CONCERNING SAINT GODEGRAND, OR CHRODEGANG, BISHOP OF METZ ON THE MOSELLE,
IN THE YEAR 766.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Godegrand, or Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz (Saint)
Section I. Epitome of his Life described by Paul the Deacon.
[1] Paul, son of Warnefrid the Lombard, Deacon of Forum Julii, in book 6 of the Deeds of the Lombards, chapter 16, asserts that he wrote a book on the Bishops of the city of Metz at the request of Angilramnus, a most gentle man and distinguished for holiness, An epitome of the Life written by Paul the Deacon. Archbishop of the aforesaid Church. And since the said Angilramnus was the immediate successor of Saint Godegrand, Paul the Deacon was able to learn excellently from him and others the deeds of this Godegrand, which we describe here. Having narrated the Acts of his predecessor Sigibald, he proceeds thus.
[2] "Now here the outstanding man Chrodegang, to be extolled with all praises, is elected Bishop, a native of the district of Hesbaye, Saint Godegrand, of illustrious lineage, Referendary and Bishop, born of a father named Sigrammus and a mother named Landrada, of Frankish stock of the highest nobility. He was nurtured in the palace of the elder Charles himself, and served as his Referendary. At length, in the times of King Pippin, he merited the episcopal dignity. He was indeed most illustrious in every way, resplendent with every nobility, handsome in appearance, most eloquent in speech, versed in both the native tongue and Latin, a nurturer of the servants of God, not only a sustainer but also a most merciful guardian of orphans and widows. Since he was rich in all things, being singularly elected by King Pippin and the entire assembly of the Franks, he was sent to Rome He brings Pope Stephen to Gaul: and summoned the venerable Pope Stephen to Gaul, as the prayers of all desired. He assembled the clergy and made them live within the enclosures of cloisters in the manner of a monastery, and instituted a rule for them He prescribes a rule for the clergy: as to how they should serve in the Church. He generously provided them with sufficient allowances and means of living, so that, having no need to occupy themselves with perishable affairs, they might devote themselves solely to the divine offices. He ordered that same clergy, abundantly imbued with divine law and with the Roman chant, to observe the custom and order of the Roman Church -- which up to that time had by no means been done in the Church of Metz. He ordered to be built, with the help of King Pippin, the see of Saint Stephen the Protomartyr and his altar and chancels, the presbytery, and arches all around. He adorns the cathedral church. Likewise in the church of the Greater Blessed Peter he ordered a presbytery to be made. He also constructed an ambo adorned with gold and silver, and arches surrounding the throne before the altar itself. Furthermore, he built a monastery in the parish of Blessed Stephen, in the district of the Moselle, in honor of the most blessed Apostle Peter, He builds the monasteries of Saint Stephen and Gorze, and enriched it with great resources, and established monks there and united them in one charity under the rule of the holy Father Benedict. He also constructed another monastery, which is called Gorze, where in a like manner he assembled no small multitude of monks. He receives the bodies of three saints; Finally, he requested from Pope Paul three bodies of holy Martyrs, namely that of Blessed Gorgonius, which rests at Gorze, and that of Blessed Nabor, which is deposited in the Hilariacum monastery, and that of Blessed Nazarius, which he placed beyond the river Rhine in the monastery called Lorsch, having built a basilica of marvelous beauty in honor of that same Martyr. This estate Chilliswindis, a religious woman, and Cancro her son, had formerly conveyed to the same Bishop Chrodegang for the benefit of Blessed Stephen. For this blessed man was generous in alms, most pure in charity, a host of guests and pilgrims. But since it would take long to recount in order the good deeds he performed, let it suffice to have touched upon these few from among many. He consecrated very many bishops in various cities, likewise presbyters and deacons and the other Ecclesiastical Orders, as is the custom of the Roman Church, on the Saturdays of the four Ember seasons of the year. He was Bishop for 23 years, and died on March 6. He governed the Church of Metz for twenty-three years, five months, and five days. He died on the day before the Nones of March in the days of King Pippin. He rests in the monastery of Gorze, which he himself built from the foundations." So much from Paul the Deacon, who immediately concludes his treatise on the Bishops of Metz thus: "Here now, most holy Father, the series of the narrative awaits your beatitude. But I, not unmindful of my inadequacy, do not dare to attempt what must be set forth in a grander style concerning the praiseworthy course of your life."
