Cunegonde

ON SAINT CUNEGONDE, EMPRESS, VIRGIN, WIFE, WIDOW, AND FINALLY BENEDICTINE NUN, AT KAUFUNGEN AND BAMBERG IN GERMANY.

AROUND THE YEAR 1040.

Preliminary Commentary.

Cunegonde, Empress, Virgin, Wife, Widow, and Benedictine Nun (Saint)

BHL Number: 3816

Section I. Sacred cult assigned to various days. Sacred relics.

[1] Bamberg, in earlier centuries Babenberg, is a distinguished city of Franconia, situated in the heart of Germany, enlarged by the Emperor Saint Henry and his wife Saint Cunegonde (to whom, while they lived, it was a delight) with magnificent churches and monasteries, and adorned with an episcopal see.

which was subsequently exempted from all archiepiscopal jurisdiction by Pope Clement II, Bamberg adorned by Saints Henry and Cunegonde; who had previously been the second Bishop of this city, and was directly subject to the Apostolic See. But nothing so greatly completed the most ample adornments of this city as the grant of the patronage of the said Saints and the deposition of their most sacred relics there. These honors are augmented both by the numerous miracles wrought at those relics and by the sacred cult and veneration granted by the Apostolic See. These things will need to be chiefly explained on 14 July, the day on which Saint Henry, having left the earthly Empire, migrated to the heavenly kingdom. Meanwhile, certain matters that pertain separately to Saint Cunegonde must be set forth on this 3rd of March, on which she too exchanged this mortal life for an eternal and immortal one.

[2] There is a Martyrology of Usuard formerly augmented for the churches of Germany, her birthday inscribed in the sacred calendars on 3 March. such as was sent to us in a manuscript written about four hundred years ago, which was preserved among the books of Nicolaus Scheld at Hagenau. In it, after Saints Marinus and Asterius, the following is read: "On the same day, of Cunegonde the Empress"; and then is subjoined the birthday of Saints Emeterius and Chelidonius, Martyrs, whom we have already treated. In the manuscript Florarium is added: "and Virgin, who flourished in the year of salvation 1003." We shall treat below of her age and year of death. Hermann Greven flourished about two hundred years ago, having died in the year 1480, who in his additions to Usuard writes thus: "Of Cunegonde, Virgin and Empress, daughter of the Count Palatine of the Rhine. She, serving Christ in virginity with her husband Saint Henry, first of that name among Emperors, full of good works, rested in peace." In the Cologne Martyrology printed in the year 1490, the following is recorded: "On the same day, of Saint Cunegonde the Empress, who was the daughter of the Count Palatine of the Rhine and was joined in marriage to the Emperor Saint Henry, who were both Virgins and preserved their virginity to the end of their lives and rest buried together in the city of Bamberg." We shall inquire below about her father, Count Siegfried. The Martyrology of the Church of Basel has the following: "At Bamberg, Saint Cunegonde the Augusta, who was distinguished for the integrity of her body, charity toward the poor, and monastic observance." Her feast in the diocese of Basel is celebrated on the fifth day before the Ides of September, as will be said below. Felicius and Galesin, who extols the greatness of her miracles, Molanus in his additions to Usuard, Canisius in the German Martyrology, and finally the present Roman Martyrology, adorn her with their eulogies; into which the following eulogy has been inserted: "At Bamberg, Saint Cunegonde the Augusta, who, married to the Emperor Henry I, having preserved her virginity with his consent, enriched with the merits of good works, rested in a holy death and after death was renowned for miracles." Gelenius inscribed her in the Cologne calendars, Miraeus in the Belgian ones: the latter says she was born as the daughter of a Count on the Moselle; the former asserts that the Cologne territories were illuminated by her presence.

[3] Saint Cunegonde died in the monastery of Kaufungen, where, having become a nun, also in monastic calendars, she lived for fifteen years in the habit of the Order of Saint Benedict. It was situated near Kassel in Hesse and belonged to the diocese of Paderborn and the jurisdiction of its Bishop, as our Brower clearly demonstrates in his notes to the Life of Saint Meinwerk, number 69. Hence John Trithemius rightly assigned her to his Order in Book 3 of his work On Distinguished Benedictine Men, chapter 259. Her name is also inserted in the manuscript Martyrology of the monastery of the Holy Savior: "The death of Saint Cunegonde, Empress and Virgin; she rests in Bamberg." Wion, Menard, Dorgany, and Bucelin also inscribed her in Monastic Martyrologies, the latter with a longer eulogy taken from the Life; the former ones transcribe the Roman Martyrology, to which Wion badly added this beginning: "At Bamberg in the monastery of Kaufungen," which we have said was situated outside the diocese of Bamberg.

[4] The same veneration is confirmed by the ancient Office, which was formerly accustomed to be recited and chanted on 3 March in various churches; and in various Breviaries. in which not only are six proper Lessons assigned for Matins, but all the antiphons, hymns, and responsories also represent her deeds. That Office was printed at Brussels in the year 1484 from ancient Breviaries, together with her Life. A similar one is found in the Passau Breviary of the year 1505 and the Bamberg Breviary reprinted in the year 1575. But the Proper Offices of the churches of Regensburg, Salzburg, Freising, Eichstatt, Vienna, Passau, and others, printed in this century, all prescribe that the Office should be recited from the Common of Virgins, except for two or three Lessons of the second Nocturn taken from the Life. The Collect likewise in some is prescribed from the Office of the Common of Virgins; in others a proper one is prefixed.

[5] Another day sacred to the veneration of the same Empress is 9 September, on which day in the printed Bede -- that is, as published by later authors under his name -- Translation on 9 September. the following is read: "On the same day, of Saint Cunegonde the Virgin." The Cologne Martyrology cited above reports thus: "In the city of Bamberg, the Translation of Blessed Cunegonde the Virgin." Greven adds "and Empress." Similar entries are found in the manuscript Florarium and the German Martyrology of Canisius. In the manuscript Benedictine Calendar of the Holy Savior, it is said that she was afterwards a nun of the monastery of Kaufungen. Wion had found the name in the Salzburg Calendar and inserted it in his Martyrology with these words: "At Salzburg, of Saint Cuneburg the Virgin." But that her cult among the people of Basel was more celebrated is indicated by the Martyrology of that Church, which begins thus: "On the fifth day before the Ides of September, in the diocese of Basel, of Saint Cunegonde, Virgin and Augusta, who, married to the Emperor Henry I, serving Christ, perpetually cultivated virginal chastity; flourishing in the renown of this praise and enriched with the merits of good works, she rested in the Lord, renowned also for miracles after death that attest to her sanctity. At Bamberg her feast is celebrated on the fifth day before the Nones of March." But also on that 9th day of September, her cult is observed at Bamberg with a solemn Office, with six Lessons together with antiphons and responsories fashioned from her Life. The translation of the same Blessed Cunegonde is assigned to 22 May in certain manuscript additions to Hermann Greven. and 22 May:

[6] A third solemnity is assigned in the manuscript Florarium to 29 March with these words: Canonization on 29 March, "The Canonization of Saint Cunegonde, Empress and Virgin." It is likewise recorded in the Bamberg Breviary with this rubric: "On the Canonization of Saint Cunegonde, at first Vespers, after the prayers and collect of the ferial office, the Antiphon, verse, and collect are said which are assigned, as again at Matins and Lauds. If this feast falls on Palm Sunday or in Holy Week, let it be anticipated on a suitable weekday before Palm Sunday. If it falls on a feast, in the week, or during the Octave of Easter, other rubrics are prescribed." In the Life formerly printed at Brussels, the feast of the Canonization is said to be celebrated on 9 September, which we have already shown to be that of the Translation. The Bull of Canonization is dated the third day before the Nones of April, which was the fifth day after the completion of that solemnity. On that day we do not find her memorial inserted in any Martyrology. A fourth solemnity is observed at Bamberg on the Kalends of August on account of the first miracle wrought by her on that day, related below in the Life, number 17; memorial on 1 August. on account of which, in the Office of Saint Peter the Apostle in Chains, a Commemoration of Saint Cunegonde is assigned in the Breviary with a proper Antiphon and Collect. The great bells are also rung, and other extraordinary ornaments are displayed. On that day Maurolycus and Felicius made mention of Saint Cunegonde, and, citing both, Wion also, but doubtful whether what they report is true. Molanus also on 2 May mentions "Saint Cunegonde the Virgin at Erschel," whom our Gamansius considers to be an Ursuline.

[7] A catalogue of the relics of Bamberg was formerly printed, in whose first class are the triple pallium, robe, and girdle of Saint Cunegonde the Empress. Relics at Bamberg, In the sixth class is preserved a glove enclosed in a goblet (which the Acts below at number 13 record as having adhered to a ray of the sun) and the ring with which she was espoused. In the ninth class are displayed her head, arm, and hand. In the tenth class there is a large casket, adorned and locked, with the inscription: "In this silver sarcophagus are the relics of Saint Cunegonde." We ourselves were also at Bamberg in the year 1660 and saw the treasury of the Cathedral Church on 14 September, and in it a most beautiful statue of Saint Cunegonde in gilded silver, representing the upper half of her body, in whose breast the head of the holy Empress was enclosed. Among the relics that were translated to Portugal and deposited in the church of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at Lisbon, at Lisbon, some are said to be of Saint Cunegonde the August Virgin, as we said on 25 January among the Saints passed over and assigned to other days, page 612. But that an arm of Saint Cunegonde is preserved at Vienna in Austria is indicated by the Lipsanography of the Cathedral church sent to us from there. at Vienna, at Cologne, At Cologne, in the treasury of sacred relics that are exposed for public veneration in the chapel of Saints Willibrord and Boniface of the Batavian College, Gelenius reports in his Colonia, page 616, that certain relics of Saint Cunegonde the Empress are found. at Andechs. The monastery of Andechs likewise, on the Holy Mountain among the Bavarians, has relics of Cunegonde, whose catalogue Beyerlinck published in his Theatre of the World under the title "Relics."

Section II. Various Acts of Saint Cunegonde.

[8] Since for about two hundred years the art of printing had become known to the whole world, various persons were found who either published separately Lives of Saints extracted from ancient manuscript codices, or arranged for them to be printed collected in a single body. Life published in 1483 and 1485. Thus in Italy, Boninus Mombritius of Milan published two huge volumes on the Lives of Saints, without indicating the year of printing, which was later observed from common practice. There was also found in those times in Lower Germany one who would collect and publish Lives of Saints in a similar manner; which work was first published at Cologne in the year 1483, and two years later at Louvain, and was called the Legenda Nova, by Molanus the second part of the Legend. In this, on folio 35, there is the Life of Saint Cunegonde the Empress, and afterwards by Surius: which Lawrence Surius, taking it from there, published in volume 2 of his Lives of Saints for this day, 3 March; and he asserts that this Life was written seriously and faithfully, although the author suppressed his name -- or perhaps it was lost through the carelessness of copyists. The author at number 6 considered it worthwhile by whom and when was it written? not to withhold the service of his lips from her, Saint Cunegonde, by whose providence he daily received the nourishment of the body -- implying that he was either a monk in some monastery built by her, or perhaps a Canon in the Church of Bamberg, or certainly a Priest or Cleric of another grade. The time also at which this Life was written is indicated there: namely, when the holy Church had received sufficiently and worthily written accounts about the life and virtues of Saint Henry and the miracles wrought after his passing, when the same Henry had been inscribed in the Catalogue of Saints by Pope Eugene III in the year 1152, with a solemn Canonization. Indeed, if the miracles reported at number 17 were written by the same author,

after the year 1189, in which those events are said to have taken place, it is necessarily established that he flourished; and the end of this Life is placed in the said edition at that number. The same Life is inserted in the Bamberg Breviary, partly for 9 September, partly for this 3rd of March; but nothing about those miracles is presented in them, but with the funeral and burial, an end is imposed, as also in the Blabeuren manuscript; which are nevertheless found in the manuscript of D. Baunach, concerning which we treat below, from which our Gamansius submitted to us various readings.

[9] Just as in the Roman Church the pious custom prevails that on the feasts of Saint Peter the Apostle a commemoration of Saint Paul the Apostle is made, and conversely on the latter's feasts the memory of the former is recalled, published elsewhere in the year 1484 so in the Church of Bamberg these most holy spouses Henry and Cunegonde are not separated, nor is any feast of one of them celebrated without the invoked suffrage of the other. Perhaps with this in view, the Acts of Saints Henry and Cunegonde were printed together, then from these Acts the Lessons to be recited on their feasts, after which the rest of the Office with the proper Mass is assigned; and finally epitaphs and epigrams about these Saints are added, for whose invocation various prayers are subjoined. We have a booklet of this kind printed at Brussels in the year 1484, from which, translated here, the words of the prologue will indicate what the mind of that author was; it begins thus:

Since we are commanded to praise God in His Saints, with this prologue: who can never be praised enough by us -- for "great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised, and of His greatness there is no end" -- and to elucidate the merits and virtues of the Saints tends to the praise, honor, and glory of the Holy of Holies Himself: hence the most Christian Emperor Saint Henry, that glorious ornament of Confessors, and his wife the most noble Virgin Saint Cunegonde, although they seem to be sufficiently extolled with worthy panegyrics of praise in a certain ancient Legend once published about their lives and deeds, yet since I have observed that very many in modern times are greatly affected with most burning love and sighing desires of the heart regarding the veneration of the said Saints, assenting to the sedulous entreaties of certain persons who urged me, I thought it useful not indeed to change entirely the aforesaid Legend, compiled of old in a truthful style, but in many of its places to add something to it from various things, namely only from what I was able to find here and there in various Chronicles suitable for this work, and for the dignity of so great a subject matter, to augment it somewhat, in uncultivated speech perhaps, but in truthful content. But since I have proposed not to forge new things but to confirm ancient ones and add new things to them, it was fitting here to prefix this brief new prologue.

