CONCERNING S. BARTHOLOMEW THE HERMIT
ON THE ISLAND OF FARNE IN ENGLAND.
YEAR 1182 or 93.
A PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Was the Author of the Life contemporary, or Galfridus? The cult and age of the Saint.
Bartholomew, Hermit of Farne in England (S.)
G. H.
When in the year 1662 we were returning from our journey to Rome through Gaul into Belgium, we turned aside through Burgundy to the Cistercian Archmonastery; and tarrying there for some time we surveyed the ancient monuments concerning the Acts of the Saints; The Life is given from a Cistercian manuscript, and partly described various things ourselves, partly noted things to be described, which we afterward received thence, by the care of the most Reverend Lord Jacobus Lannaius, most loving of our studies. Among these were the Acts of S. Godricus the Hermit, which we gave on the 21st of May, and the Acts of S. Bartholomew also a Hermit, which we give on this 24th of June. The author of the former Acts was Galfridus, having confessed in the Prologue that B. Godricus was known to him. But the name of the author in the Acts of S. Bartholomew is not expressed, but is indicated by the first letter G, "the least in the Lord, a fellow-servant": so that it may seem that the same Galfridus is the author of both Lives; the author perhaps Galfridus, both because the same style and manner of writing appears everywhere, and because at the same time both lived in the province of Northumbria, and finally because in these Acts of S. Bartholomew at number 25 he names the praiseworthy Hermit Godricus, as one of three Saints already dead, whose works S. Bartholomew followed or imitated.
[2] These Acts are inscribed to the Prior and Cenobites of Durham, at least contemporary, among whom Bartholomew had undertaken the monastic life: who afterward lived still for about a whole year, and wished even after death to be subject to the Prior of that monastery, so that concerning his burial, at number 38, except the Prior of Durham, no one should presume to change anything. The author too of the Life asserts that he writes it, while there are still living those who knew him, and that what they judged to be removed he removed,
and what was to be added he added. Besides, the things which are narrated at number 8 by the report of a Brother of Durham, which was lately done in himself: and at number 8 he writes by the report of Brother Hemming; and at number 22 he indicates miracles, which his successor himself, who reports them, acknowledged. Thus what is narrated at number 32 he learned from the report of brother Wilhelmus, to whom he had appeared: through whom he could know the last things concerning his death.
[3] The author calls him Dom Bartholomew almost throughout: but at number 28 a furious or demoniac woman, being bidden to say, "Holy Bartholomew," recovers her sense, and is healed. Abridged in Capgravius. Meanwhile in the title is set "The Life of Blessed Bartholomew, monk." John Capgravius in the Legend of England, printed at London in the year 1516, edited the same Life among the other Saints with this title everywhere, Concerning saint Bartholomew, servant of God and Monk. Then following Richard Witfordus in his Martyrology, printed in English at London in the year 1526, adorns him with this eulogy: In England the feast of S. Bartholomew, born in the Northern parts, and made a Monk at Durham; who in his youth had revelations, raised two dead, and performed other great miracles. Jerome Porterus in the Flowers of the Saints edited in English; and Edouardus Maihew, in the English Trophies of the Benedictine Order, celebrate the same with the title of Saint, taking the compendium of the Life from Capgravius. But Maihew judges that he flourished after the year of Christ 1100, about which time, The errors of some concerning the place and other things; and not before, Monks were first introduced into the church of Durham, in the reign of William Rufus and William Bishop of Durham. Menardus and Bucelinus followed this; but they ascribe Bartholomew to the island of Lindisfarne. But distinct from this is the island of Farne, in which S. Bartholomew lived, and which even now retains that name; whereas Lindisfarne is now called, Hoililand, the Holy Island: yet both are in the German Ocean, not far from the province of Northumbria. Wilson in the English Martyrology celebrates the same, and does not distinguish the aforesaid islands.
D. P.
[4] The same Wilson adds that the Saint rested in peace about the year 1010. Michael Alfordus, in the Annals of the English Church, likewise as to the year of death refers him to the year 1004. But from what is related above it is established that he flourished in the 12th century, in which we also said that S. Godricus, in the year 1170, migrated to Christ. Nay, from number 39 it is not unfittingly gathered, that Bartholomew died in the year 1182 or 93. For he is said to have prolonged a final fast, free of all food and drink, not without a miracle, from the fifth Feria of the Lord's Ascension, up to the seventh Feria from thence, which was 1182 or 1193, concurring with the festivity of S. John the Baptist; it is necessary therefore, that the Ascension of the Lord was celebrated on the 6th of May, and Easter on the 28th of March. But although it happened in the year next to the death of S. Godricus, the year of Christ 1171, yet so notable a circumstance of neighboring deaths, if it were true, does not seem to have been passed over at number 39, where the Author compares Bartholomew to Godricus, as if supposing that some great space intervened between the death of each. In the rest of the 12th century, only in the two aforesaid years did such a concurrence happen; in the following century not even once, before the year 1277. Since therefore at number 48 it is read further that the Saint was withdrawn from this light, having spent in the solitary life 42 years, and 6 months and 19 days; it is necessary that he began the same life on the 6th of December, in the year 1140 or 51, in the first week of holy Advent, on the 6th or 4th Feria: for its beginning in those years concurs with the 1st and 3rd of December.
LIFE
By a contemporary author, G the Monk, perhaps Galfridus. From a Cistercian manuscript.
Bartholomew, Hermit of Farne in England (S.)
BHL Number: 1015
BY A CONTEMPORARY FROM A MANUSCRIPT.
PROLOGUE.
