OF SAINT ANTHELM BISHOP OF BELLEY IN GAUL OF THE CARTHUSIAN ORDER.
IN THE YEAR 1177.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On the Life written by a contemporary, and the recent Elevation of the body.
Anthelm the Carthusian, Bishop of Belley in Gaul (S.)
BY G. H.
[1] Bellica or Bellicium, commonly Belley, an Episcopal city of Gaul, the capital of the territory of Bugey, distant two thousand paces from the river Rhône, had in the XII century of Christ, among its Bishops, S. Anthelm, taken from the Carthusian Order: Writers of his deeds. whose virtues are extolled by the Writers of this Order, and chiefly Peter Dorland, in book 4 of his Chronicle chapter 34 and the three following; and Theodore Petreius, in his Notes or Elucidations upon the Chronicle of the said Dorland; likewise Arnold Bostius the Carmelite, on the Illustrious Men of the Carthusian Order, chapter 4. And it is everywhere indicated, that his deeds excellently done are extant in Laurence Surius at this XXVI of June; but he prefaces that he has changed his style, and edited most things in paraphrase. We were ourselves in the year 1662 in the great Carthusian house itself, kindly received by the Most Reverend Father General; and by his Scribe the Reverend Father John Chauvet: who promised all diligence to send us, what he knew yet survived of monuments concerning the Saints of his Order. And no more liberal in his promise than prompt in execution, soon in the following year 1663, The Life from a Ms. by a contemporary author. he sent us the Life of that holy Bishop taken from an old manuscript of the House of Meyriat, somewhat more accurate than the other which Surius had, who asserts it was edited by a certain equal and intimate of his: in which the already praised Scribe agrees with him, prefacing that it was faithfully described by his companion and contemporary. The author also himself in the Prologue confesses, that he merited to be edified by his companionship or visitation.
[2] John Molanus, in the first edition of the Auctarium to Usuard, wrote, that the said Life is held in manuscript at Louvain, A Memorial in the Calendars. among the Canons Regular of the monastery of S. Martin, and gave this eulogy to the Saint: Likewise of the holy memory of Anthelm, Bishop and Confessor, of the Carthusian Order, who from Prior of the greater Carthusian house, having been made Bishop of Belley, was renowned for innumerable miracles, among which he restored to life a boy drowned in the waters. The author of the manuscript Florarium had preceded, and Greven or the Cologne Carthusians in the Auctarium of Usuard printed in the years 1515 and 1521. There followed Canisius in the German Martyrology, Baronius in the Roman Martyrology, and with a great eulogy Saussay in the Gallican. Samuel Guichenon in the second part of his History of Bresse and Bugey at page 24 and following treats of the same S. Anthelm, where from the Catalogue of illustrious men of the Carthusian Order, found among those of Meyriat, he brings forth these words; S. Anthelm, from a Carthusian made Bishop of Belley, not unequal to the great Apostolic men. The same is exhibited by the following diploma of Falco the Archbishop of Lyons. Falco, Minister of the Church of Lyons, to his beloved Brother Anthelm Prior of the Carthusian house, Administration of 2 monasteries given to him: and to all the Priors serving under the Carthusian Order, and the Brethren who are with them, to obtain the reward of Poverty from the Lord. The House of Portes and the House of Meyriat of your Religion, according to your wish and petition, in accordance with the tenor and confirmation of your Order, as shall be decreed by the common counsel of the Chapter, we grant and deliver to you and your successors in perpetuity to be corrected. S. Anthelm was Prior of the great Carthusian house from the year 1139 down to the year 1151, in whose time, about the year 1140 and the next following, Falco presided over the Church of Lyons as Archbishop. The same letter of Falco you will find in the chronographic series of the Bishops of Belley, which the same Guichenon, eight years before the aforesaid History, that is in the year 1642, had brought to light; where after the Epitome received from Surius he adds; The same S. Anthelm's tunic is even today preserved in the Carthusian house of Portes.
[3] The Saint himself wrote a letter to Louis VII King of the Franks, printed among his letters in Du Chesne, in volume 4 of the Writers of the history of the Franks at page 650, His letter to King Louis VII. in this manner: To his most excellent Lord Louis, by the providence of God King of the Franks, Anthelm, humble Minister of the Church of Belley, so to rule the earthly kingdom, that in the heavens he may be able to reign with the Saints. From the time when, Most Illustrious King, the sublimity of your Serenity deigned to visit the smallness of the Carthusian House, by showing us your presence, in the little chest of our breast, with such love as we could, we received it. For then, so to speak, in our inward parts you were incorporated, and indeed you shall not easily be plucked out. Now also by the will of God, I know not whether disposing or permitting, having been designated such as I am Bishop of the Church of Belley, holding in our prayers the memory of you, we pour forth prayers for you and for the stability of the kingdom to God. Therefore we suggest to your Magnificence, that you should not trust in human favors more than in yourself, that you imitate mercy and judgment, kindness and gentleness, and the like; which indeed are the marks of Royal dignity. For the rest, we supplicate your Majesty, that to a certain nephew of ours according to the flesh, studying at Paris, for the love of God and of us, you would deign to assist him with the means whereby he may be sustained and attend to wisdom. Farewell.
[4] The Elevation of the body took place in the year 1630, on this XXVI of June. This someone, a spectator and participant of the deed, described in French; The history of the elevation in the year 1650. and four years afterward it was printed in Latin at Brussels, and dedicated to the Founders of the Carthusian house of Lisbon in Portugal, by a fellow-member and participant of their Order, I. G. à R. from the Lyceum of Belgium, I understand Louvain, and I interpret the initial letters of the name as Joseph Geldolsus à Ryckel, Abbot of the Canons Regular of S. Gertrude at Louvain, from whose learned pen we afterward received the history of S. Gertrude herself, variously illustrated in the year 1637. How much he was a lover of all Religious, and especially of the Carthusians, perhaps the Fathers of Louvain still remember; and how he was as it were aggregated to their Order, and made a participant of all their merits, by letters patent on that matter. I, from that labor of his, to which he prefixed a Compendium of the Life of S. Anthelm, and at the end a supplicatory prayer, cause only the history of the Elevation to be reprinted, and I warn that witnesses are cited in it both elsewhere, and at num. 14 Francis Monyer, Canon Theologal of Belley, who during the very ceremony delivered a Panegyric oration on the Saint; and Francis Genard the Capuchin, one of the Episcopal Commissioners, for examining the equity of the supplication made to the Bishop, for persuading the Elevation itself, perhaps the author of the French Relation itself, otherwise unknown to us: into which Relation at the ninth number we have inserted two Episcopal Decrees, together with the Process, related by Guichenon, in the series of Bishops at page 117 and 124.
THE LIFE
By a contemporary and intimate author. Sent to us from the great Carthusian house.
Anthelm the Carthusian, Bishop of Belley in Gaul (S.)
BHL Number: 0560
BY A CONTEMPORARY AUTHOR.
PROLOGUE.
[1] We know, that the Gentiles of old were wont to set up images of their ancestors, The Acts of the Saints to be written, sculptured or painted, that posterity beholding them might be incited to seek the virtues or the glory of probity by the examples of valiant men; but the faithful worshipers of the true God, more firmly and more openly and far more worthily, took care to extol with the praises of writing (which is incomparably more excellent than all sculpture or painting) the most invincible contests and most excellent triumphs of the holy Fathers, both of the Blessed Martyrs, and the glorious struggles of the holy Confessors and their long conflicts with the enemy, their virtues also and the marks of their miracles, and to hand them down to the memory of posterity. Nor undeservedly: for if those, of whom we have spoken before, and the virtues to be praised, eminent in however great power, seem worthy of praise; these surely are altogether to be honored, praised, glorified and venerated, to the praise, glory and honor of God, who wrought in them. Those conquered enemies; these conquered the whole world; those, mortal and weak men; these subdued the immortal and strong; those acquired riches and perishable possessions; these acquired unfailing treasures and a kingdom to be possessed without end. their patronage to be implored. It is therefore necessary for us, that we should entreat them with such devotion as we can, venerating them, that they may be ever and everywhere patrons and defenders to us, that in whatever part of his kingdom we may merit to be inscribed.
[2] Let us therefore praise that God who is wonderful in his Saints, giving thanks, who in our times also openly showed forth B. Anthelm, The author lived under S. Anthelm. Bishop of Belley, made equal in merits to the rest of the Saints; glorifying his Saint by manifest signs and frequent miracles far and wide. Concerning whose life and holy converse (lest we be charged with negligence, who merited to be edified by his companionship or visitation) I, though slight in understanding and insufficient for such great things, yet from love of him, desiring to have him as my Patron, in a poor style indeed, but with faithful mind and devout, although I am not able to write worthy things, will attempt to write of many things at least a few: trusting not in myself, but in him, who opened the lips of a brute beast to speak, and makes the tongues of infants eloquent.
The Chapters found in the Ms. we here give together, to which correspond at the side the numbers of our division.
1 On his boyhood and secular life. 3
2 On his entry into the house of Portes. 5
3 On his calling to the Grande Chartreuse. 7
4 On his appointment as Procurator of the Chartreuse. 8
5 How he is made Prior of the Chartreuse. 9
6 On his release from the office of Prior. 13
7 On his appointment as Prior of Portes. 15
8 How the Archbishop and Clergy of Lyons took refuge at the House of Portes. 17
9 On his release from the Priorate of Portes and his return to the Chartreuse. 18
10 On the schism against Pope Alexander III. 19
11 On his election as Bishop of Belley. 21
12 On his reception in the Church of Belley, and his conversation. 26
13 On his zeal towards the Church. 28
14 On the excommunication passed on the Count of Savoy. 29
15 On his holy conversation up to the last year of his life. 33
16 On the last year of his life and his death. 36
17 On certain miracles of his after his death. 39
18 An exhortation to paying cult to St. Anthelm. 46
CHAPTER I.
Secular boyhood, then the Carthusian life, and the Procuratorship of the Great Carthusian house.
CHAP. I.
[3] Of lofty and great lineage, of parents illustrious in the world, happy in such offspring, that is of a father named a Anduinus, Born of noble stock, of the Castle of Savoy which is called b Chignin, of a mother from the most noble forebears of her country, c B. Anthelm was born, who studied to serve God devoutly, whom it pleased; and who was noble by birth, was made nobler by the servitude of Christ. This boy therefore, after it seemed time, by the disposition of God who provided for him, was handed over by his parents to be instructed in sacred letters. And when, now grown up, he appeared of good disposition; excels in learning and grace, the Lord had poured upon him such grace, that he was pleasing to all, and was loved by all who knew him. But although he was now pleasing to God, yet he did not at once take care to walk religiously, allured by the blandishments of the world favoring him; for he did not yet provide for the last things, the careful thought of which draws one back from sins. Which indeed I reckon to have been done by the wisdom of God, who orders all things strongly and sweetly: that from this, that he was drawn to Christ by the heavenly Father from abundant worldly prosperities, he might be ascribed to so much the greater merits of sanctity.
[4] Therefore, having been admitted into the Church d of Geneva and of Belley, Provost of the Church of Geneva, in a short time he grew great in the revenues of lands and churches, in honors too and dignities; so that he was preferred to men of more advanced age, even to the gravest old men. For in the Church of Geneva he was ordained Provost and Secretary: and when he possessed very many things, he took care not to gather riches, but to bestow them and honorably to expend them. For he was delighted (as is the manner of such as desire to have esteem) allured by praises and human honors, but not captured by them. But illustrious men passing through or arriving, both religious and secular, reverently receiving and drawing them, he honorably provided for, and most dutifully exhibited the other fitting services. And so, according to the saying of the Wise man, more useful than a kingdom, he had acquired by his merits innumerable friends far and wide: he is reckoned hospitable and liberal. one too much more useful than the rest he is said to have had, namely to have ever been pious to the poor and afflicted. And it is certain that one virtue, whoever shall have had it, leads to the other goods; especially charity, without which the other virtues are nothing, of which almsgiving is the greatest member; which whoever follows, gains for himself the love of God and ineffable treasures, temporal advantages too and long days; makes for himself faithful, sure, great and perpetual friends. This man, of whom we treat, although vain and entangled in temporal things, took the utmost care to flee doing anything dishonest. Let these few things sent before about his secular life suffice: now let us relate of those things which truly make one blessed, as far as God shall deign to grant.
CHAP. II.
[5] When now he was approaching the time, in which he was to be conformed to Christ, to become a perfect man, He curiously visits the Carthusians, in the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ; he began to visit the places of the religious, especially of the order of the Carthusian house, to examine their life and willingly to hear them: not yet however from emulation of their manner of life, but from a certain curiosity. The servant of God was indeed admonished by those whom he visited, but who would have hoped that he could easily be converted, to whom so many things prospered, and higher things than he had attained were being prepared? But when, with certain of his contemporaries accompanying him, he had gone to f the Hermitage of Portes, in the house of Portes, for the sake of visiting the Brethren there serving God; and had heard a word of salvation from Dom g Bernard the venerable Prior, and the memorable Prior had begun (by whose hand innumerable men were converted from wandering errors to God, and placed in various places) and likewise some Brethren, to exhort him greatly to conversion, promising by the grace of God the eternal kingdom, he did not acquiesce, but asking prayers for himself, and recommending himself to their prayers, he asks to be prayed for: and bidding farewell he departed. And when he had come down to the lower h house, he was detained by the Brethren, and by Boso the Procurator, a man of marvelous industry, his kinsman, until the morrow.
[6] So in the morning, going back up, he again saw the Brethren, he passes the night in the lower house, and it was permitted him to examine all the cells: and when they had perceived his heart softened, thinking it the time; repeating the word concerning contempt of the world, the Prior and the Brethren exhort him, that small things for great, few for many, false for true, things perishable for eternal, harmful for healthful, and death for life, allured by exhortation, he should not doubt to exchange the world for God. What more? Seized by the Spirit of the fear of the Lord, strengthened by the Spirit of counsel and fortitude, suddenly changed (being soon to be a friend of God) casting away all things of the world, cleaving to God alone, he wholly gave himself to be devoted to his service. And without delay; straightway asking mercy i he was most devoutly received with the grace of God. And when they exhorted him, that having prosperously disposed his affairs he should not delay to return, he asks to be admitted, and should set a day; reckoning not unfittingly according to the saying of the Lord, that he who has once put his hand to the plough must not look back, lest he be less fit for the kingdom of God, he answered: This day is the day for remaining with God perpetually: there is wherewith debts may be paid, and there are faithful friends to dispose of all things. So having taken the habit of religion rejoicing, with piety and devotion and great fervor he conversed, and he receives the Habit. and in the regular disciplines and the observance of the order proposed in a short time was instructed and made perfect.
