Guido

CONCERNING ST. GUIDO, ABBOT OF POMPOSA, OF THE ORDER OF ST. BENEDICT, AT SPEYER IN GERMANY.

IN THE YEAR 1046

Preliminary Commentary.

Guido, Abbot of Pomposa, of the Order of St. Benedict, at Speyer in Germany (Saint)

Section I. The monastery of Pomposa, beloved by Blessed Peter Damian. The sanctity of Guido. Various Lives written.

[1] Among the mouths of the river Po two are prominent and are alone mentioned by Polybius in book 2: of which one retains the name of the Po, while the river, Near the Po di Volano flowing a few miles from the city of Adria, empties into the Adriatic Sea. But above the city of Ferrara another arm of the Po branches off and is called the Po di Volano, which, after bathing Ferrara, of the Pomposa monastery then flows through the mouth of the Volano, which Polybius called the Olane, into the same sea. On the right bank of the Po di Volano is Pomposa, a Benedictine monastery, about two miles distant from the said Po di Volano and six from the sea, formerly very celebrated, as Constantine Caetani attests, now inglorious through the injuries of time, subject to the Fathers of the monastery of St. Benedict at Ferrara: or certainly, as Leander writes in his Romanula, it is held by right of Commendation. This entire surrounding maritime territory belongs to the Duchy of Ferrara, Abbot St. Guido: although it was included under the diocese of the Archbishop of Ravenna. In this monastery of Pomposa in the tenth century of Christ, St. Guido began the monastic life, having previously been trained for three years on the other side of the Po under the hermit Martin. As Abbot he presided afterward for forty-eight years, dying in the year 1046: here, as the number of monks grew, as the Acts below relate, he built a new monastery and in the year 1026 celebrated the dedication of the Church of St. Mary, as Caetani observed. He dedicates a church in 1026 To this monastery Blessed Peter Damian was summoned by St. Guido and taught there for two years: as St. John of Lodi, his disciple, explains in his Life, elucidated by us on the twenty-third of February, at number 18, in these words:

[2] "When his reputation, now more widely spread, was growing, he summons Blessed Peter Damian the venerable Abbot Guido of Pomposa, a most holy man, sending his envoys to his Abbot, requested that out of charity for the Brothers he would send him to his monastery and permit him to remain with him for some time, so that he might dispense the food of the sacred word to the Brothers who requested it: and his pious request, by the charity he sought, by God's arrangement, was by no means frustrated. For he was sent there, who taught 100 monks for two years, where the company of Brothers was said to fill the number of one hundred. And when, having been retained there for nearly two years, the faithful worker had brought the Lord no small fruit from the seed of the word that was sown, having received the mandate of his Abbot, with the added word of obedience that he should return to him, although pressed by many entreaties, he could in no way be detained further ... Having therefore completed with his confreres the allotted span of time, he was again ordered to go to the monastery of St. Vincent for the same purpose for which he had gone to Pomposa." So much there. Blessed Peter Damian appears to have been sent to Pomposa around the year 1030, around the year 1030. and to have survived after the death of St. Guido by twenty-six years, dying in the year 1072. With what affection he regarded the monks of Pomposa is shown by book 6 of his epistles, epistle 6, which, because it is brief and forceful, we are pleased to append; he writes thus:

[3] "To the most religious and holy men, all who serve God at Pomposa, He writes to them with great reverence, Peter offers the tribute of most devoted service. Most beloved Fathers and Lords, how my heart burns with the fire of your charity, with what torches of love it blazes for the monastery of Pomposa, I do not wish to write, lest perhaps I seem to serve flattery. Of this matter my own conscience is witness; nor is it entirely hidden from those who can frequently hold conversation with me. You also, most beloved, although I am removed in bodily habitation, do not determine that I am a stranger: do not even reckon me as merely some friend or casual companion: he offers his services: but know without doubt that both we and our entire community are the possession of your own right, and whatever pleases you, command without any hesitation, as you would your own subjects and household members. He asks for their prayers after his death. Whence, most beloved, I beseech you with tears, and prostrate I throw myself at your holy feet, that you would deign always to pray for me, your servant: and especially when I shall have died, whatever you do for a monk of your congregation, strive to do the same also for wretched me. I ask, moreover, my Lords, kindly receive a small blessing from the hand of your servant, he sends a gift: and consider not what, but from whom; not how much, but from how much it is offered."

[4] He inscribes to them a book on the Perfection of Monks The same Peter Damian inscribed opuscule 13, On the Perfection of Monks, divided into twenty-four chapters, "To Lord O..., the venerable Abbot of Pomposa, and the holy Community." Whether "Guido" should be read, we have doubts. Certainly he inscribed opuscule 6 to Henry, Archbishop of Ravenna, inaugurated by Pope Leo IX in the year 1053, and who died on the Kalends of January in the year 1070: in chapter 29 of which opuscule he bears illustrious testimony to the sanctity and veneration of St. Guido: "Indeed in our own age," he says, [He attests that St. Guido was legitimately enrolled among the Saints not long after his death] "holy men flourished through the zeal of sacred living -- namely Romuald of Camerino, Amicus of Rambona, Guido of Pomposa, Firmanus of Fermo, and very many others: above whose venerable bodies sacred altars have been erected by the authority of a Priestly council, where divine mysteries are offered as miracles require." The same Peter Damian, in the Life of St. Romuald published by us on the seventh of February, asserts at number 105 that five years after the death of the Saint, permission was given to the monks by the Apostolic See to build an altar above his venerable body. Baronius, at the year 993, number 8, on account of the cited words of Peter Damian, reports that to grant permission by Synodal decree for an altar to be erected over the body of a deceased person was itself to number him among the Saints, so that an annual commemoration could be made of them. We treated on the ninth of March of St. Firmian, or Firmanus, where we explained this passage more precisely.

[5] We have obtained three sets of Acts of St. Guido the Abbot from various manuscript codices: The Life is given from the Boeddeken manuscript the first was copied by our Joannes Gamansius from a very ancient Passionale preserved in the monastery of Boeddeken of the Canons Regular of the diocese of Paderborn in Westphalia. The author of this was a Pomposian monk and perhaps his disciple, who at number 11 has the following: "Since we are still speaking of one living among us, by a contemporary Pomposian monk: it is fitting that we first tell what he did while living." And at number 12: "These are the least of things compared to those which we have learned only by hearsay." Laurentius Surius had another Life, and as he states in his preface, written from an ancient manuscript exemplar by a certain contemporary of his, as it appears, but he altered and abridged the style. The same was formerly sent to us with the original style by Joannes Carolus, another from the Speyer manuscript: then Rector of the College of our Society at Speyer. But both the Surian version and our own are imperfect, since many things he did in life are missing, along with his death and the translations of his body. The third Life, or rather compendium, a compendium exists in the Pomposa manuscript. was copied from a manuscript codex of the monastery of Pomposa and sent by Constantinus Caetanus with his Observations to Cardinal Baronius; we found it at Rome in the Vallicellian library of the Fathers of the Congregation of the Oratory, in codex O among the Lives of the Saints collected by Gallonius. Similar to this compendium is what Hieronymus Rubeus inserted in more polished language in book 5 of his History of the Ravennese, adding at the end this eulogy circulated from the time of his death: "The model, the glory of morals, the Teacher of the Pomposians, the most blessed Guido."

