CONCERNING BLESSED AURIA, VIRGIN, IN SPAIN, AROUND THE YEAR 1100.
CommentaryAuria, Virgin, in Spain (Blessed)
From Sandoval.
[1] The monastery of Saint Aemilian is celebrated throughout all Spain, amid most rugged mountains which, presenting their northern side to the river Ebro, have the rest of Castile to the south; Monastery of Saint Aemilian in that part which, subject to the Bishopric of Calahorra, is called the Mountains of Cogolla or Cuculla: which name Bishop Braulio, whose Life is to be given on November 12, relates to have been drawn from that Aemilian, in many
Prudentius Sandoval endeavors to show in part 1 of his work on the Monasteries of the Order of Saint Benedict in Spain. I would not here maintain with him that Spain had monks of the Benedictine institute already from the year 570 or 580: for it seems certain, and for our present purpose it suffices, that at least in the eleventh century the observance of the Benedictine Rule was introduced by King Sancho: who (as is found in a certain donation made by him in the Era 1060, subject to the Benedictines around 1060 that is, the year of Christ 1022, which Sandoval himself cites at paragraph 42) Hearing that the doctrine of Blessed Benedict shone forth everywhere, considered how he might transplant it into his own regions, and sending to the monastery of Cluny, he summoned thence the Abbot Paternus, and with him a flock of monks, whom he established in the monastery of Saint John the Baptist.
[2] Around these times, therefore, it can without doubt be believed that the monastery of Saint Aemilian was also joined to this Order; and consequently we shall venture to number Blessed Auria, who led her life in a neighboring convent of virgins subject to the Abbots of this monastery, among the Benedictine Saints: even though she is passed over by Bucelin and others, who nevertheless do not hesitate to count Saint Aemilian among the same. And indeed that the care of consecrated virgins was also undertaken from the first founder of the monastery, we have in his Life, it also nourished consecrated Virgins, even before chapter 23, which is entitled "On the reproach of the demons as to why he dwelt with women": where these words are read: Indeed he dwelt with the consecrated Virgins, and since from the eightieth year of his life and thereafter he was constrained by holy labor and suffering, he received all offices, as a father could, by the ministry of the Handmaids of God with gentleness.
[3] That both the community of monks and of virgins, while the other monasteries throughout Spain were devastated and overturned, was not dispersed by the Moors -- the latter either not daring or disdaining to approach on account of the ruggedness of the terrain -- Sandoval considers: from the first restorers of Spanish liberty, if not restored, this monastery was certainly cultivated, that is certain; which during the time of servitude, if it stood unharmed, I would believe to have been a refuge for monks and consecrated Virgins; who, as soon as religion began to breathe again, soon divided themselves into numerous settlements, which the aforesaid author carefully enumerates: of which the most ancient is the monastery of Saint Michael Petrosus, by the stream of Tironio near Velorado, seven leagues from Saint Aemilian, which Lady Nunnia Bella founded in the year of Christ 759, the first Abbess of that place, committing herself and her possessions with her sisters, whom she reviews by name, twenty-seven in number, and whom it is right to believe were drawn from the convent of Saint Aemilian in the fourth year of King Froyla.
