Leobinus Or Leubinus

ON ST. LEOBINUS OR LEUBINUS, BISHOP OF CHARTRES IN GAUL.

ABOUT A.D. 557.

Preliminary commentary.

Leobinus or Leubinus, Bishop of Chartres in Gaul (S.)

[1] Chartres, an ancient city of Celtic Gaul, once attributed to Lugdunensis Secunda, at the middle of the sixth century approaching its midpoint, received to its great benefit a Bishop distinguished in life and learning, Leobinus or Leubinus; some have written Leovinus, more have written Leoninus: Various places named after St. Leubinus, he himself subscribed to the Fifth Council of Orléans, convened in the year 549, as Leubenus in the name of Christ, Bishop of the Church of Chartres; and to the Second Council of Paris, in the year 555, as Leubinus. And this the churches and villages follow, retaining the name from this Saint in the diocese of Chartres, such as from the northern part between Bresolles and Nonancourt on this side of the river Eure there are two; one called St. Lubin le Crevant, the other simply St. Lubin: others in the Perche, the first between Nogent-le-Rotrou and the Isles, St. Lubin le Chassant: the second without addition, St. Lubin, between the same Nogent and Bazoches near the village of Charbonnière, where he once lived an eremitical life, both situated to the west of the city of Chartres: and also, declining to the south, another on this side of the bank of the Loire opposite Châteaudun, called St. Lubin de Lesigny, and elsewhere perhaps others, and among these the priory of St. Lubin des Vignes of the Benedictine Order.

[2] The Translation of this Saint is observed by the Chartrians in their Calendar, appended to the Breviary published by order of Bishop Léonor d'Estampes in the year 1633, Translation on September 15 in Bede and Usuard: on September 15; on which day a twin copy of the genuine Bede manuscript, the Dijon one having Leobinus the Confessor, and the headless one of the Queen of Sweden having Leubinus. On the same day in all copies of Usuard, whether printed or handwritten, is found: At Chartres, of St. Leobinus the Bishop; to say nothing of more recent writers Greven, Molanus, Maurolycus, Galesius, and others. Indeed even Sebastian Roulliard in his Parthenia or Chartrian history, and in the diocese of Poitiers: published in French in the year 1609, chapter 10, did not know that he was venerated on any other day than this one, and Henry Louis Chasteigner, Bishop of Poitiers, observed in his Pictonian Litanies that on that day he was venerated as Patron in the Priory of la Veyre and the Parish church of Poligny, both of the diocese of Poitiers, in which the Saint, born there, is rightly numbered among the native Saints of that Church. The Church of Avranches observes the same, and prescribes a commemoration of this Saint to be made at Vespers and Lauds on the 17th before the Kalends of October. Because, however, that day is impeded by the celebration of the Octave of the Nativity of the Virgin Mother of God, those who presided over the ordering of the Chartrian Breviary preferred the Deposition on March 14 more solemnly celebrated at Chartres, to celebrate most solemnly March 14, called the day of deposition by Maurolycus, and occupied by no other Office. Nor are there lacking Martyrologies confirming this usage introduced for some centuries, though less ancient, and nearly the same as those that related him on the day mentioned above, but here mostly under the name of Leoninus: among which Usuard from the double edition of the Cologne Carthusians, with the author of the manuscript Florarium; doubtless they followed other ancient copies which have not come into our hands. Saussay, with no one preceding him,

called March 14 the day of Ordination, and September 16 the birthday.

