Bavo

ON ST. BAVO, ALSO CALLED ALLOYNUS, CONFESSOR,

AT GHENT IN FLANDERS.

About the year DCLIV.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Bavo, also called Alloynus, Conf., at Ghent in Flanders. (S.)

BY J. P.

§ I. The memory of the Saint in the sacred Fasti: the Acts to be published.

Among the Saints whom Ghent venerates in numbers, a city of Flanders often to be mentioned in the course of this work, and, although it is very well known and very celebrated, The Saint, patron of the people of Ghent, to be described a little more fully, the first and chief is St. Alloinus, or, by the better-known name by which he is henceforth to be called, St. Bavo. For he, from the time that that city was led from the worship of empty gods to the faith of the one and true God, first of all whom I know inscribed in the sacred Fasti honoured it by his death, enriched it with his sacred body, made it illustrious after death with miracles. He, living and dead, conferred so many benefits upon it that the people of Ghent rightly credit it chiefly to Bavo that what was before a small fortress has grown to that amplitude in which it is seen today, and that they acknowledged and venerated Bavo from the beginning as their principal patron, and venerate him also in this our age. But these things too will come to be declared elsewhere; the present § is destined solely to give notice of the old authors who committed the Saint's deeds to writing, and to point out the Martyrologies in which his name is found inscribed, and with which I begin.

[2] Of the classical martyrologists, as they call them, Wandelbert and Rhabanus went before, in many ancient ones, not however in Bede's but the latter wrote Babo and wrongly called him bishop. Wandelbert sings thus at the first day of the month of October:

Remigius, who first taught the Franks and tamed them fierce, Marks Octimber beforehand with his own honour, And Germanus together, distinguished in doctrine and deed… These Bavo accompanies in virtue and in holy honour.

Rhabanus has this at the same day: In the Gauls, in the city of Auxerre, the deposition of St. Germanus, bishop. In the city of Reims, of Remedius, bishop. In the city of Arras *, of Blessed Vedast, bishop. In the monastery of Ghent, of St. Babo, bishop, of all of whom the conversations and deeds, full of miracles, are had written down. These two martyrologists were followed in the same, namely the ninth, century in which both flourished, by Usuard, in whose pure text in Du Sollier one reads: In the port of Ghent, of Saint Bavo, confessor. There have been those who, for the more ancient notice of St. Bavo, referred their readers also to the venerable Bede; but since they themselves did not know Bede's Martyrology, and thought it was the one which was circulated under the name of Bede, and which was compiled in no way by Bede, but by I know not whom, from Ado and others, as our predecessors proved. You have Bede's Martyrology printed in our work before volume 2 of March, where, however, in the genuine text nothing is to be found about St. Bavo.

[3] There were many, and there are some even today, who think and in Ado's that St. Bavo was inscribed in his Martyrology by Ado. Mabillon, in the preliminary Observations to the Life, brings forward from a very old, as he calls it, Adonian copy this announcement: Kalends of October. In the district of Ghent the birthday of St. Bavo, conf., whose deeds are had. Domenico Giorgi adduces a similar one from his codices and subjoins it to the text of Ado edited by Rosweyde and illustrated by himself in these words: In the port of Ghent the birthday of saint Bavo, confessor, whose deeds are had. But in the Annotations on St. Vedast — for he himself adds from the same codices both his and St. Remigius's translation, and likewise the birthday of St. Piatus, passed over in Mosander and Rosweyde — on St. Vedast, I say, he pronounces thus: Mosander and Rosweyde relegated Vedast together with Bavo to the Appendix. Mosander is worthy of pardon, from which (he meant to say, I think, from blame) Rosweyde is not to be absolved, before whose eyes perhaps were the Hieronymian copies and the older copies of Usuard. That the codices of Mabillon and Giorgi are not sufficiently proved to us to be truly Adonian has already been said several times: and to the argument which Giorgi takes from the Hieronymian and Usuardine copies to accuse Rosweyde an answer was lately given in volume VIII of September under St. Fraternus, bishop of Auxerre.

[4] Suppose, however, that Rosweyde could and ought to have consulted, nay actually consulted, the Hieronymian and Usuardine copies, genuine ones, to discern whether the announcement of SS. Vedast and Bavo, found in some but less pure Adonian codices, should be retained as genuine or rejected as spurious. What ought or could he have gathered thence? The announcement relegated by Rosweyde to the Appendix is this: On the same day, of the saints Vedast, bishop, and Bavo, confessor. The pure Usuard in Du Sollier does not record St. Vedast on this day; the Martyrologies distinguished by the name of St. Jerome and published by Fiorentini do not have St. Bavo. Neither Vedast nor Bavo is read today in the very old Hieronymian or in that of Gellone, of which d'Achery inserted the first in volume 3 of the Spicilegium, the other in volume 13. Neither likewise in those of Auxerre, Murbach, Corbie in Martène and Durand, volume 3 of the Anecdota: neither in the contracted Hieronymian ones in our work, volume VII of June, except in the one of Augsburg, where St. Bavo alone appears in a different hand in this manner: At Ghent, of St. Bavo. Behold, we have now reviewed the chief Hieronymian and Usuardine copies. In none, however, do they appear together, much less are they so joined as in Rosweyde's Adonian announcement; so that even from that head Rosweyde could have conjectured that this one of his, already rejected before by Mosander, was truly spurious and to be relegated to the Appendix: and that Rosweyde, no less than Mosander, is worthy of pardon, if indeed he needs pardon who is free of blame and is wrongly accused.

[5] He is inscribed in Martyrologies and Calendars. Further, St. Bavo is announced not only in the pure Usuard, but also in its various Auctaria, but in some with a longer, in others with a shorter eulogy, as may be seen in our Du Sollier at this day. And in the Barberini Auctarium of Bede, before volume 2 of March, these things are marked: And elsewhere of Vedast, Bavo, Pieto: in the Fulda Martyrology in Domenico Giorgi: On the same day the birthday of saints Piato and Bavo: in the same place, in the Vatican Calendar from codex 3806: At Ghent, of saint Bavo: and in the Calendar of Corbie in Martène: On the Kalends of October, in the monastery of Nobiliacum, of St. Vedast; at Reims of St. Remigius, Germanus, Bavo, Piatus: finally, that we may not waste time in enumerating and reciting the sacred Fasti of very many more recent ones, in the Franco-Gallic Hagiology and in the present Roman Martyrology in plainly the same words as in the pure Usuard.

[6] The Life written by an anonymous author, very probably a monk of Ghent, The original Life of St. Bavo was very well known to the ancient writers; but from the time when Theodoric, abbot of Saint-Trond, at the beginning of the twelfth century composed another, it was condemned to darkness so much that scarcely anyone thereafter made mention of it, until in the century just past it was restored to the light by Mabillon and began to be held in esteem by the learned. The name, homeland and condition of the author have not hitherto become known; nothing more probable can be conjectured than that he was a monk of the Ghent monastery often to be cited. For first, he touches briefly on the things which the Saint did elsewhere, and is wholly occupied in narrating those which he performed in the said monastery. Secondly, the same author intimates that he wrote at the command or request of the prelate of a certain congregation or abbot of monks, whom he addresses thus in the Prologue: Holy father, … you have compelled [me], as far as an unskilled tongue avails, to imitate the footsteps of all the most eloquent men. To you, father, whatever my art shall have thought, or been able to find, I shall take care to disclose … we desire to fulfil your will. May the Lord grant to me, the last of His servants, always to rejoice in your conversation, and with the flock committed to you and with saint Bavo … to merit the kingdoms of heaven. The man, then, to whom our writer dedicates his Work, was either the abbot of the Ghent monastery, who wished the Deeds of the Saint to be written down and preserved for the knowledge of posterity, or the prelate of another congregation, who desired the same Deeds to be more distinctly declared to himself and his subjects. In either case it is most probable that this was commanded or requested of a monk of Ghent, as more nearly and more fully instructed in the matter.

[7] All acknowledge that the author is very ancient, yet not all attribute the same age to him. whom some relate to have lived in the 7th century, others in the 8th, The first editor, Mabillon, calls him almost contemporary. The Benedictine authors of the Literary History of France judge him not altogether contemporary, but not very remote from the time in which the Saint lived. William Cave, part 2 of the Ecclesiastical Writers, page 132, says that he wrote about the year DCLXX, which was the sixteenth or seventeenth from the death of St. Bavo. Baillet, finally, makes him a hundred years later than the said death. But as the latter alleges no foundation for his opinion, so I think Cave had none besides the reasons found in the preliminary Observations in Mabillon, and expressed in these words: The anonymous author seems to have lived not long after the death of St. Bavo. The words must be weighed with which he concludes the Life written by him. "If," he says, "we wished to pursue all the things we have found out about his deeds, the day (as I think) before the speech should cease." Which words present as it were an eyewitness. Ado, an author of the 9th century, testifies that the deeds of St. Bavo were read by him in this manner, etc.; the words I gave above, where I said that it is not proved to us that they are Ado's genuine ones. Mabillon continues: The writer of the Miracles of St. Bavo, in book 1, number IV, cites the Book of the Deeds of St. Bavo. Finally Othelbold, abbot of Ghent, at the beginning of the XIth century, in a Letter to be reported afterwards, commends the same Book of the Life.

[8] The second part of the argumentation, if namely in the adduced testimonies of old writers the discourse is about this Life of ours, certainly it is very ancient; known to Rabanus; which is most probable, avails to show that its author was very ancient, and wrote before the middle of the ninth century; for for Ado we substitute Rhabanus, who in his Martyrology, composed before the middle of that century, mentions the Deeds of St. Bavo written down. But to the words of our biographer contained in the first part of the argumentation I would not attribute that force which Mabillon attributes to them; since one is rightly said to have found out a thing who learned it even a long time afterwards from authentic monuments or writings. Hence perhaps the authors of the Literary History of France neglected this argument of Mabillon, and tried to establish their opinion about the age of the biographer by the following reasons: Since he does not cite an earlier writing, and otherwise names most exactly all the persons of whom an occasion of speaking offers itself, he shows that he wrote from the report of eyewitnesses, and therefore thirty or thirty-five years after the death of St. Bavo. For my part, neither their reasons nor Mabillon's

opinion do I oppose; but, committing to the judgment of readers the reasons by which they think it established, I take the greatest weight for the antiquity of the Life from the testimonies of Rhabanus and other ancients speaking of it, as is wont to be done concerning ancient monuments.

[9] To these can be joined our second anonymous, who rendered the Lucubration of the former in verse, and by another anonymous before the year 980 and is not later than the tenth century, perhaps even earlier. We gather this from number 7, where these things are read of St. Landoald:

He indeed, ever watchful in holy deeds, Did not turn aside from them until the day of death, By the divine gift working many miracles, Whose limbs rest happily in that place Which stands called by the ancient name CURTIS HIEMIS; This was once the possession of saint Bavo.

Of St. Landoald the archpriest and his Companions it was treated in our work at the 19th day of March, and there was given the History of the translation of the relics from Wintershove to Ghent, by a contemporary monk of Ghent. Now Wintershove, in Latin to some Wintershovium or Wintershovum, to the just-cited monk of Ghent and to the anonymous poet Curtis hiemis — for winter is called in Belgic Winter, and curtis (which word commonly signifies a farm or village) hoeve — is, I say, a village between the cities of Tongres and Hasselt in the territory of Liège: where the said St. Landoald died and was buried, and shone with miracles until the year 980, in which his sacred remains were translated thence to Ghent by the monks of Ghent, lords of the place, without doubt by a donation formerly made by St. Bavo, as is certainly established from the History of the translation. But the poet indicates that the limbs of St. Landoald still rested at Wintershove when he was writing; he wrote, therefore, before the year 980.

[10] in a verse somewhat Leonine, which kind of metre There will perhaps be someone to whom a doubt occurs about so great an antiquity of the Poem from the structure of the verses of which it for the greater part consists, and which are Leonine, or akin to Leonine: especially when he shall have read these things in Du Cange in the Glossary of middle and low Latinity: Leonine verses, so called perhaps because they were invented by a certain poet Leo, who lived about the times of Louis VII or Philip Augustus, kings of France… Which is also the opinion of Étienne Pasquier, book VII of the French Inquiries, chapter 2. For according to that opinion that kind of metre would have been invented only in the 12th century. The Work of the aforementioned Étienne Pasquier is not at hand: I should think, however, that he disputed only about the origin of the name, and that this was taken by Du Cange of the first invention of verse of this kind. Certainly in the French Dictionary which is entitled of Trévoux, at the word Leonin, these things are read in French: Pasquier judges that this name proceeds from a certain Leoninus or Leonius, who composed many verses of this kind ending alike… He was a religious of St. Victor, who flourished in the year MCLIV under Louis VII. Grant, however, that that famous writer attributed to Leoninus or Leonius the very invention of that metre. The learned of today judge, and prove, the contrary.

[11] was then in use Papebroch, in the Paralipomena to the Attempt at the Catalogues of the Pontiffs, page 87, brings forward an example from the seal of Victor the second, Pontiff, who died in the year 1057, on which this Hexameter was read: Thou for me didst leave the ship; take up the key. Others adduce more. But, not to be longer, Marbod, from archdeacon of Angers made bishop of Rennes in the year 1096, and dying about 1123, therefore older than Leo or Leoninus or Leonius, commonly played with this kind of verses in his Poems, as may be seen in the ample collection of them made and published by Antoine Beaugendre at Paris in the year 1708. Moreover, even if it be admitted gratuitously that rhythmic verses of this kind were brought to greater perfection only in the 12th century, chiefly by the author Leo or Leonius, so that for that very reason they began to be called Leonine, the Acts of St. Pelagius the martyr, printed in our work in volume V of June, page 209, invincibly prove that the metre which our biographer used was employed in the 10th century. Behold the first verses of the author addressing the Saint:

Renowned Pelagius, most valiant martyr of Christ, And good soldier of the King who reigns through the ages, Look upon wretched Hroswitha with gentle loving-kindness, Me, thy little handmaid subject to thee with gentle loving-kindness.

So in the same measures and numbers the whole lucubration is completed.

[12] The age of Hroswitha, to others Roswida, a nun in the monastery of Gandersheim is proved in the duchy now of Brunswick, we learn from another Little Work of hers, likewise rhythmic, on the deeds of the emperor Otto the first, which exists in Heinrich Meibom the younger, volume 1 of the German Affairs, from page 709. In the first Preface to the abbess Gerberga she calls herself Hroswith of Gandersheim, last of the last; in the other she addresses thus the emperor Otto the second, to whom she offers the poem:

Do not spurn the mean text of a mean nun, Which (if thou deign to remember) thou thyself Didst lately order to be presented to thy bright little eyes.

And hence it becomes clear that she wrote before the year 983, in which Otto the second ceased to live: and so every doubt which could arise about the antiquity of our biographer from the structure of the verses vanishes, and the argument stands which we took from his words about the body of St. Landoald kept in his age at Wintershove, and from which we concluded that he wrote before the year 980.

[13] I observe nothing about the quality or nature and value of the Poem, regarded according to art; faithfully set forth. the learned know that the talents of those centuries were less cultivated for that more sublime and more lovely poetry. This can be said universally of that Work, that the author, the preface being removed, the address to St. Bavo, the things which he inserted about St. Landoald, and a few things which I shall point out in this Commentary or in the Annotations, clung strictly and faithfully to the footsteps of the older biographer, and so commonly kept not only the order and symmetry of the things but also of the circumstances, that there is scarcely any other difference between the two Works than of words and style. I shall commit both to print, however, both because the Poem, so far as I know, has never been made public, and because from it it can be judged that the other is very ancient, original, and preserved to these our times without notable corruption or interpolation.

[14] That original Work our third biographer also had before his eyes, The same Abbot Theodoric, at the end of the XIth century, Theodoric, abbot of Saint-Trond, of whose life, merits and learning a sufficiently ample account exists in our work, volume 1 of July, in the preliminary Commentary to the Life of St. Rumold, patron of the people of Mechelen: whence I take a little, both that you may soon know his age, and that you may conjecture in what place and on what occasion he wrote: He, having first professed the monastic life at St. Trond's, but on account of the frequent contentions of the abbots, by which all things were thrown into disorder, the monastic discipline going to ruin, had betaken himself to Ghent to the monastery of St. Peter, that he might serve the Lord there in peace and quiet. But thence, in the year MXCVIII, brought out by the bishop of Liège, he was consecrated abbot for the monastery of St. Trond. These things are taken and contracted into a compendium from the Chronicle of Saint-Trond, which is kept in manuscript in our library and had as author Rudolph, abbot, in the year 1108 Theodoric's successor in the same monastery. Hence, as it becomes manifest at what time Theodoric flourished, so it is scarcely doubtful that he undertook to reshape the Life of St. Bavo towards the end of the eleventh century, while he was staying at Ghent in the monastery of St. Peter, for the favour of the monks of St. Bavo, who, as is conjectured by some, not content with the earlier Life, drove him to it, famous as he was for elegant writing.

[15] he rendered it in better style, but sprinkled it with many errors. This Theodoric, as a man neither unlearned nor unskilled in the Latin tongue, carried out with that success which I intimated above. The older Life, written in a more obscure and less ornate style, began to be neglected, hidden in hiding-places, blotted out: the lucubration of Theodoric alone was handled by hands and eyes; his authority alone was alleged by the succeeding writers of the deeds of our Saint. That success held until almost the middle of the seventeenth century; when at length his additions and interpolations began to be weighed by historical and chronological criticism, and were detected to swarm with many faults and errors. The first and chief effort in this was contributed by Henschen in the preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Amand, bishop, volume 1 of February, page 834 and following, where he marked many errors of this kind; and since he believed the older Life wholly lost, he grieved. I add no more, because in the course of this Commentary frequent occasion will come of attacking Theodoric and of bringing forward the arguments of more recent writers agreeing with Henschen about his errors: from which and from Theodoric's Work itself, which I shall print in the third place, the reader will judge whether the opinion of those is sufficiently exact who assert that he followed the older anonymous sufficiently exactly, and differs from him in style alone.