[6] Other summaries of his life are in the Breviaries of the Church of Speyer: of these we have one corrected by order of Matthias Romung, Bishop of Speyer, and published in the year 1478, and in the Speyer Breviaries, in which year he departed this life, under his successor Ludwig von Helmstadt: we also have another printed at Venice in the year 1509, when two years before it had been dedicated to Philip von Rosenberg, Bishop of Speyer, which we likewise have as reprinted at Cologne with the permission of Bishop Eberhard, dated in the year 1590. In these last editions some more particular details are given about the body of St. Guido translated to Speyer. Various eulogies of St. Guido are also inserted by Gaspar Bruschius, Guilielmus Eisengrein, and Joannes Pistorius in their commentaries on the bishops and affairs of Speyer. Eisengrein appended a Life of his described in Sapphic verse and drawn out in thirty-four strophes by Theoderic von Dietz, schoolmaster of the college of St. Guido at Speyer in the year 1169. A Life written in verse. Charles Sigonius, in his work On the Kingdom of Italy at the year of Christ 1046, celebrates the sanctity of Guido in these words: "Guido, Abbot of Pomposa, renowned for his sanctity in those times, Sigonius' eulogy, having been summoned by the Emperor Henry and come to meet him at the town of Borgo San Donnino, met his death, and from his burial produced very many miracles, from which his body was brought to Parma and began to be held in the highest honor." So writes Sigonius, and these matters are treated more precisely in the Acts themselves. Hermann the Lame, who was then flourishing, reports the following for the year 1047: "The Emperor, having begun his return journey, and of Hermann the Lame. remained at Mantua in a very serious illness during the Easter feast: afterward, convalescing, he brought with him from Italy on his return the body of Blessed Guido, Abbot of the Pomposa monastery, who had died not a full year before in great sanctity and was glorified by very many miracles, from the city of Parma where it had been buried, to be translated to the city of Speyer with great honor ... and he had the body of the aforesaid Abbot entombed in a certain basilica begun outside the city."

Section II. Sacred cult on various days. Church dedicated to St. Guido.

[7] On what day St. Guido departed from mortal to immortal life is disputed among several authors: namely, whether this occurred on the day before or the day after the Kalends of April. Sacred cult on March 31, his anniversary. In the ancient Acts by a Pomposian monk, and perhaps his disciple, it is said that he died in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 1046, on the day before the Kalends of April: and the same is read in the ancient Breviaries of the Church of Speyer, which were for that reason more carefully reviewed by us, and Surius follows, together with his epitomizers Haraeus, Lippelous, Rosweyde, and others, likewise Trithemius in book 3 on the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict, chapter 317, and in his Hirsau History for the said year 1046. Wion, Dorgany, Menard, and Bucelinus adhere to this in their monastic Martyrologies, likewise the above-mentioned Eisengrein, Molanus in the first edition of his additions to Usuard, not of the translation to Speyer: and Canisius in the German Martyrology. On which day Ferrari also treats of him in his General Catalogue, but wrongly supposed that the feast of the translation of the body to the city of Speyer was being celebrated.

[8] Others establish his birthday on the second day of April, or the day after the Kalends of April, or the fourth before the Nones of April: April 2 as the birthday for some, thus Hieronymus Rubeus agrees with the third Life, and Hieronymus de Fabri testifies in the Sacred Memorials of Ancient Ravenna, page 343, that his birthday is celebrated in the Abbey of Pomposa and in St. Severus at Ravenna on the second day of April, for which day Ferrari published a summary of his life in the General Catalogue. What if it be said that he died at Borgo San Donnino on the thirty-first of March, or on account of the body deposited at Parma? and his body, translated to Parma after a blind man was given sight, was deposited there on the second of April, and the day of deposition was taken, as often happens, for the day of death and birthday? Peter Riccordati, in his Monastic History published in Italian, diary 5, page 558, reports that he passed to a better life on the fourth day of April in the year 1047: wrongly April 4, where he incorrectly expressed the day of the fourth before the Nones of April and took the year of the translation to Speyer and attributed it to the year of death.

[9] The Speyer Breviaries assign the fourth before the Nones of May as the day of the translation of the body to the city of Speyer: and in the church of Speyer, after only a commemoration is made of the Finding of the Holy Cross from first Vespers (both in the Breviaries and the Missals, May 4 for the body translated to Speyer of which we have one formerly written on parchment), this prayer is read: "O God, the palm of Martyrs, the crown of Confessors, hear us as we rejoice in the feast of Blessed Guido, your beloved Priest and Abbot, and, appeased by his prayers and merits, absolve us from all sins. Through the Lord, etc." The memory of this celebration among the people of Speyer is inscribed in the Martyrology printed at Cologne and Luebeck in the year 1490, likewise in the Supplement of Greven to Usuard, the manuscript Florarium of the Saints, the manuscript Index of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, and the manuscript Bruges Martyrology of the Williamites, and in a certain manuscript collection which we preserve in our possession. Trithemius, cited above, asserts that his feast is celebrated on the fourth before the Kalends of May, when his body was translated from Italy to the city of Speyer by the Emperor Henry, and through error April 28. where it rests in the Collegiate church built in his honor. But there is an error, and "fourth before the Kalends of May" was written in place of "fourth before the Nones of May." Meanwhile Wion, Menard, Dorgany, Bucelinus, Ferrari, and others follow Trithemius, who repeats the same error in his Hirsau Chronicle for the year 1046, where by another error he calls St. Guido the Abbot of the monastery of Bobbio, which was built on the river Trebbia by St. Columban and pertains to the Duchy of Milan. Eisengrein copied both errors of Trithemius.

[10] Concerning this translation, the following is read in the Speyer Breviaries: "The Emperor Henry caused the sacred remains to be transferred to Speyer, to the Collegiate church, which at that time had its name from its first patron, the divine Apostle and Evangelist John, a church dedicated to him: but which has now received the appellation of St. Guido on account of the presence of the most sacred relics: so that, just as the Emperor Conrad, the second of that name, by laying the foundation in the placement of the first stone, gave a happy beginning to that church; so through his son Henry the Third, from the venerable relics presented by his own hand, it might take on a not unworthy surname after so great a change." So much there. Eisengrein and Pistorius observe that on the magnificent mausoleum of this most blessed man, on polished and raised marble, these words are read: "HERE RESTS THE BODY OF ST. GUIDO THE ABBOT." They also found the devout deposition of the most sacred body in the church of St. Guido at Speyer recorded in these letters: inscriptions. "HENRY III, EMPEROR OF THE ROMANS, SON OF THE EMPEROR CONRAD II, TRANSLATED THE BODY OF ST. GUIDO TO THIS CHURCH IN THE YEAR 1047."

LIFE, by a contemporary Pomposian monk. From the Boeddeken manuscript.

Guido, Abbot of Pomposa, of the Order of St. Benedict, at Speyer in Germany (Saint)

BHL Number: 8876

FROM MANUSCRIPT.

PROLOGUE.

