ON ST. CUNGAR, CONFESSOR, IN WALES,
SEVENTH CENTURY
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY
Cungar or Docunus, abbot in England. (S.)
BY C. D. S.
[1] Cungar, whose Life was first written in the sixteenth century, Whatever more recent writers relate about the history of this St. Cungar Commonly Cyngar or Kyngar has been drawn from one, and that a very muddy, source, namely his Life which is presented in the Nova Legenda Angliae published at London in the year 1516 at the expense of Wynkyn de Worde, which is commonly cited under the name of John Capgrave, and recently,
in the year 1901, it was printed again most accurately through the labour of the distinguished Carl Horstman. This Life is not found in the Sanctilogium collected by John of Tynemouth which the codex of the British Museum Cotton Tiberius E. I presents, but first in the edition of the year 1516 indicated above, added to the Sanctilogium either by Capgrave or by someone else; which the distinguished Horstman thinks, from the manner of writing, was composed in the fourteenth century Cf. Nova Legenda Anglie, ed. C. Horstman, vol. I, pp. IX, XI, XVII. That it is certainly not worthy of credit will presently be clearly evident from the things which we have narrated in it, which are to be discussed.
[2] either at what time he lived, First of all, namely, neither in what age the Cungar of whom there is talk here lived can be probably defined from this document, so much do the things handed down in it on that matter fight among themselves. For on the one side Cungar is read to have been contemporary with Dubricius, bishop of Llandaff Life, ch. 15 middle, who died his last day in the course of the year 612 [Annales Cambriae, at this year, ed. J. Williams (London, 1860), p. 6. The works cited here and there have been indicated for the most part more distinctly in the commentary on St. Illtud, above, p. 219 and following]; but on the other, that Ina, king of the English, bestowed on the same Cungar the whole territory around Congresbury Life, ch. 9 beginning, by which name must surely be understood to be designated that famous Ina, king of the West Saxons, who collected the laws of the Anglo-Saxons; and he died in the year 726 or 728 Anglo-saxon Chronicle, ed. Benj. Thorpe (1861), vol. II, p. 39, more than a hundred years after Dubricius.
[3] or from what region he sprang is not established. Nor is it less uncertain whence our Cungar sprang. Two men indeed, distinguished in birth and holiness, called by this name, the genealogies of this region teach flourished in Wales in the sixth century, the one of the stock of Cunedda Wledig, the other of the stock of Cystennin Gorneu [Myvyrian Archaeology, p. 421; W. J. Rees, Lives of the Cambro British Saints, p. 593, nn. 9, 10, and p. 598, n. 13 (cf. n. 33); Rice Rees, An Essay on the Welsh Saints, pp. 111, 113]. Of this latter there is no doubt from his genealogical tree that he is the same as the cousin of St. Kebius who is mentioned in his Life W. J. Rees, Cambro Brit. SS., p. 498 and perhaps also as the one who is listed among the disciples of the same Kebius Ibid., p. 496. The Cungar of whom there is talk now would certainly have to be said to be different from both mentioned above, if account were taken of that tradition which makes him the son of a certain emperor of Constantinople and of the empress Luciria Life, ch. 1. That this tradition is to be banished among fables no one now, I believe, does not agree; yet from it the distinguished W. Hunt The Somerset Diocese, Bath and Wells (London, 1885), pp. 5, 6 seems to himself to be able not rashly to conjecture that this Cungar migrated from overseas parts, perhaps from Armorican Britain, into Great Britain, and accordingly was not Welsh by birth. But that, as is plain, does not exceed the force of a conjecture, however probable.