[16] A compendium of the Life and miracles In the fourth place comes a Little Work which is noted as taken from a very old manuscript of St. Bavo's and is entitled The Miracles of St. Bavo comprised in three books: although in the first book there are comprised especially the site and beginnings of Ghent; a compendium of the Life of St. Bavo and a short History of the monastery of Ghent with the translations of the relics from the Saint's death until the middle of the tenth century; but in the two following books only those miracles which followed the translation made in the said century. Of this Little Work too, at least for the greater part, the first editor was Mabillon, from a manuscript codex of the abbey of St. Cornelius of Compiègne, Benedictine century 2, page 406, where he says the author is an anonymous monk who lived in the tenth century. That he was a monk the author signifies in the Preface; but Mabillon referred him to the tenth century because, as he says in the preliminary Observations, it appears from the beginning of book 2 that he lived a little after the disaster of the Northmen. For the understanding of this reason a few things, which we shall afterwards explain more fully, must be noted beforehand. In the ninth century the monks of Ghent, on account of the incursions of the Northmen into the Gauls, fled with the body of St. Bavo and the sacred furniture, and were exiles, until in the tenth century, affairs being more peaceful, they returned to Ghent, and, since the monastery had been destroyed by the barbarians, deposited the body of the Saint in the church of the new castle. Meanwhile, at the exhortation of Transmar, bishop of Noyon and Tournai, Arnulf, count of Flanders, restored the monastery, and into it the monks migrated with the body of St. Bavo, which St. Gerard, then abbot of the monastery, publicly proved to have been preserved entire up to that time.

[17] made in the 10th century, a third anonymous These things having been narrated, the anonymous author passes to the second book, of which this is the prelude: Desiring to mark, in whatever manner, with the office of the pen the wonderful works of God almighty, by which He has deigned to make known to the world the merits of His most beloved athlete Bavo, works truly suited to the profit of many, we think it will not be beside the purpose if, before those things which have been shown in modern time in the place in which he now rests, we commend to memory a certain magnificent miracle, and therefore profitable by its novelty, manifested in the new castle before his relics were translated to that place

miracle. From this prelude it is clear, as I advised above, that only those miracles are reported by the author which followed the translation, or bringing back, of the sacred body made in the tenth century after the exile of the monks. For the first miracle, which he sets first as older, he asserts was performed in the new castle, namely in that place in which the monks, returned from exile, had deposited the sacred body until the monastery was restored: but the rest after the restoration of the monastery, or about the times in which he himself was writing, as he insinuates by the phrase in modern time.

[18] Yet from this prelude alone it will perhaps not so appear to anyone wrote in the same 10th century that the author lived in the tenth century, as it appeared to Mabillon. For according to Mabillon himself the relics of St. Bavo were brought back to Ghent in the year 939; after this year, then, the first miracle was performed in the new castle: but since the author so distinguished the same miracle from those which he affirms were shown in modern time, it might seem that he set it first as performed long before his own times, and therefore it would also seem more probable that he did not live in the same tenth century. Whatever may be the case, Mabillon's reason does not appear to me sufficiently convincing either: if one must contend for the tenth century, I would prefer to bring forward as an argument, or rather as a conjecture, the author's manner and order of writing; who, although briefly and roughly as regards style, yet sufficiently accurately handed down in the first book the history of the affairs of the same century pertaining to the relics of St. Bavo and the monastery of Ghent, and, stopping at the exhibition of the relics made about the middle of that century by St. Gerard the abbot, as though nothing worthy of relating had happened thereafter, soon proceeded to the miracles shown in modern time.

[19] It is established, however, that in the next following century twice, he is believed. These four Little Works we shall commit to print. namely in the years 1010 and 1058, a similar exhibition of the body of our Saint, but instituted with far greater apparatus, was made to prove its genuineness and integrity, and that both were made illustrious by miracles more evident than those which he commonly reported, which, as may rightly be believed, he would not have passed over in silence if he had written later. The instruments from which these things are established we keep for the Posthumous Glory, where there will be the proper place to speak of them. The three books of miracles of the anonymous monk will also constitute part of the same Posthumous Glory, but it has seemed good to set forth here beforehand some notice of the author, because the compendium of the life of St. Bavo which he inserted in the first book will be of use again and again in this preliminary Commentary. Further, the older Life, of which we treated in the first place, we shall attach to the Commentary from our copy, which is noted as taken from a very old manuscript of St. Omer and collated with a very old manuscript of St. Bavo's, and which moreover we have collated with Mabillon's edition from the Corbie and Conques manuscripts. The metrical Life will follow the older one, from the single very old manuscript of St. Bavo's; finally the Life reshaped and interpolated by Abbot Theodoric, from Surius and two manuscript codices. And we shall elucidate each with necessary annotations, namely where this has not been sufficiently done in the Commentary.

* Attrebatis

§ II. Illustrious birth: kinsmen conspicuous for family and sanctity.

All testify that he was born of an illustrious stock; Of the birth of our Saint all writers, both old and more recent, speak most honourably, and indeed in such a way that there can be no doubt but that he was born of a most illustrious and most powerful stock, and afterwards excelled among the princes by rank of honour and dignity, and by amplitude of power. The last rests on a testimony which admits no exception, that of St. Livinus, bishop and martyr, a contemporary, directing these verses in an epitaph to St. Bavo, then dead.

Thou who wast ruler of the fatherland, hope of the nation, glory of the realm, First of the great, who but now wast great, Not because thou wast great does great glory make thee blessed, But great glory scorned makes thy honour.

But as St. Livinus, so others, the nearer they stood to the times, the less clearly and distinctly they set forth the said birth. The anonymous biographer begins the History of St. Bavo, nay concludes whatever pertains to this up to the marriage contracted, in these few words: Allowinus, then, which name he received in holy Baptism, whom the common people call Bavo, of noble race, of renowned parents, born in the duchy of Hesbaye, was joined to a wife, namely the daughter of Count Adilio, by whom he begot, etc. The other anonymous in the metrical Life suggests nothing more explicit, singing thus:

The blessed Bavo, man of the Lord, is established to have been begotten Of the twofold nobility of great parents, And as they were strong everywhere in great riches, So too they shone diligently in holy deeds.

[21] Othelbold calls him the cousin of St. Gertrude; Othelbold, in a letter to Otgiva, countess of Flanders, wife of Baldwin the Bearded, adds two things, by which he points out the condition or state of St. Bavo in the world, and opens a way by which we may be led nearer to the knowledge of his stock. These are the words: The first and chief patron of our fatherland, St. Alowinus, surnamed Bavo , the most noble and most wealthy count of the district of Hesbaye, cousin of the most blessed virgin Gertrude, converted by the preaching of the blessed pontiff Amand, nay by the inspiration of God almighty, with the whole devotion of his mind, leaving his kindred and fatherland, following Christ and the consul himself to Ghent, while he strove to leave earthly things, merited to obtain heavenly ones. But the book of his life reports these things more fully. So he in Miraeus, volume 1 of the Diplomas of Belgium, page 348 of the second edition, and in our manuscript Ghent copy, except those things which I have noted in the margin and one or two differences of no moment. And Othelbold wrote this letter about the year 1030, when he himself presided as abbot over the monastery of St. Bavo at Ghent, and could consult the older documents which, withdrawn, as we said before, from the fury of the Northmen, were kept there, and learn thence the asserted kinship of blood of St. Bavo with St. Gertrude. For the Life of St. Bavo to which he appeals, unless it is different from ours, which we think the original, makes mention of St. Gertrude at number 28, but keeps deep silence about the said kinship of blood. It must be believed, then, that Othelbold referred to that Life for a fuller knowledge of the conversion of St. Bavo and of the excellent deeds of the rest of his life thereafter, but not for the confirmation of his kinship with St. Gertrude; which he had received from other documents, and of which I shall treat at more length after we have heard Theodoric, abbot of St. Trond, discoursing on the Saint's birth.

[22] He flourished in the same century as Othelbold, but more advanced, Theodoric, of the race of the princes of the Franks; and polished the original Life of St. Bavo in the monastery of St. Peter at Ghent, as we set forth at length in the preceding §. The words pertaining here are these: The glorious athlete of God Allowinus, surnamed Bavo, chosen beforehand and predestined by God before secular times, of the race of the princes of the Franks and heir of the dukes of the Austrasians, was born and brought up in Gallia Belgica, in the district of Hesbaye, in no obscure place, Pelagius, who preceded blessed Gregory, administering the universal Pontificate, Justin the younger holding the sceptres, Clovis governing the monarchy of France. His father was called Eilolphus, his mother Adelthrudis. The things noted in the margin designate the chief differences between Surius's edition, from which I took the text, and our manuscript codices. Now let us examine a little more carefully each of the assertions of the abbots Othelbold and Theodoric. Consobrini, as Othelbold calls SS. Gertrude and Bavo, taken in the strict sense, are, according to some, those who are born of two sisters, and in this opinion it would have to be said that Blessed Itta or Iduberga, wife of Blessed Pippin of Landen, of whom St. Gertrude was born, and the mother of St. Bavo, to whom Theodoric attributes the name Adeltrudis, were sisters. But according to others consobrini are taken generally for any children of brothers and sisters: and in this opinion St. Bavo could have been called the cousin of St. Gertrude whether he had been born of a sister or brother of Blessed Itta or of Blessed Pippin himself. Nevertheless, in whichever way that word is taken, it certainly designates kinsmen in the second degree.

[23] Yet the author of the Office of St. Bavo of Ghent, which came out in print in the year 1572, others, a kinsman of Blessed Pippin in the third degree. Molanus in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium at the first of October, and Sanderus in the Hagiology of Flanders, page 47, either because they did not consult Othelbold's Letter, or because they believed the word consobrinus was used by him in a broader signification, or finally because they judged that less deference was to be paid to his testimony than to the calculations of Abbot Theodoric, not easily to be reconciled with so great nearness of blood; they, I say, place a greater distance of kinship between SS. Gertrude and Bavo. They make Carloman, the father of Blessed Pippin, and Eilolphus or Agilulphus, the father of St. Bavo, first cousins, that is, children of two brothers, and therefore Pippin and Bavo kinsmen only in the third degree, but Gertrude, Pippin's daughter, and the same Bavo only in the fourth. I copy the words from lesson 4 of the aforesaid Office of Ghent: Agilulphus, count of Hesbaye, begotten of the royal stock of the princes of the Austrasians, and first cousin on the father's side of Carloman, the father of Pippin of Landen *, whom they call the first duke of Brabant, left a son of excellent disposition, Alloynus, surnamed Bavo. The same are read almost word for word in the cited Molanus and Sanderus. But whether they rest on any solid foundation they do not teach, nor could I elicit anything similar from ancient monuments.

[24] On these some things are observed. I suspect that the genealogy of St. Bavo was arranged in that way in the old Ghent Office and in the Little Works of others in order that the chronological notes of Abbot Theodoric in the Life of Bavo might become more probable, according to which the Saint would have been born in the year 578; whereas Gertrude did not see the light before 626, so that he would have preceded her by nearly fifty years, which difference of age will with difficulty be admitted in cousins properly so called, namely children of two sisters, or even of brothers and sisters. But a difference of age of this kind has no difficulty when Bavo, born in the year 578, and Pippin, born into the world, as was said at the 21st day of February, about 580, are set in an equal degree as children of first cousins; Gertrude one degree more remote from Bavo. But whether it is worth while to have recourse to that will be judged when we have considered more attentively the chronological notes of Theodoric. For the rest, in both opinions already proposed about the kinship of blood between Bavo and Gertrude, or her father Pippin, we understand why he is said by Theodoric to be of the race of the princes of the Franks, or, as others explain, begotten of the royal stock of the Austrasians: namely because from Pippin of Landen and Itta, to one or other of whom, and perhaps to both, he was joined by the bond of blood, the kings of the Franks of the second line flowed; namely through St. Begga, their other daughter and sister of St. Gertrude, of whom and her husband Ansegisel was born Pippin of Herstal, father of Charles Martel, grandfather of Pippin the Short, king of the Franks, great-grandfather of Charlemagne. Doubtless for the same reason the author of our manuscript Florarium called the Saint of the stock of the Carolingians,

saying at the first of October: In the port of Ghent the deposition of Bavo, of the stock of the Carolingians.

[25] Othelbold's testimony standing, it follows that the Saint And I added, perhaps joined by the bond of blood to both, namely Pippin and Itta, because, although it were altogether certain that the mother of St. Bavo was the sister of Blessed Itta, as the primary and proper signification of the word consobrinus, used by Othelbold, requires, nothing would prevent Agilulphus, the Saint's father, from having also been a kinsman of Blessed Pippin. If, further, it were established that the mother of St. Bavo, Aldetrudis, was the sister of Blessed Itta, the mother of St. Gertrude, a fuller notice could be given here of the maternal family and origin of the Saint from the things which Henschen brought forward at the 8th day of May, treating of Blessed Iduberga or Itta. There, at number 4, he first recites from the Life of St. Gertrude, written in the XIth or XIIth century, the following words: The venerable Itta was sprung from the most illustrious nobility of Aquitaine, as we know without doubt from the tradition of her possessions made to us. Which indeed the church of Nivelles held for a long time, as long as peace flourished, and its collectors were wont to bring back much money thence every year. By the latter words the author points to the church which Blessed Itta herself built at Nivelles, a town of Brabant, together with a most noble monastery, where after the death of her husband Blessed Pippin she embraced the religious life and set her daughter Gertrude over it as abbess. There both, after a life most piously spent, were buried, and up to these our times are venerated with great veneration together with Blessed Pippin, whose body was afterwards translated thither and deposited next to the tomb of St. Gertrude his daughter. The curious reader will be able to see more about BB. Pippin and Itta in our Work at the said days, the 21st of February and the 8th of May; likewise at the 17th day of March, where St. Gertrude was treated. Meanwhile let us see what further Henschen brings forward on the matter of which we treat.

[26] He cites in the second place the Life of St. Modoald, bishop of Trier, had as kinsmen men of the VIIth century, written at the beginning of the 12th century, by the author Stephen, abbot of St. James at Liège, and illustrated by Henschen himself at the 12th day of the month of May. In it these things are read at number 5: The man of venerable memory Modoald, not moderately distinguished by twofold freeborn nobility, from the renowned lineage of the Aquitanians, more beautiful than the moon, more splendid than the sun, shone forth to the honour of God and the Church. These at number 6: As has been found from the faithful tradition of the ancients, in whom is wisdom, his (Modoald's) sister was named Itta, … who indeed, joined in marriage to the most illustrious duke Pippin, … by divine providence merited to obtain a partner of the lawful bed of one mind with herself in every pursuit of piety. After this there is woven a very long order, first of the children who were begotten of that pious marriage, Grimoald, Gertrude and Begga, then of the descendants from Begga, princes, kings, emperors, up to Lothar, son of Louis the Pious, the eulogies of each being added. Finally Abbot Stephen, at number 27, brings forward another sister of St. Modoald, named Severa, whom the holy brother wished to preside as abbess over the convent of St. Symphorian built by him at Trier, and whom likewise the cited author adorns with a notable eulogy. That eulogy, with other testimonies of her sanctity and cult among the people of Trier, was reprinted in volume V of July at the 20th day of the month, on which the memory of St. Severa is inscribed in various Martyrologies.

[27] If the things which we have brought forward from the authors cited so far are true, most illustrious in family and sanctity. There are some who call St. Adilia and the things which we concluded from their words, especially Othelbold's, taken strictly, St. Bavo had as kinsmen not only those who were famous above others for family and power, but also those who in the seventh century excelled in holiness of life; Blessed Pippin of Landen, duke and most powerful Mayor of the Palace of the kings of the Austrasians, his wife Blessed Itta; St. Severa, St. Modoald, and those indeed as maternal aunts, this one as maternal uncle; as cousins SS. Gertrude and Begga, the Acts of the latter of whom will come to be illustrated on the 17th day of December. To these some add a holy sister, named Adilia, of whom Molanus in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium at the 25th of May, and our Predecessors among the Passed Over of the same day, as follows: Of Adilia, sister of St. Bavo: at the 8th of the Kalends of June Molanus found her name in the library of the provostship of St. Bavo at Ghent (while he was inspecting ancient Missals.) Having read which, he asserts that he did not doubt that the church of Blessed Bavo formerly celebrated the memory of St. Adilia in the divine Office. For the rest, in what place she rests and what her life was, he could nowhere find; unless she is St. Adilia of Orp, which doubt, conceived from the Martyrologies of certain churches, Molanus, about to treat of St. Adilia at the last day of June, promises he will propose. Ferrarius, Saussay and Fisen in the Flowers of the church of Liège follow Molanus; but they shed no light: nor can we bring any now. If we attain anything certain, it can be indicated at the Life of St. Adilia of Orp on the 30th of June, at the Life of St. Bavo on the 1st of October.

[28] The same Molanus in the same place at the 30th of June, when he had reported the sister of St. Bavo. what he knew about St. Adilia, virgin of Orp, subjoined this clause. There is read on this day in the Martyrologies of certain churches (he notes in the margin, at Louvain at St. Gertrude's, at Brogne at St. Gerard's): On the same day, of saint Adilia, virgin, sister of saint Bavo. Whence St. Adilia of Orp might seem to be the one of Hesbaye, the sister of blessed Bavo. For the rest, Orp is of the diocese of Namur in the duchy of Brabant, and there in the Office of Adilia no mention of Bavo is introduced. Our Papebroch also treated of Adilia of Orp, volume V of June at the last day of the month, nor did he pass over Molanus's observation on the alleged Martyrologies; nay, after he had noted in passing that St. Bavo was born in Hesbaye, and was rich in many estates, he added: And Saint-Trond (the capital of the tract of Hesbaye) is distant only three leagues from Orp, which could have been Adilia's Allod: wherefore the tradition of the aforesaid churches concerning such a sisterhood seems not to be despised. Nor do I think it to be despised.

