CONCERNING ST. PETER THE MONK, PRIOR OF JULLY NEAR MOLESME,
OF THE ORDER OF ST. BENEDICT, IN GALLIC CHAMPAGNE.
IN THE YEAR 1136.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On his Life, age, and cult.
Peter, Prior of Jully in Champagne, of the Order of St. Benedict (Bl.)
D. P.
This Saint owes to our Pierre-François Chifflet the light long lost among mortals, recovered; who, after the plundering of the Archive of Molesme, The Life recovered by Chifflet from two manuscripts. and the old destruction of the convent of Jully, drew out his Life from the manuscripts of the Cistercians, found at the monasteries of La Charité and Clairvaux. He first sent it to our Bolland, in the year 1642; then sixteen years after, he published it in print at Dijon, inserted at page 134 in the treatise on the illustrious lineage of St. Bernard; because Peter presided as Prior or spiritual Father over Bernard's sister St. Humberta, otherwise Humbelina, Prioress of Jully, and was present at her death—perhaps belonging more than she to the Cistercian Order. For she herself never wore its Habit; whereas Chifflet thinks Peter can be believed one of the first, with St. Robert, Abbot of Molesme, the founders of the Cistercian monastery; although with the same, recalled to Molesme, he too returned; dying in the Benedictine Habit which he had taken up. But this is a conjecture, having no foundation in the Life, except the congruity of time and the most close fellowship of life and studies with St. Stephen, the third Abbot of Cîteaux, from his first conversion to God.
[2] However it be, the aforesaid Peter is found ascribed to no Fasti of the Benedictine or Cistercian Saints; it proves that his feast was annually celebrated, whom nevertheless the Life calls not only Saint and Blessed everywhere in the Title and throughout; but proves him to have had an Anniversary cult as such, the Author professing at once from the beginning of the Preface (which however is lacking in the Clairvaux manuscript) that he writes it, because "as often as we celebrate the solemnities of the Saints in their yearly course, we ought to recite some of their deeds… of whose company, since his devout daughters held Blessed Peter worthy of more brilliant praises; of his life they gathered the few fragments which survived, which we," he says, "have reduced into a little Book, that he may live in the mouth of men by sweet commemoration (namely to be recited on the Anniversary)." although, the church being overthrown, this ceased to be done, The observance of the same Anniversary is proved by the miracle adduced at number 26: and the continuous cult of his tomb is demonstrated by the graces of healings conferred there on those running to it. But the ruin of the overthrown church of Jully so overwhelmed this that no memory of it survives; although in the little chapel still remaining, with a few houses, there survives the title of a Priory for men, valued at two thousand Parisian pounds yearly, and even now pertaining to the Abbey of Molesme, from which Jully or Julium, commonly July, of the diocese of Langres, is scarcely two leagues distant, as is also Molesme itself.
[3] The same calamity, the Necrologies of both kinds of the place and the ritual books being abolished, had taken away the distinct notice of the day on which the Anniversary was celebrated; and this likely on June 23 nor did the Author of the life take care to express distinctly either it, or the year of his death; perhaps then, when he was writing (and he wrote likely in the century next following) judging it by no means necessary. Yet we somehow know the day from number 21, where the Saint, addressing his Daughters who wished to pray for his death, says: "If only I do not die at the feast of St. John, you will not have me present with you: (wishing to indicate that he would die elsewhere) but if I migrate among you, I shall be an intercessor for you before God." And so it becomes likely that Peter died on the Vigil of St. John the Baptist. in the year 1136. The year 1136 too is gathered from number 20; where, now sick at the last, he orders Theobald, Count of Champagne, to be warned—the nearest heir of Henry, King of England, who had died toward the end of the previous year—not to cross the sea, going into England to receive the kingdom for himself; because it was not predestined to him by God; but by the consent of the Anglo-Normans it had been offered to Stephen his younger brother, against whom he was preparing to go the next summer, about to avenge (as he thought) the injury done to him. But the Count so religiously obeyed this counsel that in the year 1141, as Orderic Vitalis has in book 13, when Hugh, Archbishop of Rouen, and the Normans offered him the kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy; he, as a prudent and religious man, refused to be weighed down by the burden of so great cares.
LIFE
From the manuscript Codex of the Monastery of La Charité of the diocese of Besançon.
Peter, Prior of Jully in Champagne, of the Order of St. Benedict (Bl.)
BHL Number: 6715
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
PROLOGUE.