[4] He is reported to have founded a monastery The Life reports that a twofold monastery was established by Cungar, the one among the Anglo-Saxons, in the place given him by king Ina, which was called by his name Congresbury, at Congresbury, the other in Wales Life, ch. 15; cf. chs. 9 – 13. And as regards the former, the narrative of the Life does not agree with the little book On the beginnings of the bishopric of Somerset, written at the end of the twelfth century [Ecclesiastical Documents now first published by the Rev. Joseph Hunter (London, printed for the Camden Society, 1840), pp. 10, 14], nor with the Chronicle of Glastonbury, in which it is reported that Congresbury had long been an episcopal see in the time of king Ina, and therefore not a deserted place which Cungar could have judged most fit for leading the hermit life and have received by the liberality of the king for establishing a monastery. Behold the words of the Chronicle: In the year of the Lord 167 the bishopric of Somerset took its beginning through SS. Faganus and Deruvianus, and at Kungresberia there was for a long time the episcopal see. And so very many bishops sat in succession in the same see up to the time of Ina, king of the West Saxons, whose number, deeds and times we have nowhere found described. And in the time of the aforesaid king, Daniel, who sat last in the chair of Kungresberia, translated that see, which had remained there for 600 years or more, to the villa which was then named Tethiscine, but now Welles, Ina giving it and consenting to him [Cited in H. Wharton, Anglia sacra, vol. I, p. 553, note. Cf. Dugdale, Monasticon anglicanum, vol. VI, part III, p. 1465; Th. Duffus Hardy, Descriptive Catalogue …, vol. III, p. 150, n. 256; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, vol. I, p. 150]. Indeed we readily profess that both those sources can rightly be reputed of little genuineness; but from them at least it is demonstrated that the account of the Life of Cungar is in no way confirmed, but rather weakened, by the traditions which flourished in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in the region of Somerset.
[5] and another in Wales, The monastery in Wales founded by Cungar there are those who have thought Rice Rees, Welsh SS., p. 183 is the same as the monastery of Docguinnus or Docunnus, which was one of the three whose abbots are indicated to have had a certain principal part in the ecclesiastical affairs of the diocese of Llandaff and above all in electing and establishing the bishop [Cf. the Life of St. Oudoceus in the Liber Landavensis, ed. Evans and Rhys, pp. 131, 132]. Nor indeed improbably. For Cungar too was called among the Britons or Welsh Doccuinus, and the abbot of Docguinnus or Doccunus is very often read to have subscribed to the charters of Llandaff together with both the other abbots, whose monastery too is designated by the name of its founder, namely Illtud and Catocus or Caitonilus [Liber Landavensis, pp. 140, 143, 144, 147, etc., etc. (cf. ibid., the Index under Docunni); W. J. Rees, Cambro Brit. SS., p. 390]. But in the Achau y Saint too a certain Cungar is reported to have founded a monastery in the region of Glamorgan in the place which was called Llangenys; but whether these things are to be understood of our Cungar is perhaps not sufficiently certain Cf. Rice Rees, Welsh SS., pp. 183, 211, 232. And that Docuinus (in Welsh Dochdwy), companion of St. Cadfan or Catocus, who, ordained bishop through his agency, for some time undertook the care of ruling the diocese of Llandaff, seems to have nothing in common with him Ibid., pp. 219 – 20. Cf. W. J. Rees, Cambro Brit. SS., pp. 340, 342.
[6] monuments of his cult. From all these things it appears how uncertain are the things which concern the history of St. Cungar. It is established, however, that under his name churches or oratories were dedicated of old and are today at Badgworth in the county of Somerset, at Hope in the county of Flint and at Llangefni in the county of Anglesey [Rice Rees, work cited, p. 232; Sam. Lewis, Topogr. Dict. of England, under Badgeworth, and Topogr. Dict. of Wales, under Hope and Llangefui]. On the 7th day of November his memory is announced in a certain Latin martyrology made between the years 1220 and 1224, in the Altemps codex of the martyrology of Usuard written after the middle of the thirteenth century, in the martyrology of Norwich of the fifteenth century and in a Welsh calendar transcribed at the end of the sixteenth century [Rich. Stanton, A Menology of England and Wales (London, 1887), p. 531, and E. Bishop, Supplement (1892), p. 783]; and on the 5th day, in the martyrology of Richard Challoner A Memorial of ancient British Piety, p. 153.
