Berard

ON ST. BERARD, BISHOP OF THE MARSI,

IN THE YEAR 1130.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

Berard, bishop of the Marsi. (S.)

BY J. D. B.

§ I. On the Acts of St. Berard.

[1] On St. Berard, whose ancient cult Pius VII promoted, On this day the church of the Marsi keeps the festival of St. Berard, who governed this see at the beginning of the twelfth century. This blessed man, who is not found inscribed in the Roman Martyrology, had his cult promoted by Pope Pius VII, when, on the 20th of May of the year 1802, he granted to the clergy of the city and diocese of the Marsi that on the 3rd of November, in the second nocturn, they might recite proper lessons of St. Berard; and on the 25th of June of the year 1808, at the request of the most eminent lord Matthew, cardinal bishop of Palestrina, it was given to the church of Palestrina, which already recited the whole office from the common in honour of the blessed prelate, to adopt the aforesaid lessons. But the Marsi, who had been witnesses how holily he had presided over the church committed to him, had honoured the holy prelate with public veneration from the time of his death. To this witness is borne both by John, bishop of the church of Segni, in the Life of St. Berard soon to be edited, and by the canons of Santa Sabina, who, as Febonius relates Vita di S. Berardo, p. 49., after the said John committed to writing the miracles obtained at the blessed man's tomb. Besides these also William of Palermo, who, in a charter which he drew up in the year 1178 by order of William, king of Sicily, in favour of Santa Sabina, did not hesitate to adorn Berard with the name of blessed Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. I, p. 904..

[2] there survives only a single Life, Yet for illustrating the acts of so great a man few documents have been found extant so far. For, besides the bull which Paschal II gave Ughelli, ibid., p. 892. to define the boundaries of the church of the Marsi, antiquity has preserved for us one thing alone, namely the Life of the blessed man written by his disciple John. For the encomium of Berard Ziegelbauer, Historia rei litterariae Ordinis S. Benedicti, part I, p. 196., which Paul, monk of Monte Cassino, inserted in his exposition of the Canticle of Canticles, seems long since lost together with that work itself. The Life, however, which John wrote was edited by Ughelli in the first volume of the Italia sacra, drawn from very ancient parchments of the church of Trasacco Vol. cit., p. 892 ff.. And since, after examining not a few catalogues of manuscripts, we have nowhere detected another transcript of the blessed man's Life, it remains that we insert in our work the text which Ughelli published. I am indeed not unaware that in the periodical entitled Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde it was noted, vol. XII, p. 382, that there is preserved at Rome in the Barberini library a paper codex of the seventeenth century which gives the Life of the blessed prelate, whom however the periodical's editor G. Pertz erroneously called Bernard. But our former colleague, Rev. Fr. van Hooff, while staying at Rome, visited the aforesaid library, and found in codex no. 157, not no. 2057 as G. Pertz noted, not the Life of Berard, but some fragment of it. Although it would be right to omit this, I have nevertheless thought fit to note its variant readings, where they occurred. As for the booklet of miracles, which we have heard from the witness of Febonius was patched together by the canons of St. Sabina (above, no. 1), what its fate has been it has so far not been possible to determine. Certainly it must be reckoned lost many years ago, since no one of those who have treated of the holy prelate since the sixteenth century indicates by so much as a word that he has inspected that booklet. Another Life of St. Berard, from a manuscript now, as it seems, lost, of the cathedral church, which then

was already in the city of Piscina, was turned into the Italian tongue and put into print by Febonius in the year 1673, of which a new edition, enlarged with additions, came out at Palestrina in the year 1708 Corsignani, Della regia Marsicana, vol. II, bk. IV, ch. VII, p. 152..

[3] whose author John of Segni deserves all trust. John of Segni, therefore, stands as the sole witness, from whom as from an original spring whatever has been handed down about St. Berard must be drawn. We must accordingly inquire somewhat into his authority, which has been valued highly by all, and most rightly. For he himself, as appears from the letter prefixed to the Life, was a pupil of Santa Sabina, educated and ordained by St. Berard. He could therefore be very well informed, from familiar intercourse with his holy master, of many things that concerned him. And he wrote when he had already undertaken the government of the church of Segni. This may be conjectured from the very superscription of the letter to John Furatus which is set before the Life of St. Berard, in which he calls himself the humble minister of the church of Segni. And Ughelli, in the series of the bishops of Segni, after Transmund, who as a partisan of the antipope Anacletus II was driven from the see in the year 1130, assigns John as the thirteenth prelate, and, treating elsewhere of the dispute which arose about the year 1148 in the church of the Marsi between the clergy of St. John and of St. Sabina, after listing from an old charter the bishops who assembled at Santa Sabina to settle the matter, he adds: Where there was also John, bishop of Segni, who was a canon of the same church (namely of Santa Sabina). But how many years he presided over his church remains unknown. Yet he seems to have made a beginning of writing the Life when only a few years had passed after the death of St. Berard. This again can be deduced from the letter to John Furatus: for he would have wished to cast off the burden of writing because of the increased care of the pastoral office, and he speaks with John Furatus of his father in such grief that, when about to take up the burden of writing, he seems to have borne in his mind those feelings with which men are wont to follow one recently dead. Accordingly it does not seem fair, in view of the arguments brought forward, to assent to Fabricius Bibl. med. et inf. lat., vol. IV, p. 145., who asserts that John, while still a deacon, wrote the Life of his master.

§ II. Certain facts of the life of St. Berard are elucidated.

[4] [St. Berard sprang from the stock of the counts of the Marsi, more probably those who held Celano.] These things concerning the person of the writer being set out, we must meet some difficulties which are apt to raise prejudice against his truthfulness. John declares Berard's place of birth and his parents; but he would run the risk of error who attempted to know more, or who believed Febonius, who Op. cit., p. 3., with no document brought forward, determined that Berard had as brothers Oderisius and Rainald, older in age and distinguished in arms. St. Berard is said to have sprung from the stock of the counts of the Marsi, of whom certainly mention recurs more than once in Gattula Historia coenobii Casinensis, vol. I, passim. and Leo of Marsica M. G., scr., vol. VII, p. 574 f., writers of the affairs of Monte Cassino. In very truth, as the distinguished W. Wattenbach observes M. G., vol. cit., p. 551., there had always been a close connexion of the Cassinese with the counts of the Marsi, men sprung from whose stock were then living among them: Oderisius, Theodinus, Transmund. And that Leo, surnamed Marsicanus, was joined with them either by consanguinity or by affinity is a very probable conjecture of Giesebrecht. From Leo we know very well who was the stem of all those who were called counts of the Marsi; for he writes under the year 926 Ibid., p. 382.: With this Hugh there came into Italy Azzo, count of Burgundy, uncle of that Berard who was surnamed Franciscus, from whom namely the counts of the Marsi were begotten. But who will relate in order all the descendants who grew up from that Berard like many branches from a noble stem? According to the tables placed at the end of volume VII of the Monumenta Germaniae, from Berard II are said to have been born Oderisius, Rainald, Berard and Pandulf the bishop. And of this Berard, who was alive about the year 1070, two sons are listed: Todinus, who was numbered among the cardinals, and Berard. But in these we by no means arrive at knowledge of the parents of the holy pontiff. Nor will the Register of Farfa be of greater profit Il Regesto di Farfa, vol. III, pp. 315, 320, 332, 340., although here too the counts of the Marsi are several times named among those who conferred certain estates on the church. Yet the assertion of John of Segni is by no means shaken on that account. For the counts in the territory of the Marsi were also surnamed of Celano Ughelli, vol. cit., p. 907.. If it be noticed that the people of Celano, whose city was among the first, made no few attempts to keep for themselves the dead body of Berard, the opinion of D. Corsignani Op. cit., p. 164. will not be thought destitute of all probability, who determined that Berard was born of those who held Celano, although he brought only weak grounds of reason for his view.