[29] but of this and others the ancients are silent. But while we do not know what age those Martyrologies bear, or what authority and credit they merit, while nothing occurs from elsewhere by which their assertions may be strengthened, and while we are taught by very frequent experience from how slight conjectures traditions of this kind are often born, what further shall we determine? Let everyone, then, be free to think what he will both about this sister of the Saint, and about the others named, whether relatives or kinsmen, passed over in silence by the anonymous writer of the older Life. Othelbold's testimony about the kinship between Bavo and Gertrude can indeed be held most probable, yet not historically certain, since that author is more than three centuries later than the Saint. Hence probably and prudently, in my judgment, the author of the present Office of the cathedral church of Ghent not only did not touch Othelbold's assertion, but also cut away the things which were built up about the Saint's kinsmen in the old Office. He plainly followed the older Life, and so began the fourth lesson: Bavo, of renowned parents, born in Hesbaye, a tract of Brabant of Liège, about the end of the sixth Century.

* Ms. Saint Bavo, surnamed Allowinus

* ibid. Domini

* ibid. Christum is lacking

* ibid. præsulem

* Mss. in is lacking

* ibid. præsedit.

* read Landa

§ III. His homeland, the time of his birth uncertain, his baptismal name, his surname and its interpretation.

He was born in Hesbaye, That our Saint was born in Hesbaye is an opinion received by all, but what place of Hesbaye was made illustrious by the birth of so great a Man no one has hitherto been able to draw out from old monuments. Allowinus, says the anonymous author of the older Life, whom the common people call Bavo … was born in the duchy of Hesbaye. And Theodoric, abbot of St. Trond: Allowinus, surnamed Bavo, … was born and brought up in Gallia Belgica, in the district of Hesbaye, in no obscure place. There is no need to bring forward the testimonies of more. Further, Hasbania, to the ancients Hasbanium, the Hasbanian district, to the natives Haspengaw, is a tract of Belgium in the territory of the bishop of Liège, extended between Brabant, the Meuse and the city of Liège, whose capital is Saint-Trond, or Trudonopolis. But that region formerly extended, as Baudrand observes, as far as Louvain, whence its western part is now reckoned under Brabant. Indeed, that the Hasbanian district was of no moderate extent you may gather from the fact that in the 9th century it contained four counties. That is clear from the division of the kingdom of King Lothar between his paternal uncles King Louis and the emperor Charles the Bald, made in the year 870; for in it there are assigned to Charles In Hesbaye IV counties, as may be read in Du Chesne, volume 2 of the Writers of the History of the Franks, page 455.

[31] That a duke presided over these four counties and perhaps others of the neighbouring provinces of which he was count or duke, Henschen shows at the 20th day of February from the Acts of St. Eucherius, bishop of Orléans in the 8th century, written by a contemporary author. Hence probably our anonymous called Hesbaye not a county but a duchy, and thence a doubt can arise whether Bavo was only a count, or also a duke. Our anonymous attributes to him neither title. Othelbold calls him the most noble and most wealthy count of the Hasbanian district. The other writers commonly call both him and his father Agilulphus counts of Hesbaye; but in that sense, unless I am mistaken, that they believed them to have obtained the county or lordship of all Hesbaye, and that others were subject to them as to their dukes, if there were at that time any lords of particular counties in Hesbaye. Such a sense the words of Othelbold certainly admit, and also those of the author of the Miracles at number 7, saying: Bavo, more noble among the nobles of the Hasbanian district, etc.: nay, the verse of St. Livinus in the epitaph of St. Bavo plainly requires the same:

Thou who wast ruler of the fatherland, hope of the nation, glory of the realm,

FIRST OF THE GREAT.

[32] It is certain that Bavo shone in the holy century of Belgium, in an uncertain year; not, as some that is, the seventh of Christ; but so obscure and involved are the things which have hitherto come out about the time of his birth that not only is it not possible to determine the year, but it is even plainly doubtful whether he ought to be bound to the said seventh century, or to the preceding one. The anonymous suggests nothing on which you may fix your foot, nothing the others who are older than Abbot Theodoric. He at length, the first whom I know, confidently added chronological notes to the Saint's birth, and years expressed at length to certain deeds and to his death, and so cast into errors almost all who thereafter treated the Acts of St. Bavo up to the middle of the seventeenth century: when at length men of more sagacious criticism began to look more deeply into Theodoric's calculations and to compare them with other trustworthy documents, and detected as erroneous all those which from the older

Life were not taken. Of each in particular we shall note some things, as the order of things and times shall require. Let us begin from the chronological notes which Theodoric thrust upon us for discerning the year of his birth.

[33] In Gallia Belgica, he says, in the district of Hesbaye, in no obscure place, (Bavo) was born and brought up, from Theodoric's faulty notes Pelagius, who preceded blessed Gregory, administering the universal Pontificate, Justin the Younger holding the sceptres, Clovis governing the monarchy of France. I shall not stir up here the various opinions of chronologers on the beginning of the Pontificate of Pope Pelagius II and the end of the reign or life of Justin the Younger. I shall namely pass over the opinion of Pagi, who fixes the death of Justin on the 5th day of October of the year 578, but the ordination of Pelagius the Pontiff on the 30th of November of the same year, in which, as also in the opinion of Papebroch, who binds the ordination of Pelagius only to the following year, it cannot be true that Bavo was born while Justin governed the empire and Pelagius the Church. Let me admit, then, for a while that the opinion of Labbe is truer, who places the beginning of Pelagius in the month of November in the year 577, the death of Justin in the month of October 578, or even that of Le Cointe, who defers the death of Justin to 579, so that St. Bavo could have been born about 578 and so far the notes of Abbot Theodoric be reconciled. But soon another stumbling-block occurs at the end of the same period: Clovis governing the monarchy of France: by which name we have no king of the Franks from the year 511, the last of Clovis I, until the year 638, in which Clovis II succeeded his father Dagobert in the kingdoms of Neustria. Hence Surius noted in the margin that this place seems faulty; but in the text itself he enclosed in brackets: perhaps Clothar. Yet not even so did he remove the fault so that everything can be rightly arranged. For Clothar the second, who ought to be designated here, since the first had already ceased to live from the year 561, Clothar, I say, the second was born only in the year 584, the emperor Justin having then long since been taken from the living.

[34] they gathered 578 Le Cointe enters another way. He judges that Childebert should be restored to Theodoric's text, for which Clodoveus or Chlodoveus had crept in by error: and he suspects that the cause of erring was given to the copyist by the initial letters Ch, which are the same in Childebert, Chlotharius and Chlodoveus. We know indeed how often ancient documents have been corrupted through the unskilfulness and carelessness of copyists, and we easily perceive that this could have happened here, especially if that part of the text was so expressed in the autograph as Le Cointe expresses it a little later: Ch. governing the monarchy of France. To this we confess that no one can more probably be substituted for Chlodoveus than Childebert, if it be true, as Le Cointe contends from Theodoric, that St. Bavo was born in the year 578, Justin still living and Pelagius II presiding over the Church. For in the said year Childebert II actually held the kingdom of Austrasia, in which Bavo was born: although the title of monarch, which these words involve, governing the monarchy of France, befits neither Childebert nor any other king of the Franks of that time, since the supreme power of Frankish affairs was not then with one. Le Cointe washes away this blemish too, saying: But Theodoric and other more recent writers, because they wrote when all France was under the power of one, and had long since ceased to be cut into several kingdoms, improperly called any king of the Franks monarch of France, and likewise called his dominion the monarchy of France, the former observance being wholly neglected and obsolete.

[35] or between 584 and 590; Mabillon, in the Notes to the Life of St. Bavo, openly pronounces that Theodoric's calculation is everywhere faulty, and, having recited his text, subjoins: You would better say that Bavo was born in the district of Hesbaye, Pelagius being supreme Pontiff, Maurice Augustus, Chlothar king of France. Pelagius II occupied the Chair of St. Peter up to the year 590; Maurice began to reign in the year 582, but to Chlothar, born only four months before, his father Chilperic's kingdom devolved in 584. Between this, then, and 590 the birth of St. Bavo will have to be fixed, according to the calculation of Mabillon, following whom Baillet marked it about 589. But since Mabillon rightly repudiates Theodoric's calculation, and we detect nothing in writers older than Theodoric that persuades us to place the Saint's birth under the Pontificate of Pelagius rather than of his successor, we prefer to cling to the view of our Henschen, who first rejected the Theodorician calculations in volume 1 of February, published eight years before the Annals of Le Cointe, in §13 of the preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Amand, bishop of Maastricht, where he advises that many and enormous faults lie hidden in the Theodorician Life of St. Bavo, and refutes some in particular, as has already been said.

[36] Then in volume 2 of March, in the preliminary Commentary likewise to the Acts of St. Gertrude of Nivelles, §2, but more probably at the beginning Henschen discourses thus: Theodoric, abbot of St. Trond, in the Life of St. Bavo, to be illustrated at the Kalends of October, writes that the happy soul of St. Bavo, in the very hour of his departure, appeared to the holy virgin Gertrude, staying far off in the monastery of Nivelles, that she might send the linens necessary for laying out the body. But since Theodoric asserts that the death of St. Bavo occurred in the year DCXXXI, in which year only, or the following, St. Gertrude was born, the matter would be suspect, were it not established from elsewhere that Theodoric plainly went astray in adding the years of Christ and certain emperors and Pontiffs. Certainly at the Life of St. Amand, 6th of February, § XIII, we showed that St. Bavo died in the year DCLVII and consequently was born about the beginning of this seventh century, not in the year DLXXVIII, as Charles le Cointe deduces from Theodoric in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks. That Theodoric went astray when he marked the death of St. Bavo in the year 631 we too shall prove below; but whether it is to be marked precisely in that year in which Henschen then thought it was to be marked, we shall inquire at the same time.

[37] But as regards what pertains here now, the judgment of the seventh century. of Henschen, who establishes the birth of St. Bavo about the beginning of the VIIth century, pleases more than all the others, because the later the Saint's birth can be established, saving the rest of the chronology of his deeds, the more probable at least it becomes that he was a cousin of St. Gertrude, as Othelbold asserts, whose testimony is not to be despised while others are either silent or convicted of manifest error. St. Gertrude was born, not in the year 631 or the following, as Henschen related in the words just cited, but in 626, as he himself afterwards wished it to be corrected, when he renewed and established the Dagobertine Diatribe in the preliminary Exegesis to volume III of April, number 38. Therefore it becomes more credible that St. Gertrude, born in the year 626, and St. Bavo were cousins in the strict sense, if he was born after 600, than if he be believed born before 590, as follows from Mabillon's chronological notes, or in the year 578, as Le Cointe contends. Finally, that the rest of the chronology of his deeds is saved even if he was brought into the world some years after the six hundredth of Christ, the series of them to be exhibited in the course of the work will teach. It remains that we note beforehand a few things about the Saint's names.

[38] He had two, the first, which is written Allowinus, The Saint's name Alloinus, his surname Bavo; Allouinus, and Adloinus, the other Bavo. The anonymous biographer expresses both in the Prologue: Concerning the man of God Allowinus, namely saint Bavo … we desire to fulfil your will: and how they were given to him he teaches at number 4: Allowinus, which name he received in holy Baptism, whom the common people call Bavo. That this second was only a surname Othelbold, Theodoric, and the others who have followed them also relate: but it has clung to the Saint so generally and constantly up to these times that I doubt whether the baptismal name would ever have come to our knowledge, had not the cited anonymous used it, whom the others had as guide. St. Livinus names only Bavo, both in the Letter to Abbot Florbert and in the Epitaph which he composed at his request. Nor is there mention of another name in the most ancient Martyrologies of Rabanus, Usuard and Wandelbert, or in the ancient diplomas of princes.

[39] the odious interpretation of the latter given by Baillet, Baillet judges that the word Bavo was a jest or a playful surname (in French sobriquet) or a military name; I believe, because he had learned from the Glossaries that words akin to this name and used in the middle age commonly sound of a vice. Bavosus, babasus, baburrus denoted foolish and inept, from bava, that is, Saliva, which flows from the mouth, as often happens to fools, to babblers, nay even to madmen: and thence perhaps flowed the French words bavard, babillard, a babbler, ineptly talkative. Hence, if I rightly grasp Baillet's mind, the surname Bavo would have been given to the Saint either because he was accustomed to babble ineptly, or because in anger or in fight he was like a madman. But I would not rashly assent to Baillet, especially when the anonymous biographer himself furnishes a foundation for our finding a less odious etymon of the word. At number 28 he has thus in the manuscript copies of Ghent, Corbie and Saint-Germain: Blessed Alloinus, who from the origin of his birth was called Bavo from affection, passed from this light. The St. Omer manuscript agrees, except that it has ac dilectione.

[40] is refuted from the more correct text of the first Life, Mabillon, in the Notes to the Life, confesses that a dilectione is read in the Corbie and Saint-Germain codices; yet in his edition he followed the one of Conques, which, he says, seems of better repute, and has thus: Allowinus, who from the origin of his birth was called Adhilec, Bavo, passed from this light. So that, he goes on in the Notes, Adhilec is read for a Dilectione, and the name Bavo is enclosed by punctuation on both sides, as though Adhilec were an adventitious agnomen of Allowinus. Otherwise, certainly, what affinity of name is there between Adhilec or Dilectio and Bavo? Is perhaps Adhilec the present-day village of Hesbaye called Hellich? Be it so indeed; let the Conques codex have seemed to Mabillon of better repute: yet in this place it appears to me manifest that it is corrupted: nor could I think otherwise even if Adhilec were read in more than this one. First, because neither Othelbold, nor Theodoric, nor any other of the more recent writers makes any mention of the agnomen Adhilec, while they say openly that Bavo was the Saint's surname. Secondly, because I do not see what sense the word Bavo, enclosed by punctuation on both sides, makes in Mabillon's Reading. Thirdly, because in the reading of the four other codices I grasp without difficulty the author's mind, and at least some affinity between dilectio and Bavo, which Mabillon seeks.

[41] and a better and more honourable one is assigned. I interpret the author's mind thus: Allowinus, who from the origin of his birth, that is, from infancy, was called Bavo from the affection or love with which his parents were drawn towards a lovable and perhaps only son, etc.: so that Bavo, or Babo as Rabanus writes, involved an endearment or a signification of love. Babe certainly among the modern English, whose language draws its origin from the old Saxon, signifies an infant, as among the French poupon, which is a word of one coaxing, and is wont to be given to pretty little children. The same French sometimes call an infant

address as petit babouin, and ordinarily for the sake of coaxing or jesting. The Arabs also call an infant babus, the Syro-Phoenicians βάβιον; to the Germans Bube and to the Italians bambino is a little boy. These things will suffice, I think, for the prudent reader to discern that our etymology of the surname is far more probable than Baillet's, that he may judge, I say, that it is not probable that the surname Bavo is a jest or a military name, as having been given to the Saint from infancy and out of the affection of love, as becomes undoubted to me from the words of the biographer. Nevertheless, that this may become more evident, let the little verses from the metrical Life be by way of a corollary:

Among whom, excelling in very great merits, Shines Bavo, called by a HONEY-SWEET name.

§ IV. St. Adeltrudis, the lawful daughter of the Saint: is she the same as the Adeltrudis venerated on the 19th of May? She calls her father away from vices.

From a lawful marriage he had a daughter Agletrudis, Of the infancy or boyhood of St. Bavo the anonymous biographer has taught us nothing, the poet nothing, Theodoric or any other nothing. Straight from the things which we have already brought forward about his birth they leap to the marriage contracted with the daughter of a certain count named Adilio, famous at that time, as Theodoric alone adds, otherwise unknown to us. Of this wife, whose name they do not even give, he begot a Daughter, celebrated by all with notable praise, and for that reason referred by some more recent writers into the sacred Fasti. He was joined to a wife (these are the words of our anonymous), namely the daughter of Count Adilio, by whom he begot Agglethrudis, an offspring worthy of God, a virgin of Christ, to whom in the first rattles of her years a voice sent from the highest throne of the Most High resounded, saying: Believe; created of the lineage of the great, thou shalt beget parents by the word of Him alone who made both [as] man. The poet expressed the same things in verse not inelegantly:

When now he was shining in the flower of sweet-sounding youth, He had joined himself to the daughter of a certain count Adilio, Who, made the wife of so great a Husband, Soon conceived in her womb a girl, Agletrudis, Who, beloved, so pleased the Lord on high, That, lying in her first years among the cradles, She heard a voice resound from the lofty throne: Believe me, thou created of the lofty stock of the great, Never oughtest thou to beget carnal offspring, But by the word alone thou shalt bring forth glad nurslings. Which things all know to have come to pass in such an order: For afterwards, disdaining to take an earthly spouse, She stands joined to the bridal chamber of the everlasting King.

[43] Abbot Theodoric also did not turn aside much from the sense of the anonymous here, or Adeltrudis, much praised by the biographers, saying: In the course of time a daughter is born to them, Aglethrudis, she too chosen beforehand by God and, as afterwards appeared, to be rewarded with the hundredfold fruit of virginity. Finally, in the first apprenticeship of her age, amid her very rattles, the angel of the Lord prescribed to her by a certain rule what and of what kind she was to be, how she was to live, by what law she was to preserve her virginity. Nor was the right hand of the Almighty lacking to the prudent young girl, to animate her youthful limbs and raise them to the summit of the highest perfection, so much so that, at the beginning of her new way of life, her purpose became imitable even to her parents themselves. These things I have copied out at length, because from them seem to have flowed whatever other historians and martyrologists have noted in writing about this holy Virgin, and because it has been determined on the same occasion to treat of her here a little more fully, as our Predecessors had formerly promised among the Passed Over of the 25th day of February, where these things are had. "St. Anglitrudis, virgin, daughter of St. Bavo, confessor" is reported on this day in the manuscript Florarium of the Saints in so many words. The metrical Life of St. Bavo calls her Aglethrudis, another Adeltrudis. We shall treat of her on the 19th of March, or at the day of St. Bavo himself, the 1st of October. Why they referred doubtfully to the 19th day of March will be clear from what is to be said, and at the same time what they observe about the diversity of name will be seen more fully.