[1] To the most blessed Fathers and Lords in Christ, B. the Prior and the Cenobites of Durham, The Life is written, while those live who knew the Saint, G. the least of them, a fellow-servant in the Lord, so to remain through temporal goods, that we may not lose the eternal. After the passing of the venerable Father Bartholomew, I doubt not that it knocked upon your minds, whether he left after him anything notable to the world, which ought to be exalted to the praise of the Creator, and could be assumed for the imitation of his manners. For among very many he was held of great esteem, but far greater was the intention of mind, by which he strove to please God alone, than the face of the work by which he appeared outwardly praiseworthy to men. For the whole course of his life was a conflict with the prince of the world. Of which I took care to give to little sheets certain works of his virtues, believing that though the author be contemptible, yet they ought not to be despised. I also judged it better, to bring it to the knowledge of all, while there still survive those who saw or knew him, who may both by their own judgment suppress the false, and approve the true; than, they being taken from our midst, to leave to posterity a doubtful estimation of so great a man; since there could not survive one who by experiment of sight or hearing might give due faith.
[2] But I remember that I offered this little work to You, reverend Father and Lord, and to some of you, and what you judged to be removed I removed, and what was to be added I added. Which I also reserved to the judgment of your whole University, and is handed over to their censure. in order that the little book, if it have anything of error or excess, being corrected by you; or if anything less, being extended by you with just moderation; wholly pure, and wholly secure, may not blush to come forth to the common sight of men. But while the pen runs through the Life of this venerable man, I fear that I am worthy of the reproach of those, from whose neck the little books of the Lives of the Saints hang, or are carried in their hands, and nothing hangs or is preferred in their manners. To my rude style therefore, and barley-like speech, give pardon, I beseech, in which I do not seek the Tullian charm, but desire simply to track out the simple truth; and those things which I knew by the report of the faithful and especially of his successor. Lest I seem to burden you with a prolix oration of words, I run through with succinct brevity; and according to the saying of a certain wise man, I make for you not a dinner, but a supper.
Note* perhaps "barley"?
CHAPTER I.
His youth, Priesthood, monastic, then anchoretic Life.
[3] Bartholomew therefore was sprung from the province of Whitby. He was first called by his parents Tostius, the etymology of whose name his fellow young men mocking, they called him Wilhelmus. But when he sought the monastery famous by a happy presage, by which it is now called, At first Tostius, then Wilhelmus, then called Bartholomew, the name was imposed on him by the Brothers, that he might in heaven be co-heir of the joy of him, of whose name he obtained on earth the partnership. But because not first that which is spiritual, but that which is carnal, in all the times of his youth he gave his mind to the laws of levity; and prodigal of himself to himself, he poured himself wholly into idleness and the businesses of scurrility. But the Lord preventing him in His blessings, such a vision concerning his vocation was shown to him from heaven. He thought himself set in a place of admirable greenness and pleasantness, and to behold in it a light as of a white cloud or rising dawn. And when he directed his gaze to the heavenly brightness, he saw the Lord Jesus standing afar, and His holy Mother Mary, and Peter the Apostle and John the Evangelist. Whom the blessed Virgin beholding with a most beautiful countenance, calls the Apostles; "Go," she says, "and standing by my Son and me, assist": and stretching out her hand and pointing, she seemed by a nod to call him also.
[4] Approaching therefore, one on the right, and the other on the left, reverently led him into the midst: and as they prolonged the delay with a slower step, he is animated by a heavenly vision: she exhorts to proceed more quickly and to present the youth. But being led, he stood, amazed and trembling, more terrified by the brightness than by fear. To whom the merciful Mother of mercy, "Approach," she says, "and embrace the footprints of my Son, and that He may have mercy on you, humbly beg the goodness of His piety." And immediately he being prostrated on his face, and crying out now a third time, "Have mercy on me, Lord Jesus"; He lifting up the hand of mercy, blessed him, adding a sweet enough and pleasant voice: "And I have mercy on you, and forever will have mercy." This too he merited to see a second time in sleep: and lest anyone unbelieving should deem it a phantastic illusion; a third time waking he manifestly beheld the same with carnal eyes. Whose stony heart would these not soften with the warmth of virtue, and, the world being despised with its pomp, not kindle to seek and merit the heavenly promises? Yet not by these was Bartholomew pricked to the love of conversion; for even then the flesh, as more prudent and greater in age, had learned to lust against the spirit; and the spirit, depressed by the pleasure of youth, could not struggle against the flesh: as if it said with the Evangelist; Woman, my hour is not yet come. John 2, 4.
[5] The youth therefore, desiring to inquire into the country and manners of various peoples, in Norway he is ordained Presbyter: wandering and unstable was carried from place to place by the breeze of levity, a fastidious lover of novelties, so easy a despiser as a beholder. Being carried at last into Norway, he attached himself to a certain Presbyter, and there from the Bishop of that place received the grade of the Diaconate, then of the Presbyterate. But on a certain day a certain youth joined himself to him on the way, who, beholding an evil spirit to be present, which the inhabitants of that province call Rabem, playfully said: "Behold him." To whom Bartholomew: "Friend, I would wish to see him." He bids him therefore stand upon his feet, and not touch the earth with his feet, promising that by his arts he would satisfy his desire of the wished-for vision; and whom he had once beheld, he would not cease perpetually to see. Hearing which, Bartholomew laughed at the man, he avoids magical illusions, despised the nefarious company, abhorred the vision: for it would wound the Christian faith, as he afterward related, if he should cling continually to a diabolical contemplation.
[6] At the same time a certain man sought Bartholomew for the marriage of his daughter. and marriage: The indefatigable importunity of the parents daily toiled: the girl's beauty too and consent invited to the nuptials; finally he was drawn even by himself: but to the solicitude of carnal union he was not permitted to be rolled down, whom the divine protection kept unharmed for the contest of the spiritual warfare.
[7] returning to England Three years being passed there, he returned to his country, and in a certain church of the Northumbrians exercised the office of the Presbyterate for some days. Because the divine providence in its disposition is not deceived, the unction of the Holy Spirit rushing into the heart of the venerable man, he began to recall before the eyes of his mind the vision which he had once seen as a youth, and according to the Apostolic sentence, To forget those things which are behind, and to stretch himself forth to those that are before. Philippians 3, 13. But so fervent was the impulse of the spirit, that he deliberated immediately to desert the world, and to flee with it to a monastery. Whose beginnings of holy conversation and made a Monk of Durham the heavenly bounty deigned to illustrate with its gift. For being received, shaved, tonsured, and
as the custom of the Durham monastery demands, introduced into the church with his companions; when he adored the Cross, he saw in spirit the image of the Cross with bowed countenance adoring, return his greeting, and with outstretched arms receive him, the new bearer of the Cross, into its embrace. he is greeted in return by the image of the Cross: Which afterward the Lord fulfilled by the execution of His power, because amid temptations like an unconquerable wall He held him firmly, nor in any conflict of demoniac assault deserted him: this very virtue which I narrate being reported by Germanus the Prior of good memory, who was the companion of his taking the sacred habit, very many know; whose testimony let no one doubt to be true, just as it is not to be doubted that by the merits of the venerable man it could come to pass.
