ON ST. THEOBALD, CANON REGULAR, AT LE DORAT IN THE DIOCESE OF LIMOGES,
IN THE YEAR 1070
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Theobald, canon of Le Dorat. (S.)
BY C. D. S.
§ I. Of the Life written by an author near his time.
[1] From the Life of St. Theobald The monastery of canons regular of Le Dorat On which see Gall. christ., vol. II, col. 558. gloried chiefly in two men who in the eleventh century made it illustrious by their holy manners, namely Israel and Theobald, whose cult is celebrated in the diocese of Limoges and especially in the city of Le Dorat up to our times, but in the rest of the Christian world seems to have been wholly unknown. And so their names are exiled from all the ancient martyrologies and first occur in the Universal Martyrology of Claude Chastelain, in which Israel is marked at 22 December, and Theobald at this day 6 November, in these words: A Dorat en la Marche, diocèse de Limoges, le bienheureux Théobald At Dorat in the Marche, diocese of Limoges, the blessed Theobald He is also commonly called Thiébaud. chanoine régulier 1070 canon regular 1070.
[2] written by a contemporary or nearly contemporary author, as it seems, The Life of each saint was sent to Philip Labbe by Peter Robert (1589–1658), a judge presiding at Le Dorat, who spent much effort in collecting documents pertaining to the history of that region in which he performed public office [Which, in great part copied by the learned men John Fonteneau and Claude Estiennot, O. S. B., are preserved both in the public library of Poitiers and in the National Library at Paris.]. That each was written by a certain canon of Le Dorat, and indeed one equal in time or nearly so to the saints, they have rightly suspected, since scarcely anyone else could have learned so expressly the things done in those times in the college of Le Dorat. But more about that writer we have not been able to learn, nor have we found indicated anywhere any ancient codex that has preserved his little works for us. And so from Labbe's edition [Bibl. manuscr., vol. II, p. 683. The Life of St. Israel Labbe displayed in the work cited, 566–67.] we here bring forward the Life of St. Theobald. From this Life are manifestly taken, with only a few additions of Dorat traditions and pious or oratorical comments, the things which are reported of our saint either by the proper Offices of Le Dorat or Limoges or by private writers Compare below, no. 4.. All which were most diligently collected by the Very Reverend P.-E. Rougerie, priest, in the newest Life of both the saints of Le Dorat, brought out by him into public light about thirty-five years ago [Vies de Saint Israel et de Saint Théobald, chanoines de l'église collégiale du Dorat. Histoire de leurs reliques et de leur culte. Le Dorat, 1871, in 8°, 320 pp.].
[3] very few things having been added, are taken No monuments of the history of St. Theobald are available to us, apart from that Life, older than the seventeenth century. Toward about the middle of which a certain Office of the holy confessors not bishops Israel and Theobald was written by one Joseph As is noted in the codex itself still preserved at Le Dorat.… (the other name in this place has been erased) and finished on the twenty-seventh day of the month of December in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and thirty-nine. This Office was then soon printed at Paris in the year 1642. The distinguished P.-E. Rougerie conjectures that it was perhaps first composed not long after the year 1130, the year in which namely the translation of the bodies of Sts. Israel and Theobald is reported to have been made Compare below, p. 318.. Certainly two miracles, which are distinctly narrated in it, with the names too of those healed, are reported to have been obtained at the very time of the translation. But the whole writing is indicated, in the codex itself and in the edition of the year 1642, as excerpted From the most ancient written records of the church of Le Dorat, which words manifestly indicate that the author who made it was far later than that time Compare Rougerie, the work cited, pp. 10–11, 254–55..
[4] which things concerning his history in his proper office In this office are indicated proper lessons to be recited concerning our saints on each day at their feast and within its octave, or from 27 January to 5 February, by which lessons are narrated their Life, the translation of the year 1130, and the miracles following either immediately after the death of each or after the translation. The same things, at more or less length, according to the double document, the Labbean Lives and the office copied in the year 1639, are reported by the offices of St. Israel and St. Theobald which from the year 1669 were inserted among the proper Offices of the diocese of Limoges, and by the Proper of the saints for the use of the Canons regular of the Gallican congregation issued in the years 1699 and 1758 Compare ibid., p. 256 and p. 12, n. X..
