ON ST. AMBROSE OF AGAUNE, ABBOT OF THE MONASTERY OF AGAUNE IN THE VALAIS,
IN THE YEAR DXX OR DXXI.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Ambrose, abbot of Agaune in Switzerland. (S.)
BY C. D. S.
§ I. The saint's memory in the sacred calendars. A Life written by a contemporary or near-contemporary author.
Of the old and celebrated monastery founded at Agaune in the Valais, at that place, namely, where the chief martyrs of the Theban legion are recorded to have suffered and been buried, [St. Ambrose was abbot of the monastery of Agaune, begun about the middle of the fourth century, after Hymnemodus,] and which thereafter and to this day has been called after St. Maurice, the leader of those martyrs Saint-Maurice en Valais., John Bolland and Godfrey Henschen treated in a few words in the Preliminary Commentaries to the Lives of St. Severinus Nos. 7 – 10 (Act. SS., vol. II Feb., p. 544). and St. Sigismund Nos. 3 – 5 (Act. SS., vol. I May, p. 83)., a little more fully the writers of Gallia Christiana Vol. XII, p. 782 ff.; then, to omit others, in our own days more accurately Gremaud Origines et documents de l'abbaye de Saint-Maurice d'Agaune., but most accurately of all, as regards the first times of the monastery, Alb. Jahn Geschichte der Burgundionem, vol. II, p. 286 – 324.. All of whom have recognized that beside the church which about or a little after the middle of the fourth century Theodore, bishop of Octodurum, built in the place of the passion of the Theban martyrs [Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 343, no. 11. Cf. E. F. Gelpke, Kirchengeschichte der Schweiz, vol. I, p. 92 – 93.], there was founded at the same time or somewhat later some monastery, over which at the end of the fifth century St. Severinus presided [Life of St. Severinus, no. 1 (Mabillon, Act. SS. O. S. B., sec. I, p. 569). Cf. Jahn, vol. cit., p. 288.]. But already at the beginning of the sixth century this monastery had so fallen away from regular observance that families of seculars, women not excluded, were inhabiting it Life of the Holy Abbots of Agaune to be edited below, no. 3 at the end.. It was restored to a better form, on the initiative of Maximus, bishop of Geneva, by Sigismund, son of Gundobad king of the Burgundians, recently converted from the Arian heresy Ibid., and he set over it Hymnemodus, summoned from the monastery of Griniacum Grigny. near Vienne in Gaul Life of the Abbots of Agaune, no. 4.. Soon Ambrose succeeded him Ibid., nos. 7, 8., of whom we are to treat in the present place.
[2] and he is celebrated in the Latin martyrologies from the most ancient onward. The memory of this saint on the 2nd day of November, on which, as we shall see below, he met his last day, is announced in the most ancient Latin martyrologies. Of him the Hieronymian in the Leiden codex, recently published among the Analecta Bollandiana: Of St. Ambrose, abbot of the monastery of Agaune Anal. Boll., vol. I (1882) p. 9 ff.. Ado: On the same day, the birthday of St. Ambrose, abbot of the monastery of Agaune, who was previously father of the monastery of the Isle-Barbe near Lyons and famous for great virtues, and when he had been transferred there on account of the standard of his excellent religion, rested with a blessed end in the Lord. Usuard pure: On the same day, of St. Ambrose, abbot of the monastery of Agaune, who, famous in great virtues of life and holiness,
rested with a blessed end in the Lord. There follow the Catalogue of Saints of Peter de Natalibus, the martyrologies of Maurolycus, Galesini and Canisius or Walasser, and finally the recent Roman: Of St. Ambrose, abbot of the monastery of Agaune. He is reported also by the Gallican martyrologies of Du Saussay, of Auxerre and of Evreux, and, too rashly, indeed falsely, claiming him for their Order Cf. below, no. 19., by the Benedictines Arn. Wion, Ménard, Bucelin, Heredia and Cherle.
[3] [His Life is known to us from the Life of the holy abbots of Agaune. An exemplar of which, than the Chifflet apograph] John Trithemius says that the Life of Ambrose was diligently written De viris illustr. O. S. B., bk. III, ch. 273.. But we know no other, nor do we find one cited or indicated anywhere, except that contained in the Life of the holy abbots of Agaune, namely of Hymnemodus, Ambrose, Achivus and Tranquillus, of which very few fragments were brought forward by Bolland in the Preliminary Commentary on St. Severinus Act. SS., vol. II Feb., p. 545, nos. 5, 8, 9, 10., by Henschen in the Commentaries on St. Sigismund Act. SS., vol. I May, p. 84., and by John Clé in the Commentary on St. Maurice and his companions of the Theban legion Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 316, no. 45 – 48.. The same, entire, transmitted to him by one of our colleagues from an apograph of Peter Francis Chifflet, the distinguished William Arndt published a few years ago Kleine Denkmäler aus der Merovingerzeit, p. 12 – 21.. Chifflet had found it in a very ancient ms. codex of the metropolitan Church of St. John of Besançon, immediately after the Lives of the Jura Fathers: Romanus, Lupicinus and Eugendus, and there followed it in the same codex the Verses on the Life of St. Probus and the Chronological series of the first twelve Abbots of Agaune. These three documents that same erudite man, of the highest merit for the ecclesiastical antiquities of Gaul, copied out, and inserted in a treatise which, entitled Illustrationes Jurenses, he had prepared for the press, but did not publish. That Besançon codex seems to have perished, but the Chifflet codex has been preserved for us, once of the Bollandian museum, but now of the Royal Library of Brussels 8287. On inspecting which it is readily established that the Besançon codex was copied rather accurately by Chifflet, but that afterwards in the apograph some words were from time to time emended, whether by the hand of Chifflet himself or by another, certainly in other ink.
[4] [and] A second Rosweyde apograph of the Life of the holy abbots of Agaune, taken, as is noted at its head, from a very ancient ms. in octavo of St. Martin of Trier, Chifflet had obtained from Heribert Rosweyde, and we are glad that it is preserved for us in another codex once of the Bollandian museum, now of the Royal Library of Brussels, where it is marked no. 8930. That apograph teems with many errors (for the most part corrected by a second hand), not all of which are to be ascribed to the copyist's yawning, as was already clear from the fact that some are also detected in the first writing of the Chifflet apograph flowing from the Besançon codex, and they must therefore be judged to have been common to both exemplars, the Besançon and the Trier. From the same I suspect were drawn the variant readings which the distinguished Arndt added to his edition of the Chifflet apograph (although far more could have been added from there), and which, not sufficiently rightly informed, he thought were noted by Chifflet himself. Moreover it must not be dissembled that the codex which in the place cited a little above (No. 3, from the Illustrationes Jurenses, fol. 1r) Chifflet calls very ancient and in another place (fol. 68r after the Lives of the Holy Abbots of Agaune) most ancient, is indicated by him in this latter place as written in Gothic minuscule character, which of course reveals to us a writing not so ancient.
[5] more ancient, found by us, we edit. It has been our fortune also to find a third exemplar of the same writing, a little more ancient than the two copies of which there has been talk so far, in a codex of the city library of Trier marked no. 578, otherwise 1376. That codex, which was formerly, as is noted on the first leaf, the Codex of the monastery of St. Matthias the Apostle outside the walls, of the Order of St. Benedict, is of paper, of small size (0m,203 × 0,138), written, if I remember rightly, in the fifteenth century. Apart from certain sermons, it consists wholly of Lives of saints, among which in the second place is presented the Life of the holy abbots of Agaune. From that more ancient exemplar, then, we are pleased to edit this work here, with variant readings added from the two Chifflet apographs, yet so that for the most part we do not take account of those differences that concern only the different manner of writing of different copyists or, as they say, orthography. And it has seemed better to present not only that part of the writing that concerns the rule of Ambrose, but the entire history of the first abbots of Agaune: both because that document, not so prolix and so frequently cited here and there according to the fragments published by our forebears, ought at last to be brought forward in our collection; and because the history of Ambrose is not alien to the history of the monastery of Agaune founded anew by St. Sigismund the king and of its first abbot Hymnemodus, but rather closely bound to it, and what follows about Achivus and Tranquillus, the successors of Ambrose, is very brief; and finally because through that writing the holiness of Hymnemodus, the first abbot from the restoration of the monastery, whom Ambrose followed, and of Achivus, who presided over it third, is no less celebrated than that of Ambrose himself, although, as we have indicated above, the name of Ambrose alone is read as inscribed in the sacred calendars. Nor do we believe that we shall do anything displeasing to the learned, if we subjoin to that Life that very brief document which is entitled Chronological series of the first twelve abbots of Agaune, which ends about the year 616 and is therefore not absurdly supposed to have been written in that same year or a little after. This the distinguished Arndt wrongly thought to be missing in the Chifflet codex.
[6] [The author of this document was a Romano-Gaul; indeed a disciple of Achivus, successor of St. Ambrose.] Now as regards the writer, you will readily grant to Chifflet Illustrat. Jurens., ch. 1 (cod. Brux. 8287, fol. 1 b.) that he was a Gallo-Roman by birth, since to him Hymnemodus, the familiar of the kings of the Burgundians, was barbarian by nation Life no. 1.. For in that early age (as he adds), when the Gauls had been recently divided among the newcomers, Burgundians, Franks and Goths, just as the newcomers commonly called the natives Romans (as can be seen here and there in the Salic, Gundobadian, Visigothic and Lombard laws), because they had once been of Roman right and instructed by Roman laws; so in turn the natives were accustomed to call the newcomers barbarians, in the old manner of the Greeks and Latins. Rightly also Bolland Act. SS., vol. II Feb., p. 546, no. 9 at the end. gathered that he was a disciple of Achivus from those words with which he sets about undertaking his discourse on his rule Life no. 9.: As he (Ambrose) therefore passed over to Christ, the place of ruling the monastery was deservedly elected for St. Achivus. Whose most holy life I am almost hindered by pious tears from recalling, but amid dear groans I will take care to unfold it, so far as I am able. Certainly the indication of such great love and longing reveals a man who had familiar acquaintance with Achivus. And what the distinguished Arndt thinks can perhaps be objected Kleine Denkmäler, p. 2., namely that the day of the death of Achivus was unknown to our writer or at least not indicated, he himself easily refutes a little below Ibid., p. 12., by observing that the hagiographers of that time were little concerned to hand down to memory what could benefit not so much the edification of readers as the studies of the learned. And so the author recorded the day of death both of Tranquillus and of Hymnemodus Nos. 10, 11., because he found it noted in their epitaphs; but otherwise as regards Ambrose and Achivus, because in their epitaphs Cf. below, no. 11. it had been passed over.
