Easterwin

ON ST. EASTERWIN, ABBOT OF WEARMOUTH IN ENGLAND,

IN THE YEAR 685.

Preliminary Commentary.

Easterwin, Abbot of Wearmouth in England (St.)

[1] The Saints Benedict, surnamed Biscop, and Easterwin or Esterwin were cousins, descended from the nobler English: both having left the service of the Kings of Northumbria, the former of Oswiu, the latter of Egfrid his son, [St. Easterwin is appointed by St. Benedict Biscop as Abbot of the monastery of Jarrow,] converted to the monastic life, they lived illustrious in holiness in the region of Durham: in which St. Benedict constructed two monasteries, Wearmouth in the year 672 at the mouth of the River Wear, and Jarrow near the River Tyne, the former in honor of St. Peter, the latter of St. Paul, whose sacred thresholds he had visited five times by pilgrimage to Rome. St. Benedict is venerated on January 12, at which date we have illustrated his Acts. The Westminster chronicler in his Flowers of History at the year 703 writes thus among other things about St. Benedict: Filling these monasteries with religious monks, he appointed Ceolfrid as Superior in one and Easterwin in the other. This he did so that both in his absence and presence the Regular observance would always be maintained. The Worcester chronicler explains individual matters more carefully at the year 682, and indeed about the Wearmouth monastery thus: The most reverend Abbot Benedict Biscop, choosing the priest Easterwin, his cousin, distinguished for holiness, from his monastery, appointed him Abbot of the same monastery of St. Peter with the right of governing it. He then proceeds about the construction of the other monastery, and writes these things: King Egfrid for the redemption of his soul also gave another tract of land of forty hides to Abbot Benedict: where, having sent monks numbering twenty-two with Abbot Ceolfrid as Superior, his most energetic helper in all things, by the King's command he built a monastery to the Blessed Apostle Paul in the place called Jarrow. Then the same Worcester chronicler assigns the death of St. Easterwin at the year 685 in these words: he dies in the year 685, A great storm of pestilence seizing Britain devastated it with widespread death: in which Easterwin, the Abbot beloved of God, was taken to the Lord on the Nones of March. In his place the Brothers, with the counsel of Abbot Ceolfrid, March 7, namely of the Jarrow monastery, appointed as Abbot a man of wonderful holiness and abundantly instructed in the study of the Scriptures, Sigfrid, a Deacon of the same monastery. St. Sigfrid succeeds him. For St. Benedict was absent at his death, having set out for Rome, and returned enriched with gifts of ecclesiastical treasures and laden with foreign merchandise. St. Ceolfrid is venerated on September 25, St. Sigfrid on August 22.

[2] Edward Maihew in the Trophies of the English Congregation of the Order of St. Benedict (for he ascribes him to this Order) inserts the following in the Life of St. Sigfrid: Bede wrote their Life, Of these Abbots indeed, namely Benedict Biscop, Ceolfrid, Easterwin, Sigfrid and Huetbert, who succeeded Ceolfrid when the rest had died, the holy and Venerable Bede, a monk of those same monasteries, who knew all of them in person, consigned their deeds to posterity. We have this history of his in manuscript, which, God willing, we shall publish at the end of this work. We give it here, transcribed from there. But concerning the death of St. Easterwin, the same Bede writes these few words in the Life of St. Sigfrid his successor: Among the joyful things which Benedict brought from Rome, he found sad ones at home, namely that the venerable priest Easterwin, whom he had appointed Abbot on his departure, together with no small number of the Brothers committed to him, had already departed this world as the pestilence raged everywhere. But there was consolation for him, because he learned that in place of Easterwin an equally reverend and most gentle man from the same monastery, namely the Deacon Sigfrid, had been promptly appointed through the love of his Brothers and of his co-Abbot Ceolfrid. from him Simeon of Durham, Simeon of Durham at the beginning of his History of the Deeds of the Kings of the English inserts excerpts from the said Acts, prefacing them thus: How this was done, the truthful Bede testifies in the Life of his most blessed Abbot Benedict and Ceolfrid... Certain things which were done in the days of these Abbots, it is pleasing to insert in this our work, so that those who have not read their Life may hear how great a flame of Christianity shone in those days in these very regions, as Bede says in his writings. And after all has been related, the following is appended: These things which are written, we have excerpted from the writings of the most blessed Bede. and Capgrave. John Capgrave in his New Legend of England, printed at London in the year 1516, published the Life of St. Esterwin, and nearly in the words of the Venerable Bede, only with the beginning omitted, in which he plainly errs, placing him as Abbot under St. Ceolfrid in the Jarrow monastery of St. Paul, whereas he was appointed by St. Benedict as his substitute Abbot in the Wearmouth monastery dedicated to St. Peter.

