Laetus

ON ST. LAETUS, CONFESSOR, IN THE TERRITORY OF ORLÉANS,

BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THE NINTH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY

Laetus, confessor of Orléans. (S.)

BY A. P.

§1. On the legend of St. Laetus.

[1] Of St. Laetus, presbyter of Orléans Usuard makes mention on this day, in the territory of Orléans, of St. Laetus, presbyter, who is also entered on the same day both in not a few recent martyrologies, above all the Roman, and in many breviaries and missals Cf. e.g. Catal. Lat. Paris., vol. III, p. 715, at day 5., while in certain other martyrologies [For example in Ferrari's General Catalogue of the Saints and in the Gallican Martyrology of André du Saussay.] and liturgical books Cf. Catal. Lat. Paris., loc. cit., at day 6. his memory is assigned to the 6th day, the day on which, in the Life we are about to publish, Laetus is said to have died. Indeed, although the Life of St. Laetus differs from Usuard not only in this but also in that he honors Laetus with the office of presbyter, whereas it records that he was only a deacon, nevertheless there is no reason why we should doubt that one and the same man is designated by both. For on both sides a certain Laetus, a cleric, is put forward, who lived in the country of Orléans, or at least obtained ecclesiastical honors there after his death, and whose memory is recalled at the beginning of the month of November; and that the documents adduced do not entirely agree in certain matters of lesser moment matters little, since from this it only follows that we must inquire to which of the two, as possessing the greater authority, the greater credit is to be given.

[2] The Life, from the manuscripts Now it is manifest that the Life of St. Laetus is not one that could be reckoned among historical monuments worthy of the name. It exists in a few manuscripts, namely 1) in the Paris manuscript, Bibl. Nat. lat. 11885 (Résidu Saint-Germain 985), of the twelfth century, fol. 5–10; 2) in the Charleville manuscript, Bibl. publ. 59, of the fifteenth century, which once belonged to the monastery of Mont-Dieu, of the Carthusian Order, in the diocese of Reims; 3) in Brussels 8933, among the transcripts once collected by our predecessors; in which, at fol. 19–25, there is a seventeenth-century Life of St. Laetus copied, as it seems, from some exemplar of Pithiviers [Although the copyist noted nothing of this kind, I nevertheless conjecture it from the fact that transcripts of the Lives of SS. Gregory and Solomon, who were venerated together with St. Laetus in the church of Pithiviers, were sent at the same time.], and once sent to Heribert Rosweyde together with the Lives of St. Gregory of Nicopolis and St. Solomon, king of Britain. Either Rosweyde or one of our predecessors, I know not whom, had a second transcript made of this transcript; this, written rather inaccurately, is kept in the same manuscript at fol. 7–11 and 13; but in the same manuscript there are also to be found 4) at fol. 39 and 12–12v, written out in another seventeenth-century hand, "other miracles from a manuscript codex of the collegiate church of SS. George and Laetus in the castle of Pithiviers"; these miracles are read after the Life of St. Laetus in manuscript 1, but are missing in 2 and 3, and are unpublished.

[3] to be published again, The Life itself was first published, "from an old manuscript of the Celestines of Ambert," by Jean du Bois in his Floriacensis vetus bibliotheca (1605), right-hand section, pp. 254–71; his edition was reprinted word for word in the fourth edition of the Lives of the Saints collected by Surius, that is, the Cologne edition of the year 1618, vol. XI, pp. 161–65, though with many omissions, and also by B. Gonon, Vitae et sententiae patrum Occidentis (1625), pp. 138–40. In these editions a text is presented that differs greatly from the reading of all the manuscripts, since either the scribe in writing out the manuscript of the Celestines of Ambert, or, as seems more probable, Jean du Bois in editing it, cut down, altered and corrupted the words of the ancient writer for the sake of brevity or elegance [We have judged that the variant readings of this first edition should be given below; when, however, the editor placed the very words of the ancient writer in another order, we did not wish to note it, since that would have been both excessive and wholly useless.]. Hence it came about that the rhyming syllables with which the author, after the manner of his time, had adorned the end of almost every sentence were often moved from their place or even removed altogether. But there were also removed from the last chapter certain words by which not only is the time at which the Life was written aptly determined, but it is also shown besides, what was in any case manifest to anyone comparing the two texts, that the readings of our manuscripts, and by no means those which Jean du Bois admitted, give the authentic and genuine words of the writer.

[4] it was composed in the eleventh century, For in chapter 10, in which the writer of the Life relates both the translation of St. Laetus, which took place in the middle of the tenth century, and the miracles which happened afterwards, the narration of a certain miracle in the edition of Jean du Bois, which throughout this whole chapter is shorter and as it were contracted, begins thus: There is found also in the deeds of the said confessor Laetus, while Odolric, illustrious for the uprightness of his morals, was already presiding in the see of Orléans, another remarkable miracle. For there was…; from which someone might gather that there existed older deeds of St. Laetus, from which this passage of the Life was excerpted So Rivet seems to have conjectured, Hist. litt. de la France, vol. VII, p. 344.. But these words (There is found–Laetus) are not the ancient writer's, but Jean du Bois's own, and the deeds of the said confessor are nothing else than the Life itself, which we shall present below restored to the fidelity of the manuscripts. In these, however, the narration of that miracle, which is fuller and much longer, begins thus: And no less in our own time, while Odolric, illustrious for the uprightness of his morals, was already presiding over the see of the people of Orléans, the ineffable God wrought through the ineffable merit of St. Laetus a remarkable miracle. For there was… Hence it is established that the Life was composed either while Odolric was living, who was bishop of Orléans from the year 1021 to the year 1035/36, or at least not long after his death; with which it agrees well that the author, after that fashion of the eleventh century, had adorned his discourse with rhyming syllables [It may be useful to add that the name Pithveris, which occurs in chapter 10 of the Life, is found in charters of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, while in the tenth century that place was called Pedeverius. Cf. J. Devaux, Essai sur les premiers seigneurs de Pithiviers (Orléans, 1887), pp. 1–6 (= Annales de la Société historique et archéologique du Gatinais, vol. III, 1885, pp. 168–73); H. d'Arbois de Jubainville, in Revue celtique, vol. XVIII (1897), p. 246; A. Holder, Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, p. 982.].

[5] But since the miracles which are read in manuscript 1 after the last chapter of the Life, a book of miracles having been added a little later. with the solemn closing formula through the Lord… Amen interposed [The earlier part of this little book on the miracles seems to have perished. For Charles de La Saussaye, in the Annales ecclesiae Aurelianensis (1615), p. 393, "from the manuscript acts of the church of Pithiviers," seems to condense the same little book in a few words thus: "In his times also (that is, of Isembard) other miracles took place in the church of Pithiviers at the relics of St. George the martyr and St. Laetus the confessor. A certain peasant, Wiclo (= Wido?), from the village of Alebramus, seized by a demon, recovered while there was being sung in the Easter procession: Say (Die La Saussaye), impious Zabulon, what does your fraud avail? A knotted girl from the village of Quercinetum recovered the use of her feet for walking. In the village which is called St. Scubilius, because the holy martyr Scubilius, who is honorably buried at Orléans beside the body of St. Anianus, was beheaded by pagans for the name of Christ, another miracle was performed. Another near Pithiviers was released from the chains of prison. One deprived of his sight from the village of Rochefort came into clearness. One harassed by a wicked spirit from Neuville was set free. Another young man, Landric by name, was granted health from the ulcers which he had at the consecration of the bread." Now these last four miracles are read in our little book in the same order, in such a way that the first of them is said to have occurred in the time of Bishop Isembard; but the first three, which La Saussaye mentions, are now missing.], lack this ornament, it is clear that they were joined to the Life, already written, by another writer or even by other writers — for each chapter of this addition has its own closing formula. They seem, however, to have been joined to it before the end of the eleventh century, since between the several events narrated in these chapters only a short interval of time elapsed [See the beginnings of chap. 2: For at the same time; chap. 3: But not long after; chap. 4: At about the same times.]. Now he who committed chapter 3 to writing himself saw, being present, the demoniac woman who was freed by the prayers of St. Laetus being harassed by the wicked spirit; but now

in chapter 1 are related things done in the year 1061: in the time of Hysenbart, pontiff of the church of Orléans, in the twenty-eighth year of his episcopate. That Isembard, who had been called into a share of the ministry as early as the year 1033 by his uncle Odolric, whom he also succeeded, began the years of his episcopate from then [Cf. Gallia christiana, vol. VIII, col. 1437; Devaux, op. cit., p. 58 (= Annales, vol. IV, 1886, pp. 125–26).] and died about the year 1063. Further, although the words just cited hint that at the time when the first chapter of the addition was written Isembard was already dead, he had certainly not died long before, and the whole addition was joined to the Life, if not in the eleventh century itself, certainly not long after the beginning of the twelfth.

[6] That those added miracles, which are in reality miracles of SS. George and Laetus, patrons of the church of Pithiviers, Since the writer of the Life was content were written by a canon or cleric of this church is all but manifest. But we gather from the last chapter that the Life itself also was composed by some such man of Pithiviers, for in it both the translation of the body of St. Laetus into the castle of Pithiviers and the miracles performed there are narrated at length; and the Life was indeed composed so that it might be read out on the feast day of the saint [Cf. the words of the prologue: For on this present day the solemnity of the most blessed confessor and levite Laetus is celebrated.] in the church in which his body or relics were kept Cf. ibid.: Who although generally by all…. But whoever the writer of the Life was, since he was removed by an interval of about five hundred years from the time in which he himself records that St. Laetus lived, all the learned men who have read the Life have rightly given it little credit [For all of them it will be enough to have cited Mabillon, Act. SS. O.S.B., saec. I, p. 614, no. 5; Rivet, Hist. litt. de la France, vol. VII, p. 344.]. They would have given it even less if they had known from what source the whole of it, or certainly almost the whole, was drawn. Concerning the relics, indeed, of that saint, whose body had been translated in the tenth century from the village of the same name, in which it had long rested after his death, into the castle of Pithiviers, a man who certainly lived not far from these places and related these things in the eleventh century could have been well informed, and therefore we can prudently believe him in the few things which he has recorded in chapter 10 concerning the translation of the saint. But otherwise must be said of chapters 1–9 of the little book. For since he had found out nothing at all about the life of the saint itself, he judged that the remedy for his want was to be sought by an easy expedient, namely to transfer to St. Laetus the whole history of another saint who was also venerated in the diocese of Orléans, that is, St. Viator.