[4] At what time Blessed Auria lived in that convent is not easy to determine from Sandoval: for although he names Abbot Peter among those who attended her as she was dying, and after the incursion of the Moors he nevertheless left us uncertain which of the two he wishes to be understood: the first, who in the year 1062 succeeded Abbot Gomez at his death, and held the government of the monastery until the year 1070; or the second, who in the year of the Christian Era 1118 was substituted in place of the deceased John, whose Prelature Sandoval extends beyond the year 1142 from public documents. And would that he had either produced the old Latin Acts, such as he states in his preface to be found in a most ancient Codex, or at least had rendered them completely in Spanish, and had not so recoiled from the frequent solecisms of the barbarous style; but, as often elsewhere, here too had pardoned what was the fault of the age rather than the author! -- whom he says was a monk of this monastery, called Amunnius: from these, Blessed Auria under Abbot Peter in the margin, however, he annotated that this history had been bound in verse by Gonzalo, likewise a monk, which verses themselves we would not wish to be lacking, given the zeal with which we embrace such ancient monuments. Meanwhile we give what is available, and render the Spanish text of Sandoval into Latin, adding by way of conclusion those things from which the Ecclesiastical veneration of this Blessed Virgin and the ancient appellation of Blessed are sufficiently proved, so that Francis Lahier was able to weave her name into his French Menology of Virgins. Acts published by Sandoval
[5] Saint Auria was a native of Villavelayo, near Mansilla, six leagues distant from Saint Aemilian, of upright and noble parents, Garcia Nunnio and Amunia, obtained by the merit of fervent prayers: who from her earliest youth, more given to the love of virtue and despising the delights of her father's house, delighted to be clothed in coarse and rough cloth, constant in reading and prayer, frequent in fasts, inflamed with so tender an affection of piety that her eyes seemed like two fountains. She distributed as much alms as she could, not against the will of her parents, who had not without heavenly presage imposed the name Auria upon the virgin, to be converted by the ardor of charity drawn from the Sun of Justice itself into gold purified seven times. Indeed not content with that austerity of mortifying and afflicting the body, her monastic life for which the opportunity in her father's house was not very great, she put on the monastic habit, intending to live a perpetual life under enclosure in the monastery of Saint Aemilian de Suso, according to the custom of the times; which permitted the communities of consecrated Virgins to be not too far from the habitation of the monks.
[6] miracles Hence the fame of her virtue and of the miracles which the efficacy of her prayers wrought spread itself far and wide through the entire region: and the more strictly she had enclosed herself, the less could be hidden the city set upon a hill, the lamp placed upon a candlestick. No less than these were the favors with which the heavenly Bridegroom refreshed His bride. Visions It happened that on the third day of Christmas, on which the feast of Saint Eugenia is observed, after the prayers of the Matins Office had been chanted, while Auria persisted in prayer, she was caught up in a deep sleep (you would more truly call it an ecstasy) and beheld three beautiful virgins conspicuous, who professed by their proper names to be called Agatha, Eulalia, and Cecilia, and dressed in precious adornment and more brilliant than stars, each one held a white dove in her hand. Auria was astounded at the novelty of the unusual vision, but when she had collected herself and dared to inquire who they were, she learned their names; and that on account of the love they bore toward her they had descended from heaven to earth, about to offer her their companionship, for which she was already destined by God: and intending to show her how great in the divine estimation is the value of hair shirts, fasts, solitude, and tears. They also gave her thanks for that affection with which she was accustomed to read their Lives and Passions, and promised that they would show her what rewards they possessed in heaven.
[7] the merit of outstanding austerity When Auria had replied that she was unworthy of so great a favor: Do not say so, said Saint Eulalia: for you have many friends, both male and female, in heaven: and the distinguished rigor of your life, weighed in the just estimation of God, has merited for you the crown of eternal reward among the blessed in heaven. And so receive from me, as from a friend, this counsel: follow this dove, which I hold out, as your guide all the days of your life: because Jesus Christ has willed you to be His own. But soon, raising her eyes in wonder, Auria beheld not far off a beautiful column, of such height that it joined earth to heaven: around which were wound certain stairs, such as are sometimes seen in ancient towers, and she heard voices saying: These are the stairs by which the souls of the Blessed ascend to heaven; and immediately the dove which Saint Eulalia had offered to Blessed Auria began to fly upward along it, Auria following it with her eyes to see where it was going, until, carried higher, it vanished from sight. Then indeed the Saints, ascending by the same stairs and leading Auria with them as their companion, went before her through pleasant places, verdant and delightful and admirable for the wonderful variety of most beautiful flowers, in which the glorious virgin beheld a very great multitude of the inhabitants of heaven.