LIFE OF ST. CUNGAR
From John Capgrave's Nova Legenda Angliae. Cf. the preliminary commentary, no. 1. We have noted the variant readings of the earlier edition, that is, of the year 1516 (1), and of the later, by the distinguished C. Horstman (2).
Cungar or Docunus, abbot in England. (S.)
BHL Number: 2013
On St. Cungar, hermit and confessor.
[1] Cungar, son of the emperor of Constantinople, While a certain emperor of Constantinople hoped to beget offspring from the empress, named Luciria, he begot none. Whence both, saddened, grieved over their common barrenness, and began assiduously to fast, to distribute alms, to invoke almighty God confidently and unceasingly, that the giver of all gifts would give them an adoptive son, who could succeed his begetter and after the emperor's death hold the empire. And so, the Majesty helping, the prayers of both were heard, the gifts of alms acceptable and accepted. And after these things the most religious empress by divine nod happily conceived, and after conception more happily gave birth. The birth of the boy, then, being heard, the parents and fellow countrymen exulting, there came powerful dukes, nobles and rich men to the imperial court, praising with one accord and blessing the benevolence of the supreme giver, which had heard the petition asked and had moreover brought it to perfection, both fulfilled and to be fulfilled.
[2] lest he be compelled to contract marriage, The infant, nursed, grew to boyhood, and step by step the boy of good disposition flourished, tending to the form of youth. His form was comely and unspeakable; on account of which many kings and queens desired to join such a one to their daughters. For they heard that he was a lover of liberality and adorned with lawful morals. Meanwhile, by the consent of his parents and fellow countrymen, the daughter of a certain most noble king was betrothed to him, with the honour of both kingdoms. But he, despising perishable power and choosing in his mind what is perpetual, keeping his virginity inviolate, in mean clothing departed from the imperial court, revealing to no one what he was thinking, and at 1 consenting to no one, divinely inspired he came to the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea [The writer, little skilled in geography, seems to think the Tyrrhenian Sea (which washes the islands of Corsica and Sardinia and Italy) nearest to Constantinople]. He pressed on the journey alone, but divine company accompanied him. When he should have hunted through the woods, he secretly went to the divine oratory, repeating very often the Lord's prayer. When too he was compelled by the courtiers to play at dice, he departed against their will, hastening to the church's oratories; remaining there and kneeling he prayed with exceeding affection. And he was accustomed to come not to the courtly dinner, but to the appointed supper. He was frequent in fasts, so that all who saw and heard wondered at the religion of the youth.
[3] he flees from his homeland These things done, after the departure of their only son the parents mourned, and the citizens, given over to sadness, at the imperial order followed the fleeing youth Cungar, so that et 1, if they could seize him when found, they might take him and bring him back unwilling to the emperor. And when they came with great haste
to the shore of the sea, behold, a ship was ready to cross over. And the youth, seeing them following, and the favourableness of the winds and the ship prepared, entered the sailed That is, equipped with sails. Which meaning is not noted in Du Cange ship; and so, coming prosperously to the margin of the sea, he avoided the hateful pursuit. So the natives, tracking him, had proposed, admonished by the emperor, to compel the fugitive to return; but God, foreknowing and foreseeing the future, did not will that he should be hindered from his purpose, but rather that he should fulfil his intention first conceived. For he had begun from boyhood to live most chastely and unceasingly to pray and to offend no one. And when he was invited to the equestrian contest, he would not do knightly service; his contest was to overcome the snares of the first adversary and to contemplate heavenly things and to spurn transitory ones. His parents and the citizens had chosen him as the future emperor, but he himself preferred to tend to the heavenly election. Chosen, then, the servant of God Cungar chose to leave his native land, beginning to be a pilgrim, desiring to fulfil the evangelical precept which you have heard, namely: He who does not leave father and mother and brothers and sisters and wife and children and fields for my sake is not worthy of me. Hearing that and not forgetting it, but firmly laying it up in his breast, he did not cease until he faithfully fulfilled it. And the most holy Cungar and most gentle youth did not wish to remain in the neighbourhood of his parents, fearing that, if they heard that their son was dwelling nearby, they would without delay call back to themselves their only and dearest one.