Section II. The name, homeland, and office of Referendary of Saint Chrodegang. His illustrious lineage. Some opinions rejected.
[3] What is certain and undoubted about Saint Chrodegang is contained in the epitome of his life already given, to which some things must be added for greater clarity. First, his name is written in a remarkably varied manner: His name written variously. for he who is commonly called Chrodegang or Grodegang is written by the already-cited Paul the Deacon as Grodegang, by others as Chrodegang, Khrodegang, Crothgang, and even Ruodgang, Rutgang, Ruggand, and perhaps Droctegang. He is then said to be a native of the district of Hesbaye. In the division of the kingdom of Lothair between his uncles, Ludwig of Germany and Charles the Bald of France, made in the year 870, four counties in Hesbaye were attached to the kingdom of Charles. Hesbaye, his homeland. Hesbaye or Hasbania was formerly a quite extensive region, through that part of present-day Brabant which around Louvain was formerly subject in ecclesiastical jurisdiction to the Bishop of Liege, together with the neighboring large part of that diocese. Not far from Tienen, in the prefecture of Geet under the town of Landa, can be seen a double Hasbanum, upper and lower, from which that region seems to have received its name. The said Landa was a town of Blessed Pippin, Duke and Mayor of the Palace of the Kings of Austrasia, where he was also buried, but later translated thence to Nivelles, as we said in his Life on February 21, and some things will be said in the Life of his daughter Saint Gertrude on March 17. Another daughter of Blessed Pippin was Saint Begga, whose sacred day is December 17; she, married to Ansegisel, bore him Pippin the Stout or of Herstal, father of Charles Martel, in whose palace Saint Godegrand was nurtured The office of Referendary, in the year 737. and served as his Referendary. He certainly subscribed to the charter by which Charles donated Clichy to the monastery of Saint Denis in this way: "Crotgang, having been ordered, I acknowledged this letter of donation. Done on September 17 in the fifth year after the death of King Theoderic." This is the year of Christ 737 or the one next following.
[4] But about his family there is somewhat greater controversy. He is said by Paul the Deacon to be "the son of his father Sigrammus and his mother Landrada, born of Frankish stock of the highest nobility." The monks of Gorze, Landrada his mother was not a daughter of Charles Martel, in order to favor their holy founder, seem to have wished to derive him from the lineage of the said Charles Martel, as if the mother of Saint Godegrand, Landrada, had been a daughter of Charles by his first wife Rotrud. But the said Paul the Deacon would not have been silent about this. Then the dates of Charles himself and of Saint Godegrand stand in the way. For, as the history written by order of Childebrand and appended to Fredegar has in chapters 103 and 104, "Pippin begot Charles from Alpheida, and the boy grew elegant, and he became outstanding. In those days King Childebert died," The ages of both do not permit it, namely in the year 711. Then when his father Pippin of Herstal died on December 16 of the year 714, Charles, still a youth,
was held in custody by Plectrude, from whom he was freed at the time when King Dagobert III died and Chilperic, previously a cleric called Daniel, was made King — events which occurred in the year 715. Then in the following year wars were waged between Chilperic and Charles Martel with losses suffered on both sides; but in the year 717, when Chilperic was defeated at Vinchy on March 21 and escaped in flight to Aquitaine, the victorious Charles seems to have taken Rotrud as his wife, who is reported to have died in the year 725 in the brief Frankish Annals of the monastery of Saint Nazarius, first published by Freher, then by André du Chesne in volume 2 of the Writers of Frankish History, page 3. But even if it be said that Landrada was born before Carloman and Pippin, indeed in the year 718, and that she afterwards married Sigrammus and bore Godegrand in the sixteenth year of her age, how could the latter, barely three years old in the year 737, have acknowledged as Referendary of Charles Martel the letter of donation?