[7] [What Bolland thought, that he is the same who wrote the Lives of the holy men of the Jura,] Bolland judged moreover Act. SS., vol. II Feb., p. 545, no. 8. that our writer is the same as the author of the Lives of Romanus, Lupicinus and Eugendus, namely the three first abbots of the monastery of Condat or the Jura, afterwards named after St. Claudius Saint-Claude., which our forebears published on the days of 28 February Act. SS., vol. III Feb., p. 740 (Life of St. Romanus)., 21 March Vol. III Mar., p. 263 (Life of St. Lupicinus). and 1 January Vol. I Jan., p. 50 (Life of St. Eugendus).; and only the Life of Eugendus, but according to a purer text, Mabillon Act. SS. O. S. B., sec. I, p. 553.. Those Lives were written by a certain disciple of St. Eugendus Cf. Prelim. Comment. on St. Romanus, no. 5 (vol. III Feb., p. 788)., soon after his death, and therefore after the year 500 Cf. ibid., no. 11. or 510 Mabillon, Act. SS. O. S. B., sec. I, p. 576, note a., at the urging of the monks of Agaune John and Armentarius, to whom he dedicated his work Life of St. Romanus, Prologue.. And he concluded the Life of Eugendus with these words Act. SS. O. S. B., sec. I, p. 576.: With these things meanwhile, O most holy ones, having so far satisfied the thirst of your faith and fervor by your desires, refresh yourselves, brothers. But if, philosophy having long since been spurned, even rustic garrulity cannot satisfy your minds, the institutes which * we have set in order concerning the formation of your monastery, that is, the monastery of Agaune, at the urging of the holy presbyter Marinus, abbot of the isle of Lérins, will with Christ's help splendidly fulfill your desires, as much by the distinctions of the institution as by the authority of him who ordered it. This book then concerning the formation or information of the monastery of Agaune Bolland judges to be the very history of the first abbots of the monastery of Agaune.
— It does not escape me that after Quesnel [Vol. II of the works of St. Leo, diss. V, part I, ch. 2 (Migne P. L., vol. LV, p. 436).] and Papebroch Act. SS., vol. VII May, p. 596, no. 15., more recently A. Jahn [Geschichte der Burgundionen, vol. I, p. 523 – 525 and vol. II, p. 354 – 356, note.] pronounced these Acts of SS. Romanus, Lupicinus and Eugendus apocryphal. I confess for my part that I am not sufficiently persuaded by the reasons adduced by him to follow this judgment of his. For even if the writer had admitted some errors concerning the civil history of that time (which does not seem to me sufficiently demonstrated either), it would not at once follow from that that he is to be judged a forger who lived in a far later age after St. Eugendus: for early in the sixth century a monk who wrote these Lives could easily have admitted such errors, deceived by popular rumors and being not so knowing or concerned about other things apart from the virtues and miracles of his saints. But as for the modes of speaking which Quesnel censures, as alien to that age, Ant.
Pagi shows by adduced examples that they are undeservedly censured Critic., at the year 444, no. 10. Cf. ibid., nos. 11, 12..
[8] is not sufficiently established. To the conjecture of Bolland Chifflet added his vote, and he thought it not a little confirmed from the fact that the Life or Rule of the holy fathers Romanus, Lupicinus and Eugendus, abbots of the monastery of the Jura, is joined in the same Besançon codex with the History of the holy abbots of Agaune Cf. above, no. 3.. Arndt hints that some confirmation might also have been drawn Kleine Denkmäler, p. 5. from the term rustic garrulity, which is read in the just-cited conclusion of the Life of St. Eugendus, since our writer also in his prologue asks pardon for uncultivated speech and obscure diction. But excuses of this kind occur too frequently among the hagiographers of the middle age for you to deduce anything from them for our matter. The other arguments of Bolland and Chifflet are of force only so far that a conjecture relying on them seems not improbable, yet not so that the conclusion can be called sufficiently certain.
[9] Nor have we anything more certain concerning the name of the author, Arndt suspects that the name of the writer of our History lies hidden Ibid., p. 3. in the close of the metrical little work on the Life of St. Probus, which was appended to that History in the Besançon codex and could therefore be attributed to the same author, the more so since the writer of the History more than once celebrates Probus with an indication of singular veneration and love Life nos. 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13.. That close runs thus:
The times of life twice six lustra being passed,
So, leaving the world, he shines in the seat on high.
Hear, O saint, the suppliant voice of your foster-son who asks,
And deign willingly to receive a small song,
And to take as a gift praises all too slight.
Pour forth, I beg, your prayers, turn aside harsh labors.
May Christ, seeing them, wash away the sins, the crimes blotted out,
With your help may our cause know its patron.
Here ends the little work on the life of St. Probus, which Benedictus presbyter Pragmatius composed Cf. below after the Acts, note e..
Where Arndt judges the word Benedictus to be not an adjective and common word, but the proper name of the writer, and that by the word Pragmatius or Pragmaticus the office of the same is designated, namely one who took care of the business of the monastery (or of some neighboring church) or was as it were appointed to keep the archive, and in confirmation of this interpretation he brings forward this passage from Paul the Deacon, Hist. Langob. II, 12: So when Alboin had come to the river Piave, there Felix, bishop of the church of Treviso, met him. To whom the king, as he was most generous, at his request granted all the possessions of his church, and through his PRAGMATICUM confirmed what was asked [The History of the Lombards of Paul (edited by L. Bethmann and G. Waitz, among the Monumenta Germaniae historica, in 4°, Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum et Italicarum sæc. VI – IX, Hanover 1878), p. 79.]. In this place, however, I should suppose that by the word pragmaticum not some minister, but rather a royal diploma is indicated: in which sense it certainly occurs in other monuments Cf. Du Cange's Glossarium, ed. Henschel, vol. V, p. 419, col. 3 p. m.. And of this whole conjecture I think the same judgment should be given as of the Bollandian one indicated in the preceding number.
[10] concerning which Chifflet proposed his conjectures more boldly. But Chifflet, perhaps building his conjectures a little more boldly, pronounces expressly: This author was a monk of the Jura and a disciple and familiar of the blessed Eugendus; moreover by nation a native Gaul or Roman; indeed also, as it seems, by province an Allobrogian, by country of Grenoble, brother of Achivus abbot of Agaune, in dignity first a presbyter, by name Pragmatius Illustr. Jurens., fol. 1 (in the codex of the Royal Lib. of Brussels 8287). First, namely, he assumes that the writer of the Life of the holy abbots of Agaune and of the verses on St. Probus is the same as the writer of the Lives of SS. Romanus, Lupicinus and Eugendus Cf. above, no. 7 – 9., and he easily proves from certain sentences of those Lives that the latter was a monk of the Jura and a familiar of St. Eugendus. Passing from there to the documents of Agaune, he again easily shows that their author must be judged a Gallo-Roman Cf. above, no. 6 at the start.. And he tries to build up the rest in this way: Moreover, when I read him narrating of Achivus, the third abbot of the Agaunians, in these words: Whose most holy life I am almost hindered by pious tears from recalling, but amid dear groans I will take care to unfold it, so far as I am able, I seemed to myself of course to detect that these things were struck out of a brother's breast: especially since he relates nothing of Achivus that could stir tears except for a most loving brother. For he thereupon recalls that domestic struggle of the holy youth to obtain leave for the monastic life from his parents, whose threat was this: If you desire that, you will fit your body for punishment. These things, I say, not obscurely indicate, so far as I can gather by conjecture, that the author of this work was a brother of St. Achivus and thus a son of Heraclius and by province an Allobrogian and by country of Grenoble, since the youthful Achivus, as he himself says, did military service with his father Heraclius in the territory of Grenoble. — Finally Chifflet cites the subscription of the poem on Probus: Here ends the little work, etc. Cf. preceding no.: These words (he says) I take so that Pragmatius is a proper name, and benedictus an appellative: in which form in the Life of St. Eugendus, number VI, his predecessor Minausius is called benedictus Abbot, and in Tertullian, in the book To the Martyrs, ch. 1, benedicti Martyrs, where see Pamelius and Louis de la Cerda on similar nomenclatures. I incline therefore to judge this Pragmatius the true and legitimate author of the history not only of the Agaunians, but also of the Fathers of the Jura. — But Chifflet had proceeded even further in conjecturing, writing thus Illustr. Jurens., fol. 2: It is a conjecture, moreover, that this Pragmatius was not different from Pragmatius, bishop of Autun, since the name and the time agree: provided, however, that he is understood to have written about the Agaunians while still a presbyter, about the Jura monks when already a bishop. For in the year of Christ 517 Pragmatius, bishop of Autun, took part in the council of Epaon, while St. Eugendus was among the living until the year 534, as I shall show below. But the erudite man soon, as it seems, felt how shaky this last conjecture of his was: for the monastery of Agaune was not reconstituted by King Sigismund before the year 515 See below, no. 14., and Tranquillus, the fourth abbot of this monastery, according to the Chronological series of the abbots of Agaune to be edited below P. 557. Cf. the appended note., died in the year 526; Pragmatius, bishop of Autun in the year 517, could not therefore have written the Life of the abbots of Agaune while still a presbyter. Whence this whole passage has been struck out with lines drawn through it in Chifflet's work.