Thus it reads there. These insertions chiefly pertain to the Life of Saint Henry, whose first chapter sets forth his genealogy, traced from Otto, Duke of Saxony, father of Henry the Fowler, King of Germany, and this man's sons are established as Otto I the Emperor and Henry, from whom were descended Otto II the Emperor and Henry, Duke of Bavaria, who were cousins; the sons of these were Otto III the Emperor and Saint Henry, who from Duke of Bavaria became Emperor after the death of the latter. It suffices to have indicated these things here, to be examined more precisely on 14 July. But the Life of Saint Cunegonde is the same as that which we said was published in the above-cited Legend, reprinted in its entirety with very few words changed here and there. What is then appended we wished to add below separately as an Appendix.

[10] another found in manuscripts. Rebdorf, in the diocese of Eichstatt, not far from the city itself, is a monastery of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, founded in the year 1166, in which there is a library filled with ancient records. From it we have a copy of the Life of Saint Cunegonde, which Jacob Gretser published from that library in his Divi Bambergenses, published by Gretser: printed by the Sartorius press at Ingolstadt in the year 1611. The same, with the former rejected, was inserted in the third edition of Surius. Our Johannes Gamansius also found it in the monastery of Budecum of the Canons Regular in Westphalia, in a manuscript Passional for the month of March, and from it transmitted various readings. In this collection, the letter of Saint Cunegonde to the nuns of Kaufungen and the prologue to the miracles wrought after her death are lacking. But on the other hand, miracles omitted in the previously cited editions are described, which are narrated from number 18 to the end. Who wrote this Life, whether one and the same person, or whether someone rather arranged the earlier Life with the addition of the last miracles and the omission of certain things as we have said, in his own manner, is not clear to us. by whom and when collected: Martin Hoffmann composed the Annals of Bamberg, which Gretser had in an as-yet unpublished form, and who says that in them this work is attributed to Nonnosius the monk. Mention is made below at number 26 of Pope Innocent III, whence it is clear that this author flourished after the year 1200.

[11] Another old manuscript codex on the Life of Saint Cunegonde exists at Bamberg, from which Frederick Forner, Vicar of Bamberg, a man distinguished for having published very many books, sent a copy to the said Gretser. Gretser acknowledges that the copy of the Rebdorf codex was augmented from this Bamberg transcript by him and supplemented in more than one place; miracles added: and in his Notes he published from it various miracles, which we also subjoin to the second Life, collated with the manuscript of the Reverend D. Johannes Baunach, Dean of Saint Stephen's at Bamberg, from which several lacunae are filled. The process for the Canonization of the most holy Cunegonde began to be pursued principally with Pope Celestine III. But since he died on the night preceding the 6th day before the Ides of January in the year 1198, his successor Innocent III inscribed her in the Catalogue of Saints on the third day before the Kalends of April, in the third year of his pontificate, Bull of Canonization. the year of Christ 1200, and Gretser published the Bull of this Canonization, dated the third day before the Nones of April, found in the manuscript Annals of Bamberg, in his Paralipomena to the Life of Saint Henry and Saint Cunegonde, and we give the same from him, collated with the Bamberg manuscript of the Friars Minor.

[12] The aforementioned Johannes Gamansius submitted another treatise, transcribed from a double Bamberg codex, namely that of the Cathedral library and of D. Johannes Baunach. A manuscript sermon about her is omitted: It contains a sermon on Saint Cunegonde composed by a certain Magnus or Master Conrad; which we omit, because it contributes very little to the historical matter. It suffices here to have indicated its opening, which is as follows: "From the throne proceeded lightnings and voices and thunders." Apoc. 2:5 As it is written: "The mouth of the wise man is in his heart, but the heart of the fool is in his mouth." Ecclus. 21:29 Whence: "The fool multiplies words," Eccles. 10:14 and "a parable is unseemly in the mouth of a fool. But the wise man at the beginning of his discourse is the accuser of himself," etc. Prov. 18:17

[13] Among more recent writers, several have written the Life of Saint Cunegonde, from whom I insert here this brief eulogy from the Bavaria Sancta of our Rader: "Cunegonde of the Moselle, daughter of Siegfried, the ruler of Metz, wife of the holy Henry, Eulogy from the Bavaria Sancta, vindicated the flower of virginity, which she had vowed to God, when it was brought under suspicion by her husband through the envy and arts of the most impure enemy, the evil spirit, by the very grave trial and judgment of glowing-hot plowshares. For the flame feared to injure her who had preserved her marriage bed and her modesty unharmed for God and her husband. Nor content with this most beautiful virtue, by which she equaled or surpassed the Empress Pulcheria, wife of Marcian, after the death of the Emperor Henry, having taken the sacred veil in place of the crown, she renounced by solemn ceremony all human affairs and emancipated herself entirely to Christ the heavenly Emperor in the Benedictine family, in a convent of Virgins once built by herself at Bamberg. Enrolled in heaven, she left to the earth such an example as all posterity still admires, but no one at so great an eminence imitates." In the notes subjoined, he cites Arnold Wion, whom he followed in his error, establishing that she became a nun at Bamberg, whereas we have said above that this happened at Kaufungen near Kassel in Hesse, in the diocese of Paderborn. We shall treat of Siegfried presently. Saint Pulcheria Augusta is venerated on 10 September. We published on 10 February, among the praises of Saint Scholastica the Virgin, the encomium of Hieronymus Dungersheim, another published in the Life of Saint Scholastica. in whose fifth chapter illustrious imitators of Saint Scholastica are set forth, and in the first place Saint Cunegonde the Augusta is presented, and a fairly extended summary of her life is inserted.

[14] We have another treatise, transcribed from a manuscript codex of the Bamberg library of the Carmelite Fathers, which we examined there. A manuscript account of the innocence of Saint Cunegonde is omitted, It contains an account of the innocence of Saint Cunegonde, proved by fire. The author is anonymous, and seems for his own devotion to have wished to adorn that innocence of hers with fitting praises, with the material taken from the Acts of Saints Henry and Cunegonde as described by older writers; which, however, he did not read accurately and frequently departs from the truth. We therefore omit that account here and give in its place what Mutius narrates in Book 4 of the Chronicle of Germany in these words: "Henry had not touched his wife; she in turn, desiring to preserve her chastity, had agreed with her spouse; and so both were leading a celibate life. Satan, who has never rested, nor rests, nor will rest before the consummation, rendered Queen Cunegonde suspect to the Emperor of the crime of adultery. This related from the Chronicles: etc. Henry accuses her: why does she feign chastity before men? A graver judgment awaits her; the Lord, who made hearts and eyes, sees all things, even if she deceives men. The most chaste Virgin, with a modest and humble countenance, firmly denies it and says that she rejoices that she has the Lord as witness, with whose testimony she is content, etc. But in order that this scruple, which Satan had cast into Henry, might be removed, it was agreed between them that the Queen should walk upon glowing-hot iron. After she invoked the name of the Lord, that for the sake of His glory He would prove the innocence of His handmaid, with a glad but most modest brow, with bare feet, she trod upon the iron just now drawn from the fire and still red, as many times as those who were present as witnesses of the miracle wished, which God wrought with His Virgin handmaid. Those who write that this was devised by Henry at the impulse of Satan, in order to compel his wife, whom he had never known and with whom he had resolved never to have relations, it does not follow what they infer (I might almost call them calumniators), that there is sufficient indication that Henry was a tyrant rather than a holy King. Why do they not consider by what and how many temptations the Saints of God have been tempted by Satan, and not rarely induced somewhat?"

Whence this suspicion about his most chaste wife arose in Saint Henry, the author of the Chronological Compilation relates: "At the instigation of the devil, who was envious of her virginity, she was vehemently defamed with the crime of adultery. For the cunning devil, transforming himself into the form of a handsome soldier, for three consecutive days in the morning was seen by many coming out of the bedchamber of Saint Cunegonde." Martin Hoffmann in the Annals of Bamberg: "To establish faith in this miracle, a chapel was built in that place, and

the relics of the two plowshares, Relics of the plowshares. enclosed in the sarcophagus of Lord Henry by the Bishop and Clergy of Bamberg, have been preserved hitherto in the Cathedral Church with the reverence that was due.

Section III. The lineage of Siegfried, father of Saint Cunegonde; her brothers, blood relations, and connections by marriage.

[15] That the most holy spouses Henry and Cunegonde were born from the most noble blood of their exalted parents, the Acts below disclose. The father of Saint Cunegonde was Siegfried, Concerning Saint Henry and his Saxon ancestors, the matter is less controverted among authors, and we have touched briefly upon his forebears above. The greater difficulty lies in the family of Saint Cunegonde, which we explain here briefly. Her father was Count Siegfried, who in the year 963, having made an exchange with Wikker, Abbot of Saint Maximin near Trier, I, made Count of Luxembourg in the year 963, acquired for himself and his heirs the castle of Lutzilnburg, from that place thenceforth called the first Count of Lutzilnburg, or Luxembourg. This charter of exchange was published by Miraeus in his Notice of the Churches of Belgium, chapter 61, and by Andre du Chesne in his Genealogical History of the Families of Dreux, Bar, Luxembourg, Limburg, and Plessis, page 4 in the Proofs, where he subsequently traces the descendants of Siegfried. Siegfried had as brothers Gislebert and Godfrey, Counts in the Ardennes, brother of the Counts in the Ardennes, whose names are recorded in the said charter. From Count Godfrey descended Adalbero, created Archbishop of Reims in the year 968, and Counts Henry and Godfrey, who, noble in blood and powerful in birth, are said to be from the land of the Lotharingians, and Godfrey had assembled the Hainaulters and Ardennese for the siege of the castle of Warcq. from whom the Dukes of Lower Lorraine; Thus the ancient sources in Chesne, page 6. From the said Count Godfrey in a direct line descend the Dukes of Lower Lorraine and the Margraves of Antwerp: Gothelo the Great, Godfrey the Great, Godfrey the Hunchback, who having died without children, was succeeded by Godfrey of Bouillon, born of his sister Ida, who after the conquest of Jerusalem was made King there.

[16] But to return to Siegfried, who having married Hadeswicha as his wife, begot several children, mother Hadeswicha; among whom were daughters: this Empress Saint Cunegonde, and another married to Gerard of the Counts of Alsace. From Gerard's brother, Count Adalbert of Alsace, in a direct male line descended Theodoric and Philip of Alsace, Counts of Flanders, a sister most nobly married, and likewise all those who at this time are Dukes of Lorraine, divided into various branches. From Landelin, Count of Altenburg and Windisch, a cousin of the same Gerard, the Habsburgs and Austrians descend, down to the present Emperors and Kings of Spain and other Archdukes of Austria, concerning whom the Reader may consult the Origins of the Families of Alsace, Lorraine, and Austria published by Jerome Vignier. Finally, a daughter of the said Gerard was Jutta, the first Abbess of the monastery of Kaufungen, who had among her nuns her own great-aunt Saint Cunegonde, as is read below in her Life at number 12.

[17] The brothers of the same Saint Cunegonde, and sons of Siegfried and Hardeswicha, are established as six. brothers: Henry, Duke of Bavaria, Henry of Luxembourg, created Duke of Bavaria by Saint Henry in the year 1003, who having died in good old age in the year 1025, Emperor Conrad conferred the Duchy upon his son Henry; as is narrated in the Life of Saint Meinwerk, Bishop of Paderborn, by a contemporary author, chapters 14 and 97, in our Brower, and in both places Henry is called the brother of the Lady and Empress Cunegonde. Frederick, Count of Luxembourg, The second son of Siegfried is Frederick, Count of Luxembourg, from whom were successively born Gislebert, Conrad I, William, and Conrad II, Counts of Luxembourg. Conrad was succeeded by Henry, Count of Namur, son of Ermenson, sister of the said William; these are treated by the aforementioned Chesne and Miraeus. The third son of Siegfried is Deoderic, or Theodoric, Bishop of Metz, whom Sigebert in his Chronicle for the years 1004 and 1009 calls the brother of the Empress Cunegonde, Theodoric, Bishop of Metz, and Dithmar more than once writes that he was the brother of Henry, then Duke of Bavaria, of whom we have already spoken. The fourth of the sons of Siegfried is Adalbero, or Athelbero, Adalbero, called by the same Dithmar the brother of the Queen, Chaplain of Luidulf, Archbishop of Trier, whom Saint Henry rejected when he sought that bishopric, and spurned his beloved wife and the rest of his own familiars who were soliciting for the same bishopric. Gislebert, The fifth is Gislebert, called by the same Dithmar an excellent young man and brother of the Queen, who was wounded and killed by the Lombards in the Pavian sedition. Finally, a son Siegfried is mentioned, to whom Archbishop Gerbert wrote Letter 51, Siegfried. whom Chesne thinks died in his youth before his father, as did many others, because Siegfried the father and Hadeswicha the mother, in the charter of donation made in the year 993 to the monastery of Saint Maximin, assert that they give those things for the remedy of their own souls and those of their children, namely both the surviving and the deceased.

These things about the kinship and connections of Saint Cunegonde are fairly certain and explain the most noble blood of her exalted parents indicated in the Acts.