[3] His feast on these Nones of March, on which he died, is inscribed in the ancient manuscript Calendar of St. Maximin near Trier, and in the English Martyrology of Richard Whitford, Memory of him in the calendar on March 7, printed at London in the year 1526, in these words: In the monastery of St. Paul near the River Tyne in England, the feast of St.

Esterwin, Abbot of that place, and a man of great perfection. The error about the monastery of St. Paul, drawn from Capgrave, was corrected by others who inscribed him in their calendars, as the above-cited Edward Maihew, and following him Menardus and Bucelinus. Likewise Wilson in the later edition of the English Martyrology, citing the Flowers of the more Illustrious Lives of the Saints of England, Scotland, and Ireland by Jerome Porter, who published a Life translated by himself into English.

LIFE

By the Venerable Bede:

Published by Simeon of Durham and Edward Maihew.

Easterwin, Abbot of Wearmouth in England (St.)

By Bede.

[1] When the devout servant of Christ Biscop, surnamed Benedict, with the help of heavenly grace, had built two monasteries, one in honor of the Prince of the Apostles, Peter, near the mouth of the River Wear, the other not far from the mouth of the River Tyne in the town called Jarrow; he appointed Ceolfrid as Abbot over the latter, around the year of Christ six hundred and eighty-two. St. Easterwin appointed as Abbot by St. Benedict, At the same time, choosing the priest Easterwin from the monastery of Blessed Peter, he appointed him Abbot of the same monastery of St. Peter with the right of governing it, so that what burden he could not bear alone, he might bear more lightly with the shared strength of a most beloved fellow-soldier. Indeed Benedict himself did this so that the Regular observance would always be maintained, lest on account of the travels of that labor the monarchy of holy discipline should be less well guarded. Nor should it seem wrong to anyone that one monastery had two Abbots simultaneously: this was done because of his frequent traveling for the benefit of the monastery, his frequent departures across the sea, and his uncertain return. For the histories tell us that even the most blessed Apostle Peter at Rome appointed two Bishops under himself in succession to govern the Church, when the cause of necessity demanded it. And the great Abbot Benedict himself, as the blessed Pope Gregory writes of him, placed twelve Abbots under himself without detriment to charity, indeed for its increase.

