus: to which similar Miraeus added on the 9th of October.

[4] But because Amandus the Prior brought forth only a few things, which then occurred, in his writing, we subjoin another Life to the former, put together from various sources, and chiefly from the collection of Francis Barre. Another Life from Hermann In this is alleged the History of Hermann the 3rd Abbot of the monastery of St. Martin, of which in Valerius Andreas in the Bibliotheca Belgica this title is said to be: "The History of the reparation or restoration of his monastery, by Odo afterward Bishop of Cambrai, done from the year of Christ 1092 up to the year 1142." Moreover the said Amandus the Prior brings forward things sent to him by Jacobus de Marquys, established Abbot of St. Martin in the year 1584, a pious and learned man, and Jacobus the Abbots and others. who among other treatises written by him published the Deeds of the Abbots of his monastery, which are there preserved in manuscript, and excerpted from there by him Francis Barre received, and inserted into his Collection. We from all put together the Life, the order of the deeds and times being preserved, since what was written by Hermann we cannot separate; and the narration itself thus too stands excellently for the reader's grasp. To these too we interpose some things, which are indicated by others as done in the Episcopate.

LIFE by the author

Amandus de Castello then Prior of Anchin. From manuscripts and the edition of Raissius.

Odo, Abbot of St. Martin of Tournai, and Bishop of Cambrai (Bl.)

BHL Number: 6287

BY THE CONTEMPORARY AMANDUS FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

[1] The humble Congregation of the monastery of Anchin, to all who are solicitous for their salvation, salvation in the Lord. Most beloved, The writer's invective against death we charge you, that by your prayers we may deserve to be relieved from the sadness which presses us. Alas, bitter death which dividest brothers and dissociatest friends! Whence this power to thee? After the cross of Christ, who restored these rights to thee? Surely he laid thee low, he overcame, who long ago through the Prophet threatened thee: "I will be thy death, O death: I will be thy bite, O hell." Hosea 13:14. If therefore the death of Christ took from thee the strength of harming, how dost thou compel those to die, whom he himself, always to live with him, redeemed from death? For his words in the Gospel are these: "Everyone who believes in me shall not die: and he who believes in me, even if he be dead, shall live." John 11:25. But perhaps someone will say: "What a beginning has the newcomer given? To what purpose these things?" Believe, Brothers and Lords, to whom these things shall come, that not unbelief, but grief of mind, extorted from us this beginning of speaking, and as it were we made an invective against death.

[2] Although we know that the departure of the just from this world is called in the Scriptures Sleep or Falling-asleep (whence the Psalmist says, "When he shall have given sleep to his beloved"; and the Lord in the Gospel, "Lazarus a our friend sleeps") yet we cannot command ourselves not to grieve: when we recall to mind Lord Odo, Bishop of Cambrai, who lately departed from this world among us. Ps. 126:2, John 11:11. For detained by a grave illness, on account of the death of Blessed Odo among the people of Anchin. he made his way to us; and how much he had loved our church in life, he demonstrated at his end. He, while he lived, was to us a father in counsel, a mother in piety, a friend in benefit. Nor is it strange if we cannot endure the longing for his absence, to whom it happened to have lost the solace of the present life. For we grieve our lot, not his: because we, still walking among the snares of this world, believe that he has escaped to better things. We believe, I say, because with the just he now glad sings: "As we have heard, so also we have seen in the city of the Lord"; and with Moses he wonders saying: "Passing over I will see this great vision." Ps. 47:9, Exodus 3:3. A great vision of God he now has indeed to see, because when he was in the body, he loved not his own but His will.

[3] But who could worthily enumerate the virtues which he had possessed? what rather to praise in him? If you proclaim his patience, his kindness, his humility, whatever you shall say will be less. So in each he was eminent, as if he had not the rest. And, that I may briefly set forth his daily life in worn and common words: he was mild in address, sweet in speech; nothing gladder than his severity, nothing graver than his gladness: the cheerfulness of his face tempered the gravity of his morals; but gravity presently tempered the cheerfulness of his face. To lie and to swear he either knew not or willed not: the tongues too of flatterers or detractors he prudently avoided, and both kinds of men he fled like plagues of the soul. Against those he hedged his ears with thorns, lest he hear a wicked tongue: against these he knew it was written, "The words of flatterers, soft, strike the inner parts of the belly." Prov. 18:8. To no one did he render evil for

evil, and by Apostolic doctrine: or a curse for a curse; and like a lamb sent among wolves, he had not the bite of malice. He provided good things, not only before God, but also before men, that without offense he might preside over the Church which he ruled. With the grace of Apostolic doctrine too he shone; and as much as was in him, he recalled all both by the word of preaching, and by the best instruction of morals, from the world.