[18] Crantzius, Book 4 of his Saxonia, chapter 30, Cuspinian in his History of the Emperors, Hermann Greven, and the author of the Cologne Martyrology cited above, and the author of the Account of the Innocence of Saint Cunegonde, call her father Siegfried, Count Palatine of the Rhine; [Why is the father Siegfried called by more recent writers the Palatine of the Rhine?] nor does Andre du Chesne greatly disagree, because the Ardennes region extended to the Rhine; he prefers, however, to call him Palatine of the Moselle, and considers it most certain if he is called Count of Luxembourg. But in our judgment, these writers, who were more than three hundred years removed from those times, seem not to have sufficiently distinguished a younger Siegfried from the earlier one. Laach, or of the Lake, not far from Andernach near the Rhine, is a wealthy monastery, founded by Henry, Count Palatine of the Rhine, with the consent of his wife Adelheid; perhaps on account of the younger Siegfried? Marquard Freher treats of it in Part 2 of his Palatine Origins, chapter 9, and presents the tenor of the foundation, which he transcribed at the monastery itself. Those things were enacted in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1093, and among the witnesses of the constitution are named Hilbert, Archbishop of Trier, Siegfried the stepson, and others. But when Henry died while the work was in progress, the stepson Siegfried, likewise Palatine of the Rhine, completed it, whose truncated document is presented there. The Emperor Henry IV also adorned this foundation with his own privileges, in which among other things these words are contained: "After the death of the aforesaid Count Henry, Siegfried, who succeeded him in the County Palatine, gave from his patrimony Mylen in Brabant, Ouerhouen, and Geneheiden to the monastery of Laach." But Freher warns or also an older one? that a distinction should be made between this Siegfried, whose wife was Gertrude, and another more ancient Siegfried the Palatine, who is said to have inhabited a castle, now ruined, not far from the monastery of Laach, which they call Hohen-Simmern, and to have died in the year 754, and to have had as his wife the Duchess of Brabant, named Genevieve, whom on the advice and calumny of a certain knight he wished to hand over to the fire; but that she, exposed with her little boy in a vast forest and found safe and unharmed after several months without any human aid, and preserved by God as a sign of her innocence, gave occasion for the building of a church in honor of the Virgin Mother of God, in which Freher found that document. This Genevieve will have to be treated on 2 April, on which day she is found inscribed in certain calendars as a Saint.

[19] These things about those Palatine Siegfrieds, on whose account the father of Saint Cunegonde could have been called Palatine of the Rhine; whom Elias Reusner in his Supplement to the Genealogical Basilikon, page 177, Other things written about Siegfried by more recent authors, and less approved. makes the first Elector of the holy Roman Empire among the seven, in these words: "Siegfried, originating from Lotharingian Moselle, son of Conrad the Wise, Duke of France and Lorraine, who had as his wife Liudgard, daughter of Emperor Otto I, and grandson through his son Otto, is said to have first held the Electoral Palatinate. Their children are given as the Lady Cunegonde, wife of Emperor Henry II, who died on 3 March of the year 1039; Henry, endowed by his brother-in-law the Emperor Augustus with the Duchy of Bavaria, successor to his father in the electoral honor; and Richsa, wife of Mieszko II, King of Poland." And then through the granddaughter of the said Henry, Irmgard, and her daughter Elisabeth, the present family of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine and Dukes of Bavaria is traced. And these things are asserted as beyond doubt without any proof. Emperor Otto I, father of the said Liudgard, at the urging of this Count Siegfried restored the monks in the monastery of Echternach, as will appear below, and in his diploma calls him "the venerable Count Siegfried, our faithful man," not grandson, or son of his daughter, not blood relative, kinsman, or by a similar name of dignity, which he would undoubtedly have done. Of similar quality are the things assumed by Bertelius, to be cited presently, when he traces Siegfried's lineage from Reginar I, Count of Hainault, through his son Gislebert, Duke of all Lorraine, and the latter's son Ricuin. Nor should Paul Langius and Glaber, the Cluniac monk, be accepted without proof, of whom the former makes Henry, the brother of Saint Cunegonde, a great-great-grandson of Charlemagne, from whom he was distant by more than two hundred years; the latter pronounces Siegfried Duke of the Saxons. But we do not wish to dwell on these, because no arguments are adduced to prove the assertion. Something will be said about the Electoral dignity, long afterward instituted, on 16 March in the Life of Saint Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne.

[20] Johannes Bertelius, in his History of Luxembourg, page 24, thus extols the piety of the parents of Saint Cunegonde: He was devoted to virtue and the Catholic religion: "This Siegfried, the first of the Counts of Luxembourg, was a man most outstanding in prudence and virtue, likewise most skilled in the waging of war, and at the same time devoted with a singular spirit to the cult of the Catholic religion. In evidence of which, as soon as he received the castle of Luxembourg into his power, he raised from the foundations a certain chapel under the patronage of the inviolate Mother of God Mary (which now bears the title of Saint Michael the Archangel) next to the same castle... In the time following, Count Siegfried, being entirely devoted to protecting, indeed even to augmenting, ecclesiastical affairs, was requested as Advocate of the neighboring Imperial monastery of Echternach, and he executed that office with great praise and the applause of all, for the benefit of the Church itself. administrator of the Abbey of Echternach, And since he was a most zealous defender of true and ancestral religion, observing that at Echternach there were not professors of the monastic life but secular Canons, and these of very dissolute, indeed even scandalous morals, under an equally vicious Abbot, he strove above all to bring a remedy to so great an evil." But on the other hand, Caspar Brusch in his Chronology of the Monasteries of Germany records that the Counts and Dukes themselves as Advocates presided in place of Abbots, and of these last Siegfried the Count succeeded in the administration of this Abbey. "At this man's urging," he says, he arranges for it to be restored to Benedictine monks: "the Emperor Otto, in the thirty-fourth year of his reign and the twelfth of his Empire, that is, in the year of the Lord 972, expelled the Canons from this place, gathered together a congregation of monks, and appointed as their Abbot a certain Raginer." Miraeus published the complete diploma in his Notice of the Churches of Belgium, chapter 65. The act took place at Magdeburg in Saxony, in the presence of all the Princes of the kingdom, when they had been

Canons had been in this place for 125 years. Thus Brusch. These things are related more fully by Bertelius, who adds a portion of an ancient charter found in the archive of the monastery of Echternach, which reads thus: "I, Siegfried, unworthy though I am, yet elevated with the honor of Count, considering that from a royal gift I received the Abbey of Saint Willibrord as a benefice and have directed it with authority for many years..." These things were enacted in the year 997. The rest is missing, he founded a confraternity of lepers: in which perhaps are contained illustrious donations made to this monastery toward the end of his life. Bertelius suggests that it redounds to the commendation of Count Siegfried that he himself instituted the confraternity of lepers, which endures to this day in the town of Echternach, and generously endowed it from his own goods.

[21] Above all other sacred places, he seems to have loved the monastery of Saint Maximin, where he chose burial for both himself and his wife; He conferred donations on the monastery of Saint Maximin, and many years earlier he offered it an illustrious donation of various properties, which after his death would pass into the use of the monks. The diploma of this donation, very ample and a testimony of most pious hearts, was published by Miraeus, Book 1 of the Belgian Diplomas, chapter 25, and by Chesne cited above in the Proofs to the Luxembourg Family, page 7. It was enacted in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 993, Indiction 6. Other things which he wished to be donated after his death to the Church of Saint Peter at Trier and to the Church of Saint Peter at Trier. are found in the same Chesne, page 5.

Section IV. Chronology of the life of Saint Cunegonde. Various benefactions.

[22] Born, raised, and instructed in the holiest of morals by these most pious parents, Saint Cunegonde was also perhaps joined in marriage with Saint Henry, Saint Cunegonde married to Saint Henry, then Duke of Bavaria. For in what years they died, or when this wife was given to him, is not clear. Upon the death of Emperor Otto III on 23 January of the year 1002, Saint Henry was elected King at Mainz on the 8th day before the Ides of June, acclaimed, blessed, and crowned. then crowned King on 6 June in the year 1002, "Having celebrated the days of his ordination and received all who came into his service, the King again crossed the Rhine with a very great multitude, through eastern France into Alemannia, that Hermann might bow his head, as the rest had done, to the royal Majesty... From Alemannia he withdrew into France, a land uniquely dear to him, and having tarried not many days in France, he went into Thuringia; thence proceeding, he came into Saxony... These things strenuously accomplished, as the King hastened from Saxony into the realm of Lotharingia, at Grona his wife met him, the Lady Cunegonde by name, already existing but soon in fact to be Queen. She is crowned Queen at Paderborn on 10 August: For thence coming to Paderborn on the feast of Saint Lawrence, she was acclaimed, blessed, and crowned, and Cunegonde became 'Kuninga,' which in Latin can be interpreted as 'Royal,' or 'Queen.'" Thus Adelbold in his Life of Saint Henry. Add that "Kunigunda" signifies "royal favor," for "Kuning" or "Kunic," derived from "kunnen" (to be able), is the word for King, and "gund" or "gunst" means favor. Concerning her coronation, the following is read in the Life of Saint Meinwerk, Bishop of Paderborn, in Brower, chapter 12: "In the same year, while the new King celebrated the Nativity of Lawrence in the city of Paderborn, the Lady Cunegonde, his wife, as was thought, but in truth his sister through emulation of chastity, there received from the aforesaid Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz, the dominion of the royal consecration, which came to the same Church by the mercy of God as an increase of honor and advancement of great adornment."

[23] But when Bishop Rethar of Paderborn died on the day before the Nones of March in the year 1009, Meinwerk was ordained as his successor Bishop at Goslar in the presence of Saint Henry, who nominated and procured the appointment. [At the Queen's urging, various possessions are conferred on the Church of Paderborn in the year 1009.] "Continuously pressing upon the King to come to the aid of the Church committed to him, which had lamentably suffered a fire, according to the promise by which he had committed it to him, the King mercifully assented, and pitying the poverty of the aforesaid Church, he conferred upon it many goods, both in estates and in other resources, with a generous hand and full charity, for the love of God and the constant and most devoted service of the Bishop dear to him. Moreover, staying frequently in the city of Paderborn, he proved himself a helper and cooperator in its works and endeavors, with the venerable Queen Cunegonde favoring and urging in all things, who always had no less willingness than ability in enlarging and improving the Churches of God." These things are found in the same Life at number 17, as are the following at number 24. "In the year 1014, the King, about to set out on an expedition to Italy to receive the consecration of Emperor from the Apostolic Lord, commanded the Princes to assemble at the castle called Gronden. But Bishop Meinwerk, about to go on the expedition with the King, and in 1014: complained of the poverty of his Church and urgently sought an expense for the journey suitable to his labor, and through the intercession of Queen Cunegonde ... he obtained Berneshusen, situated in the district of Lisga, in the County of Count Udo... On the same day, place, and year, through the intercession of the oft-mentioned and with all merit to be mentioned Queen Cunegonde ... he obtained a certain royal estate called Maranga, as also to the Church of Merseburg, situated in the district of Marangano, in the County of Count Bernard." Dithmar, who had then been appointed Bishop of Merseburg through the procurement of Saint Henry, about to describe the Roman journey of the King and Queen, writes thus at the end of Book 6 about the gifts offered to his Church (and we do not doubt that this was through the intercession of Saint Cunegonde): "For King Henry augmented our Church with many benefits, above all with divine ornaments, and from all the estates which he had in Thuringia and Saxony he handed over to us two families. He gave a Gospel adorned with gold and an ivory panel, and a golden and gemmed chalice with a paten and a straw; likewise two crosses and covers made of silver, and a great chalice of the same metal with a paten and straw together. Whatever had been neglected in the estates by my predecessors, he renewed by his command." Similar benefactions were bestowed upon many other churches.

[24] The same Dithmar at the beginning of Book 7 thus describes the coronation of both at Rome by Pope Boniface VIII: Saint Henry is crowned Emperor and Saint Cunegonde Empress at Rome: "On Sunday, the 6th day before the Kalends of March, of the year 1014, Henry, by the grace of God the renowned King, flanked by twelve Senators, of whom six walked mystically with shaven beards and the others with long beards, bearing staffs, came with his beloved wife Cunegonde to the Church of Saint Peter, where the Pope was waiting; and before he was introduced, having been asked by the same whether he wished to be a faithful Patron and Defender of the Roman Church and faithful in all things to him and his successors, he replied with a devout profession; and then he received from the same the anointing and the crown together with his consort. But the former crown he ordered to be hung above the altar of the Prince of the Apostles. On the same day the Pope gave them a lavish banquet at the Lateran." Thus it reads there. What was done on this journey in various sacred places, such as at Monte Cassino, Cluny, and elsewhere, because they pertain to the Life of Saint Henry and no particular details about Saint Cunegonde are mentioned, we omit here. In the following years, when the Emperor sought the Oder, "after our men," says Dithmar, "crossed the Elbe, they dwell in Saxony: the Empress and I, proceeding with her to Merseburg, awaited the Emperor's arrival in these parts... And after many events intervened, the Emperor and his consort were honored with great gifts by Gero, Archbishop of Magdeburg; and departing thence the next day, on the third day, that is, Sunday, they arrived at Halberstadt, where Bishop Arnulf magnificently received them and kept them with him for two nights. On the third night, having proceeded to Quedlinburg, they were adorned with no less glory by the venerable Abbess Adelheid. On the fourth day, a monastery on the western hill, where nuns serve the heavenly Spouse in monastic habit, was dedicated by Bishop Arnulf in the presence of the Emperor The Queen falls ill at Kaufungen in Hesse: on the 3rd day before the Kalends of March... Queen Cunegonde, departing from the Emperor at Frankfurt, when she came to the place called Capungun, fell ill, and there she then promised the Lord that she would build one monastery to His praise." That was the occasion of the founding of the monastery of Kaufungen in Hesse near Kassel, as said above.