[3] The age of Leobinus the Saints with whom he lived do not permit to remain obscure: Carileffus, Abbot of Anisola, His age proved by the Councils: Hilary, Bishop of Gévaudan, Lupus of Lyons, Caesarius of Arles: nor do the Councils in which he himself participated; nor those who subscribed before and after him, Aetherius at the Fourth Council of Orléans in the year 541, and Cabetricus at the Third Council of Paris in the year 557. Therefore the above-cited author of the Chartrian history erred when he introduced Leubinus to his See in the year 525, and no less when he wrote that he was removed from the same in the year 537, and by his error led the Bishop of Poitiers, Chasteigner, astray from the true chronology. Perhaps no more true is what he asserts without any proof; on page 83, that St. Leubinus was the author of that number by which the Chapter of the Cathedral Church, consisting of seventy-two persons, represents the number of the disciples of Christ. More credible is what he states on page 147, where, numbering among the suburban churches at the gate and suburb of St. Michael the house and church of St. Leubinus, his house, which the Capuchin Fathers now possess, he seems to intimate that the house which the Saint was once thought to have inhabited was converted into an oratory, relics, by the pious zeal of the citizens toward their Bishop. The Relics of the body, deposited in the church of St. Martin in the Valley, seem to have been elevated as miracles multiplied; and on that occasion the head, separated from the other bones and enclosed in a reliquary, is preserved behind the high altar of the cathedral church, recognized by a legitimate inspection in the year 1587: but the relics that were preserved in the above-named church of St. Martin, together with the bodies of Sigoald, St. Malard, Deodatus, and Bertegrand, Bishops of Chartres, and St. Launomarus the Abbot, were scattered by the Calvinist iconoclasts during the siege of the city in the year of restored salvation 1568.

[4] The Acts, transcribed from ancient manuscripts, were transmitted to us by the most distinguished man Andrew du Chesne, who had inserted excerpts from them in volume 1 of his Francici; Acts. written by an author who is indeed anonymous, but ancient: and who also composed with great accuracy and judgment the Acts of St. Avitus, who in the last years of his life had Leobinus as a disciple: as is evident from those things which are here related at numbers 6 and 9 in almost the very same words: and more so from the altogether similar forms of expression with which the miracles are connected to each other, as will be evident when we present that Life on June 22. Moreover, from the Acts to be presented here, the new Chartrian Breviary lessons for the second Nocturn have been drawn, setting forth in summary the deeds accomplished by Leobinus: in which the supine carelessness of the author betrays the year 930 assigned to his death at the end of the sixth lesson, which at the beginning of the fourth he had written flourished in the time of Childebert, King of the Franks. For the rest, lest the reader be offended by the sense which is gaping in some places, we have supplied certain words omitted through the fault of copyists, enclosing them in brackets, from our own conjecture, which it suffices to have noted here.

ACTS

Drawn from ancient manuscripts by Andrew du Chesne.

Leobinus or Leubinus, Bishop of Chartres in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4847

FROM MSS.

CHAPTER I

Childhood: studies of letters: beginnings of monastic life under the direction of SS. Avitus the hermit and Hilary the Bishop.

[1] Born at Poitiers, Therefore the most blessed Leobinus, a native of the city of Poitiers, was born of worthy parents; to whom he submitted himself with such great devotion of humility that, placed in the childhood of his earliest age, he was on this account said to be a boy of good character, approved by his merits. In the flower of his adolescence, such a love of learning letters dwelt in his breast, that by the grace of the Holy Spirit he was, as it were, surrounded by a heavenly cloud. While he was tending oxen in the pastures, it happened that he entreated a monk from Noidgalensis whom he met, while grazing he learns his letters, to write out letters for him to learn: who, since he did not have a book or tablets at hand, wrote the letter-forms on a belt as best he could. Which indeed was done as a presage by the mystery of divine providence; so that he who was to be profitable to many as an example of chastity, himself girded with the zone of celibacy, like a blazing lily in its whiteness, might have around his loins a belt inscribed with the letters of truth. Afterwards, not without a presage in joining these two things, when his father had discovered this eagerness for learning in his son, he ordered lines of letters to be made on tablets, and such progress thenceforth followed, that he did both things equally; namely, that he applied himself to labor and gave attention to reading, thus dividing his diligent duty between the application of cultivation. By these two activities indeed it was foreshadowed that through the work of agriculture and obedience, he would prove to be an energetic monk; and through the zeal for learning, a future Bishop was being prepared, and thus through the hearts of the faithful, the earth, ploughed by the ploughshare of discipline, would bring forth the seeds of the divine word.

