Humbert

ON SAINT HUMBERT, FOUNDER OF THE MONASTERY OF MAROILLES IN HAINAUT. ABOUT THE YEAR 680.

Preliminary Commentary.

Humbert, Founder of the monastery of Maroilles in Hainaut (S.)

BHL Number: 4037

[1] Maroilles, known to others as Mareclia and Marriliacum, commonly Maroiles, is a celebrated Abbey in the County of Hainaut and the diocese of Cambrai, a mile from the town of Landrecies, on the river Helpe, which not far from there flows into the Sambre (called Sambra below in the Acts). Concerning the origin of this monastery, we give below the diploma of donations of Saint Humbert, transcribed from the autograph itself, which is sealed with this Saint's seal. Saint Humbert established there thirty Clerics, who were removed around the year of Christ 1020, Ancient veneration and monks were substituted by Gerard I, Bishop of Cambrai, who dwell there to this day under the rule of Saint Benedict. Saint Humbert died in this monastery on March 25, whose body is preserved there to this day, always held in great veneration. Certainly when Louis the Pious, Emperor, donated to the Maroilles monastery a small estate named Sassigniacas on the river Sambre, from the diplomas of the Emperor Louis the Pious near the town of Berlaimont, in the diploma (which is found among the Belgian Diplomas of Miraeus, book 2, chapter 8) he asserts that he was asked out of his piety to grant to Saint Humbert the Confessor some estate suitable for the servants of the aforesaid Saint... Therefore, intending to honor the holy places, he says he hands over to the monastery called Maroilles, where also the Confessor of the Lord, Humbert, rests, a small estate, etc. There are also found in the same Miraeus in his Notice of the Churches of Belgium, chapter 50, two diplomas of Charles the Simple, King of the Franks, dated in the year 921, by which he attributes or confirms various estates to the Maroilles monks: and of Charles the Simple, King of France and asserts that the church of Maroilles was built in honor of Saint Mary and Saints Peter and Paul, where also the Confessor of Christ, Humbert, rests. The same King does this in a diploma related by Balderic in the Chronicle of Cambrai, of which we give a part below in the Notes. Indeed Balderic himself, book 2, chapter 32, inserts these things about Saint Humbert and his monastery: "The holy man of God, Huntbert, conspicuous in sanctity and endowed with no small estates, departing from the territory of Laon, chose the estate of Mareclia as the place of his holy way of life, and the Chronicle of Balderic and there from his own property and estates he built a monastery in veneration of the holy

Mother of God, and of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, built by Apostolic authority: and there, Brothers having been stationed to serve, he himself also serving the Lord, shone forth sufficiently illustrious by signs of virtues and the merits of his teaching and life, and there, completing the labor of this life, he rests buried in peace."

[2] We give the Life of Saint Humbert from the distinguished manuscript codex of our Professed House at Antwerp, The Life is given from manuscripts. and three copies transmitted from the monastery of Maroilles itself: of these, one is to some extent divided into lessons that are customarily recited at Matins. The author is an anonymous monk of Maroilles, but one who with great judgment deduces the Life and the various Translations of the body, and shows at number 20 that he lived at the time when the Benedictines held that monastery; for he says, "the body deposited by the Clerics, we have learned through certain persons." We also have the same Life in a manuscript from Utrecht, but as most in that codex are found, contracted into a compendium, which is plainly the same that Surius published at September 6, and from him Haraeus, Lippelous, and others. We received another Life from manuscripts of the neighboring monasteries in Hainaut, of Hautmont and Ghislenghien, which seems to be constructed from the former, with other and less suitable amplification intruded, and is carried through to the Translation of the body. The latter part of this Life, twice appended to the earlier Acts, we also received from Maroilles, a part of another prologue is given distributed into lessons which had been recited at Matins on the deposition of Saint Humbert. A Prologue is prefixed with this beginning: "God, the Creator of all things, wisely ordering all, first in the higher realms subjected to himself a multitude of Angels by creating them," etc. Then after the fall of Lucifer and of Adam, through the Patriarchs and Prophets he descends to the Incarnation of Christ our Savior, and then, having related the preaching of the Apostles and holy men, adds: "In the time of Childeric, the glorious King of the Franks, many holy men flourished, outstanding in sanctity: among whom shone the holy Bishop Amandus, the excellent Prelate Ursmar, and Blessed Humbert, a man of wondrous sanctity: concerning whose deeds, with God's help, as we have learned from the report of the faithful, we desire to set forth some things for the charity of the Brothers. Where we earnestly beseech the reader not to recoil from the truth of the matter on account of the faults, if he finds any, which the Grammarians call barbarisms and solecisms." There follows the history of Saint Humbert's Life with this beginning: "The holy Confessor of the Lord, Humbert, shone in the times of Childeric, the glorious King of the Franks, and appeared like a brilliant star among the Christians of that age. The father of this Saint, Ebrardus, and his mother Popita, drew their illustrious origin from a great line of the Hectorean race," etc. If there are any other different things in this Life, the Reader will find them in the Notes. Here I only indicate the Opening of what is prescribed to be read on the Deposition in these words: "Many indeed are the works of this most holy Confessor Humbert, which are established as having been wrought in the Lord: and some things excerpted from the Acts. which indeed are unknown to us but, we believe, known to Christ, by whose help they were done by him, who will render to all according to their works. This indeed Priest of God was effective in all his deeds, a constructor of monasteries, a redeemer of captives, a helper of widows and orphans, a cheerful host to strangers, a peacemaker in quarrels, a visitor of the sick, a burier of the dead after the example of Tobias, and like another Job, he was an eye to the blind and a foot to the lame, and a comforter of the grieving. Recognizing therefore that the day of his dissolution was approaching, the blessed Bishop Humbert sent Legates to his four kinsmen," etc., which are narrated from number 15.

Similar amplifications interspersed are observed in the Notes. If, however, someone should judge that these were written earlier, we do not wish to oppose in a trivial and ambiguous matter, but then we would judge that the superfluous amplifications were cut away, and that those things reported after the Translation of the body from number 19 were added. But the second Life also was appended, carried only to the point of death.

[3] Until now we have found in no Acts or diplomas any trace of Episcopal dignity, except that in the Amplification just given he is once called "the blessed Bishop Humbert," Whether a Bishop? and this title is prefixed: "Here begins the Preface of the Life of the most holy Confessor and Bishop Humbert." Meanwhile in the Church of Cambrai, Maubeuge, and others he is honored as a Bishop with nine lessons, but on September 6, the day on which his body was elevated. Molanus also in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium at this March 25 published the following poem, found at Antwerp among the Premonstratensians: in which one reads:

"O illustrious Humbert, you who shine with brilliant merits, By whose example of life and governance formerly Barbarian Antwerp received the doctrine of Christ. He taught the people of Antwerp, Under your leadership the blessed monastery of Maroilles radiates. Look upon your prostrate servants, most gentle Prelate, Whom the horrible fury of venomous bites assails. Grant us to enjoy tranquil peace, with serene heart Duly to compose our stormy billows. Let fierce fury, I pray, be driven far away forever. Let faith grow through piety, let high hope pursue, Let love attend upon studies, let vain luxury decline."

In the Collectanea of the Prior of Anchin compiled toward the end of the past century, the following are cited from a manuscript of Maroilles: "This diligent man set out for those places where Antwerp now stands, and performing his duties, he drew a people still unfaithful from the worship of demons and, having properly catechized them with Christian doctrines, led them to the bath of baptism." Molanus at the cited place judges that he is venerated as a Bishop on account of his Apostolate, because he announced Christ to those at Maroilles and the surrounding inhabitants along the Helpe (add also to others as far as Antwerp): name in the Martyrologies, by which reasoning certain others are honored among the Bishops: and therefore he prefixes the title, "On Saint Humbert of Maroilles." Miraeus also in the Belgian Fasti calls him in the title the Founder of the Abbey of Maroilles in Hainaut; he hints, however, that others wish him to have been a Bishop. And Molanus in the cited Birthdays and Supplement to Usuard from the Martyrology of the Church of Maroilles writes thus: "Also on the same day, the deposition of the most holy Humbert, Bishop and Confessor of Christ, glorious in virtues and miracles." Galesinius repeats nearly the same words, citing Molanus, and Wion in the Monastic Martyrology, citing both; whom Dorganius, Menardus follow, and Bucelinus adds a greater eulogy. Finally, Ferrarius in the General Catalogue calls him both Abbot and Bishop. But the same controversy remains in both cases. Saussaius venerates him with a long encomium: concerning which some things are adduced below in the Notes.

[6] The feast of the Translation from the same Maroilles Martyrology is thus reported by Molanus at September 6: and September 6 for the Translation. "On the same day, the Translation of the body of the most blessed Confessor of Christ, Humbert, illustrious in virtues and miracles": with the name of Bishop omitted. The manuscript of Tournai, monastery of Saint Martin, has in first place: "Of Saint Humbert the Priest." The manuscript of Laetium in Hainaut: "Deposition of Saint Humbert the Confessor." The same words are found in Canisius's German Martyrology. Herman Greuen also makes mention of Humbert in his supplement to Usuard. But the manuscript Florarium relates this: "Also of Saint Humbert, Priest and Confessor. His body, after the one hundred and fiftieth year from his dormition, was found so unharmed and incorrupt as if he had died on that very day." Similar things are found in Saussaius and Wion: of whom the former calls him only a Confessor, the latter also a Bishop; Bucelinus adds Abbot of Maroilles. But Ferrarius, who above called him Abbot and Bishop, here calls him Bishop. Ghinius at March 25 reports him in the Birthdays of the Saints of the Canons. This is certain: that he was a Priest and founded a monastery in which thirty Clerics lived, for whom monks were afterward substituted: and therefore the Benedictines, who now possess his monastery, rightly venerate him.

Diploma of donation of Saint Humbert.

From the manuscript of Maroilles sealed with the seal of Saint Humbert.

Humbert, Founder of the monastery of Maroilles in Hainaut (S.)

✠ In the twelfth year of the reign of our lord Childeric, the glorious King: I, in the name of God, Humbert, though an unworthy sinner, thinking about the fear of God and the reward of eternal good, or the washing away of my sins, because the Scripture says: "Make yourselves friends of the mammon of iniquity, who may lead you into the eternal mansions of the Saints." Therefore I give, what I wish to be given in perpetuity, to the most holy monastery called Maroilles, which the illustrious man Radobert formerly built by his own labor, consecrated in honor of Saint Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of Saints Peter and Paul the Apostles, and of the other Lords who are venerated in that basilica, situated in the district of Fanum Martis, on the river called the Helpe, the greater part of our possession in the estate called Macerias, situated in the district of Laon on the river Isera, which I purchased from my grandmother, dedicated to God, Andiliana, for a price paid under the title of sale; that is, the lordly manses, where the said Andiliana dwelt, and afterward we built, and the cultivated lands, and male and female servants, those men and those women. These manses, therefore, with the lands, planted fields, and pastures in their entirety, through this document of our donation, which we asked Ulfinus the Notary to write, we hand over to the said basilica of Saint Mary, built at Maroilles, from the present day to be possessed. All these things named above we have assigned to that monastery, so that the monks themselves or our successors may receive them in their right and dominion from the present day to possess, both in lands and houses, buildings, servants, vineyards, forests, meadows, pastures, waters, and watercourses, without the interference, advocacy, or vexation of any judge; and let them have in their power to hold, or exchange, or do whatever they wish from thence. Moreover in this document we decree that by no means shall any dispute hereafter arise among the servants of God themselves or their heirs. But if anyone after us -- which we do not believe will happen -- if any of our heirs or any opposing person wishes to come against or infringe this our donation which we have caused to be made, let him first incur the wrath of the Triune Majesty, and be anathema, and let his name be erased from the book of the living in heaven, and let him not be written with the just. And if he refuses to amend, may God change his mind; and in that judgment may he receive what Ananias and Sapphira received in the present life: nor, if he claims anything back, may he succeed in recovering it, and may our reward advance to our salvation; if any documents either earlier or later, by whatever ingenuity or argument, from our name among our relatives or among outsiders, should be shown, or should at any time appear, let them be recognized as forgeries and remain void, and let the present donation made by me endure for all time firm and inviolate, supported by the stipulation of qualified witnesses, namely of Lord Vindentianus the Bishop and Fulbert my brother, but of such-and-such and such-and-such. Done at Maroilles: Humbert himself, though a sinner, confirms with his own hand.

p. Interposed in the aforesaid: "let them not be written, but let them be associates of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed the Lord."

q. Again interposed: "And moreover let him be compelled to pay to the enforcing treasury ten pounds of gold and ten of silver." Which seem to have been added from a common formula.

r. In other sources: "let nothing succeed in recovering."

s. Thus also Balderic: Miraeus corrected to "instruments." Tertullian, book 1 To His Wife, chapter 7: Strumentum. "For us continence has been demonstrated as the instrument of eternity by the Lord of salvation, God."

t. Colvenerius notes it should be read "were shown... should appear," as Miraeus corrected.

u. In the same, "but"

v. ibid., Vindiciani, or Vinditiani.