[1] About to write the life of the Blessed Guido, a man outstanding in all respects, The author writes few but certain things. we advise the reader of this work not to believe that the merits of a man incomparable in all things have been comprehended within these narrow limits: but let him recognize that, inferring the greatest from the least and the many from the few, we have provided to readers seeds of understanding, laid the foundations of a great edifice but not completed the structure; and that we have only pointed out the marks of his virtues, not designated the virtues themselves individually. But just as we do not write all things about him, so we do not know all things; since they are known to God alone, with God alone as witness he did very many things: for, fleeing from vainglory, he was a concealer of the virtues that God worked through him. Writing, therefore, a few things about his birth or conversion, and certain things about his way of life and conduct; of the wondrous things he accomplished after his death, we invoke as witnesses Parma and Verona, the bearers of his funeral, and Speyer also, most richly endowed with the possession of so great a treasure. So that if faith is not given to these things, or what we write is considered few or small, what is strengthened by so many and such witnesses may appear strong and certain.

CHAPTER I

The studies, monastic life, abbatial dignity, and miracles of St. Guido.

[2] Accordingly, the most blessed Guido, born in the suburbs of Ravenna, Raised by pious parents in studies at a distance of about ten miles from that city, in the village of Casamare, was begotten of exceedingly religious parents and not of the lowest birth either, Albert and Marocia: for whom, as their firstborn, the care of his parents was as much the more earnest as their love was the greater. He was therefore given over to be educated in the liberal studies: in which, progressing in wisdom with age, from boyhood he strove to prepare a worthy dwelling for God within himself. For he outstripped the progress of age with the pursuits of wisdom, and his holy infancy already breathed the perfect man in his younger years. And invited to marriage As a young man, however, while he served not his own appetite but his parents' purpose, assigned to this world, to precious garments, and to outward refinement, he was discussed by his parents with a view to receiving a bride: when this was opened to the son by them, he is reported to have given this reply: "I see two young women set before me, he said, of whom I must necessarily take one in marriage: he refuses, setting forth a riddle. of whom one is of higher birth, more beautiful in appearance, more endowed with prudence, and more distinguished in every respect of good character and life: but as much as she is more exalted in merit, so much for the present she is more straitened in means; and she (which seems quite harsh and difficult) does not promise to subject herself to a husband's laws, but seeks a husband who will pass under the authority of his wife; and what appears more burdensome and constraining, unless he despise what he possesses, she promises her embraces to no one. The other, however, is far inferior in lineage and form, but more affluent in the abundance of present things, who already entices me, even resisting, with her blandishments, and entangles me with shameless and immodest embraces. Of these, which I should rather choose, I commit to your judgment, father." What the prudent young man wished to be understood by this riddle, you understand well enough, Reader: namely, the spiritual and the secular life, between which the difference is certainly as great as the variety that appears between the brides proposed.

does not promise to subject herself to a husband's laws, he refuses, setting forth a riddle. but seeks a husband who will pass under the authority of his wife; and what appears more burdensome and constraining, unless he despise what he possesses, she promises her embraces to no one. The other, however, is far inferior in lineage and form, but more affluent in the abundance of present things, who already entices me, even resisting, with her blandishments, and entangles me with shameless and immodest embraces. Of these, which I should rather choose, I commit to your judgment, father." What the prudent young man wished to be understood by this riddle, you understand well enough, Reader: namely, the spiritual and the secular life, between which the difference is certainly as great as the variety that appears between the brides proposed.

[3] When his father had directed his son to choose the superior and more excellent one, He becomes a Cleric at Rome immediately, as if by his father's command, what he had long determined to do from the Gospel's mandate, having sold the precious garments with which he used to be clothed and given their price to the poor, ragged and stripped, he secretly left Ravenna by night and made his way to Rome as a raw pilgrim: and there, having received the clerical tonsure, he was thinking with a fervent spirit of going to Jerusalem; there, if Christ whom he sought should grant it, he would serve the Lord as long as he lived. He would have fulfilled his vows too, having abandoned the Jerusalem journey, had not God, providing something more useful for him, recalled him from this intention by means of the following reversal. He was admonished in his dreams to return to Ravenna and there to live nearby under the discipline of a certain hermit named Martin and to serve the Lord. Now that Martin was a man of the highest continence and so commendable in the ways of his life that he was deservedly held venerable and holy by all to whom knowledge or fame of him had reached. He dwelt, moreover, on an island he lives with Martin the hermit, which, with the Po flowing between, looks upon Pomposa, separated from it to the north. When Guido reached him, he revealed what he had been admonished by God and what had settled in his mind. The old man joyfully received him at once, and inquiring whether he wished to become a monk, soon learned that he desired this in all things and wished to dwell with him perpetually: and when he wished to change his garment immediately, it was deferred to the morrow by Martin's counsel. The young recruit of Christ, bearing this delay with difficulty and impatient of the postponement, put on the monastic habit in the morning for three years: before he had presented himself to Martin's sight. When Martin gently reproved him for why he had wished to do such a thing, he replied that he could no longer bear the desire of his heart. The most blessed Guido remained on the aforesaid island under Martin's authority for three years; and progressing from the fervor of mind with which he had begun, from virtue to virtue, he walked with continual advances.

[4] Now the monastery of Pomposa, quite poor at that time, in the Pomposian monastery, belonged then to Martin's care, to whom the providence of the Roman Pontiff had committed it to be governed: but Abbot William presided over it by Martin's counsel. From this monastery, therefore, Martin sent Guido to Pomposa, wishing to learn the rudiments of cenobitic life: he is trained in all the offices, for Martin had already sufficiently and adequately instructed him for three years in the observances of a more continent and stricter eremitic life. The Brothers in the monastery, educated men, mocking him on account of his rough garments and total neglect of temporal things as if he were a peasant, jokingly predicted he would be their Abbot. Furthermore, the vigorous Abbot William, wishing to train him in all things, by provident counsel appointed him to serve in succession through each and every office of that monastery, so that afterward he might teach more confidently what he had more earnestly learned. Indeed, not long afterward, the same Martin, as if concerning one fully trained in all things that are done in monasteries, lest the talent entrusted to him should be hidden under a bushel, placed Guido in charge of the monastery of St. Severus near Ravenna, he is placed over the monastery of St. Severus. in which he himself lived according to the Rule and taught his subjects to live likewise. But Abbot William also, inflamed with love for the solitary life, sought the desert at about the same time, having left the monastery; and as Vicar for the Brothers he was leaving behind, he appointed as Abbot a man named John, surnamed Angelus, a man approved in all things and worthy of the angelic appellation. When he too migrated to the Lord, Created Abbot of Pomposa, he himself, whose life and cause we have undertaken to narrate, Guido, beloved of men and God, though resisting and unwilling, yet at the command of Martin -- to whom it was not reasonable for Guido to resist -- was made Abbot; on this condition, however, that he would at some time be permitted to relinquish what he was compelled to accept. At the same time his father, imitating his son, he gives the habit to his father and brother, and his brother, Gerard by name, emulating his sibling, having left the world, were converted to Christ and lived devoutly under him in the Pomposian monastery.