[5] Meanwhile a charter of Gorze is produced from Meurissius, On the Bishops of Metz, page 168, with this opening: "I, Grodegang, together with the will of the most illustrious Pippin, Pippin the King, uncle of Saint Godegrand in the corrupt Gorzian charters, renowned King of the Franks, OUR UNCLE, and with the consent of all our Peers, etc." But in the manuscript Chartulary of Gorze the same opening is exhibited with which Meurissius on the preceding page had published another charter of donation with this better formula: "I, Chrodegang, although unworthy — if not in deed, at least in name — by the grace of God Bishop of Metz, together with the leave and will of the most illustrious man Pippin, renowned King, our Lord, and with the consent of all our Peers, etc." And here "our Lord," that is, Master, for which the name of uncle was ineptly inserted above. Moreover Pippin himself in another charter of foundation on page 166 asserts that he donates, admonished by the prayers of the venerable Archbishop Chrodegang, with no mention added of any blood relationship, as is usually done. Meanwhile on the same page 166 this testimony from an ancient parchment is published: "Khrodegang, a most illustrious hero of the royal Carolingian family, nephew of Pippin through his sister Landrada, first Referendary or Chancellor of the kingdom of France under the Kings..." then "Bishop of the august Basilica of Mediomatricum, etc." Buchet, in the proofs for the second lineage of the royal family of the Kings of France, supplied what was perhaps omitted because it could not be read due to age, and wrote "under King Pippin," although from what has already been said it is manifest that he was Referendary of Charles Martel. Furthermore, that manner of writing "of the royal Carolingian family" is not so ancient, and began to be introduced at least under the third lineage of the Capetians for greater distinction. Then Charles and Pippin were not Kings before Saint Chrodegang assumed the episcopate. Finally, on page 164 there exists an endowment by which King Pippin endowed the church of Gorze on the day it was dedicated: but it is very ineptly interpolated, beginning thus: "Therefore, when the said monastery was completed, and twelve religious together with the Abbot were ordained and provided with necessities, the same Bishop Chrodegang, urged by ecclesiastical necessity, set out for Rome: and just as first, to anoint King Pippin, he had brought the blessed Pope Stephen to France, so also then for ecclesiastical utility he brought the holy John, the Apostolic one, to Alemannia; as also the fictitious Pope John. and at Mainz he caused a Council to be celebrated with many Bishops. Therefore, when all things for which the Apostolic one had come were accomplished, the venerable Bishop brought him together with the King his uncle and many Bishops to Gorze by his prayers, to bless the aforesaid monastery." But who was the Roman Pontiff called John at that time, when in the fifty years already elapsed — indeed, not even in the hundred years following — did any Pontiff named John sit? After Stephen III died in the year 757, his own brother Paul I succeeded, who died in the year 767, and thus was alive in the year 761, when the Church of Gorze is established as having been dedicated. Nor is there any trace of a journey undertaken by the said Paul toward Germany, or of any Council held at Mainz at that time. All of which, together with the King as uncle, can be judged to have been inserted without foundation, and indeed before the time of Sigebert, the monk of Gembloux, who confesses that in his early youth he lived at Metz in the church of Saint Vincent to instruct boys: whence what he there copied, Sigebert and others rashly followed, he later inserted into his Chronicle at the year 758 in these words: "Walpert, Abbot in Italy, and Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, nephew of King Pippin through his sister Landrada, flourish in Gaul; he founded the monastery of Gorze in the diocese of Metz." Sigebert was copied by Vincent of Beauvais, book 23 of the Mirror of History, chapter 158, and followed everywhere by others, especially writers of the royal family — the Sainte-Marthes, Buchet, and the like.
[6] François Lanovius, On the Holy Chancellors of France, in the notes to the Life of Saint Godegrand, thinks that Landrada was a sister of Pippin the Stout, or of Herstal, and therefore a daughter of Ansegisel and Saint Begga. But from mere conjecture we do not dare to assert this. Whether Landrada was a sister of Pippin of Herstal. The dates indeed agree, so that he could then have been Referendary in the palace of Charles Martel. But many could have lived who were of the first nobility of the Franks, which is all that Paul the Deacon said. The same Lanovius adds that from the same house there was a Saint Landrada, Virgin and Abbess, whose Life, written by Abbot Theoderic, Surius described at July 8: not the mother of Saint Landrada, nor does it seem improbable that she was a sister of Saint Godegrand, since she is also said to be a granddaughter of Pippin, and therefore can be believed to have borne her mother's name. Whence also Buchet makes Landrada the Virgin a sister of Saint Godegrand, daughter of Sigrammus and Landrada. But Saint Landrada is said to be a granddaughter of Blessed Pippin of Landen and Saint Arnulf, Mayors of the Palace of Chlothar II; then, inflamed by the virtues of Saints Remacle and Trudo, she left her homeland, and finally died in the time of Saint Lambert the Bishop around the year 680 or 690, and therefore should be considered rather an aunt or great-aunt of the other Landrada than a daughter. The brother of Saint Godegrand, or Rutgang, seems to have been Gundeland, the first Abbot of