Vigor

ON ST. VIGOR, BISHOP OF BAYEUX IN GAUL,

BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THE 6TH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Vigor, bishop of Bayeux. (S.)

BY C. D. S.

§ I. On the copies of the Acts of St. Vigor and their authority.

No other documents on the history of St. Vigor are available besides the Acts which Surius published at 1 November, somewhat contracted and with the style changed, The Life of St. Vigor to be published from 17 codices, and which have been presented to us by altogether seventeen manuscript codices, now kept in public libraries, of which we ourselves have carefully inspected fourteen and collated them with one another, while the variant readings of the other three were copied out at our request by learned men. Of these codices the most ancient was written at the beginning of the 11th century, namely Chartres 68, formerly of the monastery of Saint-Père. There follow Paris 13765, written as to this part in the 11th century, then six of the 12th century, namely Troyes 7, formerly of the monastery of Montier-la-Celle near Troyes [Compare General Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the Public Libraries of the Departments, vol. II, p. 17.], Dijon, the Montpellier Medical Academy 1, formerly of Clairvaux, and 30, which had been the Passional of the church of Saint-Bénigne of Dijon Compare ibid., vol. I, pp. 286, 296., and Paris 16733 and 17006. Next to these in antiquity come the codices of the 13th century, Brussels 7460, once of the monastery of Vaucelles of the Cistercian Order, Arras 462, which had once been written for the use of the choir in the monastery of Saint-Vaast of Arras Compare ibid., vol. IV, p. 181., and Douai 838, which the monks of Marchiennes similarly used Compare ibid., vol. VI, p. 578.. Besides these eleven, we have collated the Paris codex 5353, formerly Colbert's, of the 14th century, and finally five more recent apographs, of which three are contained in the codex now Paris 11773, comprising Lives of the saints once collected by the Benedictines of Saint-Maur, which are noted there as copied from codices of Compiègne, Marchiennes and Cîteaux; the fourth, taken from a codex of Anchin and transmitted to the Bollandists by Pierre Chifflet, is bound with other documents of the same kind in a codex formerly of the Bollandist Museum, now Brussels 8929; the fifth finally was found in a codex formerly of the monastery of Sithiu or Saint-Omer, now Saint-Omer 746. Add to these the codex of the University of Utrecht on the Rhine, marked Medieval ecclesiastical writer, no. 22, of the 15th century, and Lille formerly 82, now A. 3. 12, of the 14th century, which present a more contracted Life of Vigor, reduced to a compendium from the longer Acts.

[2] Whose Of both of these we have not thought it necessary to take account in reviewing the variant readings to the Life of St. Vigor to be published below, affinities are described. just as neither of the Life which Arthur du Monstier, on his own initiative, contracted from the older one in his Neustria Sancta Paris Latin codex no. 10051.. For one collating the other codices with each other it at once appears that those six of the 12th century agree wonderfully among themselves (except that Paris 17006 teems with innumerable faults from the ignorance or carelessness of the copyist), and also Paris 5353 of the 14th century and the two more recent apographs, Brussels 8929 and the Cîteaux one in Paris 11773: so that it may easily be judged that all these were copied from the same exemplar or type. There agree wonderfully among themselves too, but not so with the preceding, as far as the words are concerned, Brussels 7460, Douai, and the two apographs from Compiègne and Marchiennes in Paris 11773. These come closer than the former to the text which is read in the most ancient of our codices, Chartres, from which text there also seem to proceed Arras and Saint-Omer, which however seems at times to be more freely adulterated and contracted. Finally, as it were intermediate between the two texts, Paris 13765 of the 11th century seems to hold its place, since it not rarely agrees with Chartres alone, but more frequently with the first nine. — And if you collate the texts themselves with one another, again you will easily perceive that the one represented by the six codices of the 12th century bears a more corrected and less barbarous face than the other, such as is read especially in the Chartres codex, where not infrequently there occur those ruder forms of speaking, very far removed from the correct usage of Latin speech and the laws of Latin grammar, so customary with the writers of the age they call Merovingian, of which age too the forms of writing or, as they say, the orthography in the same Chartres codex give the scent. But from these very indications it may be concluded that this text is older than the former and more like the original writing. And so we have thought that it should be published with all that seem to be its faults (except those which are manifestly to be ascribed to the copyist) as the Chartres codex presents it, with variant readings added, though not those which concern orthography alone, from the other seven codices that we have indicated as more akin to it in this part. Yet in a parallel tract we shall present, facing it, the other text too, which, derived indeed from the older one, seems to us here and there more or less corrected and polished. Nor do we think it will be unwelcome to readers if we show here under one view what relationship in our judgment there is among all our codices. This relationship, then, or rather threefold stock or generation in order, as it were, of our codices, the following scheme presents.

[3] The age of the writer is uncertain. That the writer of the Acts is not more recent than the 8th century can to some extent be conjectured from that barbarism of style alone which the Chartres codex displays. For the rest, he neither betrayed his age, nor name or homeland or condition, by any indication, nor have we received anything about him from elsewhere. I would not wish to pronounce that he lived long after Vigor from the fact that, relating a certain miracle performed by the saint when he was now of the greatest age, he says that it is narrated by him as the ancients reported and as our predecessors narrated, men beyond doubt most truthful Life, no. 10.. For the narrative of that miracle seems manifestly to have been interpolated into the original writing. For it is wholly omitted in the most ancient codex of Chartres, while in Paris 13765, which is next to it in order of antiquity, it is written at that place in such a way that it clearly appears not to have been read by the copyist in the exemplar he had before him, but either to have been composed by him or received from elsewhere Compare below, the variant readings at this number. Add the Annotation at no. 8.. Nor also

does it stand in the way of his being judged contemporary or nearly contemporary and of sound credit that, since he reports very few things of the history of St. Vigor besides miracles and general praises of virtues, which in this kind of writing at that age occur everywhere and were as it were commonplaces for hagiographers, among them are narrated some things that conflict either with one another or with certain documents: for these things pertain to the first age of St. Vigor and could easily be unknown to the writer, nor again is that rashness and ignorance in supplying by absurd conjectures what had not become known to them by written or oral tradition so foreign to the manner of the hagiographers of the Merovingian age.

[4] He wrongly reports Vigor as born in the reign of King Childebert For at the first beginning of the Life Vigor is said to have been born in the times of Childebert, illustrious king of the Franks No. 2., then to have performed the episcopal office in the time of the same Childebert Nos. 7, 8., and this until a decrepit age Nos. 9, 10.. Now it is certain that Childebert I (for that Childebert II cannot be thought of here is established a fortiori from what we are soon to say about the time of Vigor's episcopate, and moreover the region of Bayeux was not subject to Childebert II, but to Childebert I) did not reign before the year 511; and that Leucadius, Vigor's successor in the see of Bayeux, took part in and subscribed the Council of Orléans in the month of May of the year 538 Councils of Gaul (Benedictine edition), vol. I, p. 1003.; and consequently that Vigor, who died on the Kalends of November Life, last number., was no longer alive in that year, that is, in the 27th year of the reign of Childebert. It is certain therefore too that he was not born in the reign of King Childebert.

[5] and educated in the monastery of St. Vaast. It is further narrated in the Acts that Vigor was educated within the monastery of the gracious Father Vedast, within the aforesaid province of Arras, dwelling in the religion of the monks Life, no. 2.. But St. Vedast did not come to the region of Arras before the year 496 Compare Ghesquière, Acta SS. Belgii, vol. II, p. 9., and St. Autbert built the monastery dedicated in his name about or after the year 670 Ibid., pp. 21, 23.. Vigor therefore, having died before the year 538 at a very advanced age, could not have passed his youth in the monastery of St. Vedast, or even (as some, interpreting our anonymous writer more gently, have conjectured) under the discipline of this saint.

[6] That St. Vigor did not succeed Leucadius, but preceded him, Some most sharp defender of the old Acts will perhaps say that all things can be reconciled if it is admitted with Arthur du Monstier Neustria Pia, pp. 65, 429. that Vigor presided over the church of Bayeux not before but after Leucadius. For since, as Le Cointe noted Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks, vol. I, p. 366., no other chronological mark occurs in the Life of St. Vigor apart from the name of Childebert, who held the kingdom from the year 511 to the year 558, and of Leucadius we know nothing else except that he subscribed the Council of Orléans of the year 538, and moreover through his delegate the likewise Orléans councils gathered in the years 541 and 549 Councils of Gaul, vol. I, pp. 1003, 1018, 1044., what forbids our supposing that Vigor succeeded Leucadius about the year 550, and sat until about the year 580 or even 585? For the name of Leodevald, bishop of Bayeux, appears first in the historical documents at the year 581 or even 587 [Compare J. Lair, Studies on the origins of the bishopric of Bayeux (Library of the School of Charters, 6th series, vol. IV (1868), pp. 48–51).], and the catalogues of the bishops of Bayeux are too confused and uncertain as to those times for us to judge that the order of succession can be safely defined from their authority. And, this hypothesis being admitted, St. Vigor could also have passed his youthful years with St. Vedast or with certain monks living under this saint's discipline: to which certainly it is no obstacle that St. Autbert is reported to have founded the monastery of St. Vaast after the middle of the 7th century. For he could have raised it larger and more magnificent, an old and humbler one having been torn down, and no one is ignorant how often those are accustomed to be called founders of monasteries by the writers of the Middle Ages who have restored or enlarged them. So thus the soundness of our Acts is wholly saved, from which we should depart only on wholly certain arguments.

[7] is demonstrated from the Life of St. Paternus. Rightly indeed, if it were not for a passage of the Life of St. Paternus composed by a contemporary writer, Venantius Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers, in which it is read: When at seventy years of age he was performing the office of abbot and was resting in his little cell, which he had first built at Scissy, on a certain night that place seemed to him flooded with great brightness, and there came to him in a vision the bishops WHO HAD PASSED to God Melanius, Leontianus and Vigor, and they ordained him prelate by revelation. Then he, astounded, although keeping these things to himself he did not at that time make them known, afterward however declared them. For after no long interval, at the supplication both of the people and of the prince, he succeeded the shepherd of Avranches on his death Acta SS., vol. II of April, p. 429, no. 13.. Therefore, on the testimony of Fortunatus, St. Vigor had already passed to God before St. Paternus was ordained bishop of Avranches. But Paternus, a bishop, subscribed the Council of Paris in the year 557 Councils of Gaul, vol. I, p. 1121.. And so, unless against the common opinion we deny that this man was of Avranches, it is wrong to abandon the conclusions stated above against the authority of the Acts of St. Vigor.

[8] The miracles reported in the Life are perhaps of not so certain credit. From these things it is clear how cautiously those Acts are to be used. Nor is it any wonder that even pious men do not give so much credit to the miracles reported in them, especially since they are of the kind that popular fantasy or a too rude interpretation of certain paintings was wont to devise easily, and they occur in many other Acts of the saints, such as apparitions of angels Life, nos. 2, 3., the resurrection of a little child Life, no. 4., and especially the driving away and killing of a certain monstrous serpent or dragon Life, nos. 5, 6., to omit that charming little story about the birds shut up in a barn and released the next day, one of them being revived after the others cried out for it Life, no. 10., which prodigy seems especially to have pleased many others too who have handed down to posterity Lives of the saints of doubtful credit Compare below, the Annotation at this place..

§ II. Certain assertions about St. Vigor are weighed.

St. Vigor was not a Benedictine monk, From what has been said it also follows, as Ghesquière noted Acta SS. Belgii, vol. II, p. 94, no. 7., that St. Vigor was not a monk of the Order of St. Benedict, although Trithemius has listed him among the illustrious men of that Order, as has, after Arnold Wion and Hugues Ménard, Gabriel Bucelin in his Menology of the Benedictine Saints. And indeed how could our Saint give his name to this sacred Order, who before St. Maurus was sent from Italy to the Gauls, namely in the year 543, had himself closed his last day, having long since been created bishop of Bayeux? Certainly Mabillon, more prudent and learned in this matter than Trithemius and Bucelin, nowhere gave St. Vigor a place among the true alumni of St. Benedict, rightly and deservedly judging the Benedictine Order, both by the number of its saints and on many other accounts, too illustrious to need to be adorned by saints claimed from elsewhere.

[10] Yet he can be believed to have led a monastic life. But I do not think we should wholly agree further with Ghesquière, who concludes that Vigor was not a monk in the strict sense from the biographer's narrative itself, where he says Life, nos. 2, 3. that whatever he could have he secretly paid out to the poor, and that, when he perceived that his parents desired rather to have him surviving in the wealth of things than to leave him to the institute of religion, he went out from his land and from his father's house, taking with him one servant: which things surely do not rightly befit a monk such as lived afterward in monasteries, but seem to suit excellently a man pursuing evangelical perfection at the end of the fifth century. But whether after he had left his homeland he professed the monastic life more strictly, our anonymous writer nowhere indicates.

[11] He did not stay with St. Riquier, nor was he bishop of Narbonne. But especially to be rebuked here are Malbrancq, when he affirms that Vigor was a kinsman of St. Riquier Cited in Corblet, Hagiography of the diocese of Amiens, vol. IV, p. 657., and Gilbert, who says that he was received in hospitality by Riquier and brought him the knowledge of the true faith as a repayment Description of the church of Saint-Riquier (Amiens 1836), p. 69., since Riquier was a whole century later than Vigor. Nor is our Molanus easily to be excused, who, weaving a notice of Vigor Natal Days of the Saints of Belgium, p. 235., both from the Life printed in Surius and from what was suggested to him by Jacques de Markais, provost at Saint-Vaast, wrote that the saint was the servant of the Provost in this monastery. Among the fables too must be dismissed what, on the testimony of Jacques Charron in his Universal History of Gaul, chapter 96, in Arthur du Monstier Neustria Christiana, part II, chapter 15 (Paris Latin codex no. 10049)., some have affirmed, that Vigor was bishop of Narbonne, no document proving or intimating this.

[12] He founded three monasteries or oratories. It remains to examine how probable are the things which Le Cointe reports Annals, at the year 530, no. 15 (vol. I, p. 365)., following in part the author of Neustria Pia Pp. 65, 429., about the monasteries founded by St. Vigor. Three monasteries then, he says, in the diocese of Bayeux, Redeveriacum (Reviers), Cerasiense (Cerisy) and Chrismatum (Chrismat, now St-Vigor) Compare Annotations f, i, q., were built by St. Vigor; the first took its name from the village Radeverum or Redeverum, the second from Cerasium or Ceriseium, which was the name of the place, the third from Mount Chrismatum. Redeveriacum and Cerasiense were founded by Vigor when not yet a bishop, Chrismatum later by the same man when he had already attained the episcopate. What rulers it had after Vigor, and when the monastery of Redeveriacum was leveled to the ground, we are wholly ignorant; yet we suspect that that calamity happened when the not yet Christian Northmen harried Neustria. The same calamity was suffered by Cerasiense, but in the eleventh century it was restored by Robert and his son William, dukes of Normandy, and it survives today, and as from the place it is called the monastery of Cerisy, so from its first founder the monastery of St. Vigor. The monastery of Chrismatum, in which blessed Vigor wished to be buried, also experienced various changes of fortune, and hitherto, as it has come off less happily than Cerisy, so more happily than Redeveriacum:

for it still enjoys the title of Priory, and in memory of its founder is called the Priory of St. Vigor. These things, certainly, as far as concerns the foundations of those monasteries, I would not wish to call improbable in themselves. Yet it must be noted that in our Acts, which alone are available to us here in place of a source, it is not distinctly indicated that monasteries were founded by St. Vigor in those three places, and not only churches or oratories which were afterward assigned to the family of St. Benedict. So far on the history of St. Vigor; now on his veneration.