[1] As often as we celebrate the solemnities of the Saints in their yearly course, [From the custom of reading something of the Life of the Saint whose feast is being kept,] we ought to recite, in the praises of Christ, some of their deeds, suitable to the benefit of the Christian faith; for in truth whatever is praiseworthy in His Saints is of Christ's gift: finally, by the praise of His Saints, we unlearn to be sons of wrath, and learn to be sons of mercy; and to those same Saints, to whom in the merit of action we cannot be made equal, for the merit of their praise and veneration, with them interceding, we shall somehow be able to be made like; and we believe that we shall be partakers of their recompense, by divine clemency favoring, whose holy memory we strive to celebrate for worship: while, namely, in the veneration of the just, we venerate the presence of the same Lord their head, who says: "He who receives anyone whom I shall send, receives Him who sent Him": just as also in the praise of the just, we do not doubt that we praise the same Lord, as the Prophet hints, saying: "Praise the Lord in His Saints." John 13:20, Ps. 150:1 We ought therefore to praise the glorious men in their generation, men great in virtue, endowed with prudence: whose bodies, by whatever death they are overtaken, yet rest in peace, and their names live unto generations of generations.
[2] Their wisdom we ought both to narrate to the peoples, and to announce their praise celebratedly in the Churches: the Author proposes to write of St. Peter, of whose company let us extol with more brilliant praises Blessed Peter, Prior of Jully: of whose deeds and virtues very many volumes could have been written, had not idleness, the companion of negligence, beset his fellow-monks. For they, entangled in secular cares, suppressed with damaging silence a work most worthy of veneration: but his devout daughters, over whom by God's gift he presided, and among whom, deceased, he had burial; of his life gathered for themselves the few fragments which survived: which we, by divine grace helping, lest they perish, have reduced into a little book: that he may live in the mouth of men by sweet commemoration on earth, whom it is established to reign manifestly with the Lord of spirits in heaven.
CHAPTER I.
His birth, adolescence, novitiate, and the beginning of his miracles.
[3] Therefore blessed Peter, a native of the region of England, was begotten of noble parents, Nobly born in England, according to the dignity of the world. Who, the years of infancy completed, began with a capable mind to give labor to the studies of the liberal arts: which, exercising through all the time of boyhood and adolescence, until manly age he fixed his mind with a richer intention. With so great an exercise of learning, therefore, he drank the food of divine wisdom; so that the more he was filled, the more he hungered; as the wisdom of God itself speaks, saying: "Those who eat me shall still hunger, and those who drink me shall still thirst." Eccl. 24:29 He frequently attended also the assemblies of the Churches, and from a boy given to sacred studies; and whatever there was recited from the divine scriptures, he stored in the little cabinet of his heart; so that when he had withdrawn, those things which he had learned, he ruminated with most intent meditation. And so, while still in tender age, he began to store in the granary of his heart the grains of the divine seed: that, grown a little older, he might have by him wherewith to refresh his hungry spirit, or whence to distribute to his fellow-servants a measure of spiritual wheat in season. And when as a boy he frequented the schools with the boys, avoiding the lasciviousness of boys, not seeking leisure, but consulting his own benefit, in a manner he showed himself more a cloistered man than a scholar: most gladly reading those things which would instruct character, nourish devotion, beget contempt of the world, and impress on his heart the discipline of holiness.
[4] He had put on himself a disciplined face, and an honorable composure of his whole body; so that those marks of virtues which appeared outwardly in him rendered him lovable and venerable to all; he gives specimens of his future holiness: namely, a more negligent care of body and clothes, rarer speech, a more cheerful countenance, a more modest look, a more sober gait, and the grace of continence. Finally, giving himself to the mastership of the Gospel as a not-deaf hearer, he began in boyhood to place firmly upon the rock the edifice of good work, which in old age he happily consummated. Therefore blessed Peter, applying his heart to the law of life and discipline, began most intently to decline from evil and to do good. And rightly: for in these two duties indeed the whole law hangs and the Prophets. And hearing the Lord, in the Gospel demonstrating the ways of life, his parents being dead and saying: "He who has not left father and mother, brothers and sisters, and all that he has, cannot be my disciple"; like another Abraham, from his land and from his kindred
and from the house of his father, he resolves to set out abroad; and after the death of each parent, bidding farewell to his Brothers and his only sister, leaving all that he had, he followed Christ calling him, singing in his heart and saying: leaving all things, "Direct, O Lord, my way in your sight: show me your ways, and teach me your paths. Luke 14:46 Direct me in your truth, and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and I have waited for you all the day"; and that: "Lead me, O Lord, in your way, and I shall enter in your truth: let my heart rejoice, that it may fear your name."