[4] into Britain, where in the region of Somerset, On this occasion and by angelic exhortation he withdrew from the shore of the Tyrrhenian Sea and came to Italy, and from Italy across the Alps to Gaul, from Gaul by sailing to Britain. For with all his effort he strove nitabatur 1 to lead a solitary life; therefore he sought and diligently asked on the way for places fit for a hermit. While, then, he was striving to fulfil the intention inspired in him by God, he directed his journey to a certain part of the Britains which is called Somersete, as the inhabitants name the region. Then, admonished again by angelic revelation, he came to a most pleasant place surrounded by waters and a reed-bed, afterwards named by his name Cungresbiria [What the writer here asserts, that the place took its name from Cungar, is confirmed by no authority from elsewhere, nor have I found any trace of the cult of St. Cungar ever noted there. Rice Rees indeed says (Welsh SS., p. 232) that he is the patron of the village of Congresbury. But Sam. Lewis (Topogr. Dict. of England, vol. I, p. 474) and the one who published The Calendar of the Anglican Church (Oxford-London, J.-H. Parker, 1851, p. 209) report that the church of Congresbury was dedicated under the title of St. Andrew the apostle, nor do they assign any title of this kind to Cungar]. For he was called Cungar among the English; Doccuinus, as if doctor, he was called among the Britons; and not undeservedly, who sowed the streams of his doctrine through the country, and wherever he went did not cease to preach the word of God according to apostolic tradition. All things which were given him by kings and the rich he forthwith distributed to the poor.
[5] in a place designated for him by an angelic vision, The most holy and most reverend Cungar, coming into the country which is called Somerseta by the inhabitants, proposed to persevere there. And when at night he had given his limbs to rest and now (et iam) etiam 1, 2 sleep had suspended his spirit from its accustomed contemplation, it was revealed to him by an angel that wherever he should see a boar on the following day, there he should build a dwelling and afterwards found an oratory. Waking, he rejoiced greatly at the angelic revelation and went forth in haste; and unexpectedly he saw a boar lying in the reed-bed, and it passed out of sight; and the boar, frightened, went off fleeing in its usual course. And he, having seen the boar, according to the angelic promise, and moreover beholding the pleasantness of that watery and wooded place, rejoiced, uttering a speech of this kind: "This is the place which I have sought; here I shall remain, to serve the holy Trinity." Without delay he built a dwelling, then measured out a cemetery; which being measured out, he founded an oratory in honour of the holy and undivided Trinity.
[6] he led the anchorite life. Cungar, beloved of God, persevered, then, in this place, clad in a hair shirt, leading an irreproachable life in fasts and frequent prayers without hindrance. Every morning hour he went into the cold water, remaining there until he had repeated the Lord's prayer three times [That an exercise of penance of this kind was quite customary among the saints of the Celtic peoples, or at least was narrated of many of them, is gathered from the Lives of SS. Patrick (Acta Sanctorum, March vol. II, p. 577, n. 160 middle), Brigid (Acta Sanctorum, February vol. I, p. 159, n. 55), Gildas the Albanian (Colgan, Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, p. 177, ch. II), Cuannatheus (ibid., p. 250, ch. IX), Conall (ibid., p. 278, ch. VI), Farannan (ibid., p. 337, ch. X), Kieran (ibid., p. 462, ch. XXXII), Cadroe (ibid., p. 497, ch. XV), etc.]. So, then, growing cold, rising from the stream, he returned to the church, keeping vigil and entreating the omnipotence of the supreme Creator. And at the ninth hour he used barley bread, never partaking of dishes or of satiety. Leanness had held his body very thin, so that those who had seen him said that he was sick or feverish. The hermit life was most sweet to him, who thought the footsteps of Paul the first hermit and of Anthony were to be imitated.
