ON ST. THEODULPH THE PRESBYTER,
AT TRIER ON THE MOSELLE.
7TH CENTURY
PrefaceTheodulph the Presbyter at Trier on the Moselle (St.)
BY THE AUTHOR D. P.
In the year 1668 having set out to Trier, among the other Sanctuaries which we surveyed there, being also led to the church of the Friars Preachers, The whole body seen by us on the altar, we saw also in an ark, transparent with glass panes when the valves were removed, raised above a certain altar, the body of this Saint; venerable with flesh, dry indeed, but whole, to which, except one arm and the head, nothing was lacking. The arm was said to be communicated to our Belgium, the head to be had there enclosed in a silver bust: yet so that the top of the skull, cut off and adorned with silver, afforded the use of a cup, whence water taken, blessed in the name of the Saint himself, frequently healed fevers and other diseases. The same Fathers added, that on the second day of this month, since the first was impeded by the feast of the Apostles, this Saint had been venerated among them, until it was necessary on the same day to venerate St. Antoninus the Bishop, the Office being received throughout the whole Order: but then the Friars insisted and in the general Chapter at Rome in the year 1612 also obtained, that they might anticipate the feast of St. Theodulph with its Office, and celebrate it on the 28th of April. The lessons of the Office, moreover, showed such as I shall describe below, that part chiefly to be approved which is taken from the Cantipratan writer, or contains miracles afterward done. The Cantipratan himself moreover in book 2 of the Bees chapter 53 num. 2 thus writes.
[2] We saw also the body of a certain Saint, which had remained integrally incorrupt for almost six hundred years: whose finding the Cantipratan, who was present, describes, but on what occasion I saw this, I shall briefly relate. In the city of Germany Trier, the most ancient city of all Europe, there was a certain wondrous structure, which was called the palace of Helena, mother of Constantine. This, lest it should be pre-occupied by enemies to the prejudice of the city, was destroyed by the citizens. In its side, on the North part, a small oratory was found, in which there was an altar of most white alabaster, and on the right side a sepulcher: but this writing was read over the sepulcher on the wall: HOLY THEODULPH, WE BEG, HAVE MERCY ON US. To the sepulcher therefore, the citizens being likewise gathered together, the Friars Preachers were called, and says it was translated to the church of the Preachers and I casually came upon it. The stone being removed, we found the body incorrupt; and with a fitting arrangement, the hands let down over the privy parts, to cover the secrets of nature. But by the permission of the citizens, his right hand, which living he had extended in the sacrifice of the body of Christ, I soon caused to be cut off, and I gave it at Louvain to the Friars Preachers. Of this one I found relics of hairs and nails, in the most ancient monastery of the already said city, which we call the Granary, with an old superscription and other Relics of Saints.
[3] Concerning this most blessed man and his brother Theoderic, who in another part of the aforesaid structure was found turned to ashes, a most ancient report was carried, but that he is believed to be the Nephew of a Roman Emperor, that both were sons of a certain sister of a Roman Emperor; of whom B. Theodulph while still a boy, by the command of his uncle had betrothed the daughter of the King of Britain. And when, made a youth, in hope of a more pleasing life, he was unwilling to take the betrothed for a wife, but to remain a virgin in perpetuity; Caesar moved with indignation expelled him from his country. Who coming to Trier and taking the monastic habit, as if in a most narrow cave, in the place which we have said, shut himself up. There was also his bed of stone and with a stone bolster, beside the oratory, which I have aforesaid. This one his brother is believed to have followed, who fleeing nuptials lived a solitary with his brother Theoderic. and to have led a blessed life in the same place. But by decree and counsel of the city, the sacred body was translated into the church of the Friars Preachers, and behind the altar placed with worthy veneration. But I afterward turned over the Chronicle of the times, and concerning these two Brothers found written, that under Clovis King of the Franks these most blessed men flourished. But I believe, saving better judgment, that worthily indeed B. Theodulph, for a sign of incorrupt virginity
in the flesh, received also in his body the glory of incorruption.