[5] On the time at which St. Berard was held captive at Palestrina. But scarcely any credit is thought to be due to the opinion which Petrini Memorie Prenestine, p. 119. puts forward by assertion rather than by proof, and to which in the year 1867 the Rev. D. Paul Panegrossi added his vote, namely that in the year 1108 St. Berard was held in chains by Peter de Colonna at Palestrina Memorie storiche intorno a S. Berardo. p. 55., although John of Segni arranged the order of events in such a way that the reader would suppose these things to have happened before St. Berard was co-opted among the cardinals. But he governed the deaconry of St. Angelo, which was his cardinalitial title, before the year 1107; for in this year, staying at Langres, on the 24th of February, he set his signature to the diploma by which Pope Paschal II settled the controversy of the monastery of Remiremont and the canonry of Chaumousey Martène, Thes. nov. Anec., vol. III, col. 1183.. Therefore, unless you prefer to deny all credit to a contemporary writer, Petrini must be believed to have erred, which we think the more probable because it is manifest why he erred. For he seems to have arrived at this opinion because he had read in Peter of Pisa Watterich, Pontificum Romanorum vitae, vol. II, p. 7. that the city of Palestrina, while Paschal in the year 1108, already returned from his journey to Gaul and with all things settled in peace, was setting out for Apulia, had gone over to the party of the treacherous Ptolemy of Tusculum and Peter de Colonna. Therefore, before that, the city of Palestrina remained faithful under the rule of the pontiff, and Berard could not have been put into custody there. Be it so; but from the first beginnings of his pontificate Watterich, op. cit., p. 5. Paschal waged wars with Peter de Colonna. Although Peter of Pisa, in treating of these things, makes no mention of the city of Palestrina, nevertheless his silence does not remove that hypothesis, which must be admitted lest John be accused of error, according to which Peter de Colonna, who was driven by zeal to enlarge his dominion, held for a time not only Cave but also Palestrina, which he affirmed to be his by right Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Rome, vol. IV, p. 306..

[6] On the title of St. Chrysogonus with which St. Berard was honoured. Finally it is asked whether we must adhere to John when he says that Berard was promoted to cardinal presbyter of the title of St. Chrysogonus See in the Life, no. 6.. The reason for doubt is this. On the first of September of the year 1107 he was still called cardinal deacon of St. Angelo, and in the month of April of the year 1111 another than Berard, namely Gregory, as cardinal presbyter set his signature to the privilege on investitures which Pope Paschal granted to the emperor Henry V in order to be freed from custody M. G., vol. II of the Laws, p. 72.. Therefore, if the blessed man was in truth honoured with this title, he renounced the presbyterate of St. Chrysogonus and every cardinalitial dignity before he undertook the episcopate.

[7] Chronology of the life of St. Berard. For determining in some measure the chronological sequence of the life of blessed Berard, which was the last thing to be treated, these two things are chiefly of use, namely the heading of the diploma of the year of the Lord's incarnation 1120, the eleventh year of Berard's episcopate, by which Count Crescentius of the race of the Marsi gave certain goods in the county of Trasacco to the church of the holy martyrs Caesidius and Rufinus Ughelli, op. cit., vol. I, col. 901., and the testimony of John, saying that Berard obtained the see of the Marsi when he was in the thirtieth year of his age. Hence it follows that Berard was consecrated bishop of the Marsi about the year 1109, and was born indeed in the year 1079. Before the eighth of June of the year 1096 he was sent over into the monastery of Monte Cassino to be trained in letters and virtue; for this is conjectured to have been done while Pandulf, bishop of the Marsi, was living. For Andrew, his successor, is recorded as bishop of the Marsi in the donation which in the said year Berard, count of the Marsi, and Gemma, his mother, made to the church of St. Caesidius Ibid., col. 891.. Certain other facts of the Life of Bl. Berard are indicated in the following list:

1107 24 February, he was at Langres.

1107 25 July, at the Cell of St. Maurice in the diocese of Valence, he set his sign to the privilege which Pope Paschal gave to the monks of Saint-Gilles P. L., vol. CLXIII, col. 223. .

1107 In the month of July, at Valence, he was present at the judgment which Paschal pronounced concerning the Gordian cell against the monks of La Chaise-Dieu in favor of the monks of Aniane Annal. Ord. S. Benedicti, vol. V, document 67, p. 640. .

1107 1 September, at Modena, he set his sign to the privilege which Paschal gave to the monastery of St. Benedict of Polirone Bacchini, Dell' ist. di S. Bened. di Polirone. Racc., p. 68. .

1117 16 December, at Palestrina, he was present at the consecration of the upper church Corsignani, op. cit., vol. II, p. 163. .

1120 At Transaquae he set his sign to the donation which Count Crescentius made to the church of the holy martyrs Caesidius and Rufinus Ughelli, vol. cit., p. 901. .

§ III. On the posthumous glory of St. Berard.

[8] [The body of St. Berard, whose translation to Piscina Gregory XIII granted in the year 1580,] But when in the course of succeeding centuries the city of Valeria, widowed of its former splendour and almost empty of inhabitants Corsignani, op. cit., vol. I, p. 669., was wholly falling into ruin, and therefore the bishop with the canons only rarely stayed at Santa Sabina, Bishop Matthew and the chapter of Santa Sabina gave a letter of supplication to Gregory XIII that, until the city of Valeria should be rebuilt, the episcopal see might be allowed to be transferred to the city of Piscina at the church called St. Mary of Grace. To their requests the pontiff graciously assented by his brief given at St. Peter's, on the kalends of January of the year 1580 Ibid., p. 670.. That this document may be plainly understood, it is helpful to note that the church of Bl. Mary, called of Grace, was built by Bishop Matthew, after the chapel which was there, dedicated to Bl. Mary of the Snow, had been pulled down Febonius, Historiae Marsorum libri tres, p. 272.. Yet in the midst of the desolation at St. Sabina, where he lay buried, St. Berard did not remain without honour. For to St. Mary, called of the People or of the Gate Panegrossi, op. cit., p. 116., situated on the top of the hill of the city of Piscina Corsignani, op. cit., vol. I, p. 682., he was most honourably translated in the year 1580.