That is, "of such-and-such and such-and-such," as Peter Pithou explains in the Glossary of the Capitularies, under the word "Fidelitas."

w. Balderic again has Chronobertus, which error we have corrected above.

LIFE

by an anonymous monk of Maroilles

From various manuscript codices.

Humbert, Founder of the monastery of Maroilles in Hainaut (S.)

BHL Number: 4036

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

CHAPTER I

Birth, education, Priesthood. Journey to Rome with Saint Amandus and Nicasius of Elnone.

[1] In the time of Childeric, who held the monarchy of the kingdom among the Franks, an excellent Priest of the Lord and Confessor distinguished himself, Born of noble family, namely Saint Humbert. He, born of freeborn parents, was more noble in faith and character. His father, the blessed Eurardus, and his mother Popita drew their illustrious origin from the stock of the Franks. Moreover, his parents, being most Christian and (as is commonly regarded as a mark of blessedness) very wealthy in worldly goods, resolved to have the infant renewed at the sacred font and enlisted in Christ's service. And now, what you would not know to observe in other boys of his age (since the weakness of their age still conceals their future character), this one from his very boyish years gave excellent signs of future sanctity: he gives signs of future sanctity: namely, to disdain things present, to desire nothing in the world, to set nothing before the love of the Creator, to seek only those things that produce the fruit of true blessedness. By these and similar proofs, his parents, perceiving the boy illuminated by heavenly visitation, plainly not without divine counsel, went to the city of the see of Laon, he is received into the Clergy of Laon: a place where they knew a company of the faithful was laboring in divine offices; and there they entrusted him to most skilled men, to be imbued with liberal, indeed Catholic disciplines. Then, having taken the habit of Ecclesiastical service, he himself, like a Nazarite of God, with the hair of his head cut, was adorned with the royal and Priestly crown.

[2] Then, having bidden farewell to his parents as they returned to their own home, he is consecrated a Priest: the venerable boy was enclosed in a monastery: where he was abundantly instructed in sacred disciplines, adorned in character, and fittingly formed in Ecclesiastical ordinances, and thus advancing in age and grace, he was promoted through each individual rank up to the summit of the Priesthood. In which grade he showed himself such an exemplar of humility to all that everyone venerated him with the affection of charity. For he was truly a lover of chastity, a most generous cultivator of hospitality, burning with a nectarous fire toward God and neighbor. Therefore, excelling in these sacred deeds, the celibate man, while he shone in the Church of the aforementioned city like a distinguished star above his contemporaries and elders, he stirs others by the example of his virtues: many of the Brothers, animated by his example, chose to live more blessedly. Nor could his celebrated name any longer be confined within the limits of one city, but it was diffused through the borders of the whole region with a favorable rumor of the people. The place where the venerable man was born into the light of day bears in its very name a mystical significance, if you consider the life of the newborn more carefully: for it is called Maceries Walls. Now vineyards are enclosed with walls, lest wild beasts lurk to harm the fruits. Which indeed I would say more truly befits Blessed Humbert, who fortified the vineyard of the Lord, that is, the Church of the faithful, against the assault of the enemy, who like a roaring lion always seeks whom he may devour.

[3] After some space of time had passed, while on a certain day (as was his familiar custom) he was sitting in the monastery, he began to revolve in his mind the possessions about to claim his inheritance, which had been left to him by his forebears, and how they ought to be managed. Whence, deliberating long and much, he at last judged it worthy to seek them out; not because he looked to temporal gain in them (for he despised the very desire for temporal things), but so that he might someday assign them to the expenses of the Lord's household. Having therefore received the blessing of the Bishop he returns to his homeland: and the kind permission of the Brothers, he departed from the city and came to a certain place of his domain, where his herds were grazing in verdant meadows.

[4] When he had turned aside to that place for a little while, and surveyed the surrounding area with his eyes far and wide, he receives Saints Amandus and Nicasius as guests: there came upon him the holy man of the Lord, Amandus, having in his company a most reverend man named Nicasius, both of whom were pursuing the path of pilgrimage. Seeing Saint Humbert, as soon as they recognized him as the lord of that place, they humbly asked him to grant them the benefits of hospitality. The man of God, having greeted them, received them kindly and invited them to dinner with a kiss. When they had been refreshed, he addressed them carefully: "Brothers," he said, "most dear, I see that you have come to our hospitality not without reason. Tell us, then, where your journey is heading." To him Blessed Amandus said: "O dearest brother, would that we might have you as a companion on our pilgrimage: perhaps under the auspices of Christ, the journey would be profitable for you as well. For we are heading for the venerable See of the Roman Church to seek the aid of the Apostles, he joins as a companion on the Roman journey. if heavenly clemency should grant it. Moreover, the journey will be pleasant for three traveling companions: nor will the blessed protection of the Holy Trinity be absent from those for whom faith, hope, and charity make one heart and one soul." Without delay the man of God declared himself ready for everything, and so left everything with which he had been occupied.

[5] And so, having undertaken the pilgrimage, as they proceeded on their way, the journey proceeds, "Behold," said Blessed Amandus, "how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity." And truly in unity, whom one spirit and one faith, clinging inseparably to one God, had joined together. But we cannot keep silent about what the Lord, for his own praise, deigned to work through the holy man during this expedition. For as they journeyed with a prosperous course, when one day, weary from the journey, they rested and refreshed their fasting bodies with food; behold, suddenly from the forest, which happened to be nearby, a bear of wondrous size sprang forth and seized one of their pack horses, which it threw to the ground and strangled. The blessed men, intent on other matters, were unaware of the loss to their household. When they prepared to resume their journey and the horse was not there to carry the baggage, Blessed Amandus sent one of his servants to bring back the horse, which he thought was grazing. The boy obeyed and hastened to the place where the bloody beast was gnawing the carcass of the horse. Terrified, while he struggled to find a place of safety, and the holy men reproached the delay of the lingerer, they lose a horse devoured by a bear: Blessed Humbert said: "Do not be troubled, Brothers; I myself will quickly accomplish what your servant is doing negligently." Running, he found the horse eviscerated and beside it the bear, stained with blood. Inspired by divine power and accompanied by obedience, he seized it with great confidence and commanded it by divine authority: Saint Humbert lays baggage on the bear: "Because you killed the beast of burden of these our Brothers, which God had given us as a comfort on the journey, you must supply in vicarious payment the service which it rendered us until now: and carry our baggage obediently for the entire journey of our pilgrimage." You would see the horrible beast become tame at the words of the man: and the creature that by its ferocity had been hostile to all other animals and even to men, now stood ready to obey like a domestic servant. Called, it came closer, composed its limbs, patiently accepted the load: it proceeded with those who proceeded, and stopped when they stopped: and when the hour of refreshment called, it stood modestly by as they ate, and humbly took the rations of its own portion from the hand of the one who offered them: then returning to the baggage, while the holy men rested, it guarded them with vigilant watch.

[6] In the presentation of this miracle, he becomes more famous from this, it is superfluous to ask to whom in particular it should be ascribed. For the most celebrated fame had already spread Blessed Amandus and Nicasius far and wide: but since the merits of Blessed Humbert had not yet come to human knowledge, there is no doubt that it was done by divine will so that by this unusual miracle it might become manifest how greatly he shone in the eyes of his Creator by his merits, to whom beastly ferocity obeyed on earth. But also the unrecognized virtue had perhaps bestowed less upon the man of God among men, whom the grace of more celebrated reverence, now manifested, had exalted. How greatly, then, the aforesaid men of God afterward venerated Saint Humbert, is not to be narrated but rather marveled at. Indeed, as they traveled, it can scarcely be comprehended in writing what great wonder there was throughout the cities and villages over the beast, with everyone amazed that a wild animal should serve for human uses. But because

among the miracles yet not puffed up in spirit. which just men work, the vice of boasting, like a kind of pestilent seed of the enemy, often arises, unless the mind fortifies itself on all sides with the guard of humility, so that from those things which they wonderfully work outwardly they may not swell inwardly with the wind of pride; rightly the Spirit through the Prophet says in the vision of the animals that they have eyes round about and within, by which they observe on all sides with wakeful solicitude the hostile assaults of the tempter, lest through what is done marvelously outwardly, the mind within may be inflated by the breeze of levity. Whence by provident dispensation, the Lord wished to restrain the just man from popular adulation, not because he suspected him of seeking the glory of popular applause (for he alone looks upon the hearts of men), but so that from the just man we who are weaker might learn to flee vainglory even from things well done.

[7] And so, by the grace of pious dispensation, as the holy men approached Rome, the Lord admonished the Supreme Bishop of that See through an Angel, By command of the Pope, divinely admonished, saying: "From the western regions of Gaul, men are approaching, despicable in appearance but sublime in merits, whom a wild beast accompanies for their service. Let him therefore send a delegation to meet them, lest they enter the city with the display of the beast's obedience: let them rather allow the beast to return to its haunts, lest they excite upon themselves the admiration of a tumultuous populace: let them think it enough that an untamable beast has obeyed them thus far: let them learn that they are as high before the supreme Judge as they are low among men." they dismiss the bear: What more? Upon hearing the by no means contemptible command of the Pontiff, the holy men unloaded their familiar seat and thus allowed it to return to its lairs. The beast returned, looking back from time to time, as if presenting itself for recalled obedience. after completing their business in Rome, Having entered the City, the holy men -- it is not easily said -- were received with what great reverence by the holy Pontiff. Then, having visited the oratories of the Apostles and offered their vows at the places of the Saints, they hastened to return with eagerness: they return. namely, Saint Amandus with Blessed Nicasius sought the territory of Elnone; but Blessed Humbert brought himself to Maroilles.

CHAPTER II.

Second journey to Rome. Visit to Saint Amandus. The monastery of Maroilles built.

[8] After some time had elapsed, Blessed Humbert was burning with the love of repeating his pilgrimage. Having returned to Rome again without Saint Amandus, Kindled with such a fire of desire, he sought out his blessed companions, to whom, revealing the secrets of his plan, he inquired whether it would please them to revisit that renowned Rome with him. But when Blessed Amandus declined this for certain reasons, his own servants, as is the nature of petty servants, heaped many insults on Blessed Humbert, saying that he sought the arduous journey not from the zeal of religion but of vanity, which he had scarcely completed once and not without much labor. But no insults of the wicked, no harshness of the roads could deter the most patient man from his purpose. Having prepared therefore those things which were necessary for the journey, he set out, and having crossed the Alps and traversed Italy, he entered the venerable oratory of Blessed Peter. Where, when he had long been intent upon prayer, behold, an Angel from heaven stood by him and expressed the sign of the Lord's Cross upon the crown of his head; he receives a Cross impressed upon his head by an Angel: by which you may easily understand that this man was acquired by the triumph of the Cross and the Blood of the Lord. If you consider the heavenly artisan, you will find nothing in the material craftsmanship of the cross at which you ought rightly to be scandalized. This sign was not for anyone to see, nor was it lawful for all to behold: but only for those whom arduous virtue and a life sublime in merits had raised to the contemplation of the heavenly light; and these, the more distinguished in sanctity, the fewer in number.