[44] and inscribed in various sacred Fasti Among the auctaria of the Usuardine Martyrology in our Du Sollier, the Brussels codex announces her thus at the said 25th day of February: Likewise of Aldetrudis, virgin, daughter of saint Bovo. Greven's edition has Bavo, the rest agrees. But in both places Du Sollier advises that of Count Vincent is to be read, judging namely that the announcement pertains to St. Aldetrudis, virgin abbess of Maubeuge, daughter of SS. Vincent and Waldetrudis, whose Acts were illustrated in our work at the very 25th day of February, on which she is indeed inscribed in many sacred Fasti, and is venerated with an ecclesiastical Office in the collegiate churches of the canonesses of Maubeuge and Mons. Du Sollier's judgment is very probable; what nevertheless restrains me from calling it altogether certain is, first, the author of the Florarium, who on the same 25th day of February commemorates our Daughter of St. Bavo in the words brought forward above, and Aldetrudis, abbess of Maubeuge, in the following: Likewise of saint Aldetrudis, virgin, daughter of saint Waldetrudis. Secondly, the author of the Brussels codex, who reports ours on the day just mentioned, and the one of Maubeuge on the 28th of January. But the author of the German Martyrology, commonly ascribed to Canisius, was wonderfully mistaken when he fused one out of the two, and attributed to her the father of the one and the mother of the other, saying at the 25th of February: Likewise of St. Aldetrudis, virgin, daughter of St. Bavo and Waldetrudis.

[45] Adeltrudis, who with others from Hesbaye to Ghent Of our one alone others treat at other days; Bucelin at the 27th of June in the Benedictine Menology, and Arthur in the Gynaeceum at the 2nd of October; both call her Agletrudis, and the former a nun, the latter a virgin of the Benedictine Order: but neither indicates why he reports her on that day rather than another. I believe that they chose the day by their mere choice, because she was placed by Wion and Ménard in the Appendix of the Saints whose feast day or death is unknown, as follows: St. Aglethrudis, virgin, nun, at Ghent, daughter of St. Bavo, count of Hesbaye. Wion adds: Her life having been most holily led, she passed to the Bridegroom about the year of the Lord DCLXX. Molanus in the Birthdays of the Saints of Belgium assigns no proper day to the Saint; but he makes mention of her at the 19th of March, when he treats of SS. Landoald the archpriest, Amantius the deacon, Adrian, Julian, Vinciana and Adeltrudis; whose sacred remains were translated in the year 980 to Ghent from Wintershoven, a village of Hesbaye between the cities of Tongres and Hasselt. For, a compendium of their deeds having been related, on the occasion of Adeltrudis, named in the last place, he subjoins: Some assert that this is the daughter of St. Bavo, whom Abbot Theodoric asserts was raised to the summit of the highest perfection.

[46] was translated in the 10th century, and is venerated on the 19th of May, Of the same Saints at the same day our Predecessors treated, and announced them at Wintershove, where they were first venerated, and at Ghent, whither they were afterwards translated. Then, having said a few things beforehand about the cult of each at number 1 of the preliminary Commentary, they soon brought forward the words of Molanus given above, yet, leaving the matter undecided equally with him, they placed this query in the margin: Is Adeltrudis the daughter of St. Bavo? And truly it is a question difficult to judge. If one must stand by the Acts of St. Landoald and Companions given at the 19th of March, it is not probable that that Adeltrudis was the daughter of St. Bavo, since she is said to have come from Rome into Belgium with St. Landoald: the words seem clear: But blessed Amand vigorously fulfilled the office he had undertaken, and announced the word of the Lord to those placed round about (attempting Vacceia, that is Gascony, and beyond the Danube), until, seeing that his strength did not suffice for so arduous a work, he decided to go to Rome again. Pope Martin was then administering the universal Roman Pontificate. To whom blessed Amand disclosed his wish, for whose obtaining he had come: and asked that helpers be sent him for accomplishing that work. There were assigned to him several helpers, whose names have fallen away; among whom St. Landoald the archpriest, Amantius the deacon: whom there also accompanied the holy women Vinciana and Adeltrudis with seven other men and women.

[47] I said, if one must stand by the Acts, because in a doubtful matter, and one not proved from elsewhere, and in the Acts, written faultily in the third century after their death, anyone who considers both the manner and the time in which they were written will easily grant that it is no great offence to depart from their authority. They were written in the advanced tenth century at the command of Notger, bishop of Liège, by Heriger, then his disciple and afterwards abbot of Lobbes, and addressed to Womar, abbot of the monastery of St. Bavo at Ghent, in the year 980, which Notger expressly marks in the Prologue or letter prefixed to them; therefore they are later than the death of the Saints by about three centuries. Besides this Notger confesses in the same letter that the Deeds of the Saints perished through the carelessness of predecessors; that the sacred bodies were committed to the earth on account of the incursion of the Northmen; he openly reveals with what weak aids he was furnished for composing his Little Work, saying: At this laying-up there was present a certain Franger, a very old man in our age, who also before the harassment of the pagans * had been for nine years procurator and steward of the same villa (of Wintershove). Hildebrand too, a presbyter, whom a few years ago Sarabentus, likewise a presbyter, buried with his own hand, a most faithful relator of this notice, who recounted both that he had heard these things which we have set forth from the same Franger, many standing by, and that he had likewise seen a little book of their life (whose reader, since he recounts that it was written in an ancient hand, and almost soaked through by the dripping of wax, we are not unaware was very rare); but that the things which we have so far touched in few words he had culled thence, but that very recently, in the incursion of the Hungarians, through the carelessness of the custodians, the same little book was burned with other things.

[48] The older little book of the Life, then, had been consumed by flames from about the year 954, is said to have come from Rome to Belgium, to which the incursion of the Hungarians indicated here is commonly fixed, and already 25 years had elapsed when, at Notger's command, Heriger undertook to compose the new Work; aided, namely, by the things which Hildebrand or Sarabentus had partly heard from the old man Franger, partly culled from the old little book of the Life, almost soaked through by the dripping of wax, and therefore very difficult to read, and burned at least 25 years before, and had either committed to paper, or perhaps only retained in memory. How easily authors furnished only with such aids slip into errors there is no need for me to advise; but that Heriger slipped into many errors, both chronological and historical, in the Life of SS. Landoald and his companions our Predecessors showed in their Annotations to the Life. Therefore it would not be wonderful if the author had also strayed from the truth in assigning companions to St. Landoald setting out from Rome into Belgium. Occasion for error could have been given by the elevation of the sacred bodies made some years after the incursion of the Hungarians, which Heriger narrates in the same chapter 2 of their Life, and where he has this: And they found several cases: but there was one in which St. Landoald the archpriest and his deacon Amantius were covered together. There was also a stone at their heads, engraved with their names. Others contained SS. Adeltrudis and Vinciana, which a certain little silver cross found upon the breast of St. Vinciana indicated.

[49] to have come from Rome into Belgium, The common opinion held that St. Landoald, with St. Vinciana, whom they relate to have been his sister,

St. Amantius and other men and women came from Rome into Belgium: but since the body of St. Adeltrudis was found in the same place as the bodies of the three named, it could be conjectured that she too was likewise a Roman companion of St. Landoald, and according to that conjecture this was confidently affirmed by Heriger. That she was a companion of St. Landoald I shall not deny; but it is more probable to me that it was in no other sense than that she joined herself to the same Saint as he arrived in Hesbaye with other companions, relieved and promoted their apostolic labours by her help, power and authority, and wished to have a common burial with them. That I should think so is brought about, first, by the silence of those older than Heriger; secondly, by the very name Adeltrudis, which is Belgic, not Latin: thirdly, because it is established that St. Bavo, lord of Hesbaye, had a daughter called by a similar name and illustrious for holiness of life about the same time at which St. Landoald came into Hesbaye: fourthly, finally, because Wintershove, where all were buried, was part of the lordship of the same St. Bavo.

[50] she is more probably the daughter of St. Bavo, Hence, until a greater authority than Heriger's is brought forward, I further conclude that it is most probable to me that the body of St. Adeltrudis, which in the tenth century was raised from the earth with the others at Wintershove, was not that of a Roman woman, but of the very daughter of St. Bavo, and consequently that to her alone pertains whatever has been said in our Work at the 19th day of March about the ancient cult of St. Adeltrudis, about her findings, elevations and translations with St. Landoald and his companions, and about the common miracles. Further, that St. Adeltrudis, or Aldetrudis or Agletrudis, was a virgin of the Benedictine Order or a Nun I have nowhere found among the ancients; wherefore the burden of proof falls upon the more recent writers who assert it. Now let us return to where we turned aside.

[51] by whose labour from the vices contracted in youth That the beginnings of the conversion of St. Bavo can rightly be attributed to the holy virgin praised thus far we have from the words of our biographers recited above; the anonymous Poet and Abbot Theodoric gave it to be understood equally of both the virgin's parents, and Theodoric indeed as though she had stimulated them to a more perfect life only by her example: So that at the beginning of her new way of life her purpose became imitable even to her parents themselves. The poet gives a little more to conjecture, bringing in the angel speaking with her thus:

Never oughtest thou to beget carnal offspring, But by the word alone thou shalt bring forth glad nurslings.

As if he said: Thou shalt bring back by thy exhortations to amendment thy parents, straying from the right path and, through a more dissolute life, dead to heaven, and shalt beget them to Christ their God, or raise them to life. The first biographer indicates the very same: Thou shalt beget parents by the word of God alone, but soon shows that this pertains chiefly to Bavo, her father, adding: For in the time of his youth blessed Bavo exercised his will in the depraved acts of the world, he was constant in foul things, inflamed with obscene bendings of the flanks. But, Christ helping, this continual vice of his was quickly turned into goodness.

[52] After this the anonymous proceeds in this manner: From that time also he did not despise the judgments of the law, he was drawn away. but also avoided the matter of all crimes. He did not harm his neighbours, but stretched out his hand more widely to the poor. He did not refuse the faith of friendships, but sought it; nor did he so much cultivate fortune as imitate virtues. He relieved with mercy the oppressed too, unceasingly recalling in every practice of piety that God would be propitious to him above all in this regard for his sins, if he busied himself that all the unjustly oppressed should be relieved. Then the same author reports the death of the wife of St. Bavo, and his going, a second marriage being spurned, to St. Amand, that, perfectly converted to God, he might do penance for his greatest and least sins. The poet and Theodoric have similar things (except those which the former had related about the sins committed by the Saint in youth) and so describe his manner of living that you would understand nothing else from them than that he spent the whole time from when he was brought over to a better life by the words and examples of his daughter until the death of his wife in the exercise of virtues and pious works.

[53] I have judged these things worth noting, lest the opinion of some more recent writers gradually strike deeper roots, Yet those vices who assert that the Saint clung constantly to the vices of youth until the death of his wife. This opinion the author of the new Office of the Ghent cathedral embraced, and set it forth thus in lesson IV: He was of corrupt morals in youth, and gave himself so to unlawful loves that not even the subsequent marriage restrained them. Until at length, his wife having died, at the exhortations of saint Amand, God touched the heart of this hardened sinner, softened it, and moved it to the purpose of a new life. Thus he, advising at the head that the lessons are taken from the Acts and the Benedictine Annals; Baillet likewise cites the Acts in Mabillon, and relates in French the same things which I have already given in Latin from the Office.

[54] To me, indeed, whether I look at the words of the Acts or the order in which they are arranged, by some more than is fair nothing at all is suggested by which I could elicit even by conjecture anything similar from them. Nay, if conjectures must be formed, I would rather adopt those which Abbot Theodoric formed. For he, having narrated the virtues and pious works in which St. Bavo exercised himself in marriage after, at his daughter's prompting, he had taken up another rule of living, subjoins: To a mind so flourishing the world and all its glory had withered, the huge house, the ample possession had grown wholly cheap. Already he would have held the handle of the plough, and already with free step would have escaped to the desert of the Antonys and Macariuses; had not care for his wife and for little Adelthrudis * held back his foot. Yet he lived as a monk while a layman, and amid the dutiful multitude of the people that solitary desert which he had conceived in his mind never deserted him. Further, as I find no foundation at all for building up the new opinion just proposed, so I do not see by what right or justice the odious title of robber is rubbed off upon our Saint by some.

[55] Their Leader was Heriger, towards the end of the 10th century abbot of Lobbes, in the Acts of St. Amand, bishop, in our work, volume 1 of February, page 856, saying: He (St. Amand) converted St. Bavo from Hesbaye, a robber, and, a little cell having been made across the river, shut him up as a penitent. That he was given to vices, especially of the flesh, the first biographer testifies, but neither he nor another attributes anything to him from which he merited the name of robber. The same biographer, declaring the pious works done by the Saint at the time when his wife was still living, says indeed: He relieved with mercy the oppressed too, unceasingly recalling in every practice of piety that God would be propitious to him above all in this regard for his sins, if he busied himself that all the unjustly oppressed should be relieved. But what prudent man would conclude thence: He relieved those whom he himself had before unjustly oppressed, especially since he is said to have relieved them out of mercy? Let us grant, however, that it is true; that he was more unjust in youth towards his subjects and neighbours; even so it will be rashly asserted that he was converted from a robber by St. Amand, since, when St. Bavo first went to him, he had long since abstained from vices, and, if he had been unjust to anyone in youth, had abundantly compensated, as I at least am persuaded from the testimonies of the biographers.

* otherwise Hungarorum

* otherwise Aglethrudis

§ V. The time at which the Saint perfectly converted himself is shown to be wrongly assigned by various writers.

The time of the perfect conversion of St. Bavo The testimonies of the biographers adduced in the preceding § leave us no doubt but that St. Bavo had his daughter Adeltrudis or Agletrudis as leader and author, that he should depart from a more dissolute life, or from the depraved habit of vices contracted in the time of youth, and lay the first foundations of his conversion, and the seeds of a holier life. Wherefore, while other writers commonly, silent about Agletrudis, ascribe his conversion to St. Amand the bishop alone, we think this is to be taken in no other way than of a more complete and more perfect conversion; when the Saint, his wife having been taken from the living, and his daughter advanced to that age at which she could govern herself and her affairs without further protection from her Parent, decided at length to bring to effect what he had long conceived in his mind; to bid farewell, I say, to the world entirely, and to give himself up to the service of God alone. And that he might carry this out more circumspectly and securely, he chose beforehand St. Amand as director; he betook himself to him; he disclosed his purpose to him, rendered an account of his past life, opened all the windings of his conscience, and laid bare the blemishes of his soul; from him he begged counsel, help, and penance to be imposed on him for past offences; finally under his guidance he performed whatever things are related at length by the biographers concerning this more perfect conversion.

[57] not marked by the anonymous, Theodoric, That this conversion took place while St. Amand was staying at Ghent the same biographers testify, and all the more recent writers admit, but among these there is a huge difference in designating its epoch. The older anonymous, where he narrates it, adds no note of time; in the course of the work, however, namely where he treats of the Saint's death, he offers those chronological characters from which we may be able to attain, if not a determinate year, at least a time near the conversion. These characters most of the more recent writers did not observe up to the century just elapsed, either because they lacked that older Life, or rather because the authority of Theodoric, abbot of St. Trond, received in those times and not sufficiently suspect, deceived them. For he retained indeed the said chronological characters of the anonymous, but with unhappy daring ascribed to them years by no means consistent, and so brought it about that less cautious posterity turned far aside from the true chronology. The chief seeds of the errors lie hidden in Theodoric in the Life of St. Bavo published by Surius, chapters 16 and 24. In the first place, after the conversion of St. Bavo had been set forth, and the deeds which followed it drawn out at length, he says that he pressed with prayers St. Amand and Florbert, abbot of the monastery of Ghent, that he might be shut up in a narrow cave, and that this was put into execution on the fifth of the Ides of November, which was the six hundred and twenty-ninth year of the Lord's Incarnation. In the second place he relates that he died: on the first day of the Kalends of October, in the third year from his conversion less forty days, in the six hundred and thirty-first of the Lord's Incarnation, Heraclius administering the Roman empire, Martin the universal Pontificate.

[58] The years so expressly marked, although by no means consistent with the notes added, the author of the Bavonian chronicle as is clear in Pope Martin, who did not ascend the Apostolic See before the year 649, and in others to be brought forward afterwards, furnished the foundation, unless I am mistaken, for the deeds both of St. Amand among the people of Ghent and of our Saint being distributed in the Bavonian chronicle in this order, in Antonius Sanderus, Of the Affairs of Ghent, book 4, chapter 3: But in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ DCVIII St. Amand … becoming famous through the Gauls for the sake of preaching, and preaching the word of God first in the said fortress of Ghent, broke the idol of Mercury, and overturned his altar, and built a church there… But in the year of the Lord DCXI the church at Ghent is destroyed by unbelievers.

In the year of the Lord DCXIII the church at Ghent is reformed by Blessed Amand by the authority of Aicharius, bishop of Noyon, and of Dagobert, king of the Franks. At the same time the notable father Aloinus, who is also Bavo … went to St. Amand in the said fortress of Ghent … and among other things magnificently built and excellently endowed, with the same Blessed Amand as promoter, this illustrious monastery at Ghent at the confluence of the Scheldt and the Lys, in honour of Blessed Peter the apostle, which was afterwards named after him St. Bavo's, and grew into a great monastery.