[25] These things occurred before the year 1018. About the episcopal Church and the dignity procured for the city of Bamberg, and the two monasteries built there, the Life below treats. It is pleasing to add what we ourselves saw at Bamberg, on the mount of Saint Michael in the abbatial church: namely, the dowry, her golden Cross, or Morgengabe, given by Saint Henry to Cunegonde -- a golden Cross of the most ancient Greek workmanship, as could be recognized from the inscriptions and images; likewise the girdle of Saint Cunegonde and two crowns of gems belonging to her. girdle, two crowns, We also ascended to the palace of Saint Cunegonde, worth seeing more for its pleasant situation than for its structure, and now entirely in ruins. In the upper part of this wooden building, her chamber still survived, together with the place of the heated room; chamber, both such as would befit the most modest virgin of the common people. From here there was a view into a small chapel in which she had been accustomed to attend the sacred rites privately; chapel, where her wooden seat of wondrous simplicity was also displayed. seat, We also entered the church of Saint Stephen, which is of the Canons Regular, built and endowed by the same Empress, which was then being raised from the foundations in the most elegant workmanship. From the old structure only the wings or arms of the Cross survived, where in the right wing at the lateral entrance Saint Cunegonde was depicted with that platter painted effigy, which Andreas Brunner in Book 9 of the Annals of Bavaria thus describes: "Preserved also," he says, "until the German Peasants' War was a crystalline platter among the treasures of the Monks' Mount, crystalline platter, which the same holy woman had left unguarded in public, heavy with silver, whence it was reputed that she had faithfully paid the workers their wages from it, with avarice chastened by present examples if even one farthing's surplus had adhered to a wicked fingernail. Among the ornaments and protections with which Henry consulted for the eternity of his work, he is also said to have added by singular indulgence that the great Officers of the supreme Empire should extend to the Bishop of Bamberg through Vicars the same honorary services which they render in adoring the Emperors, and that this should be a sort of likeness of Imperial prerogative -- a privilege undoubtedly without precedent, which posterity in admiration called the Silk Thread of Lady Cunegonde; and the silk thread: but destined to be for the city as a wall of bronze and a pledge of perpetual serenity." Thus Brunner.

[26] From the Life of Saint Meinwerk, these things are to be referred to Saint Cunegonde: "On the day of the Kalends of March, in the year 1021, through the intercession of Pope Benedict, Benefactions rendered to Saint Meinwerk, of the Empress Augusta Cunegonde ... he obtained the County in Limmedeshusen." These things are treated at length in chapter 71; and in chapters 77 and following, the following is related: "Bishop Meinwerk, hastening to complete the monastery he had begun, invited the Emperor to Paderborn for the Nativity of the Lord, with the sanctuary vaulted ... and urgently demanded from the Emperor the royal estate of Ervete ... Who, having resisted long and much, at length, by the perseverance of the Bishop, of the Empress, and of the chief men,

compelled by their insistence, he produced the privilege, and approaching the altar, he legally offered to the Blessed Mother of God and perpetual Virgin Mary, and to Saints Kilian and Liborius, and to Bishop Meinwerk standing by and his successors, the estate of Ervete, situated in the district of Westphalia." And in chapter 116, this epiphonema is given about Saint Meinwerk: "Thus the man of God, animated by the hope of heavenly goods, and in all things aided and supported by the counsel and assistance of the most Christian King Henry, second of that name, first Emperor, and of the venerable Empress Cunegonde, began this monastery, where he resolved to await the last trumpet, out of love for the monastic life, with the greatest devotion," etc. The Emperor himself also bestowed very many benefactions upon various churches for the sake of his own salvation and that of Saint Cunegonde. Thus, founding the College of Canons of Saint Adalbert at Aachen in the year 1018, and to the College at Aachen: he asserts: "Since we know beyond doubt that it pleases God to institute and exalt the places of the Saints, for the remedy of our soul and of our beloved wife, the Empress Augusta Cunegonde, and also of our parents, and also for establishing under divine protection the state of our kingdom, we endow with all liberty the Church in honor of Saint Adalbert, Martyr and Bishop, founded by us on the mountain adjoining our seat at Aachen," etc.

[27] At last, engaged in similar holy works, Saint Henry was called by the Lord from the prison of the flesh to receive the unfading crown. When he perceived that the day of death was imminent, [She remained an untouched Virgin, by the testimony of Saint Henry himself on his deathbed:] having summoned to himself the parents and relatives of the most blessed Empress Cunegonde and also certain chief men of the realm, he took her by the hand and commended her to them with these words worthy of remembrance: "Behold," he said, "her who was consigned to me by you, indeed through Christ; I reconsign her to Christ our Lord Himself and to you, a chaste Virgin." Thus the various Acts of Saint Henry, both handwritten and hitherto published in print, made a widow in the year 1024, to be elucidated on 14 July, the day on which he carried the flower of his virginity to heaven in the year 1024, and was buried in the Church of Bamberg, which together with the bishopric he had built there. Pope Eugene III placed him in the catalogue of Saints in the year 1152, and in his rescript concerning his Canonization these words are found: "Placed even in the legitimate marriage bed (which is recorded of very few), he preserved the integrity of chastity to the end of his life." The rest is explained below in the Acts of Saint Cunegonde. She, being very solicitous for the eternal salvation of her husband Saint Henry, continued to commend his soul to the prayers of others, becomes a nun in 1025, and at length, after a full year spent in mourning and widowhood, on the very anniversary of the passing of Saint Henry, having laid aside the royal purple, she assumed the monastic habit in the monastery of Kaufungen and survived for fifteen years in her holy resolution, as is found below at number 14, and all the Acts, both handwritten and published in print, agree on these fifteen years. Therefore she necessarily lived until at least the year 1040. Since it is asserted that she departed this life on the 5th day before the Nones of March, dies in the year 1040, or the following one. if this occurred in the said year 1040, four months and eleven days were lacking for the completion of that year. If she is established to have died in the following year, 1041, she would have survived beyond the fifteen years already indicated by seven months and twenty days. We leave the judgment to the reader.

[28] Canisius in the German Martyrology assigns only twelve years spent in the monastery and asserts the year of death as 1037. In the same year also, Trithemius in his Chronicle of Hirsau records chronological errors of authors: that Saint Cunegonde died, formerly Empress, who, when the Emperor Saint Henry died, had despised the world for the love of Almighty God, and receiving the habit of holy conversation in the monastery of Kaufungen, had remained with the holy Virgins of Christ as a nun, herself also a Virgin, until death. Thus he records, without assigning any years of monastic life. For the following year 1038, Marianus Scotus writes thus: "The Empress Cunegonde died on the 5th day before the Nones of March and is buried at Speyer" -- where there is a second error, since she was buried at Bamberg. Lambert of Schafnburg deviates even more, referring the death to the year 1033. Peter Cratepolius, in his booklet on the Saints of Germany, did not wish to omit Saint Cunegonde, in whose eulogy he writes that the Emperor Lord Henry died in the year of the Lord 1022, and that Saint Cunegonde thereafter, having left the world, served the Lord God for twelve years in all piety and humility in a monastery of the Order of Saint Benedict which she herself built at Bamberg -- where many errors are heaped together. Jerome the Camaldolese monk, in the Life of Saint Romuald which we published on 7 February, reports in chapter 8 that he was summoned to Saints Henry and Cunegonde when they were setting out for Rome, and concludes that narration with this epiphonema: Did she live forty years from the beginning of the marriage? "This Emperor Henry and his wife Cunegonde both remained Virgins and, leading a celibate life on earth for forty years, rested in peace" -- namely, from the marriage entered into until the death of Saint Cunegonde, who was the last to rest in peace.

LIFE

From various manuscripts and ancient editions.

Cunegonde, Empress, Virgin, Wife, Widow, and Benedictine Nun (Saint)

BHL Number: 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008

CHAPTER I

Acts of Saint Cunegonde in her married life. Virginity preserved. Monasteries built.

[1] From the illustrious blood of their parents and from the rank of imperial nobility, two flowers of unfading glory shone forth to the world: namely, the holy Henry, Saint Cunegonde married to the Emperor Saint Henry. surnamed the Pious, the most glorious ornament of the Roman Empire, and his most worthy consort of pious memory, Cunegonde, Augusta and Empress. This same blessed and God-beloved Cunegonde, united to the earthly Emperor bodily, not carnally, consecrated her virginity to the heavenly King, which she preserved to the end, with the consent of her chaste husband, God being witness. This was afterward made manifest by divine testimony, lest the light should lie hidden in darkness, when He permitted her to walk upon glowing-hot plowshares and to pass through unharmed, she lives in virginity: to confound the enemy of virginity and to stop the mouth of those speaking lies against the Virgin of Christ.

[2] But how this happened must not be passed over, for the common edification, that we may be instructed by examples of chastity and moved by the admiration of divine secrets, understanding how for those who love God all things work together for good. For temptation could not be absent from such and so great goods. She washes away the infamy cast upon her at the devil's instigation, For the devil, envious of all good things, when he could not wound the undefiled marriage bed, thought to defile it with the malice of jealousy and at least to injure the reputation of her upon whom he could not inflict the wound of corruption. Therefore, at the devil's instigation, she was made suspect of a crime, she who had known no stain of corruption. But because it is cruel to be negligent of one's reputation, for the sake of purgation she chose for herself that judgment of the glowing plowshares which is known to have been instituted because of the hardness of men. And when the beloved of God was being led to that judgment she treads upon the glowing plowshares unharmed: as a sheep to the slaughter, she groaned and said: "Lord, God, Creator of heaven and earth, who tests the reins and hearts, judge my cause and deliver me. For I invoke You today as witness and judge, that I have never known either this Henry who is present, or any man, by carnal union." Having said this, while all who were present were amazed and weeping, she trod upon the glowing plowshares with bare feet and passed through securely without the affliction of burning. Thus Almighty God preserved the bond of chaste love, approved her innocence, and provided the guard of humility for her integrity.

[3] Placed therefore in the highest dignity, she strove to conceal the glory of her continence beneath the cloak of the earthly empire, so that she might the more earnestly, the more effectively she could, advance what, with God inspiring and aiding, she intended to accomplish for His praise. At length, after the new Church of Bamberg -- a most fruitful planting of hers -- she cooperates with her husband in building the Church of Bamberg, which she fashioned most beautifully with that most zealous cooperator of hers, Henry, in the place of Bamberg, as can be seen to this day, under the patronage of Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and of Saint George the Martyr, she built a monastery under the Rule of Saint Benedict to the north, in honor of Saint Michael the Archangel, adorned with no less zeal with the gifts of estates and various ornaments. and two monasteries: Finally she founded a third toward the south, under the Order of Canons, under the title of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, of small design indeed but of greater workmanship, from her own patrimony. To dedicate this church she asked Pope Benedict, whom the aforesaid God-worthy Emperor Henry had invited to confirm the Bamberg pontificate, to come. And she herself, singing with the Psalmist: "Lord, I have loved the beauty of Your house" Ps. 23:8, bestowed diverse gifts upon the same Church according to imperial munificence in various church ornaments. All of which the Apostolic Lord himself, so that the memory of the foundress might always flourish there, and lest they ever be removed by fraud, violence, or theft, confirmed on that very day with the severe binding of his ban and with the authority of seventy-two Bishops who were present there.

[4] Likewise, she magnificently built a monastery in honor of the Savior and His most victorious Cross in the place called Kaufungen, She builds the monastery of Kaufungen, and most becomingly established there a congregation of handmaids of God serving God according to the Rule of Saint Benedict. Furthermore, with the imperial majesty cooperating with her in all things, she adorned the same monastery with every ornament. Before the principal altar she set up an icon of gold and most precious stone; and adorns it with various gifts: golden and silver chalices, platters, pitchers, palls, chasubles, veils, curtains, copes interwoven with gold and precious gems, and other utensils and vessels of the ministry -- she bestowed upon the same Church with such zeal and at such sumptuous expense that whoever beholds them does not cease to marvel greatly at the royal munificence and the wonderful devotion of both the Emperor and the Empress toward God.

[5] Besides these principal and primary churches of her foundation, what conventual church, what monasteries do not glory in their donation, either enlarged in estates or adorned with ornaments? with Saint Henry she restores various churches: For they rebuilt some that had collapsed from age, and restored certain others that had been destroyed and reduced to nothing to their former or to a better state. And as prudent Virgins they poured out the oil of their mercy upon various recipients, so that they might rightly say: "We are the good fragrance of Christ in every place." 2 Cor. 2:15 O marriage joined not by pleasure but by good will! O holy matrimony, where there was one faith of inviolate chastity, where one spirit of mercy and truth, where the same willing in virtues and the same unwilling in vices -- where neither the first nor the second could be distinguished, both live by holy consent: since the second willed what the first willed -- where an equal spirit in the manifold effects of their works showed equal affections in the two. What I should call these nuptials, I know not. One thing I know: that our region at present knows not their like, since they made themselves eunuchs for

the kingdom of heaven, not expecting the offspring of earthly fruitfulness, they received from God a celibate generation; from whose mouths the praise of God will never fail. Matt. 19:12 "This is the generation of those who seek the Lord, who seek the face of the God of Jacob" -- who, living in Christ, mortifying their members for Christ's sake, dying upon the earth, now reigning with Christ, see the good things of their Lord in the land of the living.

p In the manuscript Passional of Bodecum: forty; but the names of those who subscribed are missing.

q Kaufungen monastery. Kaufungen -- Dithmar in Book 7 of his Chronicle calls it Kapungum, the inhabitants commonly Kafungum or Kaffungen -- not far from Kassel in Hesse; Martin Hoffmann in Book 1 of the Annals of Bamberg, in Gretser, asserts that Saint Cunegonde established this monastery from a vow with her own money in the year 1018.

r Icon. "Icona" is used for "icon" by Caesarius, Book 7, chapter 21, and others. In the ancient Lessons "Iconia" is read.

s These things are explained in the Life of Saint Henry and his diplomas.

