ON ST. ARIGIUS OR AREDIUS
BISHOP OF GAP IN GAUL.
AFTER THE YEAR 601
PrefaceArigius or Aredius, Bishop of Gap, in Gaul (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
[1] Vapincum or Vapingum, commonly Gap, in the ancient Notices of the provinces the City of the Vappincenses, Vapenses and Vapecenses, a city of Narbonese Gaul in the modern Dauphiné near the Cottian Alps, Episcopal under the metropolis of Aix, is venerated with solemn cult on these Kalends of May, Sacred cult. on which he died, St. Arigius or Aredius once its Bishop: whose sacred memory on this day we find in five diverse MS. Martyrologies, the Roman one of Duke Altempsius, the Gallican one of the Cluniac monastery, the Dijon one of Lord du Cheval, likewise the MS. Ado of the Queen of Sweden, and another of the Aquicinctine monastery: and his commemoration is made in the ancient Breviary of the Church of Fréjus in Provence. The Life written. His Life Philip Labbe published in the first volume of the New Library, which Jacob Sirmond had once transcribed from the Silviniacensian codex, but defiled with several errors and barbarisms. Yet so that it seems to be rather the carelessness of the transcribers than the fault of the author: for if you restore certain lines and words, foully transposed, to their own order, which they ought to have, that a convenient sense might be found; and emend a very few things here and there by a benevolent conjecture; it will appear written not at all inelegantly, and by no means unworthy of a coeval author. Wherefore since it is enough, that the unvaried indeed, by a coeval author. but scarcely intelligible text of the Silviniacensian MS. is extant in the already said Library of Labbe; we have believed it would be not ungrateful to the reader, if the same were here proposed corrected by our conjecture. Meanwhile we wish that there be submitted to us from elsewhere, if any survive anywhere, other copies, either to confirm our corrections or to suggest better ones. That the author is rightly said coeval is demonstrated by §4 of the Life, where there is praised as a companion of the nocturnal prayers Probus the Clergyman, who at that time, when the Saint had entered the Episcopate, discharged the office of Lector; but when the Life was written, was in sacred orders a Priest admitted to the mysteries: who afterward also, as the pen runs on, narrated a vision, narrated to him by the holy Bishop toward the close of life.
[2] The chronology of the age in which Arigius lived we can found on no surer mark, than the time of the Council of Lyon celebrated in the year 567, when Sagittarius, worthily deprived of the Bishopric of Gap, made way for his election: before which he expended four decades on the governance of the Church of Morges, The Episcopate entered about the year 568, in the year therefore 553 promoted to the same. This church is in Auvergne, on the little river of the same name with it, commonly called Morges together with the town, about five leagues from Clermont; over which the Bishop then was St. Gallus, the uncle of D. Gregory of Tours, after the Morges Parish administered 14 years. or his successor Cautinus. Meanwhile we cannot doubt but that Aregius was taken to govern the parish of the Clermont diocese from the body of the Clermont Clergy, and so under St. Gallus himself (who held that Bishopric 27 years) was promoted to the sacred Orders. Perhaps also B. Desiderius, who baptized the boy and undertook him to be instructed, was not Bishop of Chalon (for whether anyone of this name was at Chalon is vehemently ambiguous, as appears from what was said on the 30th of April, where we treated of him and St. Desideratus a Presbyter there) but he whom on the 11th of February the Clermont people venerate as their own, buried in the church of St. Illidius, and call St. Desideratus, with a name akin and easily interchangeable with Desiderius. For of this one no certain time is found; and that Desiderius or Desideratus could have been intermediate between St. Quintianus, who not long after the year 516 held the Clermont See, and St. Gallus who undertook it only about 525. Nor does it stand in the way, that as a two-year-old Aregius was offered by his parents before the altar of St. Vincent of the city of Chalon: for born at Chalon, he could with the same migrating into Auvergne have migrated also himself and there be baptized; and he is to be said to have migrated at some time, whom it is established was promoted in Auvergne.