§ III. The memory of St. Vigor in the martyrologies and the day assigned to his feast.

Mention of St. Vigor in the martyrologies How ancient the veneration of St. Vigor is, is shown by the mention of him in the Hieronymian martyrologies Corbie Major, Gellone, Saint-Gall, Saint-Remi, Baluze, the Augsburg of St. Ulrich, Labbe, and St. Germain of Auxerre, as also in the Trier one recently published for the first time in our Analecta (where he is called Victor) Analecta Bollandiana, vol. II, p. 30.. He is found also in the pure Usuard, but not in Bede and Ado, except among the additions. From Usuard he passed into the catalogue of Peter de Natalibus and into other more recent martyrologies, of Maurolico, Galesini, Peter Canisius or Wael, and finally into the recent Roman, to omit Arnold Wion and others who have wrongly numbered our saint among their Benedictines Compare above no. 9..

[14] [at the day 1 November, from which afterward his office was transferred to day 3 or 5.] Among all these, as in the ancient martyrologies, the feast day of Vigor is noted at 1 November, on which his happy passage to the joys above took place Life, last number.. But already in the 10th century, because of the celebration of All Saints occurring on the same day, in the monastery of Saint-Riquier the following day, or 2 November, was assigned to the office of our saint Compare below, end of no. 29., and afterward, for a similar reason, namely the commemoration of all the faithful departed, which, first instituted by Odo in the monastery of Cluny, soon began to be celebrated in the universal Church, the third day of the same month [Proper of Saint-Riquier cited in Corblet, Hagiography of the diocese of Amiens, vol. IV, end of p. 663.]. In the diocese of Bayeux too the office of St. Vigor was formerly held on this same day 3 under the rite of a minor double [Hermant, History of the diocese of Bayeux, p. 52; Proper of the saints kept in our library.], but now on day 5 under the rite of a major double Order of the divine office in the diocese of Bayeux for the years 1840 and 1850.. The same office was celebrated on 3 November in the monastery of Saint-Vaast of Arras, and now with minor double rite in the whole diocese of Arras Proper office of the diocese of Arras, Lille 1854., and also, by an indult granted on 25 April 1861 at the prayers of the Most Reverend Bishop of Amiens, in the diocese of Amiens Corblet, volume cited, p. 664., where namely in the old church of Saint-Riquier the greater part of his relics rests Compare the next §.. Finally the same third day too has been assigned to his commemoration in the dioceses of Évreux Order of the divine office in the diocese of Évreux, the year 1839., Coutances Order of Coutances, the year 1854. and Sées.

§ IV. On the translation of the body of St. Vigor to the monastery of Centula or Saint-Riquier and his veneration in that place.

The body of St. Vigor from Bayeux at the end of the 10th century The body of St. Vigor seems to have rested in his monastery of Mount Chrismatum until the end of the 10th century. At that time, stealthily taken away by a certain cleric of Bayeux, it soon reached the celebrated monastery of Centula or Saint-Riquier in the tract of Ponthieu in the diocese of Amiens, over which Abbot Ingelard then presided Compare below no. 21.. The whole matter, and what was afterward done in that monastery to increase the veneration of St. Vigor, is reported quite distinctly by the Chronicle of Centula written by the monk Hariulf before the middle of the 12th century, which you will find published in d'Achery's Spicilegium 2nd edition, Paris 1723, in folio, vol. II, p. 291 and following.. Thus he then, in book III, chapter 28:

[16] to the monastery of Ponthieu or Saint-Riquier The arrival of the most blessed Bishop Vigor from Neustria into Ponthieu. Much grace of God began to flourish toward this holy place, so that often through the pious merits of St. Riquier the salvation they desired was given to many. The bodies of saints also, at God's command, for the perpetual protection of the place, were conferred in these times to be venerated by us and our posterity, whose presence and intercession remain a shade of security and a protection against the adversities of the world. Of these the renowned pontiff Vigor was one, who, the power of God going before, exalts our seats, renowned then as now. Since therefore by God's authorship we have merited to be enriched with the most holy body of blessed Vigor, it is fitting that, to the praise of God the bestower of all good things and of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should briefly set forth in what manner that venerable body of the most blessed prelate came to us.

[17] by a certain cleric of Bayeux It came about, while the venerable body of the most blessed Vigor was still resting within the places of his former bishopric, that the homeland of Neustria happened to be so ravaged by the incursion of barbarians that not only secular pomp, but even ecclesiastical beauty came to be defiled. At that time in the church of Bayeux a certain cleric, Avitianus by name, was a matricular, who, when he saw that the homeland did not abound as usual in supplies of things, and that the services of the churches, which are accustomed to be devoutly shown to God's saints, had altogether failed, began to meditate with himself by what means he might flee the want of the present life, reckoning that the homeland ravaged by hostile harshness could not be restored in his lifetime. Surrounded by such a roll of thoughts, he deemed it settled and suited to his own advantage if he should carry off that treasure which alone remained, the most holy body of Blessed Vigor, knowing indeed that wherever he took it, by its grace good things would be afforded him. But the devotion of the faithful should rather know that these things slipped into his senses by divine means, since the heavenly purpose had to be fulfilled, which had disposed to fortify the people of Ponthieu with this patron too. So stealthily he took away the body of the most holy pontiff, eager to carry it wherever it could be sold worthily, or to Arras, as some say.

[18] carried off Busy with these things, he entered the soil of Ponthieu, and had his lodging in the village of Centula, which from antiquity has been noble and renowned out of all that province; and which the blessed father and excellent confessor St. Riquier once adorned by his rising, distinguished by his example, and now protects by his patronage, and gladdens and blesses by the presence of his body. Coming to it then by chance of the journey, he was received in hospitality by a certain man named Bernard, who was known to be a blood relative of the same cleric. The cleric, aware of his treasure, begs his host with infinite entreaty to give the pack that was laden with the holy bones into most diligent and most faithful keeping, since after a little time he would make his journey wherever it seemed good; and Bernard, having received the pack, strives to place it in such a spot as robbers could not reach, although he did not at all know what or how great a thing was held in it. And he had in the monastery of Saint-Riquier a chest, namely for the protection of any precious things, so that, while he did not dare to have certain things at home, they might be kept as safely as faithfully in the dwelling of peace. To the faithful keeping of this chest the cleric's treasure is entrusted as suitable.

[19] and by heavenly light But when the pack had been placed within the hollow of the chest, the goodness of the divine loving-kindness, which before the ages had foreseen the future, now began to work. For on a certain occasion, when Bernard, wishing to take something or other, had opened his little chest, he saw the whole hollow of that chest gleam with a wonderful brightness, as if it were filled with flame-bearing fires: terrified by this sight he drew far back, reckoning that something divine had been entrusted to him by his guest. Then calling the cleric, he asks what that is which had been entrusted to him by him; he, in fear, as seeing himself being exposed, yet unable to conceal what God almighty had disclosed, answered that he had relics there of great price and merit. Saying this he also begs that these things be disclosed to no one; but though neither of them made anyone privy to so great a secret, the supernal power brought it about that what was hidden should become known to all. For it is reported that many religious, when they were praying in private in that basilica, saw lights divinely lit there. But we, leaving out scrupulous matters, let us rather pursue those things which have been faithfully discovered.

[20] and by another prodigy On a certain day a certain woman, ignorant of what was held in that chest, while the divine office was being performed, came there, and after long standing threw her weary limbs upon it. And although no fault came from her conscience, nor was it thought to be a fault, yet it pleased the divine justice to work something wonderful, that while it as it were avenged the injury of its saint, it might lay open his merits and dignity to all. For the garment of the woman who was leaning on the chest, at the part of the buttocks, kindled and began to burn; when suddenly, as the people looked on, the woman, compelled by the burning of the fire, sprang back from the chest, and, the burning so causing, was forced to yield from the place at which she had unworthily clung. There is at once a cry with trembling, and it is disclosed without doubt that there was something great in the chest.

[21] made manifest, In these days At the end of the 10th century. Compare Gallia Christiana, vol. X, p. 1248. the noble man Ingelard held the government of the monastery of Centula; when there had been reported to him what the wonderful God had done, he at once, with no delay intervening, ordered it to be inquired quickly whose chest it was about which such things were being done. Those who knew having answered the name of the owner, he at once summoned him, sending a messenger; and asking him the cause of the wonderful deed, he hears at once that the chest indeed is his, but that what had done the miracle was not his, but that it had been entrusted to him, from which the working of so great a power had proceeded: But because, he says, the divine favor has foretold this to the others, let it be heard what it has shown to me as well. Saying this he then wove in what has been touched on above, and what he had sufficiently concealed: namely that when he had opened the little casket, a supernal power had brought a wonderful splendor to his eyes.

[22] Abbot Ingelard So Abbot Ingelard, fired by such mighty works, firmly resolved not to omit such things without investigating them more eagerly, and he asks the man to hasten to bring to him the bearer of so great a thing. The cleric was then absent: but when he returned, he was very quickly presented to the abbot. The abbot, soothing him with quite gentle address, urged him to confess what he held in his mind; for he knew that what was held in the pack was holy, only let him intimate to him the name or dignity of the saint. And the same abbot asserted that he would afford everything he asked, provided that he disclosed to him the secret of so great a power. He suggested also that in this the divine will ought to be considered: which surely, he said, if it did not wish that sacred thing to be possessed by us, would in no way have shown beforehand an indication of so great a power.

[23] he obtains it and places it in the church of Saint-Riquier, So, animated as much by promises as overcome by sure reasoning, he consents, and indicated that he had brought the body of St. Vigor, bishop of the city of Bayeux. Then the abbot, enticing his spirit with many gifts, at length merited, a price being given, to receive the most holy bones. Hence, the brothers being gathered, and fittingly adorned in shining vestments, with a numerous crowd of the people, and with huge joy and much honor, the choir is directed all the way there; the most holy members of Blessed Vigor are brought forth, and like a heavenly treasure are diligently laid up in a more suitable place within the same basilica of St. Riquier.

[24] where his power shone forth especially against the dangers of fire. But the divine command, which had adorned the nation of the people of Ponthieu and the band of Centula with so great a confessor, does not allow time to pass idly without showing of how great merit before it was he whom by its free goodness it willed to be brought to our seats. Finally, although in whatever danger he is invoked he is a swift hearer, yet in the very dangers of fires he impresses upon human sight so effective and so conspicuous a power that if ever a fire, growing strong and driven by the winds, cannot be extinguished by human hand, and the flame spreads to everything near it, when St. Victor * is set against it, it is seen to leap back and at once leave what it had already begun to consume, by the divine will and the saint's merit: and this has been done not once, not twice, nor even thrice, but many times, the people of Centula looking on, in their dwellings. These things are done when need requires, these things are ever hoped to be done until the end of the age, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[25] Angelramnus, successor of Ingelard, So far Hariulf. But the people of Centula were not permitted to enjoy their treasure so quietly without coming up against opponents who were aggrieved at being deprived of it by right, namely the people of Bayeux, who grieved that so great a pledge of supernal patronage had been snatched from them, and the people of Senlis, who supposed that it had been granted to them. Yet lest the people of Centula be too much disturbed by these contradictions and, now anxious, hesitate in honoring the holy body, the care of divine providence brought it about, giving them at the same time both a fuller knowledge of the history of St. Vigor, almost unknown to them, and an invincible argument by which every handle for any doubt concerning the genuineness of the sacred remains would now be shut off. These things happened when Angelramnus was abbot, that is, before the year 1045, in which year he ended his government and his life together Gallia Christiana, vol. X, p. 1249.. Let us hear Hariulf again on these things Chronicle of Centula, book IV, chapter 5..

[26] the people of Senlis contending that the body of St. Vigor rested among them An assertion concerning St. Vigor. But since we have now entered Normandy, it is pleasing to stop for a little, that we may explain a certain necessary thing. We have related that under the lord Ingelard the honorable body of Blessed Bishop Vigor was translated from Neustria to Centula: since we have merited this, let us render thanks to almighty God from our inmost heart. Secure then of God's gift in the blessing of the holy body bestowed on us, let us now proceed against those who strive to obscure so great a good of ours. For there is something brought to our notice which, God helping, will be cleared away by abundant reasoning, provided that no hearer warped by envy is present. Yet we single out no one, answering all at once. For when it happens that any of our people converses with Neustrians or men of Senlis about the saint's body, these saying, because he was our bishop he rests among us, and those equally reporting that they have him, the treasure given us by God seems as it were to be darkened among the uncertain. For this reason we quite necessarily now pay out this reasoning, by which namely we may prove that he is truly among us: and if anyone should maintain that he has him because of shining miracles, we too have experienced the same much more magnificently. For truly the Christian faith confesses that all those joined to God can show divine things, not only in that place where they are held in the body, but wherever they are faithfully asked.

[27] contending, But now let our discourse proceed in the name of the Lord to where it was aimed; and let us confirm that we have this saint, even though he seems to work great things elsewhere. Christ the truth gives us his assent, the soul of the holy man itself, ever blessed in the heavenly inheritance, will render testimony; indeed, testimony to our word will come from his words. The Neustrians, however, who are also the Normans, seemed to be blameworthy for their bishop not well guarded; but this gnaws at the mind, that unless the Lord guards the city, he watches in vain who guards it. But leaving them aside from this, let us dispatch other matters, since by the loss of the treasure once held and now lost it is established that they have been sufficiently punished. And let us now shut the mouths of the citizens of Senlis, vainly proud over the saint's body.

[28] through the monks of Saint-Ouen, from whom he also receives the Life of Vigor, At the first time then that Centula was blessed by the bringing in of the holy body, it remained for some while without any supports of his deeds. For the bringer, having reported the name and rank and the city of his bishopric, had kept silent on the rest. But when, Abbot Ingelard having been taken from our midst, the venerable Angelramnus, surnamed the Wise, had taken his place, there came upon him that necessity which has been set out above of going to Normandy. The matters for which he had gone having been pleaded or settled, he began to inquire of the clergy of that province and of the monks of Saint-Ouen whether they knew of any saint who was called Vigor: and they, knowing him very well, wondered at this alone, that the abbot himself did not know so great a confessor, relating his birth, life and dignity. Then the abbot asks that the writing of his life be shown to him, and that the opportunity of copying it be granted: and when they had assented, they are struck by such a word from him: In the monastery of Centula, he says, in the monastery of my lord St. Riquier, the body of this saint is held. Then the monks of Blessed Ouen said to him: In this, honorable father, know that you truly have him, if, examining the bones themselves, you do not find the chin among you: which bone you will not find there for this reason, that, thanks be to God, we have it.

