ON ST. BERTILA, VIRGIN AND FIRST ABBESS OF CHELLES,
ABOUT THE YEAR 705 OR 706
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Bertila, virgin and first abbess of Chelles. (S.)
BY A. P.
§ I. On the Life of St. Bertila.
[1] As the Life of St. Balthild, Nothing has been handed down to memory about the deeds of St. Bertila except what is read both in her own Life and in the Life of St. Balthild the queen. On the latter, indeed, the distinguished Bruno Krusch has written skilfully and accurately, as is his way MG., Scr. rer. merov. vol. II, pp. 478–79., and has shown that the older Life of St. Balthild († c. 680), which he named A, was written by a serious author who was also almost a contemporary It is published ibid., pp. 482–508.. Since this had been written in a very rough and ill-ordered style and did not satisfy a more refined age, another copyist, B, apparently already in the reign of Charlemagne, prepared a new edition of the Life [It is published ibid. The earlier editions of both texts, since Krusch's appeared, are now of no use.] with the intention that it should be read on the recurring anniversary of the saint; in which he not only polished the language and made it clearer, but also interpolated certain things which were known to him or had to be understood. For the rest he generally kept the words of writer A, so that — as may sometimes be seen elsewhere in those who either abridged, or amplified, or embellished Lives of saints composed by others — he more than once copied out marks by which the time of writing can be discerned, such as he had found in his exemplar, and in a certain way speaks in the person of the earlier author in such a manner that he himself seems to have been a contemporary of the holy queen [Especially in c. 7, in which passage one reads in both A and B in so many words: the lord Theudofred, now indeed bishop, but then abbot. Cf. also c. 19, where A has thus: But yet it is pleasing to consider this concerning her of whom we are treating here, the lady Balthild, whose many good deeds were performed in our times, and which we know very well were done by her; while copyist B makes himself a contemporary of the saint even more insistently: But … yet we must above all return to the holy mother, the lady Balthild, who shone forth in our times, and also to her glorious merits, which we ourselves know and saw to have been done by her. That our writer did this candidly, however, not with intent to deceive, I am led to believe from the fact that elsewhere (c. 3), where author A says that the progeny of Balthild was still reigning in his time, copyist B so altered this passage as to imply that it was no longer reigning at all.]. That both little books, but especially the second, B, originated at Chelles in the monastery founded by Balthild is likely.
[2] so the Life of St. Bertila Of Chelles too, as is altogether probable Cf. also Rivet, Hist. litt. de la France, vol. IV, p. 41., was the writer of the Life of St. Bertila, which we are going to publish below. Since in it the author addresses the people of Chelles in these words, c. 8: Doing therefore these and very many other admirable things of the kind, as you yourselves remember more fully and have seen …, Mabillon gathered from this [Act. SS. O.S.B., saec. III, 1, p. 25, note b; and also Rivet, loc. cit.: "Il n'a guère écrit plus tard que six à sept ans après sa (i. e. Bertilae) mort." [He wrote hardly later than six or seven years after her (that is, Bertila's) death.]] that he wrote not long after the death of St. Bertila. What prevents our agreeing with him, however, is that, whereas the holy abbess died in the year 705/706, this little book does not reproduce the rustic language of that age, but plainly letters flourishing again in the time of Charlemagne
savors of. Since, however, what our author records both seems to be of good fruit and presents nothing worthy of censure, and indeed not rarely agrees very well with other trustworthy records, then, so as not to traduce the writer as a forger and liar, we must determine that the same thing happened in the Life of St. Bertila which we said took place in the Life of Balthild, namely that a man of the Carolingian age prepared a new edition of an older Life, which had been composed by a contemporary writer first written by a contemporary author and has now perished. Of this, unless I am much mistaken, the oldest exemplar of the Life, written in the tenth century, which is our manuscript 1, has preserved certain slight indications. For in it, although the language is otherwise elegant, there nevertheless occur certain things which smell of Merovingian barbarism. Of this kind are, in c. 4, that absolute accusative: relictam curiam regalem Cf. c. 5: relictis parentibus et patriam.; then unusual constructions, c. 8: epulas lautiores uti voluit, and ibid.: modica pulsata dolore corporis febre lectulum decubuit; and also certain few orthographical forms, which I should think passed by chance from the older exemplar into the new edition, e.g. c. 3 anhelito, c. 5 dilictis, etc.
[3] it was edited again in the Carolingian age; Whoever considers these things will without difficulty persuade himself that the Carolingian editor polished somewhat the language of the original writer, yet faithfully kept most of his words, as did he who in a similar way reworked the older Life of Balthild in the ninth century and published it in a more ornate form. This may also be gathered from the fact that the new editor seems to have left untouched entire passages which the first author of the Life of Bertila had copied almost word for word from older records. For he, a thing by no means unusual in hagiographical writers, wished to draw from another storehouse even for praising the pious disposition of the saint and for narrating certain commonplaces, so to speak. And besides the fact that he shows more than once that he had read both the writings of Sulpicius Severus and the Rule of St. Benedict or perhaps of St. Caesarius, he took not a few things in c. 1, 2, 8 from the Life of Bishop Albinus written by Fortunatus; it is also manifest that the Life of Balthild, and indeed that older one, was used by him. This may be seen especially in these passages, however brief:
L. of Balthild A, c. 11: because truly they (Balthild and Bertila) had, after the apostolic manner, one heart and one soul.
L. of Bertila, c. 7: and after the apostolic manner, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, there was one heart and one soul.
L. of Balthild B, c. 11: because in very truth they had, according to the apostolic institution, one heart and one soul.
And a little lower down:
L. of Balthild A, c. 14: and her pious eyes and holy hands raised to heaven.
L. of Bertila, c. 8: her eyes raised upward and her holy hands stretched out to heaven.
L. of Balthild B, c. 14: and raising her pious eyes and holy hands to heaven.
Hence at long last there is reason why we may rightly determine that we can safely use that Life; which, though in many words it teaches not so many things, yet offers certain things by no means to be despised for illustrating the history and morals of that age.
[4] This edition, preserved for us It has been preserved for us in only two manuscripts, at least that I have found [This very Life, translated into French with nothing added, is presented by the manuscript of Troyes, Bibliothèque publique 1955, of the fifteenth century, fol. 58–74. Cf. also the French version which the Oxford manuscript, Queen's College 305, of the fifteenth century, offers; on which P. Meyer, in Romania, vol. XXXIV (1905), p. 232, 114°.]; and they are these:
from the manuscripts 1. Paris, Bibl. Nat. lat. 18296, formerly of Corbie, of the tenth century, fol. 24v–35v; since the following leaves have been cut away, a few words of the last ones are missing. I have followed the spelling of the manuscript, although it is not consistent with itself, since, as we have said, it represents in a certain way the older exemplar. But I have not neglected to correct the other errors.
A transcript of this exemplar written in the seventeenth century and emended in some places is to be found in the Paris manuscript Bibl. Nat. lat. 11761, fol. 132–143v; Mabillon seems to have used it in publishing the Life.
2. Paris lat. 12607, also formerly of Corbie, then of Saint-Germain 796|460|505, of the beginning of the thirteenth century, fol. 149r–155v. It was copied from manuscript 1, but both the copyist himself and also a certain more recent corrector emended some things quite aptly.
and from a printed office 3. There exists also in the Brussels manuscript 8932, fol. 234–238, among the transcripts once collected by our predecessors, a Life of Blessed Bertilia, first abbess of Chelles, copied from an old book of offices of the same convent by Fr. Thomas Aquinas of St. Joseph († 1649), a Discalced Carmelite [For one may see in the same manuscript, fol. 226–227, a transcript of that transcript, which Jean Bolland began but did not finish. At the head, however, Bolland noted: I received it at Paris from Fr. Thomas Aquinas, Discalced.]. What that old book was, Thomas himself teaches in the note which he added to his copy, fol. 238: "This Life of Blessed Bertilla was copied from an ecclesiastical book of quite old printing, in which are the offices of St. Bathild, St. Bertilla and others who are venerated in the convent of Chelles. It is divided there into 24 lessons, of which 8 are read on her birthday, the following 8 on the Sunday within the octave, and the remaining 8 on the octave." Now I have not the least doubt that this "ecclesiastical book of quite old printing" was the very Officium beate Bathildis quondam Francorum regine, abbatie … de Kallis … fundatricis auctricisque. Necnon sancte Bartille virginis loci huius prime abbatisse, which was printed at Paris by Henri Paquot in Gothic letters, no year of edition being indicated. For whatever Thomas brings forward about his exemplar agrees entirely with that Office. Above all, there are missing both in Thomas's transcript and in the printed office the beginning of c. 4 and the whole of c. 9; and in the office too the Life is divided into twenty-four lessons, which are distributed over three days in exactly the manner that Thomas records [It may be useful to note that on the feast of the translation of St. Bertila, which was celebrated on the 26th of May, lessons were also taken from the Life, namely by repeating the whole second chapter.]. For the rest, the text is the same in both, and the variant readings are the same. That exemplar, although recent and by no means free of errors, nevertheless seems in some places to have preserved the true text for us, as may be seen for example in the passage of c. 2 which is taken from the Life of Albinus; where I should believe that at least the words praiseworthy in the assiduity of prayer, although they are absent from manuscripts 1 and 2, were written by the author of the Life of Bertila. Therefore I have recorded the variant readings of this exemplar, though not the obvious errors.