CHAPTER II

Acts in widowhood. Monastic life.

[6] Since the holy Church has received sufficiently and worthily written accounts about the life and virtues of the pious and holy Henry, the most Christian Emperor, and his various works of mercy which he performed in the house of the Lord, and also about the signs and miracles Prologue of the writer. which God wrought through him after his death, now my mind is pricked and it comes to my thought to briefly set forth the life of our memorable Virgin Cunegonde and to commend it to memory in writing, so that, looking upon themselves by her example, whatever virgins, whatever true widows, may consider her manner of life to be the pattern of perfect life. For we have thought it unworthy of us, but rather worthwhile, not to withhold from her the service of our lips, by whose providence we daily receive the nourishment of the body.

[7] When therefore her Henry, the most patient guardian always of her chastity, having in his last breath restored her as a Virgin to her own, just as he had taken her in Christ, was translated to the heavenly joys for which he continually sighed, she devoted herself wholly to the Lord, as always. When Saint Henry died, Cunegonde as a widow devotes herself to pious exercises: She did not cease to invoke his presence for her chastity, her necessity, her salvation, and for his Churches, and for the children whom he had gathered for her in Christ -- to invoke him by vigils, to press on with prayers, by day to lead the active life with Martha, by night the contemplative life with Mary. With what generosity of almsgiving, with what persistence in prayer she labored for the soul of her blessed deceased husband, whoever wishes to know can discover in the following page, which she herself composed and wrote by her own hand (for she was most skilled in letters, as in other arts, in adorning sacred vestments with gold and gems).

[8] "Cunegonde, by divine dispensation, Empress in name only, to her specially beloved Congregation at Kaufungen, whatever befits just affection. I would bear the burden of my own adversity more easily, as I reckon, to the nuns of Kaufungen, if I could see your affairs safe and unharmed. For although my mind is shaken on all sides by the stormy waves of cares, yet the anchor of your remembrance is not torn from the depths of my heart. And although you are far removed from my eyes, you never depart from my soul. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? The calamity of grief, or the distance of remoteness? Indeed, even if the use of lost resources were granted, this will would be proven by the performance of deeds. Yet that little which we still hold by God's will as a remainder, we do not wish to be foreign to your admonition, so that through the sharing of our smallness the greatness of our devotion may be revealed. For a mother, if she has little, gives little to her children. Behold, these small gifts of modest expense are sent to you for the refreshment of the flesh, so that you may refresh the soul of the Elder, she commends the soul of Saint Henry, your father, with the continual nourishment of prayer; since so many prayers of the just, unanimously continued, can greatly prevail with God, as James attests: 'The continual prayer of the just man avails much.' James 5:16 He also, that just Lord who loves justices, does not refuse to hear the equity of supplication; but to you, unwearied intercessors, making remembrance of the aforesaid dear one, He will give the reward of salvation which He Himself promises, saying: 'He who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved.' Matt. 10:22 And you see that it is a good work, also pleasing in the sight of God, if you pray not only for those who, placed in this life, have done you many good things, but also for those who have done none. I beseech you, therefore, never to cast from your hearts the one who loved you as his own and wished this place to flourish through your service. Be also mindful of my necessity, always merciful in gladness of heart, according to the Apostle's word: 'Let love be without dissimulation.' Rom. 12:9 And let your minds grow more and more into a certain solidity of mutual charity, so that in the day of tribulation His ears may hear your cry, who says: 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am in their midst.' Matt. 18:20 Which I exhort you by every means to merit, through the grant of Him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen."

[9] At length, with Conrad succeeding her in the kingdom, she herself, unburthened of secular cares as she had long desired, on the very anniversary of the death of Saint Henry, summoned Archbishops with Bishops to the dedication of the Church of Kaufungen. She renounces the world: There, during the solemnities of the Mass, most becomingly adorned with every imperial ornament, before the principal altar, the Virgin devoted to God came forward, and there offered to God an incomparable treasure, she offers a particle of the holy wood of the Cross: a Cross of the Lord's wood, small indeed in material but very great in power. And when the lesson of the Gospel was read, in which the little one merited to receive Jesus, looking up at him who had ascended the tree of the Cross, and to receive from Him a blessing, she put off the royal purple and, having received the priestly blessing, put on she receives the monastic habit: the garment of religion, a darker tunic which she herself had worked with her own hands. And while many wept for themselves but rejoiced for her, who had already condemned the world in her garments, her hair -- which to this day is preserved in honor of her in the same monastery -- was cut off, and a veil was placed upon her by the Bishops. Pledged with the ring of faith, she sang joyfully: "My Lord Jesus Christ has set a sign upon my face and has pledged me with His ring."

[10] Thus consecrated as the bride of Christ the Spouse, when she had joined herself to the most holy fellowship of her daughters, she did not set herself above her daughters as a mother; but in all services she showed herself a servile person -- she performs the lowliest duties: yet in such a way that, while she did all things, she fled the ostentation of each, lest she should receive her reward in this present world. She worked with her own hands (for she was considered inferior to none in adorning vestments with gold and gems, whether in stoles or in girdles), knowing that it is written: "He who does not work, let him not eat." 2 Thess. 3:10 Either praying or chanting psalms, she spoke to the Spouse. She hastened to the thresholds of the church, almost unseen. devoted to prayer, Nothing was more pleasant than her severity; nothing more severe than her pleasantness. Sad in laughter, gentle in sadness. The brief span of life she compensated with eternal memory. The same place was hers for prayer and rest; always the same garb; her body unkempt -- knowing that the delights of the body ought to be cast off, which a little later would be plowed by worms. You would always see her reading or listening to one reading. Great was her devotion toward her fellow-inmates, frequent her visitation of those lying ill, and to mutual charity. solicitous her consolation of the poor. Furthermore, we believe that she worked many miracles; but (because she always fled the favor of men and the oil of flattery) they were

suppressed; which, however, must be attributed not to a deficiency of virtues but to the carelessness of writers or the revolution of times. A few things, however, which we have found in writings or learned from the truthful account of the nuns where she served Christ, we have thought it worthy to insert here.

CHAPTER III

Miracles in her lifetime; death; burial.

[11] When after the frequency of prayer, amid the weariness of reading, the handmaid of Christ had relaxed her sleep-heavy limbs on a bed not piled with feathers but spread with a hair-shirt, the consecrated maiden who, as was customary, sat beside her reading the sacred codices, having extended the reading until nearly the middle of the night, closed her dimming eyes, and the lamp, slipping from her hands, caught the straw and she extinguishes a fire with the sign of the Cross: with its crackling roused the Sisters lying around. When a clamor arose from the commotion, the Virgin of Christ, shaken from sleep, when she beheld the flames struggling and crackling against one another around her, turned to the weapons of prayer, and with the sign of the Cross averted that burning without any harm to her garments. These are Your works, O Christ, who once confounded the Babylonian King in his fury and extinguished the Chaldean fires by Your power, so that Your children might be freed unharmed.

[12] It has pleased us to write down here another miracle, as astonishing as it is marvelous, in which you may learn the constancy of her spirit and the severity of her rigor. She had with her a daughter of her sister, named Jutta. Having raised her from her earliest years, she had instructed her in every discipline and also in the knowledge of secular letters. This niece, following her great-aunt with no less love of religion than of affection, she makes her niece Abbess: was also consecrated. When she saw her fully instructed in all things, and perceived her vigilance in prayers, her perseverance in fasts, and her patience in all things, with the consent and request of all, she appointed her the first Abbess of that same monastery. Then the Virgin mother, receiving her daughter, according to the holy admonition she had long held, she instructs her with pious counsels: repeating to her the discourses of the preceding Fathers, admonished her to say useful and God-pleasing things often out of zeal for salvation, to hear them frequently, not to abandon the accustomed paths of the religious journey, to tread down more and more the byways of errors and the devices of the devil; she taught that among the servants of God there is no communion between light and darkness, between truth and falsehood, between turpitude and honor; that she must carefully take heed lest, by pursuing vain things, she should cease to be a temple of God and become a habitation and monument of demons; to fix her eyes on the sight of God; to practice first what she taught, so that, with God's help, she might find the fruit of her teaching in heaven. Urging these and similar things upon her again and again with maternal zeal, she began to venerate her as already perfect in all things and as a teacher. But once the niece had obtained premature liberty, she began little by little to decline from her rigor, to desire softer apparel and more lavish food, which are the nourishments of vices; she rebukes her for falling from fervor, last in the choir, first at the banquet, she began to take part in the gossip of young women and to act more laxly in all things. For such levities, the holy woman of God frequently rebuked her in private between themselves and publicly before all, according to the Apostle's precepts, often admonishing, beseeching, reproving her; yet the niece, vainly relying on the patronage or familiarity of her great-aunt, was in no way amended. On a certain day, while she herself with the Convent followed the Cross (for it was the Lord's day), the Abbess was absent. Seeking her and finding her feasting with those of her own age in an inner room, armed with the zeal of piety, she struck her cheek with her right hand together with a word of correction; she inflicts a slap, and it received the imprint of her fingers, as a kind of seal, which she never lost for the entire time of her life. From this deed it is certainly clear leaving behind the trace of her fingers: that she endured this not only for her own sake but for the amendment of others, so that the sight of it might benefit others and turn them from their vices to a better state of life.

[13] Perhaps this too will be thought fabulous by detractors and incredible by the faithless: that the mute elements speak of her sanctity, which she herself wished, for the sake of humility, to conceal from men. For when, after the reading of the Gospel, she approached the altar according to her solemn custom to make her offering, she suspends her glove on a ray of the sun: drawing off the glove of her right hand, since there was no one present to receive it, she cast it from herself; and a ray of the sun entering through the cracks of the window received it and, as if serving her, held it so long until she, returning after the sacrifice, took it back. Something similar is read to have once been shown by divine power in the garment of the blessed man Goar: who, while he was despised from the seat of Rusticus, Bishop of Trier, was honored by the supreme Majesty through the ministry of the greater luminary. She was therefore capable of all merits, who merited to have the judge of all virtues.

[14] She survived for fifteen years in her holy resolution, to be admired by all as much for the grace of her humility as for the reverence of her religious life. in her final illness, vigorous in spirit, At length, from excessive abstinence from food and the incredible perseverance of prayer and vigils, she began to languish in body and, as the illness grew worse, to fail little by little. But while her limbs were contracted outwardly with pain, she was strengthened inwardly in spirit (for the praise of God was always on her lips). She called upon the holy Angels, whose life she had here and whose fellowship she now already enjoyed there; she entreated the Apostles and Confessors, whose faith and confession she had always held; she invited the choir of the Virgins of Christ to be present at her departure, she invokes the Saints: in whose emulation, while she lived in the flesh but beyond the flesh, she had preserved for Christ an undefiled marriage bed; she prayed that the help of all who serve God might be present to her, might come to meet her. Rom. 8:28 Truly, what is written -- that for those who fear God all things work together for good -- we saw confirmed in the death of so great a Virgin. She had not yet breathed forth her spirit, had not yet returned to Christ the soul she owed Him, and already flying fame, the herald of so great a grief, was assembling not only consecrated Virgins and men of various Orders, but also the peoples of the entire city for the obsequies of one woman. Psalms resounded, and the Litany for the departing soul, echoing on high, shook the whole house where the little holy body lay in their midst, arranged upon that noble hair-shirt of hers. Meanwhile, as was the custom, royal obsequies were prepared for her as for an Empress, not as were owed to a poor little Sister; she rejects the royal pomp for her obsequies: golden coverings were brought forth to be spread over the bier. Then you would see her turning her pallid features, which she had shown joyful before, to her mouth, refusing with her hand: "That garment is not mine," she said. "Take it away from here; this ornament is not for me. With these I was joined to an earthly spouse; with these, to a heavenly one. Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return thither. Wrap in these the vile matter of my wretched flesh, and place my little body in its own little casket near the tomb of my brother and Lord, the Emperor Henry, whom I see already calling me." Having said these things, commending her spirit into the hands of the Lord, she dies: her soul flew back to its Author and, long a pilgrim, ascended to its ancient possession -- while the earth wept that it had lost a common mother, but the heavens rejoiced that they had received a fellow citizen into their fellowship.