[5] As the devotion and number of monks increased, he builds a new monastery, the man, vigorous in all things divine, built the monastery which endures to this day. During its construction, while the Brothers were working, the wicker frames, heavy with rubble of stones, fell to the ground from the upper parts of the wall, not without diabolical instigation: in which fall some of the workers who had been above the frames, having fallen to the bottom, he keeps workers unharmed from a collapse, felt no injury: while others, clinging to the wall and certain beams as they fell, remained without danger. But the venerable Abbot, just as by his merits he protected those falling from injury, so by prayer he set down those hanging, unharmed. At another time also, a servant carelessly placed a wooden vessel full of wine on top of the wall; and a vessel with wine: which, when it fell to the ground, the merit of the holy man obtained that neither the vessel be broken nor the wine spilled.

[6] Likewise, at a certain time one of the Brothers, an unlettered man named Martin, while he was living in a cell eight miles distant from the monastery, died: a monk raised from death, when the Brothers had performed the due funeral office for his death, he who had been dead revived, and with an anxious voice called out for the Father of the monastery. But he did not have at hand the one he sought, because the monastery where Abbot Guido stayed was far away. Led therefore to the monastery, and questioned about what he had seen and heard, asked by him whom he had called where he had been, what he had seen, and what he had heard, he said: "I saw places of torment in which I recognized many persons known and related to me: and while trembling I was observing what I saw, a certain man clothed in the whitest robe appeared, comforting me, bearing a golden crown on his head and a rod in his left hand, but carrying a honeycomb in his right, which he offered me to eat: having extended it, he bade me eat again and again: when I hesitated, he admonished me not to fear. When I asked who he was, he replied that he was the Archangel Michael. Having learned who he was, I accepted the honeycomb he offered and ate, given a blessing, he is permitted to die after three days, and at his bidding I returned to the body which I had left, as you see." For three days, during which he lived a short time afterward in the body, he perceived in his mouth the sweetness of the honeycomb he had eaten: but after three days, having been given the blessing of Father Guido, that Brother rested in peace.

[7] There was also in the same monastery a monk named Berthold, who, when he was in the last moments of this life, another vexed by demons in his agony, was experiencing delays in departing due to a blameworthy conscience; while Father Guido with the Brothers was imploring the Lord's mercy, he who was dying came to himself and, relating what he had seen about himself, said: "I saw demons raging against me, opposing the cause of one sin (since they could do nothing about the rest, especially since the goodness of Christ had forgiven all to one who was penitent and confessing)." When the Brothers asked what and of what sort was the crime for which he said he had been consigned to the underworld, he said: "A certain incantation, he assists with prayers: while I was still serving the world in dress and manners, I had once learned, which however I never practiced in deed; but at some time I retained in some degree the memory of its words: this alone is the crime charged against me: but by your prayers I have escaped the danger that was pressing upon me. But lest this sin, which I neither know nor recall, be further alleged against me, I confess that I have sinned in this also, in which I did not know that I had sinned": and so the Brother rested in peace.

[8] He admits another, A certain man, John by name, born in Venice, leaving his home and homeland, came to Pomposa: received by Abbot Guido and made a monk, he showed himself so commendable in life and character that the greatness of the master's teaching was manifest in the deeds of the disciple. For this man of whom we speak, although he knew no letters at all, loving God more than himself and his neighbor as himself, fulfilled the whole of who burned with love of God and neighbor what the law and the prophets contain: denying himself, he never preferred anything to Christ; and his neighbor also (if it is right to say or believe it possible) he is shown to have loved more than himself; since he never inflicted an injury on anyone, but very often bore one inflicted upon him; nor did he allow himself to be burdened by anyone's service, since he himself was always a help to everyone; and only failed to assist those whom he could not be present to help. Of what sanctity or merit he was, his end proved: he is summoned by an angel, for on a certain day, while he was sitting in the cloister among the order of the Brothers, together with Abbot Guido, an angel whiter than snow, showing himself in the form of a man, said to him: "Well done, good servant: come and enter into the joy of your Lord." And since he thought that the same thing he had seen and heard had been seen and heard by all who were sitting there, he paused for a little while: then, when they remained silent, he reported to Father Guido what he had seen and heard, saying: "What is it, Father, that this man, whom you all saw with me, said to me: 'Well done, good and faithful servant, come, enter into the joy of your Lord'?" To whom the Father said: "Do you wish to leave us, my son?" And that man, not long afterward, released from the flesh, migrated to the Lord, about to receive as a reward what he had received in merit.

b. Around the year 998.

CHAPTER II

The virtues, death, and translation of St. Guido: miracles before and after his death.

[9] Abbot Guido, therefore, whose whole life was a continual abstinence from foods and vices alike, He commands abstinence from fish three times a week, surpassing men in one respect and comparing himself to angels in another, had at one point decreed that in the monastery the Brothers should not eat fish on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: when on a certain day, with the Prior's permission, they had transgressed this decree even with the Abbot himself, immediately punishment followed the blameworthy act: for the herd of the monastery's swine, scattering through the forest, could not be found for fifteen days, until by the Abbot's arrival the transgression was corrected and the fault reproved. And he punishes the delinquents: For the use of forbidden things by abstinence

is atoned for by use of lawful things, and carnal appetite is chastised by the correction of the rod: and thus sin is pardoned by penance, and penance is rewarded with indulgence. This the swine demonstrated well enough, when they soon returned from the forest to which they had fled.

[10] The holy man had this divinely bestowed gift of providence, endowed with all virtues, that if adversities arose in the monastery, he would attribute them not to chance but to the cause of some offense, and on that account to God's judgment, whence he often escaped an imminent or sometimes future danger. The fortitude of his spirit and the strength of his mind was known to have been very great, from the fact that he was never broken by any troubles nor yielded to any enticements of the flesh. His temperance and modesty were also so great that he was not puffed up by any successes, and from all excesses, as far as is possible for a man, he restrained himself. Who could worthily praise his frugality or continence? It was so great that none of the ancient Saints had more, if we speak of food or drink: since eating he always hungered and drinking he always thirsted; and, to say it otherwise, eating he did not eat, drinking he did not drink. If a small sin is in question, he always took care that it not be said of him, "Cursed are they who decline from the commandments of the Lord." Subjecting the flesh to the spirit, and the spirit to the divine power, from the time he professed the service of Christ he did not submit himself to earthly pleasure. How chaste and pure he was in body, and even from those vices in which youth is usually entangled, is manifest. Justice indeed, which is the mother and cause of all virtues, he so pursued in all things that he wished to benefit all and never to harm anyone. He was so endowed with prudence that he could never be deceived by another, nor did he wish to deceive anyone. The man, full of God, was so fortified by the pursuits of good virtues that the prince of this world, coming, found no trace of his treachery in him.