[4] Among the tokens of these virtues, I think it superfluous to praise chastity in him: whose life, even before his conversion, was for the continence which he had, an example to all. And what ought to have been said first (but I have not undertaken to say all) at that time too, that is before his conversion, he loved chastity: to return to former things, he was so wholly in his books, as if he believed he had no rest, except the labor which he had seized in the exercise of the scriptures. For he was grounded in grammar, adorned with rhetoric, armed with dialectic, and a great throng of disciples followed him unceasingly occupied with these studies: who, gathered from everywhere to the fame of so great a man, thirsted to be informed by his discipline, devoted to studies, to be instructed by his teaching. Here perhaps someone might pause and say, how ardent of genius he was, how tenacious of memory, how temperate even then in his morals, sober in his words, careful in doctrine, he taught others: cautious in disputations, prompt in resolving questions. So great finally was the quiet in his schools, so great the peace among his disciples and the composition of life, by his diligence, that he might seem deservedly able to be called not so much a master of letters, as a Bishop of souls. b

[5] But after the books of Blessed Augustine, on free will and true religion, came into his hands; immediately changed into another man, he began to hate what he had before loved, and to love what he had before hated. O good Jesus, how great a change of the man! There is made for the poor of Christ a distribution of goods, abstinence from food and drink, maceration of the flesh; made Abbot of the monastery of St. Martin built by himself, and all the zeal which he had before spent in secular disciplines, converting into true philosophy, he made of his disciples companions by his example, and by his doctrine converted many: and afterward, the Cleric being left outside, made a Monk, he built the monastery which is called at St. Martin's, at Tournai. By all who through him, or with him had left the world, he is chosen Abbot, consecrated. Many things I pass over because I hasten to others. Then indeed as if a new light was seen to rise in that region: for the people was converted at his preaching; among marriages, by the consent of both parties, holy divorces were made; fathers from sons, sons from parents were divided by the sword of the word of God. All, as in the time of the Apostles, brought into common the prices of the things they had possessed. Young men and maidens, old men with younger, vied in casting off the burden of this world: as if now they were not of this world, naked and light they longed to fly to heaven. Their city seemed to them as a prison; the monastery, a paradise: but he himself, made all things to all, appeared weak to the weak, robust to the sound: and, as if he were the father of all, so from the soul he bore the care of all. he leads very many to the monastic life Alas, the uncertain provision of human affairs! To the glad beginnings temptation was present: and Satan, who was present even among the sons of God, sought them out to sift them like wheat. In this place let the black pen rest from pouring in the poisons of detraction with an arched wound; and let it not refer to the calumny of so great a man, that some of them, the holy purpose being dismissed, returned to the world. Acts 4. If it dares not reprehend Christ, that many of his disciples went back, and now walked not with him; let each one spare his tongue, spare his soul; and let him strive to escape the most wicked vice of detraction, as the last dart of the devil. For there are few, that I may not be silent even about the Religious, who so exhibit their own life irreprehensible, that they do not gladly reprehend another's.

[6] Why many things? So great a lamp Christ does not suffer to lie hidden under a bushel, but by the grace of God, that it might shine to all who are in his house, he is made Bishop of Cambrai, he is taken up to the Episcopate of the Church of Cambrai. Then indeed how great and of what kind his life was, how mindful he remained of his former humility and poverty, we produce as many witnesses as there are men held in that city. But, because we have digressed too far from what was begun, let us now, all things being laid aside, return to our sick man.