[2] Easterwin therefore assumed the care of governing the monastery in the ninth year since it was founded: and he continued in it until his death for four years. from a most noble man, supremely humble, A man noble according to the world: but turning the distinction of his nobility not into material for boasting, as some do, and contempt of others, but rather, as befits a servant of God, into a greater nobility of spirit: for he was a cousin of his Abbot Benedict. But so great was the nobility of mind in both men, such the contempt of worldly nobility as nothing: that neither did the one think he should seek for himself any honor above others on account of kinship or nobility upon entering the monastery, nor did the other think it should be offered: but living with equal measure as the Brothers in good purpose, he gloried in keeping the Regular discipline in all things. And indeed, though he had been a minister of King Egfrid, having once left behind secular affairs, laid down his arms, and taken up the spiritual warfare, he remained so humble and so like the other Brothers, he performs the most menial tasks, that he was glad to winnow and thresh with them, to milk the sheep and calves, to labor cheerfully and obediently in the bakehouse, in the garden, in the kitchen, and in all the works of the monastery. But even when he had assumed the name, governance, and rank of Abbot, he remained in the same spirit as before toward all, according to what a certain Wise Man admonishes, saying: They have made you a ruler, do not be exalted, but be among them as one of them. For he was gentle, affable, and kind to all: and indeed where he found it opportune, he would restrain sinners with regular discipline, but yet was more diligent in admonishing with his inborn habit of love, lest anyone should wish to sin, and anyone from his very kindness should take greater license to sin and hide the most limpid light of his goodness with the cloud of his own wickedness. Often, going away somewhere to attend to the business of the monastery, where he found the Brothers working, he was accustomed to join them at once in their work, whether guiding the plow by the handle, or beating iron with a hammer, or shaking the winnowing-fan with his hand, or doing something else. For he was a young man strong in body, gentle in speech, cheerful in spirit, generous in beneficence, and dignified in appearance.

[3] He always ate the same food as the other Brothers, and in the same room. He himself slept in the common place where he had before he was Abbot: he admits no privileges for himself, to such a degree that even when seized by illness, and already foreknowing his death from certain signs, he still rested for two days in the dormitory of the Brothers. For the remaining five days until the hour of his departure, he placed himself in a more secluded room: from which one day going out, the sick man bids farewell to his own, and sitting in the open air, with all the Brothers summoned to him, in the manner of a compassionate nature, he gave them, weeping and mourning the departure of so great a Father and Pastor, the kiss of peace. He died on the Nones of March at night, he dies, while the Brothers were occupied with the praise of the morning psalmody. He was twenty-four years old when he entered the monastery, he lived in it for twelve years: he served seven years in the priesthood, and for the last four of those years he governed the monastery: and thus leaving behind his earthly limbs and dying members, he sought the heavenly kingdom: that he might place two crowns upon his head according to the meaning of his name, that is, Easter and Wine, he himself the renowned one receiving the true Passover, which is the true victory song.

* variant: young man.

* variant: of restlessness.

* manuscript: stiba.

ON BLESSED VOLKER, MARTYR AT SEGEBERG IN HOLSTEIN.

IN THE YEAR 1132.

Volker, Martyr at Segeberg in Holstein (B.)

BHL Number: 8553

[1] Whatever regions extend beyond the Elbe from Bohemia to the Baltic Sea, the Slavic people held, from the times of Charlemagne onward; and having been gradually subdued by arms and subjected to imperial rule, they had also received the gentle yoke of Christ; The collapse of Christian affairs among the northern Slavs, so that Adam of Bremen, writing of his own, that is, the eleventh century of the Christian era, book 2 chapter 17, says that King Svein had testified to him that Slavonia, divided into twenty-one districts, with three of them excepted, had been entirely converted to the worship of Christianity. But within a short time there followed such a revolution of affairs that all the churches subject to the metropolis of Bremen to the north were reduced to a wasteland, as the Slavs returned to their ancestral superstitions: to such a degree that in those days (in which Lothar, or Lothair, was crowned with the imperial crown by Pope Innocent) there was no church or priest among the entire nation of the Lutici, Obodrites, and Wagrians; as Albert of Stade attests in his chronicle at the year 1133.