[11] Yet the author was close to the things he narrates. These opinions being set aside, then, let it suffice us, for commending the authority of the Life of the first abbots of Agaune, that the writer, whether he was a monk of Agaune or of another monastery or not at all, yet, as having conversed familiarly with Achivus Cf. above, no. 6., can be judged an eyewitness of what he narrates about the first three abbots, or certainly to have received it from witnesses of this kind. But what is read about Tranquillus and again about Hymnemodus, Ambrose and Achivus at the end of the little work No. 10 – 13., you will readily judge to have been copied out from the epitaphs with which their tombs were distinguished. Certainly the form of a kind of epitaph is shown by the distich which contains the elogium of Ambrose at number 12, and likewise the iambic verses with which Achivus is celebrated at number 13. And the same must be said of the kind of writing that number 11 presents, and especially of its close, where the age of Hymnemodus, his burial in the monastery of Agaune, indeed even the day and year of his death are carefully noted. Number 10 has similar notes in its close: where moreover the praise of Tranquillus begins with an entire hexameter, Qui mundi laqueos vicit labente palæstra Who conquered the snares of the world as the wrestling-ground slipped away; and then at nearly equal intervals the conclusions of hexameter or pentameter verses end the individual sentences, cernere Christum to behold Christ, de nomine vita life from the name, sidera clara tenent they hold the bright stars, evitat honores he shuns honors, præcepta secutus having followed the precepts, etc. Whether he used other sources besides, our writer does not make manifest. Nor also, as Jahn rightly observes Vol. II, p. 298 – 299, note 2 at the end., is what Car. Binding asserts so certain Das Burgundisch-Romanische Königreich, vol. I, p. 282., that certain things in the Passion of St. Sigismund the king were taken from the history of the abbots of Agaune (of which Binding knew only that small fragment in vol. I May of the Act. SS., p. 84, repeated from vol. II Feb., p. 545, no. 5).
Annotations* (in place of quæ-cœnobii) ed. Bolland. quæ de informatione monasterii nostri
§ II. Synopsis of the deeds of Ambrose. At what time the monastery of Agaune was founded and Ambrose undertook to rule it.
What it says, that St. Ambrose was first abbot of the Isle-Barbe near Lyons, Of Ambrose it has been handed down to memory by the writer of the Life of the holy abbots of Agaune that in youthful age he was enrolled in the secular clergy and already then led a life worthy of a monk; but that soon he gave his name in very fact to the regular warfare in the monastery of the Isle-Barbe near Lyons, and there was held by all in the highest esteem of virtue and, the abbot having died, was set over the monastery in his place Life no. 8.. But when Hymnemodus was asked by Sigismund, son of Gundobad king of the Burgundians, to undertake the care of the restored monastery of Agaune, that he consented to the petition on this condition, if a man similar in holiness, the abbot Ambrose from the Isle-Barbe, were joined to him No. 4.. To the condition both Sigismund and Ambrose himself gladly assented: who soon, when he heard that Hymnemodus had arrived at Agaune with Achivus and Probus, whom he had taken as his first companions, himself also hastened there, greatly against the will of the bishop of Lyons and the brothers of the Isle-Barbe No. 7.. And Hymnemodus having died shortly after the foundation of the monastery of Agaune Ibid., Ambrose was established as abbot in his place by the election of the congregation No. 8., and he performed his office most holily and most prudently, and no less, as far as the state of the monastery was concerned, happily, distinguished also by the gift of prophecy Ibid., until his death No. 9 at the start..
[13] is overturned by no valid argument and was handed down also by Ado. From this narrative it is gathered above all that it was wrongly denied by Car. Lecointe At the year 536, no. 198. that Ambrose abbot of the Isle-Barbe was the same as the abbot of Agaune, on the sole argument that Usuard in his martyrology indicates nothing about the abbatial dignity of Ambrose at the Isle-Barbe Cf. above, no. 2.. This opinion of Lecointe rightly appears to Mabillon Annal. Benedict., bk. I, no. 75. the more strange, in that in that very place of his Annals he mentions a fragment of the history of the abbots
of Agaune published by Bolland, from which that same opinion is so clearly refuted; nor is it understood why he judged a merely negative argument drawn from the silence of Usuard to be preferred to the express testimony of Ado affirming that passage of Ambrose from the monastery of the Isle-Barbe to that of Agaune Above, no. 2..
[14] The reckoning of the times that the author follows is sufficiently certain, At what time our Ambrose undertook the rule of the monastery of Agaune is gathered with certainty from the epitaph of Hymnemodus his predecessor Life no. 11. Cf. above, no. 11., where he is said to have died on the third day before the Nones of January, in the consulship of Peter, that is, of the year 516, after he had presided over the monastery for a very short time Life no. 7, p. m.. From which place and another to be cited shortly there is excellently and now most certainly established what learned men, relying on the authority of Marius of Avenches, had already determined, namely that the monastery of Agaune was founded by Sigismund in the year 515, before he had taken up the kingdom after his father's death. For Marius wrote in his Chronicle: Florentius and Anthemius (being consuls, that is, the year 515). In the consulship of these the monastery of Agaune was built by King Sigismund. — Peter (being consul, that is, the year 516). In this one's consulship King Gundobagaudus died, and his son Sigismund was raised up as king P.L., vol. LXXII, p. 796.. And indeed that Sigismund was not yet adorned with the royal dignity when he founded or restored the monastery our writer shows sufficiently clearly, beginning the narrative of this foundation thus Life no. 3: When Sigismund, son of King Gundobad, already girded with the honor of the patriciate, had cast away the perfidy of the Arian depravity, etc.
[15] other conjectures being set aside, Arndt supposes that confirmation of this matter also can be drawn Kleine Denkmäler, p. 10 – 11. from the homily of Avitus delivered at the renewal of the monastery, where, namely, Avitus addresses Sigismund with this title: Most pious prelate, on the tribunal junior to some, at the altar the first of all; whence Arndt concludes both that Sigismund was not yet king at that time, but presided in place of his father Gundobad over the administration of this part of the Burgundian kingdom, in which Agaune was situated; and that that homily was delivered not later than the year 515. I confess that the words adduced seem to me too obscure for me to dare to subscribe to these conclusions.
[16] indeed by errors This is certain, that those erred who, following Gregory of Tours, writing less accurately Hist. Franc., bk. III, no. 5 (Ed. Arndt and Krusch, p. 111).: So when Gundobad had died, his son Sigismund obtained his kingdom, and with skillful care built the monastery of Agaune with its houses and basilicas, put off the foundation of the monastery to the year 516 or 517; and far more those who threw it back to the year 522 or 523, deceived by the authority of the continuator of the History of the Franks who is commonly cited under the name of Fredegar. For he Hist. Franc. Epitom., ch. 34 (P. L., vol. LXXI, p. 589)., misinterpreting Gregory, and wrongly confusing what he had carefully distinguished, namely the foundation of the monastery of Agaune and the perpetual psalmody instituted in it, set forth the matter in this way: (Sigismund) ordered his son Sigeric to be killed by the plots of his stepmother (year 522). Whence afterwards, doing strong penance, he built the monastery of the saints of Agaune with wonderful work, and erected several other monasteries.
[17] and by the apocryphal acts of the council of Agaune. Then, what is chief, the authenticity of the celebrated instrument containing the Acts of the Council of Agaune, celebrated on the occasion of the establishment of the monastery (Cf. below no. 19) [Ed. in Mansi, Conc., vol. VIII, p. 531; Gall. Christ., vol. XII, Instr. p. 421; Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 353. More accurately in Gremaud, Origines et documents de l'abbaye de Saint-Maurice d' Agaune.], must now be regarded as most certainly done for. This indeed, suspect to certain learned men Cf. Act. SS., vol. cit., p. 353, no. 18 at the end., was attacked by others with express and weighty arguments [Cf. E. F. Gelpke, Kirchengeschichte der Schweiz, vol. I, p. 116 ff. And especially A. Jahn, vol. II, p. 293 – 297, note], others however opposing [Mabillon, Annal. Benedict., bk. I, nos. 71, 72; Pardessus, Diplomata, etc., vol. I, Prolegomenes, p. 23.]; but now its forgery is invincibly demonstrated. For in that instrument it is clearly indicated that the synod was assembled after the slaying of Sigeric, that is, in the year 522 or 523, and that through it Hymnemodus was established as abbot of Agaune. Since therefore it is now established with certainty from the Life of the holy abbots of Agaune that Hymnemodus died in the year 516, a shameful anachronism is now detected there, whence the credibility of the whole instrument falls altogether.
[18] St. Ambrose restored the church of SS. Maurice and companions. Besides what we have noted as ascertained about Ambrose from our writer, we are taught from the interpolated Passion of SS. Maurice and his companions that the church in which the bodies of the Theban martyrs were laid was restored by him. For so one reads in that Passion: But the bodies of the most blessed martyrs are recorded to have been revealed many years after the passion to St. Theodore, bishop of this place. In whose honor when a basilica was being built, which, then joined to a vast rock, lay sloping on one side only, but now, by order of Ambrose, illustrious in merits, abbot of this place, built anew, is known to have two slopes Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 341, no. 202.. And perhaps on the occasion of the dedication of that basilica there was delivered by Avitus, bishop of Vienne, that oration spoken in the basilica of the saints of Agaune at the renewal of that monastery or at the passion of the martyrs, of which Sirmond published a fragment from very old leaves of the library of de Thou P. L., vol. LIX, p. 297, no. VII. Cf. above, no. 15..
§ III. Of the rule of the monastery of Agaune.
The rule of Agaune was not Benedictine, Recent Benedictines in their martyrologies and menologies have tried to claim Ambrose for their Order, as we pointed out above No. 2., but with no argument, indeed not even with any probability. For St. Benedict did not come to Monte Cassino before the year 528 or 529, where he first wrote his rule, and certainly before that time he had founded no monastery outside Italy. Our writer of the Life of the first abbots of Agaune has only this about the rule observed in that monastery Life no. 7.: Meanwhile a rule of psalmody or of subsistence, instituted, was handed to St. Hymnemodus by the assembly of bishops who had come there to establish the monastery. But what it was, he does not explain more distinctly. That writer of the Lives of SS. Romanus, Lupicinus and Eugendus indeed testifies that institutes on the information of the monastery of Agaune were set in order by him Cf. above, no. 7.. But that writing has perished, unless you think with Bolland and Chifflet that nothing else is designated here than the very Life of the first abbots of Agaune Cf. ibid., or that those institutes are the same as the rule of Tarnat, of which we must now speak.