[11] The provident man governed his monastery by appointing, He appoints vicarious Abbots in his stead, in alternation through the seasons, other Abbots whom he had chosen for the subjects: of whom the first was Vitalis; when he departed, he chose Peter; after his death there was Theobald; after Theobald, Leo was appointed; after all these, one who was likewise admirable and bore the same name, Guido, was chosen. These each in their own time presided over the Brothers and governed the monastery, having the office of Martha, occupied with much service. But he, who had chosen the better part, was content with that alone; and lest he lose it, he clung inseparably to the feet of Christ: now conversing with God in prayer, he referred what was his own to the Lord; now in chanting psalms he heard the word from his mouth. He lives in the woods, He dwelt in a forest, three miles distant from the monastery, so that it could truly be said of him: "And his dwelling was with the beasts of the forest." And although at all times he abstained from what is necessary for the body, yet in the days of the two Lenten seasons, with such abstinence from food and drink, he mortifies the body: with such blows of the rod and insistence on vigils, he mortified his weak body that, excepting death, a cruel persecutor could inflict no further torment on one unwilling than this truly happy and truly faithful servant of Christ inflicted upon himself willingly.

[12] A certain man named Gerard, a Lombard by birth, long afflicted with quartan fevers, came to Pomposa, water from the washing of his hands drives away fevers: asserting that it had been divinely revealed to him that if he drank of the water with which Abbot Guido had washed his hands, he would immediately be healed. Hearing this, the mild and humble man both abhorred the saying and forbade the deed: but by the industry of his servant, named Peter, the sick man drank what he sought and was healed. How often water was changed into wine by his merits, the monks who served him are witnesses, and also very many of the laity. Archbishop Gebhard of Ravenna also, when he was seated at table together with Abbot Guido, asked him to hand over the cup from which the Abbot was drinking: another is turned into wine, when the Abbot resisted, by a certain importunity he obtained what he asked, and drinking what he thought was water, he found the draught to be wine, which the servant had poured from the customary well. After the meal, the Archbishop reproaching the servant for why he had not given him the same excellent wine as the Abbot, he learned from the servant that excellent wine had been poured for him, but water for the Abbot -- which had been turned into wine by his prayers. The Archbishop was astonished and by this experience proved and believed what he had heard from many. Something similar to this once happened at Ravenna: while he was indeed sitting at table, a certain knight of Faenza arrived. That man had heard from many that Abbot Guido did not drink wine: which happened frequently. coming upon the table, therefore, he snatched up the Abbot's cup, not without a certain boldness: he drank wine, but the servant had mixed water. Thus, as has been said, he worked this miracle not just twice but frequently. That also which we related above -- that from the water with which he had washed his own hands, he drove away the illnesses of others -- we know to have happened not once or twice but many times. But there are many things that escape our knowledge and memory. We admonished the reader in the preface above to infer more from the few things we write: but if anyone desires to know greater things about his merits, we direct him to Parma: there he will be taught by the inhabitants of that city how great were his powers and deserts while living, and how great his powers and gifts among them even after death: of which we too shall note a few things. But since we are still speaking of one living among us, it is fitting that we first tell what he did while living. We are about to say small things, and quite insufficient for the merits or even the lowest praise of so great a man.

[13] A broken glass lamp is found intact: A Brother named Sergius, custodian of the church, had climbed a tripod to prepare the lamps for lighting, and one of them, slipping from his hands, was smashed into tiny pieces on the pavement stone. The custodian gathered the fragments and placed them before the altar, going to the Abbot to do penance for the damage. Forgiveness having been promptly granted by the Abbot, he returned to the church and found the lamp restored to wholeness: the damage of this incident should manifestly be attributed to the disciple, while the marvel should be ascribed to the master. Another lamp repeatedly falls without harm. From the beams of the church another lamp, full of oil, had fallen, which neither sustained injury nor spilled its oil. This lamp, having now suffered such a fall for the third time, still hangs unharmed in the same church to this day.

Indeed, as we have said, these things are the least in comparison with those that we have learned only by hearsay; since outside the monastery he performed things worthy of so great a man.

[14] The day was now approaching which he awaited with supreme desire: Having foreseen his own death for he longed to depart and to be with Christ. He saw in his sleep a revelation of this kind. A palm tree, sprouting from his head, rose to the height of great stature, laden with fruit; but fleeing the touch of those who wished to pluck its fruit, it inclined itself, however, to Guido's hand and permitted him to take food from it: and from its fruit he also distributed to the Brothers subject to him: by which he assuredly foresaw in a prophetic spirit a successor to come after him. Meanwhile, a very severe plague was afflicting the monastery, which had carried about thirty of the Brothers to the point of death. Moreover, in those days the Emperor's embassy was compelling the blessed man to go to meet his envoys, meeting the Emperor's envoys who were coming to Italy: since by his counsel all the Emperor's commands were to be carried out. Unwillingly, it is reported, he undertook that journey, and though in broken speech, he nevertheless said in a prophetic spirit that he would no longer be seen by the Brothers whom he was leaving at Pomposa. He dies at Borgo San Donnino. Setting out, therefore, the Saint of the Lord came to Parma, and from there to Borgo: where on the second day after his arrival, on the very day he came there, he began to fall ill: and on the third day he died.

[15] As the Brothers who were with him were bringing back the body of the deceased, a blind man receives sight at Parma a blind man met them at the first milestone of the city of Parma: there, while the pallbearers paused for a moment, the blind man asked them what they were carrying. "We are bringing back to his home," they said, "the body of the Abbot of Pomposa." That blind man had heard many great things about that man: for his good fame had filled all Italy: and therefore the blind man said: "Lord God, if this man is of that merit of which I have heard, let me see with my eyes what I have already believed in my heart."

"The blind man saw at once, he cries with joy for the light: Truly a servant of God, through whom I have gained the light, Whom I now see before me, most holy Guido, you were."

The Brothers bearing the funeral of their Father are astonished, and although they rejoiced at the Lord's grace, and with the bells sounding of their own accord they feared for the treasure they were carrying, now revealed. The blind man raises his voice, and though the monks try to restrain him, he fills the whole air with shouts; and unable to contain himself for the greatness of his joys, he invited all passersby to praises. Immediately a crowd of people assembled, and with the bells of the churches sounding without human agency, the whole city was in awe: and when they learned what had happened, each one blamed himself for tardiness if he was not the first to be present. The body was seized, and while the monks wept, the whole citizenry rejoiced. The body detained for seven months What sick person then brought himself to Parma and did not bring back health? What lame person came and did not return upright? What blind person arrived and did not go back seeing? His body remained at Parma for seven months, in which rarely a day passed that did not experience the gift of a miracle: for each day had something for which to render praises to the Lord.

[16] At last the Emperor Henry, who had long been expected, arrived, he is daily illustrious for miracles, and at the monks' complaints the holy body was taken from the Parmesans: then by the Emperor's command it was brought to Verona, where, deposited in the church of Blessed Zeno, what it had conferred at Parma it did not delay to confer also at Verona. For on the very day of his arrival he healed a certain sick person, and on the following day St. Zeno, who had not done so for many days, and likewise at Verona healed another: and thus, as they competed for many days, Verona received its sick back healed, without the care of physicians. But now what wonders he accomplished while crossing the Alps and after being brought to Speyer, and at Speyer. we leave to the Germans to narrate. For just as we do not write much about him, so we have not seen all his wondrous deeds, which he performed either in distant regions or, fleeing boastfulness, did not reveal to human report.