[8] The Blessed one, stirred by this kindness from Christ the Bridegroom of Virgins, desire for the future life began to intensify still more the rigor of the penance voluntarily undertaken, and to lead a harsher life than before; disdaining the vanity of all earthly things, and desiring to be unburdened of the weight of this body as soon as possible, so that she might enjoy those goods, of which she had beheld some specimen in that vision, whether in sleep or in rapture: and within eleven months from the aforementioned vision, on the very night preceding the first day of December sacred to Saint Saturninus, to Auria stationed in prayer the Queen of heaven appeared, in that glory which no mortal in this life could contain, accompanied by most beautiful virgins, and said to her: It is fitting, daughter, that the harshness of your life be mitigated and tempered with some comfort: and that rising from that hard bed on which you sleep, a summons to eternal rest you grant some rest to your fatigued little body. Having said these things, the Virgins who accompanied the Mother of God approached Auria, and (although she resisted and humbly excused herself that this little bed on which she lay was abundantly sufficient for her, who by no means deserved greater luxuries) transferred her to another bed most magnificently prepared: and the Mother of God added that the end of her life was near, and that she would shortly be seized by a final illness, through which she was to pass into eternal rest.
[9] a blessed death The heavenly prediction was not without fulfillment: for there followed a troublesome and long-lasting illness, which the copious sweetness of divine consolations made seem light; until she returned her spirit to her Bridegroom in the presence of her mother Amunia, Lord Peter, Abbot of Saint Aemilian, the monk Amunnius the writer of this history, and Gomez the Steward, and the entire community of Monks and Hermits of Saint Aemilian, not without signs and proofs of that glory to which she was being carried as she expired. Her sacred body was buried, as may be seen today, in a tomb cut out of the living rock, and considerably disfigured by the nature of the damp place: in which within not many days her mother Amunia, having followed her daughter in death, was also herself entombed, a common tomb with her mother having first beheld her daughter, conspicuous after death, and consoling her. These and other revelations, both to Auria while living and made by her when already dead to others, are narrated in the history of her Life: which, on account of the roughness of the style employed by the Poet, I have refrained from describing. But on the sepulchral stone the following verses are engraved:
epitaph This sculpted stone which you behold covers sacred limbs; Blessed Auria the Virgin together with her mother Amunna rest In this urn, and because for Christ they led a narrow life, Together with Him and with the Blessed they rejoice in the heavenly kingdom.
[10] Similarly, in a writing of great antiquity these words are read: The Life written down Blessed Auria, who was a recluse in the monastery of Saint Aemilian the Upper, rests there in a certain cave behind the basilica of the same place; who saw many wonders and secrets before the end of her body, which are found written in the account of her passing from life. Thus far from the ancient monuments Sandoval: then from the testimony of his own or others' eyes he adds: The place where the tomb of Saint Auria and her mother Amunia is seen the place of burial is at the entrance of the church de Suso (that is, the upper one), and one descends into it by narrow stairs of thirty-five steps: beneath which the excavated rock contains four ancient tombs:
three of them smaller indeed; but the fourth larger, which is that of Saint Auria: what bones are contained in those three earlier ones, however -- whether of Saints, male or female, of this place, or of certain Kings or Princes (of which sort many, considering this holy ground, wished to be interred therein) -- remains uncertain to this day. Since moreover the name Auria is the same as Oria, which was most commonly used in a more ancient age among persons of the highest nobility; in a certain place where a church was dedicated to this Saint, the town is called Soria, as if for Sant-Oria.
[11] Whether the town of Soria derives its name from her? It is not far from the ruins of ancient Numantia, at the confluence of two streams which together form the river Duero, perhaps fourteen leagues from the monastery of Saint Aemilian: I consider it, however, to be more ancient than to have derived its name from a church dedicated to this Saint, rather than from some more ancient Aurea or Aurelia: of whom one occurs on July 14 under Nero, another on October 14 under the Saracens, both having suffered at Cordoba.