[8] Dwelling with the monks, he strove to emulate the manners and life of a monk, and those especially, which profit a monk, and also make a true monk, obedient and humble, obedience and humility, he cultivated. In the divine Offices he always recalled that saying of the Prophet; Cursed be everyone who does the work of God negligently. But also to the weaker, he aids the weaker: who could not do it on account of the imbecility of their body or voice, he was busy to lend aid; affirming that this was to lay down one's soul for the Brothers. Jeremiah 48, 10. He also desired a place of solitude, where more secretly he might serve the Lord as a soldier and live more sparingly. The Lord too granted him the desire of his soul, and did not defraud him of the will of his lips. For the blessed Father Cuthbert appeared to him through a vision, in a vision he is admonished to migrate to Farne, and leading him in spirit to the Island of Farne, showed the site of the place, the comeliness of the Oratory, how each several thing was there: and said, "Behold this place: know that it is prepared for you by God, if indeed you promise to dwell in it until the end." Which he in all ways asserted himself to wish; and gave thanks for his manifestation. But morning being come, he inquired of the Brothers, which was the island of Farne; and learned that all things were as he had received through the blessed Bishop in his sleep.
[9] By the indications of such signs he was animated to the purpose of solitary conversation; nor could he hold longer enclosed the spark of divine fervor, which he bore in the secret of his heart: which, license obtained, he does: because the perfect spirit urged to perfect progress: and he approached the Reverend Father Laurentius the Prior, and set forth what he had within. Which when he heard, he praised indeed the affection of the petitioner, but yet admonished him to desist from these things, because the planting was not yet of one year, nor (as he thought) had he fixed his mind in the root of stability. Yet the constancy of him who knocked prevailed; for that same Father would not extinguish the spirit, but weighed more subtly with discerning examination, that it was not to be repressed by mortal man, what the grace of divine inspiration works within. The venerable man came therefore to the Island of Farne, God accompanying him and the devout prayer of the Brothers: and he found Brother Ebwinus, who, when he perceived his desire, envied, and took ill his coming; he bears the contumelies of another. and the ancient enemy began through him by tempting to assail the soldier of Christ, suggesting to heap upon him many things, by which he might either strike him with anger, or drive him utterly from the place. But he received the fraternal contumelies; but the malice of Cain did not cast down the innocence of Abel: for after the example of blessed Job in all things he did not sin with his lips, nor spoke anything foolish concerning his Brother.
NOTES BY D. P.
CHAPTER II.
The strict manner of living on the island of Farne. The spirit of prophecy: counsels given to others.
[10] When therefore Ebwinus perceived that he did not profit, he withdrew, and Bartholomew thereafter began to dwell with himself. His haircloth and hard bed for 5 years, For five years he used a haircloth, his bed was hard, fitted more for torment than for rest, and gave to the one lying on it a short or rare sleep. For upon laid straw he spread above a wickerwork hurdle, four little wooden supports sustaining it on four sides, and a woolen cloth stretched lengthwise and breadthwise: with which he decently covered a monastic coverlet, that the sight might show the likeness of an overshadowing bed, and the covering might conceal the secret of its harshness. But on the coming of Thomas the Prior of happy memory, and bodily exercise, he changed the bed, laid aside the haircloth; lest the sweat and stench which issued from it should offend his fellow-dweller; or lest the new guest should detect in him this virtue of continence; or pronounce a praiseworthy sentence concerning religion, namely that not in the garment, but in the heart of a monk all consummation of the commandments of God flourishes. After this he had no bed on which to repose, and indeed in the first times of his warfare he tempered the course of his life with such discretion, that nothing which he did brought in the tepidity of disgust. For whether he wrote, or read, or sang psalms, or prayed more secretly; or, relieving the length of psalmody and vigils, went round the island, and drove away from himself the sloth of torpor by the hand of whatever work or labor he could; and already in him the contempt of vainglory was perfect.
[11] His food was bread and herbs, and what is wont to be expressed from the fatness of milk. He practiced fishing, both for his own and for the sustenance of those staying with him. and his manner of food, But to approve or corroborate the parsimony of the still rude Anchorite, the Lord appointed a duck to minister to him, which on each day of the Lent of the first year brought to the appointed place for refreshment a little fish, which is called by the people a "limp." But if at the wonted hour she had found nothing at any time, she prolonged the fast, until his handmaid had brought the wonted provision. After some years he abstained also from fish. His drink was water, but rarely milk. The eating of flesh, from the time he entered the Island, he did not touch, nor moistened himself with any more cheerful liquor: finally for seven years and a half before his departure from the body, he is reported to have drunk nothing at all. O most marvelous man, to whom if in other things we believe we cannot find one like, in this we cannot find one equal!
[12] At no time did a hood cover his head, or any other protection for the head; nor did he apply any leather garment to his body. Content however with these garments which befit a monk, namely a tunic and cowl, which is said to have been sleeved. and his clothing, To cover these too he put on over them a black cloak lined within with skins of the same color; sometimes girded about with his own skin, he exhibited to the beholders the form of the ancient Fathers. He used boots and sheepskins with the bark on: which when he had once put round his legs, until they were worn out with age, he did not remove; nor did he allow his tunic to be washed, until the blackness, which he contracted from excessive sweat, had soaked it. But if anyone reproached him about this, he is reported to have answered: "Because we ought to bring all foul things to these bodies, if we wish to lead them to the perfect whiteness of the soul." He was strong and entire in strength, [and] most invincible to all things that were brought upon either mind or body. But also his face he always showed so cheerful, so suffused with the grace of ruddiness; that, though he pursued the parsimony of the highest abstinence, and neglected the care of the body, anyone would have esteemed that he used bodily delights.