the monastery of Lorsch, Brothers of Saint Godegrand: Gundeland, Abbot of Lorsch, in whose Chronicle, published by Marquard Freher, it is said that Rutgang placed Gundeland, HIS BROTHER, over it, "IN ALL THINGS LIKE HIS BROTHER," and that Gundeland governed the place entrusted to him by his brother with the utmost industry and observance of religion, and that Gundeland rightfully possessed what had been conferred upon him by HIS BROTHER without contradiction. And Charlemagne in the eighth year of his reign, the year of Christ 776, acknowledges that Gundeland was present and stated that Williswinda or Cancor had handed over or confirmed to HIS BROTHER, the Lord Archbishop Ruodgang. And afterwards in the year 779, Gundeland is reported to have laid down the burden of the flesh and migrated to the heavenly realms. Concerning the descendants of another brother of Saint Godegrand, Thegan writes the following in the Deeds of the Emperor Louis the Pious, number 4: "The aforesaid Louis, after he reached maturity, and father of Ingorram, father-in-law of Louis the Pious, betrothed to himself the daughter of the most noble Duke Ingorram, who was the son of the brother of Rutgang the holy Bishop. The aforesaid maiden was called Irmingard, whom by the counsel and consent of his father he made Queen, and from her he had three sons while his father was still living, of whom one was called Lothair, another Pippin, and the third bore his own name, Louis." The Emperors, Kings, and Princes descended from these are everywhere well known. Indeed, their sister is believed to be Adelais, from whose second marriage with Robert the Strong was born Robert, father of Hugh the Great, from whom was descended Hugh Capet, King of the Franks, and all the remaining Kings down to the present time.
Section III. The Embassy of Saint Godegrand to Pope Stephen III. Acts for the Restoration of Ravenna and Other Cities. Bodies of Saints Obtained from Paul I. Monasteries Built.
[7] Our Brower, in book 7 of the Annals of Trier, under Archbishop Hildolf, writes the following: "Chrodegang or Chrodegangus, Bishop of Metz during these days, and great in Austrasia for the conduct of affairs and for ecclesiastical worship and monasteries, having entered into a certain contest of liberality with himself, Made Bishop of Metz added a remarkable distinction to his metropolis by wonderfully enlarging and adorning them: he left a name most worthy of immortal praise in the Church of Metz on account of the greatness of his merits. Wherefore all the greater effort had to be made lest so great a virtue should lie longer in darkness. And I observe that his name was scarcely known to foreigners, and Anastasius the Librarian, in his account of Stephen, salutes him as a most holy Bishop, though with a distorted name." He was made Bishop of Metz around the Kalends of October in the year 742, around the year 742, when Pippin, together with his brother Carloman, presided over the kingdom of the Franks without any other King, so that for this very reason he is said by Paul the Deacon to have merited the pontifical dignity in the times of King Pippin. The rest will be more fully established below, when we treat of his death.
[8] Concerning his journey to Pope Stephen, the following is read in the Chronicle of Lorsch: "Among other very memorable deeds, summoning Pope Stephen to Gaul and girding Pippin with all the forces of the Franks against the tyranny of the Lombards, he devoted constant zeal and effort to having the exarchate of Ravenna and many patrimonies of Blessed Peter restored to the Roman See. Sent to Rome to Pope Stephen, Anastasius the Librarian, in his account of Pope Stephen, touches on some things. 'There was sent to Rome by King Pippin,' he says, 'Rodigang the Abbot' (this is Saint Chrodegang), 'through whom he promised that he would fulfill every wish and petition of the aforesaid King... And when the city of Rome and the strongholds near it were more vehemently oppressed by the Lombards, the envoys of King Pippin were immediately present — Rodigang the Bishop and Duke Autchar — in order to lead the aforesaid most holy Pope, as he had sent to request, to his King of France. He leads him out to King Aistulf, Then the same most blessed Pope set out from this city of Rome to Blessed Peter the Apostle on the 14th day of the month of October, in the 7th indiction... After the Pontiff entered the city of Pavia and was presented to King Aistulf, he bestowed many gifts upon him, beseeching with tears that he would return the Lord's sheep which he had taken away, and restore to each his own: but he was by no means able to obtain this. The aforesaid envoys of the Franks, moreover, pressed upon the same Aistulf to allow the Pope to proceed to France... To this end, in the presence of Bishop Rodigang, he asked him whether he wished to go to France. The Pope replied to him, thence to France, 'If it is your will to release me, it is entirely my will to go.' Then... on the 15th day of the month of November of the aforesaid 7th indiction, having departed from the city of Pavia, he set out for France... all the way to the palace with the King, on the 6th day of the month of January, on the most sacred solemnity of the Apparition of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: and there, sitting together within the oratory, the Pope tearfully besought the most Christian King to arrange the cause of Blessed Peter and the Roman Republic through a peace treaty. The King immediately satisfied the same Pope by oath... he took care to proceed to the venerable monastery of Blessed Dionysius for wintering... After some days the same King Pippin, by the grace of Christ, was anointed by the same most holy Pope together with his two sons as Kings of the Franks..."