[20] [but perhaps the same as the rule of Tarnat, for these two names seem to designate the same place,] For that the rule of Agaune has been preserved for us under the name of Tarnat, which Benedict of Aniane often cited in his Concord of rules Chs. 27 ff. (P. L., vol. CIII, p. 941 ff.)., and which, divided into twenty-three chapters, Lucas Holste published Cod. Regularum, ed. Mart. Brockie, vol. I, p. 180. and from him Charles Lecointe At the year 536, no. 200 ff., many learned men have judged, following the opinion of Jos. Simler, who, in the description of the Valais published in French, volume I, says that Agaune was more anciently called by the name of Tarnadae or Tarnaiae. Which place, namely, at the end of the fourth century, both in the Itinerary of Antoninus Script. Rer. Gall., vol. I, p. 105. and in the Peutinger table Ibid., p. 112. is indicated as reached by the public road hastening from Milan to Mainz, where it had passed twelve thousand paces beyond the town of Octodurus (today Martigny); by which exact distance Agaune is established to be distant from Octodurus and it is distinctly noted in the interpolated Passion of the Theban martyrs Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 345, no. 2 at the end.. And the author of the same Passion indicates that the name of Agaune Ibid., no. 3. was Gallic and popular. For the inhabitants (he says thus) call Agaune, by interpretation of the Gallic speech, Stone Cf. Gelpke, Kirchengeschichte der Schweiz, vol. I, p. 345.: in which place the course of the river Rhone is so narrowed by vast cliffs, etc. And likewise the writer of the Life of St. Romanus (whom some think to have been the same as the writer of the Passion) in his prologue to John and Armentarius, monks of Agaune: Your Agaunus (he says) in the Gallic and ancient speech, both originally through nature and now also through the Church, by a truthful prefiguration, is known to be the rock of Peter Act. SS., vol. III Feb., p. 741.. But others with Pierre de Rivaz Eclaircissemens sur le martyre de la Légion Thebéenne. have judged that the place was so named in memory of the agony of the holy Theban martyrs.
[21] although Mabillon opposes, That opinion by which the rule of Agaune is judged the same as that of Tarnat Mabillon had at first admitted in the collection of the Acts of the Saints of the O. S. B. Sec. I, p. XI and p. 576, note b., but afterwards in the Benedictine Annals he recoiled from it, saying Vol. I, bk. I, no. 73. Cf. Append. II, no. 5 (ibid., p. 678).: But, however it may be with the Tarnadae of Antoninus, I can by no means bring my mind to think that the monastery of Tarnat is the same as that of Agaune. For nowhere will you find the monastery of Agaune called of Tarnat, but everywhere either of Agaune or of St. Maurice. And so if the rule of Tarnat had been drawn up for the sake of the monks of Agaune, it would have been named not of Tarnat, but from the common name of the monastery of Agaune: whereas on the contrary it has never been called by any other name than of Tarnat in the Concord of rules, in Smaragdus, Trithemius, and all others who have cited it. For my part I do not at all grasp the force of this argument. For why, if at the time when that rule was written the place was called Tarnadae in Latin or more polished speech and Agaune in the common speech, could it be less rightly entitled of Tarnat than of Agaune?
[22] not sufficiently firm Mabillon continues: To me surely it is far more likely that the monastery of Tarnat was situated in the district of Lyons, not far from the city of Vienne, in the place Tarnatum or Ternatum, commonly Ternay. This place is situated on the Rhone, which runs down between Tarnatum and Grinniacum (Grigny) in the district of Vienne, the latter of which places gave its name to the monastery of Grinniacum, of which in the life of St. Clarus. Moreover this position of the place on the Rhone agrees rightly with what is read in the fourth chapter of the Rule of Tarnat, that he should not presume even to take a boat across to the farther bank without the command of the senior. But again it can be answered
that these things no less suit the site of the monastery of Agaune, adjacent to Lake Leman or of Geneva. Nor certainly does Mabillon refute so strong an argument taken from the ancient itineraries.
[23] arguments. For the rest he seems not to have thought that opinion of his so well approved as not also to propose other places which the name of Tarnat could suit. For there is also Ternancus, commonly Ternan, another place not undistinguished in the district of Lyons, where there is a priory subject to the abbey of Savigny, besides the town of Ternacum, Terny, in the district of Geneva. To what purpose are these things, unless that the rule of the celebrated monastery of Agaune should not be hinted at in any way as certainly proper to it and in no way subject to the Benedictine (for such appears the rule of Tarnat, plucked mostly from the institutes of Pachomius, Augustine and Caesarius of Arles), yet, if I am not mistaken, by a vain attempt?
[24] The rule of Tarnat perhaps already observed in the old monastery of Agaune. It is easier to concede to Mabillon that the extant rule of Tarnat does not reproduce those institutes on the information of the monastery of Agaune which the author of the Lives of SS. Romanus, Lupicinus and Eugendus set in order Cf. above, no. 7.: because it displays a more elegant style than that author uses in the Acts written by him, nor is any mention made in it of Marinus or Martinus (as the Compiègne codex writes), abbot of Lérins, who is known only from this passage Act. SS. O. S. B., sec. I, p. 576, note b.. But if anyone should perhaps judge that this rule was already observed in the monastery of Tarnat or earlier monastery of Agaune, namely before it was restored by St. Sigismund, he will certainly not have me opposing him, although I see no argument by which this opinion might be confirmed.
§ IV. Of the perennial praise or perpetual psalmody instituted in the monastery of Agaune by Ambrose.
The perpetual psalmody at Agaune, concerning which That perpetual psalmody was instituted in the monastery of Agaune, so, namely, that, as Bernard reports of the monastery of Luxeuil in the Life of St. Malachy, soon to be published at the 3rd day of November, with choirs succeeding one another in turn the solemnities of divine things were continued, so that not a moment of day or night was free of praises, in the way that it was in use in the East already before the middle of the fifth century [Cf. J. Bolland. Prelim. Comment. on St. Alexander, founder of the Acoemetae, § II (Act. SS., vol. I Jan., p. 1019); B. van Haeften, Disquisit. monast., bk, I, tract. V, ch. 9 – 11.], the learned agree well enough. And the truth of the institution itself, and at what time it took place, can now be demonstrated more certainly from the documents of Agaune.
[26] besides the testimonies of Gregory of Tours, The most ancient testimonies on this matter brought forward hitherto were those of Gregory of Tours and of the writers of the Passion of St. Sigismund and of the interpolated Passion of SS. Maurice and his companions. The former, in the History of the Franks bk. III, ch. 5, after he had reported at the beginning of this chapter the monastery of Agaune founded by Sigismund, then the slaughter of Sigeric, killed in his sleep by his father's order, and the late penance of Sigismund, concludes his narrative thus: Nevertheless he, going off to the saints of Agaune, persevering for many days in weeping and fasting, begged for pardon. Instituting there a constant psalmody, he returned to Lyons P. L., vol. LXXI, p. 245.. The same he expressed in the book on the Glory of the Martyrs in these words, certainly less clear: and there he also instituted a daily psalmody Ibid., p. 771..
[27] of the author of the Passion of St. Sigismund, And the writer of the Passion of St. Sigismund, keeping silent about the slaughter of Sigeric, says [According to the uninterpolated text published by A. Jahn (vol. II, p. 504), ch. 6.]: When (Sigismund) had traversed many places of the saints, he came to that place which is called Agaune, where St. Maurice with his fellow soldiers for the love of our Lord Jesus Christ deserved to receive the palm of martyrdom; and wearied both by the journey and by fasts, he asked how he ought to serve those precious saints, by which he would be able to join himself to their ranks. Then we believe that, not otherwise than by the nod of God, an angel announcing it, it was revealed to him that he ought to institute choirs of psalmody after the likeness of the heavenly host. This counsel having been divinely received, he consulted holy and apostolic men, the bishops, whether he was thinking wholesomely or not. This question having been aired among themselves by the holy prelates, they consented unanimously to the work, though unaccustomed, the Lord assenting. The force of this testimony is easily perceived: for surely the writer of this Passion would not have called an unaccustomed work the psalmody which had long flourished in all the monasteries of the Western Church; but unaccustomed certainly and hitherto unheard of in them was perpetual psalmody in the manner of the Acoemetae.
[28] likewise of the author of the Acts of the holy Theban martyrs, More distinctly the more recent Acts of the holy Theban martyrs, which, as Chifflet says Illustrat. Jurens., ch. XXVII, no. 3., though wrongly ascribed to Eucherius of Lyons, are nevertheless of an ancient author in good faith Cf. Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 340, no. 195 ff., have thus in the ms. exemplars which Chifflet testifies are very old Loc. cit.: Yet it is known to the hearts of the faithful without reading what and how many and what kind of miracles the Lord does not cease to work through his servants for the honor and glory of his name. On that very account the chanting of psalms and hymns day and night does not cease: which, instituted by order of the holy and illustrious martyr of Christ, King Sigismund, has been preserved from then to this day, under God's protection [So the Acts "from four ms. codices, namely of Accinctum, and of the Cistercian Charité in the diocese of Besançon, of Agaune and of St. Benignus" in the cod. of the Royal Lib. of Brussels 8289, a little before the end. Cited Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 341, no. 201.].