[59] In the year DCXVI the church at Ghent is dedicated on the Ides of November in honour of St. Peter the apostle by St. Amand the bishop, of the monastery of Ghent, Sigebert who first instituted there clerics serving God, and distinguished St. Bavo, all his goods having been given away for God, with the clerical tonsure. In the year DCXVIII St. Amand, in the church at Ghent, which he had founded chiefly with the wealth of Blessed Bavo, the secular clerics living together having been removed, … gathered and placed a troop of monks of the institute of saint Benedict, over whom he set as abbot an honourable man named Florbert … In the year of the Lord DCXXIX saint Bavo, converted by saint Amand and the venerable man Abbot Florbert, … is shut up as a solitary on the fifth of the Ides of November. In the year of the Lord DCXXXI … in the monastery of Ghent, on the first day of the Kalends of October, he breathed forth his soul, stripped of the body, into the hands of his Creator, the choirs of angels rejoicing. Plainly the same order of things and times is kept in our short manuscript Chronicle of Ghent, to which this title is prefixed: There follows as it were the contents of the Paschal tablets of this church of Ghent, and I, Oliver, diligently corrected the whole with the Chronicles in the year of the Lord MCCCCXXXVII: and other writers too fixed their epochs according to nearly the same order. Sigebert of Gembloux, in the Chronicle at the year 614: Allowinus also, who is also Bavo, converted by him (St. Amand) from a robber (recall to memory what was said at numbers 53, 54 and 55) and shut up as a solitary at Ghent, was an example of sanctity to all. And next before the year 631: Saint Bavo died. Alberic also has this very thing in the Chronicle at the year 630.

[60] and others determined by faulty calculations. In the Short Chronicle of St. Amand of Elnone, which, carried down to the year 1223, was published by Martène and Durand in volume 3 of the Anecdota, column 1391, one has thus at the year 616: The dedication of the church of St. Peter at Ghent by St. Amand; and thus at the year 629: St. Bavo is converted and Baptized by Blessed Amand. In the same place, column 1411, in the Chronicle of Lobbes, which was continued by various persons up to 1641, it is written thus at the year 629: St. Bavo died. Column [ ]: the Chronicle of St. Martin of Tournai, which ends in the year 1099, has this at the year 631: St. Bavo died, who was also called Allowinus. This last year Trithemius too doubtless wished to be indicated, On Illustrious Men, book 3, chapter 63, although by a fault of pen or type thousandth has been put for six hundredth, as follows: He (St. Bavo) dies in the year of the Lord one thousand and thirty-one, on the first day of the month of October. To the same year 631 the death of the Saint was bound by the author of the old Office of Ghent, by Molanus in the Birthdays and in the chronological Recapitulation of the Saints of Belgium, by Sanderus in the Hagiology of Flanders, and by others: but because Sigebert seemed to have referred it to 630, others too marked this one, as Meyer in the Chronicles of Flanders, others this or the following, among whom Baronius in the Annotations to the Roman Martyrology and Miraeus in the Belgian Fasti. Finally the authority of Abbot Theodoric and of Sigebert was so generally admitted here that I have hitherto found no writer up to the year 1640 who deferred the said death beyond the thirty-first year.

[61] as is proved first But after the year 1640 such evident testimonies to the contrary were drawn out from ancient and more trustworthy sources that all authority both of Theodoric and of the other writers just brought forward fell away entirely, and their calculations were repudiated no less generally than they had before been received. The first and chief who laboriously discussed those calculations, and overthrew them with adduced documents and reasons, was our Henschen in volume 1 of February, in the preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Amand. And Henschen there contends that St. Amand did not come to the people of Ghent before the year 629, and proves it in §10 of the preliminary Commentary from his Lives, which he prints there to the number of five, and above the rest from the one written by Baudemund, disciple of St. Amand and afterwards abbot of the monastery of Blandinium, which he exhibited in the first place. He first institutes a question not pertaining here about the birth-year of St. Amand; then from the said contemporary biographer he adduces some texts from which it is certainly established in what places the same Saint lived up to the year 626 or 627.

[62] from the chronological series I copy here the necessary texts: Amand, then, most holy and most religious, was born a boy in the parts of Aquitaine not far from the shore of the Ocean sea, of Christian and renowned parents… But when, now passing youth, he moved into manly strength … leaving fatherland and parents, he sought the island of Ogia … the haven of a monastery; and there he was received with great joy by the spiritual brethren… Then … his father began to ensnare him with coaxing words, that he should go out of the monastery as quickly as possible and again take up the secular habit … leaving his soil and parents, he sought at Tours the tomb of the most holy Martin… And when he had risen from prayer (poured forth there), he at once cut off the hair of his head, and, having obtained the honour of the clerical state, surpassed every grace among the clergy. But after this, having received the blessing of the abbot of that place and of the brethren, he sought the city of Bourges, going to Saint Austregisilus, who was then held magnificent and notable in the things of God, … and by him and by his archdeacon, namely the most holy Sulpicius, … he was most kindly received, who caused a little cell to be built for him … in which … serving as a soldier for nearly three lustres he abstained altogether from wine and strong drink. Thus far Baudemund, chapter 1 of the Life of St. Amand, by whose words and those of other biographers Henschen establishes the chronology from the birth of the same Saint up to the year of Christ 627, as may be seen in the place cited.

[63] For the present purpose it suffices that it is clearly evident from these texts of the deeds of St. Amand that St. Amand went straight from his parents' house to Ogia, an island situated in the borders of the Pictones opposite La Rochelle, and near the island of Ré, commonly of St. Martin: that he stayed here until, to free himself from the vexations of his parents, he went to Tours, and from there turned aside nowhere else than to the city of Bourges, where St. Austregisilus held the episcopate, which the other biographers of St. Amand also expressly note, agreeing likewise with Baudemund in other things as regards the series of the deeds, except the anonymous Aquitanian, given in the second place, who passed over in silence St. Amand's withdrawal from Ogia to the city of Tours, and brought him straight from Ogia to Bourges, perhaps because the stay among the people of Tours was very short. However it may be, there is no room even for suspecting that St. Amand betook himself to Ghent up to that time, that is, up to the year 612, before which St. Austregisilus did not ascend the see of Bourges, as Henschen very clearly showed in the cited volume 1 of February, and repeated in volume V of May at the 20th day of the month, consecrated to the memory of St. Austregisilus, and as all the learned have commonly admitted, Le Cointe, Mabillon, Pagi, Denis de Sainte-Marthe, etc. But St. Amand lived at Bourges in the cell built for him by St. Austregisilus nearly three lustres according to Baudemund; according to the anonymous Aquitanian fifteen years; according to Milo in the metrical Life fifteen years; according to two other biographers nearly fifteen years; therefore, even granting that St. Amand came to Bourges in the first year of the episcopate of St. Austregisilus, he did not leave that city until the year 627, as Henschen thinks, or at least 626, which is the opinion of others, who count fifteen incomplete years. But that slight difference does no harm to the end which we intend in reporting these things.

[64] For all admit that St. Amand set out from the cell of Bourges to Rome, of the bishop St. Amand, from which many other and, returning thence into the Gauls, was ordained bishop, and then first preached the Gospel to the nations, as Baudemund also relates clearly, saying immediately after the words last recited from him: These things being so done, … the thought fell upon him that he ought to hasten to the threshold of the apostles Peter and Paul… He came to Rome … and there … by day he went round the places of the churches of God, but at night returned to the church of Saint Peter. Until at length he was admonished by St. Peter appearing to him that he ought to return into the Gauls to exercise preaching … he returned happily into the Gauls. When meanwhile, a few days afterwards having passed, compelled by the king and the priests, he was ordained bishop. And, having received the honour of the pontificate, he began to preach the word of the Lord to the nations. Henschen, who had fixed the Roman journey in the year 627, deferred the episcopal ordination of St. Amand to about the year 628, thinking that so much interval of time was required that the Saint should both complete that journey and, having returned, become so known to the king and bishops that he would be compelled to the episcopal dignity.

[65] errors of the same become plain; But the other cited learned men think all was done in the same year in which, according to them, he made his pilgrimage from Bourges to Rome, namely 626: because namely his ordination is ascribed in various Martyrologies to the seventh of the Kalends of November, or the 26th day of October, and that day fell on a Sunday in the said year 626. Which of them determined more rightly I do not inquire, nor do I pursue the rest of the series of the deeds of St. Amand, laboriously discussed by the same writers. Let it suffice here to have noted that none of those learned men, in whatever way he turned over and ordered the deeds of St. Amand later than his episcopal consecration, found a time before the year 631 for fixing the beginnings of the monastery of Ghent, afterwards called after St. Bavo. For, these foundations of right chronology being laid and so evidently proved, what more can be required for anyone to detect at once that in the Theodorician Life of St. Bavo, in the Bavonian Chronicle, and in the other assertions of writers which agree with them, as many errors lie hidden as there are epochs built up concerning the deeds of SS. Amand and Bavo up to the year 631?

[66] Erroneous, then, are the things which the chronicler builds up, that in the year 608 the Gospel was preached at Ghent by St. Amand; that in the year 611 the church which he had raised there was overturned by unbelievers; that in the year 613 the same was restored by the authority of Aicharius, bishop of Noyon, and of Dagobert, king of the Franks; which latter error betrays itself anew from the circumstances of the bishop and the king; for the beginning of the episcopate of Aicharius or Acharius is commonly not placed before the year 621; Dagobert certainly was not king of Austrasia before 622, nor monarch before

628. Erroneous again are the things which the same writer has under the same year concerning the coming of St. Bavo to St. Amand while he was staying at Ghent; concerning the dedication of the church of Ghent, likewise marked in the Chronicle of Elnone under the year 616; concerning the removal of the clerics from there and the substitution of monks, under 616; all of which are later than the year 626, and most of them even than the year 631. Of the same kind also is what both he and Theodoric affirm to have been done in the year 629, concerning the enclosure of St. Bavo in a cell of the monastery of Ghent by St. Amand and Florbert, abbot of the monastery, at a time when the monastery did not exist, much less was Florbert presiding over it as abbot, he who was only its provost some five years or so after it had been founded, according to the reckonings of the Bavonian chronicler himself.

[67] secondly, from the Acts To so many errors may be added, and refuted from the true chronology of St. Amand already set out, the one which Theodoric and the Ghent chronicler committed in consequence, and which all the writers I know before the seventeenth century adopted, marking the death of St. Bavo in the year 630 or 631. But this error will be refuted still more solidly and no less evidently from the chronological note which our biographers supply, and which Theodoric, the Bavonian chronicler, and the author of the old Office of the cathedral church of Ghent retained, not noticing how much it contradicted their own reckonings concerning the Saint's death. This note is contained in these words in the older anonymous writer, num. 28: His holy soul, loosed from the flesh, he (St. Bavo) rendered to the almighty Lord on the first day of the month of October; … and at once his spirit, appearing to the most blessed virgin Gertrude, who with other virgins dwelling with her was situated far from him, commands that garments be sent to him for burying his body. In these verses in our poet, num. 45:

*Breathing forth his soul, loosed from its fleshly burden, He gave it to the lofty stars, to live for ever; And soon, to the handmaid of God called by the name of Geretrude, His spirit appearing suggested such things, saying: Do not thou, O virgin, who art mighty in kindly deeds, Delay to send coverings for the burial of my limbs.*

In fewer words in Theodoric: And his happy soul, in the very hour of his departure, appeared to the holy virgin Gertrude, who dwelt far away, asking that she send the linen cloths needed for the burying of his body. Finally in these in the Chronicler: And his happy soul, at its salutary going forth, appeared to the most blessed virgin Gertrude, abbess of the convent of Nivelles, commanding that garments be sent to him for burying his body.

[68] St. Gertrude, then, was living among virgins consecrated to God of St. Gertrude the virgin, as the words of the earlier anonymous writer allow us to judge, or, as the chronicler expressly asserts, she was already then presiding as abbess over the convent of Nivelles, when St. Bavo died; and hence the studious reader, recalling to memory what was said above concerning the birth of the same Saint, will easily begin to grasp the error which we undertake to refute. For Gertrude, as follows from the computation of Henschenius in the Preliminary Exegesis to volume 111 of April, was born only about the year 626, and that is today the more common opinion of the learned, against some, among whom Henschenius himself had formerly been, who defer that birth to the year 631 or the following one, and according to whom she would accordingly have been born at about the same time at which Theodoric with his followers relates that St. Bavo died. But setting these aside, let us now keep to the more common opinion and fix her birth at 626; she would have been only five years old in 631, when, according to Theodoric, the Bavonian Chronicler and others, St. Bavo died. And that these things cannot be reconciled with the texts of those same writers and of our biographers, cited in the preceding number, is plain. Let us therefore follow out in a few words the chronological order of St. Gertrude, until we find her dwelling with virgins or as abbess of the convent of Nivelles.

[69] Gertrude lived in the court of her parents until the death of her father, Bl. Pippin of Landen chronologically set out, when she was counting the fourteenth year of her age, as all understand the following words of her contemporary biographer, in our volume 2 of March, page 594: But after fourteen years, when her father Pippin had departed from this light, she followed her mother (Bl. Itta or Iduberga) in widowhood, and served her in obedience and in the commandments of God soberly and chastely. We have come therefore to the year 640, to which, for other arguments also, Henschenius in the aforesaid Exegesis, Valesius, Le Cointe, Mabillon and the more recent writers generally attach the death of Pippin, except Pagi, who thinks it should be attached to the preceding year. Itta, Pippin's widow, lived for some time with her daughter Gertrude before, at the prompting of St. Amand, she laid the foundations of the convent of Nivelles and set her daughter over it as abbess. Let us hear once more the words of the contemporary biographer of St. Gertrude bearing on this: And when the above-mentioned mother of the family (Bl. Itta) was daily considering what she should do both concerning herself and concerning her orphaned daughter, the man of God, Bishop Amand, coming … asked that she build a monastery …: and she, as soon as she understood the knowledge of a thing unknown to her, pertaining to the salvation of souls, received the sacred veil and gave herself to God, and all that she had.

[70] for which, as abbess The author here inserts some things concerning the persecutions and injuries which the pious mother suffered together with her daughter Gertrude on account of the holy undertaking, and then proceeds: That the violators of souls might not by force snatch her daughter away to the allurements and pleasures of this world, she seized the barber's iron and cut off the hair of the holy girl in the likeness of a crown… Then the merciful God … recalled the adversaries to the concord of peace. The quarrels ceased… The mother … handed over her daughter… Gertrude to the priests of the Lord to receive the sacred veil with her companions, and appointed her, Christ so ordaining, to preside over the holy flock of cenobites. Into the year of this latter event, namely of the consecration or imposition of the sacred veil, Henschenius did not inquire at the 17th day of March; he pointed out, however, that in Molanus, in the Additions to Usuard and in the Index and Natales of the Saints of Belgium, her memory is recorded from the proper Martyrology of Nivelles on the second day of December in these words: At Nivelles, the consecration of St. Gertrude, virgin. On the same day it is likewise entered in our manuscript Florarium of the Saints, and Fisen in the Flowers of the Church of Liège relates that it took place on the same day.

[71] of the convent of Nivelles To the day of the month Fisen added the year six hundred forty-seven, most probably for the same reason for which Le Cointe notes these things at the said year in his Annals, num. 3: In this year the virgin Gertrude, sister of Grimoald, was blessed as abbess at Nivelles on the fourth day before the Nones of December, a Sunday, with Dominical letter G, as Bucherius and Malebranque have observed. Mabillon used that very argument to refer the consecration of St. Gertrude to the year 647, and this is also the opinion of Labbe and of others, today the most common. Further, if to anyone the foundation of this opinion, taken from the day of consecration noted in the aforesaid Fasti, does not appear solid enough to make it altogether certain, since it often happens that the natal days, ordinations, consecrations and ecclesiastical ceremonies of this kind of the Saints are found noted in the Fasti on a different day from that on which they were really performed, let him consider that no reason, at least no solid one, can be adduced either which compels us to place the consecration earlier; while there is an altogether probable argument that we should not do so, setting aside any authority of the Fasti whatever.

[72] dying, he appeared to the Saint. That argument we draw from the age of St. Gertrude; who, since she was born only about the year 626, was counting in the year 647 the twentieth or twenty-first year from her birth. And it is very likely that she was not consecrated abbess of the convent of Nivelles at an age less than this. I am mistaken if her contemporary biographer does not give this same thing to be understood in chap. 2, where, relating that St. Gertrude afterwards substituted for herself in the said convent as abbess her niece Vulfedrude, he adds not in vain: Then the consecrated girl Vulfedrude TOO was in her twentieth year of age: she who was also sprung from an ancient race of the Franks. As if to say that Vulfedrude, sprung from the same race as St. Gertrude, then had about the same age also that St. Gertrude had had when she received the sacred veil and was consecrated abbess. There might be added, by way of confirmation, that St. Amand was most probably bishop of Maastricht when he came to Nivelles, then subject to the see of Maastricht, to Bl. Itta; which opinion of Henschenius is founded on the Acts of St. Modoald, printed by us at the 12th day of the month of May, where one reads of Bl. Itta: Avoiding a second marriage … she received from St. Amand, bishop of Maastricht, the sacred veil and the habit of holy religion. But St. Amand occupied that see for three years only, that is, 647 and the two following, as I shall say shortly; therefore the things which are narrated of Bl. Itta and St. Gertrude were done in that interval of time. But these matters ought not to detain us further, since by them it has been sufficiently proved that St. Bavo lived certainly to the year 647, since soon after his death he appeared to St. Gertrude, already a nun or abbess.

§ VI. The chronological arrangement of the Saint's deeds constructed by Le Cointe and Pagi is refuted.

Le Cointe's chronological arrangement of the deeds The foundations having been laid by which it is established that St. Bavo survived among the living longer than Theodoric the abbot, the Bavonian Chronicler and their followers down to about the middle of the seventeenth century had written, and on which the more recent scholars agree, there now comes up for discussion the question which the same scholars raise concerning the year of his complete conversion, or of his coming to St. Amand, and concerning the rest of the chronological series down to the happy death of our Saint; for about these things there is controversy among them. Le Cointe disposed the said series in this manner. St. Bavo, his wife having died, renounced the world, went on to Ghent, and received the order of clerics from St. Amand about the year 631, when he was a little over fifty, for Le Cointe had fixed his birth in the year 578. Then for many years he clung to St. Amand as his constant companion, and, withdrawing into the wilderness, became an anchorite in 639. Returning to Ghent in the year 647, he inhabited for almost four months a little cell built for him in the monastery. Finally, shut up in a prison-cell on the fifth day before the Ides of November, he ended his life there two years later, on the first day of the Kalends of October.