[29] [he is made secure, and institutes that the saint's festival be celebrated on 2 November.] And when he had returned to our homeland with the booklet of his life, he took care to prove quickly what had been intimated. He turned over the holy members, and, the whole heap of bones having been found, he found the chin to be lacking. And because the reading of the Life itself taught on what day the saint had passed from the world, he hesitated a little as to what to do, because the festival of All Saints claimed that day by the modern institution of the fathers. He decided that his festival should be restored to the saint on the following day. And it was done so; but not as would have been fitting for so great a confessor. These things having been profitably, as we hope, inserted, let us pass to the life of the lord Angelramnus, being about to state elsewhere concerning St. Vigor more certain proofs, which cannot be met.

[30] Under Gervin, successor of Angelramnus, The devotion of the people of Centula toward St. Vigor was increased shortly afterward, when Gervin I was abbot (the years 1045–1071) Compare Gallia Christiana, vol. X, p. 1250., by a prodigy which we read reported in the Chronicle of Centula in these words Book IV, chapter 20.: Likewise an assertion concerning St. Vigor. Since mention has now come up of the body of the most holy pontiff, we think it worthwhile to narrate here the truthful assertion which the blessed prelate himself, the Lord providing for us, performed. For in the deeds of the lord and saint Angelramnus it is found how that magnificent abbot was made certain about the body of this same saint; and that, bringing the booklet of his life from Neustria, and learning from it the day of his glorious passing, he decreed that his natal day should be observed. This decree therefore remained up to these times of which we are discoursing, of the glorious Gervin, who, strong in the fear of the Lord and the love of the saints, improved many things among us in divine worship.

[31] [Vigor himself asking this in a vision, it is decreed that that festival be observed with greater solemnity,] It happened then that the yearly revolution brought back the feast of St. Vigor, which the brothers carried out according to the custom once established by the lord Angelramnus. As it chanced, Abbot Gervin was then absent, and the prior, Regneguardus by name, was watching over the keeping of the brothers. This Regneguardus then, on the very night on which the brothers were showing the solemnities to the saint, held by a slight infirmity of body, was absent from the solemnities, and lying on his bed was dozing somewhat lazily (otherwise he was a good man, chaste and God-fearing). And behold, as he slept, there came to him a person of venerable stature and highest beauty, displaying the pontifical habit, and quite sweetly said to Regneguardus: Why do you lie here, and not take part in my solemnities? He, trembling at the excellence of the person, nevertheless on being questioned gave this answer: Lord, he said, because I am sick. And following up: Who, he said, Lord, are you? I, he said, am Vigor, bishop of the church of Bayeux. Rise, be well, and hasten to take part in my solemnities. And say to your abbot and the brothers that, since the goodness of our Lord has granted my body to be held here, and I will this, my festival ought to be made more ample than it is. Having received these things by sight and hearing, the monk rises healed, makes for the choir, and with the others sends forth, as high as he could, songs in praise of the saint. The brothers marvel, and, because that hour denied them boldness to speak, when morning came they ask the order of the matter. He reports the vision, tells of his health, recites the commands. All rejoice, and are kindled to the depths of their being to love of the saint. To the abbot on his return all things are recapitulated, and he, who without any such occasion had exalted many festivals of other saints, commands that the feast of St. Vigor be observed henceforth with the greatest celebrity.

[32] and the saint's relics in a new casket Not only did Abbot Gervin institute that the feast of St. Vigor should henceforth be celebrated with greater solemnity among the people of Centula, but he also had a reliquary made, more splendid in the value of its material, and when it was finished he enclosed the relics of Vigor, publicly identified, with due veneration. This again is testified by the Chronicle of Centula in these words Ibid., end.: After a space of some years, honorable men having been convened, namely bishops and abbots, Father Gervin took his most sacred members from that casket in which they had rested from the time of Abbot Ingelard, and through the hands of the convened pontiffs showed them to the faithful people; then he laid them honorably in another prepared with gold and silver, as was fitting for so great a confessor of God. This translation of the blessed body was made on the 12th of the Kalends of April, which day every year is encompassed by the religion of the Lenten fast: which we believe was brought about by the divine will, that the faithful peoples might merit to see the bones of the most holy pontiff at the time when they had offered to God the sacrifice of a stricter and thereby purer life.

[33] are enclosed. On the new reliquary Abbot Gervin had these verses carved:

Know, reader, Vigor, victor of the world. You who are called Vigor take away the blows of peril. Tamer of flames, who hold down the fires of the world, restrain the flames of Gehenna, that they may not burn us Corblet, Hagiography of the diocese of Amiens, vol. IV, p. 660.

[34] The same, placed in two other caskets in the 16th century, Later, namely in the year 1524, two other silver caskets were made by order of Eustache Le Queux, abbot of Saint-Riquier, and one of them the head,

the other the remaining remains of Vigor, were laid up in them. But both were shortly afterward despoiled by the bishop of Rennes, first commendatory abbot of Saint-Riquier, of the precious gems with which they had been adorned, other sham ones being substituted in their place. These things come from the more recent Chronicle of Centula written by Dom Cotron and still unpublished Cited in Corblet, vol. IV, p. 663.. In which is reported also the impious fraud of two wicked men who in the year 1263, the civil magistrate conniving, made caskets similar in appearance to the reliquaries of St. Riquier and St. Vigor, filled them with the bones of brute animals, passing them off as the genuine relics of those saints, and, dressed in monks' habit and sacred vestments, carried them around for two days and collected many alms under that name Ibid., vol. III, p. 451..

[35] [and happily preserved at the end of the 18th century from the plunder of the impious,] At the end of the last century, when the relics of so many saints were burned or scattered by the fury of the impious in the time of the great French upheaval, a happier lot fell to the relics of St. Vigor kept in the church of Saint-Riquier: which namely, like those of St. Riquier and many others, the parish priest of that church (whose name was Callé) was able to withdraw secretly, and which, then brought out by him in the year 1794 or 1795 from the hiding places where he had covered them, and restored to their place, the piety of the Christian people venerates up to our times with due homage [Ibid., vol. III, p. 452 and vol. IV, p. 633; Gilbert, Description of the church of Saint-Riquier, p. 121.].

[36] one or another bone, however, being then by imprudence added from elsewhere. Moreover from a letter of the venerable parish priest of the present church of Saint-Riquier, sent on 2 March 1869 and kindly communicated to us, we learn that by an unhappy chance, perhaps from the excessive haste used by Monsieur Callé in hiding the relics, there was mixed with the genuine bones of St. Vigor one or another which certainly is not his, such as the right shoulder bone (which we shall record below No. 47. was long since given to the monastery of St. Vigor near Bayeux and is still preserved in the church, now parochial, of that place) and the bone they call the sacrum: each of which skilled physicians, examining more diligently, judged to have been not of a man's body, but of a woman's.

[37] Certain documents proving their authenticity From the same letter we know that in the said church there are kept with the relics of St. Vigor certain documents proving their authenticity, namely: First, a parchment sheet, on which are written these words in a hand of the 10th or 11th century: Here rests St. Vigor, bishop of the city of Bayeux; and moreover on the same sheet, in a hand of the 13th century, it is noted that they were found by Guy, bishop of Carcassonne, when he translated the bones of St. Vigor from an older casket to another newly adorned, and this Guy himself approved with his seal, which is still seen attached to this document. Second, another parchment leaf, furnished with the attachment of the same seal, in which is written out the authentic instrument of that translation carried out by the said Guy on the solemn day of Pentecost of the year 1218. Third, an instrument, also drawn up on parchment, of a similar translation made in the year 1530 by Thibaud de Bayencourt, abbot of Saint-Riquier. Fourth, certain paper documents, by which it is established that the relics of St. Vigor were taken in the year 1793 from the silver reliquaries in which they had hitherto been enclosed by the venerable man Callé, parish priest, when it was daily to be feared that the treasure of the church would be plundered by impious men. Fifth, an instrument of the visitation and identification of the same relics carried out by episcopal authority in the year 1825.

[38] proving. Yet the church of Saint-Riquier was not allowed to enjoy its treasure so quietly but that it, or the chief part of it, was claimed both by the church of Saint-Frambourg of Senlis and, more modestly indeed, by Saint-Bénigne of Dijon. Of these contradictions we must now speak briefly.

* read Vigor.

§ V. On the dispute raised by the canons of the church of Saint-Frambourg concerning the relics of St. Vigor.

[That the body of St. Vigor rests in the church of Saint-Frambourg at Senlis is asserted in a diploma of the year 1135,] From the testimony of Hariulf cited above No. 26. we are taught that already at the time when he was writing his Chronicle, that is, before the middle of the 12th century, a violent dispute had arisen between the monastery of Centula and the church of Saint-Frambourg of Senlis, which itself too gloried in possessing the whole body of St. Vigor. By what arguments the canons of this church defended this assertion of theirs Hariulf does not indicate, but to confirm it there was afterward brought forward a diploma of Louis VI, surnamed the Fat, king of France, given in the year 1135, in which diploma he testified that the body of St. Vigor had been laid in a certain mausoleum of the church of Saint-Frambourg, in these words: I, Louis, by God's mercy raised to be king of the Franks, have thought it worthy to commend to the memory of posterity that in the time of Pierre, venerable bishop of Senlis, we caused the body of Blessed Vigor, bishop of Bayeux and confessor, and the relics of other saints to be laid in this mausoleum in the year from the incarnation 1135, the 27th of our reign, our son Louis the Younger having been raised to be king in the third year Hermant, History of the diocese of Bayeux, p. 55..

[40] [yet not in the instrument of the visitation of the relics carried out in the year 1177:] That instrument was found in the year 1618 in a certain reliquary, enclosed in a bag, in which was contained also a certain holy body, which itself moreover was wrapped in a white silk shroud sewn with cotton thread, on the testimony of another instrument publicly drawn up in the name of the dean and chapter of the church of Saint-Frambourg on the occasion of a visitation of the relics of their church carried out by them in this same year. This later instrument is cited in a letter written in the year 1703 by the dean of the same church of Saint-Frambourg, Frion by name, to the author of the history of the diocese of Bayeux Ibid., pp. 54–55., but from a somewhat contracted copy wrongly confused of late with the instrument of the visitation of the relics of the same church made in the year 1177 by Dean Ebroin in the presence of King Louis VII, the bishops of Senlis and Meaux, and many other distinguished men Corblet, vol. IV, p. 662., in which older document Cited in Gallia Christiana, vol. X, p. 1474, note. no mention is held either of that diploma or of the body of St. Vigor, but only in a note in a hand of the 18th century added to some copy of the same age, in these words: A. Body of blessed Vigor, bishop of Bayeux and confessor Memoirs of the archaeological committee of Senlis, vol. IX (1873), pp. 77–82..

[41] [hence the diploma of the year 1135 too seems suspect, and certainly does not sufficiently prove what is intended.] Certainly, even if the diploma of Louis VI were judged authentic, yet it would have to be considered of no great moment for settling the dispute between the people of Centula and those of Senlis. For it is manifest of itself that the king spoke in it according to the allegations of the canons of Saint-Frambourg, and consequently it would only follow from it that in the year 1135 those canons had not departed from the opinion which, on the testimony of Hariulf, they cherished at the end of the 11th century about the body of St. Vigor resting among them: which indeed could easily be conjectured a priori. But from the silence of the instrument of the visitation of the year 1177 a surely not weak negative argument is drawn against the authenticity of the diploma and the truth of the assertion of the canons of Saint-Frambourg. For how, indeed, can it be supposed that mention of so great a treasure, if it was truly held laid up in the church of Saint-Frambourg, was omitted in the instrument of the visitation of the year 1177? And so, especially if credit is given to the indication pointed out by the monks of Saint-Ouen and, according to Hariulf, proved in the relics kept at Saint-Riquier Compare above nos. 27, 28., and since moreover it is established by no record that the body of Vigor or a great part of it reached the church of Saint-Frambourg, which was first founded in the year 1000, it seems we must altogether conclude with the venerable man J. Corblet Hagiography of the diocese of Amiens, vol. IV, p. 661. that either the relics of some other saint (perhaps of a not dissimilar name: for we have seen above Preliminary Commentary, no. 13. that the name of Victor for Vigor has crept even into the martyrologies) were wrongly judged to be those of Vigor of Bayeux, or that only some bones of his were laid up in the church of Saint-Frambourg.

§ VI. On the head of St. Vigor, which is said to be preserved at Dijon.

The head which is called St. Vigor's, preserved at Dijon, In the treasury of the cathedral church of Saint-Bénigne of Dijon there is kept a certain skull deprived of the lower jaw and broken on the right side, to which is attached with a red cotton thread a parchment sheet presenting these words in gilded letters of the 17th or 18th century: Chef de S. Vigor évêque. Head of St. Vigor, bishop. That skull is enclosed in a case made of gilded wood, and on the lid of this there is carved on both sides a certain coat of arms, whose it was no one has yet been able to determine. Nor does anyone know by what means the same skull came to the church of Saint-Bénigne. Certainly you would seek in vain for mention of it in the catalogues of relics of the former monastery of Saint-Bénigne drawn up at various times. But another reliquary wholly similar to the former is preserved in the same place, in which is contained the head of St. Victor, one of the leaders of the Theban Legion: this is known to have been received from the ancient Dijon monastery of St. Stephen; from which by an easy conjecture the same can be believed of the head of Vigor. But again it is no less uncertain from where the monks of St. Stephen received it.

[43] [although it might be conjectured on some ground to have been brought there from Ponthieu,] A not absurd conjecture indeed (if only it were right to think that the genuine head of St. Vigor is held here) has been proposed to us by a certain venerable priest of Dijon, that it was perhaps taken from the church of Saint-Riquier and carried to Dijon in the year 1421, when the town of Saint-Riquier was given over to plunder by the soldiers of Philip, duke of Burgundy. If this were judged true, it would have to be concluded further that the monks of Saint-Riquier, grieving at the loss of so great a treasure, especially since it was to be feared that from this the devotion of the people toward that holy patron would greatly diminish, not without harm to their monastery, substituted for the head of St. Vigor another of some less celebrated saint also resting among them.