[7] to compile the Life of St. Viator, For elsewhere we seem to ourselves to have shown at length Les Saints de Micy, in Anal. Boll., vol. XXIV (1905), pp. 65–71. that in the Life of St. Laetus, if you take away the prologue, which consists only of commonplaces, and chapter 10, of which we have just spoken, the whole Life of St. Viator appears Ed. ibid., pp. 98–103; cf. pp. 61–65.. Both, moreover, Viator and Laetus, are said to have been born among the Bituriges of a father Siricus; both pasture their father's sheep; both in the twelfth year of their age seek a monastery and embrace the monastic life under the abbot Triecius or Trigetius; both, through the doing of envious monks, are sent into the desert to guard the sheep, and there protect their ill-willed brethren against wild beasts; both, after sixteen years spent in the monastery, move to the monastery of Micy and are received in it in the same way by St. Maximinus the abbot; both form a friendship with St. Avitus, who had charge of the cellar of the monastery; both are appointed doorkeeper of the monastery; both flee secretly with St. Avitus into the most hidden places of the Sologne, and after, Maximinus having died, Avitus had been brought back to the monastery by the brethren and put in the place of the deceased abbot, both, slipping away from them by flight, seek another wilderness and lead the solitary life until death in the place which is called Viatoria; at which time both free a demoniac and heal other sick people.

[8] with very few things changed, You would say indeed that one egg is not more like another, were it not that the Lives differ from each other in three things in which they could not but differ, that is, 1st in the name of the saints, since the one Life is of St. Viator, the other of St. Laetus; 2nd in the day of death; for it could not be that St. Laetus should be said to have died on the same day on which St. Viator is recorded to have died, I mean the 16th of October, since the feast of St. Laetus was solemnly celebrated on another day, that is, the 5th and 6th of November; 3rd in the place in which the saints spent the last years of their life and met their death; for in the tenth century the bodies of Viator and Laetus were kept in different places, and each was reported to have died where his body then was. Hence it came about that Viator rested and was venerated in Viatoria, a place situated across the Loire, to the south of Orléans, in the furthest borders of the Sologne (Saint-Viâtre, otherwise Tremblevif, dép. Loir-et-Cher, arr. Romorantin, cant. Salbris), while the last dwelling of Laetus, though it too is called Viatoria by the author of the Life, had to be sought on this side of the Loire towards the north. To these three things, which are self-evident, are added a few small and slight points in which the Life of St. Laetus departs from the Life of St. Viator; but this is the chief one and worth noting, that Viator, when he came to the monastery of Micy, is said to have found St. Avitus there, while Laetus found not Avitus alone, but Avitus and Viator; from which, even if arguments were not at hand by which the matter might be determined with certainty Cf. Anal. Boll., vol. cit., pp. 69–70., an indication would already be had that the Life of St. Viator was compiled and as it were copied out in composing the Life of St. Laetus, and not the latter in the former.

[9] only other and more numerous words being used, It was not enough, however, for the writer to transfer to St. Laetus the things done by St. Viator; but, sparing himself labor, he often made his own the very words in which those things were narrated, yet in such a way that he departed from them, both in order to pursue the same matters in a longer discourse, and in order to adorn the language of his predecessor, too lowly as he seems to have judged it, with those rhyming syllables which we mentioned above. To show this, in the Life about to be published we have printed in smaller type those words which the writer took from the Life of St. Viator; and if in copying them he himself changed anything, as usually happens, we have indicated it with spaced letters.

[10] it has no authority, Further, from these things it may be understood more than enough that the Life of St. Laetus can by no means be reckoned among historical sources. Hence not even that can be established for us which was previously received without controversy, namely at what time our saint lived. For when the writer asserts at the beginning that Laetus shone in the time when Clothar held the citadel of the kingdom, or, as he says, the empire, of the Franks (A.D. 511–561), and that he was a contemporary of the holy bishops Medard (A.D. 530–545) and Germanus (of Paris, c. A.D. 555–576), he seems to have done so in order to express in other words, and those, as he himself perhaps judged, more definite, the same thing which he had taken from the Life of St. Viator, namely that St. Viator — and consequently St. Laetus — lived in the times of SS. Maximinus and Avitus, that is, in the earlier part of the sixth century. so that it is not established at what time the saint lived, And while this may be true, so no prudent man will affirm that it is sufficiently attested by the sole testimony of such a Life. One thing is certainly established, that Laetus died at least some time before Usuard applied himself to compiling his martyrology. The rest remains obscure. On the other hand, a certain doubt which we touched on at the beginning can now be resolved more clearly than daylight. It is now understood without any trouble why St. Laetus, whom Usuard makes a presbyter, is honored by the writer of the Life only with the office of the diaconate. That plainly happened because St. Viator had not advanced beyond the diaconate, or at least was not said in his Life to have advanced beyond it; and the eulogist of St. Laetus copied that Life in this point too so faithfully, or rather so slavishly, that he unwittingly appeared to contradict Usuard.

[11] nor whether he was a monk of Micy. Since, moreover, the same man copied the Life of St. Viator also in that passage in which he says that St. Laetus was an inmate of the monastery of Micy, it is far from being made certain, or even probable, by his testimony alone that Laetus really lived among the monks of Micy. Whether indeed this is proved from elsewhere is not entirely clear to me. St. Laetus is indeed reckoned among the saints of Micy, his name alone being given, in a certain poem which they say was written in the time of Charles the Bald Cf. Anal. Boll., vol. cit., p. 81.; but besides the fact that doubt remains about the age of the verses in which the name of Laetus appears Cf. ibid., p. 80., it must further be noted that among those saints at least some are named who it is all but certain never lived in the monastery of Micy. Nor is a firmer argument drawn from the fact that in the Sermon on the finding of the body of St. Maximinus (BHL. 5281) a certain writer of the eleventh century, while recalling the ancient history of the abbey of Micy, mentions St. Laetus also among the disciples of Maximinus in these words: Nor is the Beauce altogether silent, made illustrious in a holy man named Laetus, whose body the castle of Piveris is now said to retain. For these words were lacking in the source which the writer of the Sermon here diligently compiled, that is, in the little work which Letald the monk composed at the end of the tenth century on the miracles of St. Maximinus (BHL. 5820, c. 4), and they were added by the author of the Sermon himself. Further, that finding which he narrates in the last part of the Sermon took place in the time of Odolric, bishop of Orléans, and the little book itself was written, if not after the Life of St. Laetus, certainly scarcely before it; hence it comes about that in matters regarding the very times of St. Maximinus it offers testimony both late and worthless.

So much for the history of the saint himself.

§2. On the cult of St. Laetus.

[12] St. Laetus is venerated It remains for us to indicate briefly the chief places in which the relics of St. Laetus have been kept and his memory honored with a more devoted cult of the faithful. There are four of them. The first is the village in which the saint is reported to have lived and died, and in which his relics certainly rested until the middle of the tenth century. It is situated in the forest which the writer of the Life calls Laogium

names, that is, in the "forest of Orléans" [Forêt d'Orléans; cf. B. Guérard, Polyptique de l'abbé Irminon, vol. I (1844), p. 83.]; and whether or not it was formerly called Viatoria See above, no. 8, and Anal. Boll., vol. cit., p. 67., it now certainly has a name received from the saint: Saint-Lyé or Saint-Lié (dép. Loiret, arr. Orléans, cant. Neuville-au-Bois). Although the body of St. Laetus was carried from this village into the castle of Pithiviers in the tenth century, in the place of the same name, Saint-Lié; nevertheless in the year 1664 a small part of it was brought back from there to its original place Cf. below, no. 13.. On these matters see the little work published in the year 1694 by Claude Proust, who led an eremitical life not far from Saint-Lyé: La Vie de saint Lié, solitaire de la Beausse. Orléans MCCXIV (rather MDCXCIV), in-8°, especially p. 81 ff.

[13] in the town of Pithiviers, likewise of the diocese of Orléans; We have more than once mentioned that the body of St. Laetus was carried from this village to the town or castle of Pithiviers. The Life of St. Laetus (c. 10) tells, moreover, that it was carried there in the time of Bishop Ermentheus († c. 974), who held the see of Orléans at least from the year 956, but perhaps for some years before. A history of this translation, or at least a brief record of it, was written, which some assert perished in the year 1044 J. Devaux, op. cit., p. 68 (= Annales, vol. IV, p. 297)., while others testify that it still survived in the middle of the eighteenth century [Martyrologium sanctae Autisiodorensis ecclesiae (Auxerre, 1751), p. 291: "The authentic instrument of the translation is still kept in the archive of the chapter of Pithiviers." The translation is said ibid., p. 290, to have taken place on the 6th of October 943; whether this was taken from conjecture or from that instrument cannot be determined.]; we, for our part, having sent a letter to the dean of Pithiviers, inquired whether it was still kept in the archive of the church or elsewhere in the town; but the reverend man neglected to reply. The translation having been carried out, a certain matron, Alvisa by name, formerly the wife of Rainard and mother of Bishop Odolric, built a canonical basilica in honor of St. George and St. Laetus, confessor and levite, in the aforesaid town (of Pithiviers) [So in the Life of St. Gregory, bishop of Nicopolis, which seems to have been written in the middle of the eleventh century. Our predecessors in their edition (Act. SS., March vol. II, p. 463, no. 7) wrongly wrote St. Gregory for St. George, and supposed that the other patron of the basilica was St. Gregory of Tours. For it is established that it was St. George, and he is in fact named in the edition of Charles de La Saussaye (Annales ecclesiae Aurelianensis, 1615, p. 759).]. In it certain miracles occurred in the eleventh century, of which the little book to be published below after the Life of St. Laetus contains four See above, no. 3.. Further, "when the venerable relics of the precious levite and confessor Laetus … had lain entire for many centuries in this church of St. George of Pithiviers in a silver reliquary, God Almighty approving the merits of his servant with signs and miracles, it came to pass that in the year of the Lord 1562, this town having been taken by force by the impious heretics, most bloodthirsty against the catholic commonwealth, who were called Huguenots, and the holy churches having been despoiled and many priests of Christ impiously slain, the sacred relics themselves were also strewn upon the pavement of the church; then, having been gathered up by pious and Christian men, Jean Gouin, cantor and canon of this sacred college, with the assent of the pontiff of Orléans, had replaced them in a new reliquary. In the year of the Lord 1568 this church was again wretchedly wrecked and entirely despoiled by the same men, the sacred relics themselves at last being thrown into the flames; and these, snatched from there half burnt, as may easily be seen, by truly pious men, the aforesaid Jean Gouin replaced in this light and cheap little chest, in keeping with the calamity of the time, in the same year." So runs the instrument signed by Jean Gouin himself Ed. by C. Proust, op. cit., pp. 85–86., which was found in that little chest in the year 1664, when it was opened by order of the bishop, so that some part of the relics that remained might be given as a gift to the parish priest of the village of Saint-Lié See above, no. 12.. Finally, the hymn is scarcely to be passed over which used to be sung "in the collegiate church of St. George of Pithiviers, on the feast of the holy relics resting in the same church," and a transcript of which is to be found among the papers of our predecessors in the Brussels manuscript 8933–34; for it is exactly the same hymn which is elsewhere sung of SS. Hermeland and Baldus Chevalier, Repert. hymnol., 18610., except that in the fifth stanza, in place of the verse O loving Hermeland and blessed Baldus, there is written: O loving George and blessed Laetus.