[9] Furthermore, Pippin, as a truly faithful servant of Blessed Peter and obedient to the Pope's admonitions, sent his envoys to King Aistulf, and twice and a third time entreated him, promising him many gifts, if only he would restore to each his own: but Aistulf delayed to obey. Whether the one sent repeatedly to Aistulf was Saint Godegrand, Wherefore the same outstanding King of the Franks, seeing that he could not soften his stony heart, decreed to make a general campaign against him. And when the columns of the Frankish armies were already marching through nearly half the journey, again the same most holy man besought the most benign King Pippin to send once more to the most savage Aistulf, King of the Lombards, if in some way he could at last calm his savagery and would most wholesomely persuade him to restore to each his own, without the shedding of human blood. And so it was done, and again the same most benign King of the Franks sent his envoys to the same Aistulf... But rather, on the contrary, he directed threats and indignation toward the aforesaid Pontiff and the most excellent King Pippin and all the Franks." These things are recorded there, which were done in the year 753 and the following year. Then, as Einhard says in the Annals, King Pippin entered Italy with a strong force, besieged Haistulf, King of the Lombards, in the city of Pavia, and received hostages for the restoration of what had been taken from the Roman Church. When these were given... as the Annals of Saint-Bertin and others report, Pope Stephen was escorted back to the Holy See by the envoys of the Lord King Pippin — Fulrad and the rest who were with him. But when King Aistulf rebelled in the year 755, Pavia was again besieged, He labors for the restoration of the cities, and Ravenna was restored to the Apostolic See together with twenty other cities, as was said on February 17, Section 2, in the Life of Saint Fulrad the Abbot, who was placed in charge of this restoration with supreme authority: Saint Godegrand also devoted constant zeal and effort, as has already been said from the Chronicle of Lorsch, and is confirmed by what will be said next.
[10] The same Chronicle of Lorsch begins thus with Saint Godegrand: "In the year of the Lord's Incarnation 764... Cancor, the illustrious Count of the district of Rheims, together with his mother, the religious and God-pleasing Williswinda, widow of Count Rupert, founding a monastery at Lorsch, on the island which is now called Altenmünster, committed it to the venerable Rutgang, Archbishop of the Church of Metz, to establish there the service of monastic profession, He receives the governance of the monastery of Lorsch, subjecting it to the jurisdiction or dominion of no bishopric or anyone else: but because they could not accomplish this by themselves, they commended it to him as a kinsman and at that time a man most distinguished in the affairs of God, to be completed and governed under the title of a grant... The reverend Bishop Rutgang therefore gladly embraced the wish and petition of the venerable Williswinda and her son Cancor; and since he could not carry out the care and governance of the monastery himself (being constantly occupied with both ecclesiastical and royal affairs), he placed over that place Gundeland, his own brother, a very prudent man of holy life, in all things like his brother, He transfers it to his brother, and commended it with all its appurtenances to his administration under the same terms in which they had been handed over to himself. He also sent brothers of mature age and counsel, God-fearing men — Reginfrid and Ulwin with fourteen others — from the monastery of Gorze (which he himself had previously built), furnishing them with all necessities both in food and in other provisions."