[9] was brought here only in the year 1596. So Febonius Febonius, op. cit., p. 253., with whom Corsignani agrees Op. cit., vol. I, p. 682.. Yet Panegrossi, the modern author of his Life Op. cit., p. 141., thinks that the translation of St. Berard was celebrated already before this time, not because in searching the archive of the church of Bl. Mary Op. cit., p. 141. he found a charter giving the certain date of this translation, but because he could hardly grasp how,

if the translation took place in the year 1580, it came about that, the cathedral church being as it were despised, the sacred remains were laid at Bl. Mary of the People. He thinks his view is strengthened by the fact that already before the year 1580 the chapter sat continuously at St. Mary's Ibid.. But the difficulty is lifted if it be noticed that only about the year 1596 Corsignani, op. cit., vol. I, p. 671. was the whole fabric of the new church finished, and so the sacred body could have been brought to Bl. Mary of the People until a place worthy of so great a treasure should be built in the cathedral itself. And that such was the mind of those who presided over the church of the Marsi the same author shows, both from the structure of the high altar itself, in which a certain part has been left empty Panegrossi, op. cit., p. 142., and from the popular tradition relating that the sacred body, when they were about to bring it to the cathedral church, was of such weight that it could not be moved from its place Ibid., p. 118.. And the first argument indeed has nothing that opposes the description of that same altar which is read in Corsignani Op. cit., vol. I, p. 671.. For four angels stood by it raising up a golden urn, but he omitted to say what the urn contained, although he carefully indicated relics preserved here and there. By the second, certainly, inasmuch as it indicates in a more vivid form what the neighbouring people attempted so as not to be cheated of their treasure, the purpose of the bishops is made manifest, namely of bringing the sacred relics to the cathedral church,

and the tradition with the explanation given is further established by what is read as done in another, but temporary, as we shall see, translation Panegrossi, op. cit., p. 118.. For it was confirmed in writing that when the work was completed the blessed prelate would be brought back to his former house. But whatever the time at which the sacred remains were brought from Santa Sabina to St. Mary's, it is certain that the memory of the translation was preserved in the church of the Marsi. For at Piscina Panegrossi, op. cit., p. 116. on the first of May, in the rest of the diocese on the second day of the same month, because of the coinciding feast of Sts. Philip and James, a solemn festival was kept in honour of St. Berard. But when because of age the building was already close to ruin Corsignani, op. cit., vol. I, p. 683, vol. II, p. 574., Muzio de Vecchi, bishop of the Marsi from the year 1719, determined that the church of Bl. Mary must be renewed from the foundations. It, thenceforth called St. Berard's Panegrossi, op. cit., p. 117. Compare Corsignani, op. cit., vol. I, p. 682., was dedicated on the 12th of May of the year 1743 Panegrossi, op. cit., p. 118.. Meanwhile the bishops succeeding one another in the see of the Marsi made caskets precious with gold and silver in which the relics of the blessed bishop were laid up Ibid., p. 17..

[10] On the cult of St. Berard in the Marsican region. There is also, near the town of Colle, outside the walls, on the passage of the Roman road, a church sacred to St. Berard Febonius, Historiae Marsorum libri tres, p. 219.. Finally the following is received from Corsignani about the stone which is called St. Berard's De viris illustribus Marsorum, p. 98.: When the blessed bishop had one day departed from Tagliacozzo, and had passed near Celano on the road which is called the Roman, stopping in the plain where the inn of Quatranella is, wearied from the journey, sitting on a huge round stone, he miraculously fashioned it into the likeness of a reclining seat, where they say that those tormented with fevers and pains recover when they sit.

LIFE OF ST. BERARD

Berard, bishop of the Marsi. (S.)

BHL Number: 1176

From very ancient parchments of the church of Trasacco, edited in Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. I, col. 893–901. We have, however, collated it anew with the fragment of the Barberini library, of which we spoke in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 2. We have also sometimes corrected certain things less clear in the editor.

Here begins the letter sent to the venerable presbyter John Furatus on the life of Bl. Berard.

To the reverend brother and fellow-priest John Furatus ^a, John, humble minister of the church of Segni ^b. The vigour and power of charity are asserted to be so great that by its intervention even that is not denied which is believed unable to be given; for it alone so extends itself to innumerable things, that, as the Apostle testifies, it believes, bears and hopes all things. When therefore, venerable brother and fellow-priest John Furatus, I was some while ago with you, and sitting, according to custom, in the new cloister of the church before the tomb of our father the holy bishop Berard ^c, a thing which cannot be said without grief, we were talking together with mutual tears of the state of our church, of the piety and honourable conduct of our brethren, and of the other good things which were done in the times of our aforesaid father (if we can be called sons and not stepsons, which I believe rather of myself alone) , you, charity going before, enjoined on me both to write the life of that same father, which we say surely not to the detriment of our soul, and of our pastor, and the miracles which we saw done with our own eyes, in such a way that in the consistory of the holy Roman Church they might be able to confirm them for his canonization in honour and with undoubted oath upon the touched Gospels. But when first by the excuse of my inexperience, then of the increased care of the pastoral office ^d, finally that according to my little knowledge that same writing already , you by a holy rebuke, with voice but not mind changed, met my very answer, saying: Even if you did not know how to join case to case, and even if the care of the whole world, to speak with due reverence to the lord pope, had been enjoined on you (which I at once answered, interrupting your speech, could never at all be), since he himself nourished you from boyhood, taught and ordained you, and whatever you are after God you are seen to be through him, and since you know his life well, and in your presence, by God's doing, miracles were done at his tomb, you ought nevertheless, as a good imitator, for the example of those who come after, to write in whatever way the acts of your master, even without being asked. Overcome therefore by this reasoning, with charity admonishing me I believed, and promised to give what I did not have of knowledge. Therefore, venerable brother and fellow-priest worthy of all devotion, John, Furatus in name not in fact, with all our other most holy canons accompanying you, work * unceasingly with me with the prayer and devotion you owe, that in the seeking of the greater, which is truth, God, it may so be that neither true things be passed over, and that, according to your request and my devotion, I may never mix false things with true.

Here begins the prologue to the life of blessed Peter Berard, bishop and confessor.