[14] at Villedomange near Reims, The third place is situated no longer in the diocese of Orléans, but in that of Reims. For on a mountain not so far removed from the city of Reims, within the bounds of the village which was formerly called Villa Dominica (Villedomange, dép. Marne, arr. Reims, cant. Ville-en-Tardenois), they relate that a parish church dedicated in the name of St. Laetus was enriched in the year 1444 by Jacques Juvénal des Ursins, archbishop of Reims, with a part of the relics of that saint, which his predecessor Reginald of Chartres is said to have carried from Orléans to Reims, that is, with a bone from the arm of the holy confessor; and these relics are reported to have been translated from there to the church of the village of Villedomange itself in the year 1512, and indeed in such a way that the sacred building erected on the mountain, deprived at the same time of the title of parish, was reckoned a simple chapel. In both places, however, both in this chapel and in the church of the village, which had now been made the parish church, St. Laetus did not cease to be venerated, formerly not without the fault of superstition, since not rarely, the archbishops of Reims deterring it in vain, stillborn infants were carried to the chapel of St. Laetus and baptized there [Whoever wishes to know more of these matters may consult Povillon-Piérard, Tableau historique, statistique et topographique de la montagne de Saint-Lié, et des villages de Villedomange et de Sacy, in Annuaire ou Almanach du département de la Marne pour l'année 1828, pp. 21–57; H. Jadart, Saint-Lié, Villedomange et Jouy. Notices sur les curiosités historiques et artistiques de leurs églises, in Bulletin du diocèse de Reims, vol. XIV (1881), pp. 1–3, 49–50, 109–110, 121–26, 193–97 (thence separately, Reims, 1881, in-8°, 16 pp.), and enlarged with new care in Travaux de l'Académie nationale de Reims, vol. LXX (1881), pp. 320–53. Cf. Dom Albert Noel, Notice historique sur le canton de Mézières (Paris–Reims, 1879), p. 92. See also Office de Saint-Lié confesseur non-pontife, à l'usage du diocèse de Reims, en latin et en françois, pour la paroisse de Villedomange, dont il est patron. Reims, 1728, in-12, 88 pp.; and again, with certain additions: Office de saint Lié confesseur non-pontife, en latin et en français, pour la paroisse de Villedommange près Reims. Reims, 1805, in-12, 98 pp.].

[15] in which he seems formerly to have been honored in place of There is, however, one thing on which we judge we should dwell briefly. For learned men have more than once pointed out that long before the relics of St. Laetus were given to the church of Villedomange in the year 1444, that church was already dedicated to St. Laetus. Thus, to omit other things, in a polyptych of Reims composed in the fourteenth century one reads: A chaplaincy founded in the parish of Villa Dominica in honor of Blessed Laetus, in which no ecclesiastical office is celebrated, although a multitude of pilgrims flocks to it, and the men of the said town receive great profit from it [P. Varin, Archives administratives de la ville de Reims, vol. II (Paris, 1843), p. 1054.]; thus in the years 1394 and 1396 Jean de Varennes, a man not undistinguished in his time, called himself a poor priest and unworthy dweller of the mount of St. Laetus, a poor sinner of St. Laetus, residing on the mount of St. Laetus [Cf. Ioannis Gersonii opera (Antwerp, 1706), vol. I, col. 905; vol. II, col. 843, 846, 855, 860.], and was called by others "the holy man of St. Laetus" Froissart, Chroniques, book IV, c. 37 [otherwise 58, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, vol. XV, p. 133; cf. Chronique du religieux de Saint-Denis, book XIV, c. 19, ed. L. Bellaguet, vol. II, p. 126 (there the place is called the mount of St. Dierius).]. Further, although it often happens that some saint is venerated where there are no relics of his, it is nevertheless strange that in the diocese of Reims a certain saint of Orléans, St. Leo, abbot of Mantenay; and one not very illustrious, should have been so honored that a place took its name from him before his relics were carried there. And here one comes to suspect that before the year 1444, in which the relics were carried there, not our Laetus was the patron of that church, but St. Leo, formerly abbot of Mantenay in the nearer diocese of Troyes On whom cf. Act. SS., May vol. VI, pp. 73–75., the name of which saint had in the course of time been so changed that in the twelfth century he was called Saint Lei or San Liet, in the fourteenth century Saint Lié [See Th. Boutiot and E. Socard, Dictionnaire topographique du département de l'Aube (Paris, 1874), p. 148; cf. Act. SS., Feb. vol. III, p. 748, no. 2.], that is, St. Laetus. Certainly Guillaume Marlot thought so [Metropolis Remensis historia, vol. I (1666), p. 205; Id., Histoire de la ville, cité et université de Reims (Reims, 1845), vol. II, pp. 182–83.], who, while collecting the history of St. Romanus, abbot of Mantenay and afterwards bishop of Reims, teaches as follows: "St. Leo, successor of Romanus in the monastery of Mantenay, commonly Saint Lié, is read in the martyrology of Reims: on the 8th day before the Kalends of June, in the territory of Troyes, the deposition of St. Leo, confessor and monk; and he has a rather elegant basilica on the highest summit of the mountain by which Durocortorum is encircled in an arc towards the west, and indeed in that part where it rises higher above Curtis Dominica = Villedomange, for a little after it is more sloping and gradually declines; this loftier summit, where the chapel is, is commonly called the mount of St. Laetus, and is two leagues distant from Durocortorum." We conjecture, therefore, that either the inhabitants or the people of Reims themselves were deceived by the likeness of the vernacular names, so as to think that that St. Liet or Lié was St. Laetus of Orléans, not Leo of Mantenay, and that by this false opinion

it came about that something from the relics which a little earlier had been brought to Reims from the parts of Orléans was sent as a gift by the archbishop of Reims to Villedomange. But the inhabitants were much more deceived when, as has often happened elsewhere, they invented the story that that St. Lié — whether Laetus or Leo — who was venerated among them, was no longer some foreigner whose relics had been brought there, but a native of Villedomange, who had performed the offices of deacon in that place and after his death had been buried in the parish church Cf. Povillon-Piérard, loc. cit., p. 55..

[16] finally in the village of Mohon, Lastly another village of the diocese of Reims, namely Mohon (dép. Ardennes, arr. and cant. Mézières), not only follows St. Laetus with remarkable devotion, but boasts that it possesses his body almost entire. Both points we have explained at length 1st by a certain monk of the O.S.B.: La vie de Saint Lié confesseur recueillie par le R. P. D. D. S. A. R. D. L. D. C. Charleville, 1675, in-16; 2nd by François Wahart, parish priest of Mohon, in a letter written on the 9th of June of the year 1750 to our predecessors, on which see Act. SS., Sept. vol. IV, p. 142 E This letter is kept today in the Brussels manuscript 8933–8934.; 3rd in the year 1805 in the Office de S. Lié …, of which above, no. 14; 4th in the years 1870 and 1887 by the venerable man Noiret, formerly parish priest of Mohon: Saint Lié, son histoire et son culte. Mézières, 1870, in-12, 48 pp.; 2nd ed. Charleville, 1887, in-12, 45 pp. In these the following things are read asserted: that the relics of St. Laetus, indeed his body all but entire [The people of Mohon, however, freely grant that some relics of the same saint remained at Pithiviers and that one small bone is kept at Villedomange near Reims.], were brought into these parts from the castle of Pithiviers through the care of some princess, I know not whom, of Château-Regnault Château-Regnault, dép. Ardennes, arr. Mézières, cant. Monthermé., and given by that princess to the church of Mohon because it was the most beautiful of all the churches which had been built in her lands; that the feast of that translation is celebrated every year on the 2nd of January; that in the year 1544, when the relics of the saint were to be transferred into a new reliquary, a recognition of them was made; but that there were not placed in the new reliquary either the head of the saint or a certain bone of the arm, which are enclosed in two reliquaries made in the likeness of a head and an arm; that in the year 1607 a confraternity of St. Laetus was erected by the Roman pontiff Paul V and indulgences granted to all who should give their names to it, as is established from the bull [The bull, which was issued on the 1st of March, is published in the Vie de S. Lié (1675), p. 71 ff.; Office de S. Lié (1805), pp. 15–17.]; that the Life and office of St. Laetus were composed by the Rev. Fr. Flamanville of the Society of Jesus, who was born at Mohon; that the feast of St. Laetus is celebrated on the 6th of November It is celebrated on the same day at Villedomange too.; that a great multitude of the common people flocks to his sacred building not only on this day, but also on the Monday after Easter and after Pentecost On the same days the neighboring peoples gather at Saint-Lié of Villedomange. and on the day after the Nativity and the Circumcision of the Lord.

[17] likewise of the diocese of Reims. But concerning the cult of St. Laetus in this village it may be useful to add one thing, that as early as the year 1523 there existed there a certain pious sodality dedicated to him, as is established from its statutes, which, approved by the ordinary of Reims on the 29th of December of this year, seem still to be kept in the archive of the parish Cf. D. Alb. Noel, Notice hist. sur le canton de Mézières, p. 92.. The rest presents no difficulty; but much difficulty is presented by what the people of Mohon put forward about their relics. For, to omit that these things are indeed asserted by them but confirmed by no testimony, by no ancient document, I for my part do not see how the people of Mohon can have almost the whole of that body which the people of Pithiviers, much more probably, profess they kept entire until the years 1562–1568, at which time a great part of the relics perished by fire. Nor is the account which they give of the translation of these relics more like the truth, when they contend that they were given long ago by a certain princess of Château-Regnault to her people of Mohon; for although they neither state the name of the princess nor determine the time, they nevertheless will have it that these things took place in ancient times, and certainly before the year 1544, in which year the relics were placed in a new reliquary. But Mohon did not come into the power of the princes of Château-Regnault before the year 1613 Cf. Noel, loc. cit., p. 91.. I would therefore believe that the relics which are kept and honored in this village are by no means those of our Laetus, but of some other saint. If, however, anyone should conjecture that some small particles of the relics of St. Laetus were brought from Villedomange to Mohon [So Noel, loc. cit., p. 92, who teaches that this was done in the year 1619. Certainly in this year the chest of relics at Villedomange was opened. Whether the Rev. Fr. Noel knew from some document that relics of St. Laetus were then taken from there, or arrived at it by conjecture, I do not know.], I will readily grant that this could have happened.

LIFE OF ST. LAETUS

Laetus, confessor of Orléans. (S.)

BHL Number: 4672

Edited from the manuscripts 1. Paris 11885; 2. Charleville 59; 3. the Brussels transcript 8933; compared with the edition of Jean du Bois (= B). Cf. Prelim. Comm., nos. 2, 3.

