Thethmarus

ON B. THETHMARUS, A PRESBYTER PROFESSED OF THE RULE OF S. AUGUSTINE, IN HOLSTEIN AND WAGRIA.

A Life collected from the Chronicle of the Slavs of Helmold the coeval.

IN THE YEAR MCLII.

B. Thethmarus, Presbyter, professed of the Rule of S. Augustine in Holstein and Wagria.

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

[1] Among the Apostolic men, who illustrated Holstein, Wagria, and the neighboring domains by doctrine and holiness of life in the twelfth century of Christ, were Vicelinus, Bishop there of Oldenburg (whose See in the year MCLXIII was translated to Lübeck) and his disciple Thethmarus. The time of death The natal day of the former is the XII of December, of the latter the XVII of May, on which he died on the Vigil of Pentecost, not after the year MCLX, in which Bucelinus writes that he flourished; but in the year MCLII, when, the cycle of the Moon being XIII, of the Sun also XIII, the Dominical letters FE, Easter was celebrated on the XXX of March, and Pentecost on the XVIII of May. There flourished in the same XII century in Wagria a disciple of the said Vicelinus, Helmold, A Life written by Helmold: Presbyter of Bosau by the lake there of Plön, who died in the year MCLXX: by whose pen we have drawn up the Chronicle of the Slavs: from which we excerpt the illustrious deeds done by Thethmarus, and here give them. Among the monasteries there erected by Vicelinus, was Falstera, in the Holstein territory to posterity Neomonasterium; and to the inhabitants and neighbors called Newmuster, situated between the towns of Plön and Itzehoe on the river Schwala, to others Schala, which not far thence flows down into the Stör, and afterwards, The monasteries in which he lived: not far below Glückstadt glides into the Elbe. Another monastery was constructed near the fortress of Sigeberg, erected by the same Vicelinus as author, by the Emperor Lothair: which monastery being overthrown, B. Volker the Martyr fell, at whose Natal day the VII of March we have treated at length of this region and the faith introduced: which all things the reader will find there. Then another monastery was constructed on the right bank of the river Trave in the town in Slavic Cuzalina, in German once Hagerestorp, now Hagelsdorf, in the Sigeberg Prefecture of Wagria on the confines of Stormaria. These things being premised, receive what Helmold has concerning Thethmarus, in book 1 chapter 73 (to others 74) writing thus:

[2] That I may briefly and summarily touch something of the life of Thethmarus, Educated under B. Vicelinus, revealed to his holy mother before his conception, from the very cradle he was made over to the ministry of the altar; and commended to a good Master Vicelinus a most excellent disciple, he persevered in discipline until his manly years. A disciple at Bremen, a companion in France, he sustained the yoke of the Master with patience, according to that of Jeremiah: It is good for a man when he has borne the yoke from his adolescence. Lam. 3, 27. After the return from France, the Lord Vicelinus going away into Slavia, as if the pedagogue being removed, he was left to himself. What sort therefore he was at Bremen in ruling the schools, and what sort in the Deanery, let the people of Bremen say. To have said this is enough: that after his departure, the light of that Church being removed, Bremen cried out. Dean of Bremen,

