Willeic

ON SAINT WILLEIC, PRIEST, DISCIPLE OF SAINT SWIBERT THE BISHOP, AT KAISERSWERTH ON THE RHINE.

AROUND THE YEAR 726.

Willeic, Priest, Disciple of Saint Swibert the Bishop, at Kaiserswerth on the Rhine (Saint)

FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

Section I. The homeland and manner of life of Willeic.

[1] There is a town in the territory of the Archbishop of Cologne on the German bank of the Rhine, girdled on its eastern side by an arm of the same river, which is now called Kaiserswerth (literally, Caesar's Island), in the common tongue Keysers-weerd, formerly the Island of Saint Swibert; The monastery at Kaiserswerth founded by Saint Swibert, as Bede, nearly contemporary with Swibert himself, writes in Book 5 of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, chapter 12, "On the shore"; concerning which place we treated at length on the Kalends of March in the Life of the same Saint Swibert, to whom Pippin, the most powerful Duke of the Franks, gave it, and there he built a monastery, and in it, after many labors endured in sowing the religion of Christ, he piously completed his days and was honored by God with many miracles.

[2] It was ruled by Saint Willeic, his disciple, Willeic the Priest is reported to have been formed to the perfection of holiness under his discipline, and he succeeded him in the government of that monastery, and is venerated on the 6th of the Nones of March, the day after his Master. On that day his memory is consecrated in many Martyrologies written about two centuries ago, or a little earlier. Inscribed in Martyrologies at March 2. Some of these bear the name of Usuard as their heading, and say these few things about him: At Werda, the feast of Saint Willeic the Confessor, Priest of Saint Swibert. Similar entries are read in the Martyrology printed at Cologne in the year 1490 and in the Supplement to Usuard by Hermann Greven the Carthusian, published twenty-five years later, as well as in John Molanus and the German version of Peter Canisius. The manuscript Florarium, compiled by an anonymous Canon Regular, adds: of the Order of Canons Regular. To what extent this is probable was discussed in the Life of Saint Swibert. The Florarium agrees with Constantinus Ghinius in his Feasts of the Canons Regular Saints. But the Benedictines claim him for their order. Canon or monk? So Trithemius in his work On Illustrious Men of the Order of Saint Benedict, Book 3, chapter 167, who calls him Willicus, as does Francis Haraeus. Arnold Wion also numbers him among the Benedictines in Book 3 of his Tree of Life, as do Hugh Menard, Benedict Dorganius, Gabriel Bucelin, and a manuscript Calendar of Saints of the same order. We have related before that, just as Saint Willibrord, trained in monastic life for apostolic labors, had established at Utrecht Clerics who would live according to the canonical norm, and monks at Echternach; so Saint Ludger, imbued with learning and piety in that monastery of Clerics at Utrecht, and also trained in monastic exercises in the community of the Cassinese ascetics, yet bound by no vow to observe that Rule, built an honorable monastery for the Lord at Münster in the district of Sudergau, of those serving Christ under the canonical rule; but founded a monastery of monks at Werden in the Ripuarian district; having in both works followed the example of Saint Willibrord, and in one or other that of Saint Swibert, who seems to have been a monk in England and Ireland; whether, however, he gathered monks or canonically living Clerics at Werda remains in doubt. And from this it must be determined whether Saint Willeic was a monk or a Canon.

[3] Whether English, This too may be asked: of what nation he was a native. John Wilson in his English Martyrology affirms that he came from England with Swibert, which we know others also to hold; but since in the twenty-two years during which Swibert labored in cultivating the vineyard of Christ, he trained not a few neophytes to outstanding virtue, perhaps he moved some of them, endowed with remarkable natural ability, to imitate him more closely and to dedicate themselves entirely to the increase of God's glory. Or a convert from elsewhere? For it is well established that apostolic men used to have this sole aim: not only to try to persuade of the faith those people with whom they dealt, but also, if they found any suited to the task we have described, to carefully train them to undertake it. Thus Saint Gregory attached himself as a companion to Saint Boniface, and thus Gregory attached Marchelm, as Saint Ludger attests in the Life of Gregory, where he writes that the same Boniface, or Winfrith, had dwelt for thirteen years in three places in Frisia before he recruited Gregory as his disciple and companion; of which, he says, the second is called Attinghem, near the river Vecht, where he dwelt for three years: in which place he first had a disciple named Gembert. For it is not likely that only a few were imbued by him with the doctrine of the faith; but he indicates that Gembert was the first to become a helper in his holier purpose. Moreover, what Wilson had written in the first edition of his Martyrology in the year 1608, he omitted in the second, which he composed in the year 1640. But Edward Maihew lists him in his Trophies of the English Congregation of Saint Benedict, Certain Englishmen make him an Englishman; published at Rheims in the year 1625, with an encomium woven from the fabricated narratives of the Pseudo-Marcellinus; and Jerome Porter, a Benedictine Priest and monk, who composed and published in English at Douai in the year 1632 his Flowers of the Celebrated Saints of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