[5] and we bring it forward. Some fragments of the Life (c. 1, 4 entire, 7) were published in the year 1636 [What Rivet says, Hist. litt., vol. IV, p. 41, and after him Lelong, Bibl. hist. de la France, vol. I, p. 899, n. 14866, is false, namely that the Life of Bertila was already published in the year 1629 by Hugues Ménard "in the observations on the Martyrology of the saints of the order of St. Benedict, p. 372." For in this passage, that is pp. 372–75, Ménard narrated briefly in his own style the things done by Bertila, according to what he had read or "had fished out from an old manuscript codex of the monastery of Corbie."] by André Duchesne, Hist. Franc. script., vol. I, pp. 668–69, using, as it seems, manuscript 1.
Mabillon published it entire, Act. SS. O.S.B., saec. III, 1 (1672), pp. 21–26, "from the manuscript codices of the monastery of Corbie," that is, our 1, 2. And indeed he generally departed from the readings peculiar to manuscript 1, so as to follow the emended manuscript 2. He instituted, however, the division of the Life into nine lessons or chapters such as he had found made in manuscript 1; and this we too have kept.
From Duchesne, Bolland took long fragments (c. 4, 7), Act. SS., Jan. vol. II, pp. 734–35, nos. 12–14; and from Mabillon, Bouquet had reprinted, Rec. des hist., vol. III, pp. 575–76, those very excerpts which Duchesne had formerly published; from the same our Bye, when he was writing on St. Teutlehild, abbess of Jouarre, brought forward certain passages Act. SS., Oct. vol. V, pp. 118–19, nos. 15–17..
§ II. On the time of St. Bertila.
[6] The convent of Chelles was founded One controversy occurs in illustrating the deeds of St. Bertila, namely in what year the first beginnings of the founding of the monastery of Chelles were made by St. Balthild the queen. Although this matter has more than once been discussed at sufficient length by learned men, it must nevertheless be brought back to the scales anew, as being for us of altogether chief importance, since only from the determination of this time can it be gathered in what year St. Bertila departed this life. For since the author of the Life of St. Bertila records that she lived forty-six years in the abbacy of Chelles, therefore, just as some had determined at one time and others at another, that is, in the year 646, 656, 657, 660 or 662, that she was placed over this convent by Queen Balthild, so too they have said that she died in the year 692, 702, 704, 705 or 708.
[7] not before the year 658, Now this must be laid down as a foundation, that the monastery of Chelles was founded by Balthild after the death of her husband Clovis II, I mean after the year 657 [The distinguished Br. Krusch has shown that Clovis II died not in the year 656, as was commonly believed, but at the end of the year 657 (Zur Chronologie der Merowingischen Könige, Forschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, vol. XXII (1882), p. 455 ff. Cf. below, no. 8.]. For the older Life of Balthild testifies to this, in which, after the death of Clovis II has been mentioned in c. 5, the building of the abbey of Chelles is related in c. 7 among the things which the holy queen did when already a widow. The same is recorded even more clearly in the Life of St. Bertila, c. 4: For in these times, after the departure of the lord King Clovis, his religious and most excellent consort, the lady Queen Baltechild, with her little son King Clothar, governed the kingdom of the Franks irreproachably and was loved by all the pontiffs and nobles … … And she took counsel with the pontiffs and the chief men of her people, that in the royal
estate which is called Kala she should build a monastery of girls. And we are taught by both Lives that Bertila was appointed there as the first abbess L. of Balthild, c. 7; L. of Bertila, c. 4..
[8] but not much later either, Further, just as the monastery of Chelles did not begin to be built before the beginning of the year 658, so this was done not much later. For in the Life of St. Eligius we read that, the holy bishop of Noyon having died, Balthild was present with her sons on the following morning; since the body of St. Eligius was carried into it immediately after his death, and running swiftly to the funeral, says the author, she burst into weeping with a loud voice… And when, lying over the bier for a very long time, she redoubled her lamentations, she asks meanwhile that preparation be made for how she might transfer the body of the blessed man to her monastery of Cala… Meanwhile… the queen strove in every way that somehow she might transfer the body of the holy man into her monastery of Cala Book II, c. 37; MG., Scr. rer. merov. vol. IV, p. 721.. And although the year of the death of St. Eligius has often and much been disputed with differing opinions, and the matter has recently seemed still uncertain to certain learned men [Cf. e.g. Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen, vol. I7, p. 126: "Eligius, S. Eloy, † zwischen 659 und 665" Eligius, St. Eloy, † between 659 and 665.], it is nevertheless established for us that he died on the 1st of December of the year 660 [Life of Balthild, c. 5: his son Clothar at once took up after him the kingdom of the Franks.]. Come now, not so long ago a matter of the greatest importance in this question was settled, namely that King Clothar III, who succeeded Clovis II in the kingdom with no delay interposed [After we had written these things not a few years ago, we recently saw, not without joy, that the distinguished Br. Krusch agrees with us entirely on this matter (MG., Scr. rer. merov. vol. IV, pp. 640–41). Since, however, by the weight of his arguments, though very weighty, not every doubt has been removed for certain persons (cf. E. Vacandard, in Revue des questions historiques, vol. LXXV, 594), we have thought it not useless to give in this commentary what we had set out, not better, but more fully than Krusch did, especially since a certain predecessor of ours in these Acts (Oct. vol. VII, pp. 964–67) had inquired copiously, yet not happily, into the year in which Eligius died.], began to reign not from the month of November of the year 656, but from the year 657, and indeed not before the 10th of October nor after the 16th of November [Krusch, Zur Chronologie, loc. cit.; J. Havet, Œuvres (1896), vol. I, p. 99: Questions mérovingiennes, III.]. Hence, since, as we have pointed out, the monastery of Chelles did not begin to be founded before the death of Clovis II, it must now be held as certain that Eligius by no means died on the 1st of December of the year 657, as a certain one of our predecessors had supposed Act. SS., Oct. vol. VII, pp. 966–67, nos. 41, 42.. For in that very short time which elapsed between the death of Clovis II and this day, the body of St. Eligius, the convent could by no means have been built so as to be ready to receive the body of St. Eligius.
[9] whom it is certainly established died in the year 660 That in the year 660 Mummolenus had already succeeded Eligius, deceased, in the see of Noyon [Those who said that Eligius died in the year 665 tried to establish it by a single argument, and that a wholly weak one, namely the preconceived opinion that Eligius lived about nineteen years in the episcopate (cf. Act. SS., loc. cit., p. 964, no. 36); but they are refuted excellently even by that passage of the Life of St. Eligius in which we are taught that Eligius remained in the body until the beginning of the reign of the younger Lothar (book II, c. 1; MG., Scr. rer. merov. vol. IV, p. 694). For how could the year 665 be called the beginning of the reign of Clothar III, who began to reign in the year 657 and died in the year 673 (cf. Havet, loc. cit.)?] seems to be taught by the charter of Emmo, bishop of Sens, issued in favor of the monastery of St. Peter of Sens [Mabillon, Acta, saec. III, 2, pp. 613–15; Pardessus, Diplomata, vol. II, pp. 112–14, n. 335.]; which Momolenus, as it were a sinner, bishop, subscribed, and which was given in the third year of the reign of the lord King Clothar. Since this third year from the 10th of Oct. | 16th of Nov. of the year 659 to the 10th of Oct. | 16th of Nov. of the year 660, and consequently he would have died before the year 660; for the day of death, the 1st of December, is certainly established [Cf. Act. SS., Oct. vol. VII, p. 965, no. 37; Krusch, loc. cit., p. 640. See also these passages of the Life of Eligius: book II, c. 34: Meanwhile, when he now felt that the saving day of his departure was drawing near, having gathered together on the day before the Kalends of December all … his disciples, whom he was now beginning to leave orphans, if not in spirit, yet in body, he began thus to them… And having related the discourses which Eligius and his followers held among themselves on this evening, it narrates ibid., c. 36, that the saint died immediately… when it was the first hour of the night, or the beginning of the 1st day of December (Krusch, vol. cit., p. 720).]. But what prevents us from so determining is the precept of the same Emmo given to the monks of Sainte-Colombe of Sens on the seventh day before the Kalends of September in the third year of the reign of the lord Clothar, the glorious king (that is, on the 26th of August of the year 660), and in which among the subscribed names appears Eligius, bishop [Mabillon, Annales O.S.B., book XIV, §63, or vol. I, pp. 448–49; Pardessus, vol. cit., pp. 109–11, n. 333.]. Since, however, nothing occurs why either of these documents, or the names subscribed to them, or the time at which they are said to have been given, should rightly come under suspicion [The precept of Emmo itself, given in favor of Sainte-Colombe of Sens, has been called into doubt in passing, so far as I know, only by L. Levillain, Bibliothèque de l'École des chartes, vol. LXII (1901), p. 490, note 3; whom A. Coville readily followed, L'évêque Aunemundus (Lyon, 1902), p. 7 (= Revue d'histoire de Lyon, vol. I, p. 355); this opinion, put forward not without a certain levity, Br. Krusch contradicted with the best of right, Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde, vol. XXXI (1906), p. 359. And what Bréquigny says, Diplomata, vol. I, p. 226, note 2, and after him, as usual, Pardessus, vol. cit., p. 111, note 1, that in the precept of Emmo which Eligius subscribed "certain subscriptions raise a scruple," amounts to nothing. For the chief scruple arose for him from the subscription of Aunemundus, "if he is believed to be the bishop of Lyon who was put to death under Clovis II according to Le Cointe…, the authors of the new Gallia christiana and many others." Now whatever was brought forward both by Le Cointe and others in confirmation of their opinion, and by Mabillon (in the Dissertation on the year of the death of Dagobert I = Vetera Analecta, folio ed., p. 519, no. 18) and our Perier (Act. SS., Sept. vol. VII, pp. 728–29, nos. 37–39), to show that Aunemundus was slain in the year 657, and also by the distinguished A. Coville (loc. cit., pp. 23–24 = Revue, pp. 371–72), to defend the year 658, does not seem to settle this very difficult question. For the hinge of the whole matter turns in the end on this, what credit is to be given to Eddius Stephanus in this passage of the Life of St. Wilfrid, c. 6 (BHL. 8889, ed. Raine, pp. 9–10), in which he narrates the martyrdom of Archbishop Dalfinus (= Aunemundus?); but it can scarcely be denied that, at least in this passage, Eddius is not of the highest authority; cf. B. W. Wells, in The English Historical Review, vol. VI (1891), p. 537.], it remains for us to seek a way by which these two letters, in appearance altogether contradicting each other, may be brought back to agreement. And among others which can be devised, this seems the more fitting and the more likely, namely to say that after the precept for the monastery of Sainte-Colombe had been issued on the 26th of August 660, which Eligius then subscribed, the other letter, by which Emmo granted certain privileges to the monks of St. Peter, was drawn up in the same year before the 10th of October or at least the 16th of November. When Emmo had subscribed the authentic exemplar of it, he not only handed it to the bishops present, if there were any, for subscription, but also, as he himself testifies [For he says: Which definition also of our constitution, strengthened by the subscriptions of our hand, to be valid for all time, we have sent through our brethren and fellow servants the abbots to you and to the others to be further confirmed, that it may remain the stronger, with the stipulation subjoined.], sent it by messengers to the absent bishops, so that these might confirm the privileges granted by their subscription. While, however, the messengers were carrying out the charge committed to them and were accomplishing a rather long journey, Eligius dies on the 1st of December 660, and the messengers, coming to Noyon, find Mummolenus already sitting in the chair of Eligius and hand him the letter to be subscribed [Our conjecture would receive excellent confirmation if all the names of those to whom this letter of Emmo is addressed were certainly to be read as they are read in the printed editions. For this is its address: To the holy lords, presiding in Christ over the summit of the highest height of the pontificate from the watchtower of the chair, brethren, comprovincials of the city of Sens, Chrodobert, Faro, Bertoald, Audoen, Gauzbert, Eligius, Emmo a sinner… But Bréquigny pointed out that for Eligio perhaps Vigilio should be read; since Emmo addressed the letter to his comprovincials, in whose number Eligius by no means was, but Vigilius, then bishop of Auxerre, certainly was. Whatever the case, since the matter is at least doubtful, we prefer to abstain from adducing this argument.].