[3] He subscribed under King Guntram to the Councils Valentine II and Mâcon II, St. Gregory writing to Arigius Aridius or Aredius Bishop of the Church of Gap. Concerning his Roman journey and benevolent friendship with St. Gregory the Great it is treated in the Life num. 10. We add here epistles of the same St. Gregory to him, of which the first is extant in book 7 of the Register epist. III written in the 2nd Indiction in the year 599, and is of this kind. Gregory to Aregius Bishop of the Gauls. The affliction of your Fraternity, which we have learned you had over the loss of your men, has cast so great a cause of grief upon us, that since charity has made of two one, we felt our heart specially burned in your tribulations. But in this grief the discretion of your sanctity brought back to its proper measure has much consoled me, which it becomes both to bear sadness patiently, and concerning death not to have long sadness in the hope of another life. Yet lest some tribulation still remain in your mind, I exhort, cease to grieve, cease to be sad. For it is unbecoming to be addicted with the weariness of affliction over those, whom it is to be believed have by dying come to the true life … This reason therefore, dearest Brother, being perceived, we must strive, that, as we have said, we be not afflicted over the dead; but bestow affection on the living, to whom let both piety be for usefulness and love be for fruit …
[4] Besides our common son Peter the Deacon made known to us, he permits the use of Dalmatics: that your Fraternity, at the time when he was here, asked, that we should grant to himself and his Archdeacon license of using Dalmatics. But because so compelled by the infirmity of his men he hastily departed, that neither did the grief incumbent longer, as was worthy, and the desired matter demanded, suffer him to press for it; and the consideration of Ecclesiastical reckoning, we being implicated in many things, would not permit this new thing to be granted inconsiderately and suddenly; therefore the effect of the requested matter was prolonged. But now recalling to mind the good things of your charity, by the series of this our authority we grant the things requested, and we have granted that you and your Archdeacon are to be honored with the use of Dalmatics, and we have transmitted those Dalmatics, our most beloved son Abbot Cyriacus carrying them. Besides in that Synod, which against the Simoniac heresy through our Brother and fellow-Bishop Syagrius we have decreed to be gathered, we wish your Sanctity to be present, and to the same Brother the Pallium, which we have transmitted, to be given: if first he shall have promised himself to remove the illicit things, he bids that he be present at the Synod to be assembled against the Simoniacs: which we have prohibited, by Synodic definition from the holy Church. Concerning which Synod we wish your Fraternity to announce to us subtly the whole order by running writings, that you yourself, whose sanctity is greatly experienced by us, may render us more certain concerning all things. Thus there. Concerning the Synod indicated there can be read, what is had on the 12th of March book 3 of the Life of St. Gregory num. 2 and 3. On which day also we gave the Life of St. Peter the Deacon; whom however we judge to have been diverse from the one here named and Clergyman of Gap. The Archdeacon was Valatonius, afterward the Saint's own successor according to St. Gregory's prediction. But St. Syagrius Bishop of Autun is venerated on the 27th of August. Another epistle of St. Gregory to St. Aregius is had in book 9 ep. 51, written in the year 601, and is of this kind.
[5] Since in fraternal love there is one heart, one mind; as in another's prosperous things the mind rejoices, he praises his patience in adversities, so in adverse ones it is afflicted: because in each we are bound by the law of charity to be partakers. And therefore the greater grief over your sadness had invaded us, lest perhaps the affliction of prolix mourning should strike your heart with assiduous grief, and burden your life with groanings. But your Charity's epistles being received, we are consoled with the wished-for joy: and we have given thanks to almighty God, because we have learned both that your humanity is unharmed, and that your mind has returned to consolation. For it was not otherwise to be judged of you, but that whatever of adversity there was, you would without doubt conquer with Sacerdotal patience. How moreover in cutting off the Simoniac heresy the zeal of your Fraternity once burned we well recall. zeal against the Simoniacs, Whence we exhort, that bestowing your effort more studiously, with strict
among the other things which we have written they be condemned by the definition of the Council: so that while the intention of our will shall have been completed by the help of your solicitude, you may both offer to almighty God a most grateful oblation concerning the correction of vices, and show to the edification of others, how in you the care of the Pastoral office shines. But the experience of your life provokes us, which we have known to surpass very many, so that concerning you in this matter we presume great solace. And therefore your fervor, as you began with God the author, complete, that the good things, which in you with right intention were begun, God the creator of all helping may be more rightly fulfilled.