[Hic incipit adds 1; Vita beati Leti conf. Obiit octavo ydus novembris 2; Vita beati et gloriosi conf. levitae Laeti 3.] The Life of the most blessed levite Laetus, confessor, whose festival is celebrated on the eighth day before the Ides of November.

Prologue. Since 2, 3 omit the whole prologue. human weakness is wretchedly shaken by the diversity of many crimes, it is in every way necessary that, the forces of helpers being multiplied, the savagery of crafty assault should be crushed. This can be done more easily if against the persuaders of manifold wickedness we direct the princes of the heavenly host, persevering in prayer, who obtain what they ask so much the more swiftly as they are known to have cleaved more freely to the Sun of justice, the desires of worldly men being cast aside. Malachi 4:2. For what has a faithful lord denied denegabit B. to faithful servants? Or when has the kindly one turned away dimovebit B. a kindly ear from their prayers? For whoever has presented prayers to the supreme Emperor through some assessor of the heavenly throne has rejoiced afterwards that he received whatever quod B. he faithfully sought. Having therefore this certainty of hope, we too vos B., dearly beloved, let us venerate the contests of the martyrs, let us praise together the works of piety of the confessors, so that we who by sinning lost the palaces of eternal interne 1. brightness may return to the same, granted condonata B. pardon of our sins through the patronage of the merits of the saints. And although they are to be honored by all in general, yet more especially and as it were by a certain privilege of honor the diligence diligentia 1. of a singular service ought to be paid to each, so that et B. we may presume without doubt to hope for the help of those whose bodies or relics we enjoy the presence of in our own churches, if we are not slothful in their service. And although it is profitable for the faithful to render this devoutly every day, yet most of all on the very day ipsorum B. of the glorious birthday of the saints, with the most humble showing of good works added as well. But now, leaving the general proposition, let us return to the reason why it has pleased us to set these things before you. For on this present day the solemnity of the most blessed confessor and levite Laetus is celebrated, on which, the harmful noxilaeilibus B. allurements having been overcome, he was found worthy to be received assisti B. to the throne of eternal sublimity. To his service, therefore, let the band of the faithful show itself joyful, understanding most certainly that, if it has been fuerit B. devout, he will be at hand as its helper in necessities. Let not the office of the clergy be silent, so that they may deserve mereatur B. to have as patron him whom God chose into the clergy clericum B; adds hunc B.. Let the throng of the poor be supported more generously than usual, perceiving that in so great a father there is both the remedy of the present and the solace of the future. If anyone wished to set forth more fully the marks of his virtues, he would both be believed a teller of fables and the hearer would be made weary by the length of the narration. Lest this happen, we have decided to omit very many things and to discourse on a few, according as God shall have given.

Life of St. Viator, c. 1.

[1] St. Laetus, having entered a monastery at twelve years old, [We keep the division of chapters, which is absent in the manuscripts, that the first editor instituted.] In omits 3. the time, then, omits 2, 3, B. of Clothar, who held the citadel of the empire of the Franks, Laetus the venerable confessor shone forth to the world, a contemporary contemporaneus B. of the holy pontiffs Medard and Germanus. He, by a certain presage of his future religious life, was born of religious parents, soon to be himself also omits 3. a religious. His (Cuius–caelorum) omits 3. father was well named Syricus Siricus 2; Ciricus B., as one who was to beget a shining star for the world. He, indeed, omits B. from the very tender age of his boyhood infantiae B., always frequenting the thresholds of the catholic church, longed for the monastery, loved the monks, loved Christ above all. For this reason he deserved to be reckoned in omits B. the number of those of whom the Lord speaks in the gospel: Suffer the children parvulos B. to come to me, and forbid them not (et n. e. p.) omits B.. Matthew 19:14. For of such is the kingdom of heaven (Cuius–caelorum) omits 3.. When, therefore, he was twelve years old and was pasturing his father's sheep, seeing not far off a dwelling of monks, he left the flock and, forgetting the kinship of his parents, hastened swiftly to the monastery. And soon, at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, falling at the feet of the abbot who was over the brethren, Triecius (a. q. p. f. T.) a. T. q. p. f. 3., he began to say tearfully: "Lord abbot, receive a wretch, redeem a captive, show kindness, grant me charity. For considering how quoniam B. the things that are subject to temporal chances are sint 2. nothing, I ask your paternity to order the ecclesiastical tonsure to be laid upon me and to have the monastic rule taught me, so that, Christ prospering me, I may be able to enter with you upon the same contest of holiness." Then the prudent father, observing the sincerity of his heart and understanding his simplicity, raised him from the ground, saying: "Where are you from, son, and what is your name?" To him, bathed in tears and kissing his hands, he said: "From the country of Bourges, my lord, I draw the beginning of my race, and my name is Laetus." The old man, playing on the name, said: "Rightly are you reckoned by such a name, since without doubt you will obtain everlasting joy because of the perfect

way of life (h. d. c.) ad Deum conversionem 3. on this present day." Receiving him without delay into the monastery monachum B., he instructed the innocent son as a good father, showing him openly that nothing is better than the fear of God, and nothing sweeter than to carry out his commandments by living well.

Life of St. Viator, c. 1.

[2] having become a monk there After this, having been tonsured intonsus 2. into the clergy and having also received the monastic profession, he learned in a short time the psalter and whatever the ecclesiastical order demands (o. e.) deposcebat ordo B., so that he seemed to excel those whom a vast zeal for discipline had exercised for many years before. Nor did the master labor over him, for whom the Holy Spirit, the Prince of mastership, had prepared him as a sanctuary for Himself.

Life of St. Viator, c. 1.

Ibid., c. 2.

These things being done, giving thanks to the abbot, he used words of this kind: "You are a most wise teacher of the catholic faith and a most faithful leader of the Christian army, who lead those willing to follow you to the heavenly fatherland; you have gained for God a soul which, already sunk in the sea of this malicious world, had bound itself over to the dominion of the prince (p. d.) principi B. of all malice." Living, then, in this monastery, he applied himself to fasts and to spiritual vigils; assiduous in prayer, conspicuous in chastity, outstanding in sobriety, above all he kept servans B. humility most attentively; and omits B. if at any time the brethren fasted until the ninth hour, he prolonged the fast until the next day. The food which he received from the monastic provost proposito 1, 2. he took care to give secretly to the needy, and very often, stripped of his own garment, he strove to cover their nakedness. And after the example of the most blessed Martin, by clothing them and despoiling himself, he did not blush to go about half-naked. Indeed, (Immo–administravit) omits 3. taking up the wrestling-match against the malignant spirits, he applied dedit B. himself to no delight in things that slip away, overcoming in the power of the Holy Spirit whatever of unspeakable pleasure the malignant spirit supplied to his mind (Immo–administravit) omits 3.. Seeing these things, the brethren, led by excessive envy, asserted that they were done by him, some out of empty boasting, others omits B. out of simulation stultitia B.. But the spiritual abbot, perceiving the heavenly light shining in him, and as a deacon began secretly to love him, and, having advanced him through the several grades, he lived religiously for sixteen years. had him raised to the honor of the diaconate. He remained in that monastery with the brethren for sixteen years, serving God with entire purity of mind, and the grace of heavenly power grew in him more and more omits B..

Life of St. Viator, c. 2.

Life of St. Viator, c. 3.

Life of St. Viator, c. 4.

[3] By the envious brethren Then at last the wicked brethren, kindled by the torches (f. a.) aculeis stimulati B. of greater envy, broke out prorumpunt B; (proruperunt–replicantes) omits 3. into omits 3, B. calumny omits 3, B. of him omits 3, B., at the instigation of the devil, saying to the abbot Triecius: "Let your prudent paternity know Sciat B., lord, that what the folly of this impostor seems to do is not done by the power of perfect working, but rather by feigned religion. For he hides the depravity of his heart under the garb of holiness. Whether it really is sit B. so as we say, obedience enjoined iuncta B. on him in pasturing the cattle can be a test for you. For in such a way, (Tali–non) Quam si B. if he does not (Tali–non) Quam si B. refuse what you command, both his darkened simplicity will appear, and he will have satisfied satisfiet B. the suspicion suspitioni B. which we have of him. For it does not befit us any longer not to know what the purpose of his ignorance means. Cast him out, therefore, from the monastery, and let him go vadat B. into the desert, obeying your tuo 2, B. command." Repeating these things also (H. q.) Quae B. and others of the kind very often before the father of the monastery, the envious ones omits B., led away into the wilderness at last obtained adds a patre monasterii 3. by frequent omits B; adds et calumniosa 3. persuasion omits B. that the precious levite should be assigned to pasturing the flock pecori B. in the wilderness. Receiving this business gladly, he asked that a guide be given dare 3. him adds quippe qui erat locorum ignarus B. who, knowing omits B. the places omits B., might lead him all the way omits B. to the flock. And it came about by the counsel of divine providence that the father sent with him some of omits B. those omits B. brethren omits B. who had accused him, so that seeing the miracles of power he defends them from the bite of wild beasts, which God had disposed to work through his servant, they might desist from envy, or, not desisting (n. d.) certe B., might waste away in seeing them From here on I collated manuscript 2 only summarily.. As they went on through the desert of the wilderness omits B., there met them on omits B. the way omits B. a multitude of beasts bestiarum B.. When those who (quiei) socii aiunt B. had come with him saw it Quas B., terrified with fear they said to him: "Let us flee and (et–silvestribus) citius B. return home as quickly as possible, lest perhaps, made a prey to bears, we die in the wooded places (et–silvestribus) citius B.." The most faithful companion said to them: "Do not, adds inquit B. brethren, be afraid timere B.. For the Lord is able to protect us from omits B. the temptation omits B. brought upon us omits B.." This said, (H. d.) Et ipse quidem B. he himself omits 3, B. indeed omits 3, B. with great faith stood still in the same place, troubled by no fear. For [(Vera–impetere) Illis vero fugientibus, occurrunt ferae praedam ex ipsis facere gestientes B.] true faith knows not how to fear. But as his companions fled, the beasts set themselves against them from the opposite side, now ready to attack them to devour them [(Vera–impetere) Illis vero fugientibus, occurrunt ferae praedam ex ipsis facere gestientes B.]. When Laetus, the athlete omits B. of Christ omits B., saw this Quod B., with a most swift celeri B. motion of his right hand he set the Lord's cross against them from afar, and (Et–tuae) orans Deum ut fratres suos a bestiali feritate liberaret 3. looking up to heaven he said: "Lord Jesus Christ, who delivered Daniel the prophet omits B. from the mouth lacu B. of the lions and made the three youths go forth unharmed from the Chaldean flames, deliver my brethren from bestial ferocity (a b. f.) ab his bestiis B. and let the swift cito B. hand of your mercy come to their aid (Et–tuae) orans Deum ut fratres suos a bestiali feritate liberaret 3.." Then those beasts, laying aside all ferocity and abandoning the prey which they already seemed to have seized, lay down at the footprints of the holy man (p. ad s. v. v.) venientes ad pedes viri Dei procumbunt B. and, (et–postulabant) omits 3. as it were omits B. in a certain manner doing penance for what they had attempted against his companions, humbly asked pardon for the audacity of so great a guilt (et–postulabant) omits 3.. Seeing this, those omits B. companions omits B. who had fled returned trembling to their companion (r. ad s. t.) ad eum t. redeunt B.. Blessed Laetus, comforting them adds etiam B. with a joyful hilari B. spirit, exhorted them that, [(ut–praestare) sperare in Dei auxiliis, qui inv. se in veritate cit. op. subv. cons. pr. 3; fideliter sperare in Domino, qui se invocantibus in veritate semper adest B.] having faith in the Lord, they should not cease to hope in the help of him who is accustomed to grant the swiftest aid of succor to those who call upon him [(ut–praestare) sperare in Dei auxiliis, qui inv. se in veritate cit. op. subv. cons. pr. 3; fideliter sperare in Domino, qui se invocantibus in veritate semper adest B.]. Finally, after the space of an hour, he ordered iubet B. the wild beasts to return to their lairs; and so, (sicque–permisit) omits 3. as long as he pleased, he held them prostrate on the ground as though omits B. lifeless omits B. and, when he wished, allowed them to go away (sicque–permisit) omits 3.. In all of which the power of the Almighty is to be proclaimed, to whom foolishness is wise sancta famulatur B. and the ferocity of beasts is obedient.