Compendium of the whole life. Being about to write the life of our father ^e, I wish, if I can, to note briefly what I am about to write, so that those who have not been able to run through the whole life of St. Berard , when they have read through this brief statement, may be able to know beforehand in part who and whence he was, whose son, where born, taught and nourished, by whom and where ordained, and of what merit he stood out before his episcopate and after his episcopate, and where he rests, and at what time he departed. His country then was the Marsi, his father Berard, his mother Theodosia, his paternal and maternal seat Castellum ^f, of the seed of the great counts Berard; nourished and taught in the church of St. Sabina ^g, and ordained acolyte by Bishop Pandulf ^h, who was then in office. In the monastery of Monte Cassino ⁱ he learned grammar from the prudent man Paul ^k, blind in body. Called by Pope Paschal to the Roman Church, and ordained subdeacon by him, and afterwards appointed by the same count of the province of Campania, he was taken by Peter de Colonna on account of the Roman Church and put into a cistern; drawn out thence by God's mercy by John of Petrella ^l, and brought back to Rome, he was made deacon in the church of St. Angelo ^m, and ordained cardinal presbyter in the church of St. Chrysogonus, given to the Marsi as bishop, and consecrated bishop in honour of St. Sabina, the most illustrious martyr. Of most glorious merit both before his episcopate and after his episcopate, he endured much from tyrants, so that on account of the truth which he preached he was expelled by them from the bishopric eight times; he destroyed simony, separated kinsfolk, cherished the poor, defended orphans and widows, set the clergy in order, preserved what had been gathered, gathered what was to be preserved, and rooted out all vices. A girl in whose throat something sharp had stuck he freed from the danger of death by the sign of the cross; from an empty barn he had wheat collected for poor women, which by his prayer sufficed them abundantly. With the sword of his excommunication he struck a count, but by divine mercy he lived until he absolved him. On the feast of St. Sabina he foretold his death, and after he fell ill, the day of his death. At the church of St. John in Capo d'Acqua ⁿ, on the Nativity of St. Mary, he fell ill; carried thence on a bed into the church of St. Sabina, as he foretold, on the third day before the nones of November in the year 1130, indiction VIII, he died and was buried there; where almighty God works many miracles to this present day.

Here ends the prologue.

ANNOTATIONS.

held. Compare Italia sacra, vol. I, p. 889–91.

* edition colloqueremus

* edition indubitatus

* so the edition, from a corrupt reading

* edition et

* edition opera

* edition levitae

* edition vivit

CHAPTER ONE.

The parents of St. Berard, his religious as well as literary formation, and his various fortunes up to the undertaking of the episcopate.

Here begins the life of the blessed prelate Berard, confessor.

[1] Berard, piously and learnedly brought up, Berard, then, begotten of the counts of the Marsi ^a, was born in the fortified place named Colli ^b, which had fallen as his share to his father of the same name together with other fortified places, and since he passed his boyhood gravely, not as a boy but as a grave man, he was nourished in that same place. And by divine disposition he was handed over by his parents to the study of letters in the church of the holy martyr and mother Sabina ^c, from which he was afterwards made bishop; where by God's mercy to this day brothers of wonderful piety and honourable life, without doubt many, live under the discipline of the holy rule; in whom also, which is a thing greatly precious before God, there is ever one heart and one soul ^d. This young man therefore, setting aside every claim of nobility, was a lover of humility, patience , chastity, charity and all the virtues, so that in his aspect the image of humility was discerned; he kept patience in his answers and in the insults brought upon him; treading down and pressing back the author of lust, he would neither look upon nor speak with women without a certain cause and a lawful witness, guarding chastity and honourable conduct. In receiving guests and in serving them he most zealously cherished charity, the greatest of the virtues, by the work of his hands, by the service of his mouth, and by the expense of his goods. Ordered in the gait of his feet and in the fashion of his garments and tonsure, assiduous in divine reading, intent on the nightly and daily offices, believing it the greatest fault if at any time, by day or night, he were slow to rise at the first stroke of the bell, and, according to the custom of the aforesaid holy place, in the four customary places, that is, church, chapter, dormitory and refectory, he never spoke without being questioned or without a certain cause, nor left the cloister without leave; offering service to all, he never, which is wonderful, gave scandal to anyone. He loved all, since he had never known an enemy; declaring himself less than all, he served all most dutifully, and venerated all. What more? He showed himself irreproachable in all things. Bishop Pandulf therefore ^e, who at the time was pontiff of the aforesaid church, seeing the constancy of this man, having duly given at the fixed times the crown and the other ecclesiastical orders, ordained him acolyte with the honour and veneration he ought. He grew in age, but more in gravity; he grew in prudence, no less in honourable life. What in this time is more wonderful? What more right according to the canons? He was taught and nourished in that same place where by divine providence he was to be the future teacher and governor, to teach bodies and to cherish souls. Moreover, at the request of his father, by order of Bishop Pandulf, he went to the monastery of Monte Cassino for the sake of reading, and there for six years he happily remained, learning grammar from a certain prudent man, Paul by name, though blind in body ^f. But if anyone wishes to know more fully what sort of man he proved to be there, let him read the exposition of the Canticle of Canticles ^g, which the aforesaid master Paul made in his name, nay rather for the holy man himself, where he shows his manners, composure and honourable life as much the more clearly as he is held by us to be the more prudent and excellent:

Paul shows the manners and the vigours of mind

Of this Berard, devout in body and in mind.

[2] and initiated into sacred orders at Rome, While he was intent on reading day and night, keeping the canonical rule, behold, by divine nod, as his good report increased, he was honourably called to the Roman Church by apostolic letters of Pope Paschal of holy memory ^h, and was honourably received, and, as the pious man himself was accustomed to relate, on the day on which he entered the Curia he sat first at supper, and on the second and fourth ferias up to Saturday. But on Saturday, promoted from the hand of the supreme pontiff, as he was worthy, to the order of the subdiaconate, and, as the method of the ecclesiastical order requires, placed in his proper place as a junior after all at table, or rather he himself according to his custom always sought the last place. Seeing which the aforesaid supreme pontiff said smiling: Brother Berard, see, yesterday and the day before, since no place had been assigned you, you sat as it were next to us at table; today you have been placed in your proper place. To whom the saint said: This, pastor, I have known, to hold not high things but always the lowest; God knows, wondrous Father, for I have chosen to be cast down in the house of the Lord rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. This holy man therefore began to live for his own and to minister to all with as much greater zeal of honourable conduct as he was the more raised to higher things and the more carefully watched by all, going forward not so much to gain favour as honourably and lawfully.