[2] Not long after, somewhat distinguished by the prerogative of learning, Made a monk, piously received in a certain monastery, his hair shorn, he was made a monk. To whom, by the humility of obedience, the cellar was entrusted, and the regulation of the hours, and the diligence of the vigils was committed. Detained by this occupation, finding that he could not devote himself to reading during the day, when the monks were retiring to sleep, he would stay awake intently through the night, in order to learn the rule of justice. When he realized that his constant reading was burdensome to the brethren, not wishing their murmuring to turn into tumult, he hung a curtain over the window which was open to the eyes of the brethren, so that it would render the light somewhat dim for them, he devotes himself constantly to reading, and he himself might gain advancement in his reading. Moreover, a certain illustrious Deacon named Carileffus, knowing that he wished to go to blessed Avitus, who at that time was living as a hermit in the Perche, addressed him with sweet words saying: I recognize, he is advised of three things by St. Carileffus, brother, that you wish to ascend from lesser things to greater, but I shall take care to instruct you in three words concerning what will benefit you in the purpose of your undertaken instruction in knowledge. That is, do not bind yourself in service to any Bishop, because among good men you will find many detractors. Another thing I advise: do not either seek or, when sought, consent to govern the basilica of any persons whatsoever; lest amid diverse customs you either lose the rigor of a monk, or, if you do not consent to blandishments, you can barely endure the detractors. A third thing I warn: do not associate yourself with a small cell, because while individuals desire to place themselves first, obedience is rendered to none.

[3] After eight years, therefore, of monastic life in that cell, he presented himself to the presence of the most blessed Avitus to be tested. and after eight years having consulted St. Avitus, When he had received from him the response that he should return to him after the training he was to receive in a community of monks; departing thence with a certain Deacon who had lived for some time in the monastery, he began to travel along the banks of the Loire: and arriving at a certain cell that was offered to him to dwell in, mindful of the above-mentioned admonitions, he would not bind himself to that place: but wishing to reach Lérins, he found a certain brother of Lérins On his way to Lérins, saying that he could not endure the inconvenience of the climate there: by which words he was called back from the journey he had begun. Then, making for the city of Gévaudan, when he had been received in a priestly manner by the most blessed Hilary, Bishop of that city, He stays at Gévaudan with St. Hilary: and had stayed with him for some time; the brother began to complain that the place did not seem suitable for dwelling. Whereupon, when blessed Hilary had observed those same brethren disputing among themselves, he began to exhort that restless brother not to depart from the company of blessed Leobinus, lest by withdrawing he lose the grace of obedience which he had until then obtained by following him. Then, departing thence and hearing that the fame of blessed Lupus was spreading far and wide, they humbly betook themselves to him. then he goes to St. Lupus, And when they had stayed with him for a short time, the aforesaid brother (being unstable and restless) urged blessed Leobinus to depart thence. The holy man, however, not wishing to yield to such persuasions, and firmly resisting, and disdaining to have such a restless brother in his company, remained in the same monastery for a continuous period of five years.

[4] Meanwhile, while the fierce ferocity of the Franks stirred up wars against the Burgundians, and the monks of that cell fled hither and thither in fear of them; the aforesaid Saint remained there fearless with another old man. That other old man, therefore, being pressed by the barbarians where he reveals the stores of the monastery to the barbarians, to disclose the goods of the entire monastery, replied that blessed Leobinus knew all those things, but that he himself had no knowledge of them. Therefore, with that former old man freed from investigation by this excuse, the aforesaid barbarians began to address the man of God gently, that he might immediately reveal whatever he knew of those goods. When they could discover nothing from him by their blandishments of what they sought; devising manifold kinds of punishments, they attempted to apply them: for they tightly bound his brow with a rope, and constrained his feet with cudgels, tortured nearly to death, and repeatedly plunging him in a torrent, just as they could extort nothing from him by blandishments, so neither could they by torments. But the holy Leobinus, enduring steadfastly through both, preferred to bear the torments of the wicked rather than reveal the secrets of the monks.

[5] Miserably afflicted by these punishments, although half-dead, yet rescued by the aid of divine assistance, with two brothers Euphronius and Rusticus he went again to St. Avitus, with two companions he returns to Avitus, dwelling in the vast solitude of the Perche. He, receiving them with fraternal charity, and assigning suitable duties among those two aforesaid brothers, when he recognized that the mind of the blessed man was shining more abundantly with heavenly goodness, he appointed him to the office of cellarer: in the administration of which duty he made himself so provident that he would give nothing superfluous to one who asked too much, nor withhold proper nourishment from one in need. For the blessed Avitus had observed his service to be so pleasing to himself, that he would not refresh his frail body, worn down by fasting and weakened by old age, with any nourishment at all, unless blessed Leobinus had prepared it by his own industry.