CHAP. III.
[7] At that time, when the house of the Carthusians lacked Monks, especially upright men, (for it had very few) Dom Hugh Bishop of Grenoble, a prudent man and of great virtues, Sent to the great Carthusian house, k the successor of B. Hugh, who afterward was made Archbishop of Vienne, with great prayers at Portes urged, that S. Anthelm, then a novice, should be conceded and dismissed to the Carthusian house. Who being received, took care constantly and undeviatingly to carry out the Rule of the proposed Order, and to offer to God of himself more victims: so that his life afforded an example to the other Religious; he accurately observes the statutes of the Order: but it seemed impossible to them to imitate his zeal, who ceased not to exercise himself beyond human measure: which indeed he himself could not do, unless the power of God, working through him, wrought in him. He passed nights in frequent vigils, he gave himself to prayer and reading, holy meditation, and the praises of God day and night assiduously. Yet to the labor of his hands, (lest he should ever be idle, for the Scripture says, Idleness l is the enemy of the soul) much more however he applied himself to spiritual things. He had such abundance of tears, that in his prayers and meditations, he abounds in the gift of tears, to which he unceasingly applied himself, whether for the remembrance of his own or others' sins, or for the afflicted or any necessity whatever, or for desire of the heavenly kingdom; from the inmost affection of his heart, from his eyes rivers flowed abundantly as from a fountain. In the church also, when they chanted the divine Offices, torrents of tears burst forth for him: but at Mass, offering his whole self to God as a holocaust, wholly spiritual, he wholly clung to God. Very frequently day and night beating his breast, bending his knees or prostrate with his whole body kissing the ground, he humbled himself. He daily struck his back and sides with frequent strokes of the rod; he afflicts his body: so that, by inflicting blows upon blows, never was his flesh found without bruises, never his skin whole. The assiduity of his cell, abstinences, silence, obedience, and the other institutions of the Order he kept inviolate.
CHAP. IV.
[8] When the servant of God exercised himself in such and greater holy zeals, which we are not sufficient even to mention; Constituted Procurator the Prior with the Brethren, judging not without reason that his industry in the care of external things would be necessary, constituted him Procurator: which obedience, lest he incur the fault of disobedience, humbly receiving, he administered prudently and vigorously. Whatever harmful or useless things he found, or if perchance they should arise, he did not delay to cast them away, to demolish what was contrary, to correct what was dishonest, to keep the Brethren from unlawful things. If he found anyone dissolute, vagrant or negligent, he busied himself to amend him by arguing, rebuking, correcting; nor did he allow anyone to deviate from the Rule. thus he attends to external things, To the poor and needy, according to the piety divinely implanted in him, he had great compassion with the affection of charity: refreshing the hungry with food, giving garments to the naked, consolation to the wretched and afflicted, indeed spending even himself. While he attended diligently to these and similar things, yet more diligently to the quiet of the cell beloved by him and its tranquil labor, as to a nurse and mistress of all, most devoutly, he assiduously had recourse. that he might none the less care for the internal. And thus he fulfilled the ministry of Martha, good indeed, but laborious, in such a way that he did not desert the part of Mary, which she had chosen, the best part. So solicitous about many things, that he might cleave to the one thing necessary, which he had begun; unfailing in both: for both abstinences, vigils, corrections and the other things mentioned above he multiplied. These things are wonderful: for to man indeed of himself impossible, but the sole bestower and author of all good things, when he has given the will, adds also the power.
NOTES OF G. H.
a Surius has Arduinus.
CHAPTER II.
Made Prior of the Carthusian house, and afterward of the House of Portes, he affords illustrious examples in both.
CHAP. V.
[9] But when the time was disposed by God, in which he should render to God a more copious fruit not so much of himself as of very many others; Made Prior of the Carthusian house, the most devout man, the one who was then Prior yielding, nay rather compelling, with the Brethren, is taken as Prior of the Carthusian house. There had been Prior of the Carthusian house worthy of eternal memory b Guigo a venerable man, who, on account of the grace of mellifluous doctrine divinely conferred upon him, obtained this prerogative, that he is named the Good Prior by those who speak of him. He imitates the deeds of Prior Guigo: He established the mode of religion of the Carthusian Order, and fixed limits; for he himself wrote the Rule, which out of humility he called the Customs; he instructed his subjects, teaching by word and by example, with careful and vigilant care; with sobriety and honesty he religiously disposed the things pertaining to him; and counseling usefully all who consulted him: for he was a prudent man and of marvelous quickness of intellect. We have made mention of this memorable and venerable man for this reason, because the servant of God Anthelm studied to imitate him, and according to his institutions made his subjects to live, and took care to rebuild what had fallen. For the Order had grown lukewarm after the death of the said Prior, nor was there the fervor of religion or the rigor of discipline that had been: because there were lacking men strong in spirit, from the time when that company of blessed Saints merited to receive the reward of their labor, very few surviving, on one and the same day or hour, c crushed by the mass of snows rushing down from the highest mountains upon their cells.
[10] The new Prior therefore studied to renew the old things, of morals rather than of buildings; but also what the ancient religion of the holy Order had suffered of detriment, he restores all things to the norm of the Rule, to restore to the formerly instituted Rule. If he found any Brother negligent or contumacious, he busied himself to amend him by admonitions, blandishments, precepts, threats, corrections; but the incorrigible he did not doubt to remove from their midst. For certain ones, not enduring sound doctrine, who seemed great to themselves, of malignant mind, quarrelsome, dared to resist him: not bearing whose arrogance, lest they disturb peace and quiet, he did not delay to expel them. Under his hand therefore and discipline, persevering and making progress, the regular institutions were undeviatingly kept; not only in that house, but also in the other places of the same Order: by the Prior himself persuading, the Carthusian Order flourished, grew and was multiplied. And if perchance to a few it seemed of too great austerity or strictness toward subjects; yet the more, who were of sounder mind, rejoiced in such a Father, and were delighted by the exercise of holy zeals; nor was there anyone who dared to oppose his rectitude.
[11] And while he sought the salvation of all, yet he did not despise his own flesh: for of his two brothers according to the flesh whom he had, he receives into the order his brother and his father: by his admonitions he drew one after himself to Christ (for the other had preceded him in the same way) after whom he brought back his own father to the same penance. Happy Father! who, bound by the threefold cord of sons, followed Christ after them, nay rather with them! Happy, I say, who merited to have such sons! likewise the Count of Nevers. who, despising a fleeting inheritance, gained for themselves and for their Father an eternal one! To the odor also of his good fame and of the house of the Carthusians there flew the magnificent and powerful Lord William Count of Nevers, and drawn by the greatest devotion came to the Carthusian house; and having scorned so ample and magnificent a County, by the hands of Anthelm, he was made a Convert of the Carthusian house, d and with a praiseworthy and holy end was buried in the same cemetery.
[12] Meanwhile the holy man was the author and instituter of many good customs of the Carthusian house. He wishes nothing to be lacking to his own, For he instituted, that of those things which the Rule required nothing, however dear it might be, should ever be lacking to the Brethren: but however much they cost, he excludes women, all things should be prepared to be administered at appointed times. He enlarged the limits of the Carthusian house and bounded them; and the women whom his predecessors up to that time had not been able to forbid to enter the limits, he totally excluded from the said boundaries. The workshops or buildings, as it seemed good, some he improved, others he changed for the better; others he constructed new. An aqueduct, with much and wearisome labor, he constructs an aqueduct. causing it to be built with long channels; he directed to the cells of the Monks and the kitchen and the other workshops such an abundance of waters, that by the continual fall of the flowing water the supply sufficed for the mill, then established there. By these and many other things, which it would be too long to investigate, disposed and accomplished by him, the Carthusian house is proved to have made much progress in spiritual and temporal things. But although he was such and so great that one could hardly be found who could be compared to him according to either man; yet, thinking that he did nothing, nay rather fearing that he had wasted his time, seeking the secret of quiet and contemplation, and to sit quietly with Mary at the feet of the Lord, he took care to procure mercy from the office of the Priorate.
CHAP. VI.
[13] When therefore the man of God Anthelm had with all diligence and solicitude, vigorously and religiously, governed the house of the Carthusians in the Priorate for twelve years; After twelve years of governing since he had one Monk a man of wondrous sanctity and devotion, namely Dom e Basil (who afterward received into the Order f S. Hugh Bishop of Lincoln) preferring to obey rather than to command, to be subject rather than to preside, substituting him for himself, or procuring that he be substituted by the Convent, with the greatest joy he returned to the solace and continual habitation of his desired cell. he abdicates the Priorate: There how much grace in spiritual contemplations he daily drew, and how much sweetness of spiritual discourse from the mutual gathering of the Brethren coming together he sometimes imparted, let no one expect to be explained in letters; since not even he himself, if present, could express it in words. But when his successor and the whole house and Convent looked to him, [and none the less he cares for the vigor of the Order and sustains it by counsel.] and sought counsel in things to be done; he never denied them help nor counsel: nor did he ever cease to rebuke dishonest things, or to correct disordered things; and of the whole Order he himself was the corrector, keeper, protector and defender, as long as he lived, ever. As though he himself had constructed the whole Order, and had begotten the persons of the same; so concerning them, lest anything should proceed against the institutions of the Order or the salvation of souls, he was solicitous. Had this one alone not been a Carthusian, the Order would not have stood in its rigor: but, as we see of certain other Orders, it would have flowed away too much with a slack lap. What shall I say of the Order, when he had continual solicitude also for other Religious, lest they fall? For by holy correction and exhortation we know that many holy places, which had fallen into ruin, made progress in the amendment of life and the increase of religion.
[14] There was then (as has been said above) in the Hermitage of Portes the first Prior g Dom D. Bernard, Bernard the Prior of Portes a holy man who received the man of God Anthelm into the Order. How great a man of merit he was with the Lord, and how worthy of memory, many wonderful things, nay rather miracles to be called, which both in his life and after death he wrought, and besides other holy works, which he exercised in spiritual matters, manifestly testify. For he himself constructed the place; he acquired most ample circuits of land; he most vigorously governed the house, and filled it with most abundant goods: he himself was the diligent care of the Brethren and the regular discipline: good morals in the whole house and pure religion proceeded from him: he had a generous hand in Christ and stretched out to give to the needy: he fostered many places most religious, insufficient to themselves, with frequent and great benefits, which, had he not aided them, not standing even until now, would not have stood. This man, I say, such and so holy, now worn out with senile age, wishing to rest from the labor of external things, that he might more attentively give himself to God; and at the same time judging it unworthy, that he should always have dominion; chose at length to be subject rather than to preside. Having therefore laid down the burdens and the name of Prior, he procured that D. Anthelm be substituted for himself, he is substituted: and reverently asking obtained it; fearing lest otherwise the Order should grow lukewarm from its fervor, under whose hand he knew it could not slacken from regular discipline.
CHAP. VII.
[15] Anthelm therefore, for the good of obedience, though against his will, compelled to receive the Priorate, the governance in spiritual and temporal things was committed to him. How he governed the things committed to him, it does not seem very necessary to recount, since above his qualities and morals have been expressed. Yet it is not to be passed over in silence, that the house, which he found abounding in very many temporal goods, by lending these took care to heap up with better expenditures. he distributes grain among the poor farmers: For when he had found a heap of money, of grain too and of every kind of legumes, and heaps of provisions, and full granaries; he began to think that things thus piled up, by remaining, were of no worth, unless he should lend them out at Evangelical usury. But there was scarcity of bread and great want, which, as the time of harvest approached, men, now plucking from the new fruits, tempered; but in those mountains a tempest of hail had destroyed the new fruits of the farmers, except those reserved by the divine mercy of the Hermits themselves: nor did the said farmers have what they might eat, or what they might sow. Weighing which the provident lender, caused the extracted grain to be distributed to them; some more, some less, as it seemed expedient; having for his sole surety, who does not lie, God, sure that he would receive what he had lent with inestimable usury. Having received therefore their distributed portions, the poor praised God, who through his servant had bestowed on them such great benefits; and those who thereafter sowed from it, we believe were not frustrated of the hope of abundant fruits.
[19] After these things, putting his hand to the thousand gold pieces which he found, likewise a thousand gold pieces and superfluous ornaments, he divided among the poor religious of various places, both of his own Order and of others. The ornaments too of the Church which were superfluous and other various furniture not necessary to his house he likewise imparted to needy religious places. But neither growing torpid in idleness, he exercised great labor in enlarging the possessions of the House. For of the woods, of which the House itself has a great abundance, having made great clearance, he opened up a breadth for creating meadows, and rendered the fields open to agriculture: of trees too of various kinds he caused a copious grove to be inserted and planted. And the Brethren loved him with filial love, on account of his affability he is greatly loved: because they found him far holier and more kindly than they believed: for sweet in eloquence, gentle in converse, in words familiarly full of holy mirth, and showing himself to subjects a humble Brother, not a Prelate; to the aforesaid Dom Bernard too he deferred greatly, preferring him to himself; and when he came reverently rising, he never let him be dismissed, even if Bishops or Abbots were present, or persons of however great rank. But toward the afflicted, how great was his piety, and how great his compassion over the troubled, and finally how great his liberality to all both great and small, by the example of one deed, that I may pass over the rest, can not unfittingly be added.
CHAP. VIII.