[5] and are read in more recent writers. The same sources were used by those who in more recent times have treated of the history of Sts. Israel and Theobald in the French language, namely Peter Robert [That same man who communicated the ancient Lives to Ph. Labbe (compare above, no. 2). His Collectanea on the saints of Le Dorat are read among the copies of Dom Fonteneau (compare the same), still unedited.], Collin, doctor of the Sorbonne [Histoire sacrée des saints principaux et autres personnes vertueuses qui ont pris naissance, qui ont vécu ou qui sont en vénération particulière en divers lieux du diocèse de Limoges. A Limoges, chez Martial Barbou, 1672, in 18.], the writer of the booklet which is entitled Manuel de devotion pour les confreres des saints confesseurs Israël et Theobald [First published in the year 1717. The fourteenth edition appeared in the year 1841 (Rougerie, p. 12, n. XII).], the priest Legros [Whose commentaries on the Lives of Sts. Israel, Theobald and Galterius, still unedited, are kept in the major clerical Seminary of Limoges among the Lives of the Saints of the diocese of Limoges (ibid., n. XI).] and most recently the already often cited distinguished P.-E. Rougerie [Compare above, p. 314, annot. 6. We gladly profess that all that we are going to say in § II on the posthumous glory of Sts. Israel and Theobald we have learned from this book.].
§ II. Of the posthumous glory of Sts. Israel and Theobald [We know nothing at all of the history of St. Theobald apart from what the writer of his Life has taught us. What may have been somewhat cleared up on these matters by more recent writers, we shall indicate among the annotations. But we have not thought it worthwhile, in our usual manner, to note and discuss in a separate paragraph the several things read in the Life, where there is no room for dispute and we are nowhere able to bring any new light to the things narrated by the writer. And so we come at once to reviewing what pertains to his posthumous glory. We have joined here the names of both saints, because the monuments by which they are shown to have been honoured with sacred cult from the beginning of the twelfth century pertain equally to each.].
[6] The bodies of Sts. Israel and Theobald in the year 1130 That each saint was renowned for miracles immediately after death is reported by the lessons of their proper office copied in the year 1639 [Compare above, nos. 3, 4. Three miracles which are told individually as obtained by the invocation of St. Theobald we shall edit below after the Life.]. Whence the canons and inhabitants of Le Dorat were soon led to transfer them from the common cemetery, where they had first lain buried, to a more honourable place, namely to the crypt of the chief church. This translation took place on 27 January in the year 1130, marked by a great concourse of people and miracles obtained on that very day or shortly after [We shall also display an account of this translation and of the miracles that followed it below among the Documents.].
[7] translated into the crypt of the church of Le Dorat, These things indeed we know only from a document of the seventeenth century; but its authority is not a little confirmed by the testimony of Bernard Gui (1260–1339), bishop of Lodève, who in c. 39 of his Treatise on the saints who adorn the diocese of Limoges In Labbe, Bibl. mss., vol. II, p. 633. says: St. Isilus and St. Theobald rest in the church of Damacum That is, of Dauracum or Le Dorat. Compare below, p. 317, annot. 3., who were alike renowned in life and miracles: of whom the first, St. Isilus [That is, Israel. For that he is designated is established not only from the fact that he is joined with Theobald, but also because he is indicated to have been master of St. Gualterius, abbot of L'Esterp: for this is gathered to suit St. Israel of Le Dorat excellently from his Life (in Labbe, in the work cited, p. 567) and from the brief notice of St. Gualterius which in Bernard Gui is placed immediately before the cited c. 39.], reared and taught Blessed Galterius of L'Esterp.
[8] and from there in the year 1659 into the upper church, In that crypt, in which they were laid in the year 1130, the sacred bodies rested unmoved until the year 1659. In which year Francis de la Fayette, bishop of Limoges, by pastoral letters given on 20 March, commissioned the bishop of Sarlat, Francis de Salignac, to transfer them into the upper church; which was done six months later, on 13 September Rougerie, pp. 243–44..
[9] they are displayed for public veneration by a solemn showing every seven years. By the same pastoral decree of 20 March 1659 the Illustrious Francis de la Fayette ordered a showing of the sacred remains to be held every seven years (which was also in use in other churches of the diocese, in which certain outstanding relics of the bodies of saints were preserved) Manuel de dévotion (compare above, no. 5), cited in Rougerie, p. 244, annot. 1.. These showings were customarily held at Le Dorat with a great concourse of people from the surrounding villages up to these latest times [See the rites of these solemnities described at length in Rougerie, the work cited, pp. 276–82.].