[17] He governed the monastery of Pomposa for forty-eight years: and he died in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand and forty-six, on the day before the Kalends of April, leaving many heirs of his religious life: He presided for 48 years, dead March 31 in the year 1046. whom he either trained in the monastery over which he presided, or appointed to preside as Abbots over various monasteries, to the praise of God and our Savior Jesus Christ: to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit remain honor and glory through infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANOTHER LIFE. From the Speyer Manuscript.

Guido, Abbot of Pomposa, of the Order of St. Benedict, at Speyer in Germany (Saint)

BHL Number: 8877

FROM MANUSCRIPT.

CHAPTER I.

The secular, eremitic, and monastic life of St. Guido.

[1] About to describe the glorious life of St. Guido, Born and raised near Ravenna: let us first insert notice of his father, mother, and homeland: then, with the help of him to whose praise we do this, let us reveal the marks of his virtues in such style as we can. For this venerable man had a father named Albert, a mother named Merocia, and his homeland was the city of Ravenna: but he was born in the suburban village of Casamare of the aforesaid city, which from his earliest age he always shunned in spirit and occupied himself at Ravenna with the pursuit of worldly things -- which we do not doubt was done not without a prophetic spirit, when we consider the etymology of this name. For this signified then in the person of the boy what he afterward accomplished in youthful age. For "Casa-maris," that is, the habitation of this stormy and restless world, he rejected in spirit and body, and gave himself wholly to the heavenly philosophy, which is Christ. Then, having become a young man, abounding in worldly talent and the diverse adornment of secular pomp, while the world wished to carry him away through various misdeeds by the love of its cupidity, and to plunge him with greedy gullet into the belly of its malice; the power of Almighty God mercifully shone upon his holy mind through the gifts of the Spirit and powerfully drew him out of such a precipice.

[2] He desires to abandon worldly things: Kindled, therefore, by the fire of the Holy Spirit and filled with heavenly desire, he began to renounce earthly affairs, to trample upon earthly desires, to abhor whatever flatters the flesh, and to cling to the sweetness of the heavenly life. He longed with wondrous ardor to change his secular garb: but knowing that the consent of his parents could in no way be inclined to this, he kept this hidden within himself. While, therefore, his parents wished to provide him with a marriage bed, and he himself anxiously desired to fulfill his own desire, he composed a riddle of this sort and reported it to his father. "Two brides, he sets forth his desire to his father in a riddle. father," he said, "I have sought for myself, of whom one is powerful and most noble; the other, more powerful, and far inferior to her in birth and means, loves me exceedingly and already binds me in her embraces, and all effort is directed to love of her, unless your counsels judge otherwise: but that nobler and most powerful one is difficult and exceedingly arduous for me, and cannot be acquired without the anguish of severe hardship. Which, then, father, do you wish me to choose?" Then the father, rejoicing with him, said: "Go now, dearest son, let no dangers or hardships make you sluggish, let no loves enervate you or betray you as degenerate, let no magnitude of pains or dowries turn you back from that most noble and powerful marriage. Lift up your spirit, stir your talent, take courage, work out your salvation, gather your senses, strengthen your own breast, that you may attain the bed of so illustrious a marriage and stand forth fortunate and glorious. For it is shameful that for the exercise of a little time you should lack the advantage of such power and be deprived of the joy of so noble an embrace."

[3] With these and similar words the father counseled his son, because he believed him to be pursuing a carnal marriage. He yearns for heavenly things But O adorable power of Christ! O admirable change wrought by the right hand of the Most High! Which, although it is always and in all things held to be wondrous, is nevertheless in our own times proclaimed as especially to be venerated in this man. For although, on account of the singular privilege of virginity and other virtues, we do not compare him to the blessed Evangelist John, whom we read was called away from his wedding; yet this so venerable man of wondrous sanctity we may in a certain way call another John, if it is permissible to say so. For in a wondrous manner fixing his father's words in his mind and taking strength in his breast from his exhortation, with so much greater devotion as it was more divine, he began to detest and spurn with words and deeds that degenerate bride, as he called her, in whose embraces he was already being held; and to strive with the most ardent affection, panting toward the illustrious marriage of that noble and most powerful one: that is, to abandon the glory and pleasure of the world -- which no one truly knowing doubts to be degenerate and wretched, transitory and feeble -- with every effort of mind; and to unite himself in every way, with fervent zeal, to heavenly wisdom and discipline and the exercise of divine religion: and he burned with such ardor for the religion of heavenly worship that nothing outside it pleased him, nothing in this world did he seek apart from it; and according to his father's exhortations, all hard things seemed to him soft, all rough things smooth, all adversities prosperous; and by reciprocal reasoning, all prosperous things adverse, all smooth things rough, all soft things hard. In such desire, therefore, and remains solicitous about its execution. he was taught by heavenly instruction: for having received, as we said above, his father's command under the pretext of a carnal marriage, he does not listen with a deaf ear to the voice of the Lord who commands: "He who does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple." But so be it. What do you do, servant of God? What do you meditate, nursling of the Holy Spirit? What thoughts do you revolve in your mind? Tell, I beg, tell where will you store the counsels of your sacred heart? Where will you turn? Where will you ascend? Where will you rest? "Upon the height," he says, "of which it is said to me through the Prophet, 'I will raise you up to the pride of the Saints': so that, trampling upon all proud things, which God resists, and earthly things, I may despise them, and eagerly seek humble things, which he himself exalts, and heavenly things; that I may deserve to be fed with the inheritance of the chosen Jacob and the beloved child Israel, and to see in the heavenly Sion the Lord of heaven, Emmanuel with us: that I may deserve to feed upon the mountains and in the houses of Jerusalem, and to drink from the streams and fountains of Israel." Why say more? He does not allow these so holy desires of his heart to remain unfulfilled for long, but, accompanied by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he undertakes them thus.

[4] On a certain night, therefore, which at Ravenna is held as the most celebrated solemnity of Apollinaris, the Martyr of Christ, He secretly flees to Rome: St. Guido, having divested himself of his precious garments and given them to the poor, and having dressed himself in filthy and most vile covering, secretly left Ravenna without his parents' knowledge and went to Rome, the mistress of the world and capital of the globe. There, having received the honor of the clerical state, he resolved to hasten to Jerusalem, with the intention of never returning home. While he was thinking these things, he was admonished by divine revelation to return to the city of Ravenna and subject himself to the authority of Martin the Hermit. He becomes a Cleric, returns to Martin the hermit: Now this man Martin was of such holy religion and abstinence that he was held in great veneration by nearly all of Italy. When he had reached him, according to the admonition, and had revealed to him his desire, the holy man received him with exceeding affection, and after the sweet words of exhortation, said to him with the cheerful countenance that was always his: "Do you wish, dearest son, to take the monastic habit?" To whom he replied: "This, holy Father, has always been my desire." He then began earnestly to beseech the same venerable man to hasten to make him a monk without delay. For he feared that, sought out by his parents, he might be snatched away and forced to serve again the allurements of the world. The holy man did not accede to his requests but gave him a delay until morning.