* perhaps "bad men"

* perhaps "themselves"

CHAPTER II

Miracles performed before receiving the episcopate.

[6] It happened that, when the Lord, rewarding the solitary labors of blessed Avitus with a heavenly recompense, After the death of blessed Avitus, had taken him from earthly impediments and numbered him among the company of his Saints, blessed Leobinus with the aforesaid two brothers decided to settle in the place called Charbonnière: and when for some time they had been vying with one another in fulfilling the divine office in three cells built by themselves, he withdraws to Charbonnière: after the two departed, for five years he was nourished there by the labor of his own hands with only a cup of water and frugal food. When, moreover, in the summer time the harvest of fruits was at hand, and the ripe crops, having been threshed, should be stored in granaries, a sudden storm arising in the air so broke the tops of the trees and flattened the crops, he calms a storm threatening the harvest: that they seemed to be utterly reduced to ruin. Therefore the man of God, moved by the danger of such great calamity, arming himself against the tempest of this storm with heavenly weapons, namely with prayers, and opposing the oil of sacred blessing; not only made the lightning and thunder that were stirring up the storm to be still, and the turbulence of the air to return to its former tranquility; but furthermore, whatever was owed to the cell in supplies was preserved in its entirety. The spectacle of that miracle performed by the blessed man is to be retained in memory for the praise of God.

[7] When the Bishop, blessed Aetherius, summoned blessed Leobinus from Braiacum to come to him; it happened that, a fire that broke out at Braiacum, when his neighboring cell was burning, whatever the devouring flame found in its path it burned up, and nothing was spared or left. But when the monks were quite unable to suppress the heat of so great a fire by throwing water on it; but, as it seemed, rather appeared to be feeding the fire; the man of God, by his prayers and tears, those more powerful waters, made the masses of flame, with the name of Christ invoked, to be entirely extinguished. he quells a fire that broke out at Braiacum, Nor is the famous praise of that miracle any less to be commended to memory. When at the same time the aforesaid Bishop Aetherius, perceiving the holiness of the blessed man Leobinus, promoted him to the office of the diaconate and placed him over the brethren of the monastery of Braiacum; and having been ordained Priest, a second one: he deemed it fitting that, in order to carry out the office of governance more suitably, he should orderly elevate him to the burden of the presbyterate. Afterwards, when the flame of a raging fire, burning forests and fields, had come to the monastery consuming the crops, and the monks had risen from the table in fear of it; the holy man, prostrate in prayer before the fire, merited to obtain from the God of heaven that all the fury of that fire should be suppressed and extinguished, and the former mildness of the weather restored and become gentle.

[8] Let there be inserted into this work that heavenly miracle which the Lord deigned to perform through blessed Leobinus. At a certain time two demoniacs, in whom so great a power of demons prevailed that they often shattered bonds and chains, he frees two demoniacs: meeting the most blessed man, humbly proposed that the remedy of health be bestowed upon them. The holy man, therefore, exhorted by the brethren to bestow the grace of healing upon those agitated by demonic fury; moved by compassion, applying the sign of the Cross, both expelled the demons from them and efficaciously restored them to the soundness of their former health. Not long after, while he was far absent from his cell and turned aside by a short route to a monastery where a few maidens dwelt, he was kindly received by them. At length, after the service of humility which they most willingly rendered to him, he repels an immodest maiden, in the silence of the dead of night, one of the company of maidens, impelled by the incitement of wicked lust, applied a deceitful bite with her teeth to the feet of the Saint as he lay beneath the covering of the bed: who, feeling himself thus touched by such a bite, with a blow to his breast and a great groan repelled her from his feet as a deadly poison; and preserving the complete integrity of his body, he escaped the snares of the woman without harm, girded with the garland of chastity. From this temptation, therefore, snatched away under God's protection, he suffers a cancer in his nostrils, it happened that he himself, who had been a physician for the infirmities of others, was struck with the wound of cancer in his nostrils. When he was urged by the prayers of the monks to seek any kind of human remedy for himself, he, trusting in the eternal Physician, who cures all things by his word alone, applied blessed wax for nearly twelve years to the discharge of that same disease, so that virtue through divine grace might gain increase in infirmity. Whence, always remaining in the service of God, and giving thanks to God in all things, without any human assistance, he afterwards merited to recover the health of his nostrils.