[3] Here let it be permitted to interpose what the same Helmold had written in chapter 58 of the same first book: In those days, he says, the most noble man Thethmarus, once the disciple of the Lord Vicelinus, and a companion in study in France, having left the Prebend and Deanery of Bremen, devoted himself to the college of Faldera; a man a despiser of this world, a follower of voluntary poverty, and in spiritual conversation of the highest perfection. in conversation held an Angel: Whose holiness, in all things to be extolled, was supported by so great a height of humility and vigor of benignity, that you would see among men an Angel, knowing how to have compassion on the infirmities of each, but tempted in all things. Destined afterward to Hagerestorph, which is also Cuzelina, with other Brethren, he was a great consolation to the men of the new transmigration. Thus there Helmold, which in the cited chapter 73 the same thus expounds: Translated therefore to Faldera, by desire of a better life, he brought great joy by his presence to the Lord Vicelinus: he lived at Falstera but also to all whom that corner of horror and vast solitude contained, a certain new face arose from the coming of so great a guest. After some years, God enlarging the bounds of the Church, he was sent to Cuzelina, which is also Hagerestorph, and was a consolation to the inhabitants of the new habitation. then at Hagerestorph. For he ran together to the captives and the despoiled with such piety, that the magnitude of his giving seemed to exceed the strength of that house still tender. While praying or reading his ears always watched at the door, suspended for when the needy came knocking and asking. Count Adolf revered him, because he reproved his faults, nor spared the delinquent. For the hardness of his heart, which he exhibited to the Bishop, that venerable Priest strove to soften by applied plasters, but every medicament a deeper disease overcame. Hearing him, however, he did many things, knowing him a just and holy man. Ten years therefore being completed, he was seized by infirmity, the Bishop being absent and placed at Marcipolis.

[4] When therefore the Brethren, applied to the bed of the sick man, were renewing the hope of recovering health, he with great refusal said: Do not, beloved Brethren, promise me a prolongation of the present life: The sick man pants toward heaven: do not afflict my spirit, tending from the height of pilgrimage to the fatherland, with words of this kind. Behold, ten years it is, since I asked that my life be prolonged under the title of this profession: and I was heard. Now at last rest from labors is to be prayed for: and I trust in the wonted piety of God, that I shall not be frustrated of this petition either. The torsions of the vitals therefore were increased, nor yet in the defect of the body did the vigor of the interior man wither. There was fulfilled in him that of Solomon: Strong as death is love, he consoles his Companions: floods and winds could not extinguish it. Cant. 8. 7. In the dying man lived charity, which in the exhausted body kept whole the affection, offering to the Brethren consolation from mourning, counsel in doubtful things, edification of manners, impressing on the hearts of friends certain last traces of valediction, never to be abolished. But neither, unmindful of his most beloved Father Vicelinus, did he most intimately pray that his ways be directed by God, congratulating himself many times that through him the way of salvation and the hope of the kingdom was opened to him. There came therefore to the sick man, with fraternal solicitude, the Prior of the Church of Faldera Eppo and Bruno the Priest, and after the visitation they exhibited to him the office of sacred Unction. Furnished with the last Sacraments he piously dies: Which venerably received, fortified nonetheless by the participation of the life-giving Body of the Lord, he persevered in thanksgiving. But on the night on which the Vigil of Pentecost had come, that is, the XVI Kalends of June, watchful in prayer, by prayers he invited the Angels, interpellated the suffrages of all the Saints: and now the soul retiring, his tongue was still moved in prayer and confession of praise. O most worthy Priest! O soul most pleasing to God! Happy I would call him in the course, but happier in the arriving, who by the compendium of a most brief labor merited with God everlasting glory, with men the affection of holy remembrance.

[5] Thus there Helmold, by whom the indicated Marcipolis is Merseburg, the Episcopal city of Meissen, whither to certain assemblies the Bishop Vicelinus had been called: who, says Helmold at the beginning of the said chapter 73, returned to his parish, he is mourned by B. Vicelinus: found the most holy man Thethmarus withdrawn from the present life: which doubtless brought the greatest sadness to the Bishop. For that sweetest man, always to be embraced with the devotion of all,

seemed in his time to have had no equal. His praises and burial Helmold pursues in the following chapter in these words: The passing of which venerable Priest Brother Luthbert was wont to foretell long before, his death foreseen beforehand: who, exchanging the warfare of this world for the service of God, with the servant of God Thethmarus bore the care of the poor who were in the hospital. He at a certain time visiting Faldera presented a countenance more sad than usual, and suffused with tears. Being asked the causes of his sadness, he answered that he was rightly saddened, who was about to be deprived of the presence of a most loving father in a short time. He confesses nonetheless that he was instructed of these things divinely, not dreaming, but waking. Nor long after the word of the prophesier the swift death of the Priest followed. The Brethren also, whom the intimate affection of the man compelled to weep, returning to their heart, drew hope and resumed the spirit of consolation, mindful of the oracle.