[7] Sick at Anchin To Anchin, as we said, he caused himself to be carried: where, all things which befit a dying Christian being duly fulfilled, he seemed to await his last hour so cheerful, so secure, as if not he himself who was ill, but another in his place were about to die. Whence a certain Brother led into astonishment, all witnesses being removed, alone approached him alone, and whether he feared, his little ear placed to his mouth, diligently investigated; Then he, to speak in his words, he fears not to die, when he said, "Why should I fear?" and this one objected, "Both the danger of death, and, because the judgments of the Lord are a great abyss, and because in thy sight no living man shall be justified, and other things of this sort"; he, being silent a little, and as if first deliberating something within himself, answered: "I fear not." Ps. 47, Ps. 142. The Brother, wondering, was silent; and perceived that he had great confidence with God. But this Blessed one died on the thirteenth of the Kalends of July: he rendered his soul to Christ, we his body to burial. and he dies on the 19th of June. All therefore, our Brothers and Lords, to whom these things to be read shall come, we pray you too for him, that for himself he prayed for us. For our Abbot being more secretly called to him, to set down his words: "Ask, most dear," he says, "the convent of Brothers, that for me they would deign to intercede with God; whose judgment, without his mercy, I shall not be able to endure."

[8] For the man's merit we have said few things, and inferior to his due praise: but those who are at leisure for this, to detract from others, let them consider the will in us, not the strength. This matter is common, let each say what he will. Let them offer in the tabernacle of God silver and gold, and precious stones, it suffices me if we are able to offer both iron, and the hairs of goats. I preferred certainly to undergo the judgment of many, and to bear confusion from the wicked; than not to obey my Abbot's command, or not to follow his will. But this man of whom we speak, needs not our praises, whose memory is in benediction: for he himself exacted for himself a monument more lasting than bronze, which no antiquity can efface. For there exist among us certain little works, which are held worthy of memory: namely on the Canon of the Gospels, and on the Canon of the Mass c two booklets, as also a disputation against a Jew, and a homily on the Steward. And one book d on original sin, and another on blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and the one which at my request he deigned to forge and consecrate to my name. Farewell.

NOTES BY G. H.

ANOTHER LIFE

Collected from various sources.

Odo, Abbot of St. Martin of Tournai, and Bishop of Cambrai (Bl.)

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES

CHAPTER I.

His Acts before the Episcopate.

From the collection of Francis de la Barre.

[1] The first institution of the monastery of St. Martin among the people of Tournai is of this sort. The monastery of St. Martin erected by St. Eligius, The foundations being laid and the first institution of the monastery of St. Martin of Tournai, by Blessed Eligius, Bishop of Tournai and Noyon, namely in the year of the Lord six hundred fifty, after it had stood and been held famous for two hundred thirty-two years, by the just judgment of God it was overthrown, and the Monks scattered here and there in the persecution of the Normans, and destroyed by the Normans; which was most savage; since not only was the monastery overthrown, but also the city of Tournai itself was utterly demolished and leveled with the ground; that being deserted, the Monks spent the space of thirty-two years at Noyon with their Bishop.

[2] At last, God having mercy, who does not in his anger restrain his mercies; in the year one thousand ninety-two, Urban presiding over the Apostolic See, in the year 1092 begun to be restored Radbod being Bishop of Tournai and Noyon, Philip holding the scepters of the Franks, Henry the Roman Emperor, this monastery began to be restored anew; on the occasion of Odo, who once had been a Cleric of the city of Orléans, sprung from his father Gerard, his mother Cecilia; and on account of his notable erudition a summoned by the Lords Canons of Tournai, by Blessed Odo the Schoolmaster, to govern the school of their church: who so excellently discharged that office, that in the whole province there was none second to him. But when he had been at leisure for so praiseworthy an exercise for five years, on the occasion of the third book of Augustine on free will, God working it, he began seriously to consider another institute of life, and about leaving the world and bidding it farewell: of which purpose he had five emulators from his disciples, who prepared