[9] Then, approaching the Pontiff of the Apostolic See, from the inheritance offered to the Pontiff, he asked that the patrimonies which he held in Gaul from his forebears should be accepted for the work of the Saints of that same See. But the Apostolic man, gratefully embracing the man's benevolence, did not spurn his affection, but arranged it to be more wisely ordered, saying: commanded to build a church, "We are grateful for your charity, most beloved Brother, and we are not displeased at the zeal of your good will; but since you have immovably fallen upon this resolution, take this counsel from us: that having received the relics of the holy Mother of God and of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, you should hasten to return to Gaul, and with these very resources which you mention having in your homeland, having founded a church, you should deposit these relics of the Saints, and faithfully remember to carry out there what you propose to do at Rome."

[10] Thus the most obedient man, having joyfully received the most sacred Relics, having received Relics he returns to Saint Amandus, and retracing his journey, most devoutly fulfilled what had been commanded with all speed. For he had already arrived in Gaul when he was burning with the desire to see the blessed man Amandus: and behold, an Angel from heaven, standing by him as he prayed, said: "Know, Brother Amandus, that the beloved of the Lord, Humbert, comes to visit you, having labored in pilgrimage: whom you should indeed remember to meet without delay, and in the first words of greeting admonished by an Angel, carefully contemplate the crown of his head: and know that he who bears that sign on his head is truly his victim." Without delay, the Blessed Priest of God, not incredulous to the heavenly instructions, proceeded to meet Blessed Humbert. Whom, when he had greeted him with brotherly affection, not unmindful of the divine command, concerning the Cross impressed upon his head, he saw above his head the shining image of the Lord's Cross, gleaming with incredible brightness; by which he could easily understand that through the Cross of mortification he had sacrificed himself as a holocaust to him whose sign he retained outwardly on his body. But if perhaps some incredulous person is startled with a resisting heart, he does not detract from me the writer, but singularly robs himself of what the grace of mercy had provided for the common restoration of believers. Therefore Blessed Amandus, welcoming the venerable pilgrim with hospitality, when he brought him into his monastery, preceded by a prayer, he pardons the insult: fell at his knees, humbly asking that the blasphemy be mercifully pardoned for his servants, which they had furiously and falsely heaped upon him. It was fitting enough for both that the latter should forgive indulgently what the former had asked humbly.

[11] Therefore, pardon having been obtained, after many edifying conversations and mutual blessings given, he builds the oratory at Maroilles, Blessed Humbert returned to his own estate. Not long afterward, he began to burn with frequent meditations as to what he should do with the Relics of the Saints which he had brought with him: when by chance, as certain matters intervened, he was inspecting certain places belonging to his own jurisdiction. Having therefore contemplated a place suitable for sacred buildings along the bank of the Sambre, which the earlier country folk called Maroilles, having obtained permission from the Bishop of the See of Cambrai, he built an oratory, in which, according to the available means, he established men under the habit of monastic life, who are said to have served there for some period of time. But to some of our people, it is uncertain what difficulty pressing upon them -- whether the barrenness of the place or the disturbance of the surrounding inhabitants -- that place for some time lacked the observance of monastic life. then a monastery: But leaving that place, he built a monastery not far away, which has survived to our own times, in which he established thirty Clerics of both conditions and ranks.

[12] The dogs of a certain hunter, having caught the scent of a stag in the forest, were pursuing it: by chance the man of God was cultivating a field, where he was struggling more intently to uproot thorns and harmful bushes, by his merits he saves a wild beast from the bites of dogs under his cloak: in order to build there dwellings for the Brothers and other things necessary for their use: and to do this more expeditiously, he had cast his cloak far away. But the hunters, blowing their horns, were pressing the beast with their chase and cries. Already over a great distance the said beast (as from all sides the crowd of hunters pressed, nor did any escape lie open for the wretched creature) was repeatedly putting off imminent death, about to be caught, by frequent leaps. Soon spotting the man of God's cloak, amid the bites and spears it made a leap, and running straight, not uncertain of where it aspired, the panting creature composed itself under the very cloak: so that by hiding in this way it might deceive its pursuers. What more? The dogs, barking all around, were not allowed to come closer; as the hunters urged them on, they were rather driven back in fear, as if they were fleeing the face of one threatening or dreading a huge precipice. Indeed you would see the hunters themselves so converted to dissolution and terror that with their weakening right hands they could not even hurl their weapons, but with their whole bodies growing rigid, they entirely lost their strength of mind, with everyone amazed at the divine power saving the beast.

[13] One of them, spotting the blessed man close by, immediately dismounted from his horse as best he could, not uncertain that the beast had been granted by his merits: he is greatly honored by the hunter: and he humbly addressed the holy man with these words of greeting: "What wretched men refuse to believe, Father holy, the wild beasts confess: beasts revere what men scorn: the virtue which we rational men, partaking of reason, disdain to revere in you, the irrational and untamed beasts venerate under your garments. Moreover, we congratulate ourselves on having lost the expenses of this day, by which, God willing, it has been revealed what had hitherto escaped our notice. It profits us to have exercised a laborious course in vain hope, for a far better hope is refreshed from the present recognition of your virtues. Behold, the beast which we have pursued all day with hostile chase, with panting horses and dogs, shelters itself safely under your cloak, which neither the dogs may touch nor the hunters may pierce. Its life, therefore, granted by your merits, we believe in the manifest name of God. In which matter it is clear that since wild beasts are saved from imminent death through you, it is not impossible to grant the desired salvation also to men. Indeed in this very region a great abundance of resources in estates and households has been left to me by my forebears."

"Of these, therefore, for this work which, God willing, you have begun, whatever seems useful for the service of your people, please count it among your own. and as a gift he receives a villa. I gladly give whatever is pleasing to you and I know will be profitable for your people, provided I may deserve to be counted among the number of those whom you have wished to be participants in your prayers." Although difficult, yet overcome by benign importunity, he persuaded him to accept one villa belonging to his jurisdiction, which the earlier inhabitants called Liniacas, situated in the district of Hainaut and Temploux, which the man of God, signed with the inscription of a privilege and strengthened by a testament, delegated as a stipendiary endowment for the use of the Brothers.

CHAPTER III.

Conversation with Saint Aldegunde. Illness, death, burial.

[14] The blessed reputation of the man of God, spread far and wide, animated many with the fervor of visiting him. The venerable Virgin Aldegunde therefore, aroused by the messengers of most celebrated fame, undertook to visit the blessed man: He receives Saint Aldegunde, where for several days she was nourished by him with spiritual feasts. It happened that the desire came to the Virgin's mind to see the layout of the building and the habitation of the place, whether it was sufficiently suited for the exercises of religious worship. And so, after many conversations between them, the most blessed Virgin addressed the holy man: "Let me see, Father, if you please, these buildings of your monastery and the structures arranged for dwellings, and also the surrounding fields of this territory." The Saint did not refuse her. Going out therefore, they began to inspect each and every thing. Already they had gone a little distance from the place, she shows her the structure and fields: when the fire of the blazing dog star was more violently parching the fields: and behold, the Virgin in the midst of the arid crops began to feel deep thirst, plainly not without the will of God, who dispenses the beginnings of things by appropriate causes. "I am afflicted, Father," she said, "with vehement thirst." To whom the blessed man said: "You know, Sister, that here the dry sands are tempered by no irrigating waters, and the land, still sparse in cultivators, lacks wells, except that the still rough inhabitant carries water on his shoulders, not without labor, from the river. Wait here a little, for the journey to the river is not long." As they went on a little, the Virgin was pressed more acutely, until, overcome by the violence of thirst, she cried out that she was failing. The holy man, no longer bearing her distress, he draws forth a spring: applied himself to prayer until, after the space of one hour had elapsed, gradually from the dry ground, a vein of bubbling water springing forth raised a generous spring from itself. The Virgin, marveling at the heavenly gift and giving thanks to God, tempered her thirst with a taste of the flowing water, and lifting up praises, she began to proclaim the just man. But while he said that this had been granted by the Virgin's visit, and she rather ascribed it to his faith and merits, both tasted the heavenly gift. The spring remains to this present day and does not fail, pleasant to the taste for the inhabitants, useful for use. I would say the visit of this Virgin should not be ascribed to the chances of fortuitous chance, which thus anticipates human necessities with opportune outcomes. The Virgin thirsts, the just man prays, the spring rises, that succeeding generations may draw.

[15] Blessed Humbert had four men, closely related both by familiarity and by right of blood, and themselves not ignoble among the leading men, to his kinsmen whom the blessed man seemed to love above the rest of his kindred, especially because, although occupied with the activities of secular service, yet aspiring by vow to heavenly things, they desired to have nothing in common with sin. Therefore the man of the Lord, having arranged the Ecclesiastical affairs and ordered each and every thing as was fitting, when he felt the day of his dissolution approaching, ordered the men to be summoned to him, he commends the monastery: and addressing them with words of this kind, he said: "I give thanks, Sons, to the supreme Creator, that I leave you surviving. Know that the diligence which you have shown me with the zeal of love has been pleasing to me; but what was much more pleasing was that I understood you to keep yourselves far from wicked deeds, and not to be held so much by the ambition of temporal things. You yourselves, Sons, you yourselves have seen how great an abundance of resources I had from my parents in estates and households. Behold, from these I have built one monastery, according to my measure, with its dependencies, which I myself greatly fear lest after my death it be dissipated by pestilent men and reduced to a wilderness. You, therefore, I wish to be the guardians of this monastery, whatever it may be, and of the whole household and the things pertaining to it: so that you may remember to stand against barbarian avarice and the fury of attackers, and to set up the bulwark of your protection, lest by the persuasion of evil men the possessions of the Church be plundered. Behold, the day of my dissolution is at hand: show to the dead the same grace which you have shown to me while living; so that what I built for the praise of God, you may cause to stand stable and unharmed by your aid. The reward of justice will be common to those for whom the supplement of just labor has been common. It will not be a small thing for you to receive an inestimable return of grace for the state and salvation of the Church. Be mindful of this my petition, if you wish me to be mindful and propitious before the supreme Judge." Having said these things, he gathered himself to his bed, and while they wept and said: "We ask that you, Father, be mindful and propitious to us now and on the very day of the great judgment; indeed we deliver ourselves to you to be reconciled to divine grace: may that which the guilt of our offense aggravates be made excusable through you. Grant us by your patronage to attain those things to which we cannot aspire by our own merits. If after the struggles of labor Christ calls the victor to the rewards of remuneration, yet joined to your King, do not abandon your little servants placed on earth. We indeed shall never be turned by any disturbance from those things which you commit to our care, so that as long as the spirit animates our bodies, we shall constantly serve your commands. Under your guidance we shall not fear the assaults of hostile domination. Would that the heavenly clemency might will you to survive our times, or transfer us together with you to the heavenly court." Having said these things, they received the blessing and returned to their homes.

[16] Now the time had come when God called the true Israel from his Egyptian afflictions to the promised glory; and the holy man had asked from Blessed Aldegunde garments to be sent for the uses of his funeral, he requests linen cloths from Saint Aldegunde for his burial: not because ornaments for the pomp of a funeral ceremony were lacking to him, but because he wished his virginal limbs to be composed in linens woven by virginal hands. Indeed the kind Lord did not suffer the wishes of the just man to be frustrated in these matters, which the delay of a perhaps slower messenger could have impeded. A messenger was therefore sent, and when he had covered half the journey, behold, another sent by the blessed Virgin met him, carrying the linens in which the body of the dead man was to be wrapped. These, discussing between themselves the causes and time of their journeys in mutual conversation, noticed that the hour had been one and the same at which each had received the commands to be executed. Which is certainly to be believed to have happened not without divine direction, that a Maiden placed so far away, warned neither by fame nor by messengers, should care for the funeral of the holy man.