[6] charity toward the monks destined for England: Besides to the monks, whom we have transmitted to our most reverend Brother and fellow-Bishop Augustine, let your Fraternity bestow its charity, as it has been wont: and so be zealous to solace them, both through yourself and through others whom you can, for setting forth, that while, you providing, they have no difficulties or delays there, both we may feel what we trust of you, and God almighty may recompense to you his grace for the conversion of the souls, for which they have been transmitted. Thus there. The mentioned Augustine is Bishop of Canterbury, and is venerated on the 26th of May. Among the monks here commended was St. Laurence, afterward Bishop of Canterbury, whose deeds and journeys we gave on the second day of February. There is besides epistle 62 of the same ninth book, in which the splendor of the virtues of St. Arigius shines forth, and is of this kind.
[7] he indicates mutual love, In how great memory among us the charity of your Fraternity is, seek the secrets of your heart, and from the love which it has toward us you will gather. And since in sincere love neither does absence have force, nor oblivion have place; thus our mind is refreshed by the imagined presence of your Fraternity, as if we discerned you set before us with bodily eyes: because neither is he to be believed absent, who through the bond of love clings to minds. Since therefore we have beheld in you so great ornaments of Sacerdotal gravity, that of your whole institute and manners we rejoice, we promise to our minds many things concerning your solicitude. Whence since you so do the things which are of God, and you commend the Presbyter Candidus to him. so watch in the custody of the flock committed to you, that yet you dispense with prudent moderation the things which are aside; we commend to you the bearer of these presents Candidus the Presbyter, our common son, that you may bestow help on him in the things in which it shall be necessary for the usefulness of the poor: so that while he shall have been supported, as we trust, by the help of your Fraternity, he may feel that in his consolation he has found us. Thus St. Gregory. How long after this year 601 St. Arigius lived, is not established.
LIFE
By a coeval author, drawn from the Silviniacensian MS. by Jacob Sirmond S.J.
Arigius or Aredius, Bishop of Gap, in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 0669
FROM MS.
[1] Nobly born and piously educated, The life of the holy and excellent man Arigius, Bishop of the city of Gap, is narrated not with phalerated nor dialectical, but only with simple eloquence. Therefore I do not fear that the idiotic speech should bring austerity to the listeners: because if the prompt mind attends, at once the sacred hearing is joined. a His father, sprung from a more illustrious progeny of the Franks, was called Aprocasius, his mother Sempronia: who also offering to God their firstborn son Arigius, when he had passed the second year of his nativity, presented him before the altar of St. Vincent b of the city of Chalon. after the governance of the church of Morges, B. Desiderius c the Bishop received with joy the aforesaid son and baptized him, because he foreknew that he would be to him a son reverent in all obedience, intelligent in modesty and humility, and prevailing in all sanctity. This one then mature in age and knowledge came to the ecclesiastical governance, he is made Bishop of Gap, Christ assenting, to the honor of d the Church of Morges, where a not small village of inhabitants is seen: and there only one four-decade e of time being passed, by the consent of all the Clergy and monks and holy men of Gap, and with the greatest exultation of joy, it was requested to merit for him from the Lord, that Arigius, a man full of God, might hold the See f of the holy Church of the city of Gap granted to him.