[10] A few fragments of the relics granted to other churches. On the occasion of the said translation of the year 1659 there was handed over to the canons of Saint-Junien [Among whom St. Israel is read in his Life to have performed for some time the office of provost.] a bone from each of the bodies of Sts. Israel and Theobald, which they repaid by sending small portions of the bones of their patrons Junian and Amand Manuel de dévotion, cited in Rougerie, p. 245.. A fragment too, whether on the same occasion or another, is read to have been granted to the church of the village of La Bazeuge Rougerie, p. 273..
[11] Their recognitions in the years 1802 and 1862. After this translation a twofold recognition of the sacred relics was carried out in the nineteenth century: namely one on 5 October of the year 1802 The authentic instrument is displayed in great part by Rougerie, pp. 266–72., the other on 12 June 1862 Ibid., p. 272., by which it was established that they were still preserved intact at Le Dorat.
[12] The confraternity of Sts. Israel and Theobald. Besides what has been recited so far, a double or triple monument comes up for mention, from which shines out the veneration and piety of the people of Le Dorat towards their holy patrons. One is the confraternity of Sts. Israel and Theobald, which the little French work Manuel de devotion, etc. says was instituted in the year 1495 by John Barthon de Montbas, bishop of Limoges [Cited in Rougerie, p. 234. The priest Legros (cited in the same place) asserts only, from manuscripts of the bishopric of Limoges, that this bishop wished in that year to be enrolled in the confraternity.], and which we know was certainly confirmed by Francis de la Fayette, bishop of Limoges (1627–1676), and in the year 1659 by Alexander VII, Roman Pontiff, and finally enriched with indulgences by His Holiness Pius IX, by a brief given on 16 February 1869 [Rougerie, pp. 235–39. On certain of the statutes of this confraternity see ibid., pp. 235, 241.].
[13] A chapel built in the cemetery where the holy bodies first rested, A second proof of the veneration of Sts. Israel and Theobald among the people of Le Dorat is furnished by two chapels built in the places in which their bodies rested before the translations carried out in the years 1130 and 1659. The former of these places was the cemetery adjoining the eastern part of the church and monastery of Le Dorat. There after the death of St. Israel in the year 1014 they built a small wooden chapel in honour of the saint, which was at once frequented by a great concourse of the sick and made illustrious by many miracles Office on 1 Feb., lesson IV. Cited in Rougerie, p. 162.. Afterwards under that same little wooden hut the body of St. Theobald too had been laid up Compare below, p. 318, annot. 1 to III.. But after each holy body was translated from there to the crypt of the church, that chapel ceased to be frequented by the people and little by little fell through age; the place, however, was marked by an enormous stone cross, and a chapel was built there anew in the year 1722 [Rougerie, pp. 249–250. Where there is also cited this excerpt from the report of the archpriest delegated by Anthony Charpin de Genestines, bishop of Limoges, to see to that work: “Nous (archiprêtre de Rancon), nous sommes transporté en la ville de Dorat, où étant, hors de la dite ville, dans un ancien cimetière le long des fossés, sur l'indication à nous faite par MM. les vénérables curé, syndic et chanoines de l'église collégiale de la dite ville soussignés, d'un lieu et place reconnus par tradition immémoriale où les corps glorieux des saints Israël et Théobald, leurs patrons, ont été trouvés enterrés; vu la dite place, où il y a une grande croix de pierre élevée pour marque et monument dudit lieu et tombeau des saints…” [“We (archpriest of Rancon) betook ourselves to the town of Dorat, where, being outside the said town, in an old cemetery along the ditches, on the indication made to us by the venerable curate, syndic and canons of the collegiate church of the said town, the undersigned, of a place and spot acknowledged by immemorial tradition, where the glorious bodies of Sts. Israel and Theobald, their patrons, were found buried; having seen the said place, where there is a great stone cross raised as a mark and monument of the said place and tomb of the saints…”]]. Finally, this little building too collapsing, it was restored anew through the work and at the expense of the confraternity of Sts. Israel and Theobald in the year 1825, and it is seen there today Ibid., p. 250..