[29] [the false instrument of the council of Agaune on the five companies being set aside,] That rite was so ordered at Agaune, reports the apocryphal instrument in which are recorded the Acts of the Council held there Cf. above, no. 17., that the monks being distributed into five (according to some codices, into nine) companies, the individual companies succeeded one another in order in singing the canonical office, so that those applying themselves to this duty were never lacking in the choir. Only four companies are designated in the document by the names of as many monasteries, namely of Granum Or Griniacum, Grigny., Insolana Or Isle-Barbe., of the Jura Or Condat. and of Melua [Perhaps Valdensis (otherwise Meldensis), which company is indicated in a document of the year 766. Cf. Jahn, vol. II, p. 299, note 6.]. These companies Mabillon rightly declares Annal. Benedict., bk. I, no. 72. to have been not adopted from elsewhere, as it pleases some, but formed from the monastery of Agaune itself, namely from those monks who had gathered there to found the new house and perhaps were still retaining some peculiar rites of the divine office received from the earlier monasteries they had inhabited. For who would suppose that from the monastery of Granum or Grinniacum, as they themselves interpret it, near Vienne, and from the Jura monastery of St. Eugendus, both of which are very far distant from Agaune, that is, more than thirty leagues, companies of monks were summoned to Agaune to discharge daily praises to God? For the rest, what truth that tradition has is made uncertain by the far later age of that supposititious document.
[30] it was already established by documents which to the usage of Agaune The very institution of perpetual psalmody in the monastery of Agaune is made more certain by testimonies where in other monasteries it is said to have been instituted according to the standard of Agaune, above all that of Pseudo-Fredegar, who says of the celebrated monastery of St. Denis near Paris Chronic., ch. 79 (P. L., vol. LXXI, p. 656).: There (Dagobert) had ordered a psalmody to be instituted after the likeness of the monastery of the saints of Agaune; but the laxity of the abbot Aigulf is known to have thwarted that same institution. Which the monk of Saint-Denis who wrote the Deeds of Dagobert also affirms three times, namely in ch. 35: He instituted that they (the monks of St. Denis) should sing psalms in companies after the likeness of the monastery of Agaune or of St. Martin at Tours Script. Rer. Gall., vol. II, p. 589.; then in ch. 43, using almost the words of Pseudo-Fredegar: And he had instituted there an order of psalmody after the likeness of the monastery of Agaune and of St. Martin at Tours; but the laxity of the abbot Agiulf is known to have thwarted that same institution Ibid., p. 593.; and finally in ch. 51 he brings in Clovis II, son of Dagobert, speaking thus before the bishops and nobles of his kingdom: For we, for the love of God and the reverence of the holy martyrs (Denis and his companions) and for the obtaining of eternal life, wish to bestow this benefit on that holy place with your counsel, with a most grateful mind and entire will: in this order, namely, that as in the time of our lord and father an order of psalmody was instituted there through companies, or as it is held day and night in the monastery of St. Maurice at Agaune and of St. Martin at Tours, so it may be celebrated in that same place through all future times Ibid., p. 595.. These last words are manifestly taken from a diploma given in the name of Clovis II under the date of the 10th day before the Kalends of July in the 16th year of his reign, or of Christ 653, in which one reads: in this order, namely, that as in the time of our lord father a psalmody was instituted there through companies, or as it is held day and night at the monastery of St. Maurice at Agaune, so it may be celebrated in that same place Script. Rer. Gall., vol. IV, p. 637; P. L., vol. LXXI, p. 1198..
[31] appeal Less certain is the other authority which they bring forward from Pseudo-Fredegar concerning the monastery of St. Marcellus at Chalon, founded by King Guntram. At whose foundation he ordered a synod of forty bishops to be held, and after the likeness of the institution of the monastery of the saints of Agaune, which in the times of King Sigismund had been confirmed by Avitus and the other bishops, at the order of the prince himself, by the union of this synod Guntram took care to form (otherwise to confirm) the institution of the monastery of St. Marcellus Fredegar. Chronic. ch. 1 (P. L., vol. LXXI, p. 611).. These words can easily be understood of the mere confirmation of the foundation through a synod of bishops. But altogether express and clear is the testimony from the Life of St. Salaberga concerning the monastery founded by her at Laon. Where within a short space of time there were gathered in the same place or united in the monastery about three hundred handmaids of Christ. And having arranged them in companies, she disposed the norm of living after the likeness of the monks of Agaune; she ordered that day and night the canon should resound to almighty God in psalmody and that according to the excellent preacher Paul they should pray without intermission. Which institution, under Christ's auspices, is celebrated to this day in that same monastery Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 528, no. 17 at the end - 18 at the start..
[32] as to an example, Besides these certain other monasteries of Gaul also are recorded which adopted the rite of perpetual psalmody, namely that of St. Martin at Tours Cf. above, no. 30.,
of Luxeuil Cf. above, no. 25., of Habendum [The words just cited from the Life of St. Salaberga. Cf. Mabillon, Act. SS. O. S. B., sec. IV, Part II, Pref. no. 206 – 208.], and likewise of St. Benignus at Dijon, of St. Germain at Paris, of St. Médard and of the girls of Blessed Mary at Soissons Ibid., no. 212.; but in these that institution is not indicated as derived from the example of Agaune. And what Car. Lecointe set against the testimonies cited above At the year 536, no. 224 ff., in order to snatch that praise from the monastery of Agaune, Mabillon has abundantly refuted Pref. cit., nos. 204, 205, 209 – 211..
[33] now it is most certainly established from the epitaph of St. Ambrose But now our Acts of the holy abbots of Agaune most certainly settle the matter, not indeed so clearly in that place which the distinguished A. Jahn cited from the fragment long since published by our forebears Vol. I, p. 172, note., asserting that the writer of the Acts wrongly confused the institution of the perennial praise with the foundation of the monastery itself, where he says of the latter Life no. 3 at the end.: So, counsel having been held … it seemed good that … the secular families being removed, a family of God, that is, of monks, should be placed there, who day and night, imitating the heavenly beings, should apply themselves to divine songs. That these words are not so undoubtedly to be understood of the perennial praise is sufficiently shown by other examples of a similar manner of speaking, where they are manifestly used of the ordinary ecclesiastical office, which at fixed hours, both of the day and of the night, though not continuous, was customarily celebrated in all greater churches, and especially in monastic churches. Let it suffice to have brought one. In the Liber Pontificalis it is read of Damasus: He established that they should sing psalms day and night through all the churches: who ordered this to presbyters and bishops and monasteries P. L., vol. CXXVIII, p. 73.. Yet no one would say that perpetual psalmody, in the way it is reported to have been observed in the monastery of Agaune, was enjoined by Damasus to be observed through all churches. But besides this somewhat obscure testimony, we read another altogether express and subject to no clouds of doubt in the epitaph of Ambrose copied out in our Anonymous Life no. 12., in these words:
For he merited the first palm in the name of abbot,
The friendly faith began, with the holy brothers,
To psalm the praise of our Maker, to be sung without end,
With a choir succeeding and perpetual.
Who would hesitate in the least to recognize the perennial praise in this choir, succeeding and perpetual, singing the praise of God to be sung without end?
[34] was observed before the year 522. But perhaps to some it will raise some scruple that in the cited verses the institution of perpetual psalmody is signified as having taken place in the time of the abbot Ambrose, who died in the year 520 or 521 according to the catalogue of the first twelve abbots of Agaune Cf. below, no. 35., whereas the learned have hitherto admitted that it first began at Agaune on the occasion of the penance of Sigismund after the slaughter of Sigeric, and therefore within or after the year 522. Rightly indeed or at least probably, as long as concerning the time of this institution there was at hand only the testimony of Gregory of Tours Hist. Franc., bk. III, ch. 5. Cf. above, no. 26., no other ancient writer contradicting (but neither any confirming). But now, since a contrary testimony can be produced, contemporary and of the highest authority, one must depart from that opinion and say that the man of Tours, as in assigning the time of the foundation of the monastery Cf. above. no. 16., so also as regards the time of the beginning of the rite of perpetual psalmody at Agaune, strayed somewhat from the truth. And so at last it is also concluded that, even if the words of our Anonymous brought forward earlier Above, no. 33. seem to be understood of the perennial praise, he is not thereby to be accused of ignorance or heedlessness, where he wrote that this praise began to be celebrated in the monastery of Agaune from the first times of its foundation. For what was instituted in the time of Ambrose, created Abbot seven months after the foundation of the monastery, can not absurdly be referred to the foundation itself.
§ V. Of the day and year of the death of Ambrose. Who of the first abbots of Agaune raised up the body of St. Sigismund and buried it at Agaune.
St. Ambrose died in the year 520 or 521, That the day of Ambrose's death was the 2nd of November could long since have been probably established from the unanimous agreement of the martyrologies, which mention our saint on this day; but now it is proved more certainly from the Chronological series of the first twelve Abbots of Agaune. And the same document clearly demonstrates in what year he died, which was hitherto altogether uncertain, since it indicates that Ambrose presided over the monastery about five years after Hymnemodus; and it is established from his epitaph that Hymnemodus died on the third day before the Nones of January of the year 316 Cf. above, no. 14.. Whence you will conclude that Ambrose himself was called to the realm above in the year 520 (or, if you prefer, perhaps in the year 521).
[36] and he was buried in the monastery of Agaune. That Ambrose was buried in the monastery of Agaune is indicated by his epitaph preserved by our Anonymous Life no. 12.. Yet no mention is made of his relics in the description of the sacred treasure of the church of Agaune transmitted to our forebears in the middle of the last century See Act. SS., vol. VI Sept., p. 355.. Nor are any other documents available about these relics, as neither about the cult of Ambrose after his death, apart from the testimonies from the martyrologies cited at the beginning of this Commentary No. 2..
[37] The elevation of the body of St. Sigismund It will not seem foreign to our treatment if we add in this place certain things about the elevation of the body of St. Sigismund, namely to which of the first abbots of Agaune it is due; especially since in a certain codex it is attributed to our Ambrose himself and from the Chronological series of abbots now published for the first time some light may perhaps be brought to judging that question. Let us recall first what the Passion of St. Sigismund reports about that elevation in chapter X, after there has been related in the preceding chapter the punishment of Sigismund and of his wife and sons, all of whom Chlodomer, king of the Franks, ordered to be sunk in a well. Thus then runs the cited passage in the text which the distinguished Jahn recently published from the codices of Bern and Florence, free of the interpolations with which the common version had been sprinkled Vol. II, p. 504.: And there for three years the waters of the muddy gulf preserved the holy bodies unharmed… When three years had passed the holy and venerable Venerandus, abbot of the monastery of the saints of Agaune, was admonished by an angel in a vision that burial should join the sacred bodies in that place, just as their souls were joined in the heavens to the holy legions. The aforesaid man of God Venerandus, full of distress, not knowing how to fulfill the Lord's command, then directed his envoys to Ansemund the Burgundian, who was seen to have kept the most certain faith with the holy men up to the day of their passion, that he might carry his petition and suggestion together to the most glorious prince Theudebert, king of the Franks, that he might permit the holy bodies to be gathered to the threshold of the saints. This petition the most pious prince clemently granted.