[5] And so, having gone out from his native soil, the English sea being crossed with God steering, he passes into Gaul: blessed Peter, inhabiting heaven with his mind, a pilgrim and guest, came into Gaul; where, having tarried for some time, traversing the oratories of the Saints, frequenting the company of the Religious, neither by day nor by night did he cease from divine conversations and prayer. At last the pious explorer of the holy places, entering the parts of Burgundy, found a certain young man of most continent life, an Englishman by nation, Stephen by name: who, led by the same desire as Peter, had betaken himself into this Region: whose life and character Peter seeing and approving, and joined to St. Stephen joined himself to him as a familiar and companion. Both, therefore, dwelling together, the bond of holy fellowship entered, strove to outdo one another in honor, restraining from all iniquity and uncleanness the impulse of the flesh, slaying their own concupiscences, sacrificing unlawful desires, with all guard they kept their heart, knowing that from it life proceeds. They served prayer so instantly that daily they sang the whole psalter in alternating verses. and having gone on pilgrimage to Rome: At last, divinely inspired, for the sake of prayer they set out for Rome: where, entering the oratories of the Apostles Peter and Paul, they offered to the sight of the divine Majesty the calves of their lips and the sacrifice of their heart, fattened with the oil of inmost devotion. Traversing also the churches of the other Saints, everywhere they knocked at the divine ears with most instant prayer, everywhere they offered a whole marrow-filled holocaust for the diminishing of their own and their people's sins, for the obtaining of the gifts of the heavenly promise.
[6] But when they had satisfied their own devotion, having gone out from the city, again into Burgundy, whence they had come, they returned; and by the providence of the Lord they came to Molesme. he becomes a Monk at Molesme; There, therefore, laying down the hair of their head, and exchanging the secular garment for the habit of Religion, they wholly handed themselves over to divine services. Blessed Peter, therefore, having entered the monastery, in all his manner of life, like a morning star shining among the stars, gleamed like a great lamp. He emulated the perfect toward good, set before himself the virtues of the Saints as an example. he advances in every virtue, He took pains to show himself a sanctified vessel, that he might be able to receive God as inhabitant in the lodging of his mind. He sowed no evils in the furrows of injustice, nor reaped scandals as their fruits. He was swift to hear, but slow to speak, and slow to anger. No root of avarice in him, no swelling of pride or arrogance, he restrained the enclosures of his mouth from idle and vain speech, abstained from disparagements by perpetual silence. he divides the daily Psalter with Stephen: At certain times he applied himself to reading, at certain times to prayer; and because the custom of the monastery did not allow that he should run through the psalter with his companion Stephen, as they had been wont in the world; they imposed on themselves this law, that one of them should daily sing half the Psalter, and the other complete the remaining half: which custom blessed Peter retained nearly until the end of his life.
[7] At a certain time, when Blessed Peter, sent by the Abbot into one of the cells which pertain to the Abbey, was staying: it happened that that new Cistercian plantation, which, fleeing the tumult of peoples and the whirlwind of the age, this being done with the Abbot of Cîteaux, strove in solitude to give leisure to God alone, was bereaved at once of Father and Pastor. Which, having recourse to the pious suffrages of the Mother, by the counsel of God-fearing men, regularly ordained for itself as Abbot the aforenamed Stephen; for whose prosperity and salvation Peter most devoutly applied prayers in the sight of the Lord; and considering his friend involved in various solicitudes, he undertakes the whole task himself: not able to fulfill that half of the Psalter which fell to him: the excellent Orator took upon himself the whole to be fulfilled, for himself and his companion. O man supported by charity! O true disciple of Christ, and imitator of the Apostle, saying: "Bear one another's burdens, and so you shall fulfill the law of Christ." Gal. 6:2
[8] It happened once that the man of God, impeded by the affairs of certain laymen, a demon under the appearance of an Angel interrupts him doing this; delayed more than usual to render the daily Psalter. And he was, after the sixth hour, mindful of the votive debt. He withdrew into a certain quiet and secret place: and asking pardon for his negligence, he began to sing his accustomed Psalter. Ps. 103:30 And when he had completed it for the greatest part, and had pronounced that verse (namely, "Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created"); he saw one standing on his left who had transfigured himself into an Angel of light: and approaching Peter, he took the codex which he held in his hand, as if to read: and running here and there, and murmuring certain things with his foul mouth, he impeded the friend of God's servant from prayer. And when Peter intended on it for a longer time; behold, there stood at his right the Angel of the Lord: before whose sight that malign one fled away, and threw down the Psalter which, unworthy, he held. Then Blessed Peter, comforted by the Angel of light, began to weep most vehemently; whom the true Angel, putting to flight, leaves him the gift of discernment. both because the Lord had deigned to visit him, and because He had freed him from the malign spirit. From which time he possessed the discernment of spirits, and began to be distinguished with divine revelations. From that time, he gave heed more attentively to prayer, reading, and contemplation.