[13] The Psalms of David in praise of the son of David he always had in his mouth, the assiduity of singing psalms, sweeter than honey and the honeycomb: which by night and day once or twice, sometimes a third time, he reckoned a small matter to go through in singing. In his words was very much consolation, which, seasoned with the salt of spiritual doctrine, resounded with nothing but contempt of temporal things and love of eternal ones. Pleasant too in speech, he held sadness for a crime. He was wont to rebuke the arrogance of the rich, the fame of whose savagery had reached him, his speech useful to the rich and they sometimes appeared not without fear: for he bore so much reverence in his countenance, was so venerable in aspect; that some of them by his exhortations strove to desist from harming the poor, to shake off their hands from illicit gain, to redeem their sins by alms. Toward the poor and the sick he bore tender feelings, persuading them to possess their life in patience. But in confessions he sang mercy and judgment to the Lord, a persecutor of sins, and to the poor, not a respecter of persons. If a brother sinned against a brother, he admonished to follow not the sparingness of Peter up to seven times, but the breadth of the Lord up to seventy times seven: for among men there is a limit of remission, but with God there is no number of mercy. He described therefore to monks the best example of voluntary poverty; "What," he says, "have the powerful of this world more than us? Having food and clothing, with these we are content; they, if they have it, are not content with it, especially to Monks: but wish to have more abundantly; and soon sin is present in the desire, acquisition in the labor, possession in fear, loss in sorrow. But we are noble, we are rich who, free from the solicitude of these, live secure; and what the Lord shall give, we receive with thanksgiving." He said also that all power is from Him, and therefore good; if only pride had not exceeded the bounds of its right, and that the best poverty and nearest to God, if it be content with the straits of its humility without murmuring: by each therefore boasting is to be avoided.
[14] Nor only the gifts of admonition and consolation, but also countless gifts of graces did God confer upon him. For he seemed to be strong in the spirit of prophecy, the spirit of prophecy: so much so that what he uttered lightly and negligently, came to pass with so great a miracle of virtue, as if someone had beheld with his eyes the things he spoke done. But the vicissitudes of the weather, which it is not ours, that is human, but divine, to know, those who familiarly clung to him relate that he foreknew. But also to those, who had at any time arrived under a storm shut in, he showed the hour at which they should board ship and return. Often three days or four, sometimes a whole week, he foretold them to be subject to their blockade: whose sadness then and the disgust of long waiting he was wont gently and lightly to console; and when the provisions which they had brought with them failed, from his own poverty, nay rather from the fullness of the charity in which he always abounded, he ministered: and of so great merit and faith was he held toward each, that when, the waves swelling, he persuaded them to commit their ship to the jaws (as it was thought) of death, by the command of the one exhorting
no one feared to obey, trusting that, fortified by his blessing, he would cross the sea-whirlpools with the highest joy of safety.
[15] Among other things he so shone with the gift of bounty, that no one of those coming returned empty without a blessing of food and drink. He was wont mostly to take food with the Brothers, sometimes to assume the office of a servant, to bring the food, more often to set it out; sometimes with cheerful countenance to stand by or sit, and with sweet narration of what he had seen or heard to nourish the souls of those eating. Many too flocked to him, whom the fame of his sanctity had attracted, counsels of salvation and consolations given. both from remote and from neighboring parts; to whom he himself rendered counsel of salvation, and if they sought any answers of consolation: by whose multitude and frequency being disturbed, fearing lest favor should induce boasting, he proposed to be enclosed; that the more he should sequester himself from human cares and conversations, the nearer he himself should become to God. But gathering that from their edification good and perfect fruits grew up for him, content with the silence of his former quiet, he persevered to the end. Pursuing the document of Apostolic discretion, who, when he had a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, judged it necessary for the salvation of many to remain in the body; choosing not what was better for himself, but what for others out of charity. What finally shall I say of the works of mercies, of the persistence of vigils, of the bending of knees, of the assiduity of prayers? He fulfilled that precept of the Apostle, Pray always; because before God all that was spent on sacred works was consonant with prayer.
NOTES BY G. H.
CHAPTER III.
The assaults of the demon overcome. Miracles performed. The life, death, and burial of Thomas, Prior of Durham.
[16] Many kinds of temptations also he experienced from his adversary the devil. For now he transformed himself into a mouse, Tempted by the devil under the forms of beasts, now into a lion, now into a bull: and very often he showed the effigies of an ape and a cat: and rightly in these especially he appeared, that he who wished to become a captor of the Deity, might become a captor of mice; and he who was a violator of human dignity, might put on the vice of human likeness. Thus to the venerable man, after morning Lauds, the lamp being extinguished, once prostrating himself before the Altar of the blessed Mother of God Mary, that same malignant spirit was present; and first leaped upon his footprints, then upon his legs; lastly casting himself wholly upon him, he gripped his throat strongly with his hands; and so held it so long, until the holy Man thought himself extinguished under so great a mass. But the faithful God did not permit him to be tempted beyond what he could bear. Being freed at last from the enemy, immediately breaking forth into immense cries, he did not cease to invoke S. Mary to his aid. Very often too, he invokes S. Mary; when at prayer he stood upon his knees, that same enemy was wont to drag him by the hood, and to cast him further into the atrium. And he, seizing the rod, which on account of such assaults he always kept close, strove to strike him: but the fugitive image of vanity mocked the blow of the striker. But also while he stood at the altar and celebrated the sacred solemnities of the Masses, he did not blush to show himself; and the border of the chasuble, now dragging, now shaking, he labored to impede the homage of his devotion.