[4] That finding is ascribed to the year 1240 These things, as I think, are the more ancient and more certain notice which can be had concerning this saint: but that his body was found in the year 1240 on the Ides of March is had in the Trier MS. of the Carthusians soon to be cited: at which year Browerus makes mention of the aforesaid finding. There was then Archbishop of Trier Theoderic II, and the diocese in fear, on account of the restless genius of Waleram of Luxemburg, never constantly at peace with the Trier people. But because only a very obscure notice was had of this Saint, after this was found the life of St. Theodulph of Reims. he remained among the Preachers without honor for almost a hundred years; when the history of St. Theodulph being brought to Trier, of him who had died at Reims on the 1st of May, it was believed to be of this saint: and he himself, the Friars acknowledging the punishments inflicted on them for the neglect of the sacred body, began to be held in greater honor, and to grow bright with miracles: which we shall soon give from the aforesaid Carthusian MS.
[5] it gave occasion of thinking far otherwise of the Trier one: But that the History already mentioned of Reims was not of this Theodulph, this proves, which I have said, the MS. where after the Life related above, it is narrated by what reason, the Hungarians laying waste Gaul and threatening the city of Reims, St. Theodulph appearing to a certain pious man, commanded his body to be carried away thence: which that man, together with the body of St. Theoderic the Abbot, carried off to Trier; which not long after being also burned, the sacred pledges remained unknown, until in the year 1140 the body of St. Theoderic was found, and was restored to its own see by Adalbero Archbishop of Trier; but in the hundredth year after the body of St. Theodulph was revealed, as has been said. But that all these things were feigned by conjecture, founded on the false hypothesis of identity, is persuaded by the authority of the Cantipratan writer, narrating things far diverse from the sincerer Trier tradition. To whom also, having faith in him as an eye-witness concerning the ashes of Theoderic likewise found about then, we are little moved by the words of the same MS., and of confounding the two Theoderics also. asserting that in the year 1140 the body of St. Theoderic was found by Adalbero the Bishop, and was restored to its own place, that is the monastery near Reims. Nay neither do we think to be admitted what Browerus writes concerning the Reims Theoderic and Theodulph, that their bodies were brought to Trier by Bishop Liutwin. But this again can be examined on the day natal to St. Theoderic the Abbot, the 1st of July: now it is enough to have shown both, the same in names, diverse in persons.
[6] The same Browerus in book 15 num. 167 asserts, that, what the Cantipratan calls the Palace of Helena, The chapel in which the body was found, was the quadripartite mass of an old basilica, which opened the White gate opposite the amphitheater: but that the oratory which stood on its northern side, was once built by Arnold the Greater Provost, in the times of Egelbert and Bruno, that is within the year 1077 and 1124, in honor of the holy Cross. At which same time we can believe, those arks placed on each side, in which, the Cantipratan being present, it happened that the body of St. Theodulph, it persuades that it was raised about the year 1100 and the ashes of Theoderic, were found: and on the same occasion it could happen, that there came to the Granary nuns Relics of hairs and nails, cut off for reverence of the miraculous integrity in the said translation.
[7] What if Theodulph was the son of Ataulf King of the Goths and of Galla Placidia? As to their family, the things which the Cantipratan has concerning him do not seem to us so very wondrous. For we know Galla Placidia, sister of the Emperor Honorius and afterward mother of Valentinian the younger Emperor, was captured and led away by Ataulf King of the Goths, together with the city, in the year 411, and was had for a wife, until he in the year 414 was slain by the Goths themselves at Barcelona together with six sons. But why should not sons have been born of this marriage, who on account of reverence for the Caesarean mother and their tender age were spared by those who sought peace with the Romans, and soon obtained the same restoring to her brother the Emperor his sister. Certainly the names of Theodulph and Theoderic are Gothic: and it was fitting that the fruit should follow the womb, the sons the mother: of whom nevertheless in the Augustan history no mention is made, because they touched no part of the Roman commonwealth, in the first flower of adolescence removed from sight; perhaps also, because they were born of a barbarian father, a captive mother, by this very one, mindful of the injury, when she was now Augusta, little loved, nor much esteemed in the court.