[17] At that time the Count of Forez ravaged the city of Lyons taken by guile, he receives and feeds the Archbishop of Lyons with his people. and depopulating all things demonstrated the rage of his malignity especially against the Church. For when the Clerics, God being propitious, had escaped his hands, like fugitives and exiles, kindled with wrath he overturned their Houses. But the Lord h Eraclius, Archbishop of the said city, and the venerable persons of the other dignities, went to the Hermitage of Portes, where they had been wont to come to consult about great affairs, but after receiving consolation concerning this kind of misfortune from him, the magnanimous and strong man in the Lord Anthelm added, saying: Do not, my Lords, turn aside elsewhere, or wander in straying; but remain here: but if for your affairs you have gone out, return hither: for we will provide for your persons with your Presbyters and Clerics, as long as it shall be necessary: for this too will be very pleasing to us, and more honorable for you. Some of them going and returning, others diligently remaining, with generous expenditures, with cheerful grace, the necessaries of sustenance were diligently ministered; until in a short time, not without a great miracle, by the will of God, the enemies being expelled, the Clerics returned to their own.
CHAP. IX.
[18] At length when the servant of God perceived himself too much occupied in temporal administrations, After two years, absolved, he returns to the Carthusian house. and on account of the impediment of the part of Martha, the leisure of Mary, which with his whole heart he panted after, to be hindered; scarcely the space of two years having elapsed, since he had gone to the Hermitage of Portes, leaving the Priorate, to which the necessity of a command had compelled him; he hastened to the safe and ever-beloved refuge of the cell at his mother Carthusian house: where, although in dwelling he ever desired to be separated with himself from human conversations, yet many and great men (for his name was heard far and wide) had recourse to him for counsels of the soul, and brought back fruit copious and the greatest consolation.
NOTES OF G. H.
CHAPTER III.
Labors undertaken in the schism for Alexander III. The Bishopric of Belley conferred long against his will. Acts against the concubinaries.
CHAP. X.
[19] At that same time, when a great schism had arisen concerning the Pope in the Church of God; Anthelm the emulator of all goodness and justice, In the schism of the Church for the defense of Catholic unity, with steadfast mind as a strong champion in Christ, is known to have labored manfully against the schismatics. For when the Cardinals of the Roman Church and the whole Curia together had elected and constituted a Alexander supreme Pontiff; b Octavian, who had been first among the electors, blinded by diabolical ambition, invaded the Apostolic See in fact; and the Church, which was more execrable, upholding the party of Pope Alexander III handed over to the Imperial power. For he was a powerful man and of great wealth, begotten of great lineage, and had many followers and abettors; but to the Catholic Prelate, few indeed, but better and sounder, adhered. And when almost the whole Church, in doubt, wavered, and all Christendom likewise was shaken by a great whirlwind of faith; the Carthusian Order in the western Church before all, as became manifestly known, adhering to Pope Alexander, and preaching and confirming him to be the true Pontiff, took care to obey him in all things.
[20] But who was the worker of this matter? Anthelm, with a man of remarkable eloquence and very learned in the Scriptures, c Geoffrey his associate. These are they, who labored most, that the long-wavering Priors of their Order should profess obedience to the Catholic Pontiff: these are they, who most many Prelates of the Ecclesiastical Order with their subjects, prone or doubtful in the schism, calling them back from devious error, made to adhere to the Catholic Pontiff; reproving the reprobate, condemning the guilty, and execrating the schismatic with his abettors. To the Emperor therefore, who wished that the supreme Pontiff should be created only by his election, he is excommunicated in vain by the Antipope. it was made known, whatever the true worshiper and defender of the faith Anthelm had wrought: on account of this he was held in great hatred by him, d and by the Apostatical intruder, who had not the power of cursing or of blessing, he was condemned by execration. The Carthusians therefore and Cistercians going before, Pope Alexander soon merited to have the Church, in the parts of Gaul, Britain and Spain, obedient.
CHAP. XI.
[21] But the peace of the Church not yet being restored, when the servant of God Anthelm was hiding much in the recesses of the hermitage, studying to give himself to God and to himself; he, who makes the light to shine in darkness, not wishing the lamp to lie hid under a bushel, studied to set it upon a candlestick. For when the Church of Belley had been bereaved of its e Pastor, the more powerful part of the Canons elected a certain youth noble by birth, Two being proposed for the Bishopric of Belley, handing over to him the Episcopal House; but the other part contradicting, elected a certain Monk, sending to the Lord Pope f who then was tarrying in the parts of Gaul, that he might confirm him as Bishop to them, led by a certain Sigibodus, a most eloquent and crafty man, not unlearned in the knowledge of various writings, by whose ornate and polished words he soon merited to have the Curia favorable to him. But when both elections had become known to the Pope, consenting to neither, neither admitted by the Pope, he condemned the first, and decreed that the second too should be annulled. But while he deferred to give an answer to those who had come, because he hoped that others too would come, so the business remained suspended.
[22] S. Anthelm is elected The Clerics therefore of the said Church remaining thus divided in their votes, certain of them more moderate, few however, to whom neither election was pleasing, busying themselves to bring back the rest to concord, studied to elect that great Anchorite Anthelm. His sanctity is commended, his discretion and affability, and his religion is exalted beyond measure. What more? All assent, all rejoice; even the first Elect himself with his friends, for he was a kinsman of his. And so he whom the Lord had elected to this very thing from eternity, is elected by men at the predetermined time: but because they knew that he could not be torn from the hermitage without great force, they studied to hasten to Pope Alexander for confirmation, while he meanwhile lay hidden in the hermitage, with the joy and approbation of the Pope. and was wholly ignorant of what was being done concerning himself by others. Who when he had heard their election, rejoiced beyond measure, saying that they would be happy with such a Pastor, and that this counsel had been granted from a divine purpose. But Sigibodus, who had not yet departed from the Curia, and thought all things had happened to him according to his will, strove to destroy so holy an election; asserting by many arguments, that his ought to stand, but that this should be utterly reproved. But blandly admonished by so great a Prelate and entreated, since he could not resist him, at length he gave his assent even unwilling.
[23] Led forth from his hiding These things therefore accomplished, the Lord Pope by Apostolic authority confirming the said election, commanded and enjoined the aforesaid Anthelm, that he should by no occasion fail to undertake the care of the Church of Belley, to which he had been elected. The same thing he commanded to the Prior and Convent of the Carthusian Hermitage, that they should hand him over to the Legates demanding him, and by the virtue of holy obedience compel him, if otherwise he refused to go. And when Anthelm knew the matter, and that those who wished to bring him had arrived; withdrawing himself through the recesses of the said hermitage and disposing to hide himself, he sought the refuge of flight: nor understanding that the business was being conducted by God, by avoiding the necessary ministry, he wished to obey his own will. But the Brethren searching him out, and finding and leading him forth, with difficulty compel him to come into the Convent. They report to him the commands of the Lord Pope, they hand over the letters; the Prior orders by precept, the Legates entreat in the person of the whole Church of Belley; the Brethren admonish, that the care, to which, by God's disposition, he had been elected, he should not refuse to undertake, nor by persevering in his own should he wish to resist the divine will.
[24] But what should the holy man do, who by the counsel of the Psalmist had given himself leisure and had seen how sweet is the Lord? Ps. 45, 11. he resists greatly, Who according to Jeremiah had sat solitary, and by keeping silence had been raised above himself, what should he do? Inebriated and suffused with the love of God, he refused all things; in so arduous a work he protests that he neither knows how, nor wishes to be occupied, and that he will never go forth from the hermitage: and while he said this weeping, nor could he in any wise be bent to undertake such a burden; the Priors and Brethren speaking craftily, said to him: One of two things, Brother, lies upon you, either by the mandate of the Apostolic Prelate to undertake the enjoined ministry; or you must yourself go to him, who after he shall have known your will, will by no means burden you with such a load. also to Pope Alexander; Led therefore by this hope, he set out on the journey to the Pope, the Legates not deserting him. Arriving there, by the Prelate and the whole Curia he was venerably received: for they knew that he was of great merit with the Lord. But when it came to the colloquy, Anthelm said he had come for no other reason, except that he might find mercy; nor that he ought to be compelled in any way to that, which he knew was expedient neither for himself, nor for the Church, which he was being asked to carry out. And he began to accuse himself in many things, to proclaim himself unlettered, an idiot, and unlearned; and dishonest, useless, and unworthy to undertake such a burden: he testified also that he had vowed a vow never to go forth from the hermitage, nor ought he to be compelled against such a resolution unwilling.
[25] And when with great prayers and weepings he implored mercy, the supreme Pontiff answered him: admonished by whom he acquiesces, Do not, son, do not feign occasion or pretend excuses, which are not seemly; since we know your industry by which you shine. Why now is your spirit shaken by inert pusillanimity? You must obey: what I have written, I have written. Heed the Scripture saying; It is as the sin of immolating to idols, not to obey; and as the sin of soothsaying, to refuse to acquiesce. 1 Reg. 15. How great is the virtue of obedience, which you professed and held, you ought to consider; who, having professed to deny yourself, and to follow Christ, are necessarily bound to follow not your own will, but his. By such and similar things he took care to lead and soothe the athlete of Christ, made pusillanimous and fearful. Which things heard, confused he was silent, nor for reverence of the Father did he presume further to resist or to excuse himself. He is therefore consecrated on the sixth of the Ides of September, on the Nativity of Blessed Mary, on g Sunday, by the Prelate of the Apostolic See Alexander; he is consecrated on the 8th day of September. and he remained in the Curia for some days, the Pope himself h retaining him. And when in common colloquy there was talk of many things, he frequently brought forth fitting testimonies from the Scriptures; whence those hearing said; This man is not unlearned and unlettered, as he strove to assert, but a prudent and learned man: who when he was solicitous to withdraw from the Curia, thanks indeed being given, the Pope dismissed him in peace, endowed with honorable little gifts, with his blessing.
CHAP. XII.
[26] But when he was restored to his Church, and with great solemnity and joy enthroned in the Episcopal Church; As Bishop he lives in the manner of a Monk: the regular observances and gravity of morals and constancy of virtues, and likewise the other exercises of his religion he by no means omitted, nay rather took care to increase. For the Divine Office, not in his chapel or in a secret place, but in the greater Church with his Canons he humbly frequented. Almost every day he offered the saving Host to God, through too great devotion commonly filled with abundance of tears. All marveled, contrary to the custom of human felicity, that a man advanced from lowliness to the heights, had grown more in humility than in dignity, more in devotion than in dominion. But no less did he begin to be zealous for the salvation of his subjects, for whose help he knew himself promoted. For the ministers of the Sacred Orders, he wishes the Priests to be honored, and especially the Priests, asserting them worthy of the highest honor, he commanded to be venerated with all reverence by his hearers; preaching to them, commanding and persuading, that without note of crime, as good dispensers of God, they should study to show themselves honest and chaste, for celebrating so great a ministry. But far otherwise was the servant of God informed of them, for which, grieving, he remained sad. For certain of them, which it is even a shame to mention, were publicly noted as concubinaries, but others were defamed with the guilt of adultery.
[27] In the first year therefore of his Ordination, in a synod, the Presbyters being collected, in the synod he preaches against the concubinaries. mingling terrors with prayers, he admonished them, saying in this manner: Hear me, levitical stock, sacerdotal germ, sanctified offspring, Leaders and Rulers of the sheepfold of Christ: hear me entreating you and at the same time admonishing. Of how great dignity, and of how great honor your holy ministry is, you ought to observe; as the most blessed Apostle Peter said; A chosen race, a royal Priesthood you are. 1 Peter 2. You are mediators between God and men, you are gods among men, you are called Angels: you on the altar consecrate and handle, what the Angels adore and fear. But when the prerogative of honor is shown, fitting merits are required: for it is fitting, that the sacerdotal dignity be so kept by you; lest, which God forbid, you happen to hear that dreadful word, Man, when he was in honor, did not understand, he is compared to the senseless beasts of burden, and is made like to them. Ps. 48. 13. For what grieving and with groaning heart I say, there are certain among you, who have the name of this honor in the ear, and the crime in the hand; the deific profession, and the unlawful action; the lofty rank, and the deformed excess: who do not fear to lodge the son of the Virgin Mary with the uncleanness of Venus; who like Priests do not stand at the altar, but rather like butchers in the shambles, or buffoons in a common place. Let it suffice for such hitherto what they have done: let them study, I beg, to amend their life for the better. For although they ought to be deprived of the goods of the Church and of their order, nevertheless, awaiting amendment, for now I postpone to punish the guilt. But those who shall not be willing from this to amend themselves, I shall not spare to strike them with a strict sentence: for I do not wish, you who are such, to communicate in your sins. Spare yourselves and God will have mercy on you. But in the second year, when many entangled in the dregs of lust did not take care to chastise themselves, He punishes the obstinate. but rather went on always wrapped in infamous dregs; he deprived six or eight Priests of their order and benefices; and thus what by the leniency of gentleness he could not correct, by the harshness of just severity he studied to amend.
NOTES OF G. H.
CHAPTER IV.
Zeal for justice and Ecclesiastical immunity, the contrary excommunicated; goods conferred on various monasteries: miracles.
CHAP. XIII.
[28] Since the man of God had beheld not a few malefactors and robbers, not only in his diocese, nay rather in the whole County of Savoy, He excommunicates the violators of Ecclesiastical law: who did not fear to molest and offend his own and his goods, and also the Priests, Clerics, widows, orphans and poor; he alone, when no one yet of the Prelates had presumed to do it, in coercing their presumptions, more steadfast even by the terror inflicted by them, without hesitation and perseveringly running hither and thither, brandished the sword of the spirit with all freedom against the raging and roaring, or those offending in any of the aforesaid; handing over the contumacious to satan with solemn anathema, that the spirit might merit to be saved. For of however great power they were, to no one against justice did he defer or spare; even if he should have had to suffer martyrdom, which he greatly desired. By whose magnanimous audacity, and also by the guardianship of protecting Angels, and the armor of divine power itself, the broken and penitent yielded to him even unwilling; but the rebellious and violators of Ecclesiastical law, and those insolently presuming on their own power, and through the swelling of their mind sometimes saucily bursting out into threats, bound by anathema by him, he never wished to absolve, unless they had merited by worthy satisfaction to be absolved.
CHAP. XIV.