[2] Meanwhile, the mist being wiped from his heart, he intently applied his mind to the heavens, and when on account of the fervor of his desiring mind he had seized a desire to go to the church of St. g Marcellus the Martyr; by prayer he opens the bars of the church: while the most blessed man was joining himself to the city of Chalon, the enemy infesting, a certain Queen Brunichildis h the wicked commanded the doors, set at the thresholds of the Saint, to be fastened with bolts. But the Saint of God making the sign of Christ, and his holy merits interceding, when Arigius came, by prayer fixed the bars were opened. The virtue being narrated to the Kings i, they ceaselessly sent gifts to the Saint; which when this one had seen, he rejects the gifts. he received them in his cloak, and casting the solidi on the ground, he shuddered with detestation saying, The gifts of the wicked the Most High reproves; and the blessed man was so filled with divine inspiration, that like Elisha the Prophet, despising gold and silver, he cleansed lepers.
[3] And when he weighed, that for the grace of preserving the Lord's flock had been committed to him; so he undertook the care of all souls, that he might preserve the sound, bind up the bruised, He bears great care of the younger Clergy. lead back the straying, in no way at all omit any erring sheep outside the folds. But of the Clergy he so strove in all things, that he might assume spiritual care, that he might mingle the affection of his industry with goodness. For it was his custom, to despise no one: and if he had undertaken anyone's nature to be instructed, first indeed on account of the rudiments of infancy commending him with bland words he intimated him to a master, that instructing he might cherish the tender infancy; and so at length he commanded them to be reserved for his labor with spiritual hoes for cultivating minds. And when he had received the same within the enclosures of his Church, so he put on care for them in all things, that, dwelling most reverently under his power, in the meditation of the law of the Lord they should not pass the times of day and night, so that both the reading should resound with instruction, and again with exultation they should sing the Davidic modulation.
[4] by night he prays in the church of St. Mammes, These to be preserved within the enclosures of his chamber, prayer being made to the Lord, leaving them in the nocturnal hours; the Bishop himself went to the castle, which is of the people of Gap not far from the city, with only one Clergyman, by name Probus, who at that time discharged the office of Lector, and now is known to be in sacred orders a Priest admitted to the mysteries: [for] because he had not found him reprobate, therefore in spiritual ventures he kept him as one approved. Taking this one in his retinue with ardent devotion of faith, intermitting no nocturnal spaces of the hours, ascending the steep brow of the mountain, he hastened to the Church of St. Mammes k the Martyr, in which they had been wont by custom to unbar the bolt of the most sacred enclosure l. For having the keys secretly carried off, he straightway commanded like ones to be made; and so the silence of night being passed, with the aforesaid little boy, who was free for his service, with a cautious and hesitant, yet fixed mind, bringing his step into the holy of holies, from the beginning of deep night making prayer, with the modulation of groaning, with tears in the praise of the Lord he perseveres: thus with hymns, and praises, and spiritual canticles the office being performed, then Christ going before he returns to the city subject to the mountain.
[5] But while with ardent desire to perform it he had entered the temple of B. Andrew the Apostle, near the town of that city, which was widely granted to Christians, he restrains demons: there he found the noonday m incursion discharging the office of its iniquity. This the Bishop himself beholding by an Angelic vision according to custom, brought it about, that wherever in his name any of men should hasten asking from it a safe journey, it should in nothing harm him, and together with its satellites cleaving to it should take care of the journey. he afflicts his body: And because the time now was at hand for the cock to crow, and the Clergy to assemble, restraining them he acted quietly. Yet no one of men, by whom or concerning whom he had come, knew except the Lord; and the Angels beholding, what he did they were wholly ignorant. For he chose by diverse and exquisite labors, dedicating in himself a martyrdom, to afflict his holy body; yet as long as he was able he ceased not from that exercise to direct his step, nor before did it lie open to anyone's ears, but neither was it revealed to eyes, except when those looking up to his holy confession discerned the iron n by which he unbarred the holy enclosures.