[14] [and another, in which were laid up the sarcophagi in which they were preserved after the year 1130.] In the year 1825 too there were translated into the chapel just indicated the sarcophagi in which the bodies of Sts. Israel and Theobald had been preserved in the crypt of the principal church from the year 1130 to the year 1659 Compare above, no. 8., and in it they were fixed to the wall on either side of the altar. From there after about forty-five years, on 28 June 1871, they were removed and placed in another chapel, which, built against the side of the principal church and more beautifully decorated, was dedicated singularly to the cult of Sts. Israel and Theobald Rougerie, pp. 303–308..
[15] The memory of each saint in the breviaries It does not seem that the cult of Sts. Israel and Theobald was celebrated by any ecclesiastical office before about the middle of the seventeenth century. Certainly no day of the ecclesiastical year is assigned to an office of this kind in the breviary of Limoges issued in two volumes at the house of Anthony Barbou by the authority of Raymond de la Martonie, bishop of Limoges, and with the consent of the chapter in the years 1625 and 1626. And so it seems that the first was the one copied in the year 1639 and shortly afterwards, in the year 1642, printed Compare above, no. 3., in which the feast of our saints is indicated to be celebrated with octaves from 27 January to 3 February. Several monuments of the same kind published thereafter exist in our Bollandist library. First of all namely a few separate leaves, excerpted, if I am not mistaken, from the Proper of the saints for the use of the Canons regular of the Gallican congregation Compare above, end of no. 4., in which the office of St. Israel is reported at the 8th, and the office of St. Theobald at the 10th of the same month of February.
[16] and the calendars of Limoges, I have found besides a series of calendars [Whose common title is Order of the divine office to be recited according to the rite of the Breviary of Limoges of the more recent edition.], such as have long been customarily issued in individual dioceses for individual years, for the years 1805, 1814, 1816, in which the feast of St. Israel is marked with simple rite, with commemoration of St. Theobald added, at 28 January; and then with semidouble rite, at the same day and with the same commemoration, in the calendars for the years 1819, 1820, 1825, 1832, 1847, 1848 and 1854. But in the calendar issued for the year 1872, in whose title the offices are said to be ordered according to the rubrics of the breviary and missal of the holy Roman Church for the use of the diocese of Limoges [The Roman liturgy was restored in the diocese of Limoges, at the bishop's request, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites given on 7 July 1853.], the feast of Sts. Israel and Theobald is indicated no longer at 28 January, but at 13 September, with semidouble rite. Finally, among the proper Offices of the diocese of Limoges approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites by decrees of 8 August 1853 and 20 July 1876, printed at Tournai in the year 1888, under 13 September too there is read the office of Sts. Israel and Theobald; double.
[17] yet not fixed to their birthday. And although in those documents the feast of those saints is nowhere assigned to 6 November, but appears as if movable, it has seemed good to treat of St. Theobald at this day, which was certainly the day of his death, or, to speak according to ecclesiastical custom, his birthday Life, c. 7.. St. Israel died on the XI Kalends of January, or 22 December Life of St. Israel (in Labbe, Bibl. mss., vol. II, p. 567)., but according to others on the II Kalends of January, or 31 December Compare Rougerie, pp. 156–57..
I. LIFE OF ST. THEOBALD, CANON OF LE DORAT
From the edition of Philip Labbe. Compare Preliminary Commentary, no. 2.
Theobald, canon of Le Dorat. (S.)
BHL Number: 8027
[1] St. Theobald, born in the territory of Limoges, In the times of the ageing world the most holy man Theobald came from the province of Limoges, namely from that region which, bordering on the district of Poitou, is called Marche on account of the boundary of both lands [Compare Vivien de Saint-Martin, Nouv. dict. de géogr., vol. III, p. 646. If one may trust a tradition preserved in a certain noble house of this region, the saint was born in the hamlet of Chaix near Le Dorat on the estate of that family (Rougerie, p. 170, annot. 1). In fact the place of his birth was very near the church of Le Dorat (Life, c. 3).].
[2] at Périgueux he gives effort to learning letters; Having become a young man, panting for the step of fuller knowledge [These words plenioris scientiae seem to indicate that Theobald, before he went to Périgueux, was imbued with the first rudiments of letters. They report or conjecture that this took place in the monastic school of the monastery of Le Dorat (Manuel de dévotion, cited in Rougerie, p. 172).], he made his way to the city of Périgueux, and, staying there for some time, he applied himself most attentively to the studies of the grammatical art; and, applying his whole mind to a care of this kind, by the cooperating grace of the Holy Spirit he equalled the highest talents of that time.