[7] That place, before barren, prodigiously changed into a fertile field. This first miracle was accomplished through divine clemency by the most just Cungar. The watery and reedy places which were around his cultivation, then providing no usefulness, were changed into fields most fit for cultivation and into flowering meadows. This miracle being heard, from everywhere throughout England and also throughout all Britain they magnified with exceeding reverence the chosen servant of God, saying such things in his praise and honour:
The natives praise him, saying: "We see openly Fields with meadows where the marsh reed grew."
[8] [A dry staff, fixed by him in the earth, grows within the space of one day into a leafy tree.] Such and so great a miracle being accomplished, when one day the most reverend Cungar was standing in the cemetery, his clerics [We have recorded more than once (in particular Acta Sanctorum, November vol. I, pp. 463 – 464, n. 40 and following), from Mabillon, that monks were frequently designated by the name of clerics] standing round, he wished that a yew might grow there, so that it might be a shade for the summer heat and the cemetery might be adorned by the spreading of its branches. While, then, he was wishing such things, holding in his hands a staff made of yew wood, he fixed it in the earth, and could not draw it back. And on the following day, all standing there and seeing, it put forth leaves, afterwards grew into a very broad tree and, according to the petition and desire of the most blessed Cungar, was a shade for the clerics and people for the summer heat. Whence it was said:
"A green yew is here, not dry nor held in hand; What had been dry sutum 1, 2, the wonderful wood puts forth leaves."
[9] Possession of the place granted to Cungar by the liberality of king Ina. Such miracles being revealed and published everywhere, Ina Iva 1, the most bountiful king of the English, bestowed freely on the venerable Cungar the whole territory situated around Cungresbiria, and promised that he himself would be an inviolate immolatum 1 refuge for him, lest he be hindered in his prayers, as long as he himself reigned, by the royal tumult of soldiers. And the same king Ina Iva 1, after the donation of the aforesaid territory, would not thereafter visit the place now given and granted to the saint, lest he should cause trouble to the venerable Cungar by his approach. These things indeed being done, the other kings, his successors, did not dare to visit nor even to see the place venerable from the presence of Cungar. For if it chanced by accident that kings either saw or visited the place cultivated by blessed Cungar, they either began to be sick gravely and continually, or, having seen the place, did not have a longer span of living.
[10] King Edgar, because he looked upon the same place, divinely punished. Many kings, then, seeing the same place wrongfully, coming to a speedy death, paid the penalty of their wrongfulness. Edgar He died in the year 975, king of the English, one day, while he was hunting in the wood, came unknowingly to the place of the blessed man, and incautiously looked upon the place which it was not lawful for kings to see. And after postea cum 1, 2 he had seen it, led by repentance he grieved from his inmost heart, saying: Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit; you have redeemed me, O God of truth Ps. 30:6. And thence, greatly saddened, he did penance because he had looked upon the holy place, which it was by no means permitted him to see. And he bestowed a great part of land on God and St. Cungar. He also most devoutly asked all the clergy of the same territory to pour out prayers for him to the Lord, lest for the rashness with which he had undertaken to see the place divine vengeance should drive him from this light too quickly and too unprepared. And returning fearful from the hunt, he betook himself to the king's palace and, oppressed by a strong sickness, on the ninth day closed his last day. Many kings, then, had before feared to violate the reverence and privilege of this place, and the successors of those preceding feared it more, having heard of this miracle.