[8] In the same year, in which Honorius grieved over Rome lost with his sister; his army, victor in Britain, and to him was betrothed the daughter of Constantine the tyrant of Britain? restored to him possession of the island, in which for some years Constantine with his son Constans, proclaimed Emperor by seditious soldiery, had held a tyranny. Some daughter of his, led to the Caesarean women's quarters, could in the progress of time, on account of commiseration of the paternal fortune, be betrothed to the boy Theodulph, who had suffered a like fortune in his father. What that the part of Britain, which was not yet reduced by the Romans into a province, still had its own petty Kings; with whom it is credible there were not always wars, but sometimes treaties, which could be confirmed also by hostages, daughters, and affinities to be contracted, for which Theodulph was fit above others, reckoned among the barbarians equally as his father. Who that he might have reached even to the times of Clovis, ought not to have been older than a septuagenarian. whence said to have flourished under Clovis? But I judge those Chronicles, which the Cantipratan consulted, not to have been of very great authority, perhaps not even to be understood of this Theodulph. Similarly the almost six hundred years, in which the body remained incorrupt from death, defined rather by the judgment of a modest conjecturer, than by any certain chronology: for from the age of Clovis even to the 13th century, full seven centuries had flowed.
[9] However it be, there is had and venerated at Trier some St. Theodulph, diverse from the one of Reims: of whom nevertheless, his name inscribed in the calendars, the 2nd of May because his natal day was unknown, the first day of May was taken from the other; and this being impeded, the 2nd day. And so in the MS. Florarium of the Saints, in which on the first day Theodulph of Reims had been related, with the memory of the hand translated to Louvain, on account of the error before noted; on the next day, as if of another, is read, At Trier of St. Theodulph the Confessor. Molanus calls him Presbyter and Monk: and in monastic habit he is now painted at Trier. But I do not judge that done on any other foundation, than that by which Trithemius confounded him with the Reims one in book 3 of the illustrious men of the Order of St. Benedict, and others on the day before the Kalends of March, when they say the body was found at Trier, and the 30th of April not without some error. related among the Passed Over to that day. The Martyrology printed at Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490 in similar manner has on the second of May At Trier the birth of St. Theodulph the Monk and Confessor, and there is added Nephew of Charlemagne the Emperor: which seems devised, on occasion of the Roman Emperor, of whom the Cantipratan makes mention; for that this one was to be sought among the Franks or Teutons, rather than among the Latins or Greeks, the reason of the barbarian name persuaded: wherefore neither Greven nor Canisius thought that title to be omitted.
[10] Raizzius in the Belgic Hierosazophylacium page 192, makes mention of the hand still kept among the Louvain Preachers. The hand at Louvain It pleased therefore also now to inquire, whether it were still there, and in what state: and answer was made, by him who went to view it, Father Jacob Mols of our Society, in these words: That hand is enclosed in a silver case after the manner of a monstrance, as they call it: in the middle of which a round glass exhibits it erect and visible on all sides, with an inscription, written in old rubricated letters, OF ST. THEODULPH THE BISHOP. It is moreover wholly entire, but more contracted and blackish and dry: yet there appear most clearly and are distinguished all the joints and nails, but very smooth and delicate: the skin also gapes with some clefts, yet not so great as that in any way the form of the hand is obscured. On account of this so notable a relic the Convent keeps the feast annually with a proper Office of nine lessons: but, what you may wonder at, as of a Confessor not Pontiff, since the inscription clearly marks a Bishop. Thus that one, about to turn his admiration, when he shall have read the Cantipratan, into the rashness of him who added the title of Bishop without foundation. The Office we received from the Trier convent: of which two Lessons for the festal day on the 2nd of May, now the 28th of April, are concerning St. Theodulph the Abbot: the third also begins concerning the same: but soon passes to the finding from the Cantipratan: from whom then, for the 15th of March feast of the Translation, to be kept likewise under the rite of a double, Lesson IV, V and VI are wholly taken; Office for the 2nd of May and 25th of March. but the other three, for the III Nocturn, from the following History up to num. 4. At Louvain only the festal or natal day is observed, but transferred to the 28th of April, from the communication of the privilege granted to the Trier people, made in the year 1640 by the Master general of the Order Nicholas Rodulph, at the intercession of the Provincial Chapter celebrated at Ghent.