[2] But God raised up an excellent healer for the struggling Christian cause in St. Vicelin, St. Vicelin comes to the rescue, who, after other distinguished works of an Evangelical preacher, at the request of the people of Faldera (now called Neumünster, and it is, as it were, the navel of the Holstein domain) was sent by Archbishop Adalbero of Bremen, and so cultivated the whole district that not only did the entire populace embrace the Christian faith, but also, when the fame of holiness by which Vicelin's name was widely celebrated became known, many from both the clergy and the lay order came together to him...who, bound by sacred covenants, resolved to embrace the celibacy of life, to persevere in prayer and fasting, to be exercised in works of piety, to visit the sick, to feed the needy, to care for their own and their neighbors' salvation, above all being solicitous for the conversion of the Slavs. To provide for these and for the new flock with the protection of Imperial majesty, Vicelin suggested to Emperor Lothair in the year next following his coronation, that on a mountain overlooking Faldera at a distance of five hours, he advises Emperor Lothair to build the fortress of Segeberg, which the inhabitants called Aelberg, he should construct a fortress.

[3] When this had been completed despite the vain resistance of the enraged Slavs and at their expense, and for the sake of a favorable omen named Segeberg, that is, the mountain of victory: the Pious Emperor ordained at the foot of the same mountain the foundation of a new church, and a monastery, assigning in support of divine worship and for the stipends of the Brothers to be gathered there all the land on the western side of the fortress as far as the River Trave, on both sides of the road, with the forest on the southern side, together with six districts. Furthermore he entrusted the management of the same basilica to Lord Vicelin, that he might apply himself more earnestly to the erection of buildings and the gathering of persons. He did the same also concerning the church of Lübeck, commanding Pribislav, under threat of losing his favor, to take full care of the aforementioned priest, or whoever should act in his place.

[4] the monastery being destroyed by emissaries of Pribislav, This man had succeeded with his brother Niklot in the kingdom of the Obodrites, left vacant by the impious murder of Canute Lavard, and he harbored a great hatred against the Christian name: but while the fear of the present Emperor restrained his savage spirit, he indeed appeared to show himself compliant; but when, after the death of Lothair, who had conferred the Duchy of Saxony on Henry, Duke of Bavaria, a contest began over the same duchy by force of arms with Albert the Bear, Henry's cousin, supported by the favor of Emperor Conrad III; then indeed Pribislav, seizing his opportunity at Lübeck, taking up a band of brigands, completely demolished the suburb of Segeberg and everything surrounding it in which there were Saxon settlements: there the new oratory and the recently built structure of the monastery were consumed by fire. Volker, a Brother of great simplicity, was struck with a blow of the sword: Volker is killed, the rest of the Brothers who had escaped fled to the port of Faldera. But the priest Ludolf, and those who had remained with him at Lübeck, were not scattered by that devastation; because they were living in the fortress and under the protection of Pribislav; standing indeed in a difficult place and time: for besides poverty and daily dangers to life, they were compelled to watch the chains and various kinds of tortures inflicted upon Christians, whom bands of brigands were accustomed to capture everywhere.

[5] These things Helmold, the priest of Bosau, a contemporary of St. Vicelin, as Helmold and Albert write, and as far as I can gather, his companion, who excellently wove the life of the aforesaid Apostle into his chronicle, from which we must extract it and present it on December 12, writes in the Chronicle of the Slavs. Albert, from Abbot of Stade becoming a follower of St. Francis and eventually Minister General of the entire Order, transcribed Helmold almost word for word: and more concise than both, Albert Krantz in his Metropolis, book 6, chapter 16, who, suppressing the name of Volker, says that some of the Brothers, when they more stubbornly defended the sacred things, were killed by the sword: Honored with the title of Martyr in the calendar, and, because the same had not befallen the companions residing at Lübeck, he conjectures that the expedition was stirred up not by hatred of Christianity, but by hatred of tribute or some other cause. But Molanus in his additions to Usuard says: At Segeberg, of St. Volker, Martyr, whom Galesinius and Canisius follow. Close in time to these, Arnold Wion, and from him Hugh Menardus somewhat more fully: In the monastery of Segeberg, of Volker, Monk and Martyr, killed by the sword by Prince Pribislav of the Slavs in the destruction of his monastery.