[4] Others pass over the matter. Before them, John Molanus splendidly proclaimed the praises of Saint Willeic in his Feasts of the Saints of Belgium, and Aubert Miraeus in his Belgian Calendar; who, however, did not mention his homeland, nor did Andreas Saussay, who writes the following about him in his Gallican Martyrology: At Utrecht, the deposition of Saint Willeic the Priest, the special associate and co-worker of Blessed Swibert, Apostle of the Frisians and Batavians. He, having been enrolled in the recently established college of Canons there, greatly distinguished that priestly assembly by the splendor of his holiness and learning; he provided outstanding examples and models of piety to the citizens, neophytes in the law of Christ. Then he most devoutly governed the monastery of Werden, which Saint Swibert himself had built at the expense of Prince Pippin; where, persevering in the highest holiness to the end of his life, he departed from this fleeting light to the true and eternal light, with a great accumulation of merits. That he attributes the deposition of Saint Willeic to Utrecht is because he believed that he was first a Canon there, as was reported by the Pseudo-Marcellinus; otherwise his relics are preserved at Werda, as we shall soon say, and he seems to have died there.

[5] Whether established at Utrecht? Whether he lived at Utrecht may be debated: for whether he was English and came across the sea with Saint Swibert already consecrated as Bishop, or joined himself to him, sprung from the blood of Franks, Belgians, or even other neophytes, it is not sufficiently clear that that institution of learning and holiness and that college of Clerics at Utrecht existed before Saint Swibert departed for the Boructuarii, whom Bede writes, having received the episcopate, returned from Britain in the year 693, and not long afterward withdrew to the nation of the Boructuarii: ... but when the Boructuarii were conquered not long after by the nation of the Old Saxons, those who had received the word were dispersed in all directions; and the Bishop himself with certain others (perhaps also of the Boructuarii, who were near the Ripuarian Franks?) sought Pippin, obtained a place on an island in the Rhine, built a monastery there, and spent the rest of his life there. Michael Alford in his Annals of the Anglo-Saxon Church mentions him and says he was a disciple of Saint Swibert, but does not expressly call him an Englishman; but in his Index of the Saints of England he writes thus about him: Willeic the Abbot, was a disciple of Swibert and co-worker in the preaching of the Gospel; after Swibert's death he laudably presided over the monastery of Werden; he dies a Saint; he is read in the Belgian Calendar at March 2, and once also in ours on the same day; now, I know not why, he has been dropped. The same author treats of him in various places of his second volume.

[6] Whether one of the first companions of Saint Willibrord? John Colgan lists him in his Lives of the Saints of Ireland at the same second day of March, and says he was educated in Ireland and sent for this harvest with Saints Willibrord and Swibert and nine others by Saint Ecgbert; though he does not deny that he was Anglo-Saxon. Willibrord Bosschart also mentions him in his Dissertation 115 on the first Apostles of Frisia, where after much else he writes thus: Whence or at what time he came to Utrecht, how many years he preached in that diocese, is completely buried in obscurity. In the interpolated Martyrology of Usuard, which we cited at the Kalends of March, written by the hand of Wido Crentzelin 240 years ago, the following is read about him: Elsewhere he is called Willerric. At the town of Werda, of Saint Willerric, Priest and Confessor, Chaplain of Saint Swibert. Elsewhere he seems to have been called William. Equilinus the Bishop certainly writes thus in Book 3 of his Catalog, chapter 170: William the Englishman, a Priest, a man of charity, excelling in holiness of life and a strenuous pursuer of his office, in the time of Emperor Henry III, full of holiness, departed to Christ on the 6th of the Nones of March. At whose sepulcher at the time of his death, the blind were given sight, the lame were raised up, and many others were freed from various infirmities; whence his body is visited by many pilgrims going to it for the sake of devotion. So writes that author, who cites Vincent, in whom we have not yet found that William, or Willielm, nor in any English writer, except Richard Whitford in his English Martyrology, who, like Equilinus, omits Saint Willeic. Both mention Willeic and William: Hermann Greven, Canisius, and Ghinius; the latter two show that they drew from Equilinus. Those who consider Willeic and William to be the same person, however, do not say that he died under Emperor Henry, much less, as Ghinius has it, in the year 630.