[44] it does not seem authentic. But this after all is a mere conjecture, for which scarcely any other foundation can be assigned than that it would appear very strange that that head should have been fraudulently passed off under the name of St. Vigor by the monks of St. Stephen or others, though it was not Vigor's, since he had never been celebrated with any veneration among the people of Dijon: for as to his office being recited with double rite among the monks of Saint-Bénigne on 3 or 5 November, the reason may easily be drawn solely from the fact that the priory of St. Vigor near Bayeux was united and subject to their monastery. For the rest, far stronger are the arguments by which the genuine relics of St. Vigor in the church of Saint-Riquier

are still preserved, as has been demonstrated above Nos. 32–37.. So the rulers of the church of Dijon must be judged to act most prudently, who reverently keep that head in their treasury, yet have never exposed it to public veneration [All these things about the Dijon skull became known to us through the venerable men Bernard, assistant secretary to the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Bishop of Dijon, and Guérin, vicar of the cathedral church of Dijon.].

§ VII. On relics separated from the body of St. Vigor, which have been attributed to various places.

The chin of St. Vigor once preserved in the monastery of Saint-Ouen. We have read in Hariulf Compare above nos. 28, 29. that among the bones of St. Vigor brought to the church of Centula there was lacking the chin, which had long since been given to the monastery of Saint-Ouen: but how long it remained with them, or whether or where it was afterward sent elsewhere, we have not been able to find out.

[46] A bone of the right arm given to Duke William in the year 1048, The same writer records that a bone of the right arm of St. Vigor was granted by Abbot Gervin I in the year 1048 to William, count or duke of Normandy, on the occasion of the confirmation by this prince of the donation of a church once assigned to the monastery of Centula by his grandfather Richard I, which a certain abbess was striving by I know not what art to convert to her own right Hariulf, Chronicle of Centula, book IV, chapter 20.. Namely Count William, when he had been approached by the lord Gervin on this matter, earnestly begged the abbot that something be imparted to him from the body of St. Bishop Vigor, which, God's grace going before, had once been brought to our seats; and unless the abbot had pledged to do this, he would, as is said, truly have lost the said church: since the count himself preferred to yield it to his kinswoman and relative rather than to give it to anyone else; for the same abbess was made illustrious by kinship with the same duke Ibid..

[47] and given by the same to the monastery of Cerisy. No place seemed to Duke William more suitable for keeping the sacred pledge which he had obtained from Gervin than the monastery of Cerisy, which was reported to have been founded by Vigor himself. There therefore he ordered it to be carried. Nor did the divine goodness disdain to manifest the glory of its servant by a double miracle. Hariulf narrates the matter thus Ibid.: The Marquis William, a monk from the monastery of Cerisy, Guarinus by name, being sent to us, obtained one bone of the holy bishop from the right arm, which at the same monastery of Cerisy is venerated with infinite veneration. That place is situated in the territory of the people of Bayeux (now in the diocese of Coutances), from which the man of the Lord, Bishop Vigor, as is read in his Life, while he was still staying in the exile of this pilgrimage, put to flight a monstrous snake, and for this deed of power the place was given to the holy man, in which too there is now a congregation of the servants of Christ. And when the monks living there had joyfully received with ineffable gladness the relics of their most holy patron, they wished to test whether that bone was truly from the body of St. Vigor. Now they knew that among the other gifts of powers with which he had always shone, or rather shone still, he held this too more excellently, that he could in no way be hurt or burned by the heat of fire. So they make a pile of flax, which namely is very easily kindled, and place that arm of the most holy pontiff upon it; then they heap flax over it, and thus, fire being set beneath it, inflame the dry and thin material. And although almighty God ought not to have been tested in the merit of his servant, yet the outcome of the miracle and power did not deceive the same brothers, who did this not from any fault, but for the sake of attaining certainty. For not only did that fire not hurt the saint's right arm, but even the flax that had been put on it remained untouched by the fire. So those brothers were made certain about the pledge of their father. Not yet had eight days flowed by after this deed, when behold, a man full of a demon, by the compassion of the same brothers, received the water with which, as it happened, that blessed bone had been washed: when he had drunk it, he recovered health of body and liberty, and thereafter suffered no assault of the enemy. These two miracles Christ the Lord performed through the relics of St. Vigor, brought there from us, at the monastery of Cerisy. Concerning the later history of that sacred treasure no document could be found. Certainly in the parish church of Cerisy today, formerly the abbey church Compare Annotation i., as the venerable rector of this church has testified in a letter given to us, not even a memory of it survives.

[48] A bone of the left shoulder granted to the priory of Saint-Vigor near Bayeux, The monastery on Mount Chrismatum, near Bayeux, which was afterward called the priory of St. Vigor, after it had been made subject in the year 1096 by Odo, bishop of Bayeux, to the monastery of Saint-Bénigne of Dijon Mabillon, Benedictine Annals, book LXIX, no. 44 (vol. V, p. 369)., and in whose place, the priory having been suppressed, the parish of Saint-Vigor (Saint-Vigor-le-Grand) has now succeeded, and which had been distinguished by the death and first burial of Vigor Compare Life, last number, and note i., grieved that it was bereft of the relics of its founder. Yet some solace was brought to it by a bone of the left shoulder taken from the holy body and sent from the monastery of Centula on 10 May 1671, which, together with a rib of St. Sulpicius, another bishop of Bayeux, received from the monastery of Saint-Ghislain in Hainaut, the Most Illustrious Lord de Nesmond, then prelate of Bayeux, brought with solemn pomp into the church of the monastery on Sunday, 19 July of the same year 1671. The instrument of this translation, with the sacred pledge itself, was found and identified nearly twenty-five years ago. Proof of this is given by the instrument of the visitation of the relics carried out at that time, namely in the year 1857, by order of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Charles Nicolas Didiot, then bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, which Faucon has published in his History of the Priory of Saint-Vigor Historical Essay, etc., p. 207..

[49] and preserved in that place to our days. The relics of Vigor, preserved in the monastery of Saint-Vigor up to the time of the great French upheaval at the end of the last century, were withdrawn from the profane hands of the impious, and restored after those unhappy times to the parish church, by the venerable man Thomas Le Tual, parish priest of the same church Ibid., end of p. 206., and they were recognized as authentic by the canon of Bayeux Durozier, delegated by the Most Illustrious Lord Brault, bishop of Bayeux, on 16 March 1808, on the testimony of the already cited instrument of the visitation of the year 1857. From the same instrument we learn that in that visitation four particles were detached from the sacred bones, which were given one each to the parish priest of the church of Saint-Exupère at Bayeux, to the rector of the seminary of Sommervieu, to the superioress of the convent of the nuns of Charity of Bayeux, and to the private archive of the episcopal house Ibid., p. 208..

[50] Other relics of St. Vigor in the cathedral church of Bayeux, The writer of the History of the Diocese of Bayeux indicates that relics of St. Vigor are preserved in certain other places Hermant, History of the diocese of Bayeux, pp. 51, 56.. First of all indeed in the cathedral church of Bayeux, on the testimony of records made in the year 1477 and in the year 1562, in which latter year that church was plundered by the Calvinists and the treasury of relics that were venerated there was dispersed. But afterward, in the year 1650, the same church received from the monastery of Saint-Vaast of Arras a bone of the arm of St. Vigor.

[51] in the town of Pont-de-l'Arche, and in other In the diocese of Évreux, the collegiate church of St. Vigor in the town of Pont-de-l'Arche preserves part of the skull and the top of the femur of the holy patron, besides the pall which he used in celebrating the most holy sacrifice of the Mass. This having been stealthily taken away, it was then found by a happy chance in the year 1648 in a bramble bush into which it had been thrown: for which reason afterward the clergy of that church became accustomed to go every year to that place with solemn pomp to give thanks to God (and today too the relics of St. Vigor are carried around the whole town on the second Sunday of the month of July, which has very recently become known to me by a letter of the venerable dean). Certain relics of St. Vigor are also said to have been received by the monasteries of Saint-Vaast of Arras and of Saint-Pierre of Préaux in the diocese of Lisieux, and by the churches of Saint-Cyprien of Poitiers, Saint-Mellon of Pontoise in the diocese of Rouen, and of Marly in the diocese of Paris.

[52] very many places. These things are from the praised history of the diocese of Bayeux. Moreover a more recent writer teaches us Corblet, Hagiography of the diocese of Amiens, vol. IV, p. 663. that in the year 1693 a particle of the relics of St. Vigor was given to a certain church of the diocese of Le Mans, and in the year 1805 a spinal bone to the church of St. John (Saint-Jean-de-Queux) of the village of Auxi-le-Château, in the diocese of Boulogne; and finally that no small particle of the same relics, authentically identified, is in the possession of a certain private citizen of Abbeville in the diocese of Amiens.

§ VIII. On churches or oratories where St. Vigor is or formerly was honored with singular veneration.

[In the city of Bayeux no church is dedicated to St. Vigor, but only a chapel in the cathedral church.] St. Vigor shed luster above all on the church of Bayeux by his labors and pontificate. And so he has been celebrated in it too with a special veneration Compare above no. 14.. Yet in the city of Bayeux itself no oratory of St. Vigor has become known to us, except a certain chapel in the cathedral church dedicated under the title of St. Honorina and St. Vigor, whose window with painted glass presents the history of our saint to the eyes of the pious. Moreover in the same cathedral church there is seen, among the images of the holy bishops of Bayeux carved on the vault of the choir, the effigy too of St. Vigor, which is designated by this title formed in large characters of the 14th century: ST. VIGOR Corblet, vol. IV, p. 664..

[54] St. Vigor is venerated as patron by the villages of Saint-Vigor near Bayeux, But the veneration of St. Vigor has always flourished especially in the village adjoining the city on the old Mount Chrismatum or Chrismatis, which today too is called by the name of St. Vigor, Saint-Vigor-le-Grand. A church and monastery were founded there by the saint himself Life, no. 8.. That monastery, destroyed by the Northmen, was restored at the end of the 11th century by Odo, bishop of Bayeux, certain monks being summoned from Mont-Saint-Michel, and shortly afterward, in the year 1096, he gave it to the abbey of Saint-Bénigne of Dijon Mabillon, Benedictine Annals, book LXIX, no. 44 (vol. V, p. 369)., to which it remained subject with the title of priory until the year 1792 [On the history of the priory of Saint-Vigor see Gallia Christiana, vol. XI, p. 404; A. de Caumont, Monumental Statistics of Calvados, vol. III, p. 440 and following; Faucon, Historical Essay on the Priory of Saint-Vigor-le-Grand (Bayeux, 1861).]. Now few ruins of the old priory remain; the church has been wholly overthrown, and a new one was erected from the foundations in the 18th century De Caumont, work cited, p. 437.. A statue of St. Vigor which in that

is seen is also of recent work. But in the sanctuary of the same church there is still kept a marble seat which they report to have been St. Vigor's, and on which by ancient custom the newly created bishops of Bayeux were formerly accustomed to sit on the day before they were brought into their city with solemn pomp. This is described thus by an old ceremonial: Let the choir go with the clergy and people and in procession to Saint-Vigor, and there, the bishop being found in the monastery prepared, vested in a cope, … let him be led before the stone chair of St. Vigor, and let him make him sit in it for a little Ibid., p. 438; Faucon, p. 155: compare pp. 145, 154–159.. There was kept also in the church of the priory of Saint-Vigor, and then, that church being torn down, there lay placed in a corner of the parish cemetery until the year 1823 (in which year it was broken up) a baptismal basin likewise of marble, which St. Vigor was reported to have used in baptizing catechumens. A description and picture of this basin, whose fragments are today kept in the museum of the Society of Antiquaries at Caen, may be seen in Faucon Work cited, pp. 145, 149, 224. Compare De Caumont, vol. III, 438–439..

[55] of Saint-Sulpice in that place, Adjoining the city of Bayeux and the village of Saint-Vigor is also the village of St. Supplicius or, as it is commonly called, of St. Sulpice, whose church venerates St. Vigor as secondary patron, and there is shown there a statue of the 12th or 13th century, which presents the saint as fairly young, yet adorned with chasuble, miter and episcopal crozier, and an animal not unlike a puppy with its body upright leaning against him; but perhaps it is not so certain that this effigy first represented St. Vigor, and not another saint. For these things on the veneration of St. Vigor in the church of Saint-Sulpice, as for the rest that have been inserted in this paragraph with no other source indicated, we are indebted to the signal kindness of the venerable and most learned man E. P. Sauvage, priest of the diocese of Rouen, praised more than once in our Acts, as one who has deserved exceedingly well of our work.

[56] Reviers, Celebrated in the history of St. Vigor is the ancient village of Radoverus (Reviers), about six leagues distant to the east of Bayeux, where the saint is reported to have stayed on first coming to the region of Bayeux Life, no. 3.. In that village there also existed a priory distinguished by the name of St. Vigor Le Cointe, Annals of the Franks, at the year 530, no. 15., and its present church has been consecrated under the same title; but it is not recorded to preserve any ancient monument of his veneration. Near the church there was once seen a chapel of St. Christina too, in which place according to popular tradition St. Vigor lived for some time with some disciples [Lambert, Note on ancient burials found at Reviers, p. 440. Compare De Caumont, vol. I, p. 367.].

[57] and many others in the diocese of Bayeux. Besides these, in the diocese of Bayeux St. Vigor is or was held as principal patron by the churches of Maiseti (Maizet) A. de Caumont, work cited, vol. I, p. 148.; Longi Villaris (Longvillers) Ibid., p. 179.; Cheusii (Cheux), where also on one of the keystones of the vault in the choir there is carved (12th or early 13th century) an effigy of St. Vigor wearing the miter and pastoral staff and holding two dragons bound with chains Ibid., p. 219.; Alteriæ (Authie), in which a few years ago there was read this inscription placed above the west door on the interior wall in the 11th or 12th century: On the fourth of the Ides of April this church was dedicated in honor of St. Vigor Ibid., pp. 281, 283.; Columbi (Coulons) Ibid., p. 293.; Columbeii (Colomby-sur-Thaon) Ibid., p. 349.; Collevillæ (Colleville-sur-Orne) Ibid., p. 402.; Cagnei (Cagny) Ibid., vol. II, p. 51.; Burgisbud (Bourguébus) Ibid., p. 124.; Solariæ (Soliers) Ibid., p. 125.; Brittevillæ (Bretteville-sur-Laize) Ibid., p. 210.; Urvillæ Ibid., pp. 249, 251.; Petrariarum (Perrières) Ibid., p. 326 and following.; Villaris Caniveti (Villers-Canivet) Ibid., p. 504.; Sancti Vigoris de Modiis (Saint-Vigor-de-Mieux) Ibid., p. 534.; Sancti Vigoris de Meseretis (Saint-Vigor-des-Maiserets) Ibid., vol. III, p. 22.; de Damno voto (Danvou) Ibid., p. 220.; de Culto fermentoso (Coulvain) Ibid., p. 248.; Trungeii (Trungy) Ibid., p. 360.; Jueti (Juaye) Ibid., p. 361.; Columbariæ super Seulam (Colombiers-sur-Seulle) Ibid., p. 539; Bernesci (Bernesq) Ibid., p. 710.; Asneriarum (Asnières) Ibid., p. 777.; Anglicæ villæ (Englesqueville) Ibid., p. 779.; Bruticuriæ (Brucourt), adorned with an ancient effigy of St. Vigor Ibid., vol. IV, pp. 108, 107.; Crevicori (Saint-Vigor-de-Crèvecœur) Ibid., vol. V, pp. 417, 419.; and de Lisoriis (Lisores), where a painted image of St. Vigor appears beside the chief panel placed on the principal altar Ibid., pp. 654, 656..