[15] And so, with that sacred body placed upon the bier, with a long line of nobles going before and many flowing together from all sides, together with that fellowship of the poor which was always so familiar to her, the blessed obsequies were carried all the way to the place of Bamberg predestined for her burial. she is carried to Bamberg with a great throng. Then indeed you would see cities left empty, countryside vacant, towns desolate, peoples running together from everywhere, mothers carrying their little ones in their arms, the sick lying on pallets hoping for the grace of health, each one counting herself blessed if it happened to be joined to the bier or to be overshadowed by it. At last the body, not without labor, was carried into the church of Blessed Peter the Apostle, and there received three days of obsequies worthy of her merits and benefactions. The children whom she herself had gathered there for Christ, now secure about their mother's peace but anxious for themselves, chanted psalms without ceasing, while they rejoiced that they had received her, who had been taken from them for a time, without fear of loss, in the hope of perpetual intercession; and the mother from heaven rejoiced, looking down upon the affection of her children. Thus the veiled sacred body, in sacred vestments, with the diadem of Christ placed upon her head, was placed in its own little casket on the right side, where it is venerated to this day. O happy Church of Bamberg, you have received the treasure that you had lost! The impudent and malicious tongue of detractors was confuted by the testimony of the eyes, while her virginity, approved by deeds, and her sanctity, testified by shining signs, were seen.

might be placed near her brother and Lord Saint Henry; a thing full of miracle was perceived and heard by all present. For when the mausoleum was opened, immediately a voice was heard from above, saying: "O Virgin, give place to the Virgin." Then at once, while all who were present looked on, Saint Henry, the chosen Virgin of God, lying in the tomb, moved himself to the other side and made room for his wife -- indeed, for the Virgin of Christ. as to Saint Severus his wife and daughter. Something similar is read to have happened with Blessed Severus, Archbishop of Ravenna, who, while after the solemnities of the Mass, with the people excluded from the church, he stood with only the sacristan of the church at the sepulchre of his wife and daughter, at his command the wife and daughter, moving apart from one another in the tomb, prepared a place for him. And he himself soon entered alive into the dug-out place of burial, and the sacristan, seizing his chasuble, strove to hold him back with a great cry. But immediately the sarcophagus, rolling of its own accord over the mouth of the cavern, closed the monument and, dividing part of the chasuble, left the same piece in the hand of the sacristan. And so with great joy and panegyrics of praise and much reverence and devotion of the people, that holy body of the blessed Virgin, veiled in sacred vestments, with the diadem of Christ placed beneath, in its own place on the right side of the Church, reverently associated with the remains of her husband, rests near him and with him at the same time, in much honor here on earth for the present; while the spirit of both, united to God, now and forever enjoys the ineffable sweetness of His vision in heaven. O happy Church of Bamberg, etc. We have given the double Life of Saint Severus, and of his wife Saint Vincentia and daughter Saint Innocentia, for the Kalends of February, in which these things related here are read.

CHAPTER IV.

Various miracles. Three hanged men freed; as many dead raised.

[16] Let the faithful Church, advancing in the Christian religion (which in the Gospel, by the Lord's own words, is called by grace the mother and daughter of God -- mother because by the example of holy action she begets children for the Lord; daughter because she is daily generated by the instruction of the holy Fathers for the Son of the Virgin, incarnate for the salvation of the world), take heed with the ears both of the mind and of the body of the salvation sent from the Lord, full of the effects of the heavenly Physician's remedy. After the Patriarchs and Prophets The Maker of the earthly fabric, grieving for the human race fallen through disobedience, in order to graft a new plantation bearing the fruit of eternal life -- namely, the primitive Church -- deigned to send Patriarchs and Prophets into the world, who, carrying out the office entrusted to them with the five senses of the body and the sixth, which is the spirit of Prophecy, preaching the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ and all things that were to be proclaimed concerning Him, some by the austerity of life, Christ comes, others by various deaths of punishment, faithfully fulfilled their service to Him whom they prophesied. Christ, the boundary of these, by the counsel of the eternal Father, for the liberation of mankind, proceeded from the womb of the inviolate Virgin, so that upon the plantation already begun, having sent the Apostles throughout the world and having fashioned from the blood poured from His own body a new Church, He might build it up; He sent Apostles, then Martyrs, Confessors, and Virgins, which, imbued with faith in the Holy Trinity and purified by the grace of Baptism, offered as first fruits Martyrs, Confessors, and Virgins of the weaker sex but constant in spirit. Among whom Blessed Cunegonde, the flower of the Church of Bamberg, together with Saint Henry, who held the Empire of the Romans, under the appearance of marriage, served the immortal Spouse with the honor of chaste virginity. Whence the merits of her sanctity now appear throughout the world by manifest declaration: and among these, Saint Cunegonde, because in the place where her holy body rests, the sick, suffering from whatever infirmity, receive their health. But that we may be the most cautious witnesses to all things, to the lovers of truth who succeed our age and diligently inquire about these things which we write, we wish to explain, renowned for miracles after death: the Lord granting, as best we can, at what time the works of healing of the aforesaid Empress had their beginning.

[17] In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 1189, Indiction 2, under Tiemo, the thirteenth Bishop of the Church of Bamberg, in the fourth year of his pontificate, by her intercession are freed: on the feast of Saint Peter in Chains, lest we should doubt the sanctity of the aforementioned Virgin, we were certified by the experience of signs. For while the people had assembled in the usual manner at the aforesaid place for the sake of prayers and vigils, there was present a certain demoniac from the village a demoniac, called Dierrut, who, recognizing neither piety nor abhorring wickedness, had burned his own son by fire. He, bound with harsh ropes, at the sepulchre of Saint Cunegonde began to grow so calm that, freed from the furious disease, he praised Almighty God, and to her, by whose patronizing merits he recognized that this had happened to him, he, with the crowd that stood present, acclaimed the due praises. While these things were being done with the solemn devotion of both Clergy three crippled persons, and people, three crippled persons -- one from the suburb, from the hospital of Saint Giles, who was rolled about more by creeping than by little stools; another from the house of Conrad, Provost of the Cathedral; the third likewise from the house of Otto, a Canon of the same Church -- being placed upon the sepulchre of the blessed Virgin, were raised from the pain of one affliction by the one hand of divine healing.

[18] A paralytic woman, and another nun who limped on one foot, a paralytic woman, two lame persons, and a lame man from the castle called Giet, after a momentary prayer scarcely completed, were healed on that very night. A boy who had such softness of limbs two boys: that he was thought to be almost without bones; another from Licendorf, consumed by an ugly wasting -- they received the power of walking and the faculty of speech, which they had entirely lacked. a girl with sciatica: A girl with sciatica from Gisenvelt, not yet placed upon the sacred tomb because of the crowd; a boy lacking the use of his feet from the contraction of nerves; a girl from Nuremberg with the sole of her foot curved upward and her knee contracted; two lame persons: likewise from the same district a girl having a withered hand -- one having a withered hand: all were healed amid prayers and vigils.

[19] A certain man, convicted of furtively stealing a horse near the river Werra, in the village called Wasegen, was condemned to hanging. Placed in the torment, with what voice he could, he called upon the ears of Blessed Cunegonde the Virgin, whose speedy aid he sensed was present to him. For by divine power, when the people had departed, the bonds of his hands were loosened, three hanged men. and he himself, taking down the noose from himself, returned to the city and set forth to all his deliverance, giving glory to God and to his saviouress. He was brought to us by their faithful testimony and was inscribed at the census of five denarii, as his parents had formerly vowed for him when he was condemned. Among us also, not dissimilar to this, a sign appeared concerning a certain servant who, while he was ensnared, was thought by all to be dead. For after he had voided his urine, which is a sign of death in such torments, he was restored to unhoped-for safety and life in the presence of all who stood by. In a similar manner, at Rottenburg, an imperial castle, two were freed, and this was brought to us by the attestation of many.

[20] I am about to tell of marvelous things (but nothing is impossible for God) and perhaps things incredible to our age; but the entire city of Bamberg was not without knowledge of this deed. A woman from the nearby village of Elrin placed her wailing infant, who had died within forty days without baptism, upon the tomb of the blessed Virgin, not without hope of resurrection. Dead persons are raised: I call to witness Him who is the firstborn from the dead, who raises the dead: when the wretched mother of the dead child, redoubling the name of the holy Virgin Cunegonde, had poured forth many tears, an infant not yet baptized, she lifted from the sepulchre alive the one she had placed there lifeless. Who could restrain himself from tears, who from praises? There was one voice of all, as a great throng had gathered on the Saturday: "What manner of woman is this? How holy! How dear to God! She makes the lame run, the blind see, the mute speak, and dead limbs also come back to life! Blessed the womb that bore her; blessed by the Lord the breasts that nursed her; from her blessing such great gifts of graces have flowed forth to a world now perishing."

[21] Another sign, not unlike this one, but with a different outcome, was celebrated in a three-year-old boy in the village of Grunberg, who from morning until evening lay suffocated in a muddy pond, a boy suffocated in a pond, where he was found by women beneath bundles of flax and lifted up, and carried home with a great escort of wailing women. There, with the parents holding mournful obsequies through the night, when in the morning the Priest stood ready to perform the duty of burial, the people who were present, who had already seen and heard many things about the signs of Blessed Cunegonde, entreated with great hope of being heard that her presence might be at hand for them. In a wondrous manner, the boy began to move his ring finger, and to the amazement of all, after the space of one hour, he rose up well. Of this deed, first the Priest himself under his stole, then eight knights under oath, with the boy himself placed in their midst, together with the whole gathering of his parish, came to us as witnesses.

[22] A girl drowned in a well. A seven-year-old girl in the parish of Lieberstat, while carelessly drawing water at a well, was drowned by an unhappy fall. When the people had returned from the Rogation processions to their homes (for the Rogation days were at hand), lifting her dead from the well, after a vow made to the memory of Blessed Cunegonde, they marveled that she whom they had long lamented as dead was living, not without divine praises. In this raising of three dead persons, since we have also learned, by the most truthful approbation of witnesses and by the presentation of the children themselves, that two other bodies were likewise restored to life at the invocation of the same holy Empress, who, unless the Holy Trinity, appears to have wrought these things, who according to the signs which it works has promised to its own that they would afterward do these and greater things?

CHAPTER V.

Other miracles. Epilogue of the author.

[23] We have thought it not unworthy to commit to the memory of mankind that most celebrated deed, most famous with the chief men of the realm standing by, wrought upon a mute person before the eyes of all. A mute person is healed at the translation of the body. For the event happened thus:

Christ wished to work so clearly through His handmaid that it could be hidden from almost no one. King Philip, for the sake of his own confirmation, but meanwhile also because he believed it would win him more favor, had summoned an assembly for the translation of the blessed Virgin. A certain mute servant had come in the company of worthy men from Pogen, whose baggage he carried, because they themselves were also penitents. When the Queen was about to proceed to the Church and was being received in solemn fashion by the Clergy as was the custom, a confused clamor of the people arose -- not for a man about to die in vain, but acclaiming praises to one already living with her Christ. I call Christ and His Apostles to witness: this man, who previously, being mute, had known no language, was answering each question fluently in his own tongue.

[24] What shall I say about a brute animal, whose innate gluttony of rapacity, while it was snatching its prey, grew calm from its fury as if it had sensed the name of Cunegonde invoked against it? For a wolf, prowling around the sheepfolds in the evening by the ingenuity of its nature, carried off into its lair a little child incautiously left before the doors. But the mother of the child, roused by the cries of the others who had been terrified by the wolf, stirred all her fellow citizens to grief by much wailing, beating her breast with clasped hands. While all judged it useless to pursue the beast because night was approaching, the mother, taking refuge in the church, having the bells struck three times as if for a dead person, did not cease throughout the night to call upon the ears of the Virgin there for the preservation of her son. a little child is snatched from the jaws of a wolf: When morning came, that nursemaid of the forest, emerging, brought back unharmed the little child it had carried off and placed it in a furrow where the oxen had plowed the day before, carefully wrapped in its little skin garment, and sitting beside it, kept guard. When it saw the farmers and their plows now approaching, as if secure about the child's rest, it departed tamely. While they pursued it with shouting, as is the custom, the servant who was goading the oxen, looking at the skins, said: "Behold, the coverings of the child whom the wolf carried off." Running up, they found the little one sleeping, untouched, radiant of countenance; and considering these things not without great wonder, they reported them to the citizens and the mother. She, flying to the spot and bursting into tears for joy, inquired where and how he had been. He, in the simplicity of his age, said: "That dog who carried me away, gently licking me, composed me in his bosom and made me sleep the whole night."

[25] These miracles which we have now briefly related, and many others which we pass over to avoid the fault of prolixity, lest, like a leech, we kill by excess the reader whom we have kept attentive thus far -- let us set forth a sign wrought by divine operation upon a young servant of about sixteen years. He, with the rest of his limbs well disposed according to the order of nature, was so agitated by a great affliction in the principal part, which is the head, that without ceasing he would be dashed against the wall if it was near, a young servant miserably vexed for sixteen years, strike his chest with his chin, beat his shoulders against the time-keeper, never remaining in the same state, scarcely ever uttering words or sometimes taking food or drink. If he happened to sleep, having collapsed on the ground, you would see his head now striking the earth, now pounding the sky; and what is pitiful to say, while he was fled by all because he was horrible to see, he desired to be seen by each. This man, known more by reputation than by sight, a Jew mocking in vain, when he came to us, was sustained for some time by begging alms among the houses. When the chief of the synagogue saw him, he said to the Christians: "If your Cunegonde heals this man, she will be able to attach me to Christ and to your faith." But what the Apostle says, "The Jews seek signs" 1 Cor. 1:22, was shown in this Jew. For the sufferer, on the third day of the week of the Lord's Resurrection, while he was pressed in a salutary sleep upon the sepulchre of the health-bringing Virgin, he is healed: touched by a certain invisible hand, departed healed from there, with the greatest admiration and praise of all. But the unhappy Jew did not depart from his perfidy, destined to endure eternal fires.

[26] I shall append in conclusion that which was, however, not the last of her signs. Earth from the sepulchre is changed into frankincense and grains. Since earth collected by the faithful around her sepulchre was frequently reduced to the likeness of the most brilliant frankincense or of the purest grain, Pope Innocent, in a sermon to the people held in the Lateran Palace, commemorating the merits of her life and the distinction of her miracles, added: "Rightly, dearest brothers, that dust with which the sod of this most holy Virgin is covered, buried in the debt of humanity, is reduced to frankincense and grain -- she who, under the frail sex, while she lived, restraining herself from what was lawful and abstaining from what was unlawful, offered to the Lord an unblemished holocaust, and rich for Christ, poor for herself, daily feeds the poor of Christ under the profession of various orders and sexes. Rightly, therefore, she shall be inscribed in the catalogue of Saints, who always strove to imitate the life of the Saints. We have therefore appended to this our sermon the Collect composed by us, together with the Office of the whole Mass, and we have directed that it be sung in all churches in honor of so great a Virgin by Apostolic authority."