Life of St. Viator, c. 4.

[4] and other miracles having been performed, Moreover (Ceterum–eius) Igitur Laetus cum suis sociis B. blessed Laetus and his colleagues, setting about completing (i. p. a.) peragentes iter B. the journey they had begun, came to a certain village where (ubi–commorantes) in quo commorabantur caeci et claudi multi B. blind and lame people were dwelling. They, hearing that they were passing by, asked that they might receive some alms. Looking upon them quod 3., the man of great piety used this answer (h. u. e. r.) respondit B.: "We have no store of silver and gold from which your want could be relieved; but charity gives what it has. Acts 3:3–6." But they, in suspense as to what he might wish to give, stretched out protendunt B. their hands for omits B. alms omits B., now omits B. silent. Then blessed Laetus, fervent with the spirit of mercy, prayed (oravit–fletu) facie lacrimis perfusa oravit B. to the Lord, his face bathed with a flood of tears, saying: "Lord (Domine–virtutis) omits 3. Jesus Christ, fountain flowing forth from an unfailing fountain, who said to your disciples: Ask, and it shall be given you, Matthew 7:7.

Life of St. Viator, c. 5.

seek, and you shall find, knock, and it shall be opened to you, grant to me your servant, asking in your name, that all these through the invocation of your name may feel the gifts of your power (Domine–virtutis) omits 3.." And omits 3, B. soon omits 3, B., the prayer completed et completa 3; completaque B., placing on each the sign of the life-giving cross, he obtained that that crowd should depart in health. And (Et–artuum) omits 3. while he denied them the solace of present sustenance, he granted that they should acquire for themselves what he had denied, the functions of their limbs being restored (Et–artuum) omits 3.. Then [(Tunc–nimis) Qui vero sancto eius inhaerebant com. visis his multum admirantur B.] those who had attached themselves to his holy company, seeing what was being done, wondered exceedingly [(Tunc–nimis) Qui vero sancto eius inhaerebant com. visis his multum admirantur B.]; and moreover, seized with sudden fear, they turned (s. v.) vertuntur B. to flight. For Quippe B., conscious of their own malice, they feared to accompany the companion eum B. whom they knew [(noverant–et) se sciebant apud patrem saepius iniuste accusasse. Domumque reversi abbati nuntiant quae viderint mirabilia ac B.] they had often accused before the master. But having returned home as quickly as possible, they report to the abbot the wonders which they had seen,

and [(noverant–et) se sciebant apud patrem saepius iniuste accusasse. Domumque reversi abbati nuntiant quae viderint mirabilia ac B.] how, not being able to bear his angelic countenance, they had fled from him fugerint.. The old man, having heard of the miracles, was astonished, and with words of great magnis B. wonder (c. m. a. v.) omits 3. he inquired inquirit B. where they had left reliquerint B. him, accusing himself greatly, namely because quia B. he had given in to their wicked primis B. persuasions and under the pretext of obedience had compelled an innocent son to go away from him. Then, having taken counsel, and taking with him a few religious brethren, he himself set out on the journey to seek the brother. he is brought back with honor to the monastery. At length, coming to where he had learned that he was, as soon as he saw him, he lay prostrate on the ground and began to ask pardon. And he too prostrated himself. Both lay on the ground, and nothing could be heard from either but only: "I have sinned, forgive me." The elder wept with the brethren; the venerable levite mourned for the father and for the brethren wearied in coming to him; the one (ille–licuerit) omits 3. lamented that he had indiscreetly assigned him to pasturing the flock pecori B.; the other grieved that quia B. he had not yet been able to obey his commands, because he was ignorant of the place (ille–licuerit) omits 3.. As they persisted, then, in this devotion of humility, Laetus, having compassion on the perseverance perseverationi B. of the old man, a man of great hope, said: "May he forgive you, for whose name you are thus humbled." And when the father had answered "Amen," they rise from the ground, receiving the blessing of peace. Without delay he is brought back to the monastery, he whom they feared had fled into ad B. the wilderness. The brethren exult, because they have been found worthy to receive back a brother exalted by manifest signs; the teacher rejoices, because qui B. he is not deprived of a disciple who is to be preferred to the teachers themselves. The poison of pestilent rivalry was turned into the service of devotion to him. Whence it came about that those who before had disparaged him, coming to their senses from envy, afterwards honored him with wonderful veneration. This thing so displeased him that, on account of such honor paid to him and constant praise veneratione B., he would have wished to leave the brethren and the place. But not knowing with any certainty where quonam B. he ought to direct dirigere B. his steps, he waited for what quid B. the divine majesty should be pleased to determine concerning him.

Life of St. Viator, c. 6.

Ibid., c. 7.

[5] Soon to the monastery of Micy At that time, then, the blessed father Maximinus was over the monastery of Micy Mixiacensi B., to whose most holy mastership a very great multitude of religious monks had flocked. Among them there shone most renowned the venerable presbyter Avitus he passes; and St. Viator the deacon. Blessed Laetus, therefore, greatly desiring to escape the cult of veneration (v. c. e) tantam e. venerationem B., having heard the fame of the virtues omits B. of St. Maximinus and his disciples, came to them secretly, and falling at the feet of St. Maximinus said: "Lord father, learning of your most illustrious tuam B; adds ac charitatem B. reputation from the unambiguous incerta B. report of certain persons (q. n. a. r.) omits 3., I have come (adivi–flagitans) audiens obsecro B. to your charity, earnestly begging that I may be found worthy to dwell with you." Blessed Maximinus, having learned who he was and whence, said to him: "You cannot dwell with us without the leave of your abbot." When (cum–ilico) audiens B. St. Laetus had heard this, he answered at once: "If you command, lord, I will go to my abbot, and having received leave I will return to you; I beseech you omits B. not to spurn us." Him (Quem–monasterio) omits 3., however, Maximinus, the man of the Lord, with great zeal for hospitality, kept with him in the monastery for two weeks (Quem–monasterio) omits 3., and, (et i.) Cui beatus Maximinus 3. undoubtingly perceiving his simplicity, said adds ei B.: "Go, brother, to your abbot, and having received leave, return to us." Then blessed Laetus, rejoicing in the Lord, returns to the monastery. And (Videns–licentiam) et accepta licentia ab abbate Triecio, quamvis aegre, sed 3. the abbot omits 1, but not 2. Triecius and the other brethren, seeing him, began to weep for joy, because they had supposed that he had fled either into the wilderness or to some other place, so that they would no longer see him. To them St. Laetus related all that he had done, and, laying bare what he had in mind, said: "Dearest brethren and honored fathers, I beseech you to give me leave to go to blessed Maximinus, abbot of the monastery of Micy, so that I may be able to live with him for some little time."

The abbot answered and said: "Brother Laetus, in what have we sinned against you, that you wish to leave us?" To this the blessed man said: "In nothing have you sinned peccatis 1. against me, lord; but I, unhappy man, hearing the excellent fame of the blessed man and of his disciples, desire to stay with them for some time with your leave (Videns–licentiam) et accepta licentia ab abbate Triecio, quamvis aegre, sed 3.." The father, omits 3. however, fearing to sadden him, or rather the Holy Spirit who dwelt in him, although unwilling allowed him to go away, saying (dicens–iter) omits 3.: "Go forth from here as it pleases you. The Lord be with you, wherever you direct (p. i.) ieris B. your journey (dicens–iter) omits 3.." Then St. Laetus, bidding farewell to the father and the brethren, directed his steps (d. g.) iter dirigit B. with all speed to the blessed abbot Maximinus. St. Maximinus, exulting in the Lord, received him into the monastery, trusting (confidens–effectum) omits 3. that he would bring posset perducere B. the most simple disposition of his mind to a prosperous outcome (confidens–effectum) omits 3.. But the venerable confessor Laetus, having the fear of God continually before his eyes, applied himself in his usual way to fasts, prayers and vigils. Seeing this, St. Maximinus loved him eum B. more intimately, while the glorious priest Avitus and Viator, his fellow levite, loved him adds illum B. with the whole affection of their mind. After, therefore, they all perceive cognoverunt B. from manifest indications that he was a true servant of God, they committed to him, though unwilling, the door of the monastery.

Life of St. Viator, c. 7.

[6] whence Having humbly undertaken, then, the charge of this huius B. obedience, he was harassed by the ecclesiastical household, which pressed upon him wickedly, with many snares and continual mockery. His (Eius–verentur) omits 3. simplicity, indeed, by the undisciplined

Life of St. Viator, c. 7.