[58] Churches consecrated under the title of St. Vigor in the diocese of Rouen The two churches indicated in the last place belonged to the old diocese of Lisieux, now united with that of Bayeux. For the veneration of St. Vigor was derived from Bayeux to the others that made up one ecclesiastical province with it under the metropolis of Rouen, namely Rouen, Lisieux, Évreux, Coutances, and Avranches, which is now united with it, and Sées Compare above no. 14.. In the present diocese of Rouen two churches dedicated under the title of St. Vigor may be indicated: one in the city of Rouen itself, assigned to the public treasury and sold at the end of the last century in the time of the great upheaval, and never afterward restored to divine worship, of which an exact description has been given us by the distinguished A. Sarrasin in his pamphlet on the suppressed churches of Rouen published ten years ago The suppressed churches of Rouen (Rouen 1874), p. 9 and following.; the other in the village called Saint-Vigor d'Imonville, to which once a year, namely on the Sunday after the third day of November, which has been assigned for celebrating the solemnity of St. Vigor, there is a concourse of the people from the neighboring places as if to a yearly market, from which it may be conjectured that there was once a celebrated pilgrimage there on that day to St. Vigor.

[59] and in the dioceses of Évreux, In the diocese of Évreux likewise two churches distinguished by the title of St. Vigor have become known, one from which the village of Saint-Vigor itself is named, ten kilometers distant to the south of Évreux, the other in the town of Pont-de-l'Arche. In this latter there is seen, attached to the principal altar, a very ancient statue of holm-oak, brought there once from the nearby monastery of Bon-Port. To it there is a great concourse of mothers bringing weak little children, for whom they ask vigor from the saint: their custom is that, many cotton bands having been brought to the saint's statue and cut into two parts, they leave one part laid up with him, and bind the others on the weak limbs of the little child. There seems to be no doubt that that strange kind of piety, which has been observed there from antiquity and beyond the memory of man, arose from the very name of St. Vigor: of which thing many other examples too may be brought forward Compare Cahier, Characteristics of the Saints, under Calembour.. Relics of St. Vigor too are honored in the same place Compare above no. 51., laid in an oak case, which every year on the second Sunday of the month of July (which was perhaps the day of the translation) are carried around with solemn pomp. Finally there was once also a confraternity of St. Vigor in the church, which ceased forty years ago. All these things we have received from a letter of the venerable present dean, communicated to us through the Reverend Monsieur Sauvage.

[60] Coutances In the diocese of Coutances five parish churches glory in St. Vigor as patron: namely Sancti Vigoris (Saint-Vigor-les-Monts), Joganvillæ and Briquevillæ (Briqueville-les-Salines or Briqueville-sur-Mer), which belonged to the old diocese of Coutances; and those that belonged to the old diocese of Avranches, Tanensis (Tanis), where there is seen a window in which in painted glass St. Vigor is represented trampling a dragon under his feet, and Campiaci (Champeaux), where a not inelegant statue of St. Vigor made in the 16th century is preserved: to the former of these many were once accustomed to come for the sake of pious pilgrimage, now very few. Moreover the church of the monastery of Cerisy (in the present village of Cerisy-l'Abbaye or Cerisy-la-Forêt) was once consecrated in the name of St. Vigor Hermant, History of the diocese of Bayeux, p. 51., and the saint was honored with singular veneration too in the parishes of Vauville and of Teurteville-au-Bocage, in each of which places there was a priory subject to the priory of Saint-Vigor of Bayeux Faucon, Historical Essay on the Priory of Saint-Vigor-le-Grand, pp. 111, 113..

[61] and of Sées.. Finally in the diocese of Sées St. Vigor is venerated as patron in the parishes of Athis and Mesnil-Gondouin.

[62] The veneration of St. Vigor in the dioceses of Arras and Amiens. Outside the province of Rouen the veneration of St. Vigor indeed flourishes in the dioceses of Arras and Amiens Compare above no. 14.; but no church or oratory consecrated under his title has become known to me besides a chapel sacred to him in the church of Saint-Riquier Corblet, Hagiography of the diocese of Amiens, vol. IV, p. 663.. In the same church the effigy of our saint is represented by a statue placed in the chapel of St. Angilbert, and besides by another statue attached to the wall by which the tower is supported at the doors of the church, by which St. Vigor is shown leading away by his stole a dragon gaping with six heads Corblet, ibid., p. 664; Cahier, Characteristics of the Saints, p. 318..

LIFE OF ST. VIGOR.

Vigor, bishop of Bayeux. (S.)

BHL Number: 8609, 8611, 8612, 8613

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

This Life, as we have warned above Compare the Preliminary Commentary, nos. 1, 2., we publish from seventeen codices, of which eight seem to present its more original text, namely 1. Chartres 68; 2. Paris 13765; 3. Arras 462; 4. Brussels 7460; 5. Douai 838; 6. Compiègne and 7. Marchiennes, whose apographs have been preserved for us by the Paris codex 11773; 8. Saint-Omer 746. We have set down the variant readings of all these to the first text. The other nine codices, from which we bring forward the more corrected text, so agree among themselves that there was no room for noting variant readings. The few which may seem of some importance we shall indicate in the margin.

TEXT, AS IT SEEMS, ORIGINAL.

Prologue. Here begins 3, 8 omit the whole number. the LIFE prologus in vita 4–6; prologus vitæ 7. OF THE MOST BLESSED sancti 4–7; sancti ac b. 2. Bishop omits 2, 5; et confessoris adds 4. Vigor, WHICH IS CELEBRATED ON THE KALENDS OF NOVEMBER (que-nov.) omits 4–7.. Glory et honor adds 2. to almighty

God the Father omits 4–7. and to Domino adds 4–7. Jesus Christ his Son and to the Holy Spirit, the true God, abiding in perfect Trinity, maker and restorer creatori 4–7. of the human race. It is fitting then, for the edification of holy Mother Church, redeemed by the blood of Christ word erased, corrected redempta 1., whom he has presented to himself as a glorious bride omits 4–7., having no spot or wrinkle, to write the lives of the saints (v. s.) sanctorum vitam 2., which qui 4–7. have shone like lights of the world omits 2, 7; in mundo 4–6., and, the darkness tenebris 2, 4–7. of ignorance and errors erroris 4–6. being driven away, have illumined infundebant 2; infuderunt 4–7. with clear omits 6. light the hearts in cord. 2. of believers fidelium 6.. For after the glorious ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to the heavens and after the preaching of the blessed apostles spread through the whole world, holy martyrs and confessors rose up for the adornment of holy omits 2, 4–7. Church. Among whom blessed Vigor, pontiff, shone like a most bright lamp with the faith of Christ. Of this (beatus-hujus) omits 2, 4–7. same blessed Vigor, bishop omits 4, 6. of the city of Bayeux, we undertake to write the life; by whose examples and miracles (e. a. m.) miraculis atque exemplis 2, 4–7. of virtues omits 4, 5. the aforesaid city merited to be made illustrious Explicit prologus adds 4..

[2] The birth, education, and virtues of St. Vigor. [Incipit vita sancti Vigoris episcopi 3, 5, 7; Incipit vita sancti Vigoris episcopi et confessoris, cujus festivitas est kalendas novembris 4; Incipit vita 6; Vita sancti Vigoris, cujus corpus est in monasterio sancti Richarii 8.]. So blessed (I. b.) Beatus itaque 3–7. Vigor, from the province of Arras ex Atrebatensi 3, 8; Atrebatensi 4–7. provinciæ 2., was sprung ortus 2. from parents a par. 6. of nobility and faith so 1, 2, 4; inclitis adds 3, 8; præclaris adds 5, 7; pollentibus adds 6.. While he was not yet brought forth in his mother's womb, his venerable mother, weighed down by sleep, merited to hear from a holy omits 4–7. angel that she had in her womb a son omits 6. whom the Lord would make illustrious by his grace (g. s.) s. g. 2, 4–7.. For autem 3, 5, 7; ergo 8. he was born ^a in the times of Childebert, illustrious illustris 2, 3, 5, 7, 8; omits 4, 6. king of the Franks, and educated within the monastery of the gracious father Vedast ^b in the aforesaid province (p. p.) prov. præf. 5, 7., dwelling in the religion of the monks. And such was the obedience and humility (o. a. h.) h. a. o. 4–7. in him that omits 2, 3, 8. in the very years of his adolescence and boyhood he seemed haberetur 2. among ut inter 2, 3, 8. the others more favored gratior 2. than all omits 2; omnibus 3, 8.. His parents according to the nobility of the world were omits 2–8. very omits 2–8. wealthy, and magis 2–8. desired rather to have him surviving in the wealth of things than to leave him to the training institutum 2, 4. of religion; but the man sanctus vir 7. of God Domini 4–7. spurned omits 2–8. these things omits 2–8. according to the evangelical evangelii 2. command (e. m.) evangelium 3–8., as the Lord (ut Dom.) ubi 2–8. says: He who leaves father and mother and lands uxorem et agros et pompam seculi 2; omits 4–7. for my sake will receive a hundredfold and will possess eternal life, and he was eager rather magis 2–8. to gape after heavenly things cœlestibus 3–8. than to abound inundare 4–7. in earthly riches operibus 5.. Finally, courting nakedness and want rather omits 2., whatever he could have he secretly paid out to the poor. To such a degree therefore ergo 3–5, 7; vero 6. was he inspired by the Lord divinitus adds 2, 3. that he was equaled coæquaretur 3–7; (in tantum-æquaretur) omits 8. in merits to blessed Abraham patriarchæ adds 2, 8., to whom it was said: Go out from your land and from your omits 3–5, 7. kindred and omits 4. from your father's house, and I will make you crescere adds 8. into a great nation.

[3] [He leaves his homeland; at Reviers in the region of Bayeux he converts many idolaters to the true faith.] So this omits 8; (Iste ig.) Ig. iste 2. saint, desiring pilgrimage exiit adds 2, 4, 7; sed adds 3, 8., not knowing nescio 5, 7. where he was going ire 7., but omits 8. inspired by the divine nod, whose Spirit semper (sp. omitted) 7. works all things as he wills, went to the parts of the West partes 2–8., that where the setting of the sun was seen videbatur 3, 5, 6., justice might appear (j a.) ibi j. a. 8; justitiæ ab hujus temporalis ortu solis justitiæ apparet 2., and ut 8., the errors (eff. err.) effugatis errorum 2–4, 6, 8; effugatis erroribus 5, 7. and atque 6; et 8. darkness tenebris 2–8. of vices being put to flight, the true light might rise in the hearts of believers. So ergo 3–6, 8. taking with him one young boy, Theodemir Theodemiro 2–8. ^c by name, he came to the region of Bayeux. When he quem 2. was on the way, an angel of the Lord warned him omits 2. in sleep (e. a.) a. e. 3; dicens adds 5, 7, 8.: Go on, he said omits 3, 5, 7, 8., on omits 2, 3; per 4–8. the way that qua 2–6. you have resolved to go: for a place has been prepared for you by the Lord, and no small people through quæ per 2, 4–7. you is to be converted convertenda 3–8. (c. e.) e. c. 5–7. to the true faith. And then deinde 3., relying on the help of God, he came to ad 2, 8. the aforesaid region, to a certain village which is called Redeverus Deverus 2. ^d, and there began to lodge hospitari 3–8.. In that (q. i.) i. q. 2. place there were men brutish and ignorant of omits 2–8. the worship of God (c. D.) D. c. 2, 4–7; cultus Dei 3, 8., and omits 2. held by sacrilegious superstition, worshiping idols and adoring images (colentes-simulacra) omits 8., and, wrapped in many errors, they were wholly ignorant of God. In that eodem 2. place the man of God, staying rather long, began to preach the word of God to the inhabitants accolis 2. of that region loci 3–8.. And there, an oratory having been built ^e, spending his nights in vigils and prayers he constantly begged deprecantes 2; (a. D. p.) Dom. deprecabatur ass. 3–8. the Lord that he would enlighten the hearts of believers by the power of his Spirit (Sp. sui) sua Sp. 2; Sp. sancti sui 4–6; Sp. sancti 8. for acknowledging cognoscendam 3–8. the truth. And such tantam namque 2. grace the Lord conferred on him (D. g.) g. D. 8. that almost all omits 4, 6; (p. o.) o. p. 5, 7. were converted to the faith of Christ through his preaching and the example exempla 2–8; perplurima adds 3–6; plurima adds 7. of his holiness illius adds 3–7; (a. e. s.) omits 8..