HISTORY OF THE MIRACLES
From the MS. of the Charterhouse of Trier.
Theodulph the Presbyter at Trier on the Moselle (St.)
BHL Number: 8100, 8101
FROM MS.
[1] The body of B. Theodulph being translated to the church of the Preachers, The body kept without cult and placed in a wooden little box, no miracles then are said to have given testimony to his sanctity. Wherefore the Friars of the place had no reverence for him, both because they did not at all find his Legend, and because they did not find his feast in the Martyrologies of the Saints. On account of which many of them showed him to the people as one derided. Yet diverse of them were struck with the greatest plagues, whom for the present I pass over: but a certain one of them, who removed his most sacred body from behind the a altar of St. John, dropsical and consumptive, and also burned with the disease of St. Anthony about the loins, was in a short time deprived of life.
[2] The year 1333 But in the year of the Lord 1333 a certain Friar, sent from Verdun to Trier, brought with him a certain most ancient Antiphonary, in which the history of St. Theodulph was contained. Which indeed the Friars searching through, and attending to the miracles there written, and fearing the Divine vengeance, disposed to place him in a more worthy place. The Prior of the house being consulted on these things, he is carried to the chapel of St. Gregory, they placed the sacred body for a time at the chapel of B. Gregory; that they might there ask help from the faithful in the painful week for preparing a tomb. And when they implored help from pilgrims; and preached his miracles, which from the b history they could gather; and made known that he was the same; he began at once to grow bright with glorious miracles, of which we shall briefly pass through some.
[3] A certain pilgrim woman, having a very great swelling in the neck, The swelling of the neck is healed, which so prevailed, that for two days she could scarcely breathe; coming to the box of St. Theodulph, was cured in a moment. A certain one also
[4] one murmuring is punished and healed: But while St. Theodulph daily grew bright with miracles, certain Friars, not ungrateful for the benefits of the Saint of God, to his praise began with devotion to preach them. A certain Beguine hearing this, vexed, said to those sitting by: Our Friars now know not how to preach anything other than concerning their saint. Scarce had she finished the words, with other feverish ones: and behold soon a most acute fever invaded her: but coming to herself, she went to him as quickly as possible; and asking pardon for the offense, returned unharmed to her own. A certain one lived at Trier, at the gate of St. John, by name Thylmann of Welm: this one when he was detained by continual fevers, together with his wife and daughter, hearing the saint of God grow bright with miracles, vowed himself to him with devotion. Wondrous spectacle! Scarce the vow being made, he with his wife and daughter was made unharmed. A certain Priest in e Coblenz, Werner by name, when he was detained with a quartan for sixty weeks, hearing St. Theodulph grow bright with miracles, vowed to visit him: soon the vow being made the fever continually left him: who at once hastened to the Saint of God, and what had happened to him, there revealed.
[5] It is not to be passed over in silence, that when the same Priest after these things became totally blind, the blind are illuminated: he went to St. Theodulph by prayers, as before, and received his sight totally: which miracle he himself, unharmed, related at Coblenz in public preaching. A certain little old woman of ninety years, near the village of St. Remigius, when through three years from age she had lacked sight, being brought on the feast of B. Theodulph to his tomb, immediately merited to see clearly: which became known to all who were present. A certain blind boy also in Waltracum, James by name, when by his mother he had been offered with tears to the tomb of St. Theodulph, immediately restored sight to him.