Life of St. Viator, c. 7; cf. also the Life of St. Avitus BHL. 881.

was reckoned foolishness. For being intent only on inward love, he withdraws with St. Avitus into the Sologne. while he appeared less fit outwardly for earthly desires ministranda B., he came at once into contempt in the minds of worldly men, so much so omits B. that he could say that with blessed Job: Fools despised me, and when I had gone from them, they spoke against me; and a little after: The children of foolish and base men, now I am turned into their song and am become a byword to them. Job 19:18; Job 30:8–10. They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face (Eius–verentur) omits 3.. But he, bearing all things with equanimity, never rendered evil for evil to anyone, or returned curse for curse. 1 Peter 3:9. He was tempted (tentabatur–essem) omits 3., then, and proved; he was wearied with insults and increased with the growth of virtues, recalling that saying of the apostle: If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ (tentabatur–essem) omits 3.. Galatians 1:10. There was in the monastery, as has been written above praefatum B., Avitus the presbyter, distinguished for holiness, who was over the cellar, as he himself was over the doors of the church. And as Scripture relates, because every beast loves its like, these two were bound together by the indissoluble bond of charity. Ecclesiasticus 13:19. They, longing to go forward from virtue to virtue, and weighing very often, for love of perfection, that saying of the apostolic scripture: No man that wars for God entangles himself with worldly business, resolved among themselves to leave the monastery and to seek petere B. the wilderness together, with this (eo–exaltabitur) omits 3. counsel, namely, that if one should fall, he might be propped up by the other. Psalm 83:8; 2 Timothy 2:4; Ecclesiastes 4:12. For they had read that a threefold cord is hard to break, and a brother helping a brother shall be exalted (eo–exaltabitur) omits 3.. Proverbs 18:19. Kindled Accensi B., then, by divine power with the fervor of such great devotion and with the desire of divine contemplation, departing from the monastery by night, they betook themselves to the most hidden places of the Sologne Segaloniae B., and there for many days, known to no man, they most devoutly served the heavenly Overseer (f. sunt d. s. i.) manserunt d. i. s. famulantes B..

Life of St. Viator, c. 7.

[7] Avitus being drawn back to Micy, After a long time, the blessed Maximinus having now departed from human affairs, the throng of monks over whom he had presided hastens accelerant B. its journey by divine prompting to seek St. Avitus and blessed Laetus. They having at length been found by the will of God, the glorious confessor Avitus is brought back against his suam B. will to the monastery and, at the command of the pontiff of Orléans, is made abbot. But blessed Laetus, having slipped away from them by flight — it cannot be told with how great grief he was affected over the loss of so dear a companion. Not that the vastness of the wilderness (e. t. v.) terreret heremus B., which he had longed to enter, terrified him as being alone; but he earnestly wished to draw such and so great a brother with him and to have him as companion on the way of God. And (Et–inquirimus) omits 3. because he was tending to God with his whole mind, he strove vehemently not to come to him alone. Revelation 22:17. For he remembered that it is written: He that hears, let him say: Come. But (At–solitudine) Sed cum videret socium se habere non posse, solus B. when the aforesaid congregation of monks opposed so devout a desire of his, he went over these verses within himself: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest. Psalm 54:7, 8. Lo, I have gone far off flying away, and I abode in the wilderness (At–solitudine) Sed cum videret socium se habere non posse, solus B.. For through the wilderness omits B. of a pious way of life he hastened with omits B. the true omits B. Israelites omits B. to come to the land of promise, so that he could well vere B. sing that saying of the apostle: We have not here a lasting city, but we seek one to come (Et–inquirimus) omits 3.. Hebrews 13:14.

Disposing, therefore, to withdraw again into the more remote parts of the desert omits B., the Holy Spirit furnishing him guidance, he crossed the bed of the Loire and came to the place which of old was called Viatoria Inatoria B.. This place, removed very far longe B. from the city, was destitute of all human habitation. Laetus flees into the wilderness of the forest of Orléans; But the forest also, which Laogium

Logium 3, B. the inhabitants call, spread around on this side and that at that time, admitted no footsteps of travelers; so that it seemed to have afforded an exile rather than a hiding-place of the wilderness. There, building a hut of small size, he took care to show more readily to the true and living God the service of devoted servitude, leading a solitary life in that place for no short space of time temporis B.. Thenceforth, for the rest of his life, he knew nothing else for food but what the ground brought forth profert B. of itself. Besides, (Praeterea–appetit, cap. 8 at the beginning) omits 3. water itself, which the law of nature forbids to no mortal, he took only on fixed days and by measure. For recalling the purpose of the praiseworthy life of the fathers of old, which he had learned by reading and hearing, he strove with the whole effort of his mind to fulfill it, according to (iuxta–eum) omits B. that which the prophet says: A good understanding to all that do it (iuxta–eum) omits B.. Psalm 110:10. And therefore, thirsting, he labored to emulate (ae. s.) aemulabatur B. the virtues of those whose examples and instruction he had learned. The Holy Spirit also, whose temple he was divinely found worthy to become, was his fellow-worker in all things. Hence, because he deserved meruit B. to have so great an indweller, and strove studuit B. to imitate the angelic life, in which, given to pious works so far as human frailty permitted, it is indeed clear that quia B. the same man of the Lord rightly deserved to enjoy the sight and at the same time the speech of angels. Supported by their help, it must truly be confessed that quia B. at times he went beyond the very enclosures of his body through the loftiness of contemplative virtue and attained to the vision of the divine sight, as far as a mortal man could potest B.. For it had been just that he should cleave to the company of those with whose purity he accorded while still living in the world. For he had spurned worldly allurements, had taken the Lord alone (sp. so. D. p. si.) spernens, Deum so. si. Patrem B. as father for himself, and, as a true levite, cared to possess nothing of earthly inheritance.

[8] after he had freed a demoniac Since, then, his mind burned to see the face of the Creator, he labored to hide the distinction of his most sacred way of life with as much zeal studiosius B. as he hastened to advance provehi B. to the higher things of the virtues. Proverbs 18:17. And since the just man is in the beginning the accuser of himself, out of the habit of humility he was accustomed to call himself wretched. But the more he cast himself down, the more the virtue of conscience exalted him; for fleeing glory, he deserved a greater; for glory, following the virtues, while it deserts those who seek it, rightly seeks those who despise it. Hence, therefore, it came about (H. i. c.) C. autem 3. that the glory of blessed Laetus, which by hiding it he did not wish to be known, could not by divine prompting long be concealed, so that the merit of his holiness might become a help to very many. The cause of this most salutary manifestation was the health granted through him to a certain demoniac. For this man, wretchedly harassed by a demon, stayed in no house, but almost like the man in the gospel ran about through deserts and tombs, wandering hither and thither. Luke 8:27. For (In–appeteret) omits 3. the enemy of men had made the handiwork of God so subject to himself that whomever he met he attacked with the bite of his teeth, as far as he was able (In–appeteret) omits 3.. While, then, he was held by such a plague,

Life of St. Viator, c. 8.

Life of St. Viator, c. 8.

it pleased the heavenly Godhead that in his wanderings he should come to where the man of God was dwelling demorabatur 3, B. in the wilderness. Standing at the door of the little cell, he began to call out to him by name, as though he knew him: "Levite of Christ, Laetus, open the door of your lodging ostii 3., so that I may be able to come in to you." But the glorious confessor Laetus, thinking that it might perhaps be some temptation of the malignant spirit — for he was not accustomed to hear the voice of men there — stretched his body on the ground and, praying (orans–audio) omits 3. to the Lord, said: "Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the only Father, true light from true light, whose providence no one can deceive, show me, I beseech you, merciful one, what this is that I hear (orans–audio) omits 3.." The prayer being made, omits 3. rising from the ground, he opened the door of the cell; and at once, laying himself bare more openly, the demon began to say through the man's mouth: "Levite of Christ, Laetus, spare me, wretch that I am, already bound by your tui 3. prayers with fiery chains. For (Ex–imperio) omits 3. from the time you began to pray I am burned more than I seem to burn. The creature of your God, which I rashly invaded, I confess I wish to leave, but I am in no way permitted to without your tuo B. command (Ex–imperio) omits 3.; I am held fast for punishment while you put off commanding me to go out." Then St. Laetus, understanding most certainly omits B. that the man was vexed by a demon, said: "I command you, inventor of all wickedness malitiae B., that ut B. going out you presume not to hold captive the image of God. Cf. Mark 9:24." And he at once, letting out a most foul howling of dreadful voice (t. u. d. v. e.) cum ululatu ingenti B., went out of him. This (Quae–tota) omits 3; omits tota B. cure, proceeding from such authority of power, shows clearly enough how acceptable to God and how quam B. simple his whole way of life was (Quae–tota) omits 3; omits tota B.. He, (Qui–propalare) Cui etiam in mandatis dedit, ne usquam factum propalaret B. however, since he desired to lie hidden, also gave orders to him whom he had cleansed of the demon that he should not divulge anywhere what had been done (Qui–propalare) Cui etiam in mandatis dedit, ne usquam factum propalaret B.. For he did not wish to be proclaimed through any display of miracles, lest perhaps omits B., once made known, he should be thronged by the people. But he whom he had restored to liberty, impelled by the will of God, could potuit B. not conceal the benefit he had received, even if he wished. Going, therefore, through almost all parts of that region, he spread abroad the name and merit of the confessor. and healed other sick people, Drawn by this fame, all omits B. the sick began to flock to him from every side. He adds etiam B., having compassion on their miseries, poured out fundens B. prayer for them to the Lord and restored them to health from every sickness (et ab o. ae) omits B. by the laying on of hands. No infirmity had place where blessed Laetus applied the force of prayer. So much had omits B. the reputation fama B. of his virtues grown that noble persons came to him, eager to commit (c. s.) commendantes B. themselves to his prayers, and bringing him the necessary food for the body, they asked that he would at least use their gifts sparingly (p. e. u. d.) ex parte oblatis frueretur B.. But he, returning to his prescribed food cibum B., ordered what they had brought to be bestowed on the needy (l. s. q. t. m.) q. afferebant dona dabat B.; and thus (s. p.) omits B; (sicque–substantiam) omits 3. taking counsel for both parties, he provided prayer for these (d. h.) et illis B., and for the poor the sustenance of the body (pa. pr. c. s.) et his c. s. impendens B..

Life of St. Viator, c. 9.

[9] at length he dies a holy death. And when (Cumque–gratiae) Audiens itaque abbas Triecius tantis eum fulgere virtutibus B. he shone with the accumulation of such great virtues, the abbot Triecius, hearing of the gifts of wonders which the Spirit of sevenfold grace was working through him (Cumque–gratiae) Audiens itaque abbas Triecius tantis eum fulgere virtutibus B., came to him with a vast omits 3; grandi B. multitude of monks. Having received them with thanksgiving, being now taught by the Lord that the day of his calling was at hand, he said to the abbot with a cheerful voice: "Well have you come, master of virtues, whom I longed to see before I died. You were my guide to life; you will send me before you, as Christ has deigned to reveal to me, to the glory of eternal omits B. retribution omits B.. For as the Lord's day draws near, as I have learned from the very author of all wisdom, I must leave the contests of this laborious so also 1 before correction; laboriosa 1 after correction. world omits 1.. Wherefore I beseech you to hearken to my petitions, and to lay committas B. earth to earth by burying it in the sepulcher which I have prepared for myself." Hearing this, the old man wept bitterly, and blessing the Lord, who had not deprived him of the sight of his disciple, he promised with devout omits B. mind omits B. that he would be present. In short, the Lord's day came, divinely foreordained praefixa B. for his passing; and the abbot Triecius too was present, as he had asked of him. The glorious levite, then, fortifying his departure with the reception of the Lord's body and blood, and desiring with his whole heart the Lord, the fountain of living water, sang with joyful mind that saying of David, saying omits B.: As the hart longs for the fountains of waters, so my soul longs for you, O God. Psalm 41:2. When shall I come and appear before the face of God? And (Et–Domini) omits 3., the remaining part of his body being now almost lifeless, he uttered fabatur B. these verses with his tongue omits B. alone omits B. quivering omits B.: How lovely are your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts. Psalm 83:2, 3. My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord (Et–Domini) omits 3.. Then, his hands raised to heaven, he stood, and amid the words of prayer he gave up his spirit to heaven and his body to the earth to be buried. Departing, then, igitur B. from the world on the eighth day before the Ides of November, blessed omits 1. Laetus omits 1. made men sorrowful and the angelic citizens joyful. The man of the Lord Triecius, placing him in the sarcophagus prepared, all things having been fulfilled that are owed to a funeral, returned mourning to his own place for the death of so great a son.