[9] Let there also be brought forward that stupendous miracle of an accomplished deed, which can profit all for the increase of faith. A certain one of the monks, of a name opposite in meaning, but distinguished in virtue, while he was watchfully keeping vigil on a certain night, a voice was directed to him, that the signal bell had already sounded. Admonished therefore by this voice, he rose immediately, and entering the basilica found it radiant with the splendor of diffused light, he is seen conversing with blessed Avitus, in which with keen swiftness he perceived two men of outstanding form, namely the holy Leobinus and another whose name was unknown to him: by the sight of whom, struck with excessive fear, he took flight and hid himself in his cell. But when at the sound of the signal bell he had entered the aforesaid basilica for Matins, and the customary prayer was completed, the aforementioned Tyrannus, cautious and devout, went to the Lord Leobinus, beseeching him to indicate to him who that person was whom he had seen in the basilica together with him. The man of God therefore, recognizing that the brother had been worthy of so great a miracle of devotion, said: Brother, when you had entered the oratory and had seen two men together; me, as I hear, you recognized; but the other, unknown to you, yet brilliant with shining splendor, by whom he is admonished concerning a brother to be corrected, is the blessed Avitus, who deigned to visit and correct me, and to admonish me how I ought to correct a certain brother for his transgressions. Rightly indeed did the heavenly light shine upon the holy man, because although in the body, yet in mind he dwelt in heaven, according to the saying of the Apostle: Our citizenship is in heaven, from which he merited to have a visitation and consolation; for in his heart and on his lips, through the words of the divine commandments, the light of heavenly grace constantly and unfailingly shone. Phil. 3:20

[10] Not long afterwards he was enjoined by the holy Pontiff Aetherius to seek out and fearlessly visit St. Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, for the purpose of making further progress: sent to St. Caesarius, when St. Leobinus had arrived there, and together with him blessed Albinus, who had been his companion on the journey; when asked by blessed Caesarius why he had undertaken the labor of so great a journey, blessed Albinus replied: that he had come solely for the sake of his own desire; but that blessed Leobinus, having left the brethren over whom he had been placed as superior, was hastening to Lérins, where he desired to be subject to all the brethren. Then St. Caesarius, rebuking him, he is forbidden to desert his own monastery, said that he should swiftly return: See, brother, lest in your absence the brethren break the force of the rule, and like sheep without a shepherd be given over to plunder: because if this happens, it will be imputed to your fault, and all their iniquity will redound upon your head. Dismayed therefore by this fearsome admonition, he returned as quickly as possible to his own cell to govern the aforesaid brethren. Finding, moreover, that those same brethren harbored nothing envious within themselves, nothing subject to malediction or detraction, loving all equally, regarding all cheerfully, he gave immense thanks to almighty God, who had brought them to such harmony of unanimity.

CHAPTER III

Promotion to the episcopate of Chartres: other miracles.

[11] Meanwhile, blessed Aetherius, Bishop of the city of Chartres, having completed the course of his life, designated Bishop of Chartres by the King, migrated to the Lord: and when there was a varied inquiry concerning his successor,

the King of heaven, the Lord, in whose hand is the heart of kings, so inclined the heart of King Childebert by his inspiration that he gave a royal decree for electing blessed Leobinus the monk as Bishop and successor. Therefore all who were present, rejoicing with glad hearts that blessed Leobinus had been chosen not only by the King but by God, with one voice and unanimous vote began to acclaim him worthy of the episcopal chair in succession. In this election, therefore, when the entire people assented, certain of the Bishops (which we believe was not done without the stain of envy) began to resist and contradict his ordination, a few protesting in vain, on the ground that a small part of his nose had once been visibly mutilated by the affliction of cancer. But when the outcry of envy was overwhelmed by the voice of all unanimously acclaiming and utterly frustrated, the holy man was decreed to be ordained according to the dispensation of God. Meanwhile certain of them, knowing that blessed Leobinus did not wish to ascend to the dignity of the episcopate, having taken counsel among themselves, wrote to him that he should send them one of his monks worthy of the episcopal miter for ordination. he is cunningly summoned; He, willingly and promptly obeying their words, appointed one of his disciples to be brought forward for so great an ordination, instructing and teaching him how he ought to conduct himself in governance and how to show himself in the summit of holiness. But the brother, not wishing to hasten to that council alone without the presence of his Abbot, earnestly entreated him to go there together with him.