[6] A certain rustic, wishing to depreciate the miracles of St. Theodulph, was carried into so great a fury, that he would have torn himself with hands and teeth, murmuring he is punished with madness, unless he had been bound by his own with ropes. And when for three days continually he was vexed, his friends went to the Saint of God by prayers. Which done he returned to his former sense. Who at once coming to the Saint of God, and showing there what had happened to him and the scars of the ropes on his hands and feet, returned unharmed to his own. A certain long-haired scholar also, disparaging St. Theodulph, when by night he had joyfully given himself to sleep, the Saint of God appeared to him through a vision; another with baldness. and dragging him by the hair, when he had awakened, found himself totally made bald. But coming to himself, he ran to the Saint of God with tears; and asking pardon for the offense, and taking of the water, in which his Relics had been dipped, and washing his head with the same, immediately his hairs grew again for him, as if he had been shaved with a razor: which afterward in public preaching in the area of the Friars he made known to all there present.
[7] When certain Friars were about to preach … on the Sauer in Steinheim near Echternach f, it happened that a certain woman, to whose house they had turned aside, had a son consumptive g, and so totally wasted, a lethal disease is healed, that the skin seemed drawn over the bones, the spirit alone palpitating in the breast. She at the instigation of the Friars Preachers, on the morrow at early dawn, carried the boy on her shoulders to St. Theodulph, and placed him with tears upon the tomb of the Saint: and when she had there implored help, and of the water, in which the Relics of St. Theodulph had been dipped, had poured into his mouth; the boy at once returned to himself, and she carried him unharmed with joy to her own. A certain girl, by name Margaret, daughter of a certain fuller outside the gate of h Simeon, when she had her upper gum foul, and corrupt, and flowing with putrid worms; when she had been offered by her mother to St. Theodulph, a foul gum, in a moment that corruption fell from her mouth, and the gum with the teeth miraculously appeared, health being integrally received.
[8] When an inguinal plague was prostrating the people at Welspillige, a certain woman there, Catharine by name, had a son almost brought to extremity, an inguinal plague, who also for two days had lain so weak, that not a drop of water could descend through his throat. She hearing St. Theodulph grow bright with miracles, vowed to visit his tomb with offerings for her son, if he would deign to be present to her son. Scarce had she finished the words; behold the son rose unharmed, and on that same day to the admiration of all labored at the plow. A certain youth in Brupach near Trier, when he was detained with a quartan continually for three years, nor could be relieved by the help of any physicians; a three-year quartan, hearing St. Theodulph grow bright with miracles, had himself carried to his tomb: and when he had given himself to prayer under the tomb, and of the water in which the Relics of the Saint had been dipped had taken with devotion: he rose unharmed, so that not even vestiges of the former infirmity remained in him.
[9] When St. Theodulph was not yet held in reverence, and his body stood upon the presbytery; those punished for irreverence are healed, one with trembling, a certain rustic passing by, and hearing that an incorrupt body stood there, ascended to the box; and opening it, strove to draw out the Saint of God by the feet to view him: and immediately fell into a trembling of all the members, so that he could not draw back his hands to himself, but supporting himself by the arms hung immovable. And when for a long time he was tormented, he said: If you are a saint of God, whoever you be, pardon I pray what I did ignorantly: and I promise you to visit you every year. And when he had fulfilled the vow, he was restored to former health. Moreover a certain pilgrim, standing at the tomb of St. Theodulph in the painful week, put his hands in through the lattice, another with paralysis, touching the sacred body. Soon before all struck with paralysis, he remained immovably standing: who made a vow in his heart to the saint of God which he could not speak, that if he would deign to cure him, as long as he survived, every year he would visit him with offerings; whose sighs the Saint of God looked upon from on high, and restored him integrally to former health.
[10] When certain Friars were dining together, and conferring with one another concerning the miracles of St. Theodulph; another with speech lost, one of them began to annul them. And when after an hour they had so sat, his tongue began to swell, and to grow over with black pustules, and to lose speech totally. Who considering that, because he had disparaged the miracles of the Saint of God, he had been deprived of speech; fell to the ground with tears, and imploring pardon from St. Theodulph, at once rose unharmed: who on the morrow celebrated Mass in honor of the Saint of God, and afterward in the sermon of the Friars manifested to all what had happened to him. others with other diseases. Moreover many who presumed to depreciate the miracles of St. Theodulph perished in diverse ways. For some made filthy, others detained by fevers, others dissolved by paralysis, others struck with the falling sickness, others prevented by sudden death, manifestly received condign things which they had transgressed by speaking perversely.