[11] Many miracles worked there by Cungar. When, then, Cungar, beloved of God, pleased God as much as men by such studies and virtues, he established in the same oratory of his twelve canons who should live by rule and in honour of the holy and undivided Trinity should serve God most dutifully in the same church. For he had built the same church of stones, which had at first been woven of rods and boards. And a multitude of the sick flowed together from everywhere to the holy servant of God Cungar, so that through his merits and prayers they might be cured of infirmities and various sicknesses; whom through the grace of God, the holy name of the Trinity being invoked, he cured all of whatever infirmity they were held by.
[12] He founds another oratory in Wales, an angel again admonishing him. But the man of God, seeing that on such occasion he was too much hindered from the solitude beloved to him and from the instancy of prayer, often considered with himself withdrawing from that place; which too at length he accomplished in deed. For he had heard that beyond the Severn sea there were most fit and most secret places, which he desired not a little to see; and if they suited his mind, he resolved in those places to serve God the more devoutly the more secretly. So, having undertaken the journey, he made for the seashore, his clerics following and escorting him with others of both sexes, weeping and wailing at the departure of so great a father of theirs and most faithful et adds 1, 2 defender. And blessed Cungar crossed over, with certain clerics kept with him, into the region of Glamorgan; he put in prosperously at the port of Camensis. Then he came to a steep mountain not less than one stade distant from the sea. And when he ascended it et vidit adds 1,
he found there a most clear spring; beside which he built a dwelling and began to mark out a cemetery. On the following night, then, when he had given his limbs to rest, he was admonished by an angelic vision that he should quickly leave the place which he had chosen eligerat 1 to dwell in, and should quickly prepare to seek further another place destined for him by God. He, at once waking from sleep, turning over with anxious mind what he had heard in the night vision, left the place which he had begun to inhabit, and, going not far from the same place, came to a steep mountain in every way most worthy of so great an inhabitant. At once finding that the angelic promise had been fulfilled toward him, he began to speak in this manner:
"Here a spring, here stones, here the materials of a temple; Here the good of the river is nourished everywhere through the streams. Here let my seat be; this place will prepare honours. God wills that I dwell here, showing my labour on the mountain."
These things said, he built a building, and afterwards measured out a cemetery. And when he had measured it out, he founded an oratory in honour of the holy and undivided Trinity Cf. the preliminary commentary, no. 5.
[13] [Poulentus the king, having set about driving him out from there, was then led by a double miracle to grant him the place.] When, then, he had proposed to persevere there, one day the herdsman of Poulentus, king of Glamorgan [Mention of this king occurs also in the Life of St. Illtud (cf. above, pp. 225, 226)], came to the place. He, when he had seen that blessed Cungar had built a hermit's dwelling there without royal leave, indignant, turned it over thus silently with himself, saying: "It is indeed very unworthy that a stranger and unknown man should dwell on the royal territories without consulting my lord king Poulentus. Wherefore I shall go as quickly as possible to king Poulentus to make this matter known." He, at once fulfilling in deed what he had in his wish, told king Poulentus that Cungar, a stranger hermit, not licensed, was dwelling on the royal fields. Hearing this, king Poulentus blazed up in anger, and at once hastened with haste to see the same place. When he had come there and had found for certain about the blessed man as he had heard, unbridled against him he furiously brought injuries and other unseemly things upon the blessed man. And when he had provoked the blessed man Cungar with various kinds of injuries and had commanded him to go away at a quick pace, St. Cungar, gentle as he was, answered gently, saying:
"You are king, but soon to be held by me as a servile servant. I wish to remain here; for you I will not depart. You drive me wickedly; I pray you be corrected from on high. May God himself hear, and turn you by speaking aright."