[29] Hence it is, that, when the Count of Savoy a Humbert, son of Amadeus, had caused a certain Priest of his to be seized, from the Count of Savoy he rescues a captive Priest, and the Bishop had asked that he be restored to him, nor had been able to obtain it; he excommunicated the provost of his, who had seized him, with all his house. But when he had heard, where the Presbyter was held; he sent one to snatch him, namely the Bishop of Maurienne the Lord b William; who having found him, admonished the Provost, who was present, to release him. He refusing, the Bishop taking the Presbyter from custody, led him forth, the Provost contradicting and crying out: I, he said, do not resist you, but the Lord shall know, who has taken from him his captive. But afterward when it was intimated to that Priest, that ambushes were being made for him, that again he might be seized, he took the refuge of flight. Which certain of the Provost's servants perceiving, and he avenges him slain from ambush. prepared in ambushes, met him with swords; and while he defended himself, gravely wounded by them, within a few days he died. The said Count also claimed that certain regalia in the possessions of the Church were owed to him: although on that same occasion he would not dare to do injury in the same or exaction, while Anthelm the Bishop lived.
[30] Concerning the aforesaid therefore when the Bishop had called him to account, indignant he began the more to threaten, asserting that he would no longer suffer, that he should not obtain those things which he asserted to be of his right. But when he again admonished him, excommunicating the Count; and threatened him with the sentence of Excommunication, unless he renounced the calumny, and made satisfaction to God for the death of the Priest, as far as it pertained to him; the Count spurning his admonitions, answered that he could be excommunicated by no one, since from the supreme Pontiff he held a confirmed privilege on this. And without delay, he did not fear to excommunicate that great Prince, even with him present. Who all kindled in wrath, when he threatened him with evils, and those who were with him said, that for such use of temerity against a Prince he should at once be punished; he, made more steadfast, the sentence being repeated, separating the obstinate one more attentively and expressly from Christ and from his body, which is the Church, handing him over to satan, bound him more strongly with the bond of anathema.
[31] But those who were present, fearing for him, were astounded, while he himself remained intrepid. c But when the said Count had intimated to the Prelate of the Apostolic See, that contrary to the privilege granted to him, he had been excommunicated by the Bishop of Belley; the Lord Prelate through the Archbishop of Tarentaise d Peter and another Bishop commanded him, whom refusing to absolve, that he should not delay to absolve his most dear son the aforesaid Count, whom he had rather rashly excommunicated; enjoining the same, that if he would not (for he knew the man's steadfastness) they themselves should not delay to absolve him. The mandates therefore being delivered, and admonished with many words, that to the supreme Pontiff he should obey out of duty, and appease the Prince angry with him by absolving him, he answered: He who has been justly bound, ought not to be loosed, unless for the charity injured the injurer penitent make satisfaction; even if not worthily according to merits, yet mercy occurring, he may merit to be restored to the Catholic Church: the same being absolved by the Pope, for neither to B. Peter was power so attributed, that he should loose things not to be loosed, or bind things not to be bound. How much less therefore to us? Know therefore most certainly, that from a sentence once justly pronounced I shall not be moved, but shall hold it firm, unless he make satisfaction for the offense. Then the Bishops dismissed him, nor according to what had been enjoined them, did they presume to absolve the Count. But when the Lord Pope had learned it, he absolved him; commanding the Bishop, by Apostolic authority, that the Count was absolved. he gives up the Bishopric: Moved therefore in mind the man strong in Christ, and bearing ill that so great an injury against Ecclesiastical indemnity should pass unpunished, having left the Cathedra desiring to sit solitary, that he might give himself to God alone, he sought again the beloved rest of the cell.
[32] But the Lord, who had drawn him to that burden and honor, did not permit him to remain there longer. to which by the Pope's command being restored, For when the Church of Belley and all that country were desolate at his absence, his Clerics interpellating the Pope, by Apostolic letters compel him to return again; and so leading him back, they receive him with due honor. But the aforesaid Count, not holding himself for absolved, did not presume to enter the Church, until, humbled before the man of God himself, and promising to make satisfaction, restored to the Church, he was absolved by him. Whom although he ever greatly e loved, even when he removed him from the Church; promising to make satisfaction he absolves him: but now more earnestly and familiarly, both with sweet colloquies, and with hard goads of words he took care frequently to exhort him to good. But when he saw him negligent, that he would neither fulfill his promises, nor wish to correct his evils, but rather to increase them, he began to call him to account on these more harshly, and to reproach the evils which through him or under him, by his permission were done, and to demand the faith which by pact he owed as promised to him. For these things the Count was stirred up against him with the greatest hatred; protesting that there was no man under heaven, but he rebukes him as negligent. whom he held so hateful. He threatened him greatly, and scarcely containing himself, thought to inflict evils on him; but he revered him, greatly deferring to his sanctity even unwilling: but if anyone had inflicted evil on the same, it pleased him well enough. But when at some time the Bishop had called him to account concerning satisfaction for the committed guilt and the other things aforesaid; the Count said to him, that he was prepared to answer by the law of the forum. To whom the Bishop: You (he said) cite me by the law of the forum; I cite you by the law of heaven, and I appoint the last day before the just Judge God.
CHAP. XV.
[33] But while so faithfully and diligently, according to mercy and truth, S. Anthelm bore the care of the Priesthood; He takes care that the rigor be kept by the Carthusians, no less did he give himself to his former religion, and attentively and solicitously took care, lest anywhere in the whole Carthusian Order the rigor of the holy constitutions should bend, and the fervor grow lukewarm; for at his nod the eye of the Priors was directed, and the disposition of holy affairs rested with him. And to the house of the Carthusian house the holy man more often returned, and remained in the manner of others in a solitary cell, which was ever kept empty for him without an inhabitant: in which he meditated and prayed, was refreshed with food, and took sleep; and there he exhibited not the majesty of a Bishop, but the subjection of a humble Monk. With a hair-shirt, as always, he was covered to the skin; over this he veiled his tunic in the middle with an undergarment of fur. frequent among them, as one of themselves, His bedding was only this: a coarse cloak, a pillow, and skins. Except for the Pontifical ring, from the custom of the Carthusians in nothing at all did he differ. The Church chiefly at the night hours, and the refectory on feast days he frequented: on Sundays after supper with the other monks he proceeded to the door of the refectory with silence and gravity, where one loaf to each, for the food of the whole week, was furnished by a brother stationed within. The religious places too domestic to himself more frequently visiting, and an exhorter to advancement, the Brethren being called together he set forth the mellifluous words of God, narrating for their instruction the examples of great men whom he himself had seen, of whom he had heard. Then with great cheerfulness and humility each in succeeding turns, either he called near himself, or himself moving from his place sat beside them, conforming himself to all, deferring no more to the greater than to the lesser: and thus by familiar and sweet exhortation, he animated them to perseverance and advancement in the delightful resolution: and asserting that he himself needed their work, that they might pray for him, he suppliantly entreated. And to whatever congregation of the servants of God he had come, he asks the prayers of each: he begged with humility and prayers to be received as a Brother, for through all the Houses of the Carthusian Order he merited to obtain this very thing.
[34] If it happened that he was present at councils or any Ecclesiastical or secular affairs whatever, no Bishop, he confidently rebukes the magnates, no person however great there was, who would dare to set himself above him: for all revered him, even the Roman Curia. If he saw anything vicious or worthy of reproof in anyone, of however great authority or power he was, he did not doubt to rebuke; so great was the zeal in him for souls and for the honor of God. But how merciful and pious he was over penitent sinners, he kindly receives penitents: those know who confessed to him, and through his hand they merited to be reconciled to God. For, suffering together with them out of all his bowels of compassion, from the flood of tears which he poured forth in sorrowing for them, declaring that they had obtained pardon and the grace of God, he advanced even those who were greatly hardened in their sins to penance and to a better life. But toward the poor, or the wretched and the afflicted, who showed himself more devout or kindly than he? who had more compassion upon them, or was more solicitous concerning their need? Job 31. he cherishes the needy, After the example of blessed Job, he did not remain a stranger out of doors; his door lay open with a generous and liberal hand to the needy; for, besides a moderate sustenance, he distributed everything in alms to the poor and, as much as possible, to religious places. For loving two Congregations of the poor with a certain special prerogative, he had claimed them to himself by lavish alms, to be sustained in all things necessary; namely the handmaids of Christ, the widows together with the virgins, leading an eremitical life in the place which is called f Buntzis; especially the religious women and the lepers: and the congregation of lepers living under a rule, which the devout Guigo, knight of Christ and of wondrous humility, established and built in the place which is called Inter-saxa, g upon the bank of the Rhône. These two Houses the holy man frequently visited, and solicitously bore the care of their souls and bodies; for he was very greatly delighted by their conversations, the most chaste man not dreading approach to the women, and the most pure man not avoiding familiarity with the lepers.
[35] But when the man of God, by occasion of a certain business, had come to Geneva, a certain Burgremundus, a friend of his, with great entreaties merited to have him as guest. And when they had sat down together, by the sign of the Cross he frees a woman from barrenness, the Bishop said, Where is the Lady? I wish to see her: and when she had entered, he exhorted both of them concerning the faith of marriage and lawful love, and concerning good deeds and the fear of God. The husband answered him: Lord, all prosperous things proceed for us; but, what we most desire, we lack offspring. Then the Bishop, calling the woman to himself, made the sign of the Cross upon her forehead and said as if in jest; In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ make me a son. Therefore by the virtue of the holy Cross faith followed the command, and the effect followed the faith: for a little after, conceiving by her husband, within a year they rejoiced together over the son born to them. and he heals a man struck by a serpent. But on another day, while the servant of God was making a journey, a certain man, struck by a serpent, the venom being spread through his body and turned into a swelling, was tormented by exceeding pain, in fear of approaching death; and when the Saint had come to the place where the sick man lay, those who were present asked the man of God to halt a little, seeking counsel from him as to what medicine might be applied to the sick man. Then he, tearfully having compassion on the man, the sign of the Cross being made over him, the venom being at once put to flight, the whole swelling and pain were taken away without delay. But he charged his companions that they should not presume to make this manifest to anyone, asserting that this was granted by the faith of those who asked it, not by his own merits. For a thief does not more fear to be caught than the holy man feared to be praised; and thus in his life he fled from working miracles as from a certain plague, lest he should be believed by others to be other than he reckoned himself.
ANNOTATIONS G. H.
CHAPTER V.
His illness, devout death, and miracles.
CHAP. XVI.
[36] In that year, therefore, in which the servant of God departed from this life, there was a severe famine and miserable want. Then certain congregations of the Saints, set in great necessity, In a public famine he aids the wretched: he helped with his benefactions; and the multitude of poor flocking together from every side he sustained, until the time of harvest, with daily alms. It seemed wonderful to all whence he had so great a store as he was bestowing. Now he had determined a day up to which he wished to continue the alms; therefore, with the Lord—who was preparing to lead him back from the exile of this world to his fatherland—awaiting that he might fulfill his vow; on the last day of his persevering alms, appointed and discharged, called by the Lord, he passed from labor to rest. And so, the end of this passing life now drawing near, and the beginning of the eternal, seized by an acute fever, for which he had faithfully labored, drawing nigh, seized by the fever which is called acute, lying in bed by the force of his sickness, although at times he wandered in his words, yet, questioned concerning necessary matters, he answered reasonably and discreetly. His people therefore wept, moved more by piety than by grief, because they felt that his death was rather to be rejoiced in than to be mourned. But to those imploring his blessing and counsel, he was eager to impart this; and wishing all good things upon all, he did not cease to admonish them with holy words. But being admonished, while his weakness grew worse, to make a testament and distribute his goods to whomsoever he would, he answered: Far be it from me to make a testament, He refuses to make a testament: who, so far as concerns my mind, have in no way ever possessed, or possess, anything that I would reckon to be my own; but rather it belonged to the Church which I governed. Up to now I have had the enjoyment of the things committed to me through the ministry of the Priesthood, and the license of administering them: but now, because it is not permitted to enjoy them, neither does it behoove to administer them.
[37] But they began to ask him that he would be willing to remit the offense to the Count, against whom he had a complaint. Unless the Count repents, he refuses to forgive, This he asserted he would never do, unless the Count himself should dismiss the calumny which he was practicing, and should give his pledge that he would make no exaction upon the possessions of the Bishop or the Church; and moreover, recognizing his fault, should repent of the murdered Priest. When they judged that this must be told to the Count (for he himself was in the village), there was no one who dared. But there were present, from the Brothers of the Charterhouse, two noble by birth, but nobler in humility and firmness of faith; namely Aymo, a man once magnificent and powerful in the world, and Girardus, his equal in virtue. These, approaching the Prince, were eager to make known to him what they had heard; counseling him that, by dismissing all calumny, he should strive to implore the pardon of so great a Father; whereby, having received his blessing, he might not undeservedly be able to reckon himself happy. Hearing this (God counseling him in this, and the merits of the holy Father interceding, who indeed desired his salvation), seized by fear and compunct in heart, he burst into tears; and at once coming to him, having confessed his own fault, he dismissed all calumny; he promised also that he would defend the Church, prepared to confirm this by oath: and humbled before the holy man, and imploring pardon, he blesses the penitent, he obtained grace. And the man of God, laying his hands upon him and blessing him, said; May Almighty God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, grant you the bounty of his blessing and grace, may he make you to increase and be multiplied, and your son. And yet he had only one daughter, not a son: and his son, although as yet he had none. and when it was suggested to him that he should name the daughter, not the son, supposing him to be in error; a second and a third time he distinctly repeated, and your son. Which prophecy we know to have been fulfilled by a son born to him not long after in time, a son born to him as we have said, namely Thomas. But to his Clerics, who sought counsel from him concerning their salvation, Concord commended to the Clerics, he admonished them concerning mutual charity and concord, and unity in the bond of peace, and thus, the glorious contest of his course being accomplished, the glorious Confessor of Christ Anthelm attained the eternal prize.