[5] He puts on the monastic garb: Having received the delay until the morrow, what should this excellent vessel do? Could it remain idle and not rather work something divine and prodigious? Come, Holy Spirit, wondrous teacher, most efficacious craftsman, show your wonderful work, your ineffable art, your venerable teaching: stir up your power, make your miracles clear, make manifest your treasure. What do you think? He remains with him for three years: The most blessed Guido, having cowled himself, presented himself in the morning to the venerable Martin: when asked why he had done this, he replied that he could in no way bear the ardor of his heart. In which fervor he remained constant, and subjected himself in all things to that venerable man for as long as he lived, and also lived with him as a hermit for three years on a certain island which the Po separates from Pomposa. The Pomposian monastery, He lives at Pomposa: still very poor, was at that time under the care of Martin himself, over which however Lord William presided according to the Rule: in which place, the less there was of earthly sustenance, the more there abounded the richness of divine worship. To this place the man of the Lord, Martin, sent the most blessed Guido, so that he might properly learn the institution of the regular path and the perfection of monastic religion. How fully and perfectly he learned this, He is appointed Provost of St. Severus. whoever wishes to visit the same monastery over which he afterward presided will be able to know. The monks of that monastery mocked him as a simple man clothed in squalid garments, yet foretold that he would be their Abbot. The most reverend man William appointed him through all the offices of the monastery through the succession of seasons, and from there ordained him Provost in the monastery of St. Severus, and in all things he acted according to the Rule.

CHAPTER II

The life of St. Guido, created Abbot. Miracles.

[6] At that time Lord William withdrew into the desert and ordained another Abbot of Pomposa, He becomes Abbot of Pomposa: named John, surnamed Angelus, a simple, upright man, and wonderful in abstinence. When he had died and been placed in perpetual peace, and had been made a companion of the Angels in blessedness as well as in name, though greatly resisting and proclaiming himself unworthy, the glorious man of the Lord Guido was ordained Abbot of Pomposa, at the command of the Lord Martin, to whom he had long ago resolved to be obedient and to comply with all his orders. He by no means, however, submitted his neck until he received from him permission to relinquish the abbacy at some time. After this, his father, whom we mentioned above, he receives his father and brother under him as monks: and his brother named Gerard, following in his footsteps, left the world and, living under him according to the Rule very vigorously, rendered their souls to Jesus Christ. With him presiding, therefore, and governing that monastery nobly, with the rule and the number of monks increased, he builds a new monastery: he began to build the new monastery, which endures: in which the miracles that were and are being wrought through him and under him, the resources of our pen do not suffice to narrate: but with the help of him who opens the mouths of the mute and makes the lips of infants eloquent, in simple words, as best we can, we shall reveal a few things out of many.

[7] While, therefore, he was pressing on with the work begun, when the Brothers were sometimes laboring upon the wall, the wicker frames, excessively weighed down with heaps of stones, monks unharmed from a fall, also through the envy of the devil, collapsed in the absence of Father Guido. Of the Brothers, some who fell felt no harm, while others, clinging with their hands to beams that were fastened there, remained hanging in danger: when the venerable Father learned of this, he was quickly present and by his prayer set them down unharmed. On another occasion a wooden vessel full of wine had been placed upon the same wall for the use of the workers, and he preserves a vessel with wine: which, having slipped and fallen to the ground, neither was the wine spilled nor was the vessel broken.

[8] While they were also engaged in the same work, they began to be oppressed by a severe shortage of provisions: but with the most holy Father earnestly beseeching Almighty God in this matter and promising them help and abundance from him, in great need he receives provisions by divine providence: on a certain day when no food remained for them for the morrow, all began to murmur against him and to be exceedingly troublesome to him. He bore them patiently and was thinking of how or by what means he might purchase the necessities. While therefore he himself was hastening to Ravenna to buy provisions, Christ prepared two boats full of wine and grain to meet him not far from the monastery: having found these, the man of the Lord, giving thanks to the Holy Trinity, returned joyfully, and refreshing them for a long time and sufficiently with the blessing of him who from five loaves satisfied five thousand men, he admonished them not to distrust any further. Who would not admire the goodness of so great a man? Who would not venerate his sanctity? For truly the Lord Jesus, mindful of his most true promise by which he says, "Whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give you," openly rewarded his faith in the presence of those who doubted and timely satisfied the hungry.

[9] At a certain time a certain unlettered Brother named Martin died at a certain church situated within the forest of that island, a monk raised from death narrates his visions, which is distant more or less eight miles from the aforesaid monastery. Brought to the monastery, after the customary funeral rites of the deceased were performed and the solemnities of the Masses completed, the dead man revived, and with continual voice he demanded that the holy Father be present; who, arriving, carefully inquired and humbly and anxiously asked him to narrate what he had seen. He said: "I saw terrible places of torment, and recognized many of my relatives and acquaintances there: and while trembling I was gazing upon them, in the other life, there appeared to me a certain most beautiful man clothed in a white robe and marvelously adorned with a tiara, bearing a rod in one hand and something like a honeycomb in the other, which he extended to me and ordered me to eat: when, terrified, I refused, he again commanded me to eat and admonished me not to fear. To whom I said: 'Who are you, Lord?' 'Know,' he said, 'that I am the Archangel Michael, and have been sent now for your comfort.' Hearing this, I soon changed my fear to confidence, after three days he dies again: and ate the whole sweetness and pleasantness of that honeycomb; and when I had eaten it, he bade me return to my body and remain in it for three days only." For three days, therefore, during which he survived, he said he had the taste of that honeycomb in his mouth: but after three days, having received the blessing of the most holy Father, he again fell asleep in peace.

[10] At the same time another Brother named Berthold, when he was near death and was experiencing great delay in departing from the body, likewise another narrates his visions in the agony of death, and was tormented by the anguish of his conscience, by the kindness of God and the prayer of the most blessed Father Guido, returned to himself, and when asked by the Brothers what he had seen in so great an agony, he answered: "I saw demons raging against me and opposing to me the cause of one sin." And the Brothers asked: "Which?" Then he said: "I had learned one single incantation while in the world, which I did not put into practice, and it had already even escaped my memory; this alone they terribly opposed to me, having received a blessing, he departs this life but conquered by the power of Christ and the prayer of the most holy Father Guido and yours, they sadly withdrew": and as soon as he received the blessing, he immediately rested in perpetual peace.

[11] Meanwhile, while the aforesaid monastery was flourishing and growing through the holy studies and exercises of the afore-named Father, and abounding in every abundance and generous wealth, he rouses the subject monks by his exhortations: he would admonish his most holy subjects with sweet words, and form them by the examples of his virtues, and exhort them with divine precepts, saying with the Psalmist: "Set not your heart upon riches"; with the Apostle: "Make not provision for the flesh in its concupiscences"; and with Jeremiah: "Desire not the day of man." For he desires the day of man whose mind burns only for the pleasures of the flesh. He is proved to desire the day of man who constantly pursues the gluttony of food and drink. He desires the day of man whose loins and heart burn with the pleasure of lust and luxury through surfeit and drunkenness. To these and his other wondrous exhortations each one submitted himself: for, that all might show they eat fish only three times a week. that they willingly obeyed the admonitions of the pious Father about not setting their hearts upon riches, although they abounded in the greatest supply of diverse fish, at his command and by common free will they decreed to eat fish only on three days of the week. Moreover, on a certain night of Palm Sunday a certain lamp, a lamp intact three times from falling having fallen from a lofty place -- namely, from the beams of the church -- to the pavement, wonderful to say! neither was the oil spilled nor was it broken: which has already been done three times in the same place, and the vessel still remains sound.