[12] Rising therefore, the old man set out together and arrived at Chartres, as he had been entreated. When he was being lodged at a certain mansion, and had seen in a dream by night the pavement strewn with nuts, by divine command, as we believe, it was enjoined upon him that, having cleaned away the shells, he should keep for himself the bright kernel. When therefore the night had passed and on the morrow he wished to present the monk, and not in the least resisting, as had been requested of him, as Bishop to be ordained, and the people's consent was not to be rejected; immediately the King's edict was produced and read aloud, that by the King's command and the wish of all the people, Leobinus must be ordained Bishop. But he, refusing and judging himself unworthy to undertake the care of so great governance, prostrated himself at the feet of the Bishops, putting forth an excuse; that he could neither fulfill nor accomplish the work they were imposing upon him. But with all resisting and not yielding to his excuse, the dream he had seen was interpreted by a fitting interpretation: namely, that by the kernel cleaned from its shells was to be understood the people to be governed by him, who, having set aside the rigidity of austerity, was at some time to be corrected by his governance and nourished by the honeyed nourishment of his teaching.

[13] Thereupon without delay, with the people applauding and giving the greatest praises to the Lord on high, Leobinus, whom they were requesting with all their wishes, he is consecrated, was appointed Bishop of the Church of Chartres, and was established as an outstanding pastor against the cunning machinations of the ancient enemy. He afterwards, unfailingly preserving the rigor of his purpose, without any display of pomp, showed himself to be a monk persevering in his purpose, as he had been before. Having therefore assumed the pontifical dignity, with what quality and how greatly he conducted himself in the law of the commandments of God is not easily expressed by abundance of words. For the apostolic man was like a most brilliant and burning his virtues are confirmed by miracles: lamp in the house of the Lord; brilliant in speech, most eloquent in doctrine, outstanding in preaching, serene in mind, kind with wondrous patience, always intent on the pursuits of frugality, most devoted to works of mercy, whitened beyond snow with the radiance of angelic chastity, and enriched with an abundance of all virtues, adorned with the beauty of life. And that he might be proved to be a friend of God, a faithful servant and prudent, the following miracles will reveal.

[14] a man blind for eight years, At a certain time, therefore, when the same blessed man Leobinus was visiting the parishes by going around them, as is the custom of bishops, and had arrived at Avallotium, a certain blind man, blinded by darkness for eight years, when he learned that the holy man was passing through that place, humbly asked that through the sign of the Cross he might be rendered enlightened: which the holy man for some time refused, fearing lest by working a miracle he might appear to assume something of arrogance; by episcopal duty, while he wished to pass by cautiously, he was at last compelled by his companions to mercifully bestow the help of healing upon the afflictions of the blind man. Who immediately, he restores his sight with the sign of the Cross: with prayers devoutly performed, shaking off the darkness of blindness with the sign of the Cross, restored the extinguished face to its former light, of which the blind man had previously been deprived. he heals a dropsical man: Let there also be added to this honorable work that noble miracle, by which the holy man healed a dropsical man as a physician, when the most glorious King Childebert expected blessed Bishop Leobinus to come to him at Rotoialum, and on that very journey, at the village of Vallum, a certain dropsical man was presented, excessively swollen in his bowels, to be restored to health. When the Bishop refused on account of detractors to restore him to health, pressed by the prayers of his companions, with the sign of the Cross applied, all the swelling of the dropsical man subsided; the pain of the bowels entirely departed; and the skin, with the swelling laid aside, was reduced to flatness, the sick man being freed from the danger of death.

[15] Let it be inserted into the page how through the holy man fires vanished. At a certain time, when blessed Leobinus, together with his fellow-Bishop Medeveus, had been invited by the aforesaid King to Paris, A grave fire at Paris, and had spent the Easter days performing episcopal duties in place of the Bishop of that place who was deceased; from the direction of the basilica of blessed Lawrence, a devouring fire leaping out by night began to burn the houses built on stilts which were constructed along the bridge; and not only did the water, ceaselessly poured from the nearby river, not quench it, but approaching close to the city, it struck great fear in the citizens lest it consume everything. When the King, aroused by the clamor of the people, his slumber broken, recognized the cause of the tumult; he immediately sent a messenger to blessed Leobinus, that he should come most swiftly to succor the city. he extinguishes it by prayer: But when many were urging him to go before him to the place where the great fire was blazing, he said: Brothers and men, we must proceed to the place where divine rather than human aid may be implored against the mass of flame. When he had gone to the church and, prostrate on the ground, had besought divine assistance, relying on his prayer together with the Priest, he hastened vigorously to the fire. Immediately the fire, suppressed by his prayer, failed in itself and forgot the strength it had assumed in burning the building; and thus the flame, through his intervention, was consumed, so that, dead in itself, it was utterly extinguished.