[3] then enrolled in the college of canons regular at Le Dorat After some space of time had elapsed, when he had now advanced greatly in the liberal exercises, pricked by love of seeing his country again, he decided to go back to the place where he had been born, not to make a long stay there, but that, having greeted his parents and sought leave from them, he might give himself as a companion to certain men serving God. The place of his birth, to the church of Le Dorat [This seems anciently to have been called Scotorensis. So namely it is read in the Life of St. Gualterius or Walterius, abbot of L'Esterp,
who was brought up in the monastery of Le Dorat under St. Israel as master (Life of St. Israel, in Labbe, Bibl. mss., vol. II, p. 567): The church of Scotoria rejoiced, happy in so great a nursling, and whom it had taken up to instruct, it presumed would be an outstanding teacher for itself (P. L., vol. CLXXI, p. 1568); and in the Life of St. Israel himself: So for this reason from distant regions a countless crowd of the fevered had flowed together to the church of Scotoria, seeking the help and counsel of St. Peter, prince of the apostles (under whose patronage the church of Le Dorat had been dedicated); nor in vain; the Lord in fact healed many there, by the suffrage of the prayers of kindly Peter, to the honour and increase of the church of Le Dorat (Labbe, in the place cited). Afterwards, or at the same time (among the Collectanea of Peter Robert compare above, Preliminary Commentary, no. 5 there is read an inscription which in the twelfth century was placed above one of the doors of the church of Le Dorat, and in which it was said that in the year of the Lord 1013 the church of St. Peter who was the title of that church of Scotoria, which had before been burned by the Magnatenses, was begun [cited in Texier, Manuel d'épigraphie, suivi du Recueil des inscriptions du Limousin, p. 130]), it was called the church of Dauracum (Letter of Lucius III, Roman Pontiff, to William, bishop of Poitiers, given in the year 1185, P. L., vol. CCI, p. 1342) or Dauratum (Chronique de Maleu, ed. Arbellot Saint-Junien, 1847, p. 39) and finally Doratum.] was very near, in which there was a congregation of clerics serving God in common. They, when they had learned the uprightness of the most holy man Theobald, most devoutly received the most holy man into their fellowship.
[4] and initiated into sacred orders He, excelling in great virtues, was most earnestly asked by the brothers to consent to be advanced to the dignity of the priesthood, going up step by step through the sacred orders according to the diversity of times. Not refusing, he the pious, to satisfy in part their pious petitions, he came to sacred orders, nowhere going outside the ecclesiastical buildings, except when the need of visiting the sick pressed upon him. For he had in this the assent of the psalmist who says: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord. Ps. 83, 5.
[5] and set over the custody of the sacristy, Whence it came about that the whole assembly of the church asked of him with urgent prayers that he should take into his custody the sacristy of that place and all things pertaining to it, and bear the care of the ecclesiastical treasure. At this petition he, dismayed in mind, set out to them the difficulty of this ministry; he excels chiefly in zeal for prayer. but at length, the command of obedience having been taken up, with what vigour or with what diligence he administered it no one's tongue will sufficiently set forth.
[6] He practised too the devotion of vigils with such diligence that he not only frequented those which almost all congregations of brothers are accustomed to celebrate at the time of cock-crow, but also spent whole nights engaged in prayers and tears. For this reason he had made his little bed, covered with mean rags and very thin straw, separate from the brothers' dormitory. Besides this the man of God Theobald obtained from the Lord many gifts of graces, by which, turning aside the course of his life toward neither fortune, he directed it with perseverance, until it seemed good to almighty God to set an end to the labours of his veteran soldier and in mercy to separate him from the hardships of this world.
[7] He dies piously in the year 1070. When the time drew near at which almighty God had decreed to pay his servant the rewards of heavenly joys as the wage for his good works, the body of the man of God, macerated by fasts, vigils and prayers, began to be weakened. Then the servant of God, seized by the force of fevers and by the disease of lientery, was carried by the brothers to his little bed. Refusing food in every way, he was refreshed only by a drink of cold water; and although he was brought almost to the last extremity, yet his mind and tongue never ceased from divine praises. So, having received the viaticum of the body and blood of Christ, persevering in the praises of God and in prayer, in the presence of a band of brothers, who guarded his departure with psalmody and litanies, he gladly gave back his holy soul to his Creator and Redeemer on the 8th of the Ides of November in the year of the Lord MLXX. His little body, washed and, as is the custom, wrapped in haircloth, the canons of that same church, with a great assembly of the people, who devoutly ran together from every side at his departure, buried with worthy honour. On those lying at his tomb and imploring the merits of the man of God almighty God has conferred, and up to this day confers, innumerable benefits and miracles.