[10] is certainly established. We have, then, that Eligius died on the 1st of December of the year 660, and that at that time the monastery of Chelles was so far completed that Balthild could call it her monastery and the sacred relics of the bishop of Noyon could be received in it. Further, at least before the end of the year 660 Bertila had been placed over the monastery, which was already in great part built. Nor can those things raise doubt for us which are read in the Life of St. Bertila, c. 4: that after, the convent having been diligently prepared, St. Balthild had begun to turn over in her mind what worthy woman she might find to be placed over her new abbey, having heard the fame of St. Bertila, at once, as the author says, having taken counsel
she decided to set her as mother over the holy women whom… she had gathered in the above-named convent; which, God disposing, she afterwards accomplished. For this solemn formula [Cf. Sulpicius Severus, Life of Martin, c. 2, 4: which he afterwards devoutly fulfilled; words which recur a hundred times in later hagiographers.] is by no means to be pressed so as to make us understand that no small time elapsed before Bertila was brought to Chelles; on the contrary, from the Life of Balthild, which is older than the Life of Bertila and was read by its author, we know that the time was short; for it is written there, c. 7: she built a great convent of virgins, where she appointed the servant of God, the very religious girl Berthila, to be first in the place of mother.
[11] Therefore both the Venerable Bede erred Yet we have not thereby reached the end of the difficulties. For what we have so far argued is contradicted by a passage of Bede brought forward again and again in this controversy. That venerable man records that at the time when St. Hild, having left the secular habit, had withdrawn to the province of the East Angles and from there desired to hasten to the monastery of Cale, her sister Heresuid was then living in that very monastery subject to the regular disciplines; and further that Hilda departed this life in the year 680, being sixty-six years old: these being divided in equal portion, she had spent the first thirty-three in the secular habit and had consecrated as many following ones to the Lord in the monastic life Hist. eccl. gentis Anglorum, book IV, c. 23.. If, then, you believe Bede, in the year 646 or 647 Queen Heresuid, her husband still living, had been made a nun in the convent of Chelles; and led by this very testimony some have asserted that about the year 646 that convent was both founded by Balthild and Bertila placed over it [Toussaints Du Plessis, Histoire de l'église de Meaux, vol. I (1731), pp. 39 and 699–700; Alban Butler, The Lifes of the Fathers etc., at 5 Nov., in a note.]. And thus they indeed fully satisfy Bede, but take no account of the documents of Chelles which we have weighed above. In vain, however, does Sharpe contend Petrie-Sharpe, Mon. hist. brit., vol. I (1848), p. 234, note b. "that the times of the foundation of the monastery of Chelles are so uncertain that it is difficult to affirm that the author — that is, Bede — who lived not far from those times, was mistaken, especially in a history so celebrated, of which English nuns were so great a part." On the contrary, I seem to myself to have shown that what is read in the Gallic records about the origin of the monastery is altogether clear; whence, if there is any obscurity in this matter, it arises only from the testimony of Bede, a Briton, who, if he is near in time to the events, yet is not nearer than the authors of the Lives of Balthild and Bertila, while in place he was much more remote.
[12] who thought that the convent of Chelles already existed in the year 646/647, So that the venerable writer's credit might nevertheless be preserved, certain persons [Le Cointe, Ann. eccl. Franc., vol. III, p. 422, at the year 656, VI; Mabillon, Acta, saec. III, 1, p. 25 in a note; Placide Porcheron († 1694), O.S.B., in his Histoire de l'abbaye de Chelles, which is kept in manuscript in the major seminary of clerics at Meaux; Gallia christiana, vol. VII, col. 559; Longueval, Hist. de l'église gallicane, liv. X, at the year 659; C. Bye, in Act. SS., Oct. vol. V, p. 119, nos. 17–19; and among more recent writers Berthault, L'Abbaye de Chelles. Résumés chronologiques, vol. I (1889), pp. 14–17; C. Torchet, Histoire de l'abbaye royale de Notre-Dame de Chelles, vol. I (1889), pp. 4, 15, 25.] have tried to bring about agreement between Bede and our hagiographers. To achieve this, they brought forward a passage taken from the more recent Life of St. Balthild, and that one written in the ninth century, c. 18: We recall indeed… Chrodehild… consort of the great and ancient King Clovis, who… first built at Kala a little convent of sacred virgins in honor of St. George. This afterwards, because the compass of the church was too narrow to hold the very large flock of nuns, was pulled down by the often-to-be-mentioned lady Balthild and a basilica built of very great extent of breadth; whose middle altar… Hence the writers cited pronounce that Heresuid led the religious life in the monastery of Chelles once built by Chrodehild, which afterwards, that is in the year 656 [Not a few of the authors cited designate the year 656, as men who thought that Clovis II died in this year; but see above, no. 7. Others settle the matter so that the monastery began to be built in the year 656, but was completed in the year 659 or 660 so that it could be inhabited. Some, finally, assert that the convent of Chelles was built in the year 662 (Yepes, Coronica general de la orden de San Benito, vol. II, fol. 278, col. 3, 4; Cocquelin, Historiae regalis abbatiae Corbeiensis compendium, ed. J. Garnier, pp. 10, 30); to which they are moved by a single reason, because at this year Sigebert of Gembloux writes this in his Chronicle: Queen Bathild, mother of Lothar, built the monasteries of Corbie and Chelles for God (MG., Scr. vol. VI, p. 325). But to examine testimony of this kind is neither pleasing nor worth the trouble.], Balthild was to raise from the foundations and enlarge. With these Mabillon mixes Acta, saec. II, p. 776, no. 7; saec. III, 1, p. 24, note c. a rather surprising error, which it is useful to censure here because under the auspices of so great a man it has crept into not a few more recent books; for he says that not only Heresuid but also Hilda her sister lived at Chelles under the rule of St. Bertila; but that Hilda never left England, Bede himself is an ample witness [Hist. eccl., book IV, c. 23; cf. what Le Cointe wrote on this passage, vol. III, pp. 423–24, at the year 656, VI.]; and as for Heresuid, if she ever lived at Chelles, which we shall presently inquire, certainly from the single witness Bede we learn only that she was there about the year 647, and consequently more than ten years before the convent was built by St. Balthild and St. Bertila was placed over it. These things having been explained in passing, let us return to our purpose.
[13] and the interpolator of the Life of St. Balthild, We must see, therefore, whether credit is to be given to the interpolator of the Life of St. Balthild where he writes that the monastery of Chelles was not first built by Balthild, but was formerly founded by Queen Chrodehild and renewed in a larger form by Balthild. This, indeed, even if it were true, would nevertheless not seem likely. For who would persuade himself that that convent, to which about the year 647 daughters of kings flew eagerly from England, was both so small that it was called a little convent, and especially so obscure that it was nowhere else spoken of, not even by those who informed posterity about the monastery built by Balthild? For, to omit both Gregory of Tours, who is altogether silent on this matter [Silent too is the author of the Chronicles which are attributed to Fredegar, and likewise the author of the Liber historiae Francorum.], and the Life of Chrodehild, as being of no authority and not older than the tenth century, the older writers of Chelles, I mean the authors both of the Life of St. Bertila and of Life A of St. Balthild, seem to be entirely ignorant that any convent was founded at Chelles by Chrodehild. Indeed, both bring forward things from which we may rightly gather that the very first foundation of the monastery was made by Balthild. Thus the Life of St. Bertila, c. 4: For in these times, after the departure of the lord King Clovis, the religious… lady Queen Baltechild… took counsel, that in the royal estate which is called Kala she should build a monastery of girls… The counsel pleased all (the pontiffs and chief men of the people), and all gave her their consent. And she… with all speed ordered a monastery to be built there.