[38] he died on the 26th of June: When therefore the obsequies which were fitting had been completed around him, amid Litanies and Canticles, on the sixth of the Kalends of July he departed to the Lord, in the year of his age more than the seventieth, but of his Episcopate the fifteenth. b But when from the darkness of this world he passed to the perpetual light, the Lord did not suffer his Saint to lie hidden, by open signs of miracles. While his venerable exequies were being celebrated, and while the sacred body was being laid in the sepulchre; with the eyes and devout minds of all who were present intent upon him, a marvelous and glorious sign appeared, such that no one may doubt it is to be equaled to the raising of the dead. There were in that very place where he was buried, he is buried beneath the Crucifix, namely in the entrance of the Choir, on the left side beneath the Crucifix, in a narrow Chapel before the altar, three lamps extinguished, accustomed to be lit by night, not by day, except on the chief solemnities; but the celebration of this funeral was illustrious, indeed not of a funeral, but of a triumph. For all at once see, by a divine miracle, c the fire grow up in one of those lamps to flame, with the 3 lamps kindled of their own accord. and flash with immense light, all being astonished and marveling at these things. Behold, they perceive with their own eyes the other two also likewise kindled, and all together shining more than usual with brightness: but there was one, which a certain usurer supplied, which was not kindled. A clamor for joy arises in the church from all, and exulting greatly they blessed the Lord in his saint. There run together from every side both citizens and strangers, to so marvelous and holy a spectacle, unheard of; and together with them Count Humbert, and his father-in-law d Girardus of Vienne, and not a few Illustrious men who were with them. Nor undeservedly did the holy man, a worshipper of the Trinity, appear adorned with so joyous an honor of light, by the sign of three lamps; he who is known to have fulfilled the commandments of God in heart, mouth, and deed; in faith, hope, and charity. But the aforesaid Count, when he had seen such marvels, trembling, at once departing, left the Bishop's house, which he had already entered and claimed to himself with those who were within.
CHAP. XVII.
[39] Out of many miracles, a few are brought forward: But in the aforesaid Church of Belley, by the merits of S. Anthelm, many miracles were wrought; which, both because of the negligence of those present and of those upon whom they were bestowed, have not been written. For since daily miracles succeeded miracles, men were rather turned to amazement than took care to announce anything to posterity through writing. But how could those things easily have been gathered in writing, which because of their multitude and frequency could not be remembered? For with crowds flocking together from every side to his sacred and venerable body, innumerable benefits are continually granted to believers; sight to the blind, walking to the lame, health to those burdened with the mass of divers sicknesses, and many other things desired according to the faith of those who ask: of which I shall subjoin four or five, in memory of these and of the rest; the remaining miracles I leave to be narrated by others who were present, or upon whom they were bestowed.
[40] In the territory of Grenoble there was a certain noble man, fearing God together with his wife, whom Anthelm, the lover of all good, had loved. a barren woman conceives, He, his wife remaining long barren, desired to have children. But when both had heard so great a fame of miracles, the Lady said to her husband: I will go to our Lord S. Anthelm, for I believe that, his sepulchre being humbly adored, he will obtain conception for me. And when she had come there with firm faith and devout hope, prayer being made and having returned home, she merited in a short time to obtain offspring by her own husband.
[41] A certain noble youth, not yet distinguished by knighthood, a youth mocking the sick and himself made sick is healed, hated the holy man, because perhaps he had at some time rebuked him for his excesses. He, when one day he had passed before his reverend sepulchre, and saw the sick lying there; reckoning their faith to folly, went on incredulous and laughing aloud: and suddenly, vexed by a strong and intolerable burning of fevers, he supposed he would die forthwith. Then at last, being corrected, he began to repent, and being borne by the hands of his people to the sepulchre of the Saint, humbly asking pardon, he made vows and went away delivered.
[42] Another noble youth also, laboring with a hard hemitritaeus, that is, a daily together with a tertian fever, and at the same time with epilepsy, that is, the falling sickness; when he had drunk of the wine wherewith the sacred Body had been washed, was at once delivered. and an epileptic. By the drinking of which wine, many others also were delivered from divers sicknesses.
[43] A certain merchant, returning from a foreign region, when he had reduced everything—his wares being sold—into the price of gold and silver and a very great quantity of silk, while he was crossing the river Rhône; the horse, upon which was all his substance, fell from the boat into the said river thus laden. A merchant, his horse together with his wares being submerged, At first those present saw it, while it was snatched by the force of the stream: but, by its great weight straightway sunk to the depths of the gulf, it was no longer seen. But when, frustrated of his labor, despairing of recovery, he ceased to seek it, after a vow made to the Saint, (for there is there a certain abyss.) the name of B. Anthelm being heard, and the miracles which were done through him, led by hope and faith, he came to the mausoleum where the body of the Saint rested; and placing a candle which he had made in his honor, he watched and prayed; he offered gifts, he made vows. When morning came, after the divine mysteries were celebrated, trusting in the Divine clemency through the prayers of the most pious Confessor, he came to the place from which he had departed in sorrow, made more cheerful by good hope, his sadness mitigated e … Wonderful to tell! The horse which he had seen afar off snatched away, restored from the depths to the heights, from the lower regions to the upper, he finds the horse itself dead, but the wares still dry, he found in the harbor; and he found all his property hanging from the carcass, and the silk in no way wet or harmed. Therefore, having recovered—not doubting that it was by the merits of B. Anthelm—the goods for which he had toiled with much labor; making light of the loss of the horse alone, giving thanks to God and to the most pious Confessor, he went away rejoicing.
[44] In the countryside which is called Fictiliacum, f distant six miles from the town of Belley, a three-year-old boy drowned in the waters, a certain little boy of about three years, his mother being occupied with other things, having gone out of the house and proceeding farther off, began to wander hither and thither. But at a later hour, the mother, recalling her pledge, looking around on every side and not seeing him, trembling with anxious mind, solicitously searching far and wide for a long time, sought him; and at last, descending to the channel of a brook flowing past, she found him fallen into the gulf. Seeing him from afar moved by the water, supposing him to be still living, she burst into this cry: O God and S. Anthelm, I ask my son from you. And approaching and lifting him, and finding him dead, her hair torn and her garments rent, lacerating her cheeks with her nails and beating her breast with her fists, she filled the whole valley with mournful cries, crying that she was wretched and wishing to kill herself. The mournful father runs up, the neighbors run together to so pitiable a spectacle, condoling with the wretched parents. And when, having been carried home, he was long cherished and did not grow warm, and they felt no vital breath in him, and now the day was inclining toward evening (for it was morning when he died), they prepared to carry him out, taken up for burial. But the mother forbade, and testifying said: It shall not be so, but I will carry him to B. John and to my Lord B. Anthelm: for I believe that by their merits the Lord will restore to me my son, whom the deceit of the enemy took from me, my sins so requiring. As she urged this vehemently, the father together with her, taking up the little body, with the neighbors accompanying, placed it, carried into the Church of Belley, before the sepulchre of B. Anthelm.
[45] There was present from the city itself a multitude of men and women, who had followed them into the Church, whom the wretched lamentation and faithful prayer provoked to tears. he is raised at the sepulchre of the Saint. But after a little while the boy began to move, the mother trembling and drawing herself back from him, and awaiting the issue of the matter: at last he uttered certain faint wailings. And after a small interval, no one approaching him and all being astonished, he arose; and taking up a staff which was beside him to the measure of his little body, walking, he turned himself to the sepulchre of the Saint and sat down. Then, addressing his mother and the others standing around, he began to speak unharmed, having no ill, and untried by so great a peril. There is joy and gladness for all, with admiration and fear. The parents weep for joy; all are moved with piety. The clergy and the nobility convene with the common people, all rejoice, with exultation praising and magnifying God, who through his Saints works such marvels: whose dominion and power does not cease nor fail, through all ages of ages. Amen.
[46] Rejoice, Church of Belley, with the whole country, illustrated and supported by the excellent patronage of so great a Father: rejoice, citizens and kindred, because him whom in this life you merited to have as Pastor, Exhortation to render worship to S. Anthelm. much more now you have as protector and pious intercessor with God. Rejoice you Canons most of all, who possess so great and so excellent a treasure, by which enriched you shall not be in want; if only you know how great and of what kind, and how greatly to be venerated. He himself will not cease to provide for you in perpetuity: through him, God granting, you shall have all prosperity and the grace of God, unless perhaps (which be far from it!) you be negligent concerning him. It behooves you therefore to love, cherish, and venerate him with all your effort; if truly you love God, if you take care to please God: for the Saint himself, of whom we speak, pleases him, to which he himself, the best rewarder, invites you, since he deigns, as is manifest, to adorn him with wondrous virtues and signs. Whom God honors powerfully and magnificently; do you take care to honor, insofar as human frailty avails: he who desires to have you as companions, let him have you as devout servants: whatever honor shall be expended by you upon him, will be yours. He can confer nothing upon you, nor you upon him: he needs not your help, who enjoys the highest good. To render honor to the Saints is nothing else than to honor God himself, who is in them, and whose members of the body they are. For although this glorious Confessor was of great merit, in his life he resolved to flee miracles, as if a certain plague, lest he should be esteemed a Saint. For he had no glory from himself or in himself, but in the Lord; and he judged it more unworthy than just for himself, a sinner, to presume such things, although the wondrous greatness of the virtues and holy works—great miracles of God working through him. And although he hid himself, yet many through his merits felt relief of their troubles; as we have briefly related some above; although in the Church of Belley by his merits many miracles have been done, and are frequently done, which through negligence have not been written; but neither, because of their multitude and frequency, can they either be comprehended in writing or retained in memory. For with crowds flocking together from every side to his venerable sepulchre or body, innumerable benefits are granted to the faithful: sight to the blind, walking to the lame, health to those burdened with the mass of divers sicknesses, and many other things desired by those who ask in faith. There follow the Verses affixed against his sepulchre. This narrow place is where lie the limbs of the Bishop Anthelm, whose praise is the adornment of this shrine. Him, after the cloistered life, the Charterhouse Showed forth such to the world and to God, that with a pure breast, He might be given as a Father to the people of Belley, by the radiance of the highest Phoebus, He to whom they gave themselves as if to a mother. Joining the office of Martha with the art of the spirit, By doctrine he fed, by life he cherished, by prayer he washed. This pious one shines with innumerable signs worthy of faith: In which may he himself be faithful, I pray, O Bishop, be a star to me Through the darkness of the world; drive out the swarms of vices, Under your guidance, after the course, may I be borne hence upward to the stars. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS G. H.
HISTORY OF THE ELEVATION OF THE BODY.
Set forth in Latin from the French at Brussels.
Anthelm the Carthusian, Bishop of Belley in Gaul (S.)
FROM MSS. CHAPTER I.
The occasion of the Elevation requested, and the Process preceding it.
[1] A certain vision preceded, which gave occasion to this Elevation of S. Anthelm, After a vision made to the sacristan, and it was such. The sacristan was keeping watch upon the greater cupola of the church: when suddenly he hears a noise, as of a passing crowd. Looking down from the lofty scaffolding, he sees the church full of flashings. And astonished at the light so unusual, when he had cast his eyes up and down all around; he beholds a crowd of venerable persons, proceeding in order with torches through the basilica of S. John. And when they had taken their stand opposite the tomb of S. Anthelm, with bowed countenance they exhibited profound reverence to the tomb, and presently disappeared. This indeed was urgent, but the occasion of the translation which I here append was more urgent. The year being reckoned 1630, happy, auspicious, and having borrowed for itself immortal renown from this Elevation: in which the Most Reverend and Most Illustrious Lord John de Passelaigue, not so long before inaugurated Bishop of Belley, to the affection of John the Bishop wishing, after the manner of his forefathers, to consecrate the beginnings of his Prelacy with some celebrity, and to inaugurate his Pontificate happily, resolved to choose for himself some Patron, out of that most blessed universality of all the Saints: nor did any one seem nearer to him than S. Anthelm, his fellow-countryman and predecessor. But neither did he judge that he could elsewhere know such present Patrons as those of the same race as S. Anthelm, and his fellow-members—the Prelates once of the Church of Belley, Fathers and professed of the same Order, the Pontiuses, Raynalds, Artalds, Bernards, Bonifaces b: of whom some came after S. Anthelm, others were contemporary, and all, finally, drew virtue and skill almost from him. While he was thinking these things, the much Reverend men, the Dean and Canons of Belley, supplied as it were certain torches: offering to him a supplicatory petition for a new apotheosis or solemn Elevation of S. Anthelm. The tenor of the petition is such.
[2] To the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord, Lord John de Passelaigue, Bishop of Belley, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. the Chapter of Belley concurring, together with the Syndics, Humbly set forth the Dean and Canons of the Cathedral Church of Divine John the Baptist, and the Syndics of the city of Belley, that the venerable body of S. Anthelm, chosen Bishop of the people of Belley from the Order of the Carthusians, has hitherto lain in the said church in an unseemly tomb, covered with smoke, squalor, and the webs of spiders; perhaps never, or too late, to be restored to the honor due, had he not manifested himself most openly by most renowned and shining and infinite miracles, but most of all by the city so often preserved from the disease of pestilence raging through all Gaul, and by health restored to many afflicted in various ways. Not unmindful of which benefits, and lest they themselves should pay the penalties of the offenses of their elders and of so great negligence; they have resolved to restore the merited honors to so great a man, the most worthy Bishop of Belley, it asks that the body be elevated and translated, their most deserving Patron and Lord, as to a tutelary Deity; lest he himself lack his own altar, since the Saint is most certainly held by all to be such; and may be known to be such by the authority of the most holy mother Church, which neither knows how nor is able to err; and that his feast day be solemnly celebrated every year, both in this and in other dioceses. Wherefore they earnestly demand, and humbly supplicate you, Lord Bishop, the emulator and most deserving successor of the holy man; that you would order and take care that his sacred Body and Relics be duly raised, honorably laid up in a comely casket, and given to his chapel; for the public benefit and the greater glory of God, who rejoices to be venerated in his Saints. Thus signed: I. Vallon, Dean; I. Mermetius, Archdeacon; Perre, Treasurer; Constantin, Sacristan; Salteur, Archpriest; du Poysat; H. des Escelles, Precentor; I. Bondon, L. de Sayssel, Reydelet, I. M. Borsier, De Maillans, Des Roys, Mellieret, Tricaud; Mellieret, Consul; Gariod, Consul. To the supplicants the answer was in these words. and before appointed Commissaries Let there first be a diligent and sincere inquiry concerning the truth of the things contained in the above-written supplication, especially concerning the identity of the body. For duly and fittingly inquiring into which things, we commit the Venerable Man Master Benedict Jantet, our Vicar General; and the Reverend Father Francis of Chambéry, otherwise Genan, a Capuchin, Professor of Sacred Theology and Preacher; and for receiving the acts, and a public Notary and the depositions of witnesses juridically cited and produced, Master Claude Ribod, Royal Notary; who shall all give corporal oath into our hands, that they will conduct themselves with all circumspection, diligence, fidelity, sincerity, and zeal, concerning a matter of this kind of the gravest importance. Which things being duly, canonically, and juridically performed, let all be consigned into our hands. Given at Belley, on the c 19th day of the month of May, in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and thirty. John, Bishop of Belley.