[4] He raises an infant and restores health to many sick. [nos. 4, 5, 6 omitted at this place by 8, but then subjoined in a compendium in few words at the end of the Life.]. So God Christus Jesus 3–7., wishing at the same time (e. t.) omits 3–7. that his soldier be made manifest in that same region, it happened that a certain man, whom he had converted imbuerat 3, 4, 6; perduxerat 5, 7. to the faith of Christ omits 3., had a little omits 3. son, whom he loved according to so 1. temporal love (t. a.) consuetudinem temporalis amoris 3–7; nimium adds 2.. It fell out that the same boy omits 2. was pressed by strong fevers, and, brought deductus 3, 4, 6. to extremity extremum 2, 3, 5., he breathed out the spirit of life. His lifeless omits 3–7. little body the mother, worn out with exceeding griefs, laid on a little bed lectulum 2, 6., and with omits 3, 5. wailing ejulatu 2. and great clamor [(e. c. m.) magno cum clamore 4, 5; magnoque cum clamore 3, 6; magnoque clamore 7.] ran to the man of God, and began to cry out exclamare 4–7., saying: St. Vigor, if you are truly a servant of God (D. s.) s. D. 2–7., and si adds 3–7. what you announce annuntiatis 3. in the name of Christ Jesu Christi Nazareni 3–7. is true, come, raise et suscita 2. my son who quia 2. has died, and we will believe (e. c.) credemusque 6; omits 2. that the Lord has sent you into this region for our enlightenment. The man of the Lord lay prostrate in prayer (a. o.) in oratione 2–7., entreating the Lord omits 6. with tears (d. c. l.) c. l. d. 3. and saying: God, Father almighty, who sent your only unigenitum 2. Son, the Savior redemptorem 6. of the world, equal to you in your eternity, power and majesty, and who have called back revocavit 2. lost man (h. p.) olim p. h. 2. to the image agnitionem 2. of your name (n. t.) t. n. 4–7; tuæ gloriæ 3., hear me, your most humble and (h. e.) omits 3. unworthy (e. i.) indignumque 4–7. servant, and give back the soul within the innards of the boy illius pueri 2–6; hujus pueri 7., that the knowledge of your name may be made manifest in

this people (m. in p. i.) in p. i. m. 4–7.. And when he had finished his prayer, turning to the woman he said: O omits 2–7. woman, believe in God whom the Christians worship, and your son will live again (crede-tuus) in place of these words quid mihi molesta es? nonne dixi tibi 2–7.: for if you believe with your whole heart in the true God in Deum 3, 4, 6, 7., all things whatever quæ 3. you ask ab eo adds 3. you will obtain crede tantum et vivet filius tuus adds 2.? She, hearing the word of the man of God, went away believing. And when she had come to (e. f.) foribus 2; ad portam 3–7. the doors of her house, she saw her son vivum adds 2; e foribus adds 3–7. leaping out and omits 3–7. praising God Dominum 3. and saying (e. d.) dicentemque 2.: I praise and glorify and magnify (e. m.) magnificoque 3–7. Christ the Son of the living God per quem omnia facta sunt adds 2., through whom too omits 2. I have merited potui 6. to recover recuperare 2–7. health and life by the prayer of his servant Vigor. He lived vixitque 3–7. thereafter a long time with soundness of his state (st. sui) sui st. 4–7., serving God (s. D.) omits 3–7.. Because of this hoc 2–7. miracle therefore the fame of the man of God resounded more far and wide, and the medicine of the sick (ægr. m.) ægrotantibus medicinam 2. through his prayers orationem 2. the Lord omits 1. granted (D. t.) venit maxima 3–7.; so that the health of the blind, the lame and the other sick was omits 4–7; per intercessiones ipsius adds 4–6; per intercessionem ipsius adds 7. without doubt dubie 4–7; (n. d.) omits 3. distributed by the Lord (a. D.) per Dominum 3; sit adds 4–7. (sanitas-distributa) sanitates per illum Dominus plurimis impertiret 2..

[5] He puts to flight a monstrous serpent At that same time there was omits 3. a certain man in the same region, Volusian by name, very wealthy, enriched with estates and households and possessions erat multis adds 3; multis adds 4–7.. Hearing the fame of the man of God, he came to him, entreating him (depr. ill.) omits 3–7. and saying dicens 3–7.: Man of God, I know that quod 2; quia 3–7. you are mighty in omits 3. miracles, which quoniam 3. the Lord Deus adds 4–7. is already in plebe sua 2; omits 3–7. working through you. I ask ergo adds 3, 7. that you come to my possession: for in a certain place of the wood there is a very monstrous serpent, which burns comburit 6. men multos adds 2. and many multa 2–7. cattle with its breath, and no one has dared [(a. e.) audet 3; and then after in circu, a leaf having been cut out, what follows is missing up to the end of no. 9 (compare ibid.).] to touch anything in the circuit of that place. Come then, if perhaps you can free us by your prayers from destruction by the serpent. To him the man of God ait adds 2.: I cannot, he said omits 2., do facere 2. anything by myself, unless Christ the Son of God, who gave his disciples power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the might of the enemy, gives me constancy for crushing the cunning of the most crafty callidi 4–7. serpent. Go back modo adds 4–7. from here, and on the third day return remea 2, 5, 7., and if it is the will of God (v. d. e.) e. v. d. 2., I will go with you. So the man of God according to his custom, prostrating himself in prayers oratione 4–7., persevering for two days in omits 2, 4–7. fasts, wetting his eyes with a fount fonte 2; et fonte 4–7. of tears, entreated supplicavit 4–7. the mercy of the Lord that through his prayer servi sui 4–7; (p. o. e.) omits 2. he should overcome superare posset 2, 4–7. that same serpent. And on the third equidem 4–7. day, going to the aforesaid place, he found the path by which the same serpent went to a spring of water and came back again to its cave, which qui 2, 7; intra adds 4. path of the ancient walls (i. a. m.) intra antiquam maceriem 2. was set under the root of a certain tree of great size omits 4–7. constitutum 4–7; (cujusdam-consitum) juxta cujusdam arboris radicem 2.. Drawing near to the same idem 2. cave, he said to the serpent: Ancient serpent and Satan sathanas 2; (a. e. s.) e. s. a. 4–7., I command you in the name of Jesus Christ Domini nostri adds 2., the Son of the living God, who gave his servants et adds 2. the power to walk upon the asp and the basilisk and to trample conculcandi 5, 7. the lion and the dragon, to come out of that illo 2, 4, 7. cave. And it illico adds 2. came out, gnashing (e. s.) exiens stridet 4–7. its teeth, its head raised, vomiting flames flammas 2, 4–7., and as if ready to devour. For omits 2, 6; autem 5, 7. its length was (e. e. e. l.) long. ej. er. 2. forty feet in number (p. n.) n. p. 4–7. and its appearance was omits 2. very terrible. As soon as the servant of God [famulum 4–7; (v. e. d. f.) d. f. v. 2, clauso ore et depressa cervice venit ad eum, ille autem adds 4–7 (and compare below note 52).] saw it omits 2, 4–7., he raised his hand and cast objecit 5, 7. the sign of the cross upon it. And it, its mouth closed and its neck bowed, came to him (p. a. e.) a. e. p. 2.. Then (v. e.) tunc vir 2. the man of God (At ille-Dei) omits 4–7 (compare above note 48)., taking arrepto 2; et arrepto 4–7. his orarium suo adds 2, 4, 7., bound its neck, and handed it to his servant, by name omits 2. Theodemir (f. s. n. T.) prædicto discipulo suo 4–7., like a gentle mansuetam 2, 4–7. sheep, and said to him: Go and lead it as far as the shore of the sea, nor ne 2, 4–7. let it have power to stay in this place any longer. Then all the peoples (o. p.) omnis populus 2. who had come together for that spectacle (s. i.) i. s. 2; hoc sp. 4–7. glorified God, saying: Truly God is (d. e.) e. d. 4, 6. in his servant, through which quem 2, 4–7. such a miracle is done fecit 4–7. in the eyes of living men (v. h.) videntium omnium 4–7.. But so 1. (a. v.) inter quos 2. Volusian, prostrating himself at the feet of the blessed man (p. b. v.) b. v. p. 2., confessed that God is omits 4–7. wonderful in his servants sanctis 4–7.. Then he handed over to him the whole omits 5–7. place illum adds 2. which is called Cerisy ^f, which was girded (i. g. c.) c. i. g. 4–7. around for about 35 miles [(milia XXXV) triginta quinque viculis 4–7; millibus triginta quinque cum omni possessione sua 2.].

[6] again and a third time. Another alius 4–7. serpent (a. v.) at vero idem 2. came out again (e. i.) i. e. 2. in the place which is called Cella ^g; from which it is cast out fugatus est 4–7. by the same man Dei adds 4–7.. And finally there came out (a. d. e.) exiit item 4–7. another omits 2; miræ magnitudinis adds 4–7. in another place (a. l.) alium locum 2; omits 4–7 (compare the next note). across the strait of the sea in quodam loco adds 4–7., which is called Cameron ^h; to which (a. q.) cui 4–7. the man of God gave a command (p. d.) omits 4–7.. I command you, he said, dragon, not to touch dry land any more ultra 4, 6; omits 5, 7., nor to harm anyone et statim (tunc statim 7) dedit se præcipitem in mare adds 4–7.. For this reason the aforesaid estates were handed over to the man of God (v. D.) sancto Vigori 4–6. in possession possessionem 2, 4–7..

[7] He is consecrated bishop of Bayeux. And when cum 6, 8. the fame of his beati Vigoris 8. virtues was growing far and wide (l. l.) longius 2. so 1. because of this miracle done [(h. m. f.) h. miraculo f. 2, talibus miraculorum factis 4–7; (pro-facti) omits 8.], it happened that the bishop of the city of Bayeux passed to the Lord. Then the whole congregation of the clergy with a multitude of the people, gathering collegerunt 2 (and compare the next note) themselves together (clericorum-simul) ejusdem civitatis clericorum seu laicorum 4–8., asked petieruntque 2; petiit 4–7; petivit 8. unanimously of King Childebert (a. r. C.) omits 2, 4–8. that St. Vigor should become their pontiff ^k. Why should I draw out my discourse longer? By the nod of God ergo 4–8. and the favor of very many pontiffs he was ordained bishop (p. f. o. e. e.) f. p. ep. est ord. 4–8; præfatæ civitatis adds 2. ^l. Thereafter the aforesaid man of God Dei omits 2, and compare the next note was eager more and more to carry out the service of the Lord by days and by nights [(deinceps-noctibus) quem honorem

virtutum operatione bonarum (et bonorum omnium exercitiis 8) honoravit (decoravit 8): nam studuit deinceps magis ac magis purum Domino Deo suo (D. D. s. deinc. m. a. m. p. 5–7) reddere (r. D. D. s. p. 8) famulatum die noctuque 4–8.], to give himself to omits 2, 4–8. fasts, to omits 4–8. vigils, to omits 2, 8; et 4–7. prayers, to omits 4–6, 8. divine readings etiam adds 4–8., and to omits 4–8. preachings.

[8] He converts idolaters, King Childebert lending help. At that same fere 2; itaque 4, 6; omits 5, 7, 8. time, while (per-dum) dum quadam die beatus Vigor 8. he was going to preach prædicationem 4–7., he came to a mountain which was called tunc vocabatur 2; vocabatur 4, 5, 7. Phanus, but now is called Chrismatus, a mile uno adds 4–8, and compare the next note from the city (n. v. C. d. m. a. u.) m. uno a. u. n. v. C. d. 4–7. ^m. On this mountain there was a stone effigy in the form of a woman, which quam 2, 4–7. the inhabitants of that place were accustomed to venerate as a sacred thing (in quo monte-solebant) omits 8.. When the man of God (v. D.) omits 2, and compare the next note began according to his custom to announce the word of God there [(qui dum-cœpisset) vir igitur Dei dum solito more verbum vitæ æternæ cœpisset annuntiare ibi 4–7; cumque ibi solito more cœpisset verbum Dei prædicare 8.], the whole multitude of the common rustics (r. v.) vulgi 2., rising up, cast him out with insult [(consurgens-eum) omnes illi (illi omits 8) rustici commoti in ira (in ira omits 8) veluti bruta animalia ejecerunt eum cum magna injuria 4–8, and compare below note 16.], saying: We will hold to the custom of our fathers and forebears (e. p. n. t.) n. e. p. t. 4, 6; t. e. p. 5, t. p. 7., and we will by no means withdraw from the worship of our gods, nor will we obey unquam adds 4, 5, 7. your precepts (dicentes-præceptis) omits 8.. For this reason the man of God withdrew with anger from that same place (r. l.) l. r. 8.. And taking counsel consilio vero (vero omits 8) post 4–8., he went to King Childebert, telling him how omnis adds 2, 6. the region of Bayeux had been converted to the worship of God veri Dei 2, 4, 5, 7, 8; omnipotentis adds 4–7. except [p̄ter 1, and so wherever in our text the prefix præ is read written in this manner.] that aforesaid omits 2, 8. mountain, which, deluded by profane diabolical superstition [(profanam-illusus) superstitione diabolica 2; profana superstitione 4–7; omits 8.], was held detinebatur 8. entangled annexus 2; omits 8. in diabolical omits 2; adhuc adds 8. errors. Hearing quod 4–7; omits 2, 8. autem adds 2; hæc adds 8. this, King Childebert, that execrable inhabitants accolas 2; and compare the next note dwelt on the aforesaid mountain (in præfato-habitare) videlicet in illo monte hab. ex. inc. 4–7; omits 8., marveling at the holiness of the man of God omits 8. and the fame of his virtues earlier, as it seems, virtutes 1. omits 8, and compare below note 45; (f. v. e.) e. f. v. 4–7., swayed to mercy, said to the man of God (v. D.) beatum Vigorem 4–7.: It is known to all [(cunctis-est) sicut comperi 2; si comperit sanctitas vestra (and omits the following words ven. pater) 4–7.], venerable father, that idem 2, 4, 6; quod idem 5, 7. the mountain and its inhabitants accolæ 2. are subject to the jurisdiction of the king of the Franks (r. f. s.) regiis subjacet 2; subjacent regis (regiis 6) 4–7., and in former times it was a fisc of the preceding kings (p. r. f.) regalis exstitit (exstiterit 5) 4, 5, 7; exstitit regalis 6. ⁿ. Behold, I hand over to you (t. t.) tibi trado 7; pater adds 4–7. the aforesaid place (m. l.) montem ipsum 4–7. with all its ejus 4–7; (h. s.) s. h. 2. inhabitants in perpetual possession, that you may destroy all the uncleanness of the profanity of idolatry (p. i.) i. p. 4–7. and build ædificato 2. a church consecrated [consecrandam 2; dedicatam 6; (flexus-consecratam) tradidit ei ipsum montem cum omnibus appenditiis suis in perpetuam possessionem et ut ibi ædificaret ecclesiam Christi nomine consecratam 8.] in the name of Christ in chr. 4, 5, 7.. And his envoys being sent to the aforesaid place montem 4–8; venerabilis episcopus adds 4–7., they fulfilled implevit 6. all things as we have said before; and, the place being cleansed, the whole people of Bayeux, running together concurrens 2; (o. p. B. c.) omnes Baiocasini cucurrerunt 4–8. to the man of God, with one accord built ædificantes 4–8, and compare below note 59. a church, and the whole people was made omits 2. devout to him, and they gave the name of that mountain (n. i. m.) ei nomen mons 2, 6; monti nomen 4; nomen monti, 5, 7. Chrismatus Chrismatis 2; Chrismato 4–7. ^o. From that ergo adds 4–7. day it was decreed that all the pontiffs (o. p.) pontifex 4–7. of that city should baptize three infants there at the paschal solemnity (s. p. i. b.) p. s. baptizaret i. 4–7. [p], and ac 2; tunc adds 4–7. then with the relics of the saints omits 2, 4–7. and with presbyters and deacons vested induti 2; indutis 4–8. in sacred garments, with a choir of singers, should return on foot (r. p.) pedetemptim remearet ad propria 4–7; (omnisque populus-pedibus) omits 8.. There ran together concurrebant 4, 6. igitur 4–7; omits 8. to the same man of God (ad-Dei) inibi 4–7, and compare below note 65; ad beatum Vigorem 8. a multitude of neighboring omits 8. bishops populorum 2; fidelium 8. in the same place (i. e. l.) ad eumdem virum Dei 4–7; omits 8., and qui 5, 7. they handed over tradebat 8. to him their estates omits 4–8. and possessions suas adds 4–8., and a very great multitude of clergy (m. c.) c. m. 8. [q] there eodem in loco 4–7; omits 8. submitted themselves under the service of God [(sub-subdebant) in Domini famulatum subsistebant 2; subdebant (subdebat 5, 7) se sub Dei famulatum (famulatu 5, 7) 4–7; subdebat se Dei famulatui 8.].