to follow him wherever he wished. But when they daily blazed more and more, to bring their purpose to the desired end; the citizens urging it only the deliberation about choosing a place remained. Meanwhile the purpose of Odo could not lie hidden from the citizens of Tournai, so that it was established to all that he, the school being left, wished to follow the discipline of a stricter life. These approach Bishop Radbod, with whom they treat seriously, that he would be willing to persuade Lord Odo and his companions, that they would firmly persevere in their purpose, and take a seat on the little hill, the Bishop willing it outside the city gate toward the south, where there was the first little church built in honor of Blessed Martin the Confessor: in which place the bodies of the citizens were given to burial, especially of those who died touched by the plague: but Radbod had instituted supplications, to be celebrated annually on the feast of the holy Cross, at the chapel of St. Martin. He therefore, desiring by a pious reason to satisfy the most holy vows of the citizens, treated with many reasons with the Lords of the Chapter, that they too would consent to so pious a work: which at last with difficulty he could obtain, they protesting, and opposing their rights. But the Bishop began to treat more sharply with them, that he might obtain their consent; and the Canons consenting; especially since that place pertained to the Episcopal jurisdiction, and the Canons had no right in it. At last they assented on certain conditions, that they should retain the tithes and offerings. And so it came about, that the above-said place was given to Lord Odo with five companions to be inhabited, on the Sunday in May, on the day after the Apostles Philip and James. With the greatest exultation therefore of the Clergy and all, he being led there with 5 companions, in a solemn procession they were led to the Church, dedicated in honor of St. Martin: and this free to them, and confirmed by Episcopal privilege, Bishop Radbod handed over before all: and dismissed them there to serve God under the Canonical Rule of St. Augustine, in the Clerical habit.

[3] Odo therefore, the reverend Abbot, governed the monastery of St. Martin with all tranquillity, and ruled his Brothers with singular friendship and regular observance. at first suffering great want, Yet in the beginning they suffered no small want: which that they might relieve, certain pious laymen wandered through the whole city, begging in the name of the Clerics of St. Martin. Until at last the people of Tournai, stirred by the zeal of piety and devotion, and many there embracing the state of Monasticism, of their own accord bequeathed to them revenues and possessions necessary for food and clothing: and gradually enriched, and in course of time it came about, that the citizens of the city of Tournai bestowed far more ample things than were necessary. Nor however for that reason was there anything superfluous: for Odo himself, as he was most liberal toward the poor, not only distributed the superfluous, but also poured out the necessary. Wherefore by chance, the city itself and the neighboring territory being vehemently pressed by famine, he, almost all the food being distributed to the uses of the poor, permitted the Religious to suffer grave things. he takes a steward. Which also at other times rather often happened. Wherefore the Monks, esteeming him little attentive to the domestic economy, chose the Provost Radulph, as Administrator or Steward of the monastery; who in a short time increased and enriched the church itself with many endowments and rich fields: moreover he also built not a few houses, villas, and other rustic buildings, which even now subsist to the great advantage of the church of St. Martin. Furthermore to Master Odo remained only the solicitude and authority of keeping his men in good morals, according to the statutes of the old Fathers: which also he zealously accomplished under the Institutes of Blessed Augustine.

[4] Meanwhile among others a certain young Cleric, by name Adolph, On the occasion of a young Cleric, against his father's will seeking the habit son of Sohier, Cantor of the church of Blessed Mary of Tournai, all riches being cast off and the pleasures of secular life despised, joined the fellowship of the Brothers of Blessed Martin. Of which matter the father being informed, friends being summoned with him, hastened to the church of St. Martin; he seized his found son by the hair, and with many blows prostrated him on the ground and beat him, and the beaten one he dragged home with him. On the next day the son, his father unaware, returned to the church of St. Martin, his parents thinking he had gone to the basilica of the blessed Virgin Mary. But after the father had learned that he had returned to the people of St. Martin; with fury he betook himself there, and the son, beaten as before, he led home, and bound in a stock kept in custody for a time. But thence released, the son immediately sought again the desired monastery: whence when the father had often drawn him out, so often the son himself sought again the monastery of the Brothers of St. Martin. Meanwhile while this pious Adolph suffered this beating of his inhuman father, and nonetheless remained constant in his purpose of taking up religion; and nothing occurred to the reverend Lord Odo about what was to be done in this business; there came the reverend Aymeric Prelate of Anchin, director of the counsels of the reverend Odo, especially in monastic matters, and a most welcome consoler in all the anxieties and on the occasion of the frequent recourse of the disciples to the city, with which his Brothers were pressed. With this Abbot Odo himself had also complained, that his Clerics daily, by I-know-not-what custom, ran to the Cathedral church of the Blessed Virgin, to pour out and chant the prayers of the hours there, nor could he turn them from it, they pretending the zeal of piety and an inveterate custom. Then Aymeric the Abbot says, "I know a way of restraining them and keeping them at home, if you assent to my opinion." Odo assenting, being consulted he answered: "I will frankly say what I think; because you seek my counsel. My good Master, know that the same difficulty both you and your men will often hereafter undergo, unless you meet it in time. Since you are near the city of Tournai (for not at that time was this mount of St. Martin included in the city) and the garment of these Brothers is the same and a similar manner of acting with the other Clerics their fellow-soldiers, who dwell in the city; these who are engaged in the world will easily allure their religious Brothers to themselves, anointed with the delights of the world, and lead them back to a freer life. the Abbot of Anchin persuades him the rule of St. Benedict. Wherefore, if you wish your state and religious constancy to be provided for, it is necessary, that your Reverence, Lord Odo, and your Regular Brothers, put on the Habit of St. Benedict, and profess his Rule. For so it is arranged by nature, that the Clerics of these times, clothed in white garments, so abhor the black garment of the Monks, that they altogether disdain to associate with them. And so, reverend and most lovable my Lord Odo, although you hear most well everywhere, and they proclaim altogether wonderful things about your virtues; it altogether befits, that you pursue a stricter and more perfect institute of living, this softer kind of life of the Clerics being left, in which you and your Brothers live too delicately, although you have already bidden farewell to the world and its pomps. Now therefore, if you wish to be freed from the enticements of this world and the rites of the secular Clerics; undergo the stricter and holier yoke of Blessed Benedict."