[6] When therefore at Faldera it was announced concerning his death, immediately they sent messengers to translate the body, because he himself departing had more intently prayed this. there is contention for the body by the people of Faldera: Which however could in no way be persuaded to the venerable brothers, Theodoric, Ludolf, Luithbert and the rest, who dwelt there: all saying that they would rather die, than be deprived of so great a pledge, which would be both an honor and a consolation to the Church of Wagria newly begun. The faithful peoples therefore flowing together from Sigeberg and from the neighboring towns, the holy body was committed to the earth, with much lamentation of the poor, complaining of their destitution. he is buried honorably. Let Him therefore be magnified in His Saints, who perfected this man as a Priest worthy of Himself, consummated by a happy vocation. To you also, O Fathers of the Lübeck commonwealth, there will be a more abundant salvation from the Lord, if you shall worthily cultivate such a man, setting him in the front of those who made the ruined things of our Church to rise into new heights.

[7] Thus far Helmold, an author as I said coeval: from whose words an elegant elogium concerning the life and death of Tiadmar (for so he calls him) Albert Krantz wove in book 4 of the Wandalia chapter 16, and toward the end has these things: These to the word concerning that man are the testimonies of our Helmold, which I have put with the design, that posterity may see, He is praised by Krantz. by what men then the land flourished. Again Krantz, in book 6 of the Metropolis chapter 11 treating of Vicelinus, Afterwards, he says, with a certain youth Thietmar he proceeded into France, and studied under the Masters Rudolph and Anselm. Three years therefore being passed in study, they returned. Thietmar at Bremen becomes a Canon: Vicelinus coming to Magdeburg to Norbert the Archbishop, becomes a Priest. This is S. Norbert, Founder of the Premonstratensian Order, created Archbishop in the year MCXXVII, in which Henry Bangert in the Notes to Helmold places the beginning of the Faldera monastery. The same Krantz in chapter 18 of the same book 6 has these things: At that time Thietmar, once the disciple of Vicelinus, having left the Deanery of Bremen, devoted himself to the college of Faldera: who destined to Hagerstorpe, was a great consolation to the new transmigration. The man was indeed in spiritual conversation of great perfection.

[8] We have a Ms. codex made by a Continuator of Helmold in the fifteenth century, in which these things are read: About the same time S. Vicelinus was in the Church of Bremen Scholastic and learned in Theology, who had many divine revelations in the time of his youth. He always burned to preach the faith of Christ to the barbarian Slavs, dwelling near Holstein. For in those days in the whole land of the Wagrians … the faith of Christ was had nowhere; and if it had once been had, yet for as it were eighty years all had declined from the faith of Christ. This holy Vicelinus, unwilling to relinquish the religious garment, which the Canons of Bremen had cast off with the Rule of S. Augustine, The Rule of S. Augustine observed by Thetmarus. with the holy Man Thetmarus, Cantor of the Church of Bremen, went to the parts of Holstein, and by the bidding and mandate of the most reverend man the Lord Adalbero Archbishop of Bremen and Hamburg received into possession the village Wippendorp otherwise Faldera, in which a wooden chapel had been constructed and for long times deserted, and there caused a monastery to be constructed: from which it was further called Niemunster. That chapel was as it were the first in all Holstein: and there although they were said to be Christians, yet the error of groves and fountains and manifold idolatry was had: and the more strictly S. Vicelinus by day and night watching, praying and preaching the word of God, served under the religious garment and the holy rule… Many also venerable Ecclesiastical men and Clerics joined themselves to S. Vicelinus, in order, rule, habit, and holy life. These things were done about the year of the Lord MCXXV, or a little later as we said above. For that Vicelinus was ordained Priest by S. Norbert they relate with Krantz, Albert of Stade, and the author of the History of the Archbishops of Bremen. From this moreover some things are brought forth in the Germany of the Blaeu Geography, in Holstein properly so called and the Prefecture of Bordesholm page 168.