Not otherwise the older Life of Balthild, c. 7: That also she herself, as if her own… houses of God, that is at Kala in the Paris region, for girls consecrated by God, built a great convent of virgins, where she appointed the servant of God, the very religious girl Berthila, to be first in the place of mother. C. 8: What of the monastery of Jouarre, from which she summoned those sacred virgins with the aforesaid lady Berthila, abbess, to her monastery of Kala? C. 10: For it was her holy devotion that she should live in the monastery of religious women which we mentioned before, that is at Kala, which she herself built.
[14] who said that the same convent was founded by St. Chrodehild. There remains the passage in which the ancient author speaks of St. Chrodehild, c. 18; where among the other praises of the pious queen he brings forward this, that she first built churches in honor of St. Peter at Paris and of St. George in the little convent of virgins at Kala. By these words, of St. George in the little convent of virgins, or, as one of the manuscript codices has it, of St. Georius at the little convent of virgins, the author, who was writing after the death of Balthild, seems to have indicated only this, that the church of St. George was built by Chrodehild in that place in which afterwards the convent of nuns of Chelles was founded — by Balthild, of course. He who prepared the new edition of the Life in the ninth century understood it otherwise, indeed, and wrote: She also made a church in honor of St. Peter at Paris, where the religion of the monastic order might flourish, and also first built at Kala a little convent of sacred virgins in honor of St. George. This afterwards, because the compass of the church was too narrow… And here the Carolingian editor inserted a certain narration about the monastery founded by Balthild, which narration was by no means read in the older Life. Further, while I would not wish to deny obstinately what the more recent eulogist of St. Balthild, and many moderns after him, narrate here, so I think that his opinion arose from a false interpretation of the earlier Life, and I judge that the opinion of those agrees more with what has been handed down by the ancient writers who said that by Chrodehild only the church of St. George, but by Balthild the convent of nuns itself, was first built.
[15] The illustrious monastery Bede, therefore, must be said to have erred in some point; which will not seem so surprising if we consider that at the time at which the venerable man was writing, that is about the year 730, the fame of the monastery of Chelles had prevailed very greatly, and indeed for more than fifty years, among the Saxons of Britain. This is testified both by the Life of St. Bertila, c. 5: And not only from the neighboring province but also from parts across the sea very many men and women hastened to her (Bertila)… with the highest desire of love, and c. 6: And so much
fruit did the Lord gather through her that even from the parts across the sea the faithful kings of Saxony asked her through messengers to send them some of her disciples…, and by Bede himself, Hist. eccl., book III, c. 8: For at that time — that is, when the seventh century was already advanced, when Earcongota, daughter of King Earconberct (640–664), was serving the Lord in the monastery of St. Fara at Brie — as yet not many monasteries having been built in the region of the English, many from Britain were wont, for the sake of the monastic way of life, to go to the monasteries of the Franks or of the Gauls; and they also sent their daughters to the same to be instructed and to be wedded to the heavenly bridegroom, especially in the monastery at Brie and at Cale and at Andelys. But where afterwards (book IV, c. 23) he wrote about Heresuid, the man, certainly more versed in English and Northumbrian affairs than in Gallic, could easily have named that celebrated one of Chelles in place of another monastery — and certain such certainly existed in the time of Heresuid. What if perhaps with Pagi [Crit. Baronii, at the year 680, XXI. See what Pagi wrote ibid., XV ff. and at the year 705, XVIII–XX.] it is permissible to conjecture that the very words of the Life of St. Bertila which we have just recited gave Bede the occasion of erring? This is the less surprising, in that this passage too was wrongly understood by Mabillon himself. For he wrote in a note on the words cited from c. 5: "Among these were SS. Hilda, Hereswith and others from the island of Britain." Now this at least is beyond controversy, that Heresuid, if she ever lived at Chelles, certainly came there long before Bertila passed from the monastery of Jouarre to that of Chelles.
[16] St. Bertila governed it from the year 658/660 to the year 705/706 Our Bertila, therefore, came to Chelles after the year 657 and before the month of December of the year 660, and there at once began to discharge the office of abbess. Since she lived forty-six years in that office, she must be said to have died about the year 705 or 706. Of the day of her death the writer of the Life is indeed silent; but there is reason why we should believe that it was the 5th of November, on which day the festival of St. Bertila is entered in the martyrology of Chelles, of which below, while on the 26th of May the memory of the translation of the same saint was celebrated in the same monastery.
§ III. On the cult of St. Bertila.
[17] The relics of St. Bertila That immediately after the saint's death the inhabitants of the place began to ask her intercession, the author of the Life is witness, c. 8 at the end. While it is probable that this pious veneration was continued through the following five centuries, scarcely any document records how much or in what ways it was paid to her. We have only one testimony of an ancient age, indeed, though not sufficiently certain, in that old sacramentary from which Mabillon published a Mass of St. Bertila that used to be sung on the Nones of November Ann. O.S.B., vol. II, append. I, p. 691.. Afterwards the name of Bertila appears again not before the end of the twelfth century, elevated in the year 1185; when, through the care of Marie de Duny, abbess, her relics were translated on the 26th of May 1185. We regret that the record of this translation, or rather elevation, written on parchment, has perished; it was placed in the reliquary together with the sacred remains in the year 1185 and was still in existence in the year 1711; in it was narrated that the translation was carried out, in the reign of Philip Augustus, by Maurice de Sully, bishop of Paris, before a great multitude of the people, there being present Marie de Duny, abbess, Emeline, treasurer, Adelaide d'Anet and others sprung from noble families. The sepulcher of Bertila, which was situated under the church of St. George, being then opened, the sacred bones of the virgin were gathered and placed in a chest; this chest was solemnly translated into the greater church of the monastery, which was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and placed there near the relics of St. Balthild [Cf. Torchet, op. cit., vol. I, p. 110. What the distinguished Torchet records in this passage, and in others to be cited below, about the relics of St. Bertila, he had already brought forward long before in Les reliques de Notre-Dame de Chelles, in Bulletin de la Société d'archéologie de Seine-et-Marne, vol. IV (1867), pp. 271–93.]. From then on, greater honor was paid day by day to the holy remains of Bertila.
[18] new reliquaries were made to receive them in the sixteenth century, In the year 1508, then, Marie de Reilhac, abbess, made a reliquary entirely of silver and adorned with gems, in which the head of Bertila, separated from the rest of the body, was enclosed Torchet, Histoire, vol. I, p. 235.. In the year 1544, however, when, the war raging between Francis I, king of France, and the emperor Charles V, the king's forces had pitched camp near Chelles and the terrified nuns had fled to Paris, being restored safe to their monastery a few days later, after they had learned that nothing of the relics, charters and other things which they had carried with them had perished, they resolved, in testimony of a grateful mind, that in place of the old reliquaries of their saints, which were almost broken apart and miserably stripped of their gems, new and more ornate ones should be made. And the one into which the sacred bones of Bertila were translated was made partly of silver, partly of gilded wood, and adorned both with precious gems and with images both of St. Bertila and of twelve other virgins Ibid., pp. 261–65.. The translation was made on the 29th of March 1545 by Jean Goudequin, prior of Saint-Lazare and visitor of the monastery of Chelles, there being present Jacqueline Amignon, vicar general of Chelles, Roberte Turquin, prioress, and the other nuns. On the 15th of June 1614 Marie de Lorraine, abbess, took away the lower jaw of St. Bertila and sent it as a gift to Jeanne de Bourbon, abbess of Jouarre; who received that venerable pledge with solemn rite on the 27th of June of the same year and translated it into her monastery [This we were taught by F. A. Denis of blessed memory, canon of Meaux, who pointed out that what T. Du Plessis records, Histoire de l'église de Meaux, vol. I, p. 39, must be corrected thus from authentic documents; where the thing is said to have been done in the year 1612.]. Hence it came about that afterwards this day, the 27th of June, was a celebrated memorial of St. Bertila in the abbey of Jouarre [Cf. Officia propriorum festorum regalis abbatiae Iotrensis (Paris, 1625), pp. 57–65.]. When, however, towards the end of the eighteenth century, the ancient abbey of Jouarre was confiscated, this sacred jaw, together with another bone of St. Bertila and the other relics of Jouarre, was piously translated into the parish church of that village, in which it has since been diligently preserved.
[19] in the seventeenth century, But to return to Chelles, Madeleine de la Porte, abbess, again made there a new reliquary for St. Bertila, entirely of silver and skilfully wrought; into which Henri de la Motte-Houdancourt, bishop of Auch and also grand almoner of Anne of Austria, translated the relics of the saint on the 22nd of July 1665. There was present the famous Bossuet, then archdeacon of Metz, who on that very day extolled the praises of St. Bertila in an oration which, as they assert, was excellent Cf. Torchet, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 53–54.. once in the eighteenth century About fifty years having then elapsed, when the abbess Agnès de Villars had resolved to repair that reliquary and adorn it further, Vivant, vicar general of Paris, opened it on the 16th of July 1711; in it he found the body of Bertila almost entire, together with the charters which testified to the translations carried out in the years 1185, 1544 and 1665 and demonstrated that the relics were authentic Ibid., pp. 99–100. These charters do not survive.. The head of St. Bertila, however, as we have already pointed out, had been separated from the rest of the body and laid up in a silver reliquary. For keeping it, Louise Adélaïde d'Orléans, abbess, procured a more beautiful reliquary of gilded silver fashioned in the likeness of a head; in her presence the sacred head was translated into the new reliquary by Éloi Ledoux, prior of Sainte-Croix of Chelles, on the 18th of November 1721 [Ibid., p. 302. The record of this translation is kept enclosed in the present reliquary of St. Bertila; I saw a transcript of it in the episcopal archive of Meaux.].