[11] "Meanwhile, having sent legates to the Apostolic See, for whose liberation from the oppression of King Haistulf of the Lombards he had labored with great persistence, he sought from Pope Paul the bodies of holy Martyrs, He receives from Pope Paul in whose honor he might consecrate the churches of the monasteries he had built. The Apostolic Pontiff, pursuing his devotion and merit toward the Roman Church with due favor, three bodies of Saints, sent him Saints Nazarius, Nabor, and Gorgonius, delivered through Williharius, Bishop of Sion, to the monastery of Gorze. When a year had elapsed, he placed Saint Gorgonius in the Church of Gorze and Saint Nabor in the Church of Hilariacum; but he destined Blessed Nazarius for the monastery of Lorsch. To meet his arrival, the entire province all at once, and the people of both sexes — youths and virgins, He destines Saint Nazarius for Lorsch, old men with the young — rushed in crowds all the way to the forest called the Vosges, and the most noble Counts Cancor and Warin and the other illustrious and distinguished men of that region received the treasure of the blessed body, divinely destined for them, on their own shoulders; and with hymns and spiritual canticles, with an infinite multitude of people following, they bore it all the way to the place provided by heaven. But because the bosom of that island, being quite small and narrow, was not sufficient for the reception of so great a multitude and the daily throng, and the site of the place itself was not entirely suitable for a monastery that would later be of such great name and dignity through the merits of its Martyr, He causes the monastery to be transferred to another place, the wishes of all were the same, and the same was their judgment: that both the monastery and the church structure should be transferred to a higher place, as can now be seen, and greatly enlarged. The execution of this matter was strictly enjoined upon Abbot Gundeland by the venerable Bishop, and was carried out by him energetically and magnificently. For not long after, the Bishop, taken from human affairs, migrated to the Lord — an outstanding man of incomparable merit, to be extolled with all praises."
[12] Concerning the translation of these Martyrs, Lambert of Schafnaburg, Marianus Scotus, the author of the Annals of Fulda, and others write at the year 765, and Sigebert of Gembloux at the preceding year 764 in these words: "Bishop Chrodegang translated the bodies of the Martyrs Gorgonius, Nabor, and Nazarius from Rome to Gaul: and he placed Gorgonius at Gorze, Nabor in the monastery of Hilariacum, The body of Saint Nabor he gives to Hilariacum, and Nazarius he deposited in the monastery of Lorsch, which the illustrious Count Canthuyr had founded and handed over to the Church of Metz in the preceding year." Nabor and Nazarius are venerated on June 12, having suffered martyrdom at Rome on the Appian Way together with Saints Basilides and Cyrinus in the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. Concerning the monastery of Hilariacum, or Helera, now called the monastery of Saint Nabor on account of the relics brought there, we treated above in the Life of Saint Fridolin, whom the monks acknowledge as their first founder. Concerning the monastery of Gorze, and Saint Gorgonius at Gorze, founded by Saint Chrodegang, we treated at length in the Life of Blessed John, Abbot of Gorze, on February 27, Section 1, which is not to be repeated here. Saint Gorgonius, whose body is preserved there, is venerated on September 9. Saint Godegrand brought the body to Gorze in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 765, in the third indiction, on the fourth day before the Ides of March, as the ancient Gorzian records themselves attest, and the solemnity of this Translation is inscribed in certain sacred calendars on that day.
Section IV. Time of his See, Death, Sacred Cult, and Other Collected Items.
[13] Saint Godegrand, as Paul the Deacon attests, governed the Church of Metz for twenty-three years, He dies in the year 766, five months, and five days: namely from the Kalends of October, as we said above, of the year 742, to this March 6 of the year 766. Thus, not long after the already-mentioned bodies of Saints had been translated, the Chronicle of Lorsch indicates that he migrated to the Lord. Indeed, in the manuscript Chronicle of Sigebert, which is preserved in the library of the Queen of Sweden, after the account of the Translation of the said bodies, it is added: "Chrodegang, Bishop of Metz, died" — that is, since after the translation of Saint Gorgonius, the bodies of Saint Nabor to Hilariacum and of Saint Nazarius to the monastery of Lorsch were conveniently translated in the same year 765, those who were accustomed to begin the year from Easter necessarily referred the day of March 6 to the preceding year, which for us is the year 766.