[5] These persuasions being heard, the Reverend Lord Odo most excellently animated, orders his Brothers to be summoned, calls them to counsel, The Religious, 12 in number, assent asks their reasons and consent. They, kindled by the words of their reverend Prelate Lord Odo, that such was the counsel of the reverend Abbot of Anchin Lord Aymeric; suppliantly asked him that it might not be grievous to him to rest with them that night; and that on the next day with how willing a mind they would all receive both the rule and the garment of St. Benedict, and so become black Monks. In the morning therefore when they had sung the Matins hours and Prime, according to the Order and use of St. Augustine, in the choir; the chapter being celebrated, over which presided Aymeric the Abbot of Anchin, all the Regulars of the Prelate St. Martin, twelve in number, persuaded by his sermon and prayer, betook themselves to the high altar of the church: and receive the habit, where by the hand of Aymeric himself stripped of their Clerical garments, silence being kept for three days, from the same reverend Abbot Aymeric they received the garments, blessed according to the institute of the Benedictines. Then Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline, the hourly prayers of the whole day according to the use of Blessed Benedict they completed, and thenceforth daily followed according to the statutes of Blessed Benedict. But how much profited, by the counsel of the reverend Prelate Lord Aymeric, that change of garments from the Order of the Regulars of St. Augustine into the Order and Habit of the monastic Benedictines, with happy outcome: the outcome itself proved. For thenceforth that Sohier the cantor brought no trouble to his son Adolph, to return to the world; but rather daily exhorted him to remain constant in the new state chosen, and to advance daily in that holy solitude. Indeed he himself too, repenting of his deed, and recovering from his former life, led by penance, and by divine instinct aspiring to better things, with his full brother Hermann, Provost of the same church of the blessed Virgin Mary, taking the Benedictine garment with the institute of living, professed the monastic life. Moreover the five Chaplaincies, which he had procured for the favor of his other son, by name Adam, also a Canon of the same Episcopal Church, he took care to have incorporated and united to the church of St. Martin.

[6] Then indeed the three days' silence being completed, and the ceremonies customary for the Benedictine profession, Blessed Odo is chosen Abbot the reverend Lord Abbot of Anchin Aymeric gave counsel to Lord Odo himself and his Brothers, that they should choose a new Abbot to be set over them. And so first Odo, when he tried to give his vote to one of his men; behold by divine instinct all the others, with unanimous consent and voice, chose the same Odo as Prelate: whom thus chosen they offered to the Most Reverend Bishop of Noyon and Tournai to be confirmed, on Sunday the 4th of March in the year 1095 Lord Radbod; who honored him with the gift of blessing, on the Sunday following the election made, in the church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Tournai, on the fourth of the Nones of March, which was the third year from the conversion of the same Lord Odo.