[20] and again, And such was always the pious devotion of the people of Chelles towards their saints Balthild and Bertila that even then, when at the end of the eighteenth century the affairs of France were overturned from their foundations, when whatever precious metals or gems were found in the churches had been taken away and seized for the use of the state, the inhabitants not only diligently preserved the relics themselves and honored them with pious honors, but in those very turbulent times, that is on the 3rd of January 1793, publicly decreed that new reliquaries should be made for the sacred bones. There then survived only oaken chests, strengthened with iron plates, in which the relics had been laid up and which, after the monastery had been confiscated, had been translated to the parish church of St. Andrew. To receive these chests, reliquaries were made, they too of wood, not splendid indeed, as formerly, yet not unseemly either, being adorned somewhat with gold and carved ornaments; and on the top of each was placed, on the one an image of St. Balthild, on the other of St. Bertila. These reliquaries, those images now having been removed, are still preserved today in the said parish church Torchet, vol. II, pp. 255–56; cf. ibid., p. 302..
There are to be seen in the same church two reliquaries Ibid., pp. 87 and 306. made in the form of a head in the year 1822 in imitation of those in the nineteenth century. which were formerly kept in the treasury of the monastery, fashioned of gilded silver, and in which the heads of SS. Balthild and Bertila were enclosed. And the head of St. Bertila seems to have rested in this new reliquary from the year 1822 to the year 1826; at which time the Rev. Pruneau, canon of Meaux, by order of the illustrious bishop Victor de Cosnac, visited the relics of Chelles and, having opened the greater reliquary of St. Bertila, laid up in it also the head of the blessed abbess on the 1st of October 1826. That reliquary was opened once afterwards, on the 13th of July 1853, by the illustrious bishop Auguste Allou; who recognized the relics [Ibid., p. 302. Testimonial letters were written about this recognition, which the bishop placed in the reliquary itself. I saw a transcript of them in the episcopal archive of Meaux.], counted them, and also set some aside and reserved them for himself. Of these the bishop sent as gifts the right collarbone of the saint to the Benedictine nuns of the restored abbey of Jouarre, a metatarsal bone to the bishop of Porphyreon, who was then sacristan of His Holiness Pope Pius IX, and others also to others [Some particles of the relics of St. Bertila were received by several parishes of the diocese of Meaux. See also below, no. 25.].
[21] The saint's staff formerly kept. If we add that there was formerly kept in the abbey of Chelles an abbatial staff which was reported to have been St. Bertila's [So Placide Porcheron († 1694) in the cited manuscript history of the monastery of Chelles, p. 17: "On garde aussi dans la même abbaye sa crosse (i. e. Bertilae), à laquelle on a attaché une petite plaque d'argent doré, où est gravée (sic) ces paroles: Onus onerum. Les caractères sont de 400 ans ou environ." [There is also kept in the same abbey her crozier (that is, Bertila's), to which has been attached a small plate of gilded silver, on which is engraved (sic) these words: Onus onerum. The characters are about 400 years old.]], the reader will have everything that seemed worth saying about the relics of our saint.
[22] The days of her feast in the convent of Chelles, Which days were formerly sacred to the same saint, we know very well from the martyrology of the abbey of Chelles itself, which is now kept among the manuscript codices of the library of Bern under no. 418. In this codex — to omit the Rule of St. Benedict, a lectionary, a necrology — there is to be found at fol. 6–78 a Usuardine martyrology written in the thirteenth century after an exemplar which, as it seems [For at the day before the Kalends of July there is written by the first hand in the text itself: On the same day the dedication of the monastery of St. Mary of Hedera.], belonged to the monastery of Blessed Mary of Hedera On which cf. Gall. christ., vol. VII, col. 602.. After this transcript was brought to Chelles, there were added in their places, in the thirteenth century itself, the announcements of the feast days which were customarily kept in the abbey of Chelles. Among these two are to be noted by us: 1) on the Nones of November: On the same day the festival of St. Bertila, virgin and abbess, and 2) on the 7th day before the Kalends of June: On the same day the translation of St. Bertila, virgin and abbess [In the calendar which is written at the head of the codex (fol. 1–5), similar announcements were also added on the same days in the thirteenth century.]. This is the translation which we said took place in the year 1185 on the same 26th of May Above, no. 17.. Now that the nuns of Chelles afterwards faithfully assigned the same days, the 5th of November and the 26th of May, to celebrating both the festival and the translation of St. Bertila, is testified by the proper offices printed for the use of the abbey, of which above Above, no. 4, 3°.. On the other hand, a good many modern writers have departed from this ancient custom in assigning the days sacred to Bertila. For the solemn day of the festival, which by many is rightly said to be the 5th of November [So e.g. Chastelain, Martyrologe universel (1709), the Martyrologies of Paris of the year 1727, of Auxerre of the year 1751, of Évreux of the year 1772, etc.], has nevertheless by some, for I know not what reason, been transferred to the 4th of November [So Ménard in the Benedictine Martyrology (1629), Bucelinus in the Benedictine Menology (1655), Arthur du Moustier in the Sacrum Gynecaeum (1657), and others.]. The discrepancy is even greater about the day of the translation, while some — and truly — affirm that its memory is kept on the 7th day before the Kalends of June, or the 26th of May, others on the 17th day before the Kalends of June, or the 16th of May [Proprium sanctorum regalis et inclyti monasterii B. Mariae de Calis (Paris, 1623).], others on the 6th day before the Kalends of July, or the 26th of June [Officia propr. fest. regalis abbatiae Iotrensis (1625), p. 62; cf. also Bucelinus, op. cit., at the 27th of June. It may be useful to remember that on the 27th of June the nuns of Jouarre were accustomed to celebrate not indeed that translation by which in the year 1185 the body of Bertila was first elevated, but the translation of her sacred jaw, which in the year 1614, on the 27th of June, came from the monastery of Chelles to that of Jouarre; cf. above, no. 18.], others on the 7th day before the Kalends of November, or the 26th of October [Dubois, Historia ecclesiae Parisiensis, vol. I (1690), p. 201, IX; Gall. christ., vol. VII, col. 559.].
[23] On both days, that is the 5th of November and the 26th of May, a solemn office was performed in the abbey of Chelles with proper lessons, antiphons and hymns. Of the lessons I have already spoken above No. 4, 3°.. The antiphons at vespers, likewise the invitatory, the antiphons and the responsories at matins, are written in leonine hexameter verses; the antiphons at lauds, however, are in prose, except the antiphon at the Benedictus, which is rhythmical. That office begins (Ant. at vespers): Da mihi, Christe pie, verbi dator atque sophie Grant me, loving Christ, giver of the word and of wisdom [In his hymnological Repertory the distinguished U. Chevalier recorded only the antiphons of the first nocturn (Repert. hymn., no. 26330; where not 6 × 4 but 6 × 2 should have been written).], and contains sixty-nine metrical verses, seven rhythmical If you do not count the hymns.. Since, however, these poems are neither very ancient nor very good, and relate nothing at all which is not read better and more fully in the Life of Bertila, we shall abstain from copying them out [The cited Fr. Thomas Aquinas of St. Joseph sent Bolland a transcript, not indeed of the whole office, but of those parts which are written in verse; which transcript is to be found in the Brussels manuscript 8932, fol. 239.].
The office has two hymns, of which this is the beginning: Te, Christe, nostra cantica You, O Christ, our songs Chevalier, Repert. hymn., no. 20037. and: Bertillae nunc praeconia Now the praises of Bertilla Ibid., no. 2478.. Besides, four other hymns are to be read elsewhere, of which three were composed by Joseph Rosset Ibid., nos. 3519, 5190, 15905., while the fourth lies unpublished among the innumerable poems of Simon Gourdan Ibid., no. 2477..
[24] in the monastery of Jouarre, So far concerning the cult of St. Bertila in the monastery of Chelles itself. We have already said that sacred honors were paid to her in that of Jouarre also, and that her feast was celebrated on the 27th of June; but when it began to be celebrated, we do not know. That, however, is likely which we read in the little book whose title is: Officia propria insignis ecclesiae Meldensis SS. DD. Pii PP. IX iudicio, correctioni et sanctioni … proposita (Paris, 1855); in which, p. 94: "Her (Bertila's) cult has flourished from time immemorial in the monasteries of Chelles and Jouarre;" but what is added there: "in our whole diocese from the year 1834," is not so true. in the diocese of Meaux. All commemoration of Bertila is indeed absent from the breviaries of Meaux printed in the years 1546, 1650 and 1834; but already in the breviary of the year 1713 Bertila is entered at the 5th of November under this rubric, "Memorial and lesson" This lesson is proper and taken from the Life of Bertila., and also in the Ordo for reciting the divine office according to the rite of Meaux, a copy of which, issued "for the year of the Lord 1827," we have in hand, at the same day there is prescribed no longer indeed a proper lesson, but at least "a commemoration of St. Bertila, virgin, at Lauds and at Mass." Finally, in the Proper Offices for the use of the illustrious church of Meaux, which were published in the year 1856 with the approval of His Holiness Pius IX, there is assigned on the same day a double feast of St. Bertila with three proper lessons taken from the Life.