[3] In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. In the year from the Nativity of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, one thousand six hundred and thirty, in the thirteenth Indiction, on the twentieth day of the month of May, but in the eighth year of the Pontificate of our most holy Lord Pope Urban VIII. Before us, Benedict Jantet, Doctor of Canon Law and Vicar General of the Diocese of Belley; and Brother Francis of Chambéry, Capuchin Preacher, requested to execute the mandate of the Bishop, and Professor of Sacred Theology; at the instance and requisition of the venerable Lord John Reydelet, Canon of the Cathedral Church; and of the honorable and discreet man John Carrel, Procurator in the tribunal of Bugey, gathered in the house of habitation of the said Vicar General; there appeared the same Venerable Lord John Reydelet and the discreet John Carrel: who exhibited to us a petition on the part of the Reverend Lords the Dean and Canons of the Cathedral Church of S. John the Baptist, and also of the Respectable Lords the Syndics of the city of Belley; setting forth and requiring, that the venerable body of blessed memory S. Anthelm, formerly Bishop of Belley, by the authority of holy Mother Church, granted the title of sanctity for the holiness of his life and renowned for miracles, be more honorably reposed, given to a particular chapel, the deputed Procurators prove, and his feast be solemnly celebrated every year, with the decree of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend aforesaid Lord, Lord Bishop of Belley; concerning the truth of the things contained in the said petition being first inquired into, especially concerning the identity of the body of the said S. Anthelm, for which he commissioned us, above-named, on the nineteenth day of the present month and year. To us likewise the same Venerable Lord John Reydelet, and the honorable and discreet John Carrel exhibited the mandate of their appointment, to procure and prove the things contained in the above-said petition in the name of the said Lords: which, with the above-said petition and decree, we ordered to be inserted here, and transcribed word for word. At last they earnestly asked us, that we would deign to attend to the commission enjoined as soon as possible.
[4] Willingly assenting to which petition, in the same hour we charged the said procurators that, if they have anything ready for the proof of the things contained in the said petition, they should produce it. the holiness of the person, Obeying the commands, for the proof of the first article, namely, that S. Anthelm of blessed memory lived holily, was commonly held a Saint, and that by the authority of the most holy Mother Church he merited to obtain the title of Saint, they asserted it to be clear by the following. First, that he lived holily, they brought forward into the midst the book of R. P. Theophilus Reynaud of the Society of Jesus, which he entitled Of the Saints of Lyons; in which, describing the life of S. Stephen Bishop of Die, formerly a Carthusian, about the middle, making mention of S. Anthelm, he proclaims him distinguished by holiness of life and the glory of miracles. That he was commonly held a Saint, they offered Surius, an approved author and one making faith, who, describing the Lives of the Saints, and narrating his life, adorns him with the title of Saint on the twenty-sixth of June, in the third volume. That he obtains it by the authority of holy Mother Church, they prove from the Martyrology, which they produced, in which on the twenty-sixth of June these words are read: Likewise the memory of S. Anthelm, Bishop of Belley. From which authorities it is clearer than light that S. Anthelm lived holily, is a Saint, and the identity of the body, and was declared a Saint. Coming afterward to the second article, namely, that that body, resting in the Cathedral Church of S. John the Baptist on the right side before the door of the Choir, is truly the body of S. Anthelm; before the said Lords Procurators proceed to fuller proofs, they earnestly required, that we would deign to betake ourselves to his sepulchre; whose situation, state, and form, with the votive offerings affixed, they asked to be described.
[5] Without delay therefore we directed our way to the Cathedral Church of S. John the Baptist; to which when we had come, the said Lords Procurators indicated to us the tomb of S. Anthelm, before the doors of the Choir on the right hand of those entering; which we found to be of stone, about two feet in breadth and six in length, with an ancient effigy of the Bishop of gypsum somewhat disfigured in the face, having above it a little iron chest, and around it, in square work, wooden lattices, armed in the upper part with iron points; this tomb is moreover decorated with an imperial canopy of divers color, having on the left column from the front part an inscription of this kind: D.O.M. To B. Anthelm the Thaumaturge, the strenuous vindicator of Ecclesiastical liberty, seventh Prior of the Greater Charterhouse, and likewise seventh General head of the whole Order, Prince of the Holy Empire, forty-third Prelate of the City of Belley, first Lord, and most pious tutelary patron of his little client, his Lord and God. And from the right column on the same front part the following Epigram or tetrastich hangs. Unharmed hitherto through wars, fires, plagues, This Belley confesses, O Anthelm, that it owes to you. And that no thanks be unreturned to your gifts, Your city consecrates perpetual honors to you by vow. And above are seen very many votive offerings affixed, for the greater part of wax. This description of the burial, as still entire, is plainly enough to satisfy for the proof of the body of S. Anthelm. Yet, proceeding to other proofs, the said Lords Procurators again produced Surius, who in the first miracle, of those which he recounts at the close of the Life of S. Anthelm, indicates that he was buried in the church of S. John the Baptist: and through the same Author it is established concerning the place, when he relates the miracle of the three neighboring lamps, divinely kindled at the time of the burial: and they indicated those lamps to us before the pulpit of sermons.
[6] At last for superabundant proof they added, that by public voice and report from the ancient tradition of our fathers, which being duly subscribed, this sepulchre is called the sepulchre of S. Anthelm: and that all who have recourse to his intercession here utter their vows, as they are prepared to prove by witnesses above all exception, and whom, canonically cited, they produce. Thus signed. B. Janiet, Vicar General. Fr. Francis, unworthy Capuchin: I. Vallon, Dean. I. Mermerius, Archdeacon. Perret, Treasurer. Vulliet. Constantin. Reydelet, du Poysat. H. des Eschelles, Precentor. Tricand. M. Borsier. F. Monnier. Bondon. des Roys. de Mallians. Carrel, Procurator. Ribod, Secretary commissioned. And such a process being reported to the Bishop, he answered by this decree. We John de Passelaigue, by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See Bishop of Belley, having seen the above-written informations and depositions, by which it has been established to us, and is most certainly established, that the true body of S. Anthelm Seignin, otherwise of Cheignin, of the Order of the Carthusians, formerly Bishop of this city and diocese of Belley, is that which lies in an ancient sepulchre somewhat raised from the ground, near the door of the Choir of our Cathedral Church of Belley, on the right; and that it has shone with miracles hitherto, as also now; and is worthy that it be more honorably placed; we decree, declare, and adjudge: and therefore we will proceed, the Lord aiding, to its Elevation and Translation, from the humble place in which it lay, to the chapel recently erected for a work of this kind, on the 26th day of the present month, on which its feast is solemnly observed in this diocese. Done at Belley, on the 12th day of the month of June, in the year of the Lord 1630.
ANNOTATIONS G. H.
CHAPTER II.
In what manner, and with what pomp the Elevation was celebrated.
[7] The most worthy prelate named the 26th of June as the day for the Elevation, the natal day of S. Anthelm. The fame therefore of the Translation being spread far and wide, the 26th of June is assigned for the Elevation more hitherto always wished for than hoped (for the procrastination of it had nearly dashed all hope), forthwith stirred up the minds of very many, that each might honor the pomp as far as he could. It is incredible to tell how many and how great a number of people this fame called together, and as if by a resounding trumpet drew them to Belley. You would have seen men of every kind, sex, age, and condition hastening to the threshold of the Saint; to such a degree that the Basilica of S. John, however vast, did not hold all. But it was gone about more slowly in this ancestral ceremony of translation, because the Prelate, being prudent, judged it fitting the tomb opened the day before to explore first the trustworthiness and constitution of the tomb. Lest therefore anything should be done tumultuously, the day before he proceeded to the public Act, he ordered the sepulchre to be opened. And so, fitting witnesses being called for this, the Dean, Canons, and Syndics, and others, he ordered the sepulchral stone to be raised. with a most sweet odor And presently, as if the day had breathed forth galbanum or stacte, a most sweet odor began to be diffused from his crypt. And indeed that place breathed forth purple roses, a witness of his prayers; which, as we read in the Apocalypse, can rightly be called vials full of perfumes; and they were a certain pledge of that spiritual sweetness and grace which overflowed throughout that whole day, it exhibits the body: Moreover, in that position was found the most holy clod, in which had been laid the figure with the Pontifical crozier at the side; with the mitre, although somewhat eaten away at the head; with the remaining Sacerdotal vestments likewise, but almost consumed. Finally his chalice and incense-box, laid up apart under the sepulchral arch, were seen: the virtue of all which, if men had been silent longer, the stones would have cried out.
[8] What then was the feeling of the surrounding assembly, beholding such things? when it was clothed with new vestments, It was altogether far more eager than the excessive admirers of profane antiquities are today: who, if they fall upon statues or ancient colossi, coins or other monuments of Grecian antiquity, it is monstrous to tell how greatly they are astonished. But it seemed worthy of much greater admiration, that after so many years of burial, as if unexpectedly revived, S. Anthelm was restored to his Colleagues: since it was doubtful to no one whether he himself were the one who was seen. For although from some preceding (as is likely) attempted opening of the tomb at another time, something had been worn away from the vestments and the body, yet concerning the identity there was doubt to none. Therefore with all reverence, the old garments being removed, he is clothed with new ones. The Colleagues of the Chapter gave the mitre: Sebastian Possat clothed him with his more august chasuble: and thus arrayed, they carry him over into another mausoleum. He himself testifies, who was present, Monyer, Canon and Theologian Panegyrist; that this Elevation of the sacred clod was carried out with so great a feeling of souls, that Belley had seen nothing similar or equal from time immemorial. He dares to say (but perhaps by a freer trope) that the ground was steeped with tears, the air was animated with sighs, that no ornamental gardens ever exhaled so sweet an odor, as those Relics drawn out from the sepulchral darkness.
[9] Meanwhile a new little coffin is prepared, which the Religious of the Visitation of Belley had so subtly fitted, it is placed in an adorned coffin. and adorned with so many little jewels (as the author Gennand says), that it could be said of it, The work surpassed the material. And when he was carried over from place to place, and thence into the aforesaid coffin, the provident Prelate charged the Procurators that they should call all the bystanders as witnesses, and that the things which were done they should refer into the Acts by the hand of an Actuary. Which they also did expeditiously, and the instrument was signed by the hand of M. Laurence Vianius, for the Translation Royal Notary. I had almost passed over, that the same most prudent and most religious Prelate, in order to adorn the pomp, did not omit to summon the Priors of four neighboring Charterhouses. For he was studious of this above all, that he might represent a living and breathing image of S. Anthelm in the prior of the Portes. For he had so persuaded himself that it would come to pass, that all, seeing those Fathers, would think they beheld S. Anthelm revived, two Priors of the Charterhouse are present. especially when they saw the Father Prior of the Charterhouse of Portes, whose Novice Anthelm had been; and thence the seventh General of the whole Order. And so indeed he had purposed in his mind; but only two were present, the Lord Prior of the House of Portes and the Father Prior of Pierre-Châtel: the other two, inasmuch as this word had reached them too late, were not at all present. Nevertheless one was equal to all, the Father Prior of Portes, whose venerable gray hairs, and countenance wholly composed to piety, seemed to have made that day and the whole ceremony honorable.
[10] But to return to that from which we have digressed, the Relics, decently reposed in the coffin, were covered with the cloths of the Imperial canopy. Vespers are sung, Meanwhile the Prelate withdrew into the sacristy, to order the solemnities, ceremonies, and whatever pertained to the adornment of the translation. He therefore appointed first, that Vespers and Compline should be solemnly chanted by the Precentors alternating their turns and by two Choirs; for which also he called from Chambéry most excellent Musicians, and that at his own expense. He appointed moreover that a vigil be celebrated: and so he divided the night into four Vigils. In the first (which began at the eighth hour, and was to be ended at midnight) he wished four Canons, four honored Presbyters, with some Chaplains and Musicians to be present; to whom it was enjoined, that they should first sing together the first Nocturn, and Matins by parts. with Lessons taken from the Epistles of the Apostle to Timothy and Titus. In the second Vigil, that is from the tenth hour of the night to the twelfth, he designated an equal number of Canons, Presbyters, and Musicians, who should sing together the second Nocturn; the Lessons were taken from Surius, who published the Life of S. Anthelm. In the third Vigil, namely from the hour following the twelfth until the second, as many Ecclesiastics carried out the Psalmody of the third Nocturn, with the Homily of B. Pope Gregory upon the Gospel of Matthew, A certain man going into a far country. In the last finally, namely from the second hour until the fourth, they sang the pre-dawn Lauds. The night being spent in this manner, a little after the fourth hour, Prime is sung and Terce. At the fifth Francis Monyer, Canon and Orator of Belley, ascended the rostrum, who discoursed so copiously, strongly, and sweetly concerning the illustrious merits of S. Anthelm before God and men, that he is to be believed to have then surpassed even himself. This Oration (which also is extant) being delivered, the Most Reverend Prelate inaugurated the consecration of the altar, which he had erected as a repository in the new chapel, the Chapel is consecrated. at his own and his colleagues' expense, with the office and ceremonies proper to the Translation. Then they went to the place in which the Relics of S. Anthelm rested. But before he elevated them, he gave a sign to R. P. Francis Gennand the Capuchin, that he should speak to the people. His theme was taken from the occasion and the matter at hand, concerning the life and virtues of S. Anthelm, concerning the identity of the body, concerning the miracles, and other things. again a sermon is delivered, At last he concluded, and said that by his merits the blind see, lepers are cleansed, the dead rise, demons too are cast out, and that there truly applies to him what the Church sings in the Hymn: At whose sacred tomb frequently The limbs of the languishing, now to health, and after the panegyric By whatsoever disease they had been afflicted, Are restored. Finally he exhorted the sick, the afflicted, the fever-stricken, that they should flee to the tomb of the Saint with faith and trust, and expect aid (almost certain). This sermon pleased, both in substance and in phrasing, also in the affection and accent with which it was pronounced.