[17] Now as for the obsequies of his funeral, how great a multitude of people gathered, many flocking together, it is not easy to define in writing. For an innumerable multitude of priests and virgins and laypersons from the surrounding areas rushed together, crying out and saying: "Why do you desert us, most loving Father? Why do you leave the sheep which you acquired by your word? Even if the guilt of our offense demands that, the Shepherd having been taken away, we be slaughtered by the hostile sword, yet (since nothing of the portion of your beatitude will be endangered as your merits increase, indeed your rewards are accumulated by happy growth) rather, Father, have pity on our calamities, and remember to mitigate the indignation of the coming punishment: for with you removed from us, there is no one to guard your flock, drive away enemies, repel the plunderer, remove plague, cure infirmities, terrify the shades of noxious spirits, repel famine, close heaven with restrained rains, open the clouds for thirsting fields, and refresh us with the dew of heavenly eloquence. Rather, the ravening wolves, the grievous wolves, will tear apart the young flock which you as most vigilant Shepherd had gathered to Christ, and your sheep will be miserably scattered. You were a safe protection against the plotting adversary, you a breastplate, you a shield and strength, and commending themselves to his prayers, you an inestimable wall and an ever-drawn bow. Behold now, holy Father, since we see you hastening to the heights, where that heavenly host of Angels already applauds your arrival, bring us from the Almighty the pardon which we desire; and when you have shone like a distinguished star before the morning star, at the throne of your King, he dies on March 25: remember, we beseech, these your servants." Amid such voices of the weeping and the mingled praises of those chanting psalms, that holy soul, freed from the flesh, was carried to the ethereal abodes, where it enjoys the company of Angels, the glorious confession of the Apostles, the purple radiance of the Martyrs, the nectarous sweetness of the Virgins, and the eternity of all virtues. There is the most celebrated day of his deposition, the eighth before the Kalends of April. buried, he shines with miracles. His most holy body, which his disciples embalmed with spices, they carried to the oratory which he himself built, with hymns and psalms, and there they buried him with great glory: where, by the support of his merits, divine benefits are bestowed, to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

"When the eternal light is announced through the Archangel to the Mother of God, this Saint, leaving the valley of tears, was carried to the ethereal light, which, assuming human flesh in the womb of the Virgin, through its passion conferred perpetual salvation on the world. That what we say may be more clearly understood: this Saint did not die, because he lives with Christ, but departed to the Court of the Angels on the eighth before the Kalends of April, when the Annunciation of the Mother of God is celebrated in the world."

CHAPTER IV.

Translation of the Body of Saint Humbert. Monks introduced into the monastery of Maroilles.

[18] After the departure of Blessed Humbert, his aforesaid kinsmen of that place governed the place itself with its dependencies for a number of years: After Rodinus was established as Abbot by the authority of Charlemagne, and when these had been removed from the world, the Abbey existed for many years without a Rector. But at a certain time, a venerable Priest named Rodinus came to the same monastery for the purpose of prayer. Having seized the opportunity, the Brothers surrounded him, unanimously requesting that he should preside over them. When he humbly refused and protested that he was unworthy of the height of so great an honor, at last, broken by their prayers, he went to Charlemagne, reporting to him how greatly he was pressed by the petition of the Brothers to the governance of the Church; and that, induced by nothing of vainglory or temporal gain, he desired to preside over the highest office; but because he considered that he could not escape the guilt of obstinacy if he neglected the welfare of the Brothers, and pertinaciously resisted what he was wisely urged to undertake; moved by the fear of this, he judged it proper to seek the King's benevolence. For the utility of the place also seemed to require that those things which had fallen into ruin through age should be renewed: he therefore asked that the aforesaid Abbey be given to him to govern. Therefore the King, hearing the petition of the Brothers and the man's not ignoble way of life, assented to their will. The venerable Priest therefore, returning to the monastery, was received with joy by the Brothers. At a subsequent time it happened that one night, when he had given himself to sleep, he was admonished in his dreams by an Angel to transfer the body of the blessed Confessor from the tomb in which it had rested for many years. Having therefore summoned the Brothers, he set forth the revelation to them, after a divine revelation, and having proclaimed a fast, he urged them to open the sacred tomb. On the third day of the fast, the Abbot, having summoned the Brothers present and those from the vicinity, as well as a great crowd of laypeople, informed them how he had been divinely admonished concerning the removal of the Saint's body. The Brothers, having heard the reasons for their summons and the vision set forth, glorified God, and at the same time girded themselves with Sacerdotal vestments, and having begun an antiphon, they started to uncover the tomb. When they probed more deeply, the body of Saint Humbert is found after 153 years incorrupt, gradually a fragrance of nectarous scent began to be infused into their nostrils. When the most holy body appeared, one can scarcely sufficiently marvel or adequately describe with what great sweetness of wondrous fragrance those present were suffused. And what is more astonishing, the one hundred and fifty-third year from his deposition had arrived, when that sacred body was found so unharmed and incorrupt as if he had breathed his last on that very day; with the linens and flowers: so that if you saw the prepared bed, you would think the man was sleeping. Indeed even the linens in which he had been wrapped at the time of the funeral were plainly free of any corruption, as was evident to all. And the herbs which had been placed at the time of his burial, which you would suppose either not to exist at all on account of the antiquity of the times, or to have been dissolved into dust, were found so green, he is transferred into the church, as if they were growing verdant, rooted in the earth and watered with irrigating waters. Lifting up the holy body with reverence, they transferred it into the church which the aforesaid Abbot had expanded with enlarged buildings.

[19] Over a long period of time the Abbey was diminished in its resources as much as it was enslaved to the dictates of secular power. The miserable state of the monastery For even those who appeared to preside over the duties of Ecclesiastical worship clung all the more freely to secular business, as they were restrained by no Rector's bridle. Moreover, if any religious men contributed something from their own means to the common use of the servants, these men, diverting it to their own uses, did not sufficiently care for the poverty of their subjects: and those things which were kept for the solemn adornment of the temple, they dissipated on the expenses of vile trade. Whence it came about that when the Emperor Otto, son of King Henry, was informed about such complaints by Fulbert, the illustrious Bishop of the See of Cambrai, Fulbert the Bishop partially restores it, that Catholic Prince received the Abbey from the hand of Isaac, who at that time administered the dignity of the County, and made it subject to Saint Mary of Cambrai, and designated it to be governed by Episcopal rule, which up to the present day seems to belong to the same mother Church. But the properties of the church which were wrongly held by outsiders, and had been alienated either by violent invasions or by the unfortunate agreements of Clerics, as we said, could not yet be settled until the time of Bishop Gerard. He, having obtained the Pontifical scepter in the fourteenth year of Emperor Henry, while he surveyed the borders of his diocese Gerard the Bishop, having introduced monks, restores it: and inquired in each church how the divine ministries were being conducted, and happened to turn aside to this place while passing through, found it bristling with a deformed appearance, with buildings half in ruins, everything dissipated, so that you would think a hostile army had passed through. Having therefore inquired about the cause of such great desolation, when he learned that such great ruin of affairs had arisen chiefly from the insolence of the Clerics, and he himself, reprimanding all their ways both in private and public corrections, could by no means recall them from the error of their wicked custom; despairing of correction, he expelled them from the place, substituting in their stead the order of monks, judging it more advisable that they should hold the norm of Regular discipline, and if any insolence should arise, it could more easily be guided to the right path. Having therefore renewed and enlarged the monastery, he began to restore the possessions of the church wherever they had been.

CHAPTER V.

The body of Saint Humbert taken: carried to Flanders and Cambrai: brought back to Maroilles.

[20] But those who had been expelled, by no means imputing the guilt of their offense to themselves but indignant at those who were better, The body is stolen by the Clerics began to seek an opportunity for how they might assist themselves regarding their lost possessions. Having therefore sent a spy, they found a suitable event for their nefarious designs, in that the temple was found alone and the Abbot and monks were absent, who by chance were detained at a Synod at Cambrai for certain Ecclesiastical reasons during those days. Seizing therefore the opportunity for perpetrating their crime, they assembled a band of thieves and, having made an irruption, violently entered the monastery, and breaking open the chests and furnishings which they happened to find, they carried off a portion; madmen, who did not even restrain their sacrilegious hands from the Confessor's body itself. Taking it also, they transferred it to the more remote wilderness of the forest, hoping that if not by some other reward, at least through this they might have a way back to the old place, or else they would carry it for sale to a foreign region. Thus it was deposited by them, as we have learned through certain persons. But the divine goodness of God, it is recovered: which powerfully rules and sweetly disposes all things, prevented the homeland from being deprived of so great a Patron, and the wicked will from incurring the guilt of its effect. For the faithful Bishops, as soon as the matter became known to them, having recalled the Clerics from their intention, returned the recovered treasure, imploring pardon for the Clerics.

[21] It so happened that a lawsuit of the monastery needed to be pursued by the Abbot: for the Clerics, about whom mention was made above, the body is carried to Flanders: had given a certain villa in the district of Hainaut, called Seuiercas, to a certain soldier for the payment of an annual tax, which had come into the hands of Marquis Baldwin after the death of the man. The Abbot was preparing to go to reclaim this, if it could somehow be done. Therefore, after seeking counsel from the Bishop, he determined that the body of Blessed Humbert should be conveyed to the country of the Flemish, where Baldwin himself was at that time residing in the maritime places as circumstances required: judging that the Count's mind could be bent to benevolence, when he saw that he, a man whom he knew by the law of mortality to be subject to corruption, was being sought by the holy Confessor of God in the guise of a petitioner, whom he would afterward need to have as an intercessor. And so it was done.

[22] When therefore the most holy body was translated to the aforesaid region, what shone forth as a proof of his virtues, I judged it wrong to suppress in silence. It so happened that a woman was dwelling in a town to which antiquity had given the name Bruges, whom the entire neighborhood had known for a long time to be suffering from a flow of blood. She, at first wealthy in possessions, had reached the point a woman suffering from a flow of blood, where she had consumed nearly all her substance on physicians. Having therefore despaired of health, since with her strength exhausted she was drawing out a hateful life, while wishing for death with her prayers; she heard

that Blessed Humbert was being carried not far from her house with the people rejoicing. Leaping with faith and more certain of her salvation, she asked to be carried to the body, she who certainly had been unable to cross the threshold of her own house for a long time. Borne by two men, at first indeed leaning on their arms with halting step, she began to hasten as best she could to the body, when gradually, her strength returning, she began to feel better. But as the crowds pressed in, while those who carried the bier were more forcefully pushed, and she was delayed by the difficulty of keeping up, she sent a delegation entreating them to wait for a moment. Those who carried the body, not knowing the cause of the delegation and caring little for the command, while they hurried to go; summoning one of the monks who accompanied them, she indicated the disease of her infirmity, and taking a small silver chain from her neck, she spoke these words: "This, Father, is left to me from the money which I once had in abundance; the rest I have spent on physicians. I had set this aside for the expenses of a pilgrimage, intending to seek the aid of Peter and Paul: she is healed: but since I have no doubt that I can be helped by the merits of Blessed Humbert, take this for the building of his house, and cause the sacred bier to stop while I touch the hem of his shroud. For I am confident that if I touch it, I shall carry back the desired salvation." And so it was done. For upon arriving at the body, as soon as she touched the covering with which it was covered, she was healed: and leaping up and praising God, she returned to her home, not without the admiration of many, since she whom they had seen arrive on others' vehicles, they saw returning on her own steps, exultant.