[27] Let it suffice to have said these very few things about the virtues and signs of the most holy Virgin Cunegonde to your most prudent charity, among innumerable ones; which, if anyone were to unfold at length, the page itself would fail sooner than the material. O blessed one! O one to be proclaimed! who despised the kingdom of the world and all the ornament of the age for the heavenly ornament; who, legally united to a royal spouse but not carnally, chose Christ as her Spouse; who, proving her virginity amid the royal marriage chambers, trod upon fires in order to purge the evil of infamy cast upon her by the envious; who, since she did not expect offspring destined to die, her chaste generation, never to suffer the loss of succession, endures, since the Church in her children through her almsgiving always receives an increase of divine praise; many miracles wrought, whom frequent signs declare to be alive even after death with her Christ, whom she loved, in whom she believed, whom she cherished. At her memorial, the blind receive sight, the dead receive life, the mute receive speech, stopped ears receive hearing.

How great, therefore, do we believe her to have been, who, while living, with no witness, while she avoided ostentation, practiced virtue alone, when we have seen with our own eyes that she wrought such great signs after death before the eyes of all? Let us therefore transfer within ourselves these signs which we admire outwardly, and let us correct our life and morals, so that if we do not merit the fellowship of the Virgin, after the slopes of vices it may be our reward to have escaped so great a punishment of sins through the Virgin.

[28] This booklet teaches the deeds of the Virgin Cunegonde; Yet it is silent about more that should be said, while the skiff Fears to be swamped in the flood: the beast that touches the mount shall die. But what the tongue is silent about, the signs speak for the Virgin, Which speak so frequently of the fame of her praise. When to the blind, the mute, the lame, the desired cure Of health comes; when languor departs and fever retreats, repeatedly they are celebrated: Life returns, and the wan skin regains its color. This He could give to virginity, who can do all things, Who is able to move mountains and give to faith. Married to a man under the law of the husband, the Virgin wills to lie hidden, A bride pledged, yet inviolate to the spouse, And she chose to have Christ as her husband within her heart. The Virgin keeps faith; the matter was proved clear by fire. Learn the celibate marriage, where there is no pleasure; Those who keep lawful rights without commingling Weigh as nothing all things that will soon be in ruin: Here, sowing seeds of sorrow in the hope of fruit, They shall reap lasting joys and follow the Lamb in white.

We pray to you, most holy Virgin, most glorious Empress, Prayer. who have sprinkled the earth with the works of your mercies and the heavens with the flowers of your virtues; Prayer of the author. stand by those of yours who are tossed about in the world, drive away with your prayers the stormy tempests of adversaries, and make all who are devoted to you, with vices driven out, rejoice perpetually in your benefactions and merits; and let all who write or faithfully read the text of this lesson not be deprived of the fruit of the devotion they have gained. Amen.

VARIOUS MIRACLES

from the Bamberg transcript published by Gretser, collated with the Baunach manuscript.

Cunegonde, Empress, Virgin, Wife, Widow, and Benedictine Nun (Saint)

BHL Number: 2005

from the Bamberg manuscript.

[1] While therefore these things were being done with the solemnity of the Clergy and the devotion of the people, a certain crippled man brought from the suburb, from the hospital of Saint Giles, was asking for health, Three crippled persons are healed, and being mercifully heard, he obtained what he asked. When the fame of the signs had spread throughout the whole place of Bamberg, a crippled man from the house of Provost Conrad of the Cathedral, desiring health, although nature had gone astray in his limbs, nevertheless crawling as fast as he could, cast himself upon the venerable sepulchre, where he found from the Lord the health he desired. Hearing this, also a crippled man from the house of Otto, a Canon of the same Church, came as fast as he could to the place of the sepulchre, hoping to be helped by the benefit of grace, as the others had been; where we attest that help was given without delay in Christ. Again, so that the virtue of wondrous sanctity might shine forth in the aforesaid Virgin, another man, who by a similar disease had lost the natural sensation of his limbs and lacked the power of walking, seeking the aid of a cure, felt the swift effect of health.

[2] Soon, with all the people resounding the praises of God, a certain paralytic woman, not unknown to the inhabitants of the aforesaid place, a paralytic woman, asking with tears for the power of the heavenly remedy, found the desired aid. Hearing these things, another woman, limping on one foot, who had exchanged her secular garb for a mourning habit, although she was impeded by the slowness of her debility, two lame persons, entered, and finding full health for the hope of healing, which she had fixed in her soul with burning desire, she walked with a quick step. Furthermore, when the neighborhood had tasted the fragrance of this good report and people were flowing together from various places, a lame man from the castle called Iech, after a momentary prayer scarcely completed, received grace with the utmost speed.

[3] Likewise in our diocese, a noble woman from the castle called Wikenfeld, enduring an immoderate pain, afflicted with a great headache, because she could not be healed by any remedy of physicians, commending herself to the heavenly physician, was restored to her former health. But in order that the greatness of the cure might become more widely known to the churches, we endeavor to set forth, as best we can, certain of her infirmities from which she was despaired of by all medical reasoning, beginning from the principal part of the body. For she suffered from Cephalalgia, that is, a headache, so vehemently that, having cast off her veil, she could endure neither the finest thread nor her own hair. Since, therefore, so great a pain very frequently assailed her head, all the regions of the head -- namely, the mouth, lip, eyes, eyelid, and tongue -- were so distorted that each of them changed its natural station to a position contrary to nature. Such hiccoughing also seized her that it was thought to be a presage of death. with paralysis of the arm, The enemy of health, paralysis, had rendered her right arm so feeble that it entirely lacked its natural function; and she was tormented by an ailment of the womb, against all hope of recovery. Concerning the rest of her infirmities,

we refrain, lest less credence be given to what we have said. But this must by no means be passed over in silence: that the aforesaid woman, without giving thanks, was preparing on the third day after receiving her cure to return to her home; when the paralysis returned to her arm, and suffering a relapse: and until she rendered thanks to God and Cunegonde for the benefits of all her cures, she was forced to remain longer, held by an invisible chain of fever. Moreover, such a miracle occurred that, with her arm incomparably vexed and placed upon the tomb, no rest was granted unless the head of Saint Henry was applied, nor was she given the ability to withdraw her hand, until her brother was summoned and assented to her vows, and the most powerful Lord of all, appeased by votive prayers, granted her free departure with complete health.

[4] There were also two boys present there, of whom one had such softness of limbs suffering from softness of limbs, that he was thought to be almost without bones; he was suddenly made firm and walked. The other, from Lycendorf, had been so consumed by a wondrous wasting of the little body that from birth until the age lame and mute: which is called the planting of teeth, he entirely lacked the power of walking and the use of speech. He, receiving the health of both, regained his step and spoke.

[5] A girl suffering from sciatica from Gisfeld, while she sighed and panted with desire to visit the sepulchre of the holy Virgin for the grace of healing, suffering from sciatica, and yet could not push herself forward because of the crowd, suddenly received the medicine of heavenly grace. In our city, a disabled boy, a lame boy, the son of a certain vine-dresser, lacking the use of his feet from the contraction of the nerves, was also made well there. two bent persons, A certain woman from Sezzelach, bent over from a long-standing infirmity, was raised up by the merits of the blessed Empress. A certain girl from the town called Nuremberg, with the sole of her foot curved upward and her knee contracted, suffering from a withered hand, obtained her healing. Another girl also from the same town, having a withered hand, devoting herself to prayers and vigils at the sepulchre of Saint Cunegonde, having been divinely granted the flexibility of nerves and joints, blind, lame, bequeathed her shorn hair as a testimony of her healing, as she had learned from many who had been cured.

[6] In Haldenstat, a girl lacking sight was illuminated twice; three mute persons, and another woman received her power of walking. A mute man from Stetefeld, a mute man from Lichtenfels, and a mute woman from Meingouwe received speech. The daughter of a steward in Forchheim received her power of walking, and with her hands made dry by paralytic weakness, having regained some vigor, she applied food to her mouth. Another girl from the same town, bent over excessively with curvature, having been made a partaker of the divine gift, so as to follow human nature, looking upward, was raised up without delay. lame and paralytic, bent over.

[7] We have also thought it worthwhile to add this: that the dust The dust of the sepulchre heals a wound, which is pulled from the sepulchre of the most holy Empress by the hands of the sick for the sake of healing is, upon reception of health, converted into pure wheat. Indeed, lest we should think this incredible and contrary to nature, we have ascertained the truth of the matter by a certain and manifest indication. For a certain peasant, suffering from a cancerous wound in his mouth, used such dust as an ointment, and having obtained health, it is changed into wheat, brought back the dust, transformed into the appearance of wheat, to the church under the testimony of worthy men. There is also, so that we might become more evidently certain from it, a certain man from Beiersdorf and several others from Nuremberg, who, affirming with an oath that the same had happened to them, and showing the nature of the earth changed into the true appearance of wheat, brought it to the aforesaid place. Still another such wonder, for those not yet believing, so that doubt might be cut off: a woman with dim and failing eyes, in hope of healing, used the moistened dust; and she found it also turned into the nature of wheat, and the small amount of moisture she had added, increased. Wherefore, very anxious about what to do, she at last resolved to have a profitable advantage in saleable goods. She concealed for a long time what had been divinely done, until, occupied by the distresses of fevers, she conjectured that the pain had come to her from this. Furthermore, when the people had gathered in the church to worship, the woman, taking counsel, displayed the memorable sign that had occurred; and because she had kept it concealed for a long time, she sought the indulgence of sins with a pouring forth of tears.

[8] One having a withered hand is healed. On a certain Sunday, while the solemnities of the Mass were being celebrated, the withered hand of a certain boy was restored to vigor. On the Assumption of Saint Mary, three signs were wrought upon a certain boy from Gundolsheim, the son of a certain miller: that the mute boy spoke, mute, deaf, and lame, hearing was poured into his ears, and he used the movement of his feet. But this, marvelous to relate, must not be neglected: that in our place of Bamberg, the wife of a miller, vexed by an evil spirit, was led to the tomb of the aforesaid Virgin; and immediately the demon, having gone out, entered her stepdaughter, a demoniac, and again returned to herself. It should not be passed over that a certain woman, suffering from the iliac passion, confessed that she had received her health. suffering from the iliac passion, When these things had been more widely published, a certain lame man came from the village called Wertheim; he, by the mercy of God and with Saint Cunegonde's favor, recovered the health he desired, and a maidservant, leaning on a staff because of the weakness of her foot, two lame persons, found the desired aid. From Veldin, a blind woman was found worthy to experience the grace of illumination. blind,

[9] A certain lame man from Kastl, in the Bavarian cloister of monks, when the fame of the miracles had become known to him, lame, resolved to come, carried out his resolve, and received his health; but because he was unknown and could not have sufficient testimony, since he had not been seen before, he was not received among those who were cured; but, afflicted with blows, he went away confused, as if a deceiver. But after he returned to the aforesaid cloister, he related everything that had happened to him, from which he turned many of lighter mind to laughter, but also forewarned many of the sick that none of them should dare to come to the place of Bamberg for the sake of healing without witnesses. a paralytic woman, A paralytic woman from Gisenwinde, supplicating the Lord with humble vows, and, as it is right to believe, with her preceding merits availing before God and Saint Cunegonde, with the infirmity yielding, was made whole. A mute woman from Sachsendorf, speaking not with her tongue but with her heart, a mute woman, asked for aid, that her tongue might be opened and that which nature worked in others might work in her; and immediately she obtained the desired gift.

[10] A certain man from Stadelhofen, deprived of the use of his tongue, seeing the effect of health in others, prayed more intently with his heart that he too might merit to be among the number of those healed; that he prayed this there is no doubt, since he was heard. a mute man healed a second time, But because he became mute in his thanksgiving, he again lost the grace of speech. His parents and fellow villagers, astonished, at once led the mute man back, and while they were on the journey, his mouth was opened and he spoke. From Michsendorf, a crippled boy, and a woman from Holfeld disturbed by the same affliction, two crippled persons, when they were brought for healing, both were helped in their necessities by the Lord and Saint Cunegonde. two blind women, A blind woman from Ratelsdorf and another from Dieboue, grieving for the loss of light, prostrate in prayers, were illuminated by the patronage of the most holy Empress. A certain mute man from Limpurch, when he had spent the night in prayers a mute man, and at dawn was preparing to return home, endowed with divine grace and freed from his infirmity, spoke correctly. From Bodenstein, a woman out of her mind and shaking her trembling head, with the devotion of the people supplicating on her behalf, sick with a headache, was completely freed from the distress of both afflictions.

[11] Blessed Cunegonde, wishing to have more witnesses of her sanctity, looking with mercy upon a mute girl from Abenberg, a mute girl, by loosening the bond of her tongue, restored her to the office of speech. From Neunkirchen, a lame girl, approaching the authoress of propitiation with copious tears, entreated inwardly that she might deign to have mercy on her; a lame girl, and with the door of benevolence opened to her, she felt that the prayers she had poured forth had not been poured forth in vain, because losing entirely the mark of infirmity, suffering from swelling of the hands, with her step made firm, she began to plant her footsteps. A certain maidservant from Vochendorf, suffering from the swelling of her hands, fell to her knees in prayer; and it happened that the swelling decreased and health returned most swiftly to each joint. A certain servant from Eisch, deprived of the use of his tongue, finding no tardy aid, made use of speech; a mute man, whence we wish him rightly to have as companions those whom we have named in the present work. From the place of Wurzburg, a certain lay sister, afflicted with weakness of the hand, afflicted with weakness of the hand, having regained vigor, was made joyful; and the delight of those looking on was increased.