[7] Reported on March 7. At the Nones of March, in the Martyrology printed at Cologne in the year 1511, and in the Supplement to Usuard by Hermann Greven, published there in 1515, Saint Willeic is again reported in these words: In the territory of Berg, in the imperial town called Werda, on the shore of the Rhine, the feast of Saint Willeic the Confessor, Priest of Saint Swibert the Bishop. But by both he was previously called Willerric at the 6th of the Nones.

Section II. The good deeds and relics of Saint Willeic.

[8] There is no leisure to investigate individually and to bring to light what was piously and holily done by Saint Willeic, since no certain and plainly trustworthy writer has recorded them in writing. For the one who falsely claimed to be Saint Marcellinus, or more accurately Saint Marchelm, Uncertain are the things the Pseudo-Marcellinus writes about him, while professing to compose the history of the most holy Bishop Swibert, heaped up very many things that are refuted by the clear testimonies of the most authoritative writers, so that even those things which are not so manifestly proven false are nevertheless suspected of fraud, because they have no probability, being supported by no authority of a solid witness. Who then will believe that what he proclaims about Saint Willeic and other companions of the same Swibert is solid and certain? We reverently accept, as received by the tradition of our forebears, though not sufficiently confirmed by his assertion, what is read in his chapter 15: that with several other glorious Priests and preachers, under Swibert's leadership, he faithfully labored in the vineyard of the Lord, and led many mortals from the madness of idols to the faith of Christ. But as for what he says that these things were done in Westphalia and Lower Saxony, it has been shown above in the section on Swibert that neither the name Westphalia nor Lower Saxony was in use at that time, nor was the place called Minimigardum, where the Westphalian city of Münster now stands, but Miminigardum, Mimigrodum, Mimigerneforde. If Saint Swibert there illuminated a blind man by sending his staff to him and then fortifying him with the sign of the Cross, as that Marcellinus narrates in chapter 17, there is no reason to deny what he affirms was done — that the staff could have been brought to him by Saint Willeic. By the same reasoning it could be deemed credible what he reports in chapter 24, that his devoted Willeic, his chaplain, was present with Saint Swibert when he restored to life a man named Hunger, called Peter, who had been crushed by a cart loaded with stones.

[9] But what he narrates in chapter 25 cannot in any way be proved: that in the year 714, when Swibert was sent by Plectrudis to Jupille to the ailing Pippin, certain things are false, the pious Priest Willeic was detained at Cologne by her for the sake of devotion and consolation, because Willeic was a blessed evangelical Priest. For how could Plectrudis have detained Willeic at Cologne, when she herself was at that time attending her husband, as was declared above, and together with him and on his behalf was signing documents of pious donations? How could she then have sent Swibert, who had departed this life the preceding year? I pass over other matters treated at length in the section on Swibert.

[10] The encomia of the same holy Priest Willeic which he heaps up in chapter 26, because they are both in agreement with the tradition of our ancestors and common to most apostolic men, we willingly approve. However, that he is said to have been the first Canon of the new Church of Utrecht, we said in the preceding section does not seem entirely firm and settled; not even if he is said to have been not the first, but a Canon there from the beginning. The rest is as follows: Probable are the things about his outstanding virtues, Saint Willeic the Priest ... a vessel of virtues, with pure intention, in the hope of heavenly reward abandoning the world, strove to serve Christ with a sincere heart. For from his youth he diligently led a blessed life with Saint Swibert in prayers and self-restraint and meditation on the divine Scriptures. He cared to seek nothing of this world, to love nothing. Sufficiently instructed in the divine Scriptures by Saint Swibert, he was learned in both the Latin and German tongues. For he was most eloquent and most gentle, a conqueror of wrath and avarice, a despiser of pride and vainglory, a consoler of the poor and the sick. He was solicitous for the provision of the needy not only with the piety of his mind but also with the labor of his effort. He also led many pagans in various provinces, by his most wholesome preaching, from the poison of idolatry to the sweetness of the faith of Christ.