[6] Arnold was the first who dared to write that he was a monk, but not a Benedictine: and claimed by the Benedictines, but Philip Ferrari, interpreting the intention of Arnold, who professed to be writing about the Saints of his own Order, noted in his catalogue of Saints not contained in the Roman Martyrology on this day that Segeberg is a town of Saxony in the diocese of Bremen with a Benedictine monastery, from which many distinguished for holiness have come forth. Theodore Moretus, a priest of our Society, had in his

hands a manuscript codex containing the institution, privileges, and donations of the monastery of Segeberg of St. Augustine, as he himself indicates in transcriptions of the same: that he did this from certain knowledge, or rather a Canon Regular? not following some vain conjecture, is proven by a tablet affixed to the wall of the church of Bordesholm, containing the Life of St. Vicelin, and transcribed for us by the Reverend Judocus del Brugghe, an Orthodox Canon of Lübeck, in which it is said: there (namely at Faldera) he established a monastery of Canons Regular.

[7] That he also transferred these same men to Segeberg is expressly stated in a Danish account prefixed to the cartulary of that monastery, which the aforesaid Father Theodore rendered into Latin for our benefit: what all of St. Vicelin's companions were, Holy Vicelin, it says, there built a monastery at the foot of the mountain, having brought in Brothers from Neumünster: we also have a synopsis of the Neumünster history, which Sydo, minister of the little flock at Neumünster, wrote before the end of the twelfth century, in which he mentions the introduction of Cistercian monks into Holstein and Wagria in such a way as to clearly distinguish his own from the monks who, we cannot without reason suspect, succeeded the Canons Regular in the Segeberg monastery in the course of time as the latter died out. Furthermore the same Sydo writes that the Slavs burst into Segeberg twice: and twice killed one from the number of the Religious: Sydo, author of the Neumünster history, and indeed before the fortress was built, Volker; after its construction, Elveric; and both were buried at Neumünster: either because Vicelin judged those killed for the cause of the faith worthy of being venerated with the honor due to Martyrs; or because at Segeberg, with the oratory destroyed, there was no convenient place for burial: from which account, because it differs in some things from Helmold, I append here the entire series of events again.

[8] Supported by such assistance from the Archbishop, Vicelin, differing somewhat from Helmold, having associated with himself companions for the work of the Gospel, first established a place of residence for himself at Neumünster; going out from there and returning with his loins girded, to bring the barbarians back under the yoke of faith, he toiled earnestly and fearlessly with his companions in the word of God. He found no church in the whole province of Wagria, he saw all Christians expelled; only their King, Henry by name, a Christian, raged against Christians; because he alone, subjecting rebels to himself through them, compelled them to serve him: he received the priest who came to him kindly, treated him humanely, and placed him over his entire kingdom in spiritual matters. Therefore, supported by royal authority, he began with his companions to manfully insist on the word of preaching, and with the Lord cooperating, to convert many to the faith. Three priests, Ludolph, Hermann, and Bruno, with their adherents, were sent to Lübeck: and because there was no Christian inhabitant there and merchants carrying their wares to the inhabitants had cast their anchors at the fortification of Henry, King of the Slavs, before the arrival of Lothair, the monastery not yet built, where there is a confluence of waters and the river Schwartau flows into the Trave, they went to them, and finding a small stone church within the rampart, they celebrated divine services for those gathering there. The priest Lundmund with suitable companions was sent to Segeberg, who also provided no small consolation to those assembling there by celebrating Masses in huts.

[9] But after a short time, when the aforesaid King died, many evils began to grow against the priest of God, Christians were expelled by the barbarians from the land, teachers of the faith are saved by flight. Priests were sought by pirates at Lübeck to be killed; avoiding death, they lay hidden immersed in water up to their ears in a dense thicket of reeds; and after the departure of the brigands, coming to Bishorst, they were saved: similarly the priest Lundmund with his companions, avoiding the fury of the persecutions from Segeberg, he says Volker was killed, was received at Bishorst: Brother Wolker was killed by the Slavs at the Trave and was buried at Neumünster. It cannot escape memory how in that storm the community of Neumünster, fleeing through forests and groves, sought hiding places in the marshes from the face of the sword. The ornaments of the church — books, chests, and other furnishings — were all sent to Bishorst.