[9] The man of God was once anxious for a certain sister of his, The death of his sister is revealed to him, whom with his brothers he had left in the world; and he prayed God to grant her a spirit of counsel. On a certain night, therefore, he saw himself in a vision led by an Angel into his own country; and leading him into a certain cemetery, he showed him a recent burial, saying: "Here is buried the body of your sister, but her soul stands before the Lord of Spirits: be no longer anxious for her." When at Germany, in the cell of the monastery of Molesme which is called Ysodenges, he raises a dead man for penance. Blessed Peter, still a Novice, was staying, and for the merit of his holiness was loved and venerated by all; it happened that a certain most wicked Prefect died a sudden death: whose wife greatly loved the man of God. She, running up, earnestly asked that he would entreat the Lord for her husband; whose grief Blessed Peter compassionating, bent his knees in prayer, and most devoutly prayed. But the woman, returning to her house, found her husband alive whom she had left dead: who with the utmost desire asked the man of God to come to him. To whom when Blessed Peter had come, he confessed among other things that he had held him suspect concerning his wife. But the Saint of God enjoined penance on him, and handed him the Viaticum. Who, his house being set in order, on the third day migrated to the Lord.
[10] He indicates a hidden thief, once At another time, when the same Blessed one was staying at La Ferté-Gaucher, and on the night of Pope Mark, the book open, the candle lit, was singing Matins, and was turning over the Psalm ("O God, my praise"); the ancient enemy stood by him, singing with him. And when the Saint was angry with him, because he disturbed him; the malign one said to him: "Look, Peter, at the Monk who in the dormitory steals the garments of the Brothers." Looking back, therefore, the Saint of God, although with walls interposed, beheld with spiritual eyes the thief, carrying off all that he could seize; and having gone out of the monastery, with what he had taken, hiding in a safe place; toward whom when Blessed Peter intended; it happened by diabolical fraud that the candle which he held in his hand fell upon the book; which is shown to this day in approval of the miracle. But Matins finished, the Brothers, returning to their beds, and not finding the garments which they had left there, were disturbed; and running together to the man of God, complained that their things had been taken by theft. But he nodded to them to keep silent until morning: and when day came he narrated to them what he had seen in the night: and indicated where the thief lay hidden with what he had taken. Who, going off, found all things as the man of God had foretold. In the same cell, a certain Clerk, to whom money was owed by the Prior, stole the chalices and thuribles of the monastery, and hid them in a nearby place. Which when the Monks had learned, and again they sought long and much, nor could find them: whence, disturbed, they came to the man of God, and as from a Prophet sought an answer from him. But he said to them: "I will indicate to you where he is, if you will return him to me unharmed." Which when they had promised him, he indicated where the thief lay hidden. And they, going, found what they had lost; and brought the thief to the man of God, as they had promised, untouched. But he paternally reproved him, charitably refreshed him, and dismissed him in peace.
[11] He handles a boiling pot unharmed, Peas were once being cooked for the refreshment of the brothers, and one of the Monks, calling Peter, ordered that he quickly clean the peas; but Peter (who was wont to show obedience eagerly, both to elders and to lesser ones), without any delay, took the boiling pot with bare hands, and poured out the water, not feeling the heat; and obedience protecting him, both hands appeared unharmed; but the Monk who had ordered him these things, seeing that he had not felt the burning, repenting that he had acted ill, falling at his feet, asked pardon of him. O how deservedly the material fire did not harm him, whose mind the grace of the Holy Spirit had fortified against all carnal concupiscence. A certain boy, his familiar, he heals a sick man. overtaken by a sudden infirmity, swelled in his whole body: who, coming to him, asks to be helped, with whose grief the man of God compassionating, poured out a prayer, and tempered for him certain names of Christ in a drink; which drink when he had drunk, immediately he was made whole.
NOTES OF D. P.
CHAPTER II.
The prophetic spirit of the holy man, proved by the knowledge of absent and hidden things: the rule of the monastery undertaken.
[12] Peter with a prophetic Spirit It is established that he was so distinguished with divine revelations that he often easily foretold what was being done in distant regions; for when the Lord of La Ferté-Gaucher, Elias by name, had gone to Jerusalem; and his mother, out of affection, persisted in prayers and alms for him; on a certain day she came sadder than usual to the man of God, asking how it was going concerning her son: for she knew that the spiritual man had true knowledge of absent things: but she found him set in prayer, and rapt in ecstasy. And when she had knocked at him three times, he knows in ecstasy, nor could draw him from the sweetness of contemplation, she hastened to return home. To whom when the Prior of the house had met her, and had heard from her the cause of her sadness; wishing to console her, he compelled her to return with him: and finding the man of God still set in prayer, he said to him: the disease of the absent man and his quick return. "Brother Peter, I command you in the name of obedience, that you tell this lady what the Lord has revealed to you about her son." Who, as if waking from sleep, answered: "Unless you had so quickly recalled me from the vision, I should have known wholly all things that are being done concerning him. Know nevertheless that he lies on the sea with an acute fever, and has just now ended it: a hen is being sought for him to eat, which is sold to them for one gold piece; and recovering from his infirmity, he comes shortly, and will bring you an ivory comb, but to me an excellent cup." The matron withdrew, the answer of the man of God heard, nor was she frustrated of her desire: for a short time having passed, according to what she had heard, she received her son whole and unharmed.