And when he had rebuked the king for his ignorance with words of this kind, at once the same king was punished with the loss of sight. He, without delay pricked at heart for so great an injury brought on the holy man, whom he had before violently rebuked, soon rolling at his knees asked pardon for himself for the injury brought, and that he would ask pardon with the merciful God for his blinding, which he had justly deserved. And St. Cungar, with the tenderness innate in him, fully compassionate toward the king, savage but now through the grace and visitation of God humble and gentle, asked of God the grace which the king himself had not deserved, and restored the king's eyes to their former light, so that, now enlightened, he saw much more clearly than before he had been blinded. And king Poulentus, having seen so great a miracle wrought on him through the grace of God, gave blessed Cungar the whole territory around the place which he had chosen; and he built a dwelling in which he served God most devoutly with all security and peace. And he built in the same place an oratory in honour of the holy and undivided Trinity, in which, as also at Cungresbiria, 〈he established omits 1, the bracketed word added by 2〉 twelve canons, who, living by rule, should serve God. And he himself, as a solicitous and most holy father, bore the care of both monasteries and refreshed them more frequently with his own presence.
[14] [A certain prince, striving to claim Cungar's possessions for himself unjustly, punished by God with death.] A certain prince, Pebiau by name Pebian 1, 2 [That prince Pebiau or Pepiau is certainly different from king Pepiau, grandfather of St. Dubricius (Liber Landavensis, ed. Evans, pp. 78 – 79), whose name and that of his sons often appears among the authors or witnesses of the charters of Llandaff (Liber Landavensis, pp. 72, 73, 75, 76, 162, 163, 235)], wished to take away from St. Cungar, who was also called Doccuinus among the Welsh, because he taught them the way of the Lord; he wished, I say, to take away a great part of the land which, both by the gift of the king and by the attestation of the neighbours, belonged to his church. But blessed Cungar, his conscience bearing witness to him, did not at all yield to so unjust an exaction, but procured that a certain day be appointed by all means, on which, before certain and faithful judges appointed on either side, there should be rendered to each what was his concerning the aforesaid portion of land. And on the appointed day, on which a just inquiry should be made about this, a multitude of the neighbours came together, to decide with the utmost care, by the mandate of king Poulentus, to whose power and right the aforesaid portion of land belonged. And the aforesaid prince named Pebiau Pebian 1, 2, surrounded by a great host of witnesses, when he was striving with force and fraud to bring injury on blessed Cungar in the aforesaid case, like wax melting at the heat of fire, melting in the sight of all who were present, was annihilated A similar fable we read in the Life of St. Illtud (above, p. 230, ch. 17). Seeing which, all were troubled with fear and glorified God, who, judging a just judgment, freed the innocent from the hand of the wicked powerful man, rendering on his head what he had deserved. And from this time and thereafter etiam 1 blessed Cungar was an object of honour and veneration to all men who had heard of his fame and holiness, and he was revered and venerated by all as an angel of God.
[15] [Cungar, having undertaken out of piety a journey to Rome and Palestine, dies at Jerusalem.] When, then, blessed Cungar was adorned with all virtues and at the same time was illustrious divinus adds 1, 2 by the miracles already mentioned and innumerable others, and when he saw both monasteries, namely at Cungresbiria and that which he had founded in Wales, walking and bearing fruit in the fear of God, there came into his mind a purpose divinely inspired, namely of going to the thresholds of the most blessed Peter and Paul and of imploring their intercessions for obtaining the divine mercy. Then too he had this in his wishes, that, having visited the sacred pledges of the apostles, he would also visit the land of Jerusalem omits 1, the bracketed word added by 2 and kiss the holy places in which the feet of the Lord stood. Having received, then, the leave and blessing of Dubricius, bishop of Llandaff, and at the same time of the monasteries over which he presided as father, and also of the parishioners of the neighbouring churches, he undertook the journey which he had in his wishes. Which too fulfilling piously and most devoutly, after he had visited at Rome the most sacred thresholds of the holy apostles and implored there the intercessions of innumerable other saints sleeping there, he set out for Jerusalem. And having travelled through and visited the holy places, in the same city, for the merits of his transitory life, he was translated to the heavenly kingdoms. Whence, as we have received from our elders, he was translated by his companions and faithful ones, who clung to him as inseparable companions, as far as Congresbiria, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be honour and glory through infinite ages of ages.