[10] the second incursion indeed, Then, after narrating the construction of the fortress and monastery of Segeberg by Emperor Lothair, over which the priests Enhitmar, who as Dean of Bremen had devoted himself at Neumünster, and Valkhard with their companions were ordered to preside, they were living in relative peace under Count Adolf; until, when Adolf was driven from Segeberg and Wagria, which he had possessed by the beneficence of Emperor Lothair, amid the conflicts between Henry and Albert; the Slavs, seizing the opportunity, divided their forces into three parts, and on one day invaded the land with brigandage in three places: Lackelre, Susle, Elveric fell, and Segeberg; and devastating many estates with fire, they captured many with a sudden attack and killed more. On that same day Elveric was thus killed by the Slavs at the Trave, and was brought from there and buried at Neumünster: those who were at Hagerstorp, fleeing into hiding places, were saved, because the brigands did not cross the Trave at that place and were unaware that there was a community of Clerics there.

[11] So far he, always calling the companions of St. Vicelin Clerics and never using the appellation of monk: Series of Slavic Kings, but he should be called more precise than contrary to Helmold, if he had distinguished the Slavic Kings more carefully: for Henry had offered Vicelin, who was destined for the work of the Gospel, a safe residence at Lübeck and his own favor, but before he could return with companions and suitable equipment, Henry had departed this life; Henry's son Zwentibold, succeeding him and involved in civil wars, at first seemed little suited for the business at hand: therefore, at the request of the people of Faldera, they were granted permission, who had first intended Lübeck: whence, encouraged by the humanity of Zwentibold, who was treating Christians rather kindly, they made excursions to Lübeck and dwelt in the church situated on the hill opposite the city across the river: but by an incursion of barbarian Rugians, Lübeck was destroyed; Ludolf and Volkard, driven from their post, returned to Faldera. Then, after Zwentibold and his son Zweneke were killed, the Principality of the Slavs was offered to Canute, son of Eric, King of the Danes, and under him those happy beginnings of propagating the Gospel were laid which Sydo narrates.

[12] Canute had occupied the mountain which was afterward called Segeberg and had garrisoned it with a force: but, as Helmold says, the soldier placed there was captured at night by the introduction of a thief by the stratagem of the elder Adolf, Volker killed in the year 1132, who feared for himself from Canute: therefore after the murder of Canute under Pribislav and Niklot, enemies of the Christian name, it was easy for the brigands of Lübeck to perpetrate what Sydo records as done before the construction of the fortress, and thus before the year 1133, Volker would have attained the palm of Martyrdom; and him in the year 1138 Elveric would have followed to similar glory: which Helmold, not sufficiently distinguishing, gave others occasion to err: indeed even to doubt concerning the cause of martyrdom, with respect to Volker, because in the second invasion no special injury was inflicted on the Brothers residing near Lübeck: for these had not been spared previously: but they were then somewhat safe through fear of the imperial command, whereas previously, sharing the common lot with other Christians, when the Slavs were persecuting Christians by open force, they had experienced the tyranny which Helmold describes in chapter 52, where, narrating how Pribislav had led the Wagrians and Polabians back to paganism and Niklot the Obodrites, and describing the idolatry of the Slavs, he thus finally concludes: How many kinds of death the Slavs inflicted upon Christians is difficult to relate; for some they disemboweled, leading them around a stake, others they affixed to a cross, mocking the sign of our redemption: for they consider the most wicked worthy of being crucified: and those whom they consign to custody for ransom, they afflict with such tortures and knots of chains that it would scarcely be believable to one who did not know.