[13] At a certain time the same Saint, Terce being celebrated, remained in the oratory to pray. He laughs, having seen a demon, But a certain Monk, passing before him, beheld him laughing in prayer. Which finished, the Monk asked of him secretly why he had laughed in prayer. But he, wishing his secret to lie hidden, said to him: "From today in one year I will tell you." And a year having passed, the Monk returned, and said to him: "I ask, Father, fulfill what you promised, the year has now passed; come, tell, why did you laugh in prayer?" To whom he said: "The third hour finished, two Brothers remained in their seats, the noted faults of the Religious giving heed to vain and idle words. I saw therefore a demon sitting behind the altar near the wall, and writing the scurrilities and idle words which they spoke. But while I deliberated to rise, and to sing the Regular Hours (for they did so three times), the devil, dulled, knew not what to do, or what to write. At last, they rising, and giving attention to prayer, repented before God, they themselves repenting, he tears it up. because they had acted ill. And when the devil had seen so great negligences blotted out by so small a satisfaction; indignant, and full of fury, tearing with his hands and teeth the paper which he had written, he pulled so strongly that he struck his neck back against the wall, and dashed it violently. For this cause," he said, "you saw me laugh."
[14] At that time a certain Brother passing before him, He sees demons and Angels intent on his prayer, saw him cast away from himself certain invisible spirits, and in contempt of them cut off straws; then call others to himself, rise, and rejoice with them. But the prayer finished, that Brother asked him why he had done this. To whom the Saint: "Those spirits," he said, "which I cast away, were demons, wishing to impede my prayer: and those whom I applauded were holy Angels, who consoled me." On a certain night, while after Matins he gave leisure to prayer, there appeared to him the soul of the Abbot of Nigella, asking from him a blessing and the suffrages of his prayers, and the soul of an Abbot dying elsewhere. for at that very hour he had migrated from the body. But he most devoutly commended it to God, to whom all things live: and when morning came, indicated to the Prior and the brothers that the Abbot of Nigella had migrated from the world. Who, sending to the aforesaid Monastery, found that the Abbot had died at the same hour at which his soul had appeared to the holy man. By these and very many other virtues, blessed Peter was held most celebrated far and wide.
[15] In the territory of Langres, there stands a most famous monastery of women, which is called Jully from Julius Caesar. About to be set over the people of Jully, The most sacred Convent of this monastery, bereaved of its spiritual Father, with the highest vows entreated from the Abbot of Molesme, to whom the place itself pertains, that Blessed Peter be given to them as Pastor: desiring to be holy with the holy, and to live innocently with the innocent man. But Abbot Guido, who then presided over the Church of Molesme, refused to give assent to this petition, wishing to set another over that place. But at last, conquered by the prayers of the illustrious Count Theobald, and of Andrew, Lord of Baudiment, he granted it, and ordered him to come to him quickly: who, with the near foot of obedience, undertook the journey, and hastened to go toward Molesme. And when, the day already inclining, he had come to the Ford of Ricey (which place is distant from Molesme two miles), and wished to ford it; he ran into a whirlpool, which is said to have no bottom; in which, as soon as his boy set his foot, intercepted by the waters, he did not appear. Which when the man of God had seen, his holy hand raised, he made the sign of the Cross: and immediately the servant emerged, and briskly with him passed to the bank. Then there met him Robert the Knight, lord of the same place; who, made glad by the presence of the man of God, led him into his House, and refreshed him splendidly: but seeing his boy wet, he asked through what place he had forded; and the man narrated how he had escaped the danger. The astonished Knight gave thanks to God, he saves a boy about to be drowned. who had freed His Saint, asserting that no one had ever passed through that place.