[14] In the Martyrology of the Cathedral Church of Metz, at March 6, his memory is celebrated thus: Inscribed in martyrologies at March 6, "At Metz, the deposition of Saint Grodegang, Archbishop and Confessor." Molanus has the same in his Supplement to Usuard. But Hermann Greven, Canisius, and Ferrarius call him only a Bishop. In the manuscript Florarium the following is found: "In the city of Metz, of Saint Crodegang, Bishop and Confessor of the same city. He translated the bodies of the holy Martyrs Gorgonius, Nabor, and Nazarius from Rome to Gaul, in the year of salvation 764. In the following year this blessed Bishop died." Molanus, in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium, composed a eulogy from the book about his Life, which however he asserts he had not read, but that many things are cited from it in century eight, chapter ten. In that eulogy he reports that Landrada, the mother of Saint Godegrand, was a sister of King Pippin, whether he studied as a youth in the monastery of Saint Trudo? which we rejected above. Then that Saint Godegrand devoted himself to letters and piety first in the monastery of Saint Trudo, then at Metz: which Miraeus in the Belgian Calendar, Fisen in the Flowers of Liège, and Saussay in Christian Gaul copy from there. We find nothing about this matter in the manuscript Chronicle of Saint Trudo, in whose book 2, chapter 9, it is said that Godegrand, Bishop of Metz, once came to the town of Sarcinium for the benefit of his Church: from among whose servants a certain boy had deserved the punishment of correction for some offense, and fearing that he would be disciplined with harsher beatings, he fled to the monastery of Saint Trudo; the Bishop's household servants, pursuing him with rash boldness and desiring to drag him out by force, broke down the doors of the church: on account of a miracle performed there, against them the right hand of the Most High immediately resisted, and a fiery thunderbolt falling from heaven lit the candles standing by the sacred altars, and the presumptuous perpetrators of such violence, struck with terror, were by no means able to lay hands on the offender. The devout holy Bishop therefore, in testimony of so great a miracle, remitting the boy's fault, devoted to Saint Trudo, rebuked his attendants for the invasion of so celebrated a monastery, and commending himself in his prayers to the holy Patron Trudo under such a defensible protection, imploring pardon, he returned to the city of Metz.
[15] Molanus further reports that he received the pallium, the insignia of an Archbishop, and the power of ordaining Bishops throughout all of Gaul, from Pope Stephen, which are read from the Gorzian Codex in Meurissius, page 166 — which likewise Saussay, whence he was called Archbishop, Miraeus, Fisen, and others copy. And they think that the name of Archbishop adhered to him from this, which Lanovius judges to have been conferred on account of the dignity of his birth.
[16] François Rosier, in volume 3 of the Genealogies of Lorraine, Historical chapter 53, folio 155 near the end, has the following: "Gundegrannus, Bishop of Metz, built the choir and sanctuary of the church of Metz, paved the church of Saint Peter; He benefits the church of Metz and the monastery, there he set up stalls, adorned them with gold and silver, endowed the monastery, and established Brothers in it, in which afterwards nuns rendered worship to God." Then near the end of the following page: "The church of Verdun," he says, "burned together with its documents and ecclesiastical treasure, for whose restoration Gondegrannus of Metz and Jacob of Toul, the Bishops, expended a great sum of money." and the church of Verdun, destroyed by fire: This Bishop Jacob subscribed in the year 756 to the donation made by Saint Grodegang to the monastery of Gorze. Concerning this fire of the church of Verdun, and the assistance rendered by the said Bishops,
Richard Wassebourg also treats in his Magdaleum under the 23rd Bishop of Verdun.
[17] Ghinius inscribed him among the Holy Canons: but he blunders when in place of Hesbaye he writes Spain, in which he would have been born of illustrious stock. The rule which Paul the Deacon indicated above was written by him for the clergy, distinguished into 86 chapters, was published by Luc d'Achery in volume 1 of the Spicilegium, and he calls it the Rule of Canons: in whose Preface Saint Godegrand asserts He wrote a Rule for the clergy. that he wished, compelled by necessity, to make a small decree, by which the clergy might restrain themselves from illicit things, put aside vicious practices, and abandon evils long and widely adopted, so that when the mind is emptied of habitual vices, good and excellent things might more easily be implanted. He adds: "Intent upon the Sacred Scriptures, we decree that all should be of one mind, assiduous in the Divine Offices and sacred readings, and prepared for obedience to their Bishop and Provost, as the canonical order demands, joined in charity, bound together by good zeal and most fervent love, removed from quarrels, scandals, and hatreds, etc." D'Achery observes in his preface to this Spicilegium addressed to the Reader that the Fathers of the Council of Aachen, held under Louis the Pious, esteemed this rule of Godegrand so highly that whatever was conducive to the canonical formation of clerical morals, they transferred to their own decrees, though suppressing his name. As d'Achery everywhere indicates in his marginal notes, he also observes that many things excerpted from the Rule of Saint Benedict are found therein.