[74] So he, here and there under the years here expressed, under which he recites the chief deeds of the Saint from the Life written by Theodoric, and under the year 649 is disproved, at which he places the election of St. Amand to the bishopric of Maastricht, having first set down these words: Amand … celebrated the funeral rites of St. Bavo, who died this year on the Kalends of October. It was the last of the works done at Ghent before he took up the bishopric of Maastricht: having set these down, I say, he describes the death and burial of St. Bavo in the words of the same Theodoric. Thus indeed he corrected the chronological errors lying in the Theodorician Life and the Bavonian Chronicle to the extent that they manifestly contradicted the apparition of St. Bavo to St. Gertrude as abbess, asserted by Theodoric himself and by others; but in the rest of the chronological arrangement of events he found no learned follower whom I know of, except Pagi, who the year of death from Le Cointe

marked, admitted it nevertheless for another reason, but arranged the rest in an altogether different order.

[75] Le Cointe fixed the death definitely at the year 649 because, according to the reckonings of the Bavonian Chronicle, the Saint ceased to live in the thirteenth year of Abbot Florbert because it does not agree with the older Life, which he had not seen., whose beginning he himself had referred to 636; and he arranged the preceding deeds of the life as the intervals of time preserved in the same Chronicle, compared with the Theodorician Life, seemed to require, although he constantly abandons the years noted in both on account of what was said about SS. Amand and Gertrude; on account of which Henschenius before him had disregarded not only the years but also the intervals of time, in the Commentaries prefixed to the Acts of SS. Amand and Gertrude, and had thus come nearer to the epoch of St. Bavo's conversion which others afterwards drew up from the Life by our older anonymous writer, which Henschenius and Le Cointe had not seen. The chief of these are Mabillon and Pagi; and the words on which they rely are chiefly these: Therefore the most holy and most religious man of the Lord, Bavo, after the confession of penance which he had received from the blessed bishop Amand, for three years, besides the abstinence of forty days which he fulfilled, by the Lord's favour, with shrewd zeal and wonderful affection, served as a soldier in this world for the kingdom of God [*].

[76] Pagi, from the text of the older Life, The aforesaid Mabillon and Pagi think that by this sentence is indicated the whole space of time that elapsed from St. Bavo's conversion to his happy death; and that therefore that long series of years is overturned which the Bavonian chronicler set between the two, and which Le Cointe had distributed from a comparison of him with the Theodorician Life in the manner set out above. But they seem to have understood the words differently. For Mabillon in the Annals at the year 650 writes thus: Three years after the confession made to Amand, and after an abstinence of forty days, St. Bavo obtained in heaven the reward of a most rigorous penance: by which, if I sufficiently follow his meaning, he hints that forty days are to be added to three complete years. Pagi on the contrary thinks that forty days were lacking to a complete three years, and he confirms his opinion by the testimony of Theodoric, whose text Mabillon had called corrupted by Surius or by a copyist and scarcely explicable, and which Pagi himself, adding one word omitted by the copyist, contends is in conformity with the text of the older anonymous writer.

[77] compared with the words The text of Theodoric is this: His (St. Bavo's) glorious assumption into the honour of eternity took place on the first day of the Kalends of October, in the year from his conversion forty days less of the third. Pagi, however, corrects it by adding the word second, and reads in the second year from his conversion, etc., so that the sense is that forty days were wanting to complete three years. That this was Theodoric's meaning I too am persuaded, especially since the words of the older anonymous writer admit the same sense: but whether, these things being granted, what Pagi wants follows, must now be examined. For easier understanding let his own words be set down first: This last opinion concerning the year of Bavo's death (the year of Christ 649, noted by Le Cointe for the reason given above) is rendered certain by a comparison of the anonymous writer with Abbot Theodoric; and from the comparison of both it is established that the holy Man was converted on the ninth day of the month of November of the year six hundred forty-six, which preceded the pontificate of St. Amand in the see of Maastricht; that he was enclosed on the ninth day of the month of November, or the fifth before the Ides of November, of the year six hundred forty-eight, and that in the year six hundred forty-nine, on the first day of the month of October, he gave back his spirit to God. Here Pagi compares the text of Theodoric, corrected in the manner stated above, with the text of the anonymous writer, whence it is to be concluded that St. Bavo died before three years after his conversion were complete.

[78] of Theodoric, explained at will Then, to prove what he set down beforehand concerning the determined years of the conversion, enclosure and death, he adduces another text of Theodoric, which runs thus: Having then summoned (namely, after various works of wonderful penance) the holy bishop Amand and the venerable abbot Florebert, he begs for a complete enclosure not only of his feet but of his whole emaciated little body, and scarcely at length obtains it… On the appointed day, the clergy and people having been called together, they assemble at the cell of enclosure with crosses and censers and the whole ecclesiastical apparatus, and by the hands of the holy bishop Bavo, the victim of Christ, the church being witness, is buried rather than enclosed, on the fifth day before the Ides of November. After this Pagi adds: For a matter which, by a new example, with the clergy and people assembled, was carried out with solemn ceremony and festive rite, no other day than Sunday was chosen, as the custom of that time required. Wherefore, since in the year 648 the fifth day before the Ides of November, or the ninth day of the same month, fell on a Sunday, St. Bavo, one of the chief nobles of Hesbaye, was enclosed on that day, and after a year, forty days excepted, and not after two years, as Henschenius and Le Cointe, cited above, would have it, on the first day of October of the year 649 he passed to the heavenly life; and therefore his conversion occurred on the ninth day of the month of November of the year 646, and he was converted and enclosed on one and the same day, and it fell out conveniently that in the year 648 the same day coincided with a Sunday.

[79] It is true that, if the words of the anonymous writer and of Theodoric are taken according to Pagi's meaning altered, the conversion of St. Bavo can be placed on the 9th of November. But I wonder that a learned man affirms so confidently that from the comparison of both texts his opinion, fixing the death in the year 649, is made certain. The anonymous writer assuredly has nothing tending to that, except the space of time between the conversion and the death, and the day of the latter, marked as 1 October. The rest therefore must be begged from Theodoric, an author, to be sure, who, in Pagi's own judgement, greatly disturbed the chronology of the deeds done both by Bavo and by Amand and their contemporaries, and whose computation the same Pagi rejects throughout. Theodoric expressly places the Saint's enclosure on the fifth day before the Ides of November, which was the six hundred twenty-ninth year of the Lord's Incarnation: Pagi on the same day of the month, but in the year 648. Theodoric ties the death to the six hundred thirty-first year of the Lord's Incarnation, almost two years after the enclosure: Pagi to the year 649, not one full year after it; and here indeed he corrects Henschenius and Le Cointe, as though they had not drawn the almost two years, which they too set between the enclosure and the death, from Theodoric and the Bavonian Chronicler, and as though the correction, if one was to be made, ought not to have fallen first upon these.

[80] Thus of Theodoric's computation Pagi retained nothing uncorrected, or rather not changed at will to confirm his opinion, except the day of the enclosure and, having corrected them, his own chronology, for which, if it was carried out with so great an apparatus, it may be believed that a Sunday was chosen. But who revealed to Pagi that Theodoric, who went astray in all the chronological notes not taken from the anonymous writer, is not false when he fixed the enclosure on the fifth day before the Ides of November, or at least that this note was not corrupted by a copyist? I said, if the enclosure was carried out with so great an apparatus, because, since our anonymous writer makes no mention either of the day or of an enclosure performed by St. Amand, it may be doubted whether that convocation of clergy and people and the other ceremonies related are not so many inventions and ornaments added by Theodoric to increase the splendour of the event; and so it may be doubted also whether a Sunday was chosen for the enclosure, on which the whole strength of the argument formed by Pagi for determining the years rests. Nay, it is very likely to me that not even St. Amand himself was at Ghent in the year 648, or was present at the enclosure, if it took place then. For he, as was proved by Henschenius at the 6th of February and is now commonly admitted by Pagi and others, was given as successor in the episcopal see of Maastricht to St. John the Lamb, who died on the 25th of July of the year 646. And this diocese he cultivated for about three years, which are generally ended with the years 647 and the two following, with such great zeal and labour that, unless another and better witness be produced, I should not easily believe that he made an excursion to Ghent meanwhile. Let the words of Baudemund, his contemporary, and of the other biographers of St. Amand, be read, which Henschenius cites in § XI of the Preliminary Commentary, concerning his episcopal care while he went through the diocese of Maastricht.

[81] He calls it certain, he does not prove it. No more Finally, all things duly weighed, I find that argument of Pagi's, propped on Theodoric, too weak to settle at last the controversy which exists among the learned about the year of Bavo's death, as that author wished it believed, or to render certain the opinion that this death is to be fixed at the year 649. But may one not suspect that it was not so certain even to himself as he confidently pronounced? For, not content with that first argument, he subjoined another, which at first sight bears some appearance of authority, but, considered more attentively, in reality has none. Let us give that too in full. After the words cited in num. 78 he at once proceeds: But whether account was taken in this enclosure only of the day of the conversion, or of that together with the first day of the week, it was carried out in no other year than that already mentioned by us (the six hundred forty-eighth of Christ). For of the five authors of the Life of St. Amand whose writings Henschenius, cited above, presents, two do not speak of the conversion of St. Bavo worked by St. Amand; the other three, namely Milo, monk of Elnone, book 2, chap. 3, num. 12; Philip, abbot of Bonne-Espérance, chap. 3, num. 30; and Heriger, abbot of Lobbes, chap. 43, num. 7, speak of it, and afterwards, having narrated some other deeds of St. Amand, discourse of his elevation to the bishopric of Maastricht. Wherefore, since he obtained this see in the year six hundred forty-seven, in the year which preceded it he had brought the holy Man to penance.

[82] he effected by an argument The force of the argument depends on the manner which the aforesaid three biographers of St. Amand observed in narrating events; namely whether they related the individual deeds according to the order of time in which they occurred, or not: if so, granting some things laid down beforehand by Pagi, the reasoning holds; if not, it proves nothing. To this attention ought to have been paid beforehand, lest, if such an order of times was not observed, as Pagi will shortly admit it was not, his whole Bavonian system should be shaken by a similar reasoning drawn from the same authors. Let us produce an example. The aforesaid three biographers, after they have spoken of the conversion of St. Bavo in the places cited, narrate some other deeds of St. Amand; then Milo, book 3, chap. 2 and 3; Abbot Philip, chap. 4; Heriger, chap. 44, in Henschenius num. 10, discourse of St. Amand's exile for having rebuked King Dagobert, and of the Baptism conferred by him on Dagobert's son, St. Sigebert.

[83] taken from the Acts of St. Amand. Let anyone now use Pagi's reasoning and, with the same words adapted to the matter, infer: *Wherefore, since he (Amand) was sent into exile at the end of the year six hundred twenty-eight or the beginning of the following, in the year six hundred thirty

baptized St. Sigebert (which is today the opinion of Pagi himself and of others), he had brought the holy Man to penance before the said years: therefore St. Bavo was neither converted in 646, nor enclosed in 648, nor did he die in 649. What would Pagi reply, so as to slip out? The first consequence, so openly opposed to his chronology, he will not admit; let him say, then, that the order observed by them is not to be trusted, nor a calculation deduced from it, because, as he himself warns at the year 632, num. 4, they wrote later (than Baudemund, the contemporary biographer of St. Amand, who omitted a great many things) AND OFTEN narrated events IN THE WRONG ORDER. Let him say this, I say, but at the same time let him acknowledge the weakness of his second argument, sought solely from the order observed by the same writers in narrating events. To us indeed it appears no more fitted to settle the controversy, or to render Pagi's opinion certain, than his first argument, how weak that is we think has been sufficiently shown. We proceed to others.

\ Another reading: of the heavens*.

§ VII. The opinion of Mabillon and Henschenius on the year of the Saint's conversion and death is examined, and he is determined to have died about the year 654.

Mabillon, placing Mabillon, in the second Benedictine Century, page 403, in the Annotations to the older Acts of St. Bavo, set out his opinion thus: The year in which St. Bavo passed to the Heavenly ones is not easy to define. If the author or the copyist has not slipped in the numbers, Bavo survived AFTER THE CONFESSION OF PENANCE WHICH HE HAD RECEIVED FROM ST. AMAND THE BISHOP, FOR THREE YEARS BESIDES THE ABSTINENCE OF FORTY DAYS: above, num. 15. He was brought to a better fruit, and so to penance, while Amand, set in the see of Maastricht, was illuminating with his preaching the district of Hesbaye, adjoining the people of Maastricht, Bavo's native soil. Amand seems to have entered upon the see of Maastricht in the year 647: after three years he left it, and, revisiting his people of Ghent, brought Bavo with him, and, Bavo having become a monk, had him as his companion to the island called Chavelaus in the year 651, for the sake of spreading the Gospel. Bavo then, having visited various monasteries, returned to Ghent, and there lived enclosed until his death, which seems to have occurred in the year 653. So Mabillon; and since he seems to have wavered afterwards, we defer the few observations to be made on this opinion of his until we have set out in what manner he arranged the same deeds in the Annals.

[85] The conversion of our Saint, or his first approach to St. Amand after his wife's death, he narrates under the year 647 the conversion of St. Bavo,, and the death under the year 650, three years after the confession made to St. Amand, and after an abstinence of forty days, as he interprets the sense of the older anonymous writer. Mabillon does not, however, affirm that the conversion took place definitely in those years; nor, if he did affirm it, would the opinion please: because, since according to what was said before St. Amand succeeded in the episcopal see of Maastricht St. John the Lamb, who died on the 25th of July of the year 646, and held it for about three years, which are generally ended with the years 647 and the two following, and since in the meantime St. Amand probably did not make an excursion to Ghent, it would also follow, most probably, that this conversion occurred at a time when St. Amand was in his diocese of Maastricht, especially if he undertook that bishopric at the end of the year 646 or the beginning of the following, as Pagi contends. But that he was persuaded of that very thing Mabillon indicates more openly in the words given in the first place, to which I return.

[86] while St. Amand was bishop of Maastricht, He (Bavo), he says, was brought to a better fruit, and so to penance, while Amand, set in the see of Maastricht… was illuminating with his preaching the district of Hesbaye … returning to his people of Ghent (Amand) brought Bavo with him. For my part I do not perceive what moved an author to write in this way who had before his eyes both the older biographer and Theodoric and others treating of SS. Amand and Bavo. For that he was brought from a more licentious life to a better fruit, he credited to the examples of his daughter Agletrude, as we have clearly shown from the biographers in § IV; but that, as Mabillon next infers, St. Amand, when he was bishop of the people of Maastricht, brought Bavo to penance, the biographers do not say, although it may be true in some sense; but that, leaving the people of Maastricht and revisiting his people of Ghent, he brought Bavo with him, can by no means be reconciled with the testimonies of the same biographers. Our older anonymous writer, having set out the virtues in which Bavo, spurred by his daughter's example, had exercised himself, records the death of his wife, and at once adds: By the inspiration of the Lord's mercy he sought out the most holy bishop Amand for the way of conversion. Then he relates what he did with Amand, in what manner he received his exhortation, distributed his means to holy places and the poor, and returned to the aforesaid bishop, who was staying in the fortress whose name is Ghent. Whence you may understand without difficulty that, while these things were being done, Amand was living at Ghent, whither he did not bring Bavo with him, but where he received him first coming and then returning.

[87] it conflicts with the biographers, if the perfect conversion The anonymous poet explains that very thing so clearly that no doubt can remain:

*For after he had mourned the funeral of his first bride, He sought again no further love at all, But handing over all his goods to Christ upon His lofty throne, Soon hastened to the holy bishop Amand, Who, it is agreed, was then residing in the fortress of Ghent.*

There is the first approach; of the return after the distribution of his goods he has this:

*Then coming, loosed from every fetter of the world, He asks the holy Amand to cut off his hair, In the very fortress of which we made mention above.*

I pass over Theodoric and the Bavonian chronicler, who place at Ghent both the first and the second approach of Bavo to St. Amand, after he had disposed of his goods: the testimonies recited suffice for me to believe that the perfect conversion of our Saint (by which I understand the carrying out of the purpose he had conceived of bidding farewell to the world as soon as he should be free, and from which beyond doubt must be begun the nearly three years which the biographers relate to have then elapsed until his death), that this conversion, I say, was accomplished while St. Amand was staying at Ghent, and not while he was governing the bishopric of Maastricht. Nevertheless I consider it true that St. Amand, while still bishop of Maastricht, brought St. Bavo to penance by his preaching in this sense, that he, preaching the word of God in the district of Hesbaye, inflamed him further to virtue, already then led to a better fruit by his daughter's examples, and put into his mind the desire and purpose that, whenever he should be free, he would renounce worldly affairs and make fuller satisfaction to God for his sins by harsher works of penance.