[12] It happened once to this venerable man something similar to the affair of Julian and Basil. For Heribert, Archbishop of Ravenna, was piling up so severe a hatred against him that he had resolved to come armed in danger of the monastery's destruction, they take on bodily afflictions: and destroy the Pomposian monastery. When this reached the ears of the man of God, he gave himself with all his monks most devoutly and with contrite heart to prayer. For from the least to the greatest, having laid aside their customary woolen shirts, they clothed themselves in the roughest garments and hairshirts, chanting with the Psalmist: "When they were troublesome to me, I clothed myself with haircloth." For three continuous days and nights, so clothed, barefoot, content with barley bread and water alone, they were sharply beaten daily in the Chapter, but voluntarily: they used no seat, whether in the church, or in the refectory, or anywhere except the ground, so that they could truly say with the Prophet: "Our soul is humbled in the dust, our belly cleaves to the earth." But the Lord, not unmindful of his sweetest promise, by which he says through the Prophet: "Call upon me in the day of tribulation: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me" -- while they were placed in such tribulation, he deigned to console them with this vision. The most blessed Virgin Mary, appearing to a certain one of them, surrounded by a choir of white-robed Virgins, encouraged him with a gentle countenance not to fear, they are comforted by the Virgin Mother of God: and congratulating him, addressed him thus: "Persevere in your begun intention, little children, knowing that you are being heard at this very moment. Moreover, be certain of this: that as long as this three-day fast is thus celebrated by you, this place will be overcome by no visible or invisible enemy." When he awoke and the time for speaking returned to him, he reported all these things in order to Father Guido and the Brothers: and the time of restored peace proved them to be true, as did the similar outcome of various matters even afterward. But O ancient wonders! The adversary, like Julian the Apostate, is overthrown, O marks of virtues! O miracles, in all things similar to the deeds of the former Fathers! The prayer of Basil slew Julian the Apostate forever; the prayer of Guido caused Heribert, standing ill on the horns of pride, to fall so that he might someday rise well. The prayer of Basil destroyed Julian the Apostate; the prayer humbles the exalted Heribert. The former was slain in body by Mercury; the latter was struck down in mind by Christ. The former was laid low by the weapons of Mercury; the latter was humbled by the weapons of fasting. The former, blaspheming the Godhead, was destroyed by a material sword; the latter, acting proudly against the man of God, was made humble by the outpouring of tears. For in very truth, when he had come to the monastery with a spirit of malice, as we said, and all the Brothers, although not ignorant of his malice, had gone forth to meet him with fear and had led him most honorably, as is their custom, into the church, while he prayed prostrate on the ground, he confirmed peace. he was suddenly struck by the sword of the Holy Spirit. For rising from prayer, his face bathed in tears, but affable in heart and countenance, he vomited forth the malice of his envy and confirmed a perpetual friendship. At which all, no little gladdened, gave thanks to God.

CONCERNING BLESSED DANIEL, AT VENICE, AMONG THE CAMALDOLESE.

IN THE YEAR 1411.

Daniel the Merchant, at Venice, on the Island of Murano, among the Camaldolese monks (Blessed)

[1] We conclude the Acts of the Saints of March with the eulogy of Blessed Daniel, whose sacred body he testifies to have venerated in person at Venice in the year of Christ 1650: so writes Gaspar Bucelinus in his Benedictine Menology, and he adds the following about him: "At Venice, in the monastery of St. Matthew at Murano, Blessed Daniel the Lay Brother. Eulogy from Bucelinus. He was a German, from the town of Ungrischgraz by birth, who, having practiced commerce at Venice for some time, was wonderfully attached to the aforesaid monastery, and at last asked and obtained to be received there. He bequeathed all his goods to the monastery, consecrating his whole self to Christ. Certain thieves, frustrated in their vain hope of money, suddenly attacked and strangled him in his cell by night, in the year of Christ 1411. When long after, the Venetian patrician Paul Donato was to be buried in his tomb, Daniel's body was found incorrupt and most fragrant with a heavenly scent of roses, which to this day is frequented by a great concourse and gazed upon with admiration." So writes Bucelinus, citing the records of the monastery itself and the Camaldolese history of Augustine Fortunius of Florence, Acts from the Camaldolese History. who in book 3, chapter 3, adduces much more pertaining to his veneration, and himself beheld and venerated the said incorrupt body in person. But he writes that he was not admitted among the Lay Brothers, but that permission was given him, as a Commisso, to dwell in the said monastery of St. Matthew at Murano. Here, then, after having narrated the restoration of the church, done in the year 1383, he adds the following about Blessed Daniel.

[2] "At that time Daniel, a German, born at Ungrispack, was practicing commerce at Venice. He frequently delighted in crossing by boat to the monastery of St. Matthew at Murano

and taking lodging there, A German practices commerce at Venice: and had as it were taken up the patronage of the most sacred House and the Brothers. Seized indeed more and more each day by the beauty of the house of God (since he had always been an outstanding worshipper of God, compassionate toward the poor, and benevolent to pious places), he easily obtained from the Prior and monks permission to dwell in the monastery as a Commisso. Then, having drawn up his last testament on the last day of March in the year 1392, he dwells in the monastery of St. Matthew: and having bequeathed five hundred gold pieces to the monastery, he brought his belongings there and set up a chamber for himself in the lower part of the cloister. But when he had returned one day (as is reported) from his business, certain robbers supposed that he had carried much money with him to St. Matthew's: thinking they could enrich themselves, they secretly entered his chamber in the nighttime, killed by robbers, seized Daniel, broke his throat with a noose, and departed laden with plunder. When in the morning Daniel's death was discovered, the Brothers of St. Matthew, having first performed the honors of the funeral rites, he is buried in the cloister of the Chapter. laid the lifeless body in a stone sepulchre in the face of the Chapter cloister, not without tears, in the year 1411."

[3] "It happened, however, long afterward, when Paul Donato, a most noble Venetian patrician, had died, The body found incorrupt and sweetly fragrant, that the sepulchre was opened so that Paul's corpse might be buried there. And behold, Daniel's body was found within, intact, like a blooming rose, sweetly fragrant, and in no part of itself corrupted. When this was regarded as a miracle both by the congregation and by all of Venice (for a very great throng of people was present at the spectacle, and afterward an ever larger multitude flocked together for many days), to make known the sanctity of Daniel's life and how he had received, as it were, a martyrdom at the hands of robbers, at an altar erected to him he is illustrious for miracles, the venerable body was carried to the church with great honor: and an altar was erected to Blessed Daniel, where the sacred body, radiant with miracles, was venerated with great devotion by the people until the most recent enlargement of the church. But then, when the altar was destroyed, the venerable body is now preserved in a wooden chest, enclosed in a wooden chest. and we too have both seen it thus incorrupt and piously venerated it, giving thanks to God who is wonderful in his Saints, and we have no doubt that a treasure so precious is possessed there as a great gift by our Camaldolese."

Thus far Augustine Fortunius.

Appendix to March III