[10] The body of St. Laetus having been translated into the castle of Pithiviers, His most sacred body lay in that same place for many years, the loving Lord publishing the dignity of his holiness. But afterwards Ermentheus Hermeteus B. of blessed memory, bishop of the church of Orléans, admonished by a divine oracle, translated the remains of the often iam B. mentioned saint with the highest honor to the castle of Pithiviers (P. c.) ad P. castrum B., the neighboring bishops and the faithful people also assembling. There, a basilica worthy of his merits having been built, many miracles of power are being done and have been done, by the working of the grace of Christ. Since [(Quae–audivimus) Ex quibus pauca, ne fastidium lectori ingerere accusemur, ad presens retulisse sufficiat. Inter que illud tacendum omnino iniustum credimus, quod referentibus qui interfuere religiosis audivimus B.] the eloquence of our adds sermonis 2. speech is not able to relate each of them, let us at least bring forward a few out of many, so that we may neither seem to have passed over all of them, nor, by adding very many, be accused of bringing weariness upon our readers [Here 2 ends with these words:

Explicit vita sancti Leti confessoris, scripta anno Domini 1400 in vigilia Iohannis Baptiste. Deficientia miracula quere ubi possis habere, forte prope Remis ad sanctum Letum.].

miracles were performed there Among the manifold kinds of benefits, then, which the power of the Godhead is mercifully wont to show to those who ask through the merits of his servant, we have thought it wrong to be silent about that which was done adds est 3. in the aforesaid place, as we heard from certain religious in a boy who fell into a well, who were present at the miracle and related it. For one day, while (dum–glebae) dum quidem sacerdos 3. the custodian, serving the remains of the most blessed man under the title of the priesthood, was preparing himself to carry out the rites of the saving consecration (s. c. o.) mysteria sacra B., there was lacking water with which to wash his hands. Fearing, however, as a religious man, to touch the holy things with unwashed (n. l.) illotis B. hands, he calls mittit B. a boy; he orders (d. i.) deferat B. him to adds citius B. bring water. He at once, with omits B. what omits B. effort he could omits B., taking a little pitcher with et B. a rope, hastens his steps (u. g. a.) cucurrit B. to the well. And as he bent forward over the face of the water so also 1 before correction; latici 1 after correction. and wished to let the little vessel fastened to the rope down into the depths aquam B., terrified [(territus–foveae) putei profunditate territus, pede lapso, ad inferiora cecidit B.] by the immensity of the depth itself, he followed what had slipped and fell to the bottom of the pit [(territus–foveae) putei profunditate territus, pede lapso, ad inferiora cecidit B.]. This, it is established, was without doubt by the crafty assault of the ancient enemy, namely so that he might both strike the messenger with sudden death, and call back from the worship of the divine sacrament the priest, wearied by long waiting for the one he had sent. But the cunning of his perversity [(perversitatis–merita) perversitas in triumphum versa est confessoris, Domino magis eius merita publicante B.], by the working power of the heavenly Ruler, was turned into the triumph of the glorious levite Laetus, so that his merits might be honored more and more [(perversitatis–merita) perversitas in triumphum versa est confessoris, Domino magis eius merita publicante B.]. For the boy, falling headlong, at the inspiration of the Spirit of all goodness began to cry out: "St. Laetus, help," in the very fall of his peril (in i. p. c.) me B.. As soon as the one in danger uttered this cry, at the invocation of so dear a name divine help (auxilium–et) affuit auxilium. Nam B. did not delay to be present, and the effort of the bloody robber being laid low, through the intervening prayer of St. Laetus he who had fallen is preserved unharmed, and (auxilium–et) affuit auxilium. Nam B., as (ut–curiae) omits 3. he himself said, whose age could not yet devise any fiction of the kind, it seemed to him while he was falling that, as though supported by a kind of seat, he was carried veheretur B. down by a soft descent all the way to the bottom. Whence, who would doubt that he was snatched from death by the benefit of him whose name he had been found worthy meruerat B. to recall in so great a danger? For what harm could nocere posset B. the satellite of Gehenna do there, where a dweller of the heavenly court was being invited? (ut–curiae) omits 3. In short, it is reported to the presbyter sacerdoti B. that the boy had expired in the well (e. in p.) in puteum cecidisse B.. Struck (n. a. p.) tali permotus B. by the news of the death he had heard of, he made in haste omits B. for the place (l. t.) puteum venit B. with all the people who were present. And now thinking only of burial, before he came nearer he heard repeated: "St. Laetus, help." But (Sed–praecipitio) omits 3. going over within himself the narrowness and the abyss of the pit, having no hope for the life of him whom he was seeking, he thought he was hearing someone's voice through an echo (p. e.) se B.. While, then, in despair he stood (d. a. p.) proprius accedens B. at the brink (Sed–praecipitio) omits 3., attending attenderet B. carefully adds que 3. to what voice was being given back from the bottom (v. r. ab i.) esset illa vox introspectans B., he sees him standing stantem B. in the water up to his belt, calling upon invocare B. the guardian of his safety with a free voice. Then (T. v.) cum B; (Tunc–veritate) omits 3. indeed, understanding that he was alive through the prayer of him ipsius B. whom he was calling upon [(ciebat–veritate) invocabat precibus, viveret, Domino gloriae gratiarum persolvit actiones B.], he gave thanks to the Lord of glory, who, as the psalmist says, is nigh unto all that call upon him in truth (T. v.) cum B; (Tunc–veritate) omits 3.. ipsius B. [(ciebat–veritate) invocabat precibus, viveret, Domino gloriae gratiarum persolvit actiones B.]. Psalm 144:18. Without delay the miracle fama B. of such great power is spread abroad through the town. All run together to the well to see the heavenly benefit, so that (ut–testes) omits 3. as many as were present as spectators of the aforesaid event might become afterwards so many most certain witnesses to the praise of the confessor (ut–testes) omits 3.. Drawing the boy, then, out of the pit puteo B., they inquire [(sciscitantur–diminutionis) contemplabantur eum, quod neque in capite neque in ullo alio membrorum collisionis aliquod signum appareret, sciscitantes quonam modo sic liberatus esset B.] of him the manner of his rescue, marveling greatly that neither his head nor any part of his body suffered in falling any signs of injury [(sciscitantur–diminutionis) contemplabantur eum, quod neque in capite neque in ullo alio membrorum collisionis aliquod signum appareret, sciscitantes quonam modo sic liberatus esset B.]. To them adds etiam B. he discloses manifestat B. everything in order, as we have related relatum est B. above. Made joyful, then, they proceed to the church of the often omits B. mentioned omits B. saint omits B., committing themselves and their possessions to so faithful a guardian. Praises are rendered to the undivided Trinity, the name of the confessor becomes most celebrated throughout the whole world in toto o. celebre B., Mass is celebrated (c. m.) missarum celebrantur solemnia B; (celebratur–sacramenti) omits 3., the envy of the accuser dilatoris 1. being trampled underfoot. And so it came about that the people rejoiced with a double joy beneficio B., namely in the saving (sa. si.) et sa. B. of the boy and in the reception of the divine sacrament (c. m.) missarum celebrantur solemnia B; (celebratur–sacramenti) omits 3..

in a deaf and mute young man, And (Nec–tempore) Invenitur etiam in gestis dicti confessoris Laeti B. no less in our own time, while Odolric Oldorico B., omits 3, B. illustrious for the uprightness of his morals, was already presiding over the see of the people of Orléans (c. A.) in cathedra Aurelianensi B. [On Odolric see now J. Devaux, op. cit., pp. 27–46 (= Annales, vol. IV, 1886, pp. 94–113).], the ineffable God wrought through (per–miraculum) miraculum aliud spectabile B. the ineffable merit of St. Laetus a remarkable miracle (per–miraculum) miraculum aliud spectabile B.. For there was in the aforesaid adds Pithveris B. town a certain young man who [(qui–Deum) ab ipso matris utero perfusus surdus et mutus; qui divino agitatus spiritu ad ecclesiam beati Laeti coepit subito currere, et appropians altari B.] had lived mute from the time he was poured forth from his mother's very womb; his tongue, cleaving to his palate, could not be loosed to utter what was in his mind. His ears, indeed, their passages being stopped up, admitted no sounds to the inner senses. Punished, then, with such afflictions, he frequented the threshold of the blessed confessor; and because he could not with his voice, he humbly implored his help with the whole affection of his heart. Hence it came about that he deserved to obtain what he desired. For when one day he was in the market which lies next to the town, suddenly, driven by a divine spirit, he began to make for the church of St. Laetus with swift step. The crowd of the market, supposing him out of his mind, followed him, wondering greatly where he was running to in that way. But he, quickly entering the church, while he was striving to climb the steps of the presbytery, fell to the ground with such force that, his nose and mouth being crushed, the pavement was wet with streaming blood. And at once, with the blood, the bond of his tongue was loosed, and, his ears being unlocked, through the intervening merits of St. Laetus he was found worthy to hear people speaking. The clerics who were present, astonished, raise the fallen man from the ground, and thinking that someone was pursuing him, they inquire who it was of such great audacity. To them, still ignorant of the miracle that had been wrought, he spoke in full speech, told them that he was driven by fear of no one, and going forward with them to the altar glorifying God [(qui–Deum) ab ipso matris utero perfusus surdus et mutus; qui divino agitatus spiritu ad ecclesiam beati Laeti coepit subito currere, et appropians altari B.], he kissed the bier in which lay the bones of the glorious levite (g. l.) confessoris B.. Then [(Tunc–sublime) statimque sanus effectus est, glorificans Deum. Et videntes, qui eum prius noverant, mirabantur tam clerici quam laici, Deum magnis vocibus collaudantes B.] all, joyful, clergy as well as people, who knew that he had been mute, blessing God lifted up their voices on high [(Tunc–sublime) statimque sanus effectus est, glorificans Deum. Et videntes, qui eum prius noverant, mirabantur tam clerici quam laici, Deum magnis vocibus collaudantes B.].