Ch. XI. Then with great admiration they drew the holy bodies from the well and, with choirs singing psalms, gave them most worthy burial in the monastery of Agaune, in the church that was built in honor of the most blessed John, apostle and evangelist.
[38] was not performed by St. Ambrose, but by Venerandus, who succeeded him third; And of the codices that present the Passion of Sigismund as hitherto commonly known, or (as the distinguished Jahn judges) less genuine Ed. Act. SS., vol. I May, p. 86., the Paris codex 5343 alone has intruded the name of Ambrose here, writing thus: When three years had passed a certain holy and venerable abbot of the monastery of the saints of Agaune, by name Ambrose, by an angel, etc. In Arndt, Kleine Denkmäler, p. 9.. This reading was already sufficiently refuted by the agreement of all the other codices that are silent about the name of Ambrose, and now altogether by the Chronological series of the first abbots, which shows that Ambrose died four or at least three years before Sigismund. But from the same document there also seems to be refuted the opinion of the distinguished Jahn, who judges that the name Venerandus in the cited passage is not the proper name of any abbot of Agaune, but a common word and appellative, added for honor's sake, as is usually done, to the likewise common noun abbot of Agaune, especially since, where at the beginning of that chapter it is read in the Bern codex after the words holy and venerable, it is omitted at that place in the Florentine codex (in which it is also lacking in the middle of the chapter after the words The aforesaid man of God) and in the eight codices from which the interpolated Passion was published by the Bollandists Act. SS., vol. I May, p. 87.: from which he thinks it must be concluded that it is redundant there and was wrongly interpolated by the copyist who wrote the Bern codex. This opinion of a most learned man I should certainly think not improbable, if it were not shown from our Chronological series that in fact three years after the slaying of Sigismund, or in the year 527, and even under Theodebert, king of the Franks (from the year 534, namely), an abbot by the name of Venerandus presided over the monastery of Agaune [Cf. below, note to the Chronological series of the first twelve abbots of Agaune.]. Now therefore, if I am not mistaken, it will be doubtful to no one that this abbot is meant in the cited passage of the Passion of St. Sigismund.
[39] although as regards assigning the time of this elevation, But a greater difficulty occurs (which indeed pertains less to our matter, yet it will not be irksome to indicate it here in passing) in reconciling the three years after the death of Sigismund with the times of Theodebert, king of the Franks, to whom Venerandus is said to have had recourse in order to obtain leave to raise up the bodies of Sigismund and his sons, since it is established that Sigismund was killed in the year 524 (according to others in the year 523) Cf. Jahn, vol. II, p. 309 ff., while Theodebert, as all admit, was not raised up as king of the Franks before the year 534, on the death of Theoderic his father. Henschen tried in some way to solve the knot Act. SS., vol. I May, p. 88, note y. by supposing that Theodebert, son of Theoderic, king of the Austrasians, and grandson through his mother of St. Sigismund, perhaps presided in the territory of Orléans after the death of Chlodomer. But, as Jahn rightly says Vol. cit., p. 318, note., he would certainly have presided on behalf of Theoderic his father; and it is unheard of that the son of a king, not yet himself adorned with royal dignity, is designated among the writers of those times by the name of prince, or even king, not bare (for we have an example of a king's son being sometimes indicated by this bare name in Sigismund in Marius Aventinus Cf. above, no. 14., where at the year 515 he says the monastery of Agaune was built by King Sigismund, although he succeeded his father Gundobad only in the following year), but with the added word of the Franks. Moreover the kingdom of Orléans was undertaken for administration not by Theoderic, but by Childebert and Clothar, on behalf of the sons of Chlodomer, whom they also soon killed, so as themselves to take possession of that region.
[40] some error lies hidden in the Passion of St. Sigismund. It is altogether necessary, therefore, to emend chapter X of the Passion of St. Sigismund, either as regards the name of the king of the Franks or as regards the three-year space of time intervening between the slaying of Sigismund and the elevation of his body. Nor can it be gathered in which way it should be emended from the mention of the abbot Venerandus, who, as we have pointed out, presided over the monastery of Agaune both three years after the slaying of Sigismund and under King Theodebert. Nor does the name of Ansemund, the Burgundian noble, whom the abbot of Agaune used as envoy to the king, bring any aid toward solving our question. This name indeed occurs in other documents of the same age, but so that the same man is shown not to have died before Venerandus and Theodebert, and indeed to have long survived them. There exist, namely, the letters of foundation of the convent of Lower St. Andrew Saint-Andre-le-Bas. near Vienne in the Burgundian kingdom, inscribed by Ansemund and Ansleubana his wife in the year 543 to their daughter Remilia, surnamed Eugenia Mabillon, Annal. Benedict., bk. I, no. 77.: which Eugenia is also called daughter of Duke Ansemund in the Life of St. Desiderius of Vienne Act. SS., vol. V May, p. 252. and in the chronicle of Ado of Vienne at the year 575 P. L., vol. CXXIII, p. 111.. No argument therefore seems to be at hand why we should admit one correction rather than the other, unless perhaps someone should judge that in that kind of writing error is usually more easily made about matters pertaining to the chronology of kings than in those concerning the history or cult of the saint himself, and that thus the three years should rather be kept, and the name of King Theodebert deleted.
LIVES OF THE FIRST ABBOTS OF AGAUNE.
Ambrose, abbot of Agaune in Switzerland. (S.)
BHL Number: 0142, 6944
FROM MSS.
In preparing this edition there have been used: 1. Codex of the city library of Trier 578, once of the monastery of St. Matthias. — 2. An apograph of a codex of St. Maximin of Trier preserved in Brussels codex 8930. — 3. An apograph of the Besançon codex preserved in Brussels codex 8287. — There have been added: 4. The variant readings or rather emendations which Rosweyde or someone else has placed under the first writing of codex 2; — and 5. Those which Chifflet seems to have placed under the first writing of codex 3. Cf. Prelim. Comm. no. 3.
Here begins the prologue to the life of the holy abbots of the monastery of Agaune [(Incipit-monast.) Vita sanctorum abbatum (omits 2, abbatorum 4) Agaunensium 2, 3.].
[Lest the tradition become confused, the author writes the deeds of the first abbots of Agaune.] Although reputation, enlivened by succeeding merits, always impresses upon the peoples the memory, to be imitated, of the holy way of life of blessed men, yet, lest through long lines of time it should seem to leave the certain path through confused tales, it is necessary that the truth be assigned to writing, so that those who, kindled with the heat of faith and love of holiness, desire their hearts to be satisfied with discourse, may in their thirst drink not empty air from the cloudy nebulsa 2. darkness, but true rain. For which reason, the remembrance of pious charity [recordationi 2, and so here and there in 2 and 3 the letter i is substituted for the letter e, more frequently also vice versa e for i.] urging me, the assisting suffrage of the only-begotten Word, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, helping, I have thought that the life of the holy abbots Hymnemodus, Ambrose and Achivus, who excellently [eximiæ 2, 3, and perhaps also 1, in which the double letter æ is everywhere written with a simple e.] presided over the undertaking successive 4. of the congregation of the monastery of Agaune, and how the monastery itself was instituted, should be inserted on this page by the office of a serving pen. For I do not fear to describe in uncultivated incultu 2, 3. speech their fruitful faith, which they always exercised in the fear of God with wonderful affection, because whatever of their praises obscure diction has concealed, this the narrative, illuminated by the shining merits of their deeds, makes clear. Here ends the prologue (Expl. prol.) omits 2, 3..
Here begins the life of the holy abbots of the monastery of Agaune (Incipit-monast.) omits 2, 3..
[1] [Hymnemodus, leaving the king's court, is received into the monastery of Grigny and becomes abbot.] St. Hymnemodus, then, barbarian indeed by nation, but modest in the kindness of his character, was by the benefit of divinity made so free of all ferocity that under the secular habit he bore the yoke of Christ with the pleasant liberty of clemency. While he, in the royal court, was attending the royal power as a diligent servant and fulfilling with entire integrity of mind the ministry mysterium 2, 3. committed to him, he faithfully exercised the warfare of Christ within the lodging of his breast. He rendered, according to the Savior's precept, the things of God to God, and without offense also paid the king the debt of service servitutis 2.. For when, with fervent spirit, he had inwardly ripened the counsel of perfect religion, spurning worldly allurements and despising the pomp of swelling powers, he very gladly sought the monastery of Grenencum a. When the venerable man the abbot abbas 2, and so henceforth. Caelestius, who at that time presided over that monastery, saw him, astonished with the whole congregation, he did not dare for the time being to receive him into the cloister of the monastery, because of the office given him by the king. But ac 2, 3. when St. Hymnemodus could not overcome the abbot's obstinacy by supplicating, he withdrew for a little while to a certain cave; there, having shaved the hair of his head captus 2., every thought being cast upon God, he returned to the monastery he had sought; and so, received and joined to the holy congregation congregatione 2 (cf. Prolog. note 5)., he advanced in the degrees of religion with all charity and with the virtue (for virtute) justitiæ 2. of humility: and as much as the threatening plots of the king went on, so much the more keenly did he excel in the service of Christ, so that not much later, when the holy abbot Caelestius passed from this world to Christ, he himself, God favoring, by the consent of the whole congregation, hardly compelled by the supplication supplicationibus 2, 3. of the brothers, succeeded in his place as abbot. Which office he, so dear to God and men, fulfilled for a long time with all vigor, so that he increased the monks monachus 2, 3. both in number and in progress.