[6] Those who know I will now recall to memory, and those who know not to knowledge, of the works of the Lord, who did not deny his virtue to his faithful servant in tribulation even in the horrendous whirlpool o. And when as usual the most blessed man wished to be transferred to the further bank of the river [p] Durance by boat conveyance; by chance the devil lying in wait, and the course of the river driving the sails, unexpectedly the little boat fell on a rock in the middle by a precipitous slip, straightway to be crushed by the rolling waves: from which imminent peril of death the man of God seized by an Angelic right hand, with his Deacon, who was called by name Januarius, is set upon the hostile rock. From then therefore he had as the defender of his safety in all things, him whom he had seemed to encounter in the whirlpool as a submerger. Meanwhile while right and left the threatening waters of the whirlpools resounded, in the time of clear night, with holy heart and mouth he sang, saying: With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and he looked upon me, and set my feet upon a rock, and directed my steps to advance. Psalm 39, 1 When therefore a great crowd of Clergy, servants and citizens stood threatening on each part of the shores, and mourning were wearied with perennial instance of the one to be freed; the near day grew bright, the virtue of Christ going before grew bright, leading him with exultation of the obtained grace.
[7] Three [q] great miracles likewise the most blessed man wrought, which I will not think to be kept silent through the ages. When a most monstrous and savage boar from the shady thickets was not far from the city, he renders the boar tame. and when he was thronged by the wonted bands of hunters, and they directed the iron-tipped weapons vibrating and held in their right hands to slay the beast, and the blows of all aiming were found in vain; then at length the holy Bishop placed the staff, which he bore in his kindly hand, in the wild and mad mouth: thus at once it lacked its natural strength, and all who were present together take the wished-for prey of the hunt. And so it was done, that it appeared to the gazes of all that the boldness of sanctity could do more, than the armed instance of boyish temerity.
[8] When for the sake of blessing he had entered the house of a certain Sabina an illustrious woman, because in the fear of the Lord she was a sacred and certainly true widow, he crushes a serpent: advancing thence a venomous serpent appeared to the travelers. And when the dark-blue one drew forth a hiss from its three-forked tongue, and drew itself through winding coils, that it might fix lethal bites; and when all fled the deadly chance, and meditated to overwhelm the snake with clubs and stones; but none of them could slay it; then the man of God, by the strength of mind rather than of body, crushed the head of the malign one with his holy heel: and so the most wicked snake prostrated, thenceforth
never could pour forth evil poisons from its nefarious mouth. But all these things they all refer to thy virtue, O Christ, who hast trodden down the lion and the dragon. Therefore we bless, praise, and superexalt thy holy name unto the ages: because we trust in thee, who gavest to thy most faithful Arigius so great marks of virtues, that he both crushed the hostile members of the serpent, and with his Pastoral staff opened the madness of a singular wild beast.
[9] he curses a slothful workman, But the man of God is known to have wrought another miracle. For the time now requiring it, while the withered grass prepared for cutting flowed [r], because the burning heat of the sun had now scorched the hay, the most blessed Bishop sent workmen into his estates. And when it had come to the sixth hour, one of the workmen with sluggish spirit, with hindered heart [s], saying himself weary scarce dragging along his body was free from work. Then at length the athlete of God came to him, and when he had found him not gaining the work of his wage, but acting wickedly from a demon partner; he cursed him in the name of the Lord, that the oppression of the enemy might be proved. and therefore heals him hurt by a serpent: And while he rolled himself on the ground with wicked intention, the most wicked serpent coming, raging closed in his knees; and while with greedy jaw it had vomited poison on him, he began to cry; Have mercy, most pious Shepherd, because he who persuaded me to lie to you, he himself most certainly deceived me. And when a concourse of the people had been made at his outcry, St. Arigius the Bishop came. But there as he saw the deception of the enemy, and the ruin of that man, and that his body now lay lifeless; he cast himself on the ground, and with tears prayed, saying: Lord God almighty, who madest man from nothing, and the first man perished through the cunning of the serpent, and thou didst repair him through thy only Son our Lord Jesus Christ; do thou repair this servant from the death, which the devil himself through the venomous bosom poured into his members, that it harm him in nothing. And because thou hast said; Those who believe in me, even if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not harm them: so to this thy servant through the prayers of thy servant deign to restore former health. Mark 16, 18 But when he had completed the prayer, making the sign of Christ over the wound with his hand, the body so vomited the poison, that that man called out that he had suffered nothing evil.