[3] He is appointed count of Campania. His innocence having been considered and proved from every side, he was appointed count ⁱ of the province of Campania. In the administration of this land the virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance existed there as his companions, so that never in words, never in deeds was any of these virtues lacking from him. For he had prudence in the administration of the people placed under his rule, and he held to justice in forbidding plunders, in restraining robbers, in rooting out thefts, murders and the like; in overcoming tyrants and the wicked, in security and fortitude, and, what is better and more praiseworthy, in overcoming vices, he wonderfully kept the same; and since he never exceeded the right measure in his actions, he best guarded temperance, the greatest of the virtues; thus like a pious king and perfect emperor he ruled the virtues most diligently and zealously. Thus defended by these, surrounded by these, supported by these, advanced finally by these virtues, he ruled the province of Campania entrusted to him in such a way that, pleasing God, he offended neither the Roman pontiff nor the people whom his charge held, and, as was revealed to me by many while I was staying at present in that same region, he was loved by all beyond what can be believed; for he showed himself in all things not as counts are wont, but as a true defender of truth and a friend of piety.

[4] Thrown into chains A certain ^k Peter by name, count of Colonna, and, as is said, consul of the Romans ^l, since his land seems to be situated round about, indeed around the City, by diabolical instigation lifted up his heel against the holy Roman Church, so that whatever he could have by plunder, theft or force or any deceit of the goods of the holy Roman Church he drew to his own treacherous uses , and, what was worse and more to be feared, as many as he could have of the officials of the Curia he held bound in prison so long until they either failed from punishments or hunger, or were ransomed for much money; and since, as the prophet says, God is wonderful in his saints, that he might show his wonders in this holy man of whom we speak, nay that he might show of what merit Berard was , the aforesaid tyrant took him himself, and had him stripped and beaten and thrown into a cistern without water. Buried in the cistern, he cried to Christ, who governs all things, saying: Almighty Lord, king of heaven and earth, as to Daniel, I beseech that you succour a wretch in this pit . And when it had been announced here and there that so great and such an illustrious man was held in prison, there was * inestimable grief and mourning both in the Roman Curia and in the houses of his parents and kinsfolk.

[5] He is set free from there. Meanwhile a certain knight, prudent in birth and manners, John by name, a kinsman of this saint of whom we speak, from the fortified place named Praetella ^m, which seems to be situated in the valley of Norsis , having laid aside his soldier's dress and put on a beggar's, by divine inspiration and a holy boldness , went to the city of Palestrina, in which the saint was held in prison, and visiting on all sides the walls and what was round about that same city before he entered it, looking carefully about, he carefully went in, and went so long begging from door to door until he came to the place where the illustrious man lay, which he carefully looked over and from which he more carefully withdrew, thinking what he might do. On the following night, therefore, wondrous to tell, he approached alone the cistern, over which guards girt with swords were lying; with God's help alone he raised the boards from the mouth of the cistern, and laid them this way and that, and at once, casting down a rope, drew the illustrious man from the pit safe and sound. But who does not marvel that by the strength of one man the planking and the weight of a man were so lifted from the mouth of the cistern, that there was Barb. fuit neither any shaking there nor any sound at which the guards or the men lying round about in the houses placed here and there could be roused ? For I say, restraining myself, that this is not to be wondered at, since He who, when the angel came and the same Creator rose again, made the guards of his holy tomb, nay of his most holy body, for the hour as dead, could work for love of his servant, that by the vigour and action of one man he might be able both to lift the guard from the mouth of the cistern and, with no one perceiving, to draw the saint out thence. The saint therefore, freed from prison by God's mercy, soon returned to the Curia; and to the brothers weeping for joy he said: Do not, brothers, do not weep, but rejoice with me, since for our mother and lady of the whole world, the holy Roman Church, I have, unworthy as I am, merited to suffer. The Roman pontiff would not thereafter send him back to the countship , saying that it would be unworthy for so great a man to depart from the Curia. When a certain time came, therefore, he ordained him deacon, and placed him in the church of St. Michael ⁿ, where fish are sold in the City, where, as was related to me by certain brothers staying there, whose persons I know but whose names I do not recall, he said and did many things which it is worthy to insert in this work.

ANNOTATIONS.

example vol. V of July, p. 528, vol. II of August, pp. 420, 422; vol. V of August, p. 778; vol. VI of August, pp. 652, 662; vol. II of September, pp. 305, 382; vol. III of September, p. 608; vol. VI of October, p. 338, and in the Acts of St. Caesidius, martyr, at Trasacco among the Marsi, at the 31st of August, vol. VI, p. 652 ff.

* ed. quam

* ed. studio

* ed. S. Martini

* ed. potentiae

* ed. potentiam

* ed. fuit

* Cod. Barb. Tyrannus quidam

Cod. Barb. adds de

* ed. uno

* Barb. abstrahebat

* Barb. ut

* Barb. est

* Barb. mihi ceu quondam

* Barb. omits

in: ed. omits

* Barb. adds incluso

* Barb. fit exinde liberatur.

* Barb. Helfis

* Barb. adds in

* Barb. devenit

* Barb. adds et

* Barb. fuit

* ed. excitare

* ed. est

* Barb. et

* Barb. adds Paschalis

(a. c.) Barb. omits

* Barb. adds postmodum in ecclesia S. Chrysogoni presbyterum cardinalem creavit

CHAPTER TWO.

The apostolic labours of St. Berard, now bishop; his pious death.

[6] Ordained bishop of the Marsi At that time, therefore, the church of the Marsi ^a was vacant, in which, however, there was a certain religious man of wonderful abstinence, Sigenolf by name ^b, who had been ordained by Guibert * ^c, and who stayed there for seventeen years ^d bearing the name of bishop. And since he could not stand according to God, the Roman Curia was busy to expel him and to set in another, a catholic. But while the heresy threatened, what with the power of the kinsfolk of the aforesaid Sigenulf, what with the zeal of the clergy whom he had ordained, and at times the strength of the clergy and people, by whom he was calmly loved, the Roman Curia for so long could not do it. Resisting with every effort and crying out that he was unworthy, the saint was first made cardinal presbyter in the church of St. Chrysogonus ^e, and afterwards elected bishop in honour of the church of St. Sabina, and consecrated in the thirtieth year of his age ^f. Whereupon someone in grief, weeping, then lamented in verse, saying:

Let Rome weep, since the Marsian land forbids him whom she burns to have;

Thus do I condemn, O Rome, pious men: say, whence are you blessed?

The consecration of this holy pastor being thus celebrated, and the apostolic blessing obtained, they returned with him to the bishopric of the Marsi, and raised him up in that see of the aforesaid most illustrious martyr and lady with the honour due ^g.