[23] Blessed Humbert, brought back from the Flemish borders to the city of Cambrai, the body is brought back to the church of Saint Humbert near Cambrai: rested for a few days in the church of Blessed Martin, which is situated outside the wall, not far from the city. It happened that the monks' beasts of burden were being kept in a stable not far from the basilica: when the guards, overcome by wine and sleep, had negligently secured the enclosures of the stable, one of their pack horses leapt out through the doors standing open at dead of night, wandering until daylight. A certain man, coming upon it straying alone as he went out early to his rural work, and not altogether faithful, seized the opportunity and shut it in his own house, waiting for night, which seems opportune for thefts, lest he be caught by day if he tried to lead it anywhere. In the morning, when the guards noticed, upon opening the door, that the beast was missing, they cried out that the stable had been attacked by thieves. An investigation was made but the author of the damage was found nowhere. After three days of waiting, when no evidence was given and, having lost hope, they were about to stop searching, a certain woman who had come by chance for prayer, as if with the attitude of one indignant, addressed those standing around: "Indeed, I would call it credible that the holy Lord Humbert would allow a beast of burden to perish from the uses of his servants, when, upon losing a horse, an untamable bear once provided its service to him." It is uncertain whether she railed in unbelief, as if derogating, or whether, more certain of the merits of the holy man of God, she spoke this by the spirit of truth. where a horse stolen by theft, But she had not yet finished these words when behold, the man who had taken the beast, led by repentance though unwilling, prostrated himself before the bier of Saint Humbert with tears, beating his breast, filling the whole basilica with a pitiable cry. Those present waited in silence to see what he had done that grieved him so greatly: when, rising and asking those who stood around to point out the Abbot to him, upon spotting him, he immediately fell at his feet and, accusing himself of the crime, said: "I, Father, am that most wretched man who disturbed your goods by the fraud of theft, and stole your beast of burden, not to your loss but under the hard name of my own misfortune. I do not conceal the fault but ask pardon for the error, while behold, you receive safe and sound what you had lost. Let the punishment exhausted be enough, that for this whole three days I have been stricken with the penalty of avenging dread and inescapable labor. For that you may know how greatly I am tortured by miseries, this is the third day that, fleeing the company of men, I fear the very light, and wherever it is possible, I take myself to a dark shelter: but at night I seize upon flight. But while I seem to have escaped the borders of this vicinity while the thief cannot lead it away, and evaded all dangers, at twilight I find myself standing, as if deluded by sleep, before the door of this church. Through these individual nights, I am tortured by the labor of inextricable flight, since it is lawful neither to put down the animal nor to find safe hiding places. I am worthily repaid at the price of my guilt; there is no means for escape nor reasoning for argument of decision. My iniquity has confined me, I confess; it is voluntarily restored: the not undeserved vengeance of my offense is at hand. Nor would I believe in vain that I am pressed by these ills from the indignation of Saint Humbert. Now therefore, Father, receive what is yours, safe and sound, and grant me the pardon which I do not deserve: you will not call me ungrateful hereafter for such benefits, when you no longer hear me immersed in such crimes." The Abbot, therefore, moved to mercy by these suppliant words, pardoned the man what he had asked: enjoining him to live more uprightly. Finally, for several days Blessed Humbert rested in the basilica of which we made mention above.

Meanwhile it seemed fitting to the Bishop that the body should be moved hence and placed in the church of Blessed Andrew the Apostle, whether it should be kept in the church of Saint Andrew, an inquiry was made: which he himself had built, fourteen miles distant from the city itself, because that place is most fortified for repelling hostile incursions. The location is also so favorable that no part of it is unfruitful, but the whole land is excellent and fertile. For the richness of the soil provides spontaneous fruits, and it abounds in forests, and is therefore rich in cattle and abundant in milk. The soil, soft and pliable for the practice of cultivation, by its grace and beauty of appearance inspires in foreign inhabitants a desire for it, so that leaving their own borders they may come together from diverse places to dwell there. Its waters are sweet to drink and suitable for drinking: for its channel receives nothing thick or turbid from marshy moisture, because it is surrounded by a sandy shore; whence the species of fish are more excellent than in other rivers. Induced by such great advantages, and especially because of the large population, the Bishop had intended to place Saint Humbert in that location: but reflecting that the holy man himself, avoiding urban assemblies and fertile fields, had rather chosen an arid place of solitude, he feared lest from the occasion of a more celebrated place he might produce a cause of offense. Having therefore revoked his decision, he judged that the body should be sent back to its ancient seat: it is brought back to the church of Maroilles. but considering lest with the fury of the old malice not yet satiated, the Clerics should contrive something against the holy place; having summoned the leading men of the neighboring region, he bound them by oath that they would not allow any plots to be made against the aforesaid place. The precious Confessor of the Lord Humbert was therefore replaced honorably and with the great rejoicing of the people in his place, where his body indeed awaits the incorruptible glory of the resurrection and the coming of the resurrection, while his spirit in heaven enjoys the vision of desired rest and the incomparable joy of eternal felicity with the Saints. To which may he grant us to attain through his intercession, he himself the Author of the human race, God, who for us gave his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns as one with him and the Holy Spirit through all ages of ages. Amen.

ON SAINTS BARONTUS AND DESIDERIUS, HERMITS, AT PISTOIA IN ETRURIA, ABOUT THE YEAR 700.

Preliminary Commentary.

Barontus, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.) Desiderius, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.)

[1] Pistoia or Pistoria, an ancient and pleasant city of Etruria, lies between Florence, to which it is subject, and Lucca, adorned with an Episcopal See: in whose territory, abounding in every kind of fruit, towns, villages, estates, and palaces are said to number several thousand. Here, among the foothills of the mountains, Saint Barontus found a small plain, and with his companions, Saint Desiderius and others, he spent his life holily and on March 25 migrated to heavenly glory. Concerning these, the Tables of the Roman Martyrology have the following for this day: "At Pistoia, of the holy Confessors Barontus and Desiderius." Where in his Notes Baronius indicates the Acts are published from a Pistoia manuscript, that he received their Acts sent from the Church of Pistoia to Rome: which we obtained through the singular benevolence of the Reverend Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory at Rome, and publish them, brought from there to this place. To these we add the Vision of Saint Barontus, which he himself had and wrote down while a monk in Gaul. The history of this vision was formerly in the possession of Heribertus Rosweyde, found among the manuscript Lives of the Fathers sent to him from Bavaria, in a most ancient codex written over 800 years ago, which belonged to the monastery of Saint Florian, and from 2 manuscripts, the Vision of Saint Barontus, commonly called Monksminster or Muenchsmuenster, situated on the bank of the river Ilm between Ingolstadt and Abensberg. We obtained another copy of this Vision from an ancient Codex of the Most Serene Christina, Queen of Sweden, marked number 1270. From this Vision, very many excerpts were taken and inserted into the Chronicle of Maillezais or Saint Maixent in Poitou, published by Philip Labbe in volume 2 of the New Library of Manuscript Books, p. 193 and following.

[2] Let no one understand this Vision as if the soul were truly

separated from the body and locally conducted to heaven and hell; rapt in ecstasy, for thus Barontus would indeed have been dead: which the very words of the holy Angel Raphael at number 3 do not allow to be believed: "I lead this soul with me hence before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, but I leave his spirit here in his body." Therefore only a perfect ecstasy is signified: which in the Visions of Saint Frances of Rome is called an immobile ecstasy, when, with the operations of almost all the sensitive faculties suspended, the soul is so acted upon through species presented to the intellect, just as if, actually separated from the body, it would perceive external objects present, whose species are exhibited interiorly during the time of the rapture: the body meanwhile retaining the same position it had at the very moment of the onset of the ecstasy; or not even preserving this, but being similar in all respects to a corpse, except that a slight reciprocation of breath remains as an indicator of life, as we read happened to our Holy Father Ignatius in his eight-day rapture at Manresa, and as happened to this Saint Barontus. Therefore, since in these raptures of ecstatic persons the intellect is thus acted upon by a certain higher power, just as in dreams we experience the phantasy being acted upon by the natural motion of animal spirits, the truth of these raptures ought not to be estimated from the fact that heaven or any other objects are really and physically such as they are represented: but that those similitudinarian and imperfect representations of them tend toward inducing true practical judgments. And since the Vision of Saint Barontus was followed by the effective purposes of a holier life, on account of the vivid apprehension of those things which happen to souls emigrating from the body and being presented before the tribunal of God; his vision is to be held as true, and as such, being of the best example for persuading good works and penance, it was rightly transcribed and preserved in Ecclesiastical books.

[3] The monastery in which he lived before in Gaul, when he had this Vision, in the monastery of Longoret, is called in these Acts Longoretum, Longoretus, and Languritus, situated in the forest of Brion, on the bank of the river Claise in the territory of Bourges, on the borders of the territory of Poitou, commonly Lonrey en Brenne, but now it is commonly called Saint-Ciran en Brenne, from Saint Sigiranus, Founder and first Abbot of this place, whose day is assigned as sacred on December 4. The Sanmarthani in volume 4 of Gallia Christiana, p. 828, report the tables of the foundation of this monastery, as if built by Dagobert I, King of the Franks, but which they rightly hold suspect. Philip Labbe in the already cited volume published on p. 439 and following a historical eulogy of Saint Sigiranus and his more extended but at the end mutilated Life: from which it is established that the origin of both this monastery of Longoret and another not far distant, mentioned below, whose name is Mille-becum or Mille-pecus, should be referred to the times of Clovis II, called the son of Dagobert, and approximately to the fourth year of his reign, when Flaucadus or Flaucatus or Flaocatus had been established in the kingdom of Burgundy (to which the Bituriges were then subject) as Mayor of the Palace for Clovis, and indeed, as Saint Sigiranus had foreseen in the spirit, was extinguished not long after. Hence it is clear concerning the time of the life and conversion of Saint Barontus, before whose Vision these words are prefixed in the Chronicle of Maillezais: "Under the reign of Theuderic, a terrible Vision appeared, which the ancient enemy wrought in the territory of Bourges, that is, the soul of Barontus the monk was translated from his body and returned." under King Theuderic, At the end of the Vision, however, all these Acts are said to have taken place on the eighth before the Kalends of April, in the sixth year of the reign of Theuderic, King of the Franks. In the Chronicle of Maillezais the fifth year is read. This would be the year of Christ 684 or the following, around the year 684. according to the chronological framework we have established elsewhere. Hence in the Acts of the Life of Saint Barontus from Pistoia, an error is noted in the first words, imprudently added by some pedant: and one should read "in the time of King Theuderic, in his kingdom," not "in the time of the Kings Theuderic and Theudebert, in their kingdom." These were brothers, sons of King Childebert of the Austrasians and Burgundians, of whom in the year 596 Theuderic began to reign among the Burgundians and Theudebert among the Austrasians, and then the sixth year of this King Theuderic would correspond to the year of Christ six hundred and one: which would be about forty-six years before the monasteries of Longoret and Millebecum were built. In the Chronicle of Maillezais, what precedes and follows pertains to the King Theuderic assigned by us above. How long after this Saint Barontus lived in his pilgrimage, and then in the Pistoian territory, is not clear: we easily believe he reached the year of Christ 700, and that Saint Desiderius and other companions departed this life in the eighth century.

[4] Andrew Saussaius, at the day of March 25, on which we said they are inscribed above in the Tables of the Roman Martyrology, Eulogy of Saussaius, adorns them with this eulogy in the Supplement to the Gallican Martyrology: "On the same day, the deposition of the holy Confessors Barontus and Desiderius, monks, who, Gauls by birth, having despised worldly things, having abandoned their homeland, withdrawing to Etruria, embracing the monastic life at Pistoia in the monastery of Saint Peter de Languore, crucified the flesh with all its concupiscences, and dead to the world and living for Christ, offered themselves to God as a pleasing sacrifice in the odor of sweetness. Barontus moreover, becoming the immolator of his own bowels, sacrificing his son Ahloaldus upon the altar of faith, with living hope and fervent charity, even to the Divine Majesty, also made him a companion of his mortification, so that he might at last deserve to have him also as a participant of blessed immortality." These things Saussaius writes with quite beautiful amplification, but straying too much. The monastery of Saint Peter de Languore to be corrected: is the Longoretum sacred to Saint Peter, not in Etruria but in the territory of Bourges: in this place Aigloaldus the son together with his father began the monastic life, but when the father went abroad as a pilgrim to Italy, what the son did is completely unknown. Then Saint Desiderius did not depart with Saint Barontus from Gaul to Etruria, but joined himself to him there on account of the widespread fame of his sanctity, and should be considered Italian rather than Gallic. Both are also inscribed in the monastic Martyrologies of Wion, Menard, Dorganius, and Bucelinus. Wion cites their deeds as described by Silvanus Razzi in his book on the Lives of the Saints of Etruria, The monastic Martyrologies are not without errors. and by Peter Bugiano in his Monastic History, final colloquium, from p. 542: but he himself also errs when he says both were Gauls by birth and embraced the monastic life in the monastery of Saint Peter de Longore around the year of the Lord 570, in which year Childebert, the royal father of the Kings Theuderic and Theudebert, had not yet been born: meanwhile Razzi asserts that Saint Barontus was born under these brothers, while Bugiano says he flourished then: the latter calls the monastery of Saint Peter "Longoretum." Razzi says it was called "de Longore," now called "del Capo," which fictions Bucelinus also transcribed, who seems to have read them more carefully, when he writes that Saint Desiderius was joined not in the monastery of Longoret in Gaul but in the hermitage of Etruria.