[16] Nor should that miracle be passed over in silence which nobly flourishes with outstanding virtues. A certain woman devoted to God from a convent of maidens, old thread removed from his mended tunic, when she had received the tunic of the Lord Leobinus for the purpose of mending, and having mended it with new thread had repaired it; taking the old thread from it, she tied it in faith to her own belt. But her sister, a laywoman, who had fled to her stricken with fear, rising at dawn girded on the belt of her sister, in which was the thread tied from the Bishop's garment. Then the demon, by whom she had previously been seized, sensing something great about the maiden and something he could not long endure, beginning to vex her more fiercely, cried out through the mouth of the maiden; that he could not endure the tunic of the Lord Leobinus as if it were fire. it puts the demon to flight, With this outcry, therefore, the demon departing, the maiden vomited his mournful agitations together with blood. This miracle indeed seems no less than that which is known to have been performed by the Lord upon the woman with the hemorrhage: because just as she was healed from the flow of blood by the touch of the hem, so also this one was delivered from the vexation of the demon by the touch of the thread. She, moreover, freed both from the snares of the enemy and from the cares of the world, vowed to serve the Lord all the days of her life, joined to her sister in the same convent.

CHAPTER IV

The remaining miracles of St. Leobinus and his blessed departure from this life.

[17] The cloak of the Saint drives away fever: Among the remaining miracles of his virtues, it is wondrous to insert that which is most celebrated in driving away infirmities. For if anyone, seized by a daily, tertian, or quartan fever, had been girded with a portion of the holy man's cloak, having recovered his former soundness he would return healthy to his home. And thus by divine grace the health granted flowed from the garment of the redeemer. Let there be added to the page what the holy man obtained in his lifetime. When a certain Chartrian house, situated in the suburb of the city, water blessed by him drives away evil spirits, was frequently shaken by a demonic infestation with a shower of stones; the neighbors were leaving their prepared feasts, because of the density of the crashing rocks, to flee to their own houses: but they were exhorted by the servant of God to carry water blessed by him with the sign of the Cross to be sprinkled where the greatest danger of demonic illusion was threatening. Which being done, the enemy fled in terror, and the master of the house remained secure and fearless with that same house.

[18] That miracle of help must also be brought to our memory, he foretells that Caletricus will succeed him, by which the holy man Leobinus, the illustrious Bishop, shone forth among the people. A certain blessed man named Caletricus, noble in birth but more noble in merits, established as Bishop at Chartres after the death of blessed Leobinus, while in the rank of the presbyterate he was rendering himself pleasing both in the sight of God and in the eyes of men by his holy manner of life, was seized by so great a constriction of infirmity that he barely gasped with his last breath. His venerable sister, named Mallegundis, sending swift messengers to the holy Bishop, asked that he send blessed oil to alleviate her brother's infirmity: but he, coming in person with the oil, asked silence of all, saying: O Lord, who knows all things, if you judge this your servant to be necessary for your Church or for the people, by your helping power restore him to us in health. by anointing he restores him to health.

Then that sick man, as soon as he was anointed with the oil of sacred unction, was restored to such great grace of health that it was as if no distress of infirmity had ever touched his limbs. Moreover, to confirm the virtue of the holy man, the remaining portion of the oil was seen to be converted into such great beauty of

brilliance; so that to all who were present it seemed to gleam with the splendor not of oil but of crystal: doubtless prefiguring that he who was to be a future Bishop would through the episcopal ministry consecrate the oil of consecration and would shine with divine virtues through heavenly grace.