[11] A city-encircling Procession received the sermon; which the Scholars with their Regents and Prefects adorned, a procession is instituted, the Sodalities of the sacrosanct Rosary, the Sodalities likewise of the Most Holy Body of the Lord; the most devout Capuchin Fathers, the Friars Minor; a great crowd of secular Priests whitening in surplices, the Dean and Canons clothed in most precious vestments. Four Canons bore the bier open, not covered: for it behooved to be done thus, that satisfaction might be made to the people most thirsting to see: who urged and sought nothing more, than to see their most holy Prelate revived, as if after four centuries and more, drawn out from the dark circuit of the sepulchre. Before and behind followed innumerable people with torches of virgin wax. In the center of the pomp was present the Most Reverend, clothed in Pontificals. His Acolyte preceded, bearing the crozier before him: his Deacons and Subdeacons at the sides, his Almoners in surplices adhered to him, bearing the train: finally his whole household in most decent garb immediately followed his steps. The Syndics and Aldermen of the city, also several Officials of the Praetorium, who constitute the Body of justice; likewise others (whom they call Elected) Officers of the Salt-works; besides, a very great throng of noble men and women, from the surrounding places, even the most remote, were present: finally the people of Belley closed the column. But the devout Confraternity of S. Anthelm turned upon itself the eyes and mouths of all the Orders. and a Confraternity is erected, This was on the right hand and on the left around beside the bier, and crowded the sides of the Ecclesiastics, not without notable modesty and gravity joined to piety. All these armed their right hands with a virgin torch, about to make envy for the radiance of the sun (be pardon given to the word). A truly conspicuous troop, which by its splendor, excellently arrayed for piety and the glory of D. Anthelm, kindled as many as beheld them: the flower of Belley, the ornament of all probity, a new column reverend above all in age and dignity, following others in a most fitting series, those whom we have mentioned, the Sodalities of the most holy Rosary and of the Body of Christ. All these illumined with their pre-dawn torch, or were almost close to the very bier. Yet all the other Orders had yielded the right of nearer place to these, because they seemed to be honorary attendants given to S. Anthelm by God.
[12] These city-encircling rites being finished, Mass was most solemnly sung. and the instrument of the deed done is drawn up. At its expiring, the bier was placed back upon the altar, upon coverings cast over of cloth of the same color, very broad there, and more beautiful than elsewhere. Finally Sext and None of the day being consequently sung, every one honored with the most sweet reward of his piety, withdrew to his own home. And the Bishop signed the authentic instrument of the deed done in this tenor: In the name of the Lord. Amen. In the year of salvation 1630, on the 26th day of June. We John de Passelaigue, by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See Bishop of Belley, Prince of the H.R.E., according to our decree, declaration, and ordinance of the 12th day of the present month and year, and in execution of the same, coming to our Cathedral church in Pontificals, with the venerable Dean and Chapter of our said Cathedral church assisting us, and many others both regular and secular with a very great multitude of people; the tomb in which up to now the body of S. Anthelm, Bishop of the people of Belley, lay, being opened by our command, the sacred Relics of the said Body, clothed and adorned in Pontificals, found therein for the greater part adhering among themselves, gathered up by us with that reverence which was fitting, and laid up in a new casket, we have devoutly reposed and placed in the chapel and upon the altar consecrated by us to the name and memory of the same S. Anthelm, with the solemnities required in such cases, to the greater glory of Almighty God (who rejoices to be venerated in his Saints). In faith of which thing we have caused the present, subscribed by our own hand, to be drawn up and subsigned by Master Claude Ribod, royal and public Notary, taken as our Secretary in this matter, and to be fortified by the affixing of our seal. Given and done at the place, day, and year aforesaid. John, Bishop of Belley. Ribod, Royal Notary taken as Secretary.
[13] As S. John, by surname Chrysostom, after his decease restored to his church, and placed in his Chair, the peoples acclaiming to him: Take, holy Pastor, take your Seat, answered; Peace to you; may S. Anthelm himself, who now, vindicated from dust and putrefaction, treads upon the head of the serpent, likewise impart the same to you, O people of Belley, after his Elevation; peace, I say, of times and of breasts; and after the courses of this life are run, the immortal reward, for the so many heaped-up and exaggerated honors with which you have accumulated him. Apostrophe to the people of Belley. God is able to restore to your Church what it merits, namely the Evangelical hundredfold, and to increase the increase of the fruits of your justice. And who can likewise so glory in himself, O Belley? you who have raised up your dead one from the lot of death, from the dust of burial, in the word of the Lord God? This is he who cast down the petty kings to destruction, and easily broke their power: Who was inscribed in the judgments of the times to soften the wrath of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore your tribes. Blessed are you who saw him, and were adorned in his friendship. We live by life only, but after death our name will not be such. For by divine threat, we are still food for the serpent eating the earth, and at every moment in suspense concerning our salvation. For what remains, after the manner of an orator, after the arguments, I shall call you as witnesses of these his miracles, which I here recount.
CHAPTER III.
The miracles renewed at the invocation of S. Anthelm.
[14] Francis Gennand the Capuchin, and Monyer the Canon, recount a few out of many; which I report on their faith. The City preserved from the plague once, And first, the benefit which they celebrate, which is the benefit of benefits, is the perpetual safety of the town of Belley under the protection of D. Anthelm, and its security from pestilence. This was manifestly evident most especially in that year, in which the royal army was returning from the Allobroges. For when in the municipality of S. Maurice a most atrocious plague was raging, through which the passage lay, the ranks being loosened, and very nearly all returning sick with companions and camp-servants lost, some touched by wasting, others by certain plague; soon as they took their stand in the territory of Belley, immediately the sickness being driven off, they recovered breath from their infirmity. When the cohorts of D. Riberac and of Pampadou, and again leaving the city of Casale, were passing through the Piedmontese region laboring with a contagious disease, that they might quarter at Belley, where also they remained whole months; the arrival of these struck the people of Belley, because a constant rumor had preceded, that they brought a most certain plague wherever they penetrated. And so when they could not turn them away, they fled to the patronage of their tutelary Saint Anthelm. Nor in vain: since, God and S. Anthelm having mercy, the garrison, the citizens, and indeed all the other soldiers who took their stand within the borders, escaped the contagion; none at all, or certainly very few out of so great a number, being lost. About the same time Barbara, and a family devoted to the Saint. wife of the noble man George Ferrand, Lord of Cortin, Royal Counselor, was a woman singularly devoted to S. Anthelm, on account of his most present aid, which she had frequently experienced. She had a son, whose body had enormously swollen. And when the malady grew worse, a surgeon was called, that he might declare what he thought of it. He, the circumstance of the swelling considered, said, as the matter was, that it seemed to him St. Anthony's fire, or certain plague. But the mother, in no way moved, fled to the aid of S. Anthelm, to be reconciled to herself and her family. Meanwhile she orders the ulcer to be opened with a lancet, from which presently purulent dregs and clots of sweat so copious, not without most bitter pangs, followed, that he laid down his soul in the bosom of his mourning and afflicted mother. But to that miracle must be referred this, that none at all of the household, from contact with him, incurred any fault of health or peril of death.
[15] A poor little rural woman, sprung from the village of Genevre, situated not so far from the Abbey of S. Sulpice, There are delivered, a woman possessed, named Claudia Mornier, already from a four-year period, as was believed, possessed (nor did her gestures, and countenance degenerating into all foul things, declare anything else of her), was admonished by the Prelate of Belley, that she should fly to the monument of S. Anthelm. Nor did she harden her heart at this word; but she set out, and arrived there on the 24th of July. On the morrow she was present at divine service: which while a certain Capuchin Father was performing it near the sepulchre of S. Anthelm, suddenly after some agitations she relaxes into sleep: but when she awoke, she found herself quiet, and not subject thereafter to any gesticulation. Wherefore in thanksgiving she celebrated a nine-day fast, and visited more often the chapel in which the body of S. Anthelm rests. a bewitched girl, In the place called de Regina there was George Faguet, who had a four-year-old daughter bewitched, subject to so many convulsions, that frequently she was held for dead. Often for whole four months she was tongue-tied, and became utterly mute. What was the afflicted father to do for her? Already he had spent on physicians a good part of his property, and yet had found no remedy: and so he vows her to S. Anthelm, and three days after the binding of her tongue was loosed, and her health was wholly restored. On the 17th of August he came to Belley, and a song of deliverance was sung for her. S. Gregory the Theologian, the orator on Cyprian, a frenetic, speaking of the dust of the holy Martyr, says: The dust of Cyprian can do all things: which he repeatedly said on the occasion of the miracles, which were done to his title. The same I would almost say of the dust of S. Anthelm, which, gathered at his sepulchre on the very day of his Translation, and hung upon the neck of a thirteen-year-old frenetic boy, was for his health. Here I might deservedly insult his tormentor, the evil spirit, with the words of S. Jerome himself; You have often been tortured by this most vile dust. But lest I be too long, I add no more.
[16] An honored man, Anthony de Fraxino, surnamed from the bridge of Bonvicini, on the 4th of November, an apoplectic, 1629, was attacked by a grave disease, with which he was also afflicted continuously up to the 22nd of June 1630, by whose vehemence intensifying itself he wholly lost his sight. Three days after he falls into apoplexy, which horrendous convulsions accompanied, to such a degree that the front of his head turned to the back. Feeling therefore that nothing more remained to him than the funeral, he called upon S. Anthelm with his heart, because he could not with his voice. His faithful wife likewise, seeing him set in this struggle, vowed him to S. Anthelm, promising that she would offer to the Saint a torch which would equal his stature, if her husband were restored to life. A wondrous thing! he who was already thought a corpse, began to breathe, and to lift his eyes upward, to behold the bystanders, to hear and return familiar voices. Finally within four days he takes up his pallet, rises, and walks, who for whole eight months had been rolling upon it. On the eleventh day from his convalescence he came with his wife to Belley, and there discharged what he owed. Marinus, son of M. John Begginot of Belley, had scarcely touched the thresholds of life, when suddenly he is overwhelmed by a catarrh; by which gravely oppressed, half-alive, cold, and rigid, he was left for the space of half an hour: neither care, a dying boy; nor cure availed: whatever finally was deliberated in common for his relief. The mother, seeing the boy soon to be a corpse, devoted him to S. Anthelm, in whose honor also she pledged a Mass and a torch. Scarcely had she uttered the vow, and behold the catarrh in a moment subsides, the boy returns to the breasts of the nurse, safe and sound. likewise an apoplectic, Martin Retiot, sprung from the village of Toye, of the parish of Arbignieu, touched by a most grave apoplexy, so that not even with eyes open did he recognize the bystanders, was struggling amid grave straits. His son-in-law Benedict Angelier devoted him to S. Anthelm, promising that he would offer a Sacrifice at his altar. And indeed that whole day and the night following he was set amid the greatest straits, up to the hour of the Sacrifice: when, restored to himself, he returned to the offices of life, expiated his conscience, and refreshed himself with the sacred Synaxis, nor did the sickness hold him thereafter beyond four days.
[17] Humberta Drivet, daughter of Louis Drivet the Savoyard, nineteen years old, laboring with deafness and diarrhea, was most vehemently tormented by a defect of the ears and by diarrhea; to such a degree, that her parents, the hope of her health cast away, prepared a bier and the rest necessary for the funeral. The father however, not unmindful of the old benefits of S. Anthelm, vows that he will bring her to Belley, if she be restored to her former health. God and S. Anthelm heard the vow; and forthwith she who had been deaf recovers her hearing, so that she could now say; You have given joy and gladness to my hearing: and so within a few days, her health perfectly confirmed, she came to Belley with her stepmother Jaqueline Grossi, for the cause of the vow. An honest man, esteemed at home and abroad, Peter Norbalier of Campagne, a lame girl, had a daughter four years old, but destitute of the faculty of walking: which afflicted the parents. When therefore it was published abroad that the Translation of S. Anthelm was to be celebrated on the 26th of June, the parent of the girl could not present himself at Belley on that day, but went to the nearby temple of Campagne, where raising firm faith in God and S. Anthelm, he earnestly prayed for the health of his daughter: and presently, when he had satisfied the ardor of his heart, he returned home; and he saw his daughter, whom he had never and nowhere yet seen erect on her feet, coming to meet him. The Reverend Lord Curate of Haran, there are healed an afflicted shin-bone, roused by the fame of the future Translation of S. Anthelm, came to Belley: and although his shin-bone was afflicted, yet he penetrated through the most crowded throng and arrived as far as the coffin, in which the body of S. Anthelm had recently been placed. So great was his hope and trust of obtaining the benefit, that he even crept forward, where another, vigorous and stronger, would perhaps not have reached. And so when he stood before the sacred bier, he applied his shin-bone, and it suddenly subsided; and when he had withdrawn to the side, the bandage being drawn off, he inspected his leg, no longer livid and purulent as before, but clothed with new skin.