[17] How therefore shall we be able to escape his wiles, if he presumes to thrust himself even into the sacred Mysteries? But it is not to be wondered at, if he approaches the divine Offices, to tempt the hearts of the Saints; who inhabits perverse Priests, even when they offer sacrifice; nay (which I would say with the peace of the Body of the Lord) in his own members he himself offers sacrifice. But he asserted, that he who restrains him, the very enemy of the human race, who is fragile and like smoke, can easily be overthrown by his wrestler, if one stand to fight manfully against him. Holy water also keeps its power with its moisture; and when it is dried up, restrains less the presence of demons; but the Lord's sign he said was to him the highest refuge in temptations together with the shield of faith; and that all are fortified with its protection, who shall be armed with its standard: because it is necessary that he always blush at the sight of the Cross, by whose mystery he always took his perpetual setting; just as he who shall once be, the fire is always seen by him.
[18] And not only the man of God himself, but also those who came to him for the sake of visitation, he tried to impede from the way of salvation; whence what I learned in a certain Brother of Durham, who reported what was lately done in himself, I have thought to be inserted in this place. For there came once that same Brother to the venerable Man, he despises the one impeding his pious conversation. desiring also himself to hear a word of exhortation, and to commend himself more devoutly to his prayers. And when they were in turn treating of the rudiments of the spiritual life; the malignant spirit was invisibly present, and as if striking the roof above with little stones by a human hand, gave by this noise a sign of his coming: and fear soon seizes that Brother, and pallor suffuses his face. Whom the Saint beholding, and gently consoling, "Be not troubled," he says, "son, nor fear: the enemy of all good things has come, and now especially envious of our discourses, that, terrifying us by this noise, he might compel us to cease from divine conversations." And immediately the enemy being unmasked and put to flight, the wound of fear in the Brother was healed, which he suffered in mind through the presence of the ancient enemy.
[19] After the coming of Thomas the Prior, The aforementioned and forever memorable Thomas, having laid down the rule of the Priorate, withdrew to the island of Farne, and chose to serve God as a soldier more secretly with the man of God Bartholomew. But although they had one dwelling of life, yet they had not the same custom of living. For Bartholomew sought parsimony at table and brevity of hour. And when he saw Bartholomew conform himself to him in other things, but in such matters not assent, he accused him of hypocrisy, and openly marked him with the vice of dissimulation. At which he, grieved, withdraws to Durham: as if from levity of mind; yet from discretion, that he might give place, decided to go, and wholly yielded the place, and came to Durham for the sake of dwelling: but led by the penitence and tears of that same Father, soothed by the prayer of the Father, and by the command of the Brothers, finally at the admonition of the Bishop, a yearly food and clothing being granted him, he returned to the island and his abode the year being completed: for hitherto he had received both from his own labor. Great therefore was the tranquillity restored between them both of tongues and of minds: returning, he lives peacefully with him, and it came to pass, that while Bartholomew received in himself the vice of levity from the change of place, in Thomas he changed the vice of exasperation into meekness.
[20] But that same Thomas was a great lover of religion and a cultivator of alms: concerning whom, by the report of brother Heming, who showed assiduous service to him lying at the last, I learned; that, set in his passing, and he holily dying, he saw Choirs of White-robed ones, walking in the upper part of the house, and carrying little books in their hands, and prepared with jubilation for his reception, and he testified that he had drawn to himself by his hands the fragrance of a marvelous odor; so that that sweetness openly taught, to how great a sweetness of pleasantness his spirit ought to pass. And when he paid the debt of dissolution, and his spirit wholly flowed forth to heaven; Bartholomew saw the devil standing nearer in a corner, seeing the devil in the corner, and uttering miserable wailings with terrible mouth and deformed face: for he had then been seen, and grieved the more vehemently, because he found in the dying man no cause which might satisfy his grief: for the snares of his deceit being made void, which he had stretched for him from boyhood, he beheld the old man freely tasting the heavenly things. But Bartholomew, holy water being brought, sprinkled at once both the place and the beast. But it, avoiding the touch of the water, sprang back, he drives him away with holy water. and forthwith returned to the corner. And when he did this several times, and mocked the care of the water-bearer; the man of the Lord, taking in his hands a vessel full of holy water, cast it in his face, and the whole place being suffused with the dew, the enemy at last, failing little by little into various forms, vanished.
[21] But the body of the aforesaid Prior being placed in a vehicle, the horse, which before limped, subjected to the service of the deceased ceased from limping. After the miracles that followed the death of Thomas, There are also certain of the faithful, who with an oath assert, that when he was brought to the Church of holy Mary of Gareshend, and laid down before the Altar, a certain Deacon of good life saw a snowy dove fly around the bier the whole time of the night, and to the sacred services with the applause of its wings render heavenly homage. The bodies also of two Bishops, Edmund and Athelred, were found in the place of his burial, whose names before could be known, but their burials could not be known: which was done by divine disposition. For he who lost the Priorate not by transgression, but by persecution; deservedly received the honor of an Episcopal sepulchre. These things I in no way wished to omit, that you may know, that several Fathers came forth from this monastery, who, although they did not work signs in the sight of the people, are with God exalted in merits for the sanctity of their conversation and the simplicity of their heart.
[22] But neither, for a testimony of his merits, was the efficacy of signs wanting to Bartholomew, of which I report a few, which his successor acknowledged from his report. There came once women to the Island of Farne, with whom there was also a certain Flemish woman; who, beholding men enter and leave the Oratory, at the suggestion of the ancient serpent, began to be more vehemently fervent with the desire of entering: and she said to those sitting by: "Why do we not enter, he restores to life a woman struck lifeless for entering the Oratory, and, as if having nothing in common with the rest of mankind, are compared to dogs?" And when the others asserted the prohibition once made by the blessed Father Cuthbert, and counseled to recall her mind from the purpose of rashness; she despised the voice of those piously admonishing, and hastened to fulfill the feminine outrage she had dared. The eyes of all were intent upon her, what she would do, or what afterward would befall her from the deed. And now she set her foot in the doorway, and, as if repelled from heaven by a strong whirlwind of wind, fell backward lifeless to the ground. There run up both men and women, who had gathered to the spectacle, marveling at the sudden fall. What then was the confusion of the women, but the exultation of the men! Meanwhile it is announced to the man of God what had happened: who, smiling, said: "And this too she has deservedly received for her faults." And rising he came to her, and sprinkled the dying woman with holy water. Marvelous thing! for so swift a recovery followed the liquid, that in one and the same hour was the sprinkling of the water and the exhibition of health.