[12] A certain boy, lacking hearing, was healed with the swift effect of health -- not responding to signs a deaf boy, or to a great shout by speakers, but rather he gave an answer to a soft voice. Two other boys were also healed of other infirmities through the aforesaid Virgin. two sick persons, As the sign of so memorable a thing increased everywhere, flying like the sun through the heavens and filling the globe, among the innumerable persons afflicted with various infirmities, a lame man, a lame man was raised up by the heavenly medicine through the intercession of his pious helper. When this was heard, a blind man, desiring to be illuminated, came among the thousand throngs of people flowing in, and by the patronage of the holy Virgin, in which he trusted, having lost his blindness, was worthy to receive his sight. a blind man. Indeed, a girl who had only one hand, wishing to experience proof of this, humbled herself with fervent affections; and, abundantly aided by the cooperating vows of the people, she felt the wonderful efficacy of sanctity with the granting of health. a lame man, Likewise a lame man, more diligently embracing and watering with tears the venerable sepulchre of the glorious Empress, recovered his health by the aid of Saint Cunegonde. a paralytic man. Likewise a paralytic man, eager to recover the spent vigor of nature and raising his voice, prayed from the depths of his heart that he too might merit to enjoy the joy that the healed ones enjoyed; and immediately, being heard, he was made well.

f The same: Velodin.

APPENDIX

From the Life printed at Brussels in the year 1484.

Cunegonde, Empress, Virgin, Wife, Widow, and Benedictine Nun (Saint)

BHL Number: 2009

[1] Many others also were healed there from various afflictions; and to this day, whenever the faith of those who ask seeks the remedy of healing, the Lord does not cease to show us the glory of His miracles through the merits of His Virgin. Furthermore, it is most fitting to briefly insert in the present page a certain miracle and magnificent benefit which the Almighty and merciful God, even in these present times, deigns to bestow daily upon anyone in need through the prayers and glorious merits of the same blessed Virgin. The tunic of Saint Cunegonde preserved at Bamberg. For the aforesaid Church of Bamberg reverently preserves the tunic of the same Saint Cunegonde the Empress. This tunic is reported to be of such power that, when reverently applied or put on any pregnant woman who, in the difficulty of childbirth, confidently implores the patronage of the same Virgin, it benefits women in childbirth, it immediately confers the prosperity of an easy delivery and most perfectly frees and protects her from such danger. Whence it is the custom of that city that pregnant women, when the time of their delivery is at hand,

as is customary, going to the church; after the confession of sins, they fortify themselves with the sacred body of Christ, having touched or put on by them and at length approaching the relics of the holy Virgin, they touch or put on the aforesaid tunic with all reverence and devotion. This tunic, indeed, most splendidly studded with gleaming gems and innumerable pearls, doubtless out of reverence for the Virgin, is denied to no one, but is offered without any respect of persons to all who are in need and request it.

[2] The feast of this most blessed Virgin is observed at different times in different places. For some, The feast is celebrated: in March, such as in Basel, observe the feast of her death on the third day of the month of March: for then, as we have said above, this Virgin passed from the prison of the flesh to the Lord. Others, however, as in the city and diocese of Bamberg, festively recall the day on which the same venerable Virgin was canonized. This feast falls on the day after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary: or September 9, for then she is said to have been placed in and added to the catalogue of Saints by the Roman Church. Afterwards, however, for the greater veneration of this most holy Virgin and the greater devotion of the people, her body together with the body of her spouse, the holy Emperor Henry, was raised from the ground the body placed in an altar and elevated in an altar: and there, enclosed in a golden casket adorned with gems and precious stones, as it is honored and frequented by the faithful to this day, it was placed for the praise of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory for ever and ever, Amen.

Prayer for Saint Cunegonde.

Cunegonde, Empress, Virgin, Wife, Widow, and Benedictine Nun (Saint)

Hail, most worthy offspring of royal stock, noble and well-born Empress, Saint Cunegonde, immaculate Virgin. You are the shining lamp of the married, the mirror of widows, the glory of virgins, the norm of religious life, and indeed the teacher of piety, gentleness, humility, and of all honor and discipline. You, at last, in every age, state, and order of your life, like precious spices, giving forth the most fragrant aroma of every virtue and sanctity, were singularly and ineffably pleasing to the Most High Himself, who is the fount of goodness and the Holy of Holies, while you still remained on earth. Whence also, having cast off the burden of the body, crowned with double garlands of unfading wreaths, for the perfection of your fourfold state -- namely of marriage, widowhood, virginal chastity, and holy religious life -- you have not undeservedly merited to be joined to the eternal King Himself, Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Bridegroom of Virgins, by the indissoluble bond of the sweetest charity in heaven, and inebriated by the ineffable sweetness of the vision of Him, you do not cease to sing forth that new canticle, to be sung by Virgins alone, in the choir of Virgins with sweet melody. Therefore do not forget us in heaven, we who are still weighed down by the manifold affliction of the flesh in this wretched life, you who were always the pious mother and consoler of the poor and orphans on earth. Wherefore, O sweetest Patroness and Advocate, do not refuse to beat unceasingly upon the ears of your Beloved, our Lord, with your pious prayers, that in His mercy, with your glorious merits interceding, He may direct us in the way of His commandments in this life, and at last crown us with His Saints and elect to enjoy the beauty of His glory in our homeland, where He is praised by all the citizens of the heavenly court for ever, Amen. Verse: In your splendor and your beauty, go forward, prosper, and reign.

Collect.

LET US PRAY.

O God, who among the other wonderful works of Yours have so exalted Saint Cunegonde the Virgin, adorned preeminently in every state with the beauty of virtues, that she would not lose the flower of virginal chastity in marriage, and in widowhood, having assumed the religious habit, she might shine forth to us as an example of all holiness through the sanctity of her life; mercifully grant that, as we desire to praise her worthily, we may be strengthened by her interceding merits to imitate the examples of her life, according to our frailty. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

BULL OF INNOCENT III CONCERNING THE CANONIZATION OF SAINT CUNEGONDE.

Published from a Bamberg manuscript by Gretser.

Cunegonde, Empress, Virgin, Wife, Widow, and Benedictine Nun (Saint)

from a Bamberg manuscript.

Innocent, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our venerable Brother Theumo, Bishop, and to our beloved sons the Chapter of Bamberg, greeting and Apostolic blessing.

[1] Since according to Evangelical truth no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, so that all who are in the house may see; it is equally pious and just that those whom God crowns and honors in heaven by the merit of their sanctity, we should praise and glorify on earth with the duty of veneration: since He Himself is rather praised and glorified in them, who is praiseworthy and glorious in His Saints. Matt. 5:15 For godliness has the promise of the life that now is and of the life to come, as the Lord says through the Prophet: I will make you renowned among all peoples, for praise, glory, and honor; and as He Himself promises: The just shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Deut. 26:19 Matt. 13:43 For, in order to manifest the power of His virtue marvelously and to work the cause of our salvation mercifully, He frequently honors on earth His faithful ones, whom He always crowns in heaven, working signs and wonders at their memorials: by which heretical depravity may be confounded and the Catholic faith confirmed.

We therefore, Saints are honored by God with miracles: dearest ones, render as great thanks as we can, though not as great as we ought, to Almighty God: who in our days, for the confirmation of the Catholic faith and the confusion of heretical depravity, evidently renews signs and powerfully changes wonders, causing them to shine with miracles who have held the Catholic faith in heart, in word, and also in deed.

[2] Among whom, Cunegonde of blessed memory, Roman Empress Augusta, who while living formerly in the world was preeminent in great merits, now living in heaven shines with many miracles, so that her sanctity may be confirmed by certain indications. For although for someone to be a Saint before God in the Church Triumphant, final perseverance alone suffices, as the Truth testifies, saying: He who shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved; And again: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life; nevertheless, for that same Saint to be held as such among men in the Church Militant, two things are necessary: the virtue of morals and the virtue of signs, namely merits and miracles, so that both these and those which together with virtues confirm sanctity: may mutually attest each other. Matt. 10:22 Rev. 2:10 For neither merits without miracles nor miracles without merits fully suffice to bear witness among men to sanctity: since sometimes the angel of Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, and some do their works to be seen by men. But also the magicians of Pharaoh once worked signs, and the Antichrist will at last work wonders, so that, if it were possible, even the elect might be led into error. Exod. 7 Matt. 24 But when sound merits precede and clear miracles follow, they provide a certain indication of sanctity, so that they may lead us to the veneration of the one whom God shows to be worthy of veneration by both preceding merits and subsequent miracles. These two things are more fully gathered from the words of the Evangelist, who speaking of the Apostles said: And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord cooperating and confirming the word with the signs that followed. Mark 16:20

[3] Now when the merits and miracles of the aforesaid Empress had come to the hearing of our predecessor, Pope Celestine of good memory, The matter of canonization was treated before Celestine III, as you reported them, so that he might form a more certain knowledge of them, he committed the investigation of them by Apostolic letters to our venerable Brothers the Bishops of Augsburg and Eichstatt and the Bishop of Wurzburg of good memory, and to our beloved sons the Abbots of Ebrach, Langheim, and Heilsbronn: after whose death the miracles began to be so manifestly revealed and multiplied that, from their evidence as well as their frequency, her sanctity is proclaimed by all as if it were notorious; as was recently disclosed to our Apostolate from many testimonial letters of Bishops, Abbots, Provosts, and Princes, as well as many others.

[4] Therefore, coming to the Apostolic See on your behalf, our beloved sons D., Abbot of Michelfeld, Gundelus the Dean, Conrad the Custos, Marcus the Archdeacon, Hermann the Subdeacon of your greater Church, Lupold the Deacon of Saint Stephen's, having sent legates again, Burchard the Deacon of Saint Mary's, Henry the Priest of Saint Michael's, Henry the Subdeacon of Saint Mary's, humbly besought us and our brethren that from the fullness of the power which Jesus Christ granted to Blessed Peter, we would deign to inscribe the aforesaid Empress in the Catalogue of Saints, decreeing that her memory should henceforth be celebrated among the Saints by all the faithful: since this sublime judgment pertains only to him who is the successor of Blessed Peter and the Vicar of Jesus Christ.

[5] We therefore, recognizing that this judgment is indeed the most sublime to be judged among all other judgments, wish to apply full caution in its examination. And for this reason we bound the aforesaid persons by the obligation of an oath, so that they would tell us the pure truth in this matter. They, having sworn, said that, an examination of virtues having been made, as they knew from both widespread fame and solemn written records, Blessed Cunegonde had been joined in matrimony to the holy Emperor Henry, but had not been carnally known by him. Whence, when the Lord Emperor was in his last moments, he said to the Princes and relatives concerning her: As you gave her to me, so I give her back to you: you gave her a Virgin, and I return her a Virgin. She therefore consecrated her virginity to the Lord and preserved it intact: so that when, at the instigation of the enemy of the human race, a certain suspicion once arose against her, she, to demonstrate her innocence, walked upon red-hot plowshares with bare feet and passed through unharmed.

[6] Likewise the holy Emperor Henry and this illustrious Empress Cunegonde founded and endowed the Church of Bamberg from their own resources: benefits conferred on the Church, which with all its appurtenances, out of the fervor of the devotion they had toward the Apostolic See, they offered to Blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, paying him an annual census as a sign that it is of the right of the Roman Church. But they also conferred many other benefits on pious places and venerable churches, making Christ their heir.

[7] These and other things they related concerning her merits; concerning miracles they asserted that in their presence and sight, at the memorial of this Virgin, the blind recovered sight, the lame their step, the mute their speech, and miracles, and the deaf their hearing, and others afflicted with various diseases frequently and evidently obtained full health: and what is of marvelous novelty and a new miracle, dust taken from her tomb was often converted into wheat.

[8] We therefore, having been made more certain of her many and great merits and miracles not only by testimonies but also by witnesses; since according to the Prophet, God is to be praised in His Saints; the canonization is accomplished: by the counsel of our brethren

and of many Bishops present at the Apostolic See, we have inscribed the same blessed Virgin Cunegonde in the Catalogue of Saints, and have decreed that her memory should be celebrated among the Saints. Ps. 150:1 Wherefore we admonish and exhort your whole community in the Lord, commanding by Apostolic letters, that what we have solemnly and cautiously established, you should humbly and devoutly observe, so that by her merits and prayers we may obtain indulgence before the most merciful Judge.

Moreover, we have composed the Collect and other prayers to be said in her commemoration, which we have thought fit to write below on this page. Prayer. prayers are prescribed. Almighty and merciful God, who exclude no sex from Your glory and shut out no condition, we humbly beseech You that, just as You have conferred upon Blessed Cunegonde Your Virgin, after the summit of earthly Empire, the throne of the heavenly kingdom: so by her merits and prayers, You may also bestow upon us Your servants the rewards of eternal happiness. Through our Lord.

Secret. We offer to You, O Lord our God, a sacrifice of praise, imploring Your clemency that through the power of this Sacrament, with Blessed Cunegonde Your Virgin interceding, You may both free us from sins and protect us from dangers. Through our Lord.

Postcommunion. May the Sacrament of human redemption, which we have offered in honor of Blessed Cunegonde, render us acceptable to You, O Lord, so that through this which we have both received from what is Yours and You have accepted from what is ours, we may always live in union with You: Who with the Father. Given at the Lateran, the third day before the Nones of April, in the third year of our Pontificate.