[18] Claude Renaud, of the parish of S. Symphorien in Dauphiné, touched by sciatica in the left thigh, sciatica, was tormented with so bitter a pain, that he was little distant from the graver contagion of impatience or despair. You would have seen him from time to time roll upon the ground in mud and filth, smite himself, beat his breast and his sides. Admonished at last that he should lift his mind to God and S. Anthelm, he made a vow to the thaumaturge S. Anthelm: which he also fulfilled. While therefore he hears Mass more devoutly in the chapel before the sacred Relics of the Saint, he swears that the pain at once remitted. And without delay; having obtained most full health, leaving there his crutches as a votive offering, he returned to his own home glad and cheerful. That the matter was thus done is established by the public instrument drawn up concerning it on the 22nd of June 1631. Benedicta, daughter of M. Stephen Mouton, the paralysis of two, rural Commissary of the village of Bregnez, of the diocese of Belley, eighteen years old, had already for two years been dissolved by paralysis, and so destitute of the use of her limbs, that besides her tongue no member was left free to her. The parents, who tenderly loved her, on account of her prudence and excellent disposition, had passed over no remedy untried, by which they might heal her: but the fatal and insuperable malady yielded to no remedy. She was carried to Belley to the tomb of S. Anthelm, where she was admonished, that she should first expiate her conscience, which she immediately performed. She repeated her nine-day exercises there twice, and more frequently was fed at the sacred Eucharistic table. Which being completed, perfect health followed. This miracle, as most attested, was celebrated through the whole diocese of Belley. another of 14 years: Peter Boysset, of the parish of Poncin, had a daughter of fourteen, paralytic, utterly destitute of the faculty of walking and speaking: whom, a vow being made, he commended to God and S. Anthelm. Scarcely had he finished the words; the girl walked forward and spoke; and the parent, having set out for Belley, discharged what he had promised. The Castellan and Syndics were employed as witnesses.
[19] a mute and maimed girl, About the same time there came to Belley, bound by a vow, Geofrida Guinet, sprung from Dauphiné, bringing with her a little four-year-old daughter, mute and maimed. For whom when the Priest performed service at the altar of S. Anthelm, and had offered a wax candle (which Arnald the parent had sought from Lyons); all being astonished she arose; and, what no one had ever seen, she walked; she went forth beyond the threshold; and with tongue loosed gave thanks to God and S. Anthelm on the 17th of May 1633, in the presence of her fellow-tribeswomen Margaret Obert, Claudina Garapprit, Matthea Guetat, and others. Claudia, a girl nearly blind, daughter of the respectable man Adam Montey of Belley, had wholly lost her sight, sinful humors flowing down into her eyes. Whom when her mother had brought to the tomb of S. Anthelm, she immediately recovered her sight. A certain other, poor in income, but rich in trust in God, whose name is not disclosed, a blind man, on the very solemn day of the Translation of S. Anthelm likewise recovered his sight. Whence he began to be filled with so great a joy, that as if snatched by a certain enthusiasm, running through the most crowded throng, he made no measure to his rejoicing, the clapping of his hands, and the narration of the miracle obtained. and a blind woman, Antonia Laynat, widow of Stephen Boz, the light of her eyes wholly lost, vowed a vow to S. Anthelm: brought to whose tomb she duly expiated her conscience, and took the Eucharist; and her prayers completed, she returned to her own home, with good hope of health to follow: for she could not believe she had done anything in vain. And indeed she was not defrauded of the desire of her lips: but while she is still on the way, she received the office of sight, and even more amply than before. the pain of a pupil. Perretta Barbara of Albergement, gravely afflicted in the pupil of her eye, performed nine-day exercises of prayers around the tomb of S. Anthelm. Who before she returned home, found herself perfectly cured.
[20] Francisca du Puissat, wife of the noble man Marc du Plastre, Lord of Veyrins, Several healed of various fevers, had already for three days labored with a continuous fever. But when she had fled to the memorial of S. Anthelm, and had taken care that a Sacrifice be offered at his altar, not long after she was perfectly cured. M. Laurence Vianus, Royal Actuary and citizen of Belley, had already for several months suffered the heats of a malignant fever: against which remedies sought from every side had availed nothing. It was suggested to him, that he should order a Sacrifice to be offered for him at the tomb of S. Anthelm (for it had not yet been elevated). On the following day, by the instinct of his counselor, he ordered it to be celebrated at the altar which was nearest the tomb. But the one about to sacrifice lacked a minister, whose place Vianus himself supplied up to the Hour of the Elevation, when he most vehemently began to tremble, and wholly as if to depart from himself. Looking around therefore, when he saw no one whom he might substitute for himself, except a certain old man from among the chief men of the city; nor durst he interrupt him, that he should succeed him in the ministry of the Priest; he had to struggle against the force of the disease, up to the end of the Sacrifice. Wonderful to tell! the Sacred Service ended, the fever also had its end. Ennemunda Coletta, wife of M. Peter Tetemps of Rumilly, was held by a violent, hot, pestilent fever, and so malignant and dangerous, that as many as ministered to her were likewise breathed upon, and feverish together with her, and in peril. Admonished at last by a devout Capuchin Father, that she should devote herself and her whole family to S. Anthelm, whose Translation was celebrated on that day; immediately she devoted herself and her own, and after the vow health returned.
[21] Joanna Borsier of Belley, wearied by the long accesses and recessions of a tertian fever; likewise others. when she had implored the patronage of S. Anthelm through the previous frequenting of penance, prayers, and the Sacraments (in whose honor also she took care that a Mass be celebrated), soon after the Sacred Service she perfectly recovered. But far the most illustrious is what I here add. A woman the most noble and most known of the whole province, after enduring the quartan heats of an autumnal fever of many months, came to Belley to the memorial of S. Anthelm: to whom after she had singularly commended her life and health, on the very day on which the heats were wont to recur, she mounted her carriage, that she might return to her own people: but the good God would not confound her from her expectation. Soon therefore as she departed from Belley, the fever also left her. M. Michael Pellicier, Castellan of Transserre in Dauphiné; and Gaspar Pellicier his son, Advocate in the Court of the Parlement of Grenoble; both were gravely afflicted, the latter with pleurisy, the former with fever; and so dangerous was his state, that their life and health were held as despaired of, nevertheless the patronage of S. Anthelm prevailed against the disease and the imminent death, to whom they presented themselves bound by a vow at Belley on the 23rd of April 1631. A noble man in Dauphiné, having for whole nine months striven to drive off a quartan fever by prayer and price, had availed nothing. And so, made a suppliant to S. Anthelm, he vowed that he would set out for Belley for the cause of the vow. He was delivered, but he failed: the fever returned, but the vow being restored, perfect cure followed. Joannina Grenier, of Belley, had labored for nine weeks with an autumnal quartan fever. She had tried various remedies, but in vain: at last as a suppliant she courts the patronage of S. Anthelm, and that she might reconcile to herself his more certain aid, in his chapel she poured out the heat of her heart, and within herself her soul; with so great an ardor of faith and charity, that soon she obtained what she most desired.
[22] Unless the study of brevity compelled me to impose an end, I could stuff several pages with the bare names of those who were cured by the aid of S. Anthelm: yet it will be enough to have touched briefly upon a few more here. Stephana Savigni of Lyons, delivered from fevers. Other miracles. Philibert de Boursier de Rothenad, likewise free of the quartan. Laurence Migieu, and Claude du Rochatz, given up by the Physicians, drawn back to life. An anonymous man, judged a leper by the judgment of a physician, is cured. M. Francis Reydelet Advocate, and Laurence Migieu are witnesses, that a flagon was filled, by an intervening miracle, with the wine necessary for the Sacrifices, on the 28th of June 1631. Sister Claudia des Anges, Nun, wonderfully delivered from a colic affliction. Claudia de Bouvent snatched from the jaws of death. Amatus de Migieu, dropsical, given up, recovers. Antony Perrier rescued from a grave bodily ailment. Henry Poncin cured of an affliction of the belly. An anonymous noble woman, epileptic, healed. Peter Videt rescued from the waves by the aid of S. Anthelm. Francis d'Hyeres, almost suffocated, breathes without harm. Adriana Violet, from a precipice without injury falls gently. Finally several extinguished in their mother's womb, by the benefit of S. Anthelm brought to the waters of salvation, and innumerable others have experienced his aid.
APPENDIX
Concerning the reciprocal offices between the Bishop and the General of the Order, from Guichenon.
[23] Of the General of the Order, Because B. Anthelm was of the Carthusian Order, the General of the Charterhouse, in memory of so great an honor which the Order had received from the translation of the body of B. Anthelm, sent to John letters of congratulation, containing a participation in all the prayers and spiritual exercises, which I have judged not unworthy to append here, with his responsory letters, says Guichenon in his Chronological series, whom I will here gladly imitate. The first proceeds thus.
[24] Brother Justus, Prior of the Charterhouse, and General Minister of the whole Carthusian Order, to the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Lord in Christ, Lord John de Passelaigue, to the Bishop seeking his prayers and those of his brethren Bishop and Lord of Belley, Prince of the H.R.E., salvation in Christ Jesus, who is Salvation and Amen. Behold, Most Illustrious Lord, a thing as it were marvelous has seemed to us, that you, whom God chose among the living as Pontiff, to offer sacrifice to him, to appease, to bless, and to pray for the people; yet you have not disdained to demand from us, although unworthy, and among the lower of the Levites, even the blessing of our prayers and suffrages; Since, as the Apostle says, without any contradiction, that which is less is blessed by the better. But in this we confess and marvel at your virtue of humility, which by prudent and pious meditation considering from the words of the same Apostle, that the law constituted all Priests as having infirmity, and therefore the necessity daily of offering victims first for their own sins, then for the people's; Heb. 7. 7, and 7. 27. thence also does not disdain to borrow a certain devotion from the other faithful Christians, and the aid of propitiation with God; that thus the Pastors may aid the people, and in turn the people the Pastors, as head and members, by the mutual aids of the works and prayers of Christians. But in this also we venerate your benevolence toward us, and with much honor we receive it, and at the same time the piety, with which you embrace our Order with a more inclined affection. Nor perhaps undeservedly, you who now justly occupy such a Pontifical See, in which seven Prelates professed of our Order once worthily sat, and holily governed, which is glorious to our same Order. Among whom it is permitted to commemorate as the chief that great one, and light both of monastic perfection and of the Church, B. Anthelm; whose most holy body, lately long hidden in a common sepulchre, you have at last merited from God to draw forth and lift up, and to place higher in a holier place upon one Altar, your whole Clergy looking on; and from now daily venerating with the highest honor and devotion their once holy Prelate.
[25] he assigns the communion of good works Moved therefore by these just reasons, that we may endeavor to render a rich and firm testimony of our grateful and most humble affection toward your Most Illustrious Lordship, as far as for our condition we are able; by the tenor of the present, we impart to your Most Illustrious Lordship, according to your desire, indeed and command, the full participation of all our prayers and spiritual exercises. To which moreover, that the memory of the same may endure eternal among our posterity, we add and grant a perpetual Anniversary, to be inscribed after the form of the Order in the Calendars of our houses, under the day of your death (which may God most good make happy, and after the manner of the Saints). with an Anniversary. Meanwhile with hands lifted to heaven and heart expanded, we beseech God himself, that he would deign to favor in all things the pious vows and desires of your Lordship, and continually to add a manly spirit, to the emulation of the virtues and sanctity of your blessed Pontiff predecessors; that when that great Pontiff, who penetrated the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, shall appear, for your Pastoral care and solicitude duly discharged, he himself may grant you to enter into his rest, and that you may rest from your labors; and there may you be clothed by him with the stole of glory, and crowned in vessels of virtue, with a golden crown above your mitre, expressed with the sign of sanctity and the glory of honor. Given at the Charterhouse on the 12th of January, one thousand six hundred and thirty-three. Let them be sealed. Brother Justus, Prior of the Charterhouse. To which the Bishop thus answered.
[26] John, by the grace of God and of the holy Apostolic See, Bishop of Belley; to the Very Reverend Father in Christ, Lord Justus Perrot, Prior of the Charterhouse, General head of his whole Order, salvation and from the author of all good things the fullness of all grace and benediction. Blessed be God, which the Bishop gratefully accepts, who has not removed my prayer and his mercy from me, but has filled my desire with good things. For I have beheld from your letters of singular elegance the greatest piety toward the most blessed Prelate Anthelm, and the affection of your spirit toward his most unworthy successor; in which not only the full participation of all your prayers and spiritual exercises, but also adding a perpetual anniversary, after the form of the sacred Order in the Calendars of your houses, under the day of my death (which may God make happy, and after the manner of the Saints, to be inscribed), you have granted by exceeding charity. Far sweeter to me are these words above honey and the honeycomb; these I have remembered, and have poured out my soul within me. Blessed be your holy Angel, who suggested it to your pious breast; Blessed be our God, who persuaded it. Would that, as the present epistle, so refreshed by the abundance of the sweetness of your breast, I could send my mind to you! Without doubt then you would read most clearly, what the finger of God has written in my heart, concerning the love of you, what he has impressed upon my marrow.
[27] Truly not in word, nor in tongue (God knows), but in truth and deed, if the matter had borne it, I have always loved, cherished, and venerated your Reverence, and offers his affection to the Order. and the holy men serving Almighty God under your rule in spirit and in truth; I have done so up to now, I do still, I will do as long as the breath shall be in my nostrils. Therefore I embrace in the cords of Adam, in the bonds of charity, your whole most upright Order, and so most holy, and I venerate each of the Fathers as Angels of God; that as for those whom this world, which we unwillingly cultivate, is not worthy; therefore removed from the cares of this age, you wander more freely in the solitudes. But your solitude is not so singular to you, that it is not often permitted me to be with you in mind; nor do you, nearer the heavens, so despise this lowest world, that your supports are not from time to time transmitted to us. You are indeed dead to the world, but neither would I be ignorant of this, that your life is hidden with Christ in God; since from him through you, as frequently through your most Blessed (I will also say our) Anthelm, who dead to the earth lives to heaven, singular benefits are derived upon us. Therefore it will not happen undeservedly, if in you I shall observe several Anthelms; and him whom alone here in the most renowned sarcophagus we kiss, we may understand to be manifold, laid up in the tomb of your solitude. It remains, that buried together with Christ, whom in these days we behold suffering and dying with you; when he shall appear, who is your life, you may at the same time appear with him in glory; and may receive the laid-up crown of justice, which the just Judge will render to you in that day. Given at Belley, on the Wednesday of Holy Week, the twenty-third day of the month of March, in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and thirty-three.