[11] In the monastery of Werden indeed, having been made Provost under Saint Swibert, and in his zeal for souls in governance: he gave an example of abstinence and continence and other virtues to all the Brothers. He also established many in the regular life both by the authority of his teaching and by the example of his conduct. He not only provided both precepts and examples of the regular life to the monastery itself, but also took care to convert the common people settled far and wide around from the foolish custom of idolatrous life to the love of Christ and of heavenly joys. Then he appends the narrative of the healing, by prayer and a threefold blessing, of Gotebald, a leading man among the citizens of Cologne, at the request of Plectrudis that he visit him. This, however, does not seem very credible to us unless it is proved that it happened after the death of Duke Pippin, When did he die? when Plectrudis retired to Cologne. The same author finally asserts that Saint Willeic presided over the monastery of Werden for ten years after the death of Saint Swibert, and that he finally died in the year 727, which does not agree with the Annals of the Franks written by a contemporary, in which it is asserted that Saint Swibert died in the year 713, as we reported in his Life: whence it would follow that Saint Willeic died in the year 723. This may be probably asserted: that he died at the time when Charles Martel was governing the kingdom of the Franks and the Kings themselves.

[12] What veneration was long ago paid to him may be gathered from the honor of his sepulcher. This was set forth in a certain letter by John Gelenius, Vicar General of the archdiocese of Cologne, His relics were inspected in the year 1626, which letter I seem to have heard was published in print, though I have not seen it; but these details were communicated to me from it by a friend. When therefore, by order of Ferdinand of Bavaria, Archbishop of Cologne, he inspected the silver tomb of Saint Swibert in the year 1626, he found in it the bones of Saint Willeic. For he says thus: This inner tomb was divided in the middle, 400 years earlier enclosed in silver caskets, and in one part it contained the body of Saint Swibert. A lead plate had been attached, on which it was noted that in the year 1264, under Urban IV, the sacred relics had been enclosed in this casket. In the other part was contained Saint Willeic, the companion of Saint Swibert and the first Provost of the Island. as also those of Saint Swibert the Bishop. I did not find the head; for I believe it was translated to Düsseldorf in the year 1264: for it is kept there. A cloth similar to another red one was found. The bones of Saint Willeic were likewise wrapped in a multicolored cloth, and an attached lead plate indicated the same year as was on the other plate. Above the casket, on the side where the body of Saint Swibert was, was written in uncial letters SVIBERTVS, and on the other side WILLEICVS. So writes John Gelenius.

[13] But long after the year there indicated, certain relics of Saint Willeic were translated to Düsseldorf. For there exists a charter of Frederick of Saarwerden, the third Archbishop of Cologne of that name, who is reported to have been elected in the year 1370, Some given in the year 1403 to the Church of Düsseldorf, and to have administered the archdiocese for forty-four years. That charter reads as follows: Frederick, by the Grace of God, Archbishop of the Holy Church of Cologne, Archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire for Italy, Legate of the Apostolic See, to the Dean and Chapter of the Church of Werda, of our Diocese, our devoted ones beloved in Christ, greeting in the Lord. So that you may lawfully open the casket of relics of your Church, in which bones and limbs of Saints Swibert and Wallaicus the Martyrs are said to be enclosed, through suitable Priests with the due solemnities observed, and may transfer the body of Blessed Wallaicus, if it is there, at the instance of the Illustrious Duke Wilhelm, our dearest kinsman and vassal, to the Church of Düsseldorf in the diocese of Cologne, for the greater acts of reverence of praise and honor to be exhibited to him in the aforesaid church, and may lawfully minister the same in great decency; with the assent of the Archbishop of Cologne; provided that the free consent of you, the aforesaid Dean and Chapter, has been given to this; we bestow our authority by these presents, insofar as we lawfully can. Given at Friedestrom, in the Year of the Lord 1403, the 10th day of the month of July. So reads the document. They were not, however, Martyrs, although they suffered much in the sowing of the Gospel; whether the one who served as secretary to the Archbishop intended this meaning, or erred through carelessness, I do not inquire.

[14] John Gelenius was also deceived by his own conjecture, believing that the head of Saint Willeic was translated to Düsseldorf in the year 1264. For if it had been there from that time, how would it have been fitting that 140 years later Duke William of Berg should request for his Church at Düsseldorf some relics of the same Saint? Giles Gelenius, Bishop of Aureliopolitanus, brother of John, Some in the chapel of Saint Margaret at Cologne. in his Cologne Calendar at the day of March 2, indicates in general that the relics of Saint Willeic are principally preserved at Kaiserswerth and at Düsseldorf; and notable portions at Cologne in the chapel of Saint Margaret. Earlier, moreover, in treatise 130, in which he treats of that chapel or church, section 2, hierothecary 5, he says that in the right arm, gilded with gold, a notable bone of Saint Willeic the Priest, companion of Saint Swibert, is preserved.