[2] He heals two sick persons. But what the grace of the Holy Spirit did through him I have taken care especially to make known. When a certain youth of the leading men was already enclosed by the nearness of death, St. Hymnemodus, asked by his parents to visit viseret 3. him, refused for a very long time, but at last, compelled by their tears, did not delay to go to the sick man. But ac 2, 3. when he came, having made a prayer and taken holy oil he gave it to the youth, and at once que omits 2, 3. both the youth received health and his parents joy in place of tears. But what he did in the presence of St. Achivus at Lyons it is not fitting to keep silent. A mother Matris 1, 2. of a family, Syagria by name omits 2, 3. b, asked him to bless her house. She had a mute girl. She presented her to the holy man, that she might be cured by him. When he refused for a very long time the presumption of so great a thing, she at last obtained it by tearful supplication. Then Dum 2, 5., according to the faith of the petitioner, the name of God having been invoked, he took holy oil and with his fingers put it into the girl's mouth, and at once que omits 2, 3. she spoke. These things omits 2, 3. the Lord Jesus Christ worked through his servant, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit alone does great wonders, and who is wonderful in his saints. But now I will turn the foot of my pen to the institution of the aforesaid monastery of Agaune.
[3] King Sigismund restoring the monastery of Agaune, When Sigismund, son of King Gundobad, already girded with the honor of the patriciate c, had cast away et adds 1, 2. the perfidy of the Arian depravity, et adds 3, 4. having attained the faith of Catholic catholicæ 1, 2. doctrine, he was most intently applying his mind to the pursuits of religion; at that time Maximus, prelate of the city of Geneva, conspicuous in all holiness and purity and outstanding in the vigor of every industry, in whom the preaching of the divine word was strongly powerful, stirred the heart of Sigismund to this devotion, that from that place, which the Theban martyrs by a precious death and the shedding of their renowned inditi 2. blood had adorned with happy stains in rosy variety, the mixed habitation of the promiscuous crowd should be removed, and that to that place for which (for illi cui) illic ubi 3. the splendor of life had been acquired through the atrocity of the passion, the brightness of those dwelling there should return, and, the works of darkness d being excluded, a perpetual day should be had. Thus it would come about that under their patronage he would most safely possess both the kingdom and the integrity of the kingdom, on this condition, if his thought should by no means turn aside from piety and the path of justice, because the saints protect those whom they know to decline in no way from good order. This, however, he deserved to have with all abundance and prosperity, and would have had for a longer time still, if, with the delicts of the peoples overflowing, the envy of the ancient enemy had not prevailed. Counsel having been held, then, what by God's prompting pleased all universitate 1, 2., it seemed good that all women should be removed from the same place, and, the secular families being removed, a family of God, that is, of monks, should be placed there, who day and night, imitating the heavenly beings, should apply themselves to divine songs.
[4] Hymnemodus asks for St. Ambrose as companion, and with Achivus It being considered [so 5, where this word is substituted by a certainly probable conjecture for the word pertractatis, which however is read in each of the three codices; pertractandis 4, where that word too is joined to the preceding sentence, so that one reads … insisterent pertractandis. Ergo … : and this reading the distinguished Arndt followed in his edition.], then, who among the abbots should above all assume the monarchy of that work, there was a man most worthy of election, Hymnemodus. To which task operi 3, 4., although he did not wish to leave his monastery because of the danger of the congregation committed to him, he by no means set himself against it, promising that he would undertake so special a work on this condition, if a man similar in holiness, the abbot Ambrose from the Isle-Barbe, should be joined to him. And so, about to take up his most holy journey, he offered the cell of the monastery of Grenencum and the congregation to be governed by St. Achivus, who had by no means departed from his service or from his sight, because the place was due to him; whose work I shall unfold below, as God the Word shall give me speech. He, thirsting for the work which is now ruled at Agaune, answered his abbot this, that unless his passing should separate them separasset 3., he would never depart from his obedience. Which St. Hymnemodus held most pleasing.
[5] and with Probus and others, They, having bid the congregation farewell [congregationi 2: whence corr. also emended the preceding word, to read valefacto congregationi.], and commending themselves to its prayers, making their way with several brothers from the same monastery, asked St. Probus the presbyter [e], whom they already loved greatly beforehand, and whom probity of character and holiness so three codices; sanctitas 5. proved had made equal to them ejus 1; (comprobata eis) comprobitatis 2; comprobatio 4. in mind, to come with them to so great a work with God's help, that as in spirit, so (animo ita) ammonita 2. also joined together in bodily presence, they might unceasingly give thanks to God and
render praises. And he with the greatest gladness accepted their offered blessing. Yet several, especially præsentes 2. the incomparable men Ursolus Ussolus 2. and Justus, abbots, who always had him as their peer, so as not to be torn develleretur 1; divelleretur 5. from his sight, out of love tried to put him off from coming f. Likewise St. Victorius, bishop of the city of Grenoble, taking it ill that he should be absent absentiaretur 2. from him in body, soothed him with coaxing words; and him also, afterwards, meeting him at the basilica of the saints, he begged with many prayers before the brothers that he should visit the brothers and the church that had brought him up. But he, with an unshaken stability of heart, did not depart from his firm purpose.
[6] having performed a miracle on the way, he sets out there. Meanwhile, as the often-mentioned abbot Hymnemodus with his companions, of whom I wove in mention above intexui 2, 3., that is, the presbyters Achivus and Probus, was approaching the basilica of the saints, they were staying in a certain place under the open sky in the greatest serenity of heaven, and suddenly a most dense rain poured down, and no place of lodging was found veniretur 2, 3. under cover, then he called on his aforementioned supramemoratus 3. companions to pray to the Lord with him. And when they had prayed, at once the rains were removed and the brightness of the sky was brought back with the mildness of the breezes.
[7] Perpetual psalmody is instituted at Agaune. Meanwhile word was sent to Lyons to the blessed abbot Ambrose, that the king's devotion and St. Hymnemodus's promise might be fulfilled. When the city of Lyons learned this, it was greatly disturbed, because so great and such a servant should depart from that place. And St. Viventiolus, bishop of that city, and the brothers whom the abbot himself was seen to rule, were stricken with heavy grief. But that man full of God, when he heard that the distinguished men Hymnemodus and Achivus with St. Probus had already gone ahead to the basilica of the saints, cutting off all the nets of delay, came swiftly with other abbots, the holy men Arcadius and Drabistio, with a great retinue comitato 2, 3., to the basilica of the saints. Thus joined to the holy martyrs he heaped up wonderful joys of charity for all the brothers in that same congregation. Meanwhile a rule of psalmody or of subsistence, instituted, is handed to St. Hymnemodus by the assembly of bishops who had come there to establish the monastery; and not long after he passed from this light to Christ. Of his sayings the present account may worthily take up something. For those who were being kindled with some spark of religion, whether those he had with him, or those he perhaps found anywhere, he cherished with paternal piety and admonished to advance, walking with the greatest caution, saying: We see some going forward in a disorderly way, who strive even to impede those who are running well: that these ought oportet 4. rather to be guarded against and corrected than followed.
[8] St. Ambrose after Hymnemodus rules the monastery holily. After the passing of St. Hymnemodus, then, by divine dispensation and the election of the congregation, St. Ambrose the abbot is put in his place. He, then, while in youthful juvenali 2, 3. age he was performing the office of the clerical state, how with an older understanding he secretly fulfilled the acts of a monk is not unknown to all universitate 1.. Then, drawn forward by the desire of the monastic life, having contemplated and despised dispecta 2, 3. the vanity of the world, he hastened to the monastery against the will of his kinsmen; so fitting the obedience of his mind to the divine precepts that both the abbot and the whole congregation were held in the stupor of a miracle. For he had so prevailed by charity and constant service that all, the abbot being almost still alive, chose him as father. Then, the abbot having died, he himself succeeded as abbot in his place on the Isle-Barbe, by the will of God and predestination prædestinata 3., by the election of the congregation. And because there was in him the grace of prophecy, there was also a generous humanity in bestowing with all foresight, and a strict constancy in abstaining, and a lavish love of fraternal charity, and a pious discernment of discipline disciplina 1., the divine bounty granted all good things in his times both to the monastery of Agaune and to the kingdom and to the region. And how he had a love of one mind with St. Achivus and Probus ought to be (debet esse) debiti se 1, debitis se 2, exhibens 4. an example to all. And he among other things constantly admonished the brothers thus, that whoever wished to be a monk should flee all ambition, and among the other virtues follow humility, charity and obedience, adding: We ought to strive in duties and, as tamen 2, 3. watchful in mind as in body, envy being excluded, to set forth useful things utilitatis 2. in common, to bring aid adjumentis 1, adjumentum 4. to another by zeal, by services and works, or in any manner, that among the brothers the grace (semper gratia) sanctæ per gratiam 2. of fellowship may always be increased, and that no one may be drawn away from the holy office by the terror of danger. But he preached that all things, whether adverse or prosperous, should be borne patiently, the good of charity being meanwhile held in every way. Why say more? The constant instruction of the wise man built up the perfect fear of God in the hearts of the monks.
[9] [After him Achivus becomes abbot, devoted to the study of the Scriptures and strong in virtues;] As he therefore passed over to Christ, the place of ruling the monastery was deservedly elected (el. est loc.) loc. el. est 3. for St. Achivus: whose most holy life I am almost hindered by pious tears from recalling, but amid dear groans I will take care to unfold it, so far as I am able. He in adolescence did military service with his father Heraclius in the territory of Grenoble. After a little time he shuddered at the allurement of this world, and sought the monastery of Grenencum. And his parents tried to put him off, because he could not possit 1. bear the strictness of the monastery; but he did not receive their dissuasion into the ears of his heart. To him they said: If you desire that, you will fit your body for punishment. Which the devoted man afterwards bore with great patience. And since with entire integrity of mind he had so dedicated his spirit to God as to prepare his secret dwelling for the Holy Spirit, through his outstanding obedience to discipline he obtained the adornments of various spiritual graces. For the fear of the Lord had pierced his mind and flesh: among which good things he deserved to have so great a capacity of memory that whatever he had read he at once committed to it; whence it came about that he took in by heart almost all the ecclesiastical books, of which scriptures he became from a divine affection a notable interpreter; loving God, loving all, beloved by all, in humanity most generous to all, sparing to himself in abstinence. He bound the charity of all toward God, while by preaching he reined in vices, he suffered with the sorrowful, he congratulated piously those rejoicing in Christ, nothing wrathful was seen in his actions, nothing grim in his face. Far from faults, yet he grew pale and blushed for the faults of others; for which purity whatever he had asked of the Lord for whoever were suffering need, he deserved to receive as truly a servant of God; and since he was robust in mind, he also remained constantly ruddy in face; whose integrity of both mind and omits 1, 3. body the rosy redness remaining in his face after his death signified, as no bloodless death brought pale foulness to his countenance.