[7] But when Lord Odo with his Brothers was seriously exercised in the reading of the sacred volumes, intending to migrate elsewhere with his men especially of the Collations or Lives of the Fathers, they began to think about leaving the place, in which they had now spent three years: as one which they judged came less to their purpose, especially because they were hindered by the singing of the neighbors, and the tumult of those passing by. And so they deliberated to seek some hidden place removed from all conversation, where they could more freely be at leisure for meditating heavenly things. Such counsel being held, the Matins Hours being finished, in the early morning the books and furniture being packed, they go out. Which when the citizens of Tournai had learned, worn out with sadness and grief, he is sent back by the Bishop, they applied all effort to recall them. Which they could not do before they had reached Noyon to the Bishop: who, the cause of the journey undertaken being learned, after he had refreshed them wearied with him for three days, sent them home to the former place; and diligently admonished them to remain there, and kindly persuaded them not to attempt any such thing more. Moreover he counseled them to betake themselves to the reverend Lord Aymeric Abbot of Anchin

to betake themselves, or to call him to them: that, he instructing and teaching, according to the institutes of the rule of St. Benedict, they might compose their morals and life. Which that it might be done more conveniently, the same Aymeric immediately established Priors from his own religious in the monastery of Lord Odo, and in turn led away with him to Anchin some from the monastery of Lord Odo. By this reasoning it came about, that the monastic life received the greatest increases in this monastery: since the divine grace so assisted it, and he gathers up to 70 Monks. that whereas before his coming for nearly three hundred years no Monk had been in this place; not only lands and dwellings and workshops, and whatever is necessary for the uses of the servants of God; but also more than seventy Monks, to serve almighty God according to rule, he gathered in this place within nearly thirteen years, in which he presided over the said monastery up to the year one thousand one hundred and fifth, in which he was promoted to the Bishopric of Cambrai.

NOTES BY G. H.

CHAPTER II.

Deeds in the Episcopate. Illness, death, burial.

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

[8] Up to the year 1092, in which Gerard II died, On account of difficulties in the see of Cambrai the Cathedral Sees of Cambrai and Arras had been under one and the same Bishop; but indeed on account of a dissension that arose they were divided; and of the people of Arras Lambert is created, but the tumult of the people of Cambrai grew, Manasses being chosen by the citizens, Walter by the Canons; of whom Manasses was consecrated in the year 1095. But that the quarrels might be lulled, after a year and a half, by the authority of Paschal II the Pontiff, Manasses was declared Bishop of Soissons, but Walter is established Bishop at Cambrai: but tossed by grave difficulties, he is said, the Bishopric being left, to have taken up the monastic Institute, and Blessed Odo to have been substituted for him. This matter is controverted; in the Chronicle of the monastery of St. Martin it is thus narrated: "The Emperor Henry was bound by Urban II and Paschal II the Pontiffs with the chains of excommunication, because, withdrawing himself from the obedience of the Apostolic See, he bestowed Ecclesiastical dignities on whomever he wished. Walter being deposed, Hence also, the supreme Pontiff being unwilling, he had established Walter as Bishop of Cambrai. Wherefore Paschal the Pontiff had seriously charged Manasses Archbishop of Reims under letters, in virtue of obedience by Apostolic authority; that, both Archbishops and provincial Bishops being gathered, they should choose a suitable Bishop, who might rule the Church of Cambrai with fruit of souls and increase of temporal goods. And so, these comitia being held, Master Odo was chosen and co-opted as Bishop of Cambrai, Odo is consecrated Bishop, renowned for sanctity and doctrine, then Abbot of St. Martin: who confirmed by the Pontiff Paschal, received the gift of consecration in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1105, from the same Manasses Archbishop of Reims; and seven provincial Bishops on the 6th of the Nones of July on a Sunday: but the Emperor Henry resisting (because he was unwilling to receive investiture from him, lest he fall into the censures of the canons) Walter occupying the city of Cambrai, denied him entrance and the revenues of the Bishopric. Meanwhile the Reverend Odo visited the neighboring Churches, and exercised the Episcopal office, having his seat and dwelling in the monastery of Anchin with Aymeric the Abbot; he dwells at Anchin, and very familiar with Amand the Prior. Until at last Henry the younger, succeeding his father the Emperor, at the letters of Pope Paschal restored Odo to the See of Cambrai; charging the citizens by letters, that, Walter being ejected, they should admit Odo their true Bishop; who thereafter from the year of human salvation one thousand one hundred and sixth residing in the See of Cambrai, he receives the See at Cambrai greatly profited the citizens themselves and his whole diocese, both by the example of a holier life, and by doctrine and sermons; frequently visiting the sheep committed to him, and aiding and sustaining others in their necessities." Thus there.