[16] But on the following day he came to Molesme, and there was committed to him by the Abbot the care and providence of the Church of Jully: Arrived at Jully, to which coming, like an Angel of the Lord sent from heaven, he was received with joy and devotion. And so our Jacob entered the tabernacle of his Rachel; he entered into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of his God. Thus, thus was joined the violet of humility to the roses of penance and martyrdom, and to the lilies of modesty and virginity, which the right hand of the heavenly gardener had planted in the garden of Jully; for to the flowers of July neither roses nor lilies are lacking. Thus, thus the Lord, remembering His mercy and His truth, he illustriously discharges his office; according to what He had promised through the Prophet, gave in the solitude the thorn and the cedar, the myrtle and the olive tree. Is. 41:19 Blessed Peter showed himself a thorn, indeed, by rebuking sinners; a Cedar, by contemplating heavenly things; a Myrtle, by compassionating the sick; an Olive, by bestowing mercy on the wretched. And so Blessed Peter, having entered the place predestined to him by God, advanced from virtue to virtue; rising from the virtue of action to the virtue of contemplation. So great a grace, finally, had the Lord conferred on His servant, that often, like a true Prophet, he announced without doubt the things that were to come. If anyone too wished to confess his sins to him, and perchance had forgotten some sin; he, foreknowing by the Holy Spirit, immediately revealed it.
[17] A certain Nun once fell sick in the aforesaid monastery, with the dead appearing to him, he entreats pardon for them. and her infirmity unto death. She, having confessed her sins to the man of God, by negligence forgot to confess one fault, which was revealed to blessed Peter not long after, while he prayed for her soul. On a certain night the aforesaid Nun appeared to him, confessing her sin with so great a cry that the man of God thought she had been heard by all who were present. But the Saint enjoined penance on her, as if she still lived, namely the seven penitential Psalms, which he himself recited for her soul before God; with so great a compunction of heart that the stream of his tears manifested to all where he had prostrated himself in prayer. He therefore made for himself an oratory beside the Church in the cemetery, where he gave leisure to prayer and contemplation, vigils and fasts, day and night; and the souls of penitents came frequently to him, demanding the suffrages of his prayer. There too he enjoyed the vision and converse of the holy Angels, who very often instructed him about heavenly things, and foretold the future.
NOTES OF D. P.
CHAPTER III.
Certain other heavenly favors, his pious death, miracles after death.
[18] When St. Humberga, sister of Blessed Bernard, who was the first Abbot of Clairvaux, wearied by a long infirmity, St. Peter assisting St. Humberga, awaited the end of her life; her Brothers came to her, and very many other religious men, desiring to be present at her most holy passing; among whom was Blessed Peter: who on the third day after Compline, visiting her, and seeing that she was not yet migrating; blessing and signing her, was returning to bed with Vincent his Chaplain. There met him, therefore, the Angel of the Lord, in the parlor of the cloister, saying: "Return quickly, for that holy soul will now migrate from the body." The Saint answered him: "What shall I do, since outside are religious men, who came for this, that they might see her end, and they are now asleep"; to whom the Angel: "I," he said, "will go to rouse them, do you return quickly." he is taught by an Angel that she will soon die, The Angel of the Lord, having returned, struck upon the board so strongly that those who had fallen asleep were roused, and, trembling, rose. Running together, therefore, to see the going-out of that holy soul, they most devoutly assembled. Therefore the fame of the blessed man grew through all Burgundy; so that many noble men and women came to him for the grace of his blessing. Among whom came a certain noble Matron, to confess her sins: whom a black dog followed, which no one saw except only the holy Father. She, when she confessed her sins, the Saint of God struck her with his staff, and enjoined penance; and so the demon, which was seen in the likeness of a dog, disappeared.
[19] But also that great and venerable Theobald, Count of Champagne, came to him with great pomp, praying and asking a blessing from him; He foretells to the pregnant Countess that she will bear a Queen of France. and when he had departed from him glad, he sent again to him his wife
his wife, who had a child in her womb. Whom when the Saint had beheld, he announced to her that she would bear a daughter, who would be Lady of France. Which afterward came to pass; for the glorious King Louis took her to wife, and according to the word of the man of God, she obtained the Lordship of the kingdom. At the altar, he is lifted up from the ground. But this too is not to be passed over, that, standing at the holy altars, he was often seen by some to be lifted up on high, as if a cubit from the ground, sustained without doubt by the hands of Angels, whose life, placed on earth, he imitated. He raises a dead man: A certain lay brother, Girard by name, falling from a height, all crushed in body, was lifeless: whose body they placed in a sack and offered to Blessed Peter: who, tears and prayers poured out to God, Under Mass he is illumined from heaven. obtained for him life and health. On a certain day of holy Good Friday, after the solemnities were performed, Vincent his Chaplain said to him: "I saw today, servant of God, while you were celebrating the holy Mysteries, a splendid light shine around you, and the candles gleam with a brighter fire than they are wont." To whom the Saint: "I command you," he said, "in the name of obedience, that as long as I live you speak this to no one." For he so avoided the glory of men, that he wished his virtues, equally as his vices, to lie hidden.