[5] Ferrarius in his General Catalogue at March 27: "At Pistoia in Tuscany," he says, "Saint Barontius the Abbot." In his Notes he cites the Tables of the Church of Pistoia. Veneration at Pistoia on March 27, Ferrarius had a manuscript Life received from Pistoia, from which he compiled an excellent compendium published by him at March 27 in his Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, and notes that although the Birthday of Saints Barontus and Desiderius is described in the Roman Martyrology on the eighth before the Kalends of April, in the Church of Pistoia the feast is nevertheless celebrated on this day from ancient custom: and this feast seems to have been transferred on account of the feast of the Annunciation and the feast of Saint James the Apostle, which is celebrated on March 26. On the same day, March 27, the Translation of the bodies of Saint Desiderius and his companions occurred, which Razzi wrongly transferred to March 28. In the Latin Acts, the day of the sixth before the Kalends of April is assigned, for which Bugiano substituted the sixth day of April: as also for the death of Saint Barontus, the eighth day of April, for which in the Acts the eighth before the Kalends of April is read. With a greater error, Razzi wrote that he died on April 25. Wion corrects two errors of Bugiano and the last of Razzi: whose first error, with another error added, he describes at March 28, Invention and translation also on March 28. in these words: "At Pistoia, the invention and translation of Saints Barontus and Desiderius and their companion monks." Dorganius, Menardus, and Bucelinus have the same, and the latter cites the erring Bugianus in his own support. Ferrarius in his General Catalogue, omitting the companions, has: "At Pistoia, the Invention of Saints Barontus and Desiderius." In his Notes he cites Wion, Razzi, and Riccordatus, who is Bugianus to others. Meanwhile from the printed Acts, not on this day but on the preceding sixth before the Kalends of April, the bodies of Saint Desiderius and his companions were translated to the same church to which the body of Saint Barontus had previously been translated. In the manuscript Acts of Pistoia and Saint Florian, it is always written Barontus, with which the Chronicle of Maillezais agrees: in the manuscript of Queen Christina of Sweden, Baronthus with aspiration: in the Roman Martyrology he is called Barontius.

LIFE

From the Vallicella manuscript of the Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory, received from Pistoia.

Barontus, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.) Desiderius, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.)

BHL Number: 0996

FROM THE PISTOIA MANUSCRIPT.

[1] In the time of King Theuderic, in his kingdom, a man of distinguished character shone forth, born of the noble race of the Franks, A noble Frank, named Barontus. He, kindled by divine ardor, together with his own son named Agloaldus, setting aside all worldly pomp, with his whole mind sought to embrace the monastic life. a monk at Longoret, In the monastery of the most blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, called Longoretum, he laid down the hair of his own head: where he persevered most devoutly in the work of God. In that same place, the man of God was admonished by so wondrous a vision he has a vision: that, borne up by Angelic service, he came to know the heavenly joys of the Saints by contemplation and to behold the dire torments of Hell. Soon therefore he began to beseech the father of his monastery with assiduous prayers, that by his permission he might be allowed to leave the Gallic soil of his birth, having obtained permission, and to visit the various oratories of the Saints for the sake of prayer, and thus at last to lead the anchoritic life. After a very long and unceasing insistence of his petition, his Pastor with the whole flock, though unwilling, satisfied his desire: and having obtained their consent, the blessed man immediately set out for Rome, he sets out for Rome, that he might merit to see the long-desired tomb of the Keyholder of heaven, who had already rescued him from diabolic power. The Confessor of Christ, Barontus, therefore, having obtained the permission of his father, setting out on his pilgrimage, while praying he visited the memorials of very many Saints, he visits holy places: returning from Rome through Tuscany and thirsting for the solitude of a desert to be found, he arrived in the territory of the town of Pistoia: where he heard that there was a most famous place, he comes to the Pistoian territory: sufficiently suitable for the solitary life, surrounded by mountains from the eastern and western regions.

[2] The venerable man of God, therefore, desiring to see the place of solitude he wished to inhabit, he builds a cell among the mountains, whose praiseworthy fame he had already perceived by report, guided by the Holy Spirit, he came there: and at the foothills of twin

mountains, finding a small plain, yet very pleasant, he immediately began to build a small cell for himself there. After the most devout hermit of Christ had completed the little workshop of his solitude, he obtains a spring by his prayers: since that place lacked water, he prostrated himself there in prayer, where he merited to obtain from the Lord an unfailing vein of flowing water, and digging out the neighboring bank with his own hands, he was endowed with the gift of a living spring from the Living Spring.

[3] Remaining in that place, the servant of God meditated on the law of the Lord day and night, that advancing from virtue to virtue, Psalm 83:2, his fame of virtue spreads far: he might merit to see the God of gods in Zion, singing with the Prophet: "How beloved are your tabernacles, O Lord God of hosts; my soul longs and faints for your courts." When the most celebrated fame of the blessed man was now spreading everywhere in all directions, a certain venerable man called Desiderius, armed with constancy of hope, faith, Saint Desiderius joins him, and charity, approached this excellent Father: that instructed by his example he might ascend the high kingdoms of heaven. His praiseworthy fame was followed by four other young men also, who, abandoning the things of the flesh, with a placid mind and benign love, and 4 young men: learned to bend their necks to the instruction of the blessed man, in order to fulfill the Lord's commandment, by which he says: "He who leaves father or mother or all that is his own shall receive a hundredfold." Matthew 19:29 And so, while these also imitated the teaching, life, and example of the most perfect Master, they were worthy to ascend to the highest peak of sanctity.

[4] After Blessed Barontus, adorned with shining virtues and radiant with the various flowers of virtues, they die holily; Barontus on March 25, was now weary with long old age, following the path of all flesh, leaving earth to earth, on the eighth day before the Kalends of April he happily migrated to the kingdoms of heaven, to reign with Christ in perpetuity. His disciples most diligently cared for the most precious remains of his body and honorably deposited them in the basilica which he himself had founded while living. In which place the same Blessed Desiderius also, Desiderius and the other 4, after a very long labor of his spiritual exercise, when he had departed from this world to the Lord, merited to receive burial close to his footsteps, with praise and glory. There also the other four, of whom we made mention above, after several cycles of years, individually taken from this light, were most gloriously buried there in like manner. In which place the wondrous power of God through his most precious Confessors daily shines upon those they shine with miracles: who devoutly flee there on account of some impediments of infirmities: in like manner, heavy vengeance is inflicted upon invaders, if any should attempt to offend them in anything.

[5] the body of Saint Barontus is transferred to a monastery built in his honor. Then after a long time, while the tomb of Blessed Barontus constantly shone with very many and diverse miracles, a monastery was built in his honor by certain leading men of that land, into which the precious members of his body were translated by Restaldus, Bishop of the city of Pistoia.

[6] After the venerable and admirable translation of Blessed Barontus, After various apparitions, the body is found, Saint Desiderius, of holy memory, his companion mentioned above, by no means tolerating that he should be separated from the body of his holy Master, very frequently appeared threatening not only to the Brothers of the monastery in a vision of sleep, but also manifested himself to very many men and women. He revealed that a very unjust thing had been done to him, in that he stood divided in burial from his colleague: with whom he had been united in the Catholic faith and had held unanimously the life of anchoritic conversation, and to the end, at the last moment of his expiring breath, they were found united by the love of accustomed affection. Therefore, terrified by many visions, and now made certain, both the Abbot and the other Brothers of that monastery began with devout minds to implore God, the most merciful Author of all good things, that he who had deigned to make manifest to the blessed Helena the wood of our Redemption, which had been hidden through the passing of many years, might himself hasten to fulfill their wish of finding the body of the blessed man. At length they came to the place where the body of the excellent Confessor Desiderius was hoped to rest buried, since some had already seen in a vision that a most clear spring emanated from it: but lest the hope of such great visions, which had been divinely revealed, should seem vain, the earth was evacuated from the depths and they arrived at the venerable sepulcher of the most excellent body. And since the perfect and proven virtue of the Saints is accustomed to openly refute the negligent and incredulous, lest perchance some distrust about the finding of the Saint's body should longer trouble the hearts of the Brothers, a marble stone was found there inscribed with Latin letters in individual figures as follows: HERE RESTS THE BODY OF SAINT BARONTUS AND SAINT DESIDERIUS WITH THEIR COMPANIONS: of Saint Desiderius, which was afterward inserted into the wall of the new temple and placed in public view, preserved as a testimony of the Saints' bodies to this present day, to be inspected or read through the ages by the multitude of people who flock there. and the bodies of their companions, Animated from these letters by a greater confirmation, the Brothers, digging here and there lest that title be held worthless, found the others resting individually in their monuments. And these also, together with Blessed Desiderius, were equally raised by the Reverend Brothers and most gloriously translated into the new hall of the temple, on the sixth day before the Kalends of April, in the year one thousand and eighteen from the Passion of the Lord. they are translated on March 27 in the year 1018. Blessed Desiderius was placed on the southern side of the temple in a new casket, where, if any faithful petitioner approaches, whatever he faithfully suggests to so great a Confessor, he can without doubt obtain from the Lord by his merits. The bodies of the remaining companions were placed on the northern side, and since their names were unknown to all the Brothers but manifest to God alone, their relics were honorably placed behind the altar of the Mother of God Mary and of Saint Martin.

VISION OF SAINT BARONTUS From the manuscripts of Saint Florian and Queen Christina of Sweden.

Barontus, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.) Desiderius, hermit at Pistoia in Etruria (S.)

BHL Number: 0997

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

CHAPTER I

The rapture of Saint Barontus. The encounter with two demons and the Angel Saint Raphael. He is healed when near death.

[1] I wish therefore to relate to you, most beloved Brothers, in order, what happened in recent time. In the monastery of Saint Peter the Apostle, which is called by the name Longoretus, a certain man of noble lineage named Barontus, recently converted, came to the Order of monasticism: who, when he had devoutly completed the Matins praises of God in the church with the Brothers, as soon as he returned to his bed, was suddenly seized by a fever and brought to the point of death; Saint Barontus summons Eodo through his son he began to be tormented with great pains, and to call his son, named Aigloaldus, that with the greatest haste he should go to Eodo the Deacon, that he might come to visit him out of brotherly love. Then the boy himself began to run with great wailing, and brought the summoned Brother with him. But when the Brother entered the same room in which the sick Barontus lay, he began to call him twice and thrice. But the man could say nothing to the man; but pointed with his finger to his throat, and fought forcefully with his palms before his eyes. Then the Brother, trembling, turned to his daily weapons, began to cross himself, and with a heavy groan asked that a sprinkling be made in that room, he is rapt into ecstasy: so that the throng of evil spirits might be put to flight from there. But that Brother, with his hands extended to his sides and his eyes closed, began to lie half-dead, so that he could see nothing at all.