[88] This freedom he obtained through the death of his wife and the sufficiently advanced age of his daughter Agletrude he understood. This, however, but after St. Amand, having left the bishopric of the people of Maastricht, had returned to Ghent; to whom accordingly, rather than to another, he set out to carry out his purpose. In no other way, I think, are these words of Othelbold to Otgiva, Countess of Flanders, to be taken: St. Alowinus, surnamed Bavo … converted with the whole devotion of his mind by the preaching of the blessed bishop Amand, or rather by the inspiration of almighty God, following Christ, and him as counsellor [], to Ghent, while he strove to leave earthly things, merited to obtain heavenly ones. On account of what has already been drawn from the words of the older writers, taken in the more natural sense, as far as it appears to me, I think it can scarcely be doubted further that the conversion of St. Bavo recorded by the biographers is to be placed after the abdication of the bishopric of Maastricht by St. Amand, as Henschenius placed it in the Preliminary Commentary at the 6th of February, where he attached that abdication to the year 650. This opinion concerning the year of the abdication Pagi defended against Le Cointe in the Critica at the years 649 and 650, and most of the more recent writers approve it, or at least follow it. This was also the opinion of Mabillon in the Annotations to the Life of St. Bavo, where he says: Amand seems to have entered upon the see of Maastricht in the year 647: after three years he left it.*

[89] Further, since the same author adds in the same place that the death of St. Bavo seems to have occurred in the year 653 he probably attaches it to the year 650; the death to 653;, that is, three years after the conversion, he accordingly fixed to the same year 650 both the conversion of Bavo and the abdication of Amand. To this too must be brought back the computation of Châtelain in the Universal Martyrology, of the author of the Martyrology of Paris, of the writers of the Literary History of France and of others, who mark the death of Bavo about 653; which computation, however, can absolutely be sustained, provided that is corrected which is displeasing in Mabillon's system, where he says: Amand, leaving Maastricht and revisiting his people of Ghent, brought Bavo with him. Provided, namely, that the abdication of St. Amand be placed in the first months of the year 650, and the setting out of St. Bavo to Amand staying at Ghent in the later months of the same year, when he was perfectly converted to God. For with things so arranged there is found the space of time, first, which is given to the Maastricht episcopate of St. Amand; second, that which seems absolutely required between the abdication of St. Amand and the perfect conversion of St. Bavo; third, that which is said to have elapsed between the latter's conversion and his death. For since St. John the Lamb, bishop of Maastricht, died in the year 646, it is quite likely that St. Amand was substituted for him in the following year, not far advanced; from which term to the first months of the year 650 you have the three years of St. Amand's Maastricht episcopate; and from the later months of the same year 650 to 1 October 653 the nearly three years which elapsed between the conversion and the death of St. Bavo.

[90] But since nothing compels us either to separate the abdication of the one and the conversion of the other by so small an interval of time Henschenius, no less probably,, or to place the death of St. Bavo in the definite year 653, the opinion of Henschenius, who defers the conversion to the year 651, is not improbable. His chief reason seems to have been that St. Amand is believed to have gone to Rome in the same year in which he abdicated the bishopric, in order that Pope St. Martin, who had dissuaded him from it by letter in the year 649, might ratify the abdication. That Roman journey of St. Amand Le Cointe too places in the very year of the abdication, but he defers the latter to the year 652, to which same year Mabillon in the Annals likewise refers both, thus abandoning his calculation in the Annotations to the Lives both of St. Bavo, in the second Benedictine Century, page 403, and of St. Remaclus, page 490, where he says: Amand abdicated the pontificate of Maastricht about the year 650: and most clearly at page 716, on the Life of St. Amand: Amand succeeded John the Lamb about the year 647, since in the third year of his Maastricht rule he visited Martin the Roman Pontiff; therefore not later than 650.

[91] attaches the conversion to the year 651, But since this author, both in the second Benedictine Century and in the Annals, joined the conversion of our Saint with the episcopate of St. Amand, while Le Cointe believed that both the conversion and the death of St. Bavo were to be placed before the said episcopate, that journey ought to have brought no delay or change into their calculations concerning St. Bavo. Henschenius, on the contrary, who had more rightly placed the conversion after both the episcopate and the abdication, not improbably placed it likewise after St. Amand's Roman journey: since in this way those things are more easily understood,

which the biographers narrate; namely that St. Bavo, his wife having died, set out to St. Amand, who was staying at Ghent, by his counsel distributed his goods to the poor and to holy places, returned to the holy bishop, and, having received the order of clerics, followed him as he preached the word of God to the nations. For this, surely, a greater space of time is required than that which seems to have elapsed between the abdication of St. Amand and his Roman journey, undertaken in the same year 650. Further, Henschenius thinks, and not without likelihood, that St. Amand's stay at Rome was not very short; he cites a diploma granted to him there, dated in the month of January, and therefore, as he consequently concludes, in the year 651, before which accordingly the conversion of St. Bavo did not occur. Thus far, not improbably, Henschenius in the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Amand, §§12 and 13.

[92] but wrongly fixed the death to the year 657, because he had not seen But, standing by what we have deduced above, together with now practically all the learned, from the text both of our older biographer and of Abbot Theodoric concerning an interval of only three years between the conversion and the death of St. Bavo, what Henschenius relates in the same §13 cannot be held, namely that our Saint died in the year 657, between which and the year 651 there are six years. Nor ought it to seem strange that Henschenius then thought so, who, as he confesses in the same place, had not seen the Life of the Saint written by our anonymous writer; and the text of Theodoric he either understood in another sense, as happened to Le Cointe, or found so obscure or corrupt that he judged it could scarcely be explained, which was Mabillon's mind. I would add that perhaps Henschenius did not value the testimony of Theodoric, even understood in our way, who slips almost everywhere in his chronological notes, so highly as to believe he ought to direct his calculations according to it; were it not that I notice that here at least he deferred somewhat to the authority of the Bavonian Chronicle, otherwise no less faulty, saying: On the first day of the Kalends of October, in the year 657, delighted by the presence of angels, he (St. Bavo) breathed forth his spirit, and was then buried by St. Amand; and indeed, according to the Bavonian Chronicle, in the 13th year of Abbot Florebert, whose beginning we have referred to the year 644.

[93] Henschenius probably used that argument the older Life, from which 654 was to be fixed. because, having marked the conversion of St. Bavo in the year 651, no other monument presented itself by whose authority he might determine the year of death; he would have thought otherwise if he had had at hand the Life written by the anonymous writer. We therefore, keeping the calculations of Henschenius down to the year 651 concerning the beginnings of St. Amand in the episcopate of Maastricht, his abdication, his Roman journey and return into Belgium, and concerning the perfect conversion of St. Bavo, mark the latter's death about the year 654; not therefore disapproving the opinion of those who have marked it one year earlier, provided that the things we proposed in num. 89 be observed.

\ Another reading: bishop*.

§ VIII. The deeds of the Saint from his birth to the middle of the seventh century are easily arranged chronologically: the foundation of the monastery of Ghent: whether this and the greatness of Ghent can be attributed to the Saint?

From the beginning of the 7th century, at which the Saint's birth Just as we judge that the death of our Saint is to be placed about 23 years later than Abbot Theodoric, the Bavonian chronicler, and those who followed them down to about the middle of the 17th century placed it, so we consider that his birth must be moved many years away from the epoch which some, notably Le Cointe, fixed from the chronological notes of the same Theodoric, faulty indeed, but altered and emended at will. One cause why we think so we set forth in § V, namely that St. Gertrude, abbess of Nivelles, born about the year 626, was, on the testimony of Othelbold, a cousin of St. Bavo, which appears less likely if he was born in the year 578, as Le Cointe held. The other cause we take from the age which the Saint would have had when, three years before his death, he obtained from the hands of the venerable bishop Amand the honour of the clerical state, in our opinion and that of others not before the year of Christ 650 or 651; in which, on Le Cointe's opinion concerning the year of his birth, he would have been an old man of more than seventy, and this is not likely to us.

[95] There is added that neither our old anonymous writer nor the poet, in relating his deeds, utters any word we think should be fixed, his deeds easily whence even a suspicion could arise that the Saint was much advanced in age when he ceased to live. On the contrary, the penalties and torments which in the last three years he took upon himself to wash away the offences of his former life are narrated as so hard and cruel that a man of fifty would have been unequal to enduring them unless altogether strong and robust; and that an old man of more than seventy would have had to be restrained from them by the prudence of SS. Amand and Florbert, even if, carried away by sacred ardour, he had tried to undertake them against the reason of his age. For these causes, making no account of the erroneous chronological notes of Theodoric, we fully assent to Henschenius, and think that St. Bavo was born at the beginning of the 7th century, that is, about as many years later as we have moved the death of our same Saint away from the epoch expressed by Theodoric, namely about twenty-three years. Nor in this chronology of ours will a smaller space of years be found for arranging the Saint's deeds from his birth to his death than in the Theodorician calculations.

[96] are distributed down to the middle of the same century; For just as from the year 578, which Le Cointe made that of his birth from Theodoric, to 631, which Theodoric expressly marked as that of his death, 52 or 53 years are found, so the same number will be counted from the beginning of the 7th century to 653 or 654. Nay, since according to the texts of our anonymous writer and of Theodoric we contract the more perfect penance of the Saint to three years only, so great a space of years is not absolutely necessary for arranging the rest. For let us suppose that he was born in the year 606, married a wife in 624 or the following year, and then begot of her his daughter Agletrude. She would have counted seventeen years in the year 642, abundantly sufficient for her, with the breath of divine grace, to call her father Bavo away from a more licentious rule of life by her words and examples. There remain about five years until the Maastricht episcopate of St. Amand, which we end with the years 647 and the two following, and in the course of which three years St. Bavo, through the preaching of the said prelate, began to aspire to a higher degree of virtue, and resolved to abandon all worldly things, and at length put this purpose of his into execution in the year 650 or 651, in the forty-fourth or forty-fifth year of his age.

[97] he is wrongly said by some But while I speak of the Saint's deeds from his birth down to the middle of the seventh century, under that more general assertion I comprehend only the things which are narrated by our biographers; not those which are handed down by others, received I know not whence, such as are read in the old Office of the cathedral church of Ghent, and which I copy here from the fourth lesson: As a young man he (St. Bavo) served as a soldier with great praise under the emperor Maurice. And then, after the wars long waged by the kings of the Franks and of the Austrasians, to whom he was joined by kinship, rushing into mutual slaughter, when after the sad end of Brunhild the supreme power had devolved upon King Clothar, he followed the example of many soldiers eminent in nobility and in the glory of their deeds who were passing over to the purpose of a holier life: and, having despised the riches and honours of the world, and having been more fully taught the glory of Christ by the blessed Amand, bishop of the Tungrians, he too thereafter resolved with a fixed deliberation of mind to serve as a soldier for Christ crucified alone. Then in the fifth lesson: And although the emperor Maurice had forbidden by a law passed that anyone should pass from secular military service to the monastic life, he nevertheless persevered constantly in his purpose, supported by the favour of the kings Clothar and Dagobert, and encouraged by Gregory the Great, Roman Pontiff, who excused and defended the pious undertaking of soldiers against the edict of Maurice.

[98] to have served as a soldier under the emperor These things, though adopted also by Molanus and others, we do not include among the Saint's deeds, but reject as spurious and devised by an idle wit; not so much because they do not agree at all with our chronology, which certainly would have to be renounced if these things were proved true, as because, first, not only our biographers, our older anonymous writer and the poet and the other trustworthy writers keep deep silence about them, but also Abbot Theodoric himself, who assuredly, if he had known anything of them, would not have passed them over in silence. Secondly, because they cannot be reconciled with any chronology, whichever you choose. That they cannot be reconciled with ours is at once clear; for the emperor Maurice was killed in the year 602, when St. Bavo was scarcely born. And that they cannot be reconciled with any, the whole context of the story betrays: as if indeed at the same time Maurice held the empire, St. Gregory the Great the Pontificate, Dagobert the kingdom of Austrasia, Clothar that of Francia, and St. Amand the bishopric of Tongres or Maastricht. The year in which Maurice was slain I have already assigned; St. Gregory the Great was translated to heaven in the year 604; Dagobert was made king of Austrasia in 622, and, Clothar having died in the year 628, obtained the monarchy of Francia in 630, and died in 638; Amand, finally, entered upon the bishopric of Maastricht only about 646 or 647.

[99] Moreover, even if we were for a moment to admit with Le Cointe Maurice. The foundation of the monastery of Ghent, that St. Bavo was born in the year 578, and were to grant that he served under the standards of Maurice, what delay or hindrance could the law of this emperor, who died in the year 602, have brought to prevent his embracing the monastic life? For according to the fourth lesson he afterwards took part in the wars of the kings of the Austrasians and the Franks down to the death of Brunhild and the monarchy of Clothar, that is, down to the year 614, when the Maurician law had either long since ceased, or could not bind Bavo, a Frankish noble, and by then released from imperial military service. In the same fifth lesson another thing is subjoined, which is neither foreign to the truth nor opposed to our chronology, but which must be taken in a suitable sense. It is contained in the following words: And distributing his money and treasures to the poor, he (Bavo) bestowed on pious uses the other lands and estates which he possessed in great number in the territory of the Brabanters and elsewhere, and among other things magnificently built, with the same divine Amand as promoter, a splendid monastery at Ghent at the confluence of the Scheldt and the Lys in honour of St. Peter the apostle, and endowed it excellently, which was afterwards named after him. These things are copied from the Bavonian Chronicle in Sanderus, Rerum Gandavensium, book 4, chap. 3, but, as I have already warned, are to be taken in a suitable sense: namely, that the conversion of St. Bavo and the beginnings of the Bavonian monastery are not to be referred to the same year, or, as the words imply, that the beginnings of the latter are not to be reckoned later than his conversion; contrary to what Henschenius, Mabillon, Pagi and the learned today commonly hold.

[100] The opinion of these is founded on the Acts both of St. Amand which, before the Saint's conversion and of St. Bavo. Baudemund, the contemporary biographer of St. Amand, chap. 3, in our volume VI of February, page 850 and following, narrates first that St. Amand, fortified by the authority of King Dagobert and of Aicharius, bishop of Noyon,

and of Tournai, went to Ghent to preach the word of God; then, having related the very many labours and difficulties which he met there, he adds this concerning the fruit at length obtained: But when this miracle (of a dead man called back to life) was spread abroad far and wide, at once the inhabitants of that region ran to him with swift course, and humbly asked that he make them Christians. Destroying with their own hands the shrines which they had been accustomed to worship before, they came with one accord to the man of God. For where the shrines were destroyed, the man of the Lord Amand, both from the munificence of the king and from the contributions of religious men and religious women, at once built monasteries or churches: and, refreshing the people with the food of the sacred word, he enlightened the hearts of all with the heavenly commandments. Thus far Baudemund; and the more recent writers just mentioned interpret him, where he here treats of monasteries built under King Dagobert, of the Blandinian and Bavonian monasteries of Ghent; and this Le Cointe not only admits, but even proves of set purpose at the year 631.

[101] was built by St. Amand Besides this, the chroniclers — both the Blandinian, in Sanderus in the book cited above, chap. 1, and the Bavonian, chap. 3 — and Abbot Theodoric, although in other respects they stray far from the true chronology, nevertheless agree with the said interpretation of the moderns to this extent, that they place the beginnings of each monastery or church under King Dagobert and Bishop Aicharius, neither of whom survived among the living until the conversion of St. Bavo. There is added the author of the History of the translation of St. Wandregisilus the abbot, in our volume V of July, page 293 and following, where he not only places the monastery of Blandinium under the said king and bishop, but speaks thus of the Bavonian one that you will at once understand it existed before our Saint's conversion: By God's favour also, he says, a monastery of clerics was built in the same district of Ghent by the blessed Amand: where by day and night praise is sung by the faithful under the governance of the same most holy father and of Abbot Florbert. Hearing this, Arnolphus [] Bavo, soon to be an illustrious confessor of the Lord, prostrating himself with the fullest devotion before the oratory of the Lord, begged that the hair of his head be cut off, and, having obtained the honour of the clerical state from the hands of the venerable bishop, merited to become a sharer with the Apostles.* Therefore, as the text of this author shows, that monastery already existed then, and even had Florbert as its abbot, when Bavo was converted.

[102] it is shown that it is to be attributed also to Bavo; Further, the aforesaid author had before his eyes the older biographer of St. Bavo, and copied him in great part, especially in that passage from which it evidently appears that the said monastery existed at least when the Saint consecrated himself wholly to God. For thus writes that older writer of ours: In the same monastery the blessed confessor Bavo, prostrating himself with the fullest devotion before the sanctuary of the temple of the Lord, begged to cut off [] the hair of his head, and, having obtained the honour of the clerical state from the hands of the venerable bishop Amand, merited to become a sharer with the Apostles.* The author of the metrical Life, who everywhere faithfully followed the earlier anonymous writer, sets out what the latter had said before concerning the building of the monastery in such a way that it appears no less evidently that it existed before St. Bavo betook himself to Ghent for the first time. Let us give some verses from him too, omitting those not necessary:

*For after he had mourned the funeral of his first bride, Soon he hastened to the holy bishop Amand, Who, it is agreed, was then residing in the fortress of Ghent, Desiring by zeal for the divine word to break down [*] There the shrines of the false gods which stood, And to deliver heavenly doctrines also to the heathen people: And [*] laying there the foundations of a lofty temple, He consecrated it in honour of Peter, prince of the church. And a monastery is reverently built in the very place, And a numerous clergy soon begins to grow there, To resound [*] praises to the Lord by night and day. Coming thither, as I have said, blessed Bavo, Prostrate at the feet of the kindly prelate Amand*, etc.

Thence he goes on to sing the deeds of St. Bavo from his first coming to Ghent to his happy death; in such a way, indeed, that neither he, just as neither our older anonymous writer nor any of the biographers of St. Amand, hints by a single word that the beginnings of the often-mentioned monastery can be ascribed in the strict sense to our Saint. But that its foundation can, nay must, be ascribed to him in a suitable sense, we learn from elsewhere; namely from the testimony of a writer who is inferior to none in age and surpasses all in authority, St. Livinus the martyr, who thus addresses St. Bavo in his Epitaph:

*The church which thou didst FOUND, which holds thee, renowned BAVO, Protect, O Saint, by thy merits.*

[103] There can be no doubt that the discourse here is of the church of the monastery of Ghent built in the fortress because the estates necessary for its support, dedicated first to St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, and afterwards distinguished by the name of St. Bavo; for in it he was buried, and was lying there when St. Livinus wrote, who, according to the common opinion of all, survived him only three years. Wherefore we judge that St. Bavo ought to be called the author or founder of the church and the monastery because, bidding farewell to the world, he conferred a great many goods on both, then probably humble, in need of many things, and perhaps less well provided with necessities: on the church, for the increase, the adornment and the greater and constant splendour of divine worship in times to come; on the monastery likewise, for its enlargement and for the honourable support of the monks then living there and of the many more to be admitted afterwards. For a person is rightly and deservedly said to have founded a religious house to which, although it existed before and was inhabited, he assigned estates or annual revenues for its maintenance and upkeep thereafter.