[25] The cult of St. Bertila in Belgium. Whether outside the diocese of Meaux St. Bertila obtained public veneration, and of what kind, we have not found out. One thing, however, occurs not unworthy of mention. In a village of Belgian Limburg called Grand-Jamine, not far from Sint-Truiden, the memory of our saint is celebrated [Cf. the little work: Vie de Sainte Bertille, vierge, première abbesse de Chelles, au diocèse de Meaux, particulièrement honorée le 2e dimanche de mai dans l'église de Grand-Jamine. Saint-Trond, 1883, 32°, 8 pp.]; the parish priest of the village formerly received relics of her too from the illustrious bishop Allou. In another village of the same Limburg, however, which is called Rosmeer and lies between Bilzen and Maastricht, a certain St. Bertila is also venerated — and indeed now for three centuries. To honor her the inhabitants not only celebrate every year a solemn novena, if the word may be pardoned, which begins on the 1st of May, but also throughout the whole year many pious pilgrims, as they report, flock there from every side. And if you ask the inhabitants about their saint, some answer that she is the same who is venerated at Grand-Jamine; others that she is "the Mother of three sisters"; others assert that she was a native; and to prove this the good men bring forward an argument which it is useful to relate: since there is a well in that village whose name is "St. Bertila's Well," they explain, after that customary fashion of common folk, that the well was so called because, at Bertila's own prayer, water flowed there by a miracle. They add also that their saint is by no means that abbess of Chelles; for they have an image of their saint which represents only the chest (in the vernacular un buste); from which it is to be understood, they say, that the lower part of her body was eaten away by disease, which is by no means recorded to have happened in the case of Bertila of Chelles. Further, setting aside such absurdities, I am certainly inclined to conjecture that not the abbess of Chelles, who was scarcely known in Belgium, was venerated in the village of Rosmeer, but that St. Bertila of our own country who was the wife of St. Walbert the count and mother of SS. Waldetrude and Aldegund. And if anyone should contend that the same Bertila was originally venerated by the inhabitants of the village of Grand-Jamine too, but that more recently, through the doing of some half-learned man, the abbess of Chelles began to be venerated in her place, I for my part would not dare to contradict him.
LIFE OF ST. BERTILA
Bertila, virgin and first abbess of Chelles. (S.)
BHL Number: 1287
FORTUNATUS
Edited from 1. the Paris manuscript 18296, collated with 2. the Paris manuscript 12607 and with 3. the printed office; cf. Prelim. Comm., no. 4. — Variant readings have been added from the edition of Mabillon (= M) and from the Life of St. Albinus written by Venantius Fortunatus (= F).
[1] [Vitae sanctae Bertilae abbatissae Chellensis, title supplied in 1 in the seventeenth century; Incipit vita beate Bertile virginis Calensis cenobii abbatisse 2.] The religious life of holy virgins, the more illustrious it is in merits, Life of St. Albinus, V, 10. the more frequent celebrior 3. it is on the tongue, and the more praiseworthy in the mouth of the peoples; because, while it gives to others an example of good conduct, it stirs up excitant 1, 2 before correction the tongues of each one in its praise. Bertila of Soissons, Life of St. Albinus, V, 11. Blessed Bertila Bartilla 3, and so hereafter., then, a virgin native of the province of Soissons, sprung from noble parents, nay rather emerging as the most worthy offspring of a worthy stock, increased by the merits of a happy life the distinction which she took from her race, while in her Christ both chose that by which he might be glorified, and she shone forth with that which many multa 3. might imitate.
She, in the very beginnings of her fresh youth, Ibid., V, 12. burned with such great tanto 2 after correction, F. fervor of faith that she voluntarily left for the love of Christ her parents, to whose longing infancy is wont to run back hastily, and as soon as through the age of adolescence she was able to understand, she desired Christ the Lord, and resolved to give herself to his service with the full affection of her heart. with the approval of St. Audoen, When Que 3. a certain most faithful man, Dado Dadon 3; Dadoni M., surnamed Audoen [Bishop of Rouen in the years 641–684. That St. Audoen spent time in the district of Soissons, in which the girl Bertila was living, is easily understood even from the fact that he himself with his brothers was born in this district.], asked percunctanti 3, M. her whether she wished to serve Christ, she answered with a grateful mind that she had from infancy the devotion to deserve promereretur 2 after correction, 3, M. to obtain Christ the Son of God as her bridegroom; but she did not dare to disclose this publicly to her parents, because she knew that it was very contrary to them, and that they would rather hinder it by contradicting than agree by assenting. But already at a tender age she shrewdly held to the divine counsel, and more secretly besought the help of God continually, that his loving-kindness might make a short way, she goes to the convent of Jouarre; how, by his ordering, she might fittingly be brought to the fellowship of holy women or to their convent. The divine loving-kindness, which never forsakes those who hope in it, taking counsel for her devotion, divine grace soon came to her help, and it made her own parents and also her brothers devoted in consent; who, agreeing, exhorted hortati 3. her to persist in her holy devotion and to consecrate herself to the Lord as an unblemished virgin. Judith 13:17. And of their own accord, the Lord inspiring imperante 3. them, they gave her support auxilium M., and brought her with haste, according to her vow, to the monastery of girls which is called Iotrus [Jouarre (dép. Seine-et-Marne). This convent had been founded not long before by Ado, brother of St. Audoen. Cf. Life of St. Columbanus, book I, c. 26 (MG., Scr. rer. merov. vol. IV, p. 100).], and commended her to the lady Teutlehild Trudecilde 3., abbess On whom Act. SS., Oct. vol. V, pp. 114–20., by whom, with the holy women, she was honorably received.
[2] in which living piously Lesson II. 1. The noble girl Bertila, then, giving manifold thanks to Christ, whose loving-kindness had brought her, snatched from the waves of the world, to the haven of a happy convent, from that day forth in the same place subjected herself, to be pleasing placitura M. to the Lord, with such humility of mind, Life of St. Albinus, V, 13. that, saving the uprightness of her morals, she took no pride in the birth of her free condition, and there her will bound over so F, 2 after correction; adduxit 1, 2 before correction, 3.. as a handmaid so F, M, 2 after correction; voluntatis 1; voluntate 3. her whom the origin of her birth had begotten free. In this holy convent, under the norm of the holy rule, she had so admirable and praiseworthy a way of life that she was swift in ad 3. holy obedience to the elders, and hastened most devoutly with fervor of mind to the divine office or to prayer. For she lived admirably in the holy congregation with all gravity and gentleness and temperance, always having the fear of God divinum M. before her eyes, she walked in a perfect heart and purity of confession, humble and obedient, always pleasing her elders, and in whatever ministry she was ordered by the mother to serve the elders, that very thing she strove most faithfully and with good will, divine grace consoling her, to fulfill without murmuring murmure 3., all that had been enjoined on her. 2 Kings 20:3; Ibid. V. 14. In short, the progress of daily exercise advanced in her, so that, always rising beyond herself, she not only surpassed the others in merits, but rather triumphed over her subdued body. Ibid. V. 15. For who now is able to recall or to tell how outstanding the aforesaid handmaid of Christ, Bertila, was at that time in the sparingness of fasting, more inclined in the love of vigils, praiseworthy (in–profusior) omits 1, 2, M. in the assiduity of prayer, more lavish in charity (in – profusior) omits 1, 2, M., more careful in the reading of holy Scripture, singular in the work of mercy? Ibid. V. 16. For she was in her youth an old woman in morals for obeying, and mature for trampling on vices, so omits 3. that in her very youthful apprenticeship she was an example to the elders, a solace to her companions, and to the younger ones a guide to the steps of the saints. She wished the whole of what she lived to be in Christ and with Christ. Ibid. V. 17. Lending neither her eye to pleasure, nor her ear to jesting, nor her mind to pleasure so 1, 2, 3; levitati F., always steering herself by the anchor of gravity, she conducted herself within the enclosures of the monastery in such a way that in many useful services she was like the spiritual mother. she takes the first part after the abbess. The abbess, considering her most faithful ministry, very often enjoined on her a greater charge and the weightier matters that were under herself, so that while she herself was occupied in many holy and religious matters, this one might bear a loving solicitude for the other sisters under the authority of her mother; the care of the sick, of the children, and indeed of guests was very often entrusted to her [Cf. the Rule of St. Benedict, c. 31 (on the cellarer): Let him take care of the sick, the children, the guests and the poor with all solicitude. These words are read in so many words in c. 20 of the "Recapitulation" of the Rule of St. Caesarius of Arles for virgins (P. L., vol. LXVII, col. 1121); but this chapter and the following c. 21 are not genuine; cf. C. F. Arnold, Caesarius von Arelate (Leipzig, 1894), pp. 500–502. It must further be seen whether the writer of the Life read the Rule of St. Benedict itself or an interpolated exemplar of the Rule for virgins; which I cannot determine with certainty.]. All of which she fulfilled most kindly with a grateful and even mind, as if they had been commanded her by God. In all the offices of the monastery, therefore, she, chosen by the Lord, held the presidency of government after the mother abbess, and without any illa 1, 2 before correction reproach fulfilled all obedience for the love of God; sobriety and peace, moreover, she held continually with so unshaken a mind that, as far as lay with her, she disturbed no one's mind with the goad of offense, but rather, if she saw any sisters agitated [so 2 corrected by the first hand, 3; commodas 1, 2 before correction; cf. chap. 3: commoto, commota.] or murmuring, out of zeal for piety she tried to calm and pacify it, or to restrain the evil of murmuring, since divine grace furnished charity and loving-kindness in her heart.