[9] A leading man, invading his field, is divinely punished. It happened quoque 4–8., at the instigation intingante 1. of the devil at the same time (i. d. e. t.) e. t. i. d. 4–8., that a certain count of that region Baiocossinæ 8., Bertulf by name, kindled by the heats facibus 4–7. of avarice, as wretched (h. m.) m. h. 4–7. cupidity is wont (sicut-cupiditas) sit ut 8., tried sit 4–7; (c. e.) conaretur 8. to invade a certain field (a. q.) q. a. 4–8. in the same place (i. e. l.) omits 4, 5, 7, 8., which had long since been handed over (d. t.) t. d. 5, 7; ad prædictum locum adds 4–7. to the man of God [r]. And when with shameless spirit and great ambition (c. a. m.) omits 4–8., plows having been massed together (a. c.) aratris conglobatis 2, 4–7; conglobatis aratris 8., he had entered that same field, it was announced to blessed beato 2, 4–8. Vigor that with such cum tanta 2. madness the aforesaid præscriptus 4–8. count had occupied his field. He (i. v.) beatus vero Vigor 8., as he was now worn out by decrepit age, his eyes darkened, having almost pleneque 8. lost his light (l. a.) lumine amisso 2, 8; lumen amiserat 4–7., sent a messenger omits 8. to him, saying: I ask that you withdraw discedas 8. from the inheritance which the Lord noster adds 4, 5. Jesus Christ omits 2. handed over dedit 8. to me through the hands of religious men omits 4–7.. Otherwise I will ask my Lord to defend his inheritance. But he, puffed up as he was with pride, spurned his messenger [(n. e.) e. n. 8; dicens: Si non cito recesseris, ictibus meis jam tu percussus abibis adds 4–8.] with insult; and by no means acquiescing to the prayers of the man of God, he began to plow colere 4–8. that field more violently. And when these things had been reported to the servant of God, taking the vehicle in which he was accustomed to travel, going out from the city civitatem 2, 7; e civitate 4–6, 8. he came to the mountain; and entering the church with hands outspread he began to pray, saying (c. o. d.) oravit ad Dominum 8, which omits what follows up to super terram.: Lord God, my helper, defend the inheritance tuam adds 4–7. which you have given me. Raise your hand against the pride superbiam 2. of the enemy, for he has done evil to your servants (i. s. t.) inimicus 2.. Put down the mighty from their seat and exalt the humble in faith, that all may know that you alone are mighty and wonderful over all omits 2, 4–7. the earth. Not yet then omits 2; itaque 4–8. had the man of God finished the words of his prayer, and behold, that same malignant and here 3 is now at hand again. most proud count (i. m. e. s. c.) s. c. subito i. m. 2. fell from the horse on in quo 8. which he sat (q. s.) omits 6., and, his neck broken cruribus 3–7., he expired,

and at the same time lost his life and inheritance (v. e. h. a.) vita et hereditate amissa 2., and omits 2–8. is given over traditus est 3–8. to be enslaved cruciandus 2. to the eternal etiam adds 3–8. fires of Gehenna. And when the crowd (c. t.) turba autem 3–8. that had gathered venerat 5, 7; cum eodem comite cum adds 3–8. saw vidissent 2. what had been done fuerant 3–8., they fled reversa est ad propria 3–8. with the greatest haste: and from that illa 4–7. day no one omits 3–8. dared to invade the possession of the man of God (a. f. p. v. D.) p. v. D. a. f. (est 3, 8) 3–8..

[10] The birds prodigiously shut in a barn, and one of them revived. This number, which is lacking in 1, we insert in the original text from 2 alone, where however it does not seem copied from the main exemplar of this codex, inasmuch as it is added to the Life when already finished (compare the Preliminary Commentary, no. 3), and therefore we have printed it in smaller type. The codices 4, 5, 6, 7, since they come closer to the corrected text, we refer to it, and we note their differences from it as variant readings in that same place. — But in 3 the narrative is framed in such different words that it seemed better to present its reading entire here separately. With it 8 agrees in such a way that, with very few words changed, not a few are omitted. And so we join 8 with 3, and distinguish what properly belongs to each in this manner, that words read in 3 alone are marked by letters set with a somewhat greater interval than usual, and those proper to 8 alone are inserted in their place enclosed in curved lines (). Here then is that reading of codex 3 collated with 8, expressed in the aforesaid manner:

On a certain occasion too, when the venerable pontiff (beatus Vigor) was now pressed by ripe age, a very wonderful thing happened, because birds which (qui) are commonly called (dicuntur) gante, under the harshness of the winter cold, occupied a certain field of the blessed (sancti) prelate, already cultivated and flourishing with well-grown seeds. The keeper of the field, perceiving this, tried once and again and repeatedly to drive those birds away by throwing and threatening: and being by no means able to accomplish it, he announced to the holy pontiff how great a loss threatened his own cultivation. Hearing this (hæc), the blessed man said to the same keeper of the field (ad custodem agri illius dixit): Go in the name of God and bring (adducite) those same birds to me, commanding them through me by the power of Christ. Then that keeper hastened and ran (occurrit), and, gathering all those birds before him like any domestic animals, led them to the holy man of God. These the saint ordered to be shut within the roof of a certain barn of his, charging the keeper that he should do them no harm (faceret) and keep them unhurt. But he, caring less about the holy man's order, took presumptuously one which he had seen limping and ate it. In the morning the venerable pontiff, remembering from his breast the birds shut up under guard, called the attendant and ordered him to release all those shut up on account of their guilt and let them go where they wished (vellet eas). And (at ille quidem) obeying the prelate's order, he sent out the little birds (aves) and gave them leave to fly. But they, sensing by an intelligent perception that they did not make up their whole number (esse), that it might be given openly to be understood that they were sad over their lost companion, began, lingering around the roof, to cackle. While this went on for a long time, there was indicated (cum nuntiatum fuisset) to blessed Vigor so wonderful a deed, namely that the released birds refused to go away. Then the man of God, sensing through the Spirit (beatus Vigor) that some injury had been done to them, calling the attendant (ministro evocato) asked whether he had done anything unlawful (egisset) to them. He, ashamed for his negligence and fearing the foreknowledge of the holy man, told how he had eaten one which he had seen to be sick. And the saint (sanctus vero), feeling compassion for his shame (ait): Then, son, he said, bring me the little bones and feathers of that same little bird (quidquid ex eadem ave projecisti), for the Lord can remake what has been eaten (comestum), who has deigned to establish all things from nothing. Then he ran swiftly, and, the bones (collatis omnibus) and feathers and whatever (quæ) he had thrown away from the consumed bird having been gathered, he presented them to blessed Vigor. He, raising his right hand, set (tradidit) the sign of the cross on them and poured forth this prayer to the Lord: God, he said, almighty, through whom every creature is warmed, restore in your loving-kindness this bird which you had made, that all flesh may know that you rule over life and death through all ages of ages, amen. This completed, soon the bird rose revived, and, balanced in the air with a swift movement of its wings, flew away, wholly sound, with all the others. ] … wonderful miracle… the Lord, creator of all things, deigned to work through his servant, let it not be burdensome to you: for what the Lord wills to be known ought not to be kept silent by the faithful. So on a certain occasion, when the pontiff of the bishop was held to be of very great age, the man of venerable life, prelate of the city of Bayeux, the most blessed Vigor, outstanding in all things and through all, as the ancients reported and our predecessors often narrated, the cultivators of the fields scattered and sowed the seeds of the field, and the aforesaid excellent pontiff sowed in the hearts of believers the spiritual seed of the divine word. It happened too that a certain cultivator of his field scattered seeds of the field. For there fell out a very unexpected thing, that the seed sown in that field was suddenly and grievously eaten by innumerable birds, as if by stealth. And, as many report, saying in rustic fashion at their own discretion, it is usual for birds, as winter time draws near, to come forth from the eastern parts, proclaiming the chilly breezes, hastening to the western shores, as if fearing the want of waters: for in some manner, as it is said, when the north wind or Boreas blows with horrible blast the clouds are violently bound; and when the north-northwest wind blows, snows and hails are generated. So, this winter pressing on, in which such things go on around, a copious multitude of innumerable birds, which are commonly called gantii [t], often settle on the field of the saint abovesaid dicti, and invade it, eating the sown seed. […] by which he was accustomed to support himself, going to the field, threatening all those birds before him, he shut them in a barn. And he, returning home, gave himself to sleep and rested. In the morning before dawn, rising, being full of loving-kindness, and wishing with even mind to let the birds go: Return, he said, to your places, saying. Going out then they understood, looking around, as it were, that not all were present, and they began to cackle unbearably around the roof, as if grieving. And the man of the Lord, calling that keeper to whom he had committed the flock at evening: Tell me, he said, if you have done any harm to this flock. He, confounded, blushed violently; seeing that it was not hidden, he confessed that he had eaten one. So the saint of the Lord assuaged his anger: Bring me its bones, he said. And when they had been brought before him, trusting in the free loving-kindness of God, to whom nothing is impossible, he poured forth prayer from his inmost heart: God, he said, creator of all things, through whom all the elements subsist, who created all things and preserve what is created, without whom neither does the bird fly nor the beast walk, join this bird to its flocks. This prayer finished, the bird rises revived, joined to its flock, and returned with the others to where it came from [t].

[11] The pious death and burial of St. Vigor. Many other deeds of power too the divine loving-kindness Domini adds 2. worked operata 2–8. through its servant (s. s.) beatum 8. Vigor (p. s. s. V. o. e.) p. eum o. e. 3; o. e. p. eum 4–7., which are not held inserted inserta 2, 6; ascriptæ 3; ascripta 8. in this little page, lest they seem superfluous superfluæ 3. to fastidious readers. These hic 8; autem adds 2. few out of very many have been written, that the prudent reader may hope for spectare 6–8. and consider very many from the few. (s. e. c. p.) facta fuisse credere posset 2.. The blessed beatissimus 2. man died autem 3., old and full of days, on the day of the Kalends of November perfectus adds 3, 8., in the fear and faith of Jesus Christ our Lord (J. C. D. n.) D. n. J. C. 3–8., and, leaving very many disciples brought up in the faith of the Holy Trinity, he passed to Christ Dominum, 2, 8., and was buried on the same omits 3–8. mountain Chrismatus Chrismato 2–8. where he had built himself a monastery in honore sancti Petri apostoli 7.. Where ibique 2; ibi 5, 7. by his merits (m. e.) per merita orationum ejus 2; per ejus merita 3–8. the benefits of prayers [so earlier, but the first letters or were erased by the corrector 1; omits 2; orantium 6; plurima sanitatesque ægrotantium (expetentium 8) diversæ 3–8.] are afforded to all omits 2–8. usque in hodierum diem adds 6. by (p. a.) fiunt præstante. the Lord [nostro adds 3; usque in hodiernum diem adds 6; what follows up to amen omits 8, and compare below note 29.], who Deo Patri Spirituique (et Spiritui 3) sancto æqualis (coæqualis 6) adds 3–7. lives and reigns unto per cuncta 3–7. ages of ages (s. s.) seculorum secula 4–7.. Amen Explicit vita Sancti vigoris confessoris adds 4.

MORE CORRECTED TEXT.

Here begins the prologue to the Life of St. Vigor, bishop. — Glory and honor to almighty God the Father and to Jesus Christ his Son and to the Holy Spirit, the true God, abiding in perfect Trinity, maker and restorer of the human race. It is fitting, brothers, for the edification of holy Mother Church, redeemed by the blood of Christ, whom he has presented to himself as a glorious bride, having no spot or wrinkle, to write the life of the saints, who have shone like lights of the world, and, the darkness of ignorance and errors being driven away, have illumined the clear light in the hearts of believers. For after the glorious ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ to the heavens, and after the preaching of the blessed apostles in

the whole world, holy martyrs and confessors rose up for the adornment of the Church. Among whom we undertake to write the life too of blessed Vigor, bishop of the city of Bayeux, by whose miracles and examples of virtues the aforesaid city merited to be made illustrious. — Here ends the prologue.

[2] Here begins the Life of St. Vigor, bishop. — So blessed Vigor was born in the province of Arras of parents strong in nobility and faith. While he was not yet brought forth in his mother's womb, his venerable mother, weighed down by sleep, merited to hear from a holy angel that she had in her womb a son whom the Lord would make illustrious by his grace. For he was born [a] in the times of Childebert, illustrious king of the Franks, and educated within the monastery of the gracious father Vedast ^b in the aforesaid province, dwelling in the religion of the monks. And such was the obedience and humility in him in the very years of his adolescence and boyhood that among the others of his age he was held more glorious. His parents, wealthy according to the dignity of the world, desired rather to have him surviving in the wealth of things than to leave him to the institute of religion. But the man of God, according to the command of the Gospel, where it says: He who leaves father or mother and the rest for my sake will receive a hundredfold and will possess eternal life, was eager rather to gape after heavenly things * than to abound in earthly riches. Finally, courting nakedness and want, whatever he could have he secretly paid out to the poor. To such a degree therefore was he divinely inspired by God that he was equaled in merits to the blessed patriarch Abraham, to whom it was said: Go out from your land and from your kindred and from your father's house, and I will make you into a great nation.

[3] So this saint, desiring to bear pilgrimage, went out not knowing where he was going, but inspired by the divine nod, whose Spirit works all things as he wills, he went to the parts of the West, that where the setting of the sun was seen justice might appear, and, the darkness of errors and vices being put to flight, the true light might rise in the hearts of believers. So taking with him one young boy, Theodemir [c] by name, he came to the region of Bayeux. When he was on the way, an angel of the Lord warned him in sleep: Go on, he said, on the way that you have resolved to go; for a place has been prepared for you by the Lord, and a measureless people is to be converted through you to the true faith. And then, relying on God's help, he came to the aforesaid region, to a certain village which is called Redeveris ^d, and there began to lodge. In that place there were men brutish, ignorant of the worship of God, held by sacrilegious superstition, worshiping idols and adoring images, and, wrapped in many errors, they were wholly ignorant of God. In that same place the man of God, staying rather long, began to preach the word of God to the inhabitants of that region. And there, an oratory having been built ^e, spending his nights in vigils and prayers he constantly prayed God to enlighten the hearts of believers by the power of his Spirit for acknowledging the truth. For such grace the Lord conferred on him that almost all were converted to the faith of Christ through his preaching and his examples of holiness.