[2] Then around the third hour the Brothers gathered to pour out prayers more earnestly to God for his soul: when they saw him moving no limb, they began to weep vehemently from grief, and began to arrange groups the monks praying all day and night, to recite the chanting of psalms in order, that the heavenly Physician might send the soul back into his body. And so it happened that the Brothers, chanting all day, never interrupted until the evening hour came, in which they would begin the praises of God in the church in the usual manner of singing. But that Brother so far failed in his body that now no one who saw him could have confidence in his temporal life. But the servants of God, as they saw, began to chant strongly, and to beg the heavenly Creator for his soul, that he who was taking it from Egypt might place it in the eternal region: and so, spending the night in chanting, they came to cockcrow: at which hour the wondrous power of Christ appeared, manifested, which ought not to be kept silent throughout the whole Catholic Church, so that those who hear may be terrified of their vices and with their whole heart be converted to the service of Christ, lest at the last they lament in perpetual punishment what they did not wish to amend here through true penance. Soon, while they were chanting, he awoke, opened his eyes two or three times, he returns to himself: rendered praises to God, and the first words from his mouth were these: "Glory to you, God: glory to you, God: glory to you, God." The Brothers, on the contrary, when they saw him, began to give thanks to God with great trembling, who had thus returned his servant alive in his body, whom no one any longer hoped to hear speaking.

[3] Then all, gathered together, asked him in order where he had been, or what he had seen, to explain to them point by point. in his rapture, He, as if waking from a deep sleep, said: "When you saw me complete the Matins praises of Christ with you in good health last night, as soon as I returned to my own bed, then suddenly, weighed down by sleep, I fell asleep. But immediately in that slumber two foul demons came, he was beaten by 2 demons, whose appearance I could not bear, trembling: who began to strangle me violently, desiring to tear me with their savage teeth and devour me, so as to lead me down to hell: and until the third hour they boldly beat me. The holy Archangel Raphael came to my aid, shining in the splendor of brightness,

who began to prevent them from acting more savagely against me: defended by Saint Raphael: but they, resisting him proudly, said: "If the brightness of God does not take him from us, you can by no means take him." Then the holy Raphael said to them: "If it is so, as you say: let us go together to the judgment of God, so that there your vice may be repudiated." With them thus disputing all day long, they came to the evening hour, and the most blessed Raphael said to them: "I lead this soul with me hence before the tribunal of the eternal Judge, but I leave his spirit here in his body." But they also objected that they would never release it unless they were deprived of it by the judgment of God.

[4] Upon hearing this, the holy Raphael, extending his finger, touched my throat, and I, a wretch, immediately felt my soul torn from my body: and the soul itself, as far as it appeared to me, I will describe how small it is. It seemed to me he sees his own soul like a baby bird, that it had the likeness of a little chick when it comes out of the egg in its smallness; thus also, being small, it carried with it head, eyes, and other members, sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch in their entirety: but it can by no means speak until it comes to the examination and receives a body from the air, similar to the one it left here. But there too, upon my little breast, there was no small contention between them: Saint Raphael fought to raise my soul upward to heaven, and the demons always desired to cast it downward. But Saint Raphael began to raise me from the earth to the heights of power, to be raised amid the contest between Raphael and the demons: and to sustain me strongly: but on the contrary, one demon from the left side gripped me bitterly, and a second demon behind my back kicked me grievously, and said, full of wrath: "I had you in my power once before and greatly harmed you: but now you will be tortured in hell perpetually."

[5] As he said these things, when we had ascended above the forest of the monastery, the bell sounded for vespers above the basilica itself, and to be carried over the monastery of Millebecum, and immediately Saint Raphael commanded the demons, saying: "Withdraw, withdraw, bloody beasts, you can no longer harm this little soul while the bell sounds over that church: because the Brothers are gathering to pray for it." But they by no means acquiesced, but more strongly pounded my side with their kicks: and thus with rapid course we came over the monastery which is called Millebecum by name: over which Saint Raphael prayed at length and spoke this verse from his mouth, saying: "In every place of his dominion, bless the Lord, O my soul": and I, when I heard, looked and saw that monastery, and recognized the whole flock celebrating the evening Office, and I saw one of the Brothers carrying green herbs for the service of the kitchen. This, most beloved Brothers, we ought to marvel at with great trembling, that between the two monasteries, at a distance of twelve miles, they had thus transported the captured soul in one moment of the hour over the habitation of the most blessed man.

[6] But the holy Raphael, when his prayer was completed, said: "Let us visit this Brother, a true servant of God, who lies sick in this monastery, and is unequal in humility and work to the others in the city of Bourges, whom a grave affliction of punishment had led to the point of death: in which Saint Raphael restores health to a pious monk. who could in no way take food; concerning whose health all the Brothers, having despaired, were discussing nothing else but how to commit him to burial." But after the Archangel's visitation and his comforting, the Abbot Leodoaldus himself reports a great miracle from there, which can terrify incredulous hearts that are not moved to do penance, and to ask Saint Raphael, whose name is interpreted as "medicine of God," to come and heal their sins, lest the devil lead them captive to eternal punishments, from which they could not escape to their temporal joy, in which they had all their confidence. Then the Abbot himself asserts, saying that at the hour when the Brother Barontus says he was present there with Saint Raphael, he testifies that he saw a wondrous splendor over that house in which the sick man lay, greatly burdened with pain in his chest; and that the holy Raphael followed, illuminating the whole house with the brightness of his face, and passing over the man's chest with the sign of the Cross impressed upon it: and at that hour he healed him of his infirmity, which he had borne grievously in his chest.

[7] After all these things were done, Barontus himself says: "When we had passed beyond that monastery, Barontus is attacked by 4 more demons, four other most black demons met us, who wished to tear me cruelly with their teeth and claws: and I, a sinner, when I saw them, began to fear greatly lest they should snatch me from Saint Raphael and plunge me into the pit of hell; since they were already six and he alone could not resist them. But Blessed Raphael resisted them strongly: and while they argued with each other, behold, two Angels in bright garments and with a wondrous fragrance met us, who with swift course seized the holy Raphael from below and began to chant an antiphon: 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy.' Immediately those demons lost their strength, who are soon cast down by two Angels. and two fell to the ground and vanished, and then the other two likewise did the same: but those first ones, who were present when I was extracted from my body, did not depart; but always kept us company, and we traveled near hell, and we saw the guardians of the underworld.

CHAPTER II

The introduction of Saint Barontus into heaven. The defense undertaken by Saint Peter. Alms prescribed.

[8] Thus after the second battle was completed, we came to the first gate of paradise, where we saw many of the Brothers of our monastery, [At the first gate of heaven he recognizes various from his monastery who had died holy:] who were gathered, awaiting the day of judgment, when they would fully receive eternal joys, whose names are contained and inserted, and they are: Corbolenus the priest, to whom God granted good things in this world; Fraudolenus the Priest, who guarded his days well; Austrulfus the Deacon, who departed from this world at a moment at God's command; Leodoaldus the Lector, whom God blessed with his own mouth; Ebbo the Lector, a servant of God, chosen by name. When they saw us, and the demons clinging vehemently to my left side, they began, astounded, to wish to converse with us: but the most wicked demons in no way wished to give place to their side: but the greatest servant of God, named Leodoaldus, adjured Saint Raphael by the Creator of heaven and earth to let me rest for a little while. Then he humbly inquired of the holy Raphael and me, the wretched one, from what monastery I was, and for what reason I had erred so grievously that the demons had received such power over me. And I said to them: "From the monastery of Saint Peter, called Longoretus, and I do not deny that all these things which I suffer have befallen me because of my sins." But they, touched within by excessive grief, when they learned I was of their congregation, began to groan and complain that never had the devil so dared to ensnare any soul from that monastery. But the holy Raphael began to console them gently about me, saying: "I have left the spirit in his body: but if the heavenly Father wills, he will still return there." Immediately the Brothers began to humbly ask the holy Raphael to throw themselves together upon the ground, and to beseech the merciful Lord for me, the wretch, that the wicked enemy might not be able to devour me, and thus they gave themselves together to prayer.

[9] Soon, when the prayer was completed, at the 2nd gate he finds infants, we came to the second gate of paradise, where there were innumerable thousands of infants, adorned with white garments, praising the Lord with one harmonious voice; and we immediately entered within that gate through the midst of those Saints, and saw a small path prepared, by which we began to travel to another gate. But there was so great a multitude of Virgins on either side, to the right and to the left, then Virgins: that no human being except God could see through them. As soon as they saw us, they began to cry out with one voice: "This soul is going to judgment"; and now they repeated again: "Conquer, O Warrior Christ, conquer: and let not the devil lead this soul to Tartarus."

[10] at the 3rd gate, crowned Saints and Priests: Then we came to the third gate of Paradise, and that gate had the likeness of glass: and within was a multitude of crowned Saints with shining faces, sitting in a splendid dwelling and on seats, giving thanks to God always: there was a multitude of Priests of the highest merit, whose dwellings were built of golden bricks and gems, just as Saint Gregory commemorates in his book of Dialogues, and still the dwellings of many were being built in great brightness and honor: and new mansions being prepared, whose inhabitants were not seen at present, but their mansions were being built in heaven for those who on earth did not cease to give bread to the hungry. And while I carefully observed all these things, one of our Brothers, named Corbolenus, who had long since died, appeared to me: and he himself showed me in these places a mansion built with great honor and said: "This is the mansion of our Abbot Francardus and now the Lord has prepared it by his merit":

"for I shall set forth in order a few things from his deeds which I saw, and one prepared for their Abbot Francardus. because he nurtured me from infancy. He was devout in the fear of God and instructed in sacred reading, and through his religious devotion, possessions were given to his monastery by the will of God, from which the servants of God and pilgrims have full consolation. He was indeed a nurturer and teacher of the sons of noble families, whom a long illness purified, and through these good deeds God prepared eternal joys for him."

[11] Then, having entered the third gate, when we began to travel quickly, as the Holy Martyrs saw us, he saw Martyrs they humbly began to pray with one voice, as we said above: "Conquer, O strong Warrior Christ, you who redeemed us by shedding your blood, and let not the devil lead this soul to Tartarus." Without any falsehood I say, it seemed to me that the noise of the voices of the Saints resounded throughout the whole world. And so then we came to the fourth gate of Paradise, and there I recognized one of our Brothers, named Baudolenus, who once lay at the gate of our monastery, crippled in great tribulation, and Baudolenus the monk. and he told me that by the ordinance of Saint Peter he had received the care of the lights of the churches throughout the whole world: and he began to reproach me because in our church, which is built in his honor, the light failed at night and did not burn at every hour, as he himself without doubt saw as present. Thenceforward we were no longer permitted to enter further: but I saw a wondrous splendor and brightness in all parts, which I could scarcely behold even a little with my dazzled eyes.

[12] Then Raphael summoned one of the Angels and sent him to quickly call Peter the Apostle to himself. Saint Peter, summoned, He departed with swift course and called Saint Peter. He, without any delay, came, saying: "What is it, Brother Raphael, that you have caused me to come?" To whom Saint Raphael said: "The demons are contradicting one of your monks and are absolutely unwilling to release him." Immediately the most blessed Peter, with a handsome face, turned to them and said: "What crime do you have to charge this monk with?" And the demons replied: "Principal vices." And Peter said: "State them." hearing the accusation of the demons And they said: "He had three women, which was not lawful for him: and he perpetrated other vices, numerous adulteries and other faults, which we had suggested to him; and they recalled in detail those things which I had done from infancy: and that which I myself never brought back to memory." And Peter said to me: "Is it true, Brother?" And I said: "It is true, Lord." And the blessed Peter said to them: he sets forth the good deeds in response: "Even if he did something contrary, almsgiving redeemed it: because almsgiving delivers from death: he confessed his sins to Priests, and did penance for those sins: moreover, he laid down his hair in my monastery, and abandoned all things for God, and delivered himself to the service of Christ. All these good deeds have trampled down all those evils which you mention: therefore you cannot take him from me. Know plainly that he is not your companion but ours." But they, strongly fighting back against him, said: "Unless the brightness of God takes him from us, you cannot take him." Then Saint Peter, moved to anger against them, began to say two or three times: "Withdraw, wicked spirits, withdraw, enemies of God, who are always contrary: release him." And they never wished to release me. Immediately the blessed Peter, having three keys in his hand, he puts the demons to flight. wished to strike them on the head with those keys, but with swift course, spreading their wings, they began to flee and, flying, returned whence they had first entered. But with a strong voice the blessed Peter the Apostle forbade them, saying: "You shall not have leave, foul spirits, to come here again." And they, extremely sad, began to fly above that gate, and thus fled through the air.