[11] Many also, who held the sacred body in reverence, one devoted to the Saint dies on the same day and hour. received large benefits from him. Among others it was found, that never was any of those withdrawn from this light except most devoutly. But a certain Friar was old and good, who always held him in reverence, so that never as long as he could and was present did he permit the sacred body to be handled with unwashed hands; and afterward the Friars considered, when they had read through the Legend of the Saint of God, that on the same day and the same hour, on which St. Theodulph joyful passed to heaven, namely on the Kalends of May, i that same Friar happily fell asleep in the Lord. A certain boy in k Stocheim, when with dire torments of the intestines he was for a long time shaken, The torments of the intestines are healed, so that he let all who were with him in the house and the neighbors rest not by lamentable clamors; his parents, hearing St. Theodulph newly grow bright with miracles, implored his help. And the same making the vow, the boy at once was made unharmed. To a certain other boy also, Baldwin by name, in l Pelling suffering the same infirmity, he granted the benefit of sanctity.
[12] A certain noble Lady in the County of Luxemburg, when she had brought forth a certain birth deformed and totally devoid of the aspect of a man, a deformity of the face, and anxious for grief, knew not what she should do; was admonished by a certain woman to implore the help of St. Theodulph, which God had illustrated with many miracles: which to do she at once did not delay. Who when she had performed the vow, to the spectacle of all who were there present, in a moment the form of a most comely boy appeared in it: so that not a vestige of the former deformity remained in it. This miracle the boy's aunt, being a nun in m Boferdia, related to two Friars Preachers with thanksgiving. an inheritance is established. A certain one in Kurret, behind St. Maximinus, when he had a certain inheritance for an annual pension from the Lords of Summum n at Trier, and when they strove to deprive him of that inheritance; on the appointed day he together with his wife, when all his acquaintances stood afar off, hastened to St. Theodulph as to a propitiatory with bowed neck, and most devoutly commended his cause to him. And when he had come to the Lords with trembling and fear of the loss of the inheritance, against the hope of all to whom the cause became known, they were received pacified, and were firmly established in the inheritance perpetually by the same through letters.
[13] A certain youth near Berren-Kastel o, when he was tormented with too great pain of the head, his parents hearing St. Theodulph grow bright with miracles, By water consecrated by relics the pain of the head is taken away, sent for water, in which his Relics had been dipped. And when the boy had taken a little of that water, and had poured a little of it on his head; immediately there came out through his ears three hairy worms, and so he was restored integrally to former health. A certain other boy
in Witligh [p], when he was tortured with the disease of cancer in the face, so that the part of the nose and the upper part of the lip appeared corroded, and the disease of cancer. and the face seemed as if masked; the Priest of the place, Nicholas by name, when he had come to Trier, having compassion on the boy, took with him of the water, in which the Relics of St. Theodulph had been dipped, and devoutly washed the boy's face with the same water. Which done, immediately the boy recovered, health being integrally received.
[14] When many men at Palatiolum [q] were crossing the Moselle by boat, and had now come to the middle of the river, a certain horse going out of the boat, a horse is freed from drowning. cast itself headlong into the river. And when it had long been in the water, and had now begun to be submerged; not being able to succor it, all implored the divine help and that of diverse Saints. And when they had thus little profited; certain Friars Preachers, being in the boat, said to them: Invoke St. Theodulph with devotion. Who when with loud voices they had done this, immediately the horse leaped out of the water, and came unharmed to the shore before them. When a certain butcher [r], near the wall of the Jews, was tortured with intolerable pain of teeth, The pain of teeth is healed, and from too great suffering seemed to go mad; his wife hastened to St. Theodulph, and for her husband implored help from him with irremediable tears. And when she had had Mass celebrated in his honor, and had returned home; she found her husband unharmed, all pain wholly settled. A certain woman in Lyve, when she had been totally deprived of hearing for seven years, hearing St. Theodulph grow bright with miracles, deafness, implored help from him continually. Which done immediately by the merits of the Saint of God she merited to hear integrally.