[4] So God, wishing at the same time that his soldier be made manifest in that same region, it happened that a certain man, whom he had converted to the faith of Christ, had a little son, whom he loved excessively according to temporal love. It fell out that the same boy was pressed by strong fevers, and, brought to extremity, breathed out the spirit of life. His lifeless little body the mother, worn out with exceeding griefs, laid on a little bed, and with wailing and great clamor ran to the man of God, and began to cry out, saying: St. Vigor , if you are truly a servant of God and what you announce in the name of Christ is true, come and raise my son, for he has died . For the Lord has sent you into this region for our enlightenment. The man of the Lord, hearing these things, prostrated himself on the ground, praying and entreating the Lord with tears and saying: Father almighty, who sent your only-begotten Son, the Savior of the world, equal to you in your eternity and power, and who have called back man once lost to the knowledge of your name, hear me, your most humble and unworthy servant, and give back the soul within the innards of that boy, that the knowledge of your name may be made manifest in this people. And when he had finished his prayer, turning to the woman he said: Woman, why are you troublesome to me? Did I not tell you that if you believe with your whole heart in the true God, all things whatever you ask you will obtain? Only believe and your son will live. She, hearing the word of the man of God, went away believing. And when she had come to the doors of her house, she saw her son alive, leaping out and praising God and saying: I praise and glorify and magnify Christ the Son of the living God, through whom I have merited to recover health and life by the prayer of his servant Vigor. He lived thereafter a long time in soundness, serving God. Because of this miracle therefore the fame of the man of God resounded more far and wide, and the Lord granted medicine to the sick through his prayers, so that the Lord imparted through him to very many the healing of the blind, the lame and the other sicknesses.

[5] At that same time there was a certain man in the same region, Velosian by name, very wealthy, enriched with estates and households and possessions. Hearing the fame of the man of God, he came to him, entreating him and saying: I know that you are mighty in miracles, since the Lord is working wonders through you among his people. I ask that you come to a certain possession of mine; for in a certain place of the wood there is a very monstrous serpent, which burns many men and beasts of burden with its breath, and no one has dared to touch anything in the circuit of that place. Come then, if you can free us by your prayers from destruction by the serpent. To him the man of God: I cannot, he said, do anything by myself, unless Christ the Son of God, who gave his disciples power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the might of the enemy, gives me constancy for crushing the cunning of the most crafty serpent. Go back from here, and on the third day return, and if it is the will of God, I will go with you. So the man of God according to his custom, prostrating himself in prayers, persevering for two days in fasts, wetted his eyes with a fount of tears, entreating the mercy of the Lord that he might be able to overcome that same serpent. And on the third day, going to the aforesaid place, he found the path by which the same serpent went to a spring of water and came back again to its cave, which was within an ancient wall beside the roots of a certain tree. Drawing near to the same cave, he said to the serpent: Ancient serpent and Satan, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, who gave to the servants of God the power to walk upon the asp and the basilisk and to trample the lion and the dragon, to come out of that cave. And it at once came out, gnashing its teeth, its head raised, vomiting flames, and as if ready to devour. Its length was forty feet in number, and its appearance was very terrible. As soon as the servant of God saw it, he raised his hand and cast the sign of the holy cross upon it. And it, its mouth closed and its neck bowed, came to him. Then the man of God, snatching his orarium, bound its neck , and handed it to his servant Theodemir like a gentle sheep, and said to him: Go and lead it as far as the shore of the sea, lest it have power to stay in this place any longer. Then the whole people, who had come together for that spectacle, glorified God , saying: Truly God is in his servant, through whom such a miracle is done in the eyes of living men. Among whom Velosian, prostrating himself at the feet of the blessed man, confessed that God is wonderful in his servants. Then he handed over to him that whole place which is called Cerisy [f], which was girded around for about thirty-five miles, with all his possession.

[6] But the same serpent came out again in the place which is called Cella [g]: from which it is cast out by the same man of God; and for this that place itself is handed over to him to possess. And finally the same serpent came out in other places across the strait of the sea, of which one is called Camelitum [h], the other, from the outcome of the matter, Chelydri fraus ⁱ. So the chief men of that region, hearing the fame of the man of God, came to him and entreated him to deign to free the people from the danger of the serpent. The man of the Lord, acquiescing to their entreaty, and crossing over to them, gave such a command to the serpent: I command you, he said, dragon, not to touch land any more, nor to harm anyone. For this reason the aforesaid estates with a very great circuit were handed over to the man of God in possession.

[7] And when the fame of his virtues was growing more widely because of this miracle done, it happened that the bishop of the city of Bayeux passed * to the Lord. Then the whole congregation of the clergy with a multitude of the people gathered themselves together, and asked unanimously that St. Vigor should become their pontiff [k]. Why should I draw out my discourse longer? By the nod of God and the favor of very many pontiffs he was ordained bishop [l]. Then the aforesaid man was eager more and more to carry out the service of the Lord by days and by nights, to give himself to fasts, to vigils and prayers, to readings, and to preachings.

[8] At that same time, while he was going to preach, he came to a mountain which was called Phanus, but now is called Chrismatum, nearly a mile from the city ^m. On this mountain there was a stone effigy in the form of a woman, which the inhabitants of that place were accustomed to venerate as a sacred thing. When he began according to his custom to announce the word of God there, the whole multitude of the common people, rising up, cast him out with insult, saying: We will hold to the custom of our fathers and forebears, and we will by no means withdraw from the worship of our gods, nor will we obey your precepts. For this reason the man of God withdrew with anger from that same place. And by counsel he went to King Childebert, telling him how the whole region of Bayeux had been converted to the worship of the true God except that mountain, which was held entangled in superstitions and diabolical errors. King Childebert, hearing that execrable inhabitants dwelt on the aforesaid mountain, marveling at the holiness of the man of God and the fame of his virtues, swayed to mercy, said to him: As I have found, venerable father, the same mountain and its inhabitants are subject to the royal jurisdiction * and in former times it was a fisc of the preceding kings [n]. Behold, I hand over to you the aforesaid place with all its inhabitants in perpetual possession, that you may destroy all the uncleanness of the profanity of idolatry and build a church to be consecrated in the name of Christ. And his envoys being sent to the aforesaid place, they fulfilled all things as we have said before. And, the place being cleansed, the whole people of Bayeux, running together to the man of God, with one accord built a church; and that whole people became devout, and they gave it the name Mount Chrismatum [o]. From that day therefore it was decreed

that all the pontiffs of that city should baptize three infants there at the paschal solemnity [p], and then with the relics and with presbyters and deacons vested in sacred garments, with a choir of singers, should return on foot. There ran together to the same man of God a multitude of neighboring peoples in the same place, and they handed over to him their estates and possessions; and a very great multitude of clergy [q] settled * there in the service of the Lord.

[9] It happened then, at the instigation of the devil at the same time, that a certain count of that region, Bertulf by name, kindled by the heats of avarice, as wretched cupidity is wont, tried to invade a certain field in the same place, which had been handed over to the man of God [r]. And when with shameless spirit and great ambition, plows having been massed together, he had entered that same field, it was announced to blessed Vigor that with such madness the aforesaid count had occupied his field. He, as he was now worn out by decrepit age, his eyes darkened and his light now almost lost, sent a messenger to him, saying: I ask that you withdraw from the inheritance which the Lord Jesus Christ handed over to me through the hands of religious men. Otherwise I will ask my Lord to defend his inheritance. But he, puffed up as he was with pride, spurned his messenger with insult, and, by no means acquiescing to the prayers of the man of God, he began more violently * to plow that field. And when these things had been reported to the servant of God, taking the vehicle in which he was accustomed to travel, going out from the city he came to the mountain; and entering the church with hands outspread he began to pray, saying: Lord God, my helper, defend the inheritance which you have given me. Raise your hand against the pride of the enemy, for the enemy has done evil. Put down the mighty from his seat and exalt the humble in faith, that all may know that you alone are mighty and wonderful over the earth. Not yet had the man of God finished the words of his prayer, and behold, suddenly that same malignant and most proud count fell from the horse on which he sat, and, his neck broken, he expired; at once his life and inheritance being lost, he is given over to be tormented in the eternal fires of Gehenna. And when the crowd that had gathered saw what had been done, they fled with the greatest haste; and from that day no one dared to invade the possession of the man of God.

[10] So that wonder, which by divine providence the Lord, creator of all things , deigned to work through his servant, let it not be burdensome to us: for what the Lord wills to be known ought not to be kept silent by the faithful (Illud-noscendum) omits 4–7. [s]. So on a certain occasion, when the venerable pontiff of Christ was now held by the greatest age (m. t. æ.) t. æ. m. 4, 6., as the ancients reported and as our predecessors narrated, men beyond doubt most truthful, it happened that a certain farmer scattered seeds of the field. For there fell out autem 5, 7. a very unexpected thing, that the seed sown in that field and now well grown was suddenly almost eaten by the root by birds. For in winter omits 5, 7; (h. i.) i. h. 4, 6. time, on account of the hoariness of the frosty season and the harshness of the winds and the crashes of the clouds, as if fleeing, they flew together from the eastern region to the western parts (o. p.) partibus occidentis 4–7., and those birds, which are commonly called gantae [t], invaded the holy pontiff's field, eating the sown seed, as we have said before. And one day that field's cultivator, seeing this, going at a swift run, wishing to resist the birds and not being able, returning back sad, reported to the holy man (s. v.) viro Dei 4–7., saying omits 4–6; a word having been scraped off, the corrector substituted visa 7.. The holy man, full of the grace of God, worn out as he was now by old age, taking the staff by which he was accustomed to support himself, going adiit 4–7. to the field, and threatening those omits 4–7. birds in the name of the Lord and leading them before him, shut reclusit 4–7. them in his barn. And he, returning home, gave himself to sleep and rested. In the morning, rising at dawn (s. d.) d. s. 4–7., and first applying himself to prayer, then he took pity on the birds, saying: In the name of almighty God, return to your places. Going out then, they understood, looking around, that not all were present.

So they began to cackle unbearably around the roof, as if grieving. Their sorrow the venerable prelate understood by God's nod; and calling that keeper (c. i.) i. c. 4–7. to whom he had committed the flock at evening (c. g. s.) s. g. c. 5–7.: Say, he said, if omits 6. you have done (Dic-quid) Quid, inquit 5, 7. any harm to this flock? He, confounded, blushed violently, seeing et videns 5, 7. that it was not hidden, and he confessed confessus 5, 7. that he had eaten one. The saint vero adds 4–7. assuaged his anger et ait adds 4, 6; (i. m.) verecundiam ejus mitigans ait 5, 7.: Bring defer 4–7. me the bones of that same little bird, he said omits 4–7.. And when they had been brought (e. a.) quibus allatis 5, 7. before him, trusting de adds 5, 7. in the free loving-kindness of God, to whom nothing is impossible, he poured forth prayer hanc orationem 5, 7. from his inmost heart: God, he said omits 5, 7., creator of all things, whom all omits 4–7. the elements serve, who created all things and preserve conservasti 4–7. what is created, without whom neither does the bird fly nor the beast walk, join this bird to its flocks earlier suis gregem, corrected suo gregi 6.. This prayer finished, the bird rises surrexit 4, 5, 7. revived; joined to its flock gregique 4–7., it returned regressa 4–7. with the others to where it came from venerat 4–7. [t].

[11] Many other deeds of power the divine loving-kindness worked through its servant Vigor, which are not held inserted in this little page, lest they seem superfluous to fastidious readers. These few out of very many have been written, that the prudent reader may be able to believe that very many were done, from the few. The most blessed man died, old and full of days, on the day of the Kalends of November, in the fear and faith of Jesus Christ our Lord, and, leaving very many disciples brought up in the faith of the Holy Trinity, he passed to the Lord, and was buried on the same mountain Chrismatum, where he had built a monastery in honor of St. Peter the apostle. Where through the merits of his prayers benefits are afforded by the Lord to the present day, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit through all ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

of his name he inscribed [Library of the School of Charters, 5th series, vol. III (1862), p. 122. Compare ibid., pp. 95–97.]. That oratory (which Trigan, from a certain popular tradition, indicates was founded by St. Vigor) Trigan, volume cited, p. 103. was afterward distinguished by the name of St. Reverendus himself and overthrown about the middle of the 18th century Ibid.. — Mount Phanus or Phaunus, according to Faucon Pamphlet cited, p. 44 and following., means the same as Mount of the Shrine, and took that name from a temple of Belenus built in that place. But he has brought forward no ancient testimony or probable indication by which he might prove these things and others joined to them about a school of druids once flourishing in that place, besides certain words of Ausonius about Phoebitius and Attius Patera [Commemoration of the Professors of Bordeaux, chapters 10, 4 (P. L., vol. XIX, pp. 856, 852).], from which it may only be concluded that Phoebitius was a priest of idols at Bayeux, sprung, as they reported, from the family of the druids.

p. Compare above the Preliminary Commentary, no. 53.

q. That is, of monks. Compare below the Commentary on St. Florbert, nos. 39–42.

r. The author of the legend of St. Vigor inserted in the present Breviary of Bayeux, following the opinion of some more recent writers, makes this Bertulf an idolater resisting Vigor out of zeal for his false religion. Of this no indication can be found See J. Lair, Library of the School of Charters, the year 1868, pp. 42–44.

t. That by this name wild geese (in the Flemish idiom ganzen) are designated has been indicated more than once in the Acts (at the Lives just cited). The name is already known to Pliny Natural History, book x, chapter 27.. Compare Du Cange, Glossary, at this word.

p. Compare above the Preliminary Commentary, no. 53.

q. That is, of monks. Compare below the Commentary on St. Florbert, nos. 39–42.

s. This little story, which occurs in not a few other Lives of the Saints of the Merovingian age,

namely of Sts. Pharaildis, virgin in Brabant Acta SS., vol. I of January, p. 172, no. 13., Opportuna, abbess of Sées in Gaul Vol. III of April, end of col. 2 of p. 67., Waldebert, abbot of Luxeuil Vol. I of May, p. 278, no. 5., Amalberga, virgin in Belgium Vol. III of July, p. 98, nos. 31–32., Leudomir, bishop of Châlons in Gaul Vol. I of October, p. 336, no. 8., and the English virgins Werburga Vol. I of February, p. 388, nos. 10–11. and Eanswida Vol. VI of August, p. 686, no. 8., we have indicated as probably interpolated into the original text of this Life [Preliminary Commentary, no. 3 (where I would have the latter part of annotation 2 deleted: Add…).]

* Some words are lacking in the codex at this place and below, a little after the middle of the number.

** egregius?

* thus in the codex.

* cœlestia Dijon, MP. 30, Br. 8929, Cîteaux.

* facere?

* non modica Br. 8929.

* (S. V.) omits Cîteaux.

* mortuus Paris 5353.

* qui Paris 5353, 16733 and 17006.

* eumdem, as above.

* suis Troyes.

* ejus Dijon, Paris 16733.

* eum Br. 8929.

* Carisiacus Troyes.

* migravit MP. 30, Paris 16733 and 17006.

* ditionibus Troyes, Br. 8929.

* (multitudo-subsidebat) these words are erased in MP. 30.

* vehementer Dijon, Paris 17006.

* dignata Troyes, MP. 1.

* (Dominus-omnium) omits Troyes.