[13] After the routing of the demons, Saint Peter, turning to me, said: "Redeem yourself, Brother." And I said to him with great trembling: he enjoins alms on Barontus: "What can I give, good Shepherd, since here I have nothing at hand?" And he said: "When you have returned to your own pilgrimage, that which you kept hidden when coming to the monastery without provision, reveal to all, and do not delay to give twelve solidi with haste: begin from the Kalends of April, and so through each month in the circuit of the year, place one solidus in each month in the hand of a pauper, well weighed, and signed by the hand of Priests, and bring legitimate witnesses, that after you nothing of that money may remain, and as I have already said, place it in the hands of pilgrims: and thus transmit your redemption to the heavenly homeland: and beware lest through those sins which you committed through human frailty you ever fall back: and watch with diligent study, that when the year is finished, no coin remains after you. Because if you appear negligent in this, it will greatly grieve you at the departure of your soul, and your ruin will be worse than the former." And there was a certain old man there of excellent appearance, of venerable aspect, who stood nearer to the blessed Apostle Peter and asked him, saying: "Lord, if he gives all these things, are his sins forgiven?" [he orders him, after seeing the torments of hell, to be led back to the monastery.] And the most blessed Peter said to him: "If he gives what I have said, his crimes are immediately forgiven." The blessed Peter also said to that old man: "This is the price of both rich and poor: twelve solidi." After this admonition was made, Saint Peter ordered two little boys, who were clothed in white garments, with shining brightness of face, of beautiful form, to lead me to the first gate of Paradise, where the brothers of our monastery were resting in quiet, and from there to lead me through hell, so that I might inspect all the torments of sinners, and know what I should say to the other Brothers, and then lead me safely to our monastery. Then those boys, after the command was received, prompt to obey marvelously, led me to the aforesaid place. But when the Brothers saw me, they gave immense praises and thanks to the heavenly Physician, who had freed me from the jaws of the devil. When the prayer was completed, they received the command from the most blessed men to lead me back to my temporary homeland.

CHAPTER III.

The return from heaven. The torments of hell seen. The return to the body. An exhortation to penance.

[14] They began to discuss among themselves which of them it should be who would bring me back to my own pilgrimage. Framnoald is appointed as guide for the journey, Having taken counsel, they asked one of the Brothers, named Framnoaldus, who in this monastery of ours, which divine piety had granted to him, had departed from his body at a youthful age, and whose little body lies at the threshold of the church of Saint Peter: they asked him magnificently to lead me back to the monastery, and moreover they promised him, saying: "If you lead this Brother back to the monastery, on every Sunday he will clean your tomb with brooms, with the added obligation of adorning his tomb and upon it he will chant 'Have mercy on me, O God' in order to the end." But they turned to me and said: "Promise this to us, Brother, that you should fulfill those promises." And I immediately promised and confirmed with my word. And they said: "See that you do nothing different from this, lest you appear condemned by falsehood." Then the Brother Framnoald answered them: "I will obey your command, on account of which he should fulfill what he has promised."

[15] And the Brothers give thanks to God for his obedience: and they gave him a candle in his hand, he received a candle signed with the Cross from Ibbo, that he might carry it to Ibbo, the servant of God, in the church, and that he himself should make the sign of the Cross of Christ upon it, lest it be extinguished by malignant spirits on our journey, who always desire to call us back to darkness both in word and in deed. And the Brothers themselves said that the aforesaid Ibbo was celebrating the mysteries of the Apostles in the church. Thus journeying together we came to him: whom the Brothers began to ask: "Man of God, sign this candle, because Saint Peter has commanded us to lead this pilgrim from here to the monastery, lest he suffer the calumnies of the demons on his journey." Then Brother Ibbo said to them: "Most beloved Brothers, let us sign it together." And he himself, as he first began to raise his hands for signing, a wondrous splendor began to radiate through his arms and fingers. And I, when I saw more carefully, began to consider what this great splendor was that so adorned his arms and fingers: but as I inspected them, they were whitened with the likeness of gold and gems; and not without reason did all those things appear so made. In what my small self saw, I will relate a few things. His birth was of a distinguished lineage, and he left all earthly possession, a man of great virtue, and devoted to almsgiving. according to what the Lord teaches: "Go, and sell all that you have and give to the poor, and come, follow me." Having fulfilled the precept with full devotion, having taken counsel, he delivered himself to the service of Christ, laid down his hair, cut off his vices, and thus renewed became a minister of Christ: whose hands were always generous in giving alms; he spent transitory things, he purchased eternal ones: by doing these and other good things, his fingers and arms shone. Matthew 19:21 Let no one, therefore, most beloved brothers, doubt to give alms, since the merciful God thus makes his faithful ones to dwell in glory in eternal life.

[16] After the example of the signed candle, the servant of God Ibbo said to the Brother Barontus: Having received security against the demons "Listen, brother, if the demons wish to prepare snares for you on the road, say: 'Glory to you, God,' and they can never by those means make you deviate from your path." After all these things were done, the most blessed Ibbo himself began to ask the Brothers to lead me on the journey, and to visit hell, and to see the guardians of hell, and to know what I should announce to our Brothers. And he said to them: "For Brothers, we know that the demons cannot lead him astray, since Saint Peter has commanded them to return to their own place, so that he should improve his life." Then the Brothers, fulfilling the commands, began to walk. When we came between Paradise and hell, Barontus descends and sees the bosom of Abraham:

I saw there an old man, most handsome in appearance, having a long beard, sitting quietly in a high seat. And when I saw him, I began with bowed head to cautiously inquire who he was, so powerful and magnificent a man. But they, turning to him, said: "He is Abraham our father, and you, Brother, must always pray to the Lord that when he commands you to depart from your body, he may cause you to dwell quietly in the bosom of this Abraham."

[17] Then, traveling on, we came to hell: but we did not see what was being done within, he sets forth the torments of the damned he had seen, on account of the darkness of the shadows and the multitude of the smoking: but through those mansions that were held by the demons, I shall describe as much as God permitted me to see. I saw there innumerable thousands of men, who were held bound and constrained most grievously, and the terror of the groaning, and like the similitude of bees running back to their vessels: so the demons dragged souls ensnared in sins to the torments of hell, and ordered them to sit in a circle upon leaden seats. But I shall explain in detail how the orders of the wicked and their groupings were arranged. The proud were held there with the proud, the lustful with the lustful, the perjurers with perjurers, murderers with murderers, the envious with the envious; detractors groaned with detractors, the deceitful with the deceitful, according to what Saint Gregory set forth in the book of Dialogues: "They will bind them in bundles for burning," etc. There also an innumerable number of Clerics, also of Clerics, who here transgressed their vows and, deceived, defiled themselves with women, pressed by torments, emitted a great wailing: but it availed them nothing, according to what Saint Gregory says: "He comes vainly to the Lord with prayers who has lost the time of fitting penance." There also the weary Bishop Wulfredus, and of Bishops, sat in the most shameful garment in the likeness of a beggar; there also Bishop Dido and others whom we recognized among our relatives: there also the foolish virgins, who in this world boasted of their virginity and carried nothing of good works with them, groaned bitterly enough, joined in the custody of the demons. And another thing I saw there, very much to be dreaded by sinners: all those who were held under the custody of demons, bound with chains, and some given a certain refreshment, and some who had done good in part in this world, manna taken from Paradise was offered to them at the sixth hour, having the likeness of a mist, and was placed before their nostrils and mouths, and from it they received refreshment. They had the likeness of Levites, clothed in white garments; and others, who had never done good in this world, and to them also it was offered: but groaning, they closed their eyes and beat their breasts and said with a loud voice: "Woe to us wretches, who did nothing good that we heard, but we only saw this one great evil pass."

[18] Our fathers, whose names are contained inserted above, came to us, as the others returned and together with them we were fellow travelers, who said they would walk until we descended into a pleasant plain: then they, giving thanks to God, returned to the heavenly homeland. So afterward I and the Brother Framnoald himself, he comes with Framnoald to the temple of the monastery: who had received the power of leading me back, traveling on, came to our monastery, and a wondrous mystery of God appeared there: because at his coming the doors of the church were opened, and he entered and prayed at length: and when the prayer was completed, we came to his tomb, upon which, kneeling, he said this verse: "Have mercy on me and raise me up at your coming, O Lord." And he said to me: "Behold, Brother, here lies my little body: if you wish to fulfill what you promised, you will have the full reward." When these words were completed, he took from me the body which I had received from the air and the light, when this one departs and departed. And I, a sinner, all help having been taken from me, remained before the doors of the church of Saint Peter, placed in such great tribulation as I had not had from that hour when I had departed from the presence of Blessed Peter: and I began to drag myself along the ground and to hasten to my little body. But the immense clemency of God sent a wind which raised me on high, and in the twinkling of an eye carried me over the very roof elevated, he sees his companions near his body, where my little body lay. I saw the Brothers keeping vigil, and my son Agloaldus sitting beside the bed and holding his jaw in his hand, and nodding between sadness and the weariness of sleep. And again, with the wind blowing, I entered through my mouth into my body, he enters it: and the first word I burst out with was in praise of God: "Glory to you, God," as Ibbo, the servant of God, had instructed me.

[19] So afterward all the things remembered above, I who presumed to write, he himself wrote these things not things said by another but proven by myself in the present, I have learned. If anyone takes this little work made by me into his hands to read, he can reproach me for the rusticity of my words: he cannot convict me of the guilt of falsehood. Who, I ask, most beloved Brothers, has a heart so iron that these announced punishments do not terrify him, where the demons snatch every sinner departing from the body so swiftly and drag him with them to hell? This also Saint Gregory confirms, that the Lord permits the devil to drag the sinful soul from the body he exhorts to penance and holy life. so that, compelled, it may learn whom it voluntarily delivered itself to in the present life in guilt. Who will be so foreign to the faith as not to believe the sentence of this man? But the reason many do not believe is that the love of the world and earthly comforts delight them more than the love of God and the Society of Angels and Saints. The Prophet cries out and says: "Let us not delay to be converted to the Lord, and let us not put it off from day to day: for suddenly his wrath comes, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy us": and what will the things we have gathered by cupidity profit us? He calls us again, saying: "Come, children, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." He calls us through the Gospel, saying: Ecclesiasticus 5:8; Psalm 33:12 "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened with the loads of sins, and I will refresh you." He calls through himself and says: "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matthew 11:28; Matthew 25:34 Saint John the Apostle preaches to us: "Brothers, do not love the world, nor the things which are in the world. 1 John 2:15 If anyone loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him: because all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes and the pride of this life, which is not from the Father but from the world: and the world passes away and its concupiscence, but he who does the will of the Lord abides forever." But the cupidity of the world hardens human hearts, like a hard stone, so that they cannot rise to uprightness. Let our faith, therefore, most beloved Brothers, grow warm again; let us recall our desires to the heavenly life; let us recall before our eyes the sins we have committed; let us consider how strict a Judge is coming, who disposes to judge not only our evil works but even our thoughts: let us form our mind for lamentation, let our life become bitter in penance; lest through earthly love it may feel vengeance in eternal damnation, but let good deeds summon us to the eternal region: so that when we have departed from the body, the holy Angel may lead us to the heavenly kingdom, and we may merit to have eternal life, which may he himself deign to grant, who with the eternal God the Father lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.

All these things were done on the eighth before the Kalends of April, in the sixth year of the reign of Theuderic, King of the Franks.