[15] A certain Heymzo a candle-maker, dwelling at Trier in the village of St. Theoderic [s], had a certain boy, who was totally deprived of his sight, so that he could in no way open his eyes: blindness, over which he himself, together with his wife the boy's mother, much grieving, carried the boy with great devotion and many tears by a vow made to St. Theodulph; suppliantly asking help from him, that sight might be restored to his boy by the merits of his sanctity, and his closed eyes be opened to him. As soon as the boy, before several worthy of credence, was touched with the Relics of the Saint himself and washed with the holy water, he received clear sight, and his eyes were beautifully opened to him without any hurt and pain.
[16] A certain boy, at St. Paulinus outside the walls of Trier, a contraction of the leg, was contracted in the leg, so that the lower part of the leg was bent back to the upper: whence from this he sustained the greatest pain, nor could he go anywhere, though he was nine years old, unless he were carried: over which his parents too greatly saddened, on the vigil of the Blessed Peter and Paul, vowed to carry the boy in the morning to St. Theodulph; and promised to give him an annual rent, if he would deign to cure their boy of that pain. The morning therefore being come a little before day the boy cried to his father, while he was still in bed, saying: Father, rise, let us go to the saint, to whom yesterday you promised to carry me. To whom the father, How will you go thither when you cannot walk? To whom the boy answered, I can very well, because I am wholly cured, and can well go. The boy's parents rose, and led him with them even to the Saint, from that hour wholly cured, on that very day of the Holy Apostles.
[17] A certain devout Beguine, by name Aleydis Deyrac, was horribly burdened with a wondrous plague about the neck and breast, so that she [had] horrible holes namely fourteen, holes of the neck. very great and exceedingly deformed in excess, besides very many others: from the pain of which she was frequently so grievously inflated, and so punished by the inflation, that she could scarcely breathe. Who stood completely three years in this miserable and horrible infirmity, desolate and uncured; though for recovering health she had visited the thresholds of many Saints far and near, and once had gone to St. Quirinus, nor had thus obtained the grace of health; when she vowed herself to St. Theodulph, she immediately obtained the benefit of health. Thus far the MS. without any mention of the chapel and altar afterward erected, so that it appears all things both happened and were written while the body still stood in the chapel of St. Gregory: which whether it is now called by the changed name of St. Theodulph, it has not been free to inquire; nor do I think the Friars themselves can teach, at what time precisely the altar which is now seen was constructed. For about thirty years ago a certain learned man among them at Louvain, wrote a fairly long commentary concerning the Saint himself, in which he attempts to illustrate his history and to show him diverse from the one of Reims, in which he did not omit to note how he himself saw in the year 1635, on the day of the Nativity of B. Mary devout pilgrims go around the altar and reverently pass beneath the ark, and whatever about this argument he could either find by investigating himself, or learn by interrogating the Trier people. This commentary Friar Francis Joyeux kindly communicated with us, and from it I willingly confess I received some things which regarded the Trier Theodulph, several which regarded the one of Reims, received from the Prior of the Theoderician monastery, as said above.
ANNOTATIONS.
p Witlich, on the river Lieser, distant from the already said Bernkastel across the Moselle about three leagues, from Trier five.
q Palatiolum, one league below Trier, on the western bank of the river: where Adela, sister of St. Irmina, daughter of Dagobert II, founded a monastery, as said elsewhere.
r Carnifex seems to be said for butcher: but where the Wall of the Jews be or were, within or outside the city, I leave to others to inquire.
s Who and where the Village of St. Theoderic is I do not inquire: but I indicate that it seems to me rather to be named from his famous Abbot of Reims of that name, than from the brother of this St. Theodulph: and by this could be confirmed the opinion, concerning the body of that one at some time brought to Trier.