[7] he cares for his flock with great zeal, Placed therefore under the pastoral burden, he was compelled to gather his mind back to himself, but he could not, because his mind was divided among many things. Yet he began to be both mute and full of words: mute in idle and vain things, but full of words in necessary and most useful speech; for so it befits a pastor. With the prophet this pious guardian pontiff first set this guard upon his own. But placed on the watchtower, he was compelled to exercise the things of his office, and first with the Apostle made all things [to] all men, the world being crucified to him, he in turn crucified himself to the world. Then he began to take solicitous care of the churches, the clergy, the orphans and widows, the poor and needy, to examine the causes, acts and lives of individuals, to handle the affairs of the flock entrusted to him, and for them bravely to fear the snares and invasions of wolves. He looked to the valley of infirmity, and climbed upon the high mountain of work, desiring to preach the gospel to Sion; of which work and preaching there was indeed such urgency, that there was neither man nor woman in his bishopric, noble or ignoble, rich or poor, who either for the example of his good working or for the sweetness of his preaching and admonition did not venerate and fear him. He was so intent on prayer, that there was no time, no hour, no day, on which he set anything before the divine office, saying: Cursed is everyone who does the work of God negligently. He preserved what had been gathered, collected what had been scattered, cherished the unfruitful and dry with the basket of dung of holy preaching and the ploughshare and title of pure doctrine, that they might bring forth fruit, and watered them unceasingly. And since, as has been said, he most diligently examined the acts, causes and lives of individuals, to be silent about other things, let us see what he did about simonies, what about the incontinences of the clergy and their dishonourable tonsures and shoes and disordered garments, what about kinships and affinities, what about the oaths of men and women made to each other for matrimony. The crafty vice of simony, which had to be rooted out, had plainly grown in the territory of the Marsi to such an extent that laymen sold churches as their own inheritance, and, what is worse, the clerics who held them hardly believed it a sin. Some of the clergy dwelling outside the canonries lived incontinently; some, apostatizing, wore a small or no crown upon the head; others went about with scattered hair; others, which is proper to jesters, varied their garments, divided on either side, likewise with mixed colours, with envious *, oblique shoes. This one wore necklaces and armlets, that one bore a towered head here, another a tailed one, and, that few things be said of many, each cleric's own will was almost his rule. For the clergy placed throughout the bishopric would not trust the holy and religious canons of St. Sabina, the most illustrious martyr; they would not hear them, they would not follow them and their steps, they would not, finally, hold their necks under the yoke of their mother in the absence of the pastor. For she was the mother of all the Marsi, not only of the clergy but also of laymen, men and women; she too by privilege of the holy fathers, both Roman pontiffs and other bishops and cardinals, from the beginning the lady of men. Finally, some take kinswomen, others women joined to them by affinity, for wife. Others confirmed one by oath, and, that being forgotten, took another for wife. What more? Nearly the whole bishopric had been laid waste in the things that have been said, since there had been no pastor to show the way of truth to the men remaining in it, and so in the absence of the pastor ravening wolves, as is written, invaded the flock. But let it be briefly said what this pious pastor of whom we speak did, with God's help.

[8] especially by rooting out simony. Simony therefore, God being the author, he so rooted out that neither a seller nor a buyer of ecclesiastical things could be found at all; and, that the journey may be short for us on this long road, all the things we have named above and other vices, which it would be long to recount one by one, according to the Apostle, first by beseeching, as we speak in construction, then by rebuking, reproving, pressing in season and out of season, he so restrained and rooted out that no cleric, no layman, hardly any * woman, which is difficult to believe, could be found within the bounds of the bishopric who sinned publicly in the things we have related above, and if by the devil's persuasion anyone transgressed, he either quickly corrected himself in penitence, or, if he did not correct himself by true amendment, after canonical inquiry he was canonically struck, for the fear of others and for his own shame with amendment. He did not spare the monks themselves in these things; for he himself was the rule and correction of monks.

[9] He suffers much, It came about therefore that, the barons and many tyrants dwelling throughout the Marsican bishopric being excommunicated for their crimes, this pious prelate was, oh the wickedness, cast out from his own see, from his own bishopric, a hundred times. In these expulsions he stayed at times in the Lateran palace at Rome; at times Alatri ^h and Veroli ⁱ were commended to him; and at times, where he did innumerable good works, as we have learned from those who were with him, he was made legate to Sardinia ^k by Pope Paschal. These tyrants indeed would not allow the first-fruits, tithes, offerings for the dead and dues to be given to the church of St. Sabina and to the churches placed throughout their lands, and, what is worse, these men, with zeal and every effort detestable, taking any little occasion, put clerics into prison, and held them there in torture until they extorted from them money that they did not even have . The tyrants intolerably afflicted the peasants, the poor, the orphans and widows placed under them. For these and other things, after canonical inquiry, the tyrants were struck with the canonical sword, and by their haughty power the pious man was impiously expelled. Nay rather, as often as he was expelled, so often was he honourably recalled and brought back. But what shall we say? This abundance makes me poor. O how often were snares laid for him along the roads, here and there, that he might be taken or altogether slain by the tyrants and malicious men; how often was he afflicted with injuries and stoned! What more? Everything that up to now was inflicted on the martyrs for the name of God, apart from death, was inflicted on this man by tyrants and impious men for the service of God, and death too, by a diabolical performance, who poison, I know not if they bought it, the malicious men

tried to bring upon him. But it displeased Him to whom all things are naked and open, and He made it known. Remaining therefore in this sea of waves and tempests, this impregnable house or wall omitted nothing of the things that belonged to his office.