[23] He had received a small little gift of wax from certain sailors, which he cast into his boat, and remembered not to take it with him when he returned; the wax carried off by a raven he recovers by prayers, perhaps his mind was occupied otherwise:
and now he had reached the doors of his dwelling, and soon stopped; and while he turned over with himself where he had been, or what he had done, at last the wax which he had left behind him came to mind: and turning back he saw a raven holding the wax in its beak, and carrying it to the further island. Seeing which he was grieved: and bending his knees on the shore he gave himself to prayer, beseeching the heavenly mercy, that what the sailors had given out of devotion should not, through the guilt of his negligence, perish from the use of the church: and immediately the raven returned, and cast the wax in the same place, whence it had taken it. This, avoiding the vice of self-exaltation, he reported as done not by himself but by some Monk; imitating the praiseworthy humility of the Apostle, who humbly mentions his own virtues under the person of another.
[24] and he restored a skiff snatched away by the waves, At another time also, while certain sailors were staying in the port of the same island, their boy went out to fish, but forgot to fasten the skiff, in which he was, to the stern as he was wont; and the rapacious waves at once catch it loosed, and drive it further out into the straits. Which the sailors having discovered, cry out to the man of God: "Brother Bartholomew come, and help us." Who going out, and as if foreknowing what they sought, smiled, and so jokingly added: "Why have you called me? What will you give me?" When they complained of the case of inconvenience, he himself boarded the ship, and restored their skiff to them. But the steersman, rising up against the boy, leveled threats, and stretched out his hand to strike. Which the venerable man forbade, saying: "Know that this island has such a privilege of peace, that for no excess of error is it permitted to anyone to seek out any judgment of punishment in it." To this the steersman: "Even if he has merited to have peace in it, in the ship he shall not have peace." To whom Bartholomew: "In the ship too see that you do it not, because thence will befall what will not be expedient for your life." But he would not hear the admonitions of the Father, and beat the youth in the ship with a rod, and he predicts death to the disobedient ship-master: And it came to pass, that, because he did not spare him, he himself too was not spared: for on the first day after this of the voyage he began to fall ill: and on the second received the end of his life. Which his companions reporting to the man of God, he answered: "Did I not say to that man? Sin not against the boy, and he heard me not." It pleases therefore to consider, how great this man was, who both foreknew the destruction of the wretched man, and foretold it under a threat. In which matter too it is to be weighed, with how great reverence of fear the greater commands of the Saints are to be received, when even the lighter are believed to have a great weight.
[25] A little bird took its daily provision from his table, and having received its refreshment departed. But one day, while he was occupied in fishing, A sparrow-hawk for a little bird devoured a sparrow-hawk pursued it even into the oratory, and the one which came to take food at the wonted hour, is taken, and is made prey and food for its captor. But then, although Bartholomew was absent in body, in power he was present: because the hawk, which had brought him injury, wished to go out, and could not: but while it was carried hither and thither in headlong flight, it dashed often against the window, and was as if repelled from a wall: in the open doorway too it found the solidity of a wall: at last, worn out with so great fatigue, by chance, above where the aforementioned Father was wont to sit, it descended. Bartholomew therefore returning from fishing, found in the threshold of the Oratory the little feathers and bones: and recognizing them to be the relics of his bird he grieved vehemently. And when he had sat a little while, he chastises with a two-day fast. lifting up his eyes he saw his bird-killer, still bearing on its beak and claws the marks of fresh blood, and said to it: "Have you, wretch, dared with rash boldness to assail our bird?" and seizing it with both hands, that it might purge the guilt of so great a crime by fasting, he shut it up for two days; and on the third day, moved by mercy, permitted it to depart. In these four things he followed the works of three Fathers. In the sprinkling of water, B. Cuthbert, who restored the wife of a Count to her former health by holy water: in the return of the raven, the same Father, who received returning ravens to penance: in the death of the disobedient one, the most holy servant of the Lord Benedict, whose command because someone scorned to observe, he was given over to the destruction of flesh and spirit by diabolical fury and perished; in the dismissal of the sinning hawk, the praiseworthy hermit Godric, who commanded a hare feeding on the herbs to depart. From which it can be gathered, that whose virtues he had, of their spirit also he was full.
NOTES BY G. H.
CHAPTER IV.
The island of Farne described. The disobedient punished. The dwelling of the birds. The visions and apparitions of S. Cuthbert.
[26] This great and spacious sea with hands, there islands of which there is no number. Isaiah 19, 18. In it also is situated the island of Farne, to which the sentence of Isaiah can rightly apply, One shall be called the City of the sun. For this, once the Camp of demons, now the cloister and school of the Saints; a certain purgatory on earth, salutarily established for the curing of bodies and souls, always has men of virtues, nay even makes them. Because, he who is led by the spirit into its desert, it is necessary that he be tempted by the devil, and either cultivate virtue, or forsake the place of virtue. There exercise awaits all, The form, what kind the island is: idleness none. There is very much want of things, which, associating itself with the marine cold, heaps up the forces of temptation. The island, almost round in situation, extends a rocky face in its upper parts into a grassy plain, of which one part yields barley to those digging, the other fodder to animals. It is divided by a wall. There is here no contention among the citizens about boundaries, nor with flesh and blood, but with the princes and powers of these darknesses is a continual wrestling about the kingdom and the ruler. Toward the South by the space of two miles it is separated from the opposite shore: but from the East even to the West it is girded by the steep height of rocks, and is thence closed by the infinite Ocean. The remaining quarters of its region it has for a wall, and projects into the strait: in which it has continual assaults, and an unconquerable conflict with the waves. Very often, the waters rising above and overflowing, it is wholly flooded. There is then a great importunity of fear and cold to the inhabitants.