II. THREE MIRACLES OBTAINED BY THE INTERCESSION OF ST. THEOBALD SOON AFTER HIS DEATH
From the lessons of the proper office of Sts. Israel and Theobald published in the year 1642 (compare above, Preliminary Commentary, nos. 3, 4), recited in Rougerie, the work cited, pp. 215, 220, 221.
Theobald, canon of Le Dorat. (S.)
[1] Miracles immediately after the death of St. Theobald Theobald, surviving his master Israel by fifty-six years [St. Israel died in the month of December in the year one thousand and fourteen (Life of St. Israel, in Labbe, Bibl. mss., vol. II, p. 567).] … seized by fevers and lientery, takes to his bed … the girdle with which he was girded he gladly gives to a certain canon who ardently begged for it, as a pledge and memento of old friendship. This, received with joy and kept with all diligence, afterwards produced miracles … Office on 31 Jan., lesson III..
[2] by his invocation A boy of the jurisdiction of Le Dorat That is, dicionis., not living far distant from the church, agitated by epilepsy or the falling sickness, is brought by his father to the saint's sepulchre, he prays, he lies down on the freshly poured soil, he sleeps all day, roused toward evening by his parent he is received wholly healthy and after due thanksgiving is led back home Office on 1 Feb., lesson VI..
[3] and especially by the application Two pregnant women close to childbirth, one of whom was in peril, because the foetus was turning about in the womb, of his girdle when they had been girded with that belt of blessed Theobald, which we have said was given at his departure and kept with diligent care, thereafter as happy mothers poured forth their fruits at different times Ibid..
[4] obtained. Hugh, a canon of Le Dorat, colleague and blood-relation of St. Theobald, wholly burned up by fevers and half exhausted, since he nearly despaired of his health, asks his other companions through messengers to stand by him, near death and soon to die, and to dispose of the goods that he possessed. Meanwhile there comes to his mind his kinsman and friend Theobald. He goes to his tomb as he can; there he suppliantly prays to God, he lies down, he is seized by sleep. Waking, he is found by the brothers safe and unharmed, not without congratulation and the due signifying of a grateful mind to the divine goodness Ibid..
III. TRANSLATION OF STS. ISRAEL AND THEOBALD IN THE YEAR 1130 AND THE MIRACLES THAT FOLLOWED IT
From the same lessons, recited in Rougerie, pp. 226–32.
Theobald, canon of Le Dorat. (S.)
[1] [The bodies of Sts. Israel and Theobald, buried in the common cemetery, by heavenly wonders] The sacred bodies of the blessed confessors Israel and Theobald were lying among the other monuments of corpses buried in the common cemetery, that of the former for one hundred and sixteen, that of the latter for sixty years, under that little wooden hut [Compare above, Preliminary Commentary, no. 13. Since St. Theobald died in the year 1070 (compare above, p. 317, Life, n. 7), and St. Israel in the year 1014 (compare above, Doc. II, annot. 1), from the fact that in the year 1130 Israel for 116 years, and Theobald for 60 years, lay in the same place, namely under that little wooden hut, it is manifestly gathered that St. Theobald was buried immediately after his death beside St. Israel.], yet flashing with frequent signs and miracles, when it seemed good to the divine majesty to indicate not obscurely that it would be of its good pleasure and greater glory if they were translated within the church and placed more becomingly and more honourably.
[2] and especially celebrated by angelic song, For by Ramnulf, abbot at that time, and his two companions the canons Aimeric de Saint-Hilaire and Boso Asininius, in the dead of night, before cock-crow, there were heard the most sweet voices of blessed spirits, with a plainly heavenly and angelic concord, proceeding through the cemetery and singing together the eighty-fourth psalm, whose beginning is: You have blessed, O Lord, your land, in such a way that, begun by one as precentor and master of the choir, it was chanted not only by angels but also by the dead roused from the cemetery, to the modulation of the sixth tone. Ps. 84, 2. For heaven was first keeping a feast day and indicating the great joy of the heavenly court, if those most precious relics, drawn forth with solemn rite and carried away, should be venerated more honourably on earth.