[19] It is worthwhile also to insert into this narrative that remarkable miracle of the deceased daughter of his host, which the holy man, though unknowingly, performed in the body. At a certain time, when the aforementioned Bishop was proceeding with his companions to visit the parish of the region of Dunois, the only daughter of a certain parishioner named Baudolenus, a man illustrious in birth and wealth, was so constrained by the violence of fevers and long illness that burial was already being prepared with funeral pomp. He, hearing that the holy Leobinus was coming from nearby, presented himself with hurried step before his presence, asking him to bless his house and to give eulogies both to himself and to all his household. The holy Leobinus, therefore, rising early and arriving at the house of the aforementioned Baudolenus, as he had promised, as he was entering his house, the girl died in bed from the illness that had been weighing upon her. No faithful person doubts that this happened, [though he was unaware the girl was dead, so that through the resurrection of the girl from the dead the name of the holy Bishop might be glorified among the peoples. For the aforesaid man Baudolenus, wishing to maintain a cheerful countenance in the presence of the Bishop, commanded his entire household under solemn oath not to reveal the death of the deceased to anyone. But because no one parts without grief from what he possesses with love, the matter could not long be concealed: for the interior grief of the heart revealed the outward sadness of the body. When the holy man of God observed the troubled household, yet by his prayers he obtains her life, seized also by sadness himself, somewhat suspending himself from the preparation of the meal, he entered the temple of the basilica, and prostrate upon the pavement with tears besought the Lord to deign to reveal to him the cause of the sadness by which the mourning house was distressed. When the prayer was finished, as the old man rose from the dust, the lifeless girl rose from death. Then the aforementioned Baudolenus, admiring the excellence of so great a power, with his entire household prostrate at the feet of the Saint, humbly revealed all that had happened. Whence, turned from grief to joy, he gave immense thanks to him.

[20] The remnants of his food heal demoniacs. Let there also be told that wondrous miracle which the holy man of God performed while already detained by illness. While he was pressed by this infirmity, two young boys, agitated by the vexation of the enemy, prostrating themselves at his feet, merited to receive with a blessing the food that remained to him after eating. Through this continuing remedy, each returned safe to his own home. And when blessed Leobinus was afflicted by an infirmity continuing for seven years, intent upon divine activities directed toward heaven, and honored with the marks of miracles, as if sleeping in a slumber, about to be rewarded with rich prizes, as a faithful servant carrying back the talent entrusted to him doubled, extinguished by an illness of seven years, about to enter into the joy of his lord, with Angels applauding, he happily migrated to heaven. Yet before he was committed to burial, how great was his virtue while alive was revealed by his death. At length, when he was being carried in a bier to the basilica of St. Martin to be buried, one of the bystanders, while using a staff to hold back the crowd of people pressing forward, happened while he is being buried, to knock to the ground a cross with lamps full of oil hanging from it. Immediately that cross (wondrous to tell) fastened itself again by the cord from which it had fallen, with all the lamps intact and without loss of oil, with no one lifting it up, and began to remain before the eyes of all as it had been accustomed. the fallen lamps are restored to their place unharmed, And where the lamps were believed to be shattered to bits, they were found solid in their integrity, nor did they allow a single drop of oil to drip. Thus the body of the most blessed man, at the burial, shone forth by the virtue of the cross for the praise of his glory.

[21] O most glorious man, whose merits so prevailed with the Crucified One that the cross, which had fallen to the ground, without the help of anyone returned to the lofty place from which it had fallen! O venerable Bishop of Christ, by a remarkable miracle, continually fortified by the guard of angels, by whose virtue neither the liquid of oil suffered loss nor did any lamp sustain the damage of breakage! Truly indeed his joyful soul glories in eternal felicity, having a holy lamp as an inextinguishable light: because without the display of human praise his hand never ceased from the work of mercy, which is indicated by his power through this liquid. These are the miracles said of him who through the trophy of the Cross redeemed the human race from perpetual death, and gave them, cleansed from sins, to ascend to heaven. And since we have narrated the distinguished praises of the miracles of the most glorious Bishop Leobinus, Conclusion. to be recalled with annual devotion in venerable memory, a few things indeed from innumerable ones; with humble prayers let us implore the sanctity of so great a Patron; that he who caused him to shine with miracles may cause us to abound in good works; and may grant us to traverse the course of the present life without offense, and to obtain a continuous tranquility of peace, and in the future age happily to arrive at his fellowship, who lives and is glorified as God in the Trinity through all ages of ages. Amen.