[3] Lesson III. 1.. A certain sister, Since, then, there was great merit in the aforesaid handmaid of Christ, Bertila, that it might be shown to others, a great miracle was manifested through her. For when one of the sisters, with agitated commota 3. mind, had spoken to her a word of anger, she sought the divine judgment upon it; and although, as was fitting, the fault itself had been mutually forgiven, yet the lady Bertila herself was always fearful about the divine judgment which she had sought. on whom she had called down judgment, It befell, then, that sister who had been agitated, her breath closing up in her chest, a sudden death; to whose funeral the other sisters, the signal having been struck tagto 1, 2 before correction Cf. Caesarius, Rule for virgins, c. 10: signo tacto., came together so 2 after correction, M; cognoverunt 1, 2 before correction; cucurrerunt 3. to fulfill the customary prayer for the soul which was being taken from them, that the Lord would graciously command her to be received into perpetual peace. But the aforesaid handmaid of God, Bertila, being ignorant of this, asked for what cause the choir of psalm-singers was sounding. A certain sister answered her: "Do you not know that this sound is sounding for the soul of that sister who has departed from the body?" Hearing this, she raises the dead woman, at once trembling for the word which they had had between them, with the swiftest running she came quickly to the place where the little body of that deceased sister lay lifeless, and entering with great faith she at once laid her right hand on the breast of the dead woman, adjuring her departing soul by Jesus Christ the Son of God that it should not depart before, speaking with her, she forgave her the agitation she had had against her. At the command of her voice that soul, which had already departed from the body, immediately, God Domino M. permitting, returned into the body, and sighing in the revived corpse brought astonishment on all, and looking at the handmaid of God it spoke to her, saying: "What have you done, sister? Why do you draw me back from the way of brightness?" To her the handmaid of God, Bertila omits M., humbly said: that she may forgive her. "I beseech you, sister, remit to me the word of forgiveness which, with agitated mind, I once vowed against you." And she said omits 3.: "May God grant you forgiveness; for I retain no agitation of heart against you, but rather bear full love towards you; and I pray you to entreat God Dominum M. for me, and to let me go in peace, and not to cause me delays, for I have a bright way prepared; for without your permission I am not able to go." To her she said: "Go, then, in the peace of Christ, and pray for me, sweet and lovable sister." Truly great was her confidence in God Domino M., who called back a soul when she wished, and permitted it to remain praestare 2, M. as long as she pleased! From this miracle performed we can know how great a constancy of faith the handmaid of God herself had, strengthened inwardly by the gift of heavenly loving-kindness, who so undoubtingly called back into the revived corpse a soul which had already departed from the body, and commanded impetravit 3. it to speak with her as she wished, and also, the speaking being completed, permitted that soul to depart. There was fulfilled, then, in this blessed Bertila the scripture which says: All things are possible possibia 1. to him that believes, and nothing is impossible to those who trust in God with their whole heart, as it is established was done in this miracle also. Mark 9:22.
[4] Lesson IIII. 1.. Afterwards to the monastery of Chelles For (His–committeret) omits 3. in these times, after the departure of the lord King Clovis Clodovei 2. Clovis II reigned in the years 639–657., his religious and most excellent consort, the lady Queen Baltechild [On whom Act. SS., Jan. vol. II, pp. 738–49; Br. Krusch, in MG., Scr. rer. merov. vol. II, pp. 475–508.], with her little son King Clothar Clotario 2, and so hereafter. Clothar III reigned in the years 657–673. irreproachably
governed the kingdom of the Franks, recently founded and was loved dirigebatur 1, 2 before correction with wonderful affection by all the pontiffs and nobles and the whole people of her kingdom, her merits compelling it. For she was religious and much devoted to God Domino M., having care of churches and of the poor. With great vigor of mind, then, she governed the palace manfully. And she took counsel with the pontiffs and the chief men of her people that in the royal estate which is called Kala Chelles (dép. Seine-et-Marne). she should build a monastery of girls Cf. Prelim. Comm., nos. 6–15., so that when her aforesaid son, the lord Clothar, should have reached the lawful age and been able to rule gerere M. by himself the kingdom committed to him, then she herself, leaving the royal charge relicta cura regali 2 after correction, M., might enter the aforesaid monastery under the order of religion. And because she loved all with wonderful affection and was loved by all, the counsel pleased everyone and all gave her their consent. And she, prudent and wise as she was, ordered a monastery adds Kale above the line in 2, a hand of the fifteenth century. to be built there with all speed, and, foreseeing the future, assigned the necessary substance for the handmaids of God. And now, the convent having been diligently prepared, she began to turn over in her mind what girl she might find worthy in merits and uprightness and morals, to whom ei 2 after correction, M. in confidence she might commit the flock of sacred virgins gathered there under the norm of holy religion (His–committeret) omits 3.. And when [adds religiosa et devota regina monasterium sacrarum virginum construeret Kalle et in 2 in the lower margin, fifteenth century; 3 adds it.] she heard many things about many, the happy fame of this holy girl Bertila running abroad, knowledge of her came through the report of the faithful even to the royal ears of the lady Baltechild Bathildis 3, and so hereafter., the glorious and most Christian queen; who rejoiced at the example of her holiness sanctitate 1.; and at once, having taken counsel, she decided to appoint her as mother over the holy women whom for the love of Christ and reverence for holy Mary she had gathered in the above-named convent; which, God Domino M. disposing, she afterwards accomplished. For with great devotion and humility she asked the lady Teutlehild Teutechildem 3, and so hereafter; Teutehildem M., abbess, to send her from her monastery some handmaids of God who should govern her convent. And she, having long deliberated, could not deny the holy supplication of the queen, but of her own accord satisfied the glorious lady's petition, and ordered the aforesaid lady Bertila with certain holy girls to be brought to the spiritual mother, the lady Baltechild, with the greatest diligence and due honor, she is placed over it as abbess; as was fitting, through the great priest the lord Genesius [The abbot Genesius, by whose hands she (St. Balthild) ministered to priests and the poor, fed the needy and clothed the naked with garments … sending through him to the convents of men and of virgins most generous gifts of gold or silver (the older Life of St. Balthild, c. 4; MG., Scr. rer. merov. vol. II, p. 486). On this holy man, who from abbot was made bishop of Lyon, see Act. SS., Nov. vol. I, pp. 352–56. Those who thought that Aunemundus, his predecessor, was slain in this year or that determined that he was created bishop in the year 657 or 658; why we hesitate to agree with them, we have said above, p. 85, note 12. Certain persons who thought that the convent of Chelles was founded in the year 658 seemed to themselves to receive confirmation of this opinion from this passage of the Life of St. Bertila (cf. Act. SS., vol. cit., p. 354, no. 11); but, to omit other things, the writer of the Life need not necessarily be understood as affirming that Genesius had then already been made bishop, whether you interpret those words great priest as "the archchaplain of the palace, who in those older times was usually called primicerius of the palace, prelate of the sacred palace, the highest of the clergy, and in more recent times grand almoner" (Act. SS., loc. cit.), or rather conjecture that the author of the Life, which was written about thirty years after the death of Genesius († 678), when praising Genesius in passing, did not sufficiently distinguish the times and named him bishop (= great priest), although he was treating of things done before the holy abbot was made bishop.] to the aforesaid holy convent at Kale; and so that that whole congregation might be commended to her as to a spiritual mother, she suggested this in person to the aforesaid lady queen, trusting in her religion and chaste way of life. These that glorious Queen Baltechild received with great honor as a heavenly gift, and, as had been charged her by the lady Teutlehild, laid on her the burden of government over the whole convent and ordered her to be abbess.
[5] Lesson V. 1.. discharging that office excellently, Now the venerable handmaid of God, Bertila, having taken up the charge of government, how she prepared herself, and how prudent and [(et ad o.) so 3; ad o. 1, 2 before correction, as it seems; ac 2 post as.; ac Domino M.] irreproachable in all things, I am not able to tell. The care of the honor she had received did not exalt her, nor the abundance of riches, nor the crowd of servants of both sexes surrounding her. There persevered in her the humility which had been there before, piety, kindness, modesty [1 adds imma; 2, 3 add immo, but it is deleted in 2. Perhaps the copyist in manuscript 1 began to write the word immaculata and did not complete it.], virginity, and, what surpasses all, true charity. Assiduously too, with entire faith, she sought God as her helper, who had always consoled her in all things from infancy, that he himself might give her fortitude and likewise shrewd counsel, by which she might be able so to govern that holy convent as ut 2 after erasure, M. would please him who had deigned to call her to this. And by the bounty of divine loving-kindness she manfully, with the highest holiness and religion, yet through the counsel of priests, ordered that convent and wonderfully directed eum direxit 3. it under the holy norm, so as to please God Domino M. and that holy queen in all things. As a mother, then, she loved all as her own sons or daughters, and was revered by all ab omnibus M.. When angry, therefore, she was loved, and when smiling she was feared, and she fortified each of her daughters and the others living under her government with spiritual art for doing well and guarding against the snares of the devil, and she showed herself to all as an example of light in good bonis 3, M. works, and abundantly provided the necessary supports for their bodies [Cf. St. Caesarius, Recapitulation of the rule for virgins, c. 10: I adjure the abbess herself of the holy congregation … that, as far as possibility allows, she provide what is necessary for her sisters.]. she draws many to the monastery Her sober and most kindly way of life summoned very many souls of faithful women, and indeed of men too [Cf. chap. 6: the Christian body of the brothers or sisters. The monastery of Chelles, therefore, was double, both of men and of virgins under the government of the abbess. On convents of this kind see what Mary Bateson, after others, learnedly discussed, The origin and early history of double monasteries, in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, New Series, vol. XIII (1899), pp. 137–98.]. And not only from the neighboring province, but also from parts across the sea, the happy fame of this holy woman running before percurrente M., very many men and women, leaving their parents and fatherland patria 2, 3, M., hastened to her with the highest desire of love Cf. Prelim. Comm., no. 15.; all of whom the handmaid of God, Bertila, received with most loving affection, like their own mother receiving beloved dilectos 2, 3, M. little children, and cherished them in loving them, instructing them by holy exhortation to live justly and piously, so that they might be able to please Christ the King.