[9] But the monastery from Falstera or Neo-monastery was in the year MCCCXXXII, by Henry Swineborch the XV Provost, translated to Bordesholm; where the Life of S. Vicelinus was fixed in the temple, were the bones translated to Bordesholm? on a tablet toward the North: in which it is said, that with the translated monastery the Relics of Vicelinus were likewise translated, before the high altar in the middle of the sanctuary, with the bones of two other Servants of God. Whether one of these servants of God is to be reckoned Thethmarus, of whom we treat, we cannot certainly indicate. We have also from a Ms. codex the privileges of the Sigeberg monastery of S. Augustine, among which are brought forth the diploma of the Emperor Lothair given in the year MCXXXVII, the Donation of Archbishop Adalbero made in the year MCXLI, a Copy of the ordination pertaining to the institution of the said monastery signed in the year MCL, finally the Privilege of the Emperor Henry VI granted in the year MCXCII. To all which is subjoined a metrical Process concerning B. Vicelinus: in which is praised one of his confraters, Thetmarus, before Cantor Canon of Bremen. We have finally another Life of B. Vicelinus, translated into Latin from a Danish Ms., in which these things are read: S. Vicelinus built a monastery at the fortress of Sigeberg at the foot of the mountain, His furniture brought to Sigeberg. Brethren being brought thither from the Neomonastery: among these was Thethmarus of Bremen, who conveyed thither the furniture and all the supply and the provision necessary in such beginnings: but Lothair enriched the monastery with various fields and privileges.

[10] And these are the principal things which we have found concerning Thethmarus, whom we would not dare to filch from the Rule of S. Augustine, and ascribe to the most holy Order of S. Benedict, of which in the authors hitherto related we find no trace, although the later Benedictine Martyrologists have done that. Arnold Wion went before at this XVII of May with these words: At Magnopolis in the monastery of Faldera, of Saint Thetmarus, disciple of S. Vicelinus Bishop: Whether rightly ascribed to the Benedictine Martyrologies he, the Deanery of Bremen being left, entered the monastery of Faldera, and famous for miracles rested. In the Notes Helmold and Krantz are alleged. But what the city of Magnopolis means, we do not grasp. When Thethmarus died, not at Falstera but at Hagerestorp, Vicelinus was absent, called to the assemblies; not to Magnopolis (which by some is called Mecklenburg) but to Marcipolis, which we said to be Merseburg, the Episcopal city of Meissen. Then the Acts hitherto brought forth indicate that he rested not so much famous for miracles as for virtues. From Wion some things contracted were published by Benedict Dorganius and Hugh Menard: more Gabriel Bucelinus adjoined, and all honor Thietmar with the title of Saint. Ferrarius followed in the general Catalogue with these words: At Magnopolis in Germany S. Thietmar the monk, and then asserts that at Faldera near Magnopolis he professed the monastic life. Similar things all the same have at the XII of December concerning B. Vicelinus, and the VII of March concerning B. Volker, whom they ascribe to the Benedictine Order. But Peter de Wagenare, Prior of the Premonstratensian Order among the people of Furnes in Flanders, after publishing a tract on the Men of this Order illustrious either for holiness or miracles, afterwards published an Auctarium: or to the Premonstratensian Order. in which he ascribes to his Order B. Vicelinus, and to his disciple B. Thedmarus, and others. But that the Canons of Bremen received the Rule of S. Augustine, observed together with the Premonstratensian Order, long before S. Norbert was constituted Archbishop, the times of the Order, instituted in the year MCXX, do not permit.