[20] When therefore Blessed Peter had shone forth with very many virtues and miracles, God being the author of disposing something better concerning him, he fell into an infirmity, Sick unto death, of which he also died. Then he frequently called to himself the Virgins over whom he presided, consoling them, and teaching about the kingdom of God. But hearing that he was sick, very many religious men assembled to him, among whom was Hatto, Prior of Molesme, who stayed with him as long as he survived. On a certain day, therefore, while the same Hatto was entering to him, he saw the whole chamber in which he lay shine with exceeding brightness; which, as soon as the same man put in his foot, disappeared. Who, when he had inquired of him the cause of the brightness, answered: "I give thanks to my God, who has given me the testimony of my vision; for the Angel of the Lord stood by me; commanding that I send word to Count Theobald, He admonishes Count Theobald to abstain from England, not to cross the sea, going into England to receive the kingdom for himself; because it is not predestined to him by God." But hearing that the man of God was sick, Count Theobald and he foretells to him victory in France. sent to him his Chaplain for the sake of visiting: through whom the man of God sent him many secrets; foretelling him that he would have war with the King of the Franks after a few years, of which he would come out victor, if he kept the churches and their goods from invasion.
[21] Again when on a certain day the aforesaid Hatto entered to him; the man of God rebuked him, and said: "Why have you entered so quickly? Attacked by demons, he is defended by Angels; Three Virgins, lately deceased in this house, were standing just now before me upon the window of the Monastery, holding in their hands branches and sweet-smelling flowers; and they spoke with me about heavenly secrets, and the glory of eternal life." After these things he was rapt in ecstasy; and said that he had seen two Angels, holding the banner of the Cross in their hands, and singing, "My people"; then he added that he had seen demons throwing fiery arrows against him, and on the contrary holy Angels sending forth arrows of light, and extinguishing the arrows of the devil. To his Nuns, after final admonitions, But when he felt his last day to be imminent, calling to himself the daughters whom he had begotten in Christ, he exhorted them to perseverance, and to the toleration of temptations; saying that through many tribulations one enters into the kingdom of heaven. And when his spiritual daughters wept before him, and asked him to obtain for them life from the Lord up to a time; sweetly consoling them, he answered: "My dearest daughters, do not impede my desire; because, he promises eternal salvation, if I do not die at the feast of St. John, you will not have me present with you; but if I migrate among you, know that I shall be an intercessor for you before God: but this too, trusting in the mercy of God, I promise, that none of those to whom I gave the veil shall lose the kingdom of heaven."
[22] Afterward the aforesaid Hatto admonished him that, according to the custom of the Religious, and that he will be their patron in heaven. he should return the keys of his Priory before he died, who answered: "By no means, but I will carry my Priory before God, and I will be an intercessor for those whom the Lord committed to my care, and I will protect this place and its inhabitants: and because the time of my dissolution is at hand, hasten to anoint me with the holy Oil according to custom." And so, anointed with the unction of the holy Oil, He is fortified with the last rites, and fortified with the reception of the Lord's Body, bidding his household a last farewell, and at the same time blessing them, blessed Peter, full of holiness, and illustrious in miracles, happily migrated from exile to the kingdom, from earth to heaven, and from the body to Christ. Whose body the Monks of Molesme disposed to translate, that it might be buried at Molesme; until by divine disposition, through the hand of Henry the Secretary, it was secretly returned to the mourning convent of the Nuns. Which they, and, buried among them, he becomes illustrious by miracles. receiving like manna from heaven, rushing upon it, strove to water it with tears; mourning that they had lost a most pious Pastor, who by his touch healed them, by his prayers reconciled them to God, by his converse cherished them, by his merits protected them. The Vigils, therefore, being celebrated around the body according to custom, after the solemnities of the Masses were performed, with the greatest honor by religious men he is buried beside the altar of the holy Mother of God and ever-Virgin Mary; where his prayers and benefits flourish, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen.
[23] After the passing of Blessed Peter, Prior of Jully, many of both sexes began to run together to his tomb, desiring by his merits to obtain pardon of their sins, and to obtain health of various infirmities. A certain boy, therefore, Those deprived of their senses are healed, appointed to the services of the monastery, by the devil's instigation lost his sense; who, with great labor brought to the tomb of St. Peter, as soon as he rested there, his sense recovered, returned home glad and cheerful. A certain woman from the neighborhood, likewise deprived of her sense, brought to the tomb of the holy Father, a nun about to be choked, as soon as she touched it, was healed. A certain Nun at Jully, Prisca by name, when she was eating an apple, a certain piece of the same apple stuck in her throat, so that she could turn it neither up nor down. Who, when she was in peril, was led to the tomb of the blessed man, and immediately spat out that particle of the apple, and was freed. Peter, Mayor of Châtillon, seized with strong fevers, those violently feverish: came to Jully, who, when he had slept beneath the tomb of the Saint, was restored to health. Henry, Chaplain of Fontaines, worn out by most violent fevers, hoping to end his life there, had himself carried to Jully. Who, when he had come to the tomb of the Saint and rested; was restored to health: but on the morrow, when he had celebrated the solemnities of the Masses, he returned home glad.