[6] Lesson VI. 1.. and she benefits those of the household and those outside, Blessed Bertila herself, then, was an example and pattern of piety to all through continence and the fullest love, and not only by holy speech, but rather by the zeal of her holiness and religion she instructed the morals of her subjects, so that they should love one omits 3, M. another with the affection of charity, and live purely and chastely and omits M. soberly in all things, and be always ready for the office or prayer, and take care of guests and the poor, with zeal of love and love of neighbor. The household of the monastery too, and the near neighbors, she drew through holy communion, so that, having made their confessions, they did penance for their sins [Mabillon explains the passage, Acta, saec. III, 1, p. LX, no. 80; cf. A. Malnory, Quid Luxovienses monachi … ad regulam monasteriorum atque ad communem ecclesiae profectum contulerint (Paris, 1894), p. 75, where, as you may be surprised to see, the words through holy communion have been passed over.]; and from the amendment of very many of them she both acquired a reward for herself and made gain for their souls. And there was in the handmaid of Christ, Bertila, the highest devotion and diligence for adorning the churches or altars of Christ. Daily, too, she ordered her priests to offer sacred victims to God Domino M. for the salvation of the souls of the faithful and for the right state of the holy church of God. In vigils and prayers she was always assiduous, and indeed in abstinence from food and sparingness of drink almost wonderful beyond all; and she held the constancy of her faith always with unshaken inconcussam 3. mind towards the Lord Jesus Christ. And as she conducted herself with these and such most approved morals, the Christian body of brothers and sisters was edified by the example of her piety, and also all the poor and pilgrims were consoled by her generous munificence; and the Lord gathered through her so much great omits M. fruit for the salvation of souls even for the Anglo-Saxons. that even from the parts across the sea the faithful kings of Saxony asked her through faithful messengers to send them some of her disciples for teaching or holy instruction, which they had heard was wonderful in her, or also persons who might build convents of men and of nuns in that region [Although it is not recorded elsewhere that monks of Chelles were sent to England, it is nevertheless by no means unlikely.]. This religious petition for the salvation of souls she did not deny, but with the counsel of the elders, the brethren exhorting her, with a grateful mind, with great diligence, and with the patronage of saints That is, relics., and also many omits 3. volumes of books, she sent chosen persons and most devout men there, so that through her the fruit of souls might increase in that nation too and, with the grace of God, be multiplied. Which we trust was so fulfilled, to the praise of God and of the lady Bertila.
[7] Lesson VII. 1.. After the nuns, Meanwhile the glorious handmaid of God, Queen Baltechild, however much she was constrained by the care of the sovereignty for administering ministrandum 3. and governing the state of affairs, and as it were toiled under a heavy burden, nevertheless the love of Christ and the devotion of religion possessed her mind. among whom she had received St. Balthild too, And now, her son the lord Clothar Clotario 3. being grown up, with the consent of her nobles [What this consent means the writer of the Life of St. Balthild hints in no obscure words, c. 10 (MG., Scr. rer. merov. vol. II, pp. 495–96; cf. pp. 475–76).], leaving the care of the royal palace, to serve as a soldier of Christ the Lord in the monastery which she herself had built, written of above, she subjected herself under the obedience of the lady Bertila, abbess. Received, then, with great veneration, as was worthy and deserved, by her and et ab M. the whole congregation of girls, she resolved to remain in holy religion until her last day. This convent they together, by common omnium 3. counsel, wonderfully adorned both in buildings and workshops officiis M. and in the example of holiness; in which, as two excellent lamps placed upon a candlestick, they shone most brightly for the edification of many, Life of St. Balthild, c. 11. and after the apostolic manner, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, there was one heart and soul [Cf. also St. Caesarius, Rule for virgins, c. 18: Let there be to you one soul and one heart in the Lord.], and their minds always ready for doing well; a wonderful love and charity existed between them all their days, and they exhorted one another to carry out this very thing, so that their eorum 1, 2 before correction reward might grow more abundantly. Matthew 5:15; Acts 4:32. But after the lady Queen Baltechild had fulfilled her devotion in all things, she departed in peace to Christ About the year 680. and her body was honorably buried there. she governed for 46 years, But the handmaid of Christ, the lady Bertila, of whose deeds we have here recalled a few out of omits 1, 2. very many, occupied in such offices, labored in this convent for the sake of God Dominum M. through the course of forty-six years, and grew more and more in good works, and walked from virtue to virtue until the perfect day of her death.
[8] a vigorous old woman Life of St. Albinus, XVIII, 50. Lesson VIII. 1. Moreover, blessed Bertila would with great desire have submitted her neck to martyrdom, had the right hand of a striker not been lacking; but we believe that she, though her passion was not fulfilled, completed so 2 corrected by the first hand, M; compessa 1; compassa 3. the martyrdom of her own blood with mortified members, she who, when she was now of advanced age, compelled her weary and aged limbs to serve in the spirit (in s.) spiritui 3, M.. Cf. Sulp. Sev. Epist. III, 14. For she did not wish, as omits 2, M; but in 2 there had first been written in, which was corrected to ut. is the custom mos 3. with very many, to live more slackly in old age or to use more sumptuous dishes epulis lautioribus 3, M.; but more and more, as if she were then beginning, she indulged in food and drink sparingly parcitatem 3., not non 2 after correction, 3 M. to satiety, but for the sustenance of her aged body, lest it fail entirely, and, her limbs now growing weak, she spent dicebat 1, 2 before correction all her nights wakeful. Doing therefore these and very many other admirable things of the kind, as you yourselves remember more fully and have seen, since our poor speech cannot set them forth as is worthy, your affection dictates them to you better. And when the divine loving-kindness had now decided to give recompense for her so great merits, struck with a moderate modico 2 after correction, 3, M. pain of body, she lay down on her little bed lectulo 2 after correction, 3, M. with fever; and placed in that bed in her pains she was eager to give thanks to God in psalms, hymns and spiritual canticles, and she admonished those standing by her to sing to the Lord. Without, then, grievous suffering of body, happily completing the summit of blessedness, Life of St. Balthild, c. 14. her eyes raised upward and her holy hands stretched out to heaven, she sent forth to the heavens her soul dear to God, snatched from the world, to abide with Christ, she dies a holy death, the angels applauding. How great Qantus 1. then was the grief throughout the whole convent of the handmaids of Christ, how great quod 1, 2 before correction; que 2 after correction; quae M. a multitude of mourning brethren came there illic 3., how all, crowded together constipata 3. with immense tears, uttered lamentable cries, is both unspeakable by us and incredible to all except those who saw it in person. So great a din of mourners resounded there, as though that place seemed to be shaken by a great thunder, so that quo 2 after correction, M. nothing else was heard amid the bitter sighs but adds quod the first hand in 2 above the line; M adds it. all crying out: "Loving nurse, Cf. Sulp. Sev. Epist. III, 10. best of mothers, why do you desert us, and to whom do you leave us, whom for so long a time you nourished with sweet and motherly affection? Why do you forsake us today bereaved and grieving and sorrowing? In your death it is evident that we have all died." Crying out therefore these and things like them without intermission for three days, on the fourth day, with due honor, they laid condierunt 1 after correction, 2 before correction the blessed little body, anointed with balsam, in the sepulcher sepulchro 1., in which place the grace of the Lord deigns to perform very many miracles for the salvation of the human race. There too the prayers of the faithful asking her intercession intercessione 1 after correction are heard daily, and the various infirmities of the sick are cured Here 3 ends..
[9] leaving to all Lesson VIIII. 1. In this life, then, of the handmaid of God of holy memory, Bertila, of which quoniam 3, M. it has pleased us to write here a few of her many deeds for the edification of the faithful, he who quod 2 before correction wishes has, to consider carefully or to imitate as in an illustrious omits M. mirror, all kinds of examples of virtues: humility in particular, which is the mother of virtues, charity and the fullest love, the prudence prudentia 1. of the highest abstinence and of shrewd counsel, and the fortitude of faith, and also the piety of the most generous mercy, and, what most of all surpasses every splendor, virginity, the reward of integrity and of holy chastity, the most devoted earnestness of prayer, and the keeping of wonderful peace and the fervor of the zeal of holiness. From these illustrious gems, then, with which almighty God adorned the mind of his handmaid Bertila, let whoever quisque 2 after correction desires to keep such things choose what he pleases, so that he may be able, Christ presiding, to become her partaker in the recompense of the just, so that he may possess the hundredfold reward and eternal life with this hȩc 1. evangelical virgin of Christ, associated in the everlasting glory which we believe without doubt she has obtained for her holy and excellent labors, in which, Christ helping, she ran excellently and happily finished her course, and received eternal life with the crown Here 1 stops, the three following leaves having been torn away. of reward among the hosts of the just, where she abides for infinite ages of ages. 2 Timothy 4:7. Amen.
Here ends the Life of St. Bertila, virgin So 2..