[10] then Tranquillus. Finally for his gentleness divine election provided as successor Tranquillus, with the solace of Probus, who conquered the snares of the world as the wrestling-ground slipped away, who with sincere heart always deserved to behold Christ as a monk. This Tranquillus, a mild and holy priest, in whose character a kind faith shone, his life from his name, with his merits the bright stars hold his soul tenet 1., while by the scourges so three codices; fragilis 5. of the world he shuns swelling honors, and despising empty things [so three codices (perhaps the word pompas should be supplied soon after despiciens); vanaque 5.], having followed the precepts of the Lord, he persevered honorable in fasts, prayers, psalms. Moreover et insuper 2; 3. he added, a pious humble minister, to serve lepers, that he might purchase the lofty way of salvation, when with his merits the promised reward of his labors is rendered by the eternal King, rewards præmiaque 3. which stand open for the just, the Lord repaying Deum 3, Deo 5., which the judge, the ruler of heaven, weighs in the balanced liberato 2. scale. There, now approved, he rejoices in the gifts of Christ he has received, enriched with the highest honors he possesses heavenly gifts, and when the living souls return to be bound in the body [(et cum-necti) so three codices; et cum vitali redeunt animæ cum corpore necti 5: which reading the distinguished Arndt followed in his edition.], when the flesh, rising, receives recepit 2. life after the funeral, so that again the new limbs may use blood once more, then, returned to the earth with ruddy beauty, he shines with light fulgit 2, 3.. After the eighty-sixth LXXXVI 2, 3. year of life vita 1. he rests in body at Agaune Agaunum 2, 3.. He died on the day before the Ides of December.
[11] Epitaph of Hymnemodus. He who left the world, the holy presbyter, the abbot Hymnemodus, following the examples of the saints, inviting all to praise by a praiseworthy laudabilis 2, 3. life, by God's help and his own example aiding the vows of those who sing, after the sixtieth LX 2, 3. year of life rests in body at Agaune, and by merit has been joined to the saints in the heavenly kingdom. He died on the third day before the Nones of January, in the consulship of Peter.
[12] Epitaph of St. Ambrose. Ambrose, to whom for his deeds the kingdoms of heaven lie open,
To this soil also he merited to give his limbs.
The earth strong in the blood of the saints protects proteget 2. him,
Whom for his merits the brighter pole of heaven holds.
So the almighty Father wished to associate with his martyrs
Those whom he sees to scorn tenere 2, 5. the world.
And though this temple gleams with shining light,
He too here exalts the temples with his body suo 5..
That he kept the temple in faith fidei 2, 3. and the future life,
And made it perpetual for the good, lofty glory teaches.
For he merited the first palm in the name of abbot,
With the holy ones the friendly faith of the brothers began
To psalm the praise of our Maker, to be sung without end,
With a choir succeeding and perpetual.
If the times of martyrdom had seen this just man,
After the first Victor this one would have been the second.
[13] Epitaph of Achivus. Fervent with the love of Christ,
And chaste, with holy sanctus 5. character,
Achivus the master heros 5. is sung
By right of the eternal reward.
Displaying a noble nobile 5. example of life,
A man full of God Deum 3.,
As elected abbot he taught the holy summam 3.
Things of a perfect office celestus 2.:
A kindly rest has now borne him, truly,
To the blessed light luce 2..
Sending his spirit to heaven,
He left liquet 2. his limbs here to the brothers.
He straitened astavit 2. his body with crosses,
He lifted his mind from the weight,
Whom a sweet charity always joined
In joy to Probus so 5; Pro bono 1, 2, 3..
Happily ends [feliciter 1; (expl. fel.) exempli feliciter 2. And in the same codex there is added: De abbatibus Agaunensis loci, Cælestio, Himnemodo, Ambrosio, Achivo, ubi requiescunt corpora beatæ legionis Tebaidæ, id est Mauritii et sociorum ejus.].
ANNOTATIONS.
Here begin the verses on the Life of St. Probus.
He who shines on the lofty summit, Probus the priest,
Excellent, proved, upright in deeds and in name:
Whose life Note: Vitam? although in no volume
Nor the tongue exceedingly powerful in Greek acumen
Nor sweet in Latium with precious teaching
May the songs of the ancient bards be able to set forth;
Knowing no sin, a virgin, he flashes the marriage-bed with light,
Nor did he touch the stain of horror with base sweetness,
Nor harmful with its darts, the savage enemy with deceiving poison
From the opposite side, with swift-flying arrow,
But firm, his body protected by the shield of faith,
And thus brave to turn back the foul weapons,
He passed his age unharmed, salvation cherishing him.
Here, namely, fearing to set forth briefly the praises of his virtues
I shall begin to touch on a few in words,
The man of such great religion bravely treading on worldly things,
Tried in the work of virtue, narrating his happy triumph.
Casting behind his back all human crimes,
The love of the world, persuading, its deceitful image, did not seduce him,
Nor, weighed down by the opposing mass of false riches,
Did the tears of his pious mother hold him entangled,
Nor the coaxing kisses of his nurse, nor burning, kindled youth,
Nor could his father in vain prohibit him as he strove.
Never looking at empty things nor caught by empty hope,
Nor did light error, profane counsels, draw back his mind.
As an old man Christ brought him forth in his youthful years,
And provident faith ever clung to his breast:
Embracing the precepts he diligently licks them, and following Christ,
Conquering the wandering allurements of the world and crimes.
Escaping as a shipwrecked man he leaves the waves, and, the harbor left,
He shuddered at the earth polluted with evils, filled with blood.
With fasts and sacred prayers and care for things above
He carried on a constant work, having gained the daily praise.
Holding the rule and law of a monk, and the holy and illustrious
Work, fulfilling what he heard, pious, dear, kind,
Conspicuous, strong in humility, he fitted the bonds to his neck.
A teacher strong of mouth, a great and famous master,
He offered, content, the yoke of obedience with bowed neck,
And not by words only, but by deeds he exhorts by example.
Beautiful faith remained ever in his rejoicing breast
And the tenor of charity persisting in his sagacious heart.
Sleepless at night, watchful, by divine grace he sang psalms
On the ten-stringed cithara; in harmony with the heart
Sweetly the timbrels sounded in the choir with agreement of mind.
Never, faith weary, did his limbs yield to sleep:
For free, he betakes himself to the open gate of paradise,
Victor over vices, received on the path of heaven,
Far from death, and strong in light he makes for the threshold.
He pierced the starry way, and entering the blessed seat,
Powerful above the heights in perennial light
The just man rejoices in his reward amid the gleaming stars.
He shall perpetually enjoy, rejoicing, the light of a better world,
Shunning the falling snares on the uncertain path of life,
Despising the cares of men and their various labors.
Here although his limbs are laid in an earthly tomb,
With his merits the bright stars hold his soul.
The times of life twice six lustra being passed,
So, leaving the world, he shines in the seat on high.
Hear, O Saint, the suppliant voice of your foster-son who asks.
And deign willingly to receive a small song,
And to take as a gift praises all too slight.
Pour forth, I beg, your prayers, turn aside harsh labors:
May Christ, seeing them, wash away the sins, the crimes blotted out:
With your help may our cause know its patron.
They tried to put him off from coming. That is, as I judge, they dissuaded him from coming, or from going away. Which sense, as it seems, was unknown to old and pure Latin. But lest you doubt of the mind of Pragmatius Or of our writer. Cf. Prelim. Comment., no. 10., see what he adds about St. Achivus Life no. 9., when he had opened to his parents his plan of renouncing the vanity of the world. And his parents, he says, tried to put him off, because he could not bear the strictness of the monastery. But he did not receive their dissuasion into the ears of his heart. What is clearer than that dissimulare here means to dissuade? I do not know whether the author had in view that he who dissuades someone and recalls him from a plan he has begun tries to make him, as it were, unlike himself.
CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES OF THE FIRST TWELVE ABBOTS OF AGAUNE
from Brussels cod. 8287.
Ambrose, abbot of Agaune in Switzerland. (S.) a
FROM MSS.
III. Nones of January: the Deposition of St. Hymnemodus, first Abbot at Acaunum, who held the Abbacy VII months.
IIII. Nones of November: the Deposition of St. Ambrose, who held the Abbacy V years.
IIII. Kal. of April: the Deposition of St. Achivus, who held the Abbacy II years and four months.
The day before the Ides of December: the Deposition of St. Tranquillus, who held the Abbacy III years and VI months.
On the Nones of October: the Deposition of St. Venerandus, who held the Abbacy XIII years.
VI. Ides of November: the Deposition of St. Paul, Abbot, who held the Abbacy XVIII years.
III. Nones of March: the Deposition of St. Placidian, Abbot, who occupied the Abbacy X years, V months.
XIII. Kal. of October: the Deposition of St. Eutropius, Abbot, who held the Abbacy three months and XVIII days.
On the Ides of May: the Deposition of St. Paul, Abbot, who held the Abbacy VIII years and IIII months and XXIII days.
III. Ides of March: the Deposition of Martin, Abbot, who presided in the Abbacy II years and XI months.
On the Ides of October: the Deposition of St. Ambrose, Abbot, who held the Abbacy XXX years, VI months and II days.
VI. Kal. of April: there died Dom Leontius, Abbot, who held the Abbacy V years and V months and VIII days.