[27] At its port, nay rather gate, lies open a humble and small cottage, and the cottage built by S. Cuthbert: which is said to have been built by the first Monarch of the place, Cuthbert, of unpolished stones and cheap turf. It receives those coming, much consolation to them, for it abounds in the services of humanity, and administers the works and zeal of piety. But at a certain time, those things failing which might be set out, Bartholomew ordered his cow to be killed, and food to be prepared for those having none; for, negligent of himself, with an oratory, he was always solicitous for others. And not far from it a fountain, fit for their uses. Then by a narrow way and a strait gate one ascends to the oratory; which, placed in a certain secret recess of a hollow, offers a dwelling apt for quiet and contemplation. And this not by the prudence of nature, but by the industry of its founder Cuthbert in cutting away within the first rock, that while nothing but heaven is set before the eyes, each may be lifted up to heavenly desires with the whole intention of the mind. At its southern quarter rests Dom Bartholomew; a fountain drawn forth by him: where the rock has a conspicuous fountain, drawn forth long ago from its inmost bowels by the prayers of B. Cuthbert. For this island, although it may seem to lack all that pertains to use, conferred upon its inhabitants the delicious fullness of two fountains. Whither when pirates come for the sake of drawing water, they wither as before the face of the sun in dryness; and the benefit, which they are wont to bestow, they withdraw even from the household.
[28] But to this Monarchy lie subject many Islands, of which one yields hay, another fuel; the neighboring islands, another, which is also nearest, furnishes burial to the shipwrecked. In these the phantoms of demons are reported to dwell: for when they left their metropolis, B. Cuthbert warring them down, the phantoms of demons they fled to its suburban borders: where when at one time the Brothers exposed themselves to rest after labor, there appeared suddenly certain hooded riders of goats: black, of short stature, of most foul countenance and long beards, their cavalry of horrible aspect: they had also lances in their hands, driven away by the sign of the Cross: which, brandishing after the manner of soldiers, they bore before them, and against those lying down they shook the standards of warfare: whose efforts the Brothers first frustrated by the opposing of the Cross; then, when they ceased not from their assaults, one fixed in the sand around them as a hedge the marked straws, that is the banners of the Cross: into whose circle of fortification when the riders desired to break in, terrified they sprang back, and left the palm of victory to those resting.
[29] Nothing too is committed in it unavenged: for either it forthwith afflicts the guilty in pains, the disobedient punished. or, the faults being revealed, confounds him with shame. For he who sought the young of the ducks with stones, because he despised the command of Bartholomew's prohibition, after three days received the end of his life. Another, while he incurred the guilt of the same transgression, the flesh and skin of his forefinger being consumed up to its middle, left an indication of his presumption. A certain one also there stole a whetstone, but the ship which held the thief, exposed to the winds, could not run; nor was the sin remitted with the penalty, until the stolen thing was restored with shame. The relics also of the eaten bird, which, that the crime of the eater might not be detected, had been cast into the sea, were divinely offered to the Father of that same island at the door of the oratory,
the very Brother who had offended marveling, and consumed with shame. But also he who ate the stolen apples, which at the questioning of the Father he would not wipe away as a fault, forthwith vomited them at his feet, and the vicious belching of the mouth betrayed the vice of the heart. Other things also similar to these do not cease to be celebrated.
[30] But ancient long-standing report holds that certain birds inhabit this island, of which both the name and the kind perseveres with a miracle. marvelous ducks are born there, In the time of nesting they assemble there, and so soon obtain the grace of such gentleness from the sanctity of the place, or rather from those who sanctified the place by their conversation, that they do not shun human touches and gazes: they love quiet, and yet are not deterred by noise. Their nests are prepared far from the inhabitants round about, by the altar certain birds sit. No one presumes to harm or touch the eggs without leave. From these, when the Brothers set out food both for themselves and for those arriving, they themselves cause them no trouble about the food: with their males they seek their food in the sea; their young, as soon as they are created, follow the mothers going before; and once they have entered their native waves they do not return to the nests. The mothers too, forgetting the gentleness which they had, receive their former state of feeling along with the sea. This is the illustrious dignity of the prerogative of this island; which if the studies of the ancients had discovered, they would have spread it through the world with most beautiful praise.
[31] whereof one young one having fallen into a cleft of the rock But at a certain time, while a certain one was leading the young which she went before, one of them fell into a chasm of a cleft rock: but the mother stopped, sadder, and let no one then doubt that she put on the bearing of human reason. For immediately returning, her young left there, she came to Bartholomew, and began to draw the border of his cloak with her beak; as if openly saying, "Rise and follow me, and restore my young one to me." To whom he quickly rose, believing that she sought a nest under him. But as she drew more and more, he perceived at last that she sought something, which she could not expedite by the signification of her voice: for she was skilled in deed, who was unskilled in speech. She goes before therefore, and he follows; and coming to the rock she showed the place with her beak, and gazing on Bartholomew, by what indication she could, nodded that he should look in. Who approaching, sees the young one clinging in the rock by its little feathers, the Saint restores to the mother; and descending restored it to the mother. With which she, much delighted, was thought to give thanks with a more joyful countenance. She enters therefore the waters with her young, and Bartholomew, filled with astonishment, returns to his oratory. So too at all times the Lord tempers the grace of virtues in His Saints, that sometimes from the least things the title of greater grace grows up.
[32] Let me come finally to the heavenly visions, with whose delicious pleasantness and sweetness he himself being kindled, to those things which are above to be sought and contemplated, began more ardently to cling to the sweetness of solitary quiet; namely to sit, to be silent, S. Cuthbert appearing, and to raise himself above himself. But the blessed Father Cuthbert deigned to exhibit his presence, not only through a vision, but even bodily, for the consolation of his servant. For Mass having been celebrated for the salvation of the faithful, on the solemn night, on a certain day of the Lord's Nativity, and the morning Lauds being completed in the praise of God; after a small interval of time the man of the Lord Bartholomew went out, to see whether that sacred day yet whitened into dawn, that the second celebration might be made. And returning he saw lighted candles, and a Priest of venerable countenance, clad in priestly garments, assisting before the holy Altar. And when no one appeared to minister, he himself, filled with wonder and joy, approached; and confession being said to one another, they sang the Office "Light shall shine," with the rest, he celebrates the second Mass at the dawn of the Nativity of Christ, in a voice of jubilation and gladness. In it too, joyful, he professed that he had cried out beyond his strength. But the most sacred Mysteries being performed, the candles, no one applying a hand or extinguisher, were put out; and the venerable Priest himself vanished from his eyes: nor did Bartholomew dare to ask him who he was, knowing without doubt that he was the holy Bishop. And when he once disclosed this to Brother William, from whose relation I too learned it, he was asked by him, whether amid the services of the sacred celebration he had given him the kiss of peace; which although he would not confess, there is no doubt that he exhibited it, who rendered the due and devout ministry in the rest.