[24] A certain man from the neighborhood of Jully, seized by a demon, a possessed man is freed, howled like a wolf, roared like a stag, bellowed like an ox; and imitated the voices of all beasts; who, scarcely bound by several men, was brought to the memorial of the holy man: and there for a long time, like a barking dog, and tearing himself, and speaking idle things, at last by the merits of the servant of God, after a few days, freed from the demon, having obtained the gift of health, glorifying the Lord, returned home. Archembaud of Caveriae had a knot of infirmity in his throat, a quinsy is cured so that he could swallow no liquid; afflicted, therefore, by long fasting, fearing the peril of death, he devoutly went to the tomb of the man of God, demanding his benefits; and when he had rested there, slumbering a little, awakened, spitting out that infirmity with blood, returned home with health. Raynald, a Priest of Saniveium, insane and full of the devil, a possessed man and a captive are freed; crying and howling, and speaking blasphemies, was brought to the tomb of the man of God; who, having tarried there a few days, was restored to health by the prayers of Blessed Peter. [A certain boy of Molesme, caught in robbery, was put in shackles, that on the morrow he might be hanged: who, invoking all night the help of Blessed Peter, in the morning was freed, and glorified God.]
[25] Lady Cacelina of Bar-sur-Aube, she is healed, having lost the power of walking, came to Jully with offerings, going to the tomb of the Saint; who prayed for the safety of a certain niece of hers (for she was deprived of the function of walking). But when she had returned to her house, she found her niece walking: and inquiring, she learned that on that day and hour she had recovered, on which, placed at Jully, she had vowed her to the blessed man. an arm twisted behind the back. On the day of the Apostles Peter and Paul, a certain boy of Crangiae of Jully, rising in the morning, met the ancient enemy; who seemed gradually to grow before him, and to stretch his head up to the clouds; and seizing the boy, strove to drag him. But the boy, terrified, and made senseless, drew back his hand to himself; which stuck to him back behind his back, so that he could move neither hand nor arm. Brought, therefore, to the memorial of Blessed Peter, as soon as he slept there, he received the function of his hand and arm.
[26] Failing grain is multiplied: A certain Matron was wont, every year, on the anniversary of the blessed man, to feed the Convent of Jully: but on a certain year, when the aforesaid day was imminent, she ordered her servant to see whether there was so much grain in the chest as could suffice for the refreshment of the Ladies; who, returning, announced that there was no more in the chest than one basket of grain; which she hearing, was made very sad. But by chance on the morrow she went to the chest, and found it full of grain: who, made gladder, most devoutly celebrated the anniversary of Blessed Peter, by whose merits she had found in her chest an abundance of grain. A certain woman dwelling not far from the monastery a boy devoted to a demon by his mother is helped. had a little son; to whom, angry, she said: "I commend you to the devil, most unhappy of boys." But the ancient enemy, at the voice of the mother, seizing the boy's hand, began to drag him to himself: which the boy feeling, terrified, drew back his hand to himself; which so firmly stuck to his breast that it could in no way be pulled away thence. Which his mother seeing, weeping and wailing, brought him to the burial-place of the blessed man; who, as soon as he slept there, received the health of his injured hand.
NOTES OF D. P.
Patroness of the Cistercians on August 22: she died before the year 1136, not in the year 1141 as Henriquez maintains.
Receive the matter, as it was done, from Orderic Vitalis, book 13. "Stephen, Count of Boulogne, hearing of the death of his uncle (namely Henry, King of England), at once crossed over; and received by William, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the other Prelates and Princes of the land, ascended the Royal summit, and on the 18th of the Kalends of January (1135) crowned King, reigned fourth of the stock of the Normans; but the Normans, meeting at Neubourg (to others Lisieux), wished to prefer to themselves his brother Theobald. But in that very Assembly they heard from a certain Monk, who was Stephen's legate, that all the English had received Stephen, and wished to obey him and set him over themselves as King. Soon all, Theobald assenting, decreed to serve one Lord, on account of the honors which the Barons possessed in each region." Where I think it should be read, "Theobald not assenting": for it follows: "Theobald therefore, since he was the elder, indignant that he had not had the kingdom; hastened to the great affairs which pressed him in Gaul": but that the next summer he thought to go against his brother in arms, is understood from this.