[10] he gives out many alms, But, to be silent about the rest, how zealously he served God in alms, although it has already been said on the surface, let what we saw of the care he had for the poor be briefly noted, if not in the words we ought, then in those we can. At all times, then, he carried on the care of the poor carefully and exactly, above all of those who dwelt in the places that were frequented by the pious pastor and governor himself. He was solicitous to take most zealous care of the poor dwelling in the city of Marsica ^l, at Venere ^m, at Piscina ⁿ, in the villages and in turn in the fortified places of Celano ^o and of many other places, and although at all times, chiefly at the Nativity of the Lord, in the days of Lent, at the Resurrection and about the months of May and June, when they were in want of more, as their own father, their own guardian, their own pastor, their own governor and ruler, he was zealous to send to each of the poor, through each fortified place, through each village, even through each house, alms of bread, meat and wheat, and of vegetables also; sometimes through him who, unless I am mistaken, Brother Peter Bonus, a man of holy and true life, dwelling to this day in the church of St. Pantaleon, which is situated near the river and at the root of Mount Venere [p], sometimes through his own private attendants, honourable men, so that the left hand should not know what was given by the right. While, then, he was intent on this holy care, on a certain Sunday, Matins being celebrated very early in the morning, in the first week of the month of May, sitting on a stone seat, which is placed at the foot of the steps of the palace of the church of the holy and most illustrious martyr Sabina, before the door of the lower chamber, lifting his hand, he called me playfully by my name, saying: Tell me, tell, son, tell, whether the poor little woman, the daughter of that good knight Teuto, is alive, and her sister, whose house is situated almost next to your father's house. I answered: They are alive; have pity, for they will perish of hunger. On hearing this, with sighs from the inmost sorrow of his heart and with tears poured out, he ordered to be called the venerable, religious and honourable cleric the lord Benedict son of Giso, who is declared to be a witness both of this and of other miracles, our prior, mine namely and yours, reverend brother and fellow-priest John, Furatus by surname alone, and his chamberlain worthy of God in all things; and when he had been summoned, he said weeping: Have we any wheat? He answered: According to the command of your holiness the wheat has been distributed to the poor placed everywhere. The father and saint said: Can not at least a little, using brooms, be found for these noble women tormented by hunger? God knows, answered the chamberlain, that yesterday these two poor men, whom we forbear to name out of shame for their sons, who dwell near here in the place named Viri lapsum, cleaned the granary to their wish, and gathered up the wheat in such a way that, to speak truth in jest, neither for a portion nor even for a medicine can any wheat be found there to set out. Go, said that merciful pastor, and bring four loaves, bring one dried ham of pork, bring also lard, since, as this man says, she who was rich before, without seasoning, with bread and every support of life failing her, greedily tormented , is exceedingly commended ; bring it, son, that it may be sent to them [q]. And when they had been brought, the saint, turning to me, said this: Go, and with no one perceiving it carry these things to those women, and tell them that after the midday meal they should send some man to us to carry off wheat. It came about therefore that when the man whom he had ordered came, at the saint's command he was sent into the granary, without doubt empty of all crops, to carry to the aforesaid women what wheat he should find there. Marvellous to say, but more marvellous in the deed and unheard of in our time, he found so much wheat that it could not be carried away otherwise than upon an ass. A wonderful thing, but something more wonderful follows: this wheat wonderfully sufficed for these women and for others to whom they were accustomed to give in charity, until all the grain had been stored, that is, until August. But what a wonder, at the saint's order he found wheat in an empty granary, and thus for many days that little wheat, by the intervening prayer of the saint, sufficed for many women and others to whom those very women had given for love of Christ, since he was of such mercy that he could never read, nor sing psalms, nor pray, nor eat, nor drink, until he had in some way succoured a poor man whom he knew to be in need.

[11] he wonderfully heals a girl, And although I promised to write what we have seen with our own eyes [r], yet we judge it would be unfitting to be silent about what we have heard from Count Rainald, an excellent and religious man, and from many others. They say therefore that, the sign of the cross being made, he cast out from the throat of a certain girl of nine or ten years, brought to him, or rather before * him, for the consecration of chrism, a plum-stone. She had been for three days continuously not eating, not drinking nor even speaking; yet by God's mercy, she whose death was without doubt or difficulty expected, the blessing of this saint being laid on her, she who had been brought in weeping and sorrow by the father, ineffably awakened by joy, was given back to him sound and safe. And since this kindly prelate subdued and struck the necks of the wicked and of tyrants with the canonical sword of holy Church, he was, as has been said, always afflicted with injuries by those wicked men and tyrants, often overwhelmed with stones, threatened with death, and snares were prepared here and there; of whom we saw some exiled, others driven from their own houses, others made sick and, as though struck by the divine sword, dying suddenly on the road, and after his death.

[12] He punishes an impious man. For example, there was a certain great count [s] in the territory of the Marsi, who was accustomed to offend him beyond all others, or rather to offend God in those placed * under his care; whom for his faults, having called together the bishops Berard of Chieti [t], Grimald of Penne [u] and Walter of Valva [v], he excommunicated at the third hour of the sixth feria. What more? By the just judgment of God, at the same hour of the next day at which he was excommunicated, he was buried. When therefore at the ninth hour of the same day this was announced to the aforesaid count, summoning his cellarer, and mocking the excommunication, he ordered a great supper to be prepared for himself. Whence it came about that when the bodily supper was being prepared, an unexpected one, for which he did not hope, was being prepared for him. And while he was present at the supper, with many dining with him, an enemy bearing a sword suddenly arrived without warning; he came and approached undaunted, alas for grief, he approached, and struck him and wounded him even to death; but so long did the mercy of almighty God leave him speech, until with such speed and affliction as he could, in order to receive penance, he three times called the holy bishop himself, saying: Run, and run swiftly, that he may give me penance. Lead the bishop at once, let him come that he may give me pardon, lest perchance I die so bound.

Run, lead you the holy Berard to me,

That he may give me pardon, say that he should come.

And when with these words he made an end of speaking, by the hands of those who mourned and strove, the count who had gone glad and healthy to the supper, that same supper being turned from gladness into pain, sadness and grief, was carried half-alive to his bed, where he lay living so long until, according to his request, messengers being sent from Celano to Alba [w], the bishop indeed came. For Celano, unless I am mistaken, is distant from Alba eight miles and more. The saint came, and found him alive and not speaking, alive but not perceiving. Then the saint began anxiously to ask what he should do. On this side he saw the mercy of God, on that the divine judgment; on this side this wretch cried, Have mercy *; on that truth required that to each should be rendered his right. But since mercy prejudges and exalts itself above judgment, and the earth and its fullness is full of the mercy of the Lord, not of judgment, that is, out of the fullness of mercy, an oath being taken, under the testimony of many, that he had called upon him, nay had by himself cried out and asked for the receiving of penance, he absolved him; whence it came about that by the judgment of almighty God, by the stroke of this divine sword, he who incurred the death of the flesh escaped the death of the soul.

[13] he foretells that his death is at hand, While the saint abounded in these and other virtues, and now by divine revelation perceived that he was drawing near to the end of this life, he began most zealously to call back the discordant to concord, the fallen to the raising of penance, the proud to the way of humility, the unchaste to chastity, and to suppress other vices the more zealously as he knew he would be nearer to receiving his rewards. Whence it happened that in the year in which he died, when the prelates of nearly the whole bishopric and a very great multitude of subjects and a countless gathering of laymen came together according to custom on the feast of St. Sabina [x], the most illustrious martyr, during the solemnities of the Mass he foretold his death, adding meanwhile that he would not celebrate Mass further at the same altar; and with tears poured out by the saint, the others weeping for grief, he excommunicated certain counts on account of kinship, whom also he required through his brethren, through whom by the nod and return of the prayers and merits of the saint God worked wonders, before he died, that they should come to their senses and correct themselves and desist from the unjust union. These things being done, in order to restore peace and carry out his office, visiting the bishopric at the church of St. John situated at Capo d'Acqua [y], on the Nativity of St. Mary the virgin, on the ides of September, he fell gravely ill with a pain of the side, by which he had been very often tormented, with an infirmity of the liver, or rather of the liver and the lung, as the physicians asserted. He lay therefore there for some days at the request, exhortation and persuasion of certain persons; he lay, and stayed, suffering anxiously. He was asked indeed to lie there by exhortation and persuasion, as has been said, but he sickened with pain; he was plainly asked to die there, he was asked that the people of Celano might enjoy the honour of his body at least in death; hence, under the colour of piety, it was contrived that the saint should not be moved from there. But why? That he might die there.