[3] they are translated into the crypt of the chief church of Le Dorat So they are carried first to the chapel of St. James, then to that of the blessed Mary, where, although laid up rather narrowly, they showed themselves by open miracles, and finally to the sacred small cell of St. Magdalene at the sides of the altar in the crypt or underground vault, which they therefore now call the Sepulchre “La crypte de l'eglise [de Saint-Pierre du Dorat est appelee le Sepulcre parce qu'elle renferme les saints corps des bienheureux Israël et Theobald. Elle renferme quatre chapelles et autant d'autels, savoir: de Sainte-Anne, — de Saint-Blaise, — de Saint-Laurent, — des Saints Israël et Theobald. Cette derniere chapelle porte aussi le titre de Sainte-Marie-Madeleine, probablement parce qu'elle etoit deja dediee à cette sainte avant d'avoir reçu les precieux corps de Saint Israël et de Saint Theobald, qui sont eleves dans deux tombeaux en pierre de grison aux deux côtes de cet autel”. “The crypt of the church [of Saint-Pierre of Le Dorat is called the Sepulchre because it encloses the holy bodies of the blessed Israel and Theobald. It encloses four chapels and as many altars, namely: of St. Anne, — of St. Blaise, — of St. Lawrence, — of Sts. Israel and Theobald. This last chapel also bears the title of St. Mary Magdalene, probably because it was already dedicated to this saint before receiving the precious bodies of St. Israel and St. Theobald, which are raised in two tombs of grey stone on the two sides of this altar”.] So in the Collectanea of Peter Robert (compare Preliminary Commentary, no. 5), cited in Rougerie, p. 242, annot.], in the basilica of the prince of the apostles, as they are seen today.
[4] on 27 January in the year 1130; This feast day of the translation, which was the twenty-seventh of January of the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and thirty, was honoured by his presence, by his sacrifices and sacred prayers, by Eustorgius, bishop of Limoges, called by the clergy and people of Le Dorat to increase the piety and celebrity of the solemnity [These four chapters are taken from lesson IV of the Office of 3 Feb. The Proper of the year 1699 adds (cited in Rougerie, p. 223) that each sacred body was afterwards, at the care of the canons and the whole town of Le Dorat, most becomingly laid in a gilded shrine.].
[5] their sepulchre Who then would deny that that land, the city and church of Le Dorat, is blessed, immediately which the Lord has blessed, which angels and blessed souls of the dead, the living and the dead, proclaim blessed and sing as blessed, which the birth, life, sacred death, relics and miracles of holy confessors commend? For many miracles adorned this feast day too and the sacred place.
[6] many A woman whose name was Stephana, seventeen years old, poor and a beggar, seeking her food from door to door, below the loins with limbs so twisted
deformed that you would have seen her shins turned back and joined to her thighs and that she crept on her hands, not walked on her feet, more like a monster than a woman; yet, confirmed in right and entire faith in God, in firm trust, and especially by the salutary admonitions of the very reverend bishop, who promised her help and solace from the holy confessors against certain persons doubting and opposing, she prostrates herself at the sepulchre of each, she implores, she weeps, she prays, she entreats. She who was bent double is raised up, she goes forward upright for a while; but since she could not yet walk firmly on her feet, while she entreats God there by night, a glorious angel appears and warns her to go up to the nearby church of St. Michael the archangel On which see Texier, Manuel d'épigraphie, p. 161.. She obeys, she overcomes the mount at the striking of the bell, she supplicates, and soon goes down to the church of St. Peter in the morning on firm feet, with her whole body erect and wholly healthy, to the greater glory of God and the saints Office, on 3 Feb., lesson V..
[7] miracles No less admirable is the miracle that was done in favour of a stonecutter, by name Crassus, a pious and devout man. For when he had polished with wonderful art the sepulchre of each saint, without any hope of gain, by the sole motion of piety, it happened that his son-in-law fell into a most grave fever. What is the most pious father-in-law to do? He prays to and beseeches the saints, so ardently obtaining from God his former health for his son-in-law that, his entreaty being at once heard, the sick man, sitting at his father-in-law's left, recovered entirely, as if God himself had threatened the fever and commanded it Ibid., lesson VI..
[8] is made illustrious. The merits and suffrages of the blessed confessors have wrought many other miracles, both on that very day of the translation and at other times; nor have they been lacking nor are they ever lacking in help to their clients of Le Dorat, who have venerated and venerate, invoking with fitting faith and piety, patrons so good and so mighty Ibid..