[9] The same Odo, but written Odonus, confirms the college of Canons of Dendermonde, founded by Remigius or Ringotus the Bald, Lord of this town, and his wife Adelwidis: he confirms the foundation of the Canons of Dendermonde in the year 1108 whose diploma David Lindanus published in Book 2 of Dendermonde ch. 2, and Aubert Le Mire in the Codex of Donations ch. 73, and a compendium of it in the Notice of the Churches of Belgium ch. 121, where "Odard," he says, "by the grace of God Bishop of Cambrai … For the great and every kind of supplication of Lady Adelwidis, wife of Remigius of Dendermonde, and of the Canons of Dendermonde, we emancipate them from every person and every lay vexation, the altar of Valenciennes in the year 1109 and assign to the Canons of his Church canonical liberty; granting, that the Dean, who shall have the care of the Canons there, shall have the power of excommunicating the malefactors of the church. The two altars of the church of Opwijk and Lebbeke of the Church of Dendermonde, namely of the holy Trinity and St. Christiana, only for retaining the buildings or ornaments of the church, he gives a chapel near Oudenaarde in the year 1110 I have handed over free to the Canons: in which let Priests be established by the Dean and Canons, and let them be presented to us or our ministers to undertake the care. The allods too of the aforesaid church of Winsia, of Morsele, of Geverghem, in fields, in woods, in meadows, with all the justice of the land and wood, freely and entirely we confirm, to profit the Canons alone. This was done in the year 1108; in the 1st Indiction, in the 3rd year of the aforesaid Bishop." The same in the following year, the fourth of his Prelacy, in the second Indiction, acquiesced in the petition of the Canons of the church of St. John the Baptist in Valenciennes, and the altar at Tournai: by which the altar of Estruem is handed over free from the Parson of the Church, as is read there in Le Mire. The Sammarthani add, that there was granted by the same to Count Robert and his wife Clementia in the year 1110 the license of building a chapel of the Blessed Virgin, which is now in Pamele near Oudenaarde. In la Barre it is read that the same also gave an altar to the Church of Tournai.

[10] At last Odo, as is read in la Barre, from the monuments of his Monastery, when he spared not himself with his labors, sick is carried to Anchin, going around the whole most broad diocese, worn out with old age fell into a disease; by which vehemently pressed and afflicted, he ordered himself to be carried in a litter, to the monastery of Anchin: in which both before the Episcopate, and as an exile, when he was not admitted by the people of Cambrai, and as long as he administered the Episcopal province, he had always lived most familiarly, with the reverend Aymeric and his successor Alvisus the Abbots of Anchin, and the Prior of the same place Lord Amand de Castello. and the Abbot of St. Martin opposing himself in vain, Furthermore the reverend Abbot of St. Martin, the successor of Odo himself, and Lord Segardus, hearing that Odo was in his last moments among the people of Anchin, came to Anchin with another religious; asking and seeking that the body of the Blessed one himself be carried to his own monastery of St. Martin which he had restored: that where first of all he had embraced the monastic life, and first of all had borne the Abbatial dignity, and had been renowned for so many virtues in life, after death there too he might rest. To these things the reverend Abbot Alvisus answered, that the people of Anchin would not suffer that holy man to be sent away elsewhere, whom the Lord God had transmitted to himself; there from death he is buried. but that he would have his own burial in their church. Therefore eight days after this petition, full of virtues, in the year 1113, on the 13th of the Kalends of July ending his life, Odo, with great honor was buried in the middle of the basilica of Anchin near the image of the Crucified, before the altar of St. Andrew, under a notable white and translucent marble hollowed out, representing the effigy of the said Odo, bearing a pastoral staff with the mitre and Pontifical garments. But the altar now being destroyed he lies in the vestiary of the same Church, before a notable panel, representing the miracle of St. Andrew, freeing the shipwrecked in the sea.