[10] But at a certain [t] time, when the man full of God for the sake of prayer had hastened to Rome to the thresholds of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, for the love of God in the name of Christ; he was received by the most blessed Pope Gregory with so great veneration, setting out for Rome he is kindly received by St. Gregory: that although he was supereminent over the Roman Church both in merits and in the power of privileges, and prevailing over the other Priests in the honor of the Sacerdotal fillets; so he bore the most blessed Bishop Arigius with the subjection of charity and the highest affection of veneration, that he thought him to be coequal to himself not only in honors, but also in manners, and knowledge, sanctity, modesty, chastity. But neither ever did he protest that he had in any way seen in those parts such a Priest from the borders of the Gauls. For when with him for some little while, both from devotion of prayer, and for inquiring the singular knowledge of the discourses of Pope Gregory, he wove spiritual delays; and now the unwished-for day of bidding farewell to both had come; with so great love and a flood of tears and weepings the supreme Pontiffs seemed to themselves to have given holy kisses, that the bystanders, recalling the book of Genesis, thought themselves to be present at the service of the Patriarch Joseph, kissing with tears the neck of his only brother. Gen. 45, 4 But then, the most blessed Pope Gregory seemed to console the holy and venerable Bishop Arigius with the eloquence of faith, with no small hope, that Jesus Christ our Lord, who has care of all, would straightway make them be united in a Paradisal seat, about to receive the rewards of labor with a hundredfold interest. And so with placid eye and serene mind giving gifts to all his own, prayer being made they seemed to depart from one another weeping.
[11] departing he understands who is to succeed him: Therefore also to the most blessed man Valatonius, who at that time as Archdeacon under the oft-said Pontiff governed the Church of Gap, he seemed to have granted a Dalmatic by way of gift. And because he had found, that he was adorned with sacred letters, therefore he preferred that he be surrounded by his munificences with the holy vestment: and that he himself would succeed in the See of his Master, the most blessed Pope Gregory openly pronounced to his own by his oracles. But what and how great was the operation of the perfect life of the holy man, the happy [x] exchange declared to the eyes of the faithful.
[12] While through the forty-day observation by days and nights he performed the offices, that with macerated body he might anticipate the day of the holy Resurrection by celebrating it; there came in a triple number lepers: he cleanses three lepers after a three-day ministry, whom when he had seen, he commanded to come into his cell; and there, a basin being set, and girded with linen, he began to wash their feet; and the little beds, where their putrid and worn-out members might rest, he adorned with his own hands. There detained three days through the silences of night he bathed their feet and heads or hands with weeping and groaning, until there shone the coming holy day of the Lord's Supper. Then the Lord deigned to hear him, that as through the Master the disciples with washed feet entered the pleasant places of paradise, so the wearied ones should praise the virtue of the most blessed Arigius hastening from the world, [y] and the putridity of the flesh being wiped away, should praise him with the clamor of voice, because they knew that they had escaped the punishment of leprosy through the Saint of God Arigius the Confessor, and asking the viaticum they departed.
[13] But while he rested laid on his little bed, awaking after rest, and is seen to be present at the choir of Angels he heard an Angelic choir with modulated voices before the altar of B. Mary ever Virgin: and he left his bed, all his own being free for the service of the bedchamber [z]; and with a swift course entered among the same. But while Probus the Clergyman, who was perpetually free for his service, had awaked; and going to the bedchamber, did not find him there; at once hastening to the door of the holy church, and beholding him with the Angelic choir, he feared, and did not at all enter. And when the aforesaid Bishop returned to the bedchamber, with great humility, Probus asked him for what cause he was retreating with inward step, while he chanted among them, and renewed in turn the services according to custom. But the Bishop himself commanded him to keep silent this vision. Therefore he so began, that he should finish: so he finished, that what he had sought, he falls into sickness he should perpetually retain. For when he now reached the last time of his calling, [aa] and took the wonted food of Angelic bread, when from the highest impetus of pain the weary members of the Saint lay on the couch, the mind nevertheless more raised than usual beheld the Lord of heaven saying: Good Jesus, Saviour Lord, deliver not to the beasts the soul confessing thee, neither forsake it in hell; because shut in an earthly vault it has always prayed to thee in heaven. Thus continual through the spaces of many days, while he rendered his holy spirit to heaven, he mingled prayer with groanings.