in a crippled boy. In those same quoque B. days there was brought to the same place a certain omits B. infirm boy, in whom an inborn weakness had so increased that the bases (bases–amisisse) basibus dissolutis protinus ambulandi amisisset officium B. of his feet, being loosened, seemed to have lost entirely the function of walking (bases–amisisse) basibus dissolutis protinus ambulandi amisisset officium B.. His legs [(Crura–putarentur) omits 3; Crura quippe eius adeo erant mollia ut put. vel. qu. car. nih. habentia os. B.] had become so soft that they were thought to be like a kind of little lump of flesh having nothing of bones [(Crura–putarentur) omits 3; Crura quippe eius adeo erant mollia ut put. vel. qu. car. nih. habentia os. B.]. But the remaining parts (r. p.) reliqua pars B. of his body too were affected by the force of an immense sickness (a. vi i. ae.) a. immensa aegritudine 3; omnino erat invalida B.. Thus crippled, then, (S. e. d.) Hic igitur adductus B. he was placed before the door fores B; adds ecclesiae 3. of the aforesaid dicti B. confessor; where, sustained by the alms of the mentioned pontiff, he waited for solace solatium 1, B. to be given to his infirmity by blessed Laetus. When, then, the festal omits 3, B. solemnity of All Saints came, it seemed good to the parents of the same sick person pueri B. to set their son before the tomb of the glorious levite Laetus. He having been set there, while Bishop Odolric Oldorico B. himself omits B. stood by, with a very great assembly of the people,

he felt the gift of the heavenly command (c. i.) caeleste B.. For his knees, which had clung to the upper part, being stretched out by divine power, and the bases of his feet being made firm for the use of walking, he who, almost dead, had come to despair of life, gradually raised himself, and through the saving prayer of St. Laetus soon began to walk. Joy is redoubled for all, since in the person of one sick man twin miracles were shown. For the languishing one received health and the lame one the free power facultatem B. of walking, through our Lord Jesus Christ omits 1., to whom is honor, power and dominion together (v. et i. u.) et gloria B. with the Father and the Holy Spirit for all infinita B. ages of ages. Amen Here 3 and B end..

THE PITHIVIERS MIRACLES OF SS. GEORGE AND LAETUS

Laetus, confessor of Orléans. (S.)

Edited from 1. the Paris manuscript 11885; 4. Brussels 8933. Cf. Prelim. Comm., no. 2.

1. Of 4 omits all the chapter headings. a certain man who held back one fleeing from prison to the church of the saints and handed him over to his pursuers to be bound again.

To these I judge that that miracle should in turn be added which the divine clemency deigned to work in the church of Pithiviers Pithiverensi 4, and so hereafter. through the merits of the saints, namely George and the levite Laetus. In the time, then, of Hysenbard Isembardi 4., pontiff of the church of Orléans, a most eminent and most illustrious man, in the 28th year of his episcopate, there was a certain young man in a certain village which lies next to the town in which the bones of the glorious adds et 1. levite Laetus are honorably laid in the church, held bound under strict guard in prison confinement. He, having been very often admonished adds fuerat 4. in a vision to draw his feet out of the bonds and to make for the church of the aforesaid saints, at the ninth hour of the Saturday, the coming of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ being close at hand, sees himself freed, the joints of his chains having been wonderfully broken apart. Rising at once, and taking the chains in his hands, he began to make swiftly for the threshold of the saints; and while the whole crowd of the market, as it met him, congratulating him, raised no small praises to almighty God for his rescue, a certain young man, Girard by name, the most obstinate of all omits 4. the rest, stood in his way, and taking hold of his little cloak, although quasi 4 before correction adjured by the merits of SS. George and Laetus not to hinder his journey, he nevertheless held him just until he handed him over to those omits 4. who were pursuing him to be bound again; and he, soon dragged back from his journey and wretchedly afflicted with very many -que omits 1. blows by the savage guards, is bound again in the prison from which he had come out. Meanwhile, while these and other things of the kind eiusmodi 4, added by another hand above the line are done among the executioners, he who had called the servant of God back from his journey, first assailed with many reproaches by the bystanding people who had seen these things, at last, confounded by the guilt of so great a crime, returned at the swiftest pace to his own house. But on the following night, when he had given himself to sleep, in the second watch of the night the often named saints were seen to stand before him ipsum 4. with grim looks, saying: "Why did you hinder the servant of God, rescued from his chains by our intercessions and making for our church, and give tradidisti 4. him back to the most savage guards?" To him omits 4., trembling and preparing to answer with many words of excuse, the saints say again: "Here no place of excuse is in any way prepared for you; but you must go quickly to our church, where it is necessary for you to suffer many blows for so great a crime." Without delay, throwing the belt which he had put under his head around his neck and drawing it tight towards themselves, they drag subtrahunt 4 before correction him out of his house with great violence and lead him illum 4. to their omits 4. church with such a din impetu 4 before correction that you would think no small multitude of armed soldiers was going through the village, while he continually cried out: "Saints of God, George and Laetus, I have sinned; spare me, wretch that I am." Awakened by this sound, all the neighbors run together after him to the church of the saints, to see the heavenly benefit. Then that wretch, naked in body as he was, lying prostrate on the pavement before the altar of the saints, suffered there through that whole night many invisible torments, as had been promised him by the saints; for at different intervals of that night he so contorted himself, and burst forth from the bottom of his breast with such enormous enormis 4. wailings of voice, that you would think putasses 4 first hand; putaret 4 corrected torturers were present, although they could possint 4. not be seen by human eyes; and thus that wretch, for almost the whole night, all who were present weeping, endured the blows of divine vengeance, until, morning having come, he who had been bound again, the joints of his chains having again been broken apart, no one now opposing and no one gainsaying, but all the people applauding, ran joyful to the threshold of the aforesaid saints, carrying his chains in his hands. He, throwing down the fetters before the altar in 4 adds by the corrector, promised that he would be a head-tax serf and would serve God and his saints all the time of his life. Then he who was still being tormented, raising himself from the pavement, made satisfaction according to his vow to the man whom he had grieved. Finally, by the bands termis 4 before correction; termas 4 after correction of the belt pro 4 before correction by which his neck was still constricted, thinking, as he related, that he was being squeezed by iron chains, he gave himself over to serve God and the aforesaid saints; and soon the punishment inflicted on him departed from him through the merits of the saints, and that day became cheerful and joyful throughout the whole town, on which, God working, twin miracles were shown through the merits of the saints. The one, released from iron chains, rendered thanks to God; the despiser of the divine working paid the deserved debitas 4 before correction penalties of the miracle. Nor, however tantum 4 before correction, is that following miracle, in which the blows of divine vengeance were shown, to be thought inferior to that in which the iron chains were broken, though both are to be believed, both to be praised colenda 4., as having been wrought for inhabitants agricolis 4. and neighbors. Praised therefore be the unity of the undivided Trinity, which far and wide declares the merits of its servants by innumerable miracles; to whom is honor and glory through infinite ages of ages. Amen.

2. Of a certain blind man given sight by the saints.

For at the same time, in a certain town which is named by its inhabitants Rupes Fortis, there was a certain man who for the course of seven years had lost the light of his eyes. When one day he was going to his church weeping for his blindness, he heard a voice saying to him: "If you desire your sight to be restored to you, go quickly protinus 4. to the church of Pithiviers; there, the light of your eyes having been received back through the merits of SS. George and Laetus, you will return joyful to your own tuam 4 before correction home." He at once, taking with him a boy puerulo 4. to furnish him guidance on the way, came with the greatest speed to the aforesaid church, and soon, (moxque–prostrati) added by the corrector in 4 in the upper margin the clerics being called together, he discloses the whole matter in order. They, prostrated with him before the altar (moxque–prostrati) added by the corrector in 4 in the upper margin, with tears poured out besought God and his saints until through the merits of SS. George and Laetus that blind man received the light of his eyes; and he who had come sorrowful to the threshold of the aforesaid saints with a boy as guide, himself going before his guide, returned glad and cheerful to his own home, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom (cui–amen) etc. 4. is honor and power for ages of ages. Amen.

3. Of a certain woman harassed by a most wicked spirit, freed by the saints.

Not long after there was a certain woman in Nova Villa villa nova 4. La Neuville-aux-Bois, dép. Loiret, arr. Orléans., which is no more than ten miles distant from the town of Pithiviers Pithiveris 4.; we saw her so harassed by a most wicked spirit that she strove satagebat 4. to attack with the bite of her teeth all who met her whom she could. She, at once bound by her husband and placed on a cart, was brought to the church of the aforesaid saints (sanctorum–quam) in 4 added by the corrector in the margin while the holy gospel was being read on omits 4. the sixth omits 4. weekday omits 4. at the Lord's Mass; and when (sanctorum–quam) in 4 added by the corrector in the margin she had been set before the altar and sprinkled profusam 4. by religious priests with the holy water [Here there had been written in 4 by the first hand: dum sanct. evang. in dom. missa leg.] in which the relics of the saints had been washed, the wicked spirit, having first most bitterly wearied her and thrown her down as though dead, at length by the prayers of the often named saints left her unharmed. A little care being given proposita 4. her, and being refreshed by the religious matrons of the same town with a measured portion of food, she who had been brought bound by her husband and placed on a cart returned on foot with her husband, loosed, to her own home, healthy (sana–Amen) omits 4., by the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns God for all ages of ages. Amen.

4. Of a certain man whose foot was burning, which was quenched by the merits of the saints.

At about the same times, in the town of Pithiviers Pithinecis 4., in which the church of SS. George and Laetus was honorably built, there was a certain young man, Landric by name, who, performing the office of a crier, took care by so disreputable a labor to drive away the poverty of his life; in whose foot, through the snares of the enemy of the human race, an ulcer of so very bad a kind arose that, the joints of the members being almost broken apart, the shape of a human foot was scarcely preserved (s. f.) servaret formam 4.. While he was so tormented by the most violent heat of so great a pain that for the space of fifteen days he had received no help of sleep, he called together his parents and friends and ordered himself to be carried to the church of SS. George and Laetus. They omits 4., faithfully obeying his necessary petition, while the Lord's Mass was being begun on omits 4. the fifth omits 4. weekday omits 4., placed him before the altar of the aforesaid saints, prostrating themselves together with the clerics who were present, humbly entreating God and his saints, namely omits 4. George and Laetus, for the safety of their friend. Soon, the mystery of the divine consecration being already performed, at the very consecration of the heavenly bread, by the working of the might of divine power and through the intervening merits of his saints George and Laetus, that languishing man received complete health, through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor adds et gloria 4 before correction and equal power with the Father and the Holy Spirit through infinite ages of ages.

Amen [1 adds this rubric: Pridie nonas octobris translatio beati Leti confessoris [On this day, therefore, the translation into the castle of Pithiviers seems to have taken place. Cf. also above, p. 70, note 3.] ].