[14] how holily he dies. But when the saint had a presentiment of this, he at once, under the bond of excommunication, because he had often forbidden it, declared that if he died there he should not be buried in that place, and that this might not happen , summoning Stephen, the most glorious provost of the college of St. Sabina, the most illustrious martyr, he said, or rather commanded, and enjoined him by obedience and under the oath by which he was bound to himself and to the church, saying: Go, son, and go with speed, and see to it that the husband may return, about to die, to the wife, the spouse to the bride, the son to the mother and the servant to the Lord, and under her

protection I may die, under her shade be buried, and remain for ever: have me carried on a bed. It is unworthy and too reprehensible for a bishop to lie dead elsewhere than at the mother church, at his see, at the church to which he was ordained, whose spouse and whose pastor he was called. It was done therefore according to his command. But if anyone would write how great was the outcry, how great the sadness at the removal of this most holy pastor, let him beware lest an extended prolixity breed weariness in his hearers. After he had been carried back from the aforesaid church of St. John to the episcopal seat, he set out and duly ordered not only the things to be set out and ordered in that same church, but also those which he set out, arranged, furnished and ordered in all the churches. All things therefore being set out, with tears poured forth he admonished his brethren present in these words, saying: My brethren, glory, praise, honour, adornment, and after the Lord and his saints my hope and crown, the life and salvation of my soul, I ask, I exhort, and with the devotion I owe I admonish you to abound in charity, the greatest of the virtues , that you may live with one mind and concord in faith, hope, humility, religion, concord, patience, generosity, chastity and sobriety, fleeing vices and cleaving to virtue; confound pride, which is the root of evils, with humility, and root out blasphemy with religion, discord with concord, anger with patience, avarice with generosity, lust with chastity, and tame, conquer and overcome drunkenness with sobriety; press on with prayer, fasts, vigils and alms, so far as your strength supplies; strive to please God by your manners, not by dress or any vain and haughty display; when leave is granted, stand together, walk together, sit together, and as you sing in one church, eat in one house and sleep in one house, may you eat bread of one mass and drink wine of one vine in charity: so may there be to you one heart, one mind, one spirit, one will, all wishing one and the same thing, all doing it, all suffering, all in want; for it is better to be in want than to have more; and, as befits the truth of holiness , let there be nothing in your bearing and gait that may offend anyone's eye; and since the fullness of the law is love, keep toward each other the love that is without pretence; and if, which God forbid, discord should arise among you, let it be amended within the end of one day, that the sun may not go down upon your anger, and so it may not grow into hatred, lest perchance, making a beam out of a mote, your souls, which may God turn from you, should die thereby. You therefore, brethren, if you remain in the love that is without pretence, will without doubt obtain the fruit of love, which is eternal life. With these and other words more excellent than these the holy pontiff admonished his brethren and sons in Christ. And I have gathered what I could gather of his words *. As the day of the saint's death drew near, therefore, the saint foretold the very day of his death, as he had the year and the time, and, that we may use his own words, on the fifth day before his death he said before all the brethren: In this coming year you will say: on the third day before the nones of November will be the death of Berard, bishop of Marsica. This pious prelate therefore passed to Christ, as he himself had foretold, on the third day before the nones of November, at the hours of Matins of the second feria, in the year of the Lord's incarnation 1130, indiction 8. He was buried on the right side of the blessed martyr Sabina with hymns and praises, full of tears, grief and sorrow and excessive lamentation; he was buried with great veneration, as befits so great a pastor; from whose tomb, which is wonderful, no corrupt stench ever came forth, but rather, instead of a stench and in place of a stench, it gave forth a most sweet odour. There wonderful and innumerable benefits are done to this present day, where by God's doing we have seen after his death the blind enlightened, demons put to flight, limbs restored to the crippled, and men recovering from divers infirmities, through the working of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever, Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Febonius asserts that this church, situated at the root of the mountain that rises near Castello Venere, lies not far from the river Giovenco. Compare Vita di S. Berardo, p. 31.

q. This passage, without doubt faultily copied, cannot be corrected from either Febonius or Panegrossi, more recent writers of the Life of St. Berard, who, neglecting the circumstances, look only to the facts. We have conjectured that it should be corrected thus: dives erat prius, sine condimento, pane et omni vitae subsidio deficiente, avide cruciata eximie commendatur.

r. Here again the author reveals himself as a contemporary eye-witness. Which, moreover, omitting no opportunity, he quite often declares. Compare the Life, nos. 3, 6, 9, 10, 14 and passim.

s. If credit is to be given to Febonius, op. cit., p. 33, that count was called Crescentius, and Panegrossi, op. cit., p. 94, adds that he was comite di Albe, which can be drawn from the context.

t. In Febonius, op. cit., p. 33, Berard of Chieti is called Gerardo vescovo di Chieti. In very truth this see was anciently called Teate Marrucinorum. Now the thirty-third in the series of bishops is named Gerard, who, elected about the year 1118, is reported to have died in the year 1125. So Cappelletti, Le Chiese d'Italia, vol. XXI, p. 99.

u. Grimald of Penne is recorded in Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. I, p. 1118 ff., with various documents adduced from outside this Life.

v. On Walter of Valva, compare Ughelli, ibid., p. 1364. He too is known from elsewhere.

w. A city now overthrown, three miles distant from Lake Fucino. Compare Febonius, Hist. Mars., p. 157.

x. Namely on 29 August of the year 1130. Compare Acta Sanctorum, vol. VI of August, p. 497. Corsignani, Della regia Marsicana, vol. I, p. 667.

y. This church is cited in a diploma of Paschal II, in Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. I, col. 893.

* ed. Giberto

* ed. prius

** ed. custodiam

* ed. eosque

* ed. sub tellares

* ed. nullus

* ed. risu

* ed. extorquerentur

* ed. soll. ger. er.

* The words per eum, which are absent in the editor, we supply by conjecture.

* ed. habitat

* ed. suo iocos

* ed. Nunc quid

* ed. dividerat

* ed. cruciante

* ed. commendat

* ed. si

* ed. declarant

* ed. autem

* sic

* ed. omits laetitia

* ed. cum

* ed. miseris miseris

* ed. dignoscere

* sic

* ed. contigeret

* ed. ut

* ed. maxime

* ed. sanctitatem

* ed. recolligi