[14] But neither this indeed, which from a faithful debtor it is necessary to narrate, will I think to be wholly kept silent. When the holy man had given his panting breast a little to sleep, in ecstasy before the tribunal of Christ he is joyfully received he discerned himself with great joy to stand before the tribunal of the great King, and to have received the power of sitting, himself clothed in a snowy robe, the King himself commanding it. And then he perceived Isicius [bb], once Bishop of the city of Grenoble, alert to hasten by the same path, by which he had come; and in like manner he wonders him to be enriched by the King sitting in splendors. And when the man of God had awaked from the bland sleep, the most blessed man Valatonius, at that time Archdeacon, and Diconcius a Presbyter of advanced age, and Probus the Deacon also standing by last, who narrated this vision with the pen running on in his love, which he saw with spiritual eyes, certainly indicated to the ears of the hearers, and so dared to have said in truth, that he commended all the sons of his Church to the Lord, blessed all, and profited all with absolution.
[15] His body being stripped, lying before the altar of St. Eusebius [cc] with ashes and haircloth, when he had received the Viaticum of the Body and Blood of Christ from the hand of Isicius the Bishop and Diconcius the Presbyter, the viaticum being taken he said: I give thee thanks, Lord Jesus Christ, because I now see the time of my dissolution. And with eyes raised upward and hands expanded, he said: Naked I came forth from my mother's womb, naked I shall return thither. He died moreover on the very day of the Kalends of May; and immediately there came a bear [dd] from the remote mountains, he dies on the 1st of May: the same, who, when the holy man was returning from Rome, with a swift blow struck and devoured the ox yoked to the cart, in which with the little bundles were the Relics of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and many patronages of the Saints which were there found, and finally the buskins of B. Mary ever virgin. But in the name of Christ the Bishop called the bear: the bear runs to the obsequies. [who] with bowed head ran up [and] bound to the yoke led the burdens at the bier to Gap, [and] lived even to old age. He himself moreover met the body: and every year he came to that same holy solemnity, until he lived grey-haired. And many rejoiced who saw him, and afforded him sustenance. [ee] Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p The printed text Durantia: it passes not far from Gap.
q It is interposed, he says, as if these things were related from someone's mouth or writing; which here and elsewhere I have once and again changed into Therefore and Likewise, or plainly omitted.
r Labbe it flourished, the prepared --- grass --- he had brought.
s For filling out the sense the reader will distinguish words added here and elsewhere by these [].
t About the year 598, as is established from the Epistle of St. Gregory related above.
u The Sammarthani do not find whom to substitute for Aridius, except Potentissimus, who was present at the Council of Chalon in the year 650: but through this Valatonius the manifest gap is opportunely supplied.
x I understand the exchange, by which in place of Arigius was substituted the already said Valatonius, showing by his own virtue, how efficacious in him was the example of the holy predecessor.
y I omit these intermediate words, as here idly repeated, So the mercy of the Lord deigned to grant.
z That is, sleeping.
aa Again I omit on which he should omit the day of oblation: because they make no sense, and without these the rest cohere rightly.
bb Isicius, by others Esicius and Hesychius, who as Bishop of Grenoble, from about the year 570, was present at several Councils: but it seems indicated by this vision, that a little after St. Arigius he himself also was to be admitted to the same glory. Wherefore you may rightly doubt, whether between this one and Clarus, who in the year 650 was present at the Council of Chalon, ought not to be placed some of those, who in the Sammarthani are placed after Clarus without any note of time.
cc St. Eusebius of Vercelli I would believe to be noted here, who is venerated on the 1st of August.
dd The printed text the holy man came: but that a bear is treated of here the rest shows, and the words, the holy man, look elsewhere.
ee This does not seem to have been quite the end.