[33] On a certain night when in praise of the glorious Mother of the Lord he sang the morning hymns, the aforementioned Brother saw the Eastern window suffused with copious light, Bartholomew singing psalms by night, twice found illumined by heavenly light, and it carried hither and thither with a certain likeness of playing; and he began, astonished, to think with himself what it was, or whence in the dead silence of the night so great a brightness came. But going out, the aforesaid light being shown, he inquires of the man of God; but he, dissembling to disclose what he knew to be true, mocked the persistence of the inquirer with a jocose interjection of words: but on the following night, while they sang the wonted praise in memory of B. Cuthbert, from the northern window an immense light shone forth: which not only suffused them, and he confesses that this happens but even filled the whole oratory with its immensity: and immediately Bartholomew gave himself to prayer, and the younger one too bent his knees to pray. When at last they went out, and conferred in the wonted manner about those things which pertain to the heavenly conversation, the aforementioned younger one, desiring to scrutinize the Mystery of the shown vision, said: "Not in vain did that brightness exhibit itself a second time to our eyes." Which he hearing; "Divine," he said, "was the light, which appeared to us. as often as he is visited by S. Cuthbert. For as often as the blessed Father Cuthbert deigns to exhibit himself to the visitation of this place, the effusion of so great a light accompanies his presence." From which it is more fully to be gathered, that he himself often beheld the heavenly glory, and that for his consolation the presence of the Saints was sometimes present. Let us, as often as we stand at the divine work, whose memory in the praise of God we keep, although we cannot embrace them with human gazes, believe them ever to be present.
[34] So too the memorable Father foreknew and foretold his death long before. He predicts his death. For he had seen in a vision a certain man of marvelous comeliness and exceeding brightness assisting him, who revealed to him that nine years remained to him in this dwelling of the world, and predicted the heir of the place both as to merit and name. And he began from that time to apply himself more earnestly to vigils and prayers, and the other exercises of the spiritual life; and to prepare his soul for the contemplation of the heavenly Spouse, lest in it there should appear the wrinkle of age or the stain of iniquity. On a certain night therefore, when he was watching in prayer, his little bell, no one ringing it, gave the sign of a threefold ringing, as it were of a threefold summons; that hence he might know, that his calling from the body was at hand.
NOTES BY G. H.
CHAPTER V.
The sickness, death, burial, and miracles of S. Bartholomew.
[35] About therefore to receive rest for his labor, he fell into a sickness; Sick, he is visited by the people of Lindisfarne, and that from it he should conclude the conflict of his long contest happily, he foreknew from then, and announced the dissolution of his body now not in secret but openly to the Brothers: from which very many of them, but these especially who were established in the island of Lindisfarne, resolved to visit him more frequently. There came also certain Brothers from Coldingham, whom he had loved with the prerogative of a special grace; and the people of Coldingham, that they might behold the face of the Father, which they were not afterward to see in this world... But the Brothers asking, where he would choose the burial of his body, he said: "I desire my body to rest here, where I hope my spirit to be received by its Creator, and I have served the Lord as a soldier a little while, and have sustained many tribulations for that consolation which is in the heavens. For this place is holy." Seven weeks before his death he is reported neither to have eaten nor drunk. For on the fifth Feria of the Lord's Ascension he began that praiseworthy fast, and again on the fifth Feria, namely on the Nativity of S. John the Baptist, he migrated to the Lord.
[36] A little before his passing there was made in the atrium a noise as of mice leaping, and on the roof as of sparrows, certain spectres appearing creeping with claws and beaks: but also a mass as of a most huge dog fell at the back of a certain Brother, and made him grow pale and as if faint with fear. But the servant of God, recognizing what was happening, said: "What do you here, wretched and unhappy one? In vain you labor; because you ought to find nothing in me that is yours." And immediately all that noise departed with horror.
[37] During all the time of his weakness he never permitted a bed to be made, on which he might even a little repose; armed with faith he drives away, but sitting, or walking, or going round the island, he ceased not from prayer: but to have conversation with the Brothers he scarcely consented: but not deigning to see men, with his whole heart he gaped after the heavenly things. Having spent therefore in the solitary life 42 years and 6 months, he was withdrawn from this light: whose death was made known to a certain youth, resting in the church of Lindisfarne. There stood by him a certain one of venerable countenance, saying: "Rise quickly, and tell the Prior and the Brothers, and he dies. that Bartholomew has migrated from the world." But another coming from the city of Bebba, and reporting the passing of the man of God, just as they had said, so it was found. His body being buried in the oratory, a certain fever wholly left one at his tomb: a demoniac recovered her sense: the noxious tumor of the quinsy vanished from the neck of a youth, and he, joyful, gave thanks to God.
NOTES BY C. J.
to complete the tome remained to be printed, about to resume the work, that we might satisfy the desire of the many requiring that tome, we did not find the last part of this Life, lost among the hands of the typesetters. Having therefore written to Cîteaux, whence our manuscript had been received, that what was lost might be supplied. But the most humanely and sorrowfully replying Reverend Father Friar Bernard Caponius, that the Life, after much search, was now not to be found, we supply the defect from Capgravius, who, as was said in the preliminary Commentary at number 3, edited that Life among the other Saints of England. Thence therefore the few (for the Life is more abridged) things which follow, know, Reader, are taken.