[104] This sense agrees with the testimony of St. Livinus, and to this same sense must be accommodated he granted; the beginnings of the monastery are placed about 631: the things related in the Bavonian Chronicle and in the old Office of the cathedral church of Ghent concerning the monastery built and endowed by our Saint. Thus in different ways, and both true, the building of the monastery is attributed by some to St. Amand, by others to St. Bavo. As far as it concerns St. Amand, Henschenius, Mabillon, Pagi and the rest generally fix it about one year after the holy bishop, recalled from exile, baptized St. Sigebert; namely when, having found the favourable mind of King Dagobert, and fortified by his authority and also by the favour of Aicharius of Tournai, he announced the word of God to the heathen in the fortress of Ghent and its neighbourhood. And St. Sigebert, son of King Dagobert, was baptized about the year 630; and therefore the aforesaid authors refer the beginnings of the monastery to 631; among these Henschenius, indeed, in volume 1 of February, had fixed those beginnings at 636, but according to his earlier opinion concerning the year of Sigebert's baptism; and since he changed that, he must be judged at the same time to have abandoned also his opinion on the beginnings of the Bavonian monastery, as I have already more than once observed in other matters, and as can be seen in the Preliminary Exegesis to volume III of April.

[105] Further, the foundations of the church and monastery were laid in the place a few things are added concerning its name and site which by our older anonymous writer is called the Fortress of Ghent (Castrum Gandavum), by others Castrum Ganda, and by others the district of Gandavum or Ganda, at the confluence of the rivers Scheldt and Lys, where there now stands the citadel which the emperor Charles the Fifth caused to be built in the sixteenth century. But the monastery itself too is found called in ancient monuments, from the name of the place, the monastery of Ganda or the convent of Gandavum. We have examples in the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Amand, §5. The author of the Life of St. Livinus, bishop and martyr, of whose age and authority it will be possible to dispute at the 12th day of the month of November, relates this of his Saint: When he had travelled through very many places, he came with his disciples to a certain monastery named from the village [] by the name of Gandavum. The emperor Louis the Pious, in the diploma cited in the same §: Abbot Einhard, from the monastery which is called Ganda, which is situated in the district of Brabant. In the same place the Chronicle of the Deeds of the Normans at the year 880: The Normans … in the month of November fix their seat for wintering in the monastery of Gandavum. But both before these times and after them it was commonly called the monastery of St. Bavo, as will be shown by several examples when we come to treat of the Saint's posthumous glory. One example, however, which offers itself in the same place from the same Chronicle, I add: In the year 850 the Northmen … coming into the town of Gandavum set fire to the monastery of St. Bavo.*

[106] and concerning the origin of the city, which its greatness And the name Gandavum and Ganda has thereafter constantly clung down to our own times to the city which took its origin from the fortress itself, and which, as Mabillon observes, without doubt must also credit its greatness and growth to St. Bavo. For he enriched that monastery with his goods so that it sufficed to support more persons than before, and by his examples while living, and his miracles after death, made it so illustrious that many flocked there to embrace the monastic life in that place. We have as witness the writer of the miracles, who says in num. 9: How much increase, however, the religious life of this place drew to itself from time to time is given to be understood from this, that the recent and as it were still warm memory of the pious Patron (Bavo) — the daily incitements of miracles — carried it ever to higher things []. For it is said that those who, after the departure of St. Amand, bound themselves to regular studies after the example of so great a Man (Bavo) reached the number of sixty and beyond. Nor do we doubt that countless others, men of every kind and condition, in the course of time fixed their dwellings there near the monastery, especially in order to receive the teachings of the true faith and the precepts of the Gospel from monks eminent in holiness and learning, and to enjoy more nearly the patronage of St. Bavo, buried in their church. The last point the same writer of the miracles confirms in num. 6, where, having discoursed of the site of the place, its pleasantness, and especially the convenience of its rivers, he adds: Whence, both by favour of this advantage and on account of the most present merits of St. Bavo, the same place is most thronged with a populous concourse.*

[107] it can ascribe to St. Bavo. Therefore, just as it is certain to us that the faith of Christ was planted and cultivated there by the labours of St. Amand, so there is no doubt that it was chiefly by the wealth and patronage of St. Bavo that Ghent grew to that glory and splendour in which it has long flourished and flourishes today — a most noble city, comparable in its greatness to the greatest cities not only of Belgium but of almost the whole of Europe, episcopal, and the first of Flanders; of whose site, growth and ornaments occasion will recur from time to time in what follows to say more. Here we note in passing that this city, which is now the capital of Flanders, once belonged to old Brabant, as is clear from the diploma of the emperor Louis the Pious alleged above, where it is said to be situated in the district or tract of Brabant. For Flanders then extended less widely than now, and the boundaries of old Brabant were other than those of Brabant now. See, if you please, Henschenius discoursing of these matters in the often-cited Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Amand.

\* Allowinus.

\ Mabillon: to be cut off*.

\ Read: desiring to break*.

\ Read: Who also*.

\ Perhaps: pays*.

\ Another reading: from the ancestral* village.

\ carried*.

§ IX. One difficulty and another concerning the last deeds of the Saint are examined and resolved.

The three years from the conversion to the death of the Saint This difficulty arises from the space of time which in the older Acts is placed between the conversion and the death of St. Bavo, and which has seemed to some too narrow to take in all the things which are narrated as done by him in the meantime. Those who did not have the Acts just mentioned did not labour under that difficulty. Hence some, following the Bavonian Chronicle without scruple, found eighteen years between the conversion and the death. Others, although they repudiated the chronological notes, and especially the years definitely assigned to each, in that Chronicle and in the Acts composed by Theodoric, nevertheless retained the same intervening space of time, as Le Cointe did, referring the conversion to the year 631 and the death to 649. Others, not caring even for the space of time itself, placed as many intervening years as seemed to be required by their opinion at the time, as Henschenius did, who, neither having the older Acts nor meeting anything from elsewhere to persuade him that the death had been so near to the conversion, separated the latter from the former by six years.

[109] But Mabillon, reading in the older Acts first published by him in the second Benedictine Century, page 402, these words noted in the Life, some (think) too narrow,: It is worth while to insert in the reading this also, how the blessed man… Bavo departed from this life. Therefore the most holy and most religious man of the Lord, Bavo, after the confession of penance which he had received from the blessed bishop Amand, for three years, besides the abstinence of forty days which he fulfilled, by the Lord's favour, with shrewd zeal and wonderful effect, served as a soldier in this world for the kingdom of the heavens. Reading these things, I say, he interpreted them of about three years which elapsed between the conversion and the death of the Saint. Then, warning in the Annotations that it is so read constantly in the manuscript copies, he adds: Although it is not easily understood how in so short a space St. Bavo accomplished so many deeds. This or a similar observation had such weight with Baillet that, treating of the Saint at the 1st of October, he held the biographer suspect and wrote in French: It is not even known how many years his penance lasted after his conversion; nor has much likelihood what is found in the History of his life, that it (the penance) was only of three years and forty days: nay, that he at least tacitly denied credit to the same biographer, when he marked the conversion about the year 643 and the death about 653, and thus attributed ten years to the penance, if not by mere whim, certainly without adducing testimony or other argument; and for that very reason, after the publication of the older Life, that opinion has made scarcely any progress.

[110] It seemed to Mabillon, indeed, not easy to understand others think the time sufficient, how in so short a space St. Bavo accomplished so many deeds, yet not impossible to understand or to believe: since afterwards in the Annals, volume 1, page 412, setting aside as it were all doubt, he affirmed: Three years after the confession made to Amand, and after an abstinence of forty days, St. Bavo obtained in heaven the reward of a most rigorous penance. The said penance is likewise confined to three years without hesitation by Jacques Longueval, priest of the Society of Jesus, in volume 3 of the History of the Gallican Church, page 579; by the author of the new Office of the cathedral church of Ghent, in the sixth Lesson; and by Antoine Pagi in the Critica on Baronius at the year 631, whom I name in the last place because, although he himself, comparing the words of the anonymous writer with the text of Abbot Theodoric, understood them of three years not complete, as we saw above, he nevertheless contends that within that space of time everything that the anonymous writer narrates, and some things besides which he passes over, could easily have been accomplished; and he thinks that he has demonstrated it by a compendious enumeration of them. We shall attempt the same thing here to secure credit for the biographer, but a little more fully and more accommodated to the reader's grasp.

[111] so that what is narrated could have been done in the meantime. It is of no concern to this question which opinion on the definite year of the conversion is truer: whether that of Pagi, who stood for 646, or ours, to whom it has seemed more probable to defer it to 650 or 651. Let us therefore set down the certain for the uncertain; let us suppose, I say, that St. Amand returned from Rome in the year 651, and that in the same year St. Bavo was first received by him at Ghent and, having distributed his goods to the poor and to monasteries, received the order of clerics. But here, before we proceed, of two uncertain things one must also be chosen as certain: namely whether the interval of time spent on the said distribution of goods is to be counted in the three years of our Saint's penance, or rather excluded, so that the biographer began to count the three years from his reception of the clerical state; which latter is not without likelihood. If you choose the first, I shall say with Mabillon that the biographer's text is to be understood of three years and forty days, for the opposite is not certain. If you admit the second, I shall admit with Pagi the text understood thus, that forty days were wanting to complete the three years; and in either sense I shall begin the deeds of St. Bavo after his reception of the clerical state from the month of November of the year 651. For in the former sense eighty days could suffice for the distribution of the goods; in the latter it makes no difference to the present purpose whether more days or fewer were spent. Thus from the month of November of the year 651 to October 654 I have a free space for arranging the deeds of the Saint which are in question; which I now undertake.

[112] There are enumerated the deeds which, of the conversion, The order of clerics having been conferred on St. Bavo, the man of the Lord Amand … went on to preach the word of God, and blessed Bavo followed him, that he might be fed by his preaching. This is the first thing the anonymous writer relates, suggesting nothing from which you might determine whether the Saint remained for a long or a short time in the company of the preaching bishop. The second is this: Therefore the man of God Bavo asked the above-written bishop to give him leave to go round the monasteries of the athletes of Christ, that he might learn the life of the monks and the manner of living of the cenobites. Thence the author digresses into praise of St. Bavo's virtues, adding nothing further from which you may perceive how many or which monasteries he visited, or how much time he spent in it. The two things already related Pagi thinks were accomplished in the first year of the conversion, because the nations to whom Amand preached Christ were not far from Ghent, nor were the monasteries which Bavo visited. That the nations neighbouring on Ghent needed the preaching of the word of God at that time the same Pagi conjectures from book 2, chap. 2 of the Life of St. Eligius, where St. Ouen, its author, speaking of the people of Tournai, of Flanders, of Ghent and of Courtrai, affirms that in the time of St. Eligius, proclaimed bishop of Noyon in the year 640, "the inhabitants of the same region were still held in great part by the error of heathenism, and were much given to various superstitions, and like wild beasts of the field could not receive the saving word of anyone." That the monasteries were not far off Pagi deduces from Theodoric, who, relating the anonymous writer's words in his own way, expressly says that the Saint, with the consent of his Amand, went round the places of the Saints and the NEIGHBOURING cenobites: whence you may conclude that no hindrance came from the journeys to be made to prevent everything being accomplished in one year.

[113] That everything could have been accomplished I agree with Pagi: but since the dispute is about finding sufficient time in the first year, I do not see why a whole year was absolutely needed for these things, or why one or another assertion which Pagi reserves for the second year cannot be inserted into it. Both these assertions, which the older anonymous writer as well as the poet-biographer passed over in silence, are read in the Theodorician Life after the narrated visitation of the monasteries, as follows: Seizing, therefore, the opportunity of time and place, he entered the forest which they call Beila, where suddenly, on the more remote side of a sloping valley, an aged beech presented itself to his eyes, the spacious height of whose hollow, not less than six feet, was vaulted in the manner of an arch, and such as could hold a man standing upright in its belly. Reckoning this as a dwelling prepared for him as it were by the angels of God, he enters it with as much delight as if he had shut up with himself within a narrow wall the delights of the whole world. HIDDEN FOR SOME DAYS, he could not lie concealed, and when he was frequented by the people, judging himself unhappy, he again leaves the place in the silence of the night. The same beech of wonderful size is to be seen to this day, which, for the eternal memory of this Saint of God, still contains an ancient altar, where the priest of the parish frequently calls together the church and gives communion. Nor does the tree, so aged against custom, cease still to flower and bud, in which that flower lay hidden of which it is said: Flourish, ye flowers, as the lily. Delighted by the pleasantness of which flowers, holy Church speaks in her nuptial song: Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples; because I languish with love.

[114] Therefore, departing thence, the athlete of God Allowinus again, by long and wearisome ways could have occurred, seeks another wilderness, Medmedung by name, distant from his Ganda a journey of only two miles. The place, growing wild into a very dense grove, stretched out by a vast and almost inaccessible marsh, the forest fruitful also of the apples and nuts which it bears, and besides a stream flowing past with gentle murmur, easily recommend it as a dwelling. He enters with a hoe, weeds the ground, raises a very small cell, and as it were buries himself in it. The forest supplied his food, the stream his drink. His garments he had brought with him, a cloak and a hair-shirt, which were not to keep off the cold but to prevent nakedness, not to encourage softness but to subdue the flesh. When he had thus remained unknown for some time, and, rumour again spreading it abroad, despaired of being able to lie hidden any longer … he resolved to return to the place of his profession (to the monastery of Ghent). Having returned, therefore, etc. Where I have marked dots, some things are inserted in Theodoric not bearing on the present question and, as will be seen afterwards, constructed in the wrong order: it is also doubtful whether the order of the events here is not inverted. Since the author of the miracles, older than Theodoric, says in num. 41 that he wishes to disclose the works of the Saint after his death, first those which he performed in the place which is called Medmedunc, where he is said to have FIRST dwelt after his conversion, and mercifully granted to those who prayed piously. But neither ought this to detain us.

[115] And this same sacred place (continues the author of the miracles), to speak for those who do not know it, is suited to those who wish to remain in seclusion we think., full of wild apples and other fruits, abounding in plenty of fish, and, to conclude in a few words, most apt for all who desire to inhabit the wilderness; which the same Beloved of God INHABITED FOR A FEW SHORT STAYS, and sanctified by his holy habitation: and after his death made wonderful by signal miracles. The dwelling in Beila, therefore, lasted only some days, the other in Medmedunc only for a few short stays. Accordingly nothing prevents either or even both from being attributed to the first year, and St. Bavo's return to the monastery of Ghent from being placed at the beginning of the second, which the older anonymous writer and the poet, omitting the rest, at once subjoin to the visitation of the other monasteries. Although not even that ought to seem necessary, since the rest which

our older anonymous writer and the poet narrate do not absolutely require the remaining almost two years, as a brief enumeration of them will show.

[116] The difficulty which, in the distribution of the remaining The Saint returned to Ghent, sought a place in the monastery, obtained consent; he was enclosed in a cell; while it was being built for him, he raised a dead man. He then saw a man whom he had once sold, became a suppliant to him, and wished to be treated by him as a criminal: and he, overcome and compelled by his prayers, carried it out: He bound, namely, the hands of the Man of God and shaved his head, and fastened his feet in a wooden stock and committed him to the public custody: where the Man of the Lord, thrust in, remained with his feet bound until the day of his departure, which was near… And thus for almost four months, serving as a soldier to God in this austerity, he in no way tasted strong drink or wine. So the anonymous writer, whose narrative I interrupt for a little, that we may consider in how small a time the deeds of the Saint enumerated so far could have been accomplished: while nevertheless the author seems to have come down to the last four months of St. Bavo's life. For, on the same witness, he remained in the said custody until the day of his departure, which was near: was it not until his death? So the poet understood and set it forth:

*In which, continually devoting himself to prayers with fervour, He persisted until the time of approaching death.*

The same older biographer, however, soon speaks as if the Saint had remained there only almost four months, and accordingly died after that short space of time.

[117] of the deeds occurs, But, these things so taken, I find a far greater difficulty in believing that what then follows was accomplished in that space of time than in understanding that all the deeds of the Saint from his conversion to his death could have occurred within three years. For, as the older biographer writes and the poet too sets forth, the Saint, placed in this confinement, did not abandon the rule of obedience; but earnestly asked the abbot set over him to confine him upon the floor in such a way that, whenever he stood to say the praises of almighty God, he would be so hemmed in on the right and the left of the floor that he would have no means of leaning in any direction; but by day and night, as it were suspended in the struggle, he would adore God … which was also done. After this he ordered his servant to bring a stone, and he brought a large brick: to whom the Man of God said: Look for a bigger one still. And at length he brought a stone that had been found, which could scarcely be carried by the hands of two men… Which the Man of God … carried on his shoulders while he stood to say the praises of God. There follow various attempts of the demon to entice the Saint from that place; but he against him … did not cease to fight daily, and, working unceasingly, did not draw back the hand he had put to the plough. And these things — to pass over that he was then refreshed by one heavenly vision and another, foretold his imminent death to the abbot and the brethren, and ordered a priest to be summoned from the monastery of Torhout — these things, I say, are so narrated that more than four months seem to have been spent on them.

[118] Pagi without doubt noticed the difficulty, and hence, abandoning our more ancient biographers and which Pagi avoided, having recourse, took refuge in Theodoric, and, once more altering and correcting his calculations at will, distributed the whole of the deeds in this order. In the first year, St. Bavo, enrolled in the clergy, accompanied St. Amand as he preached the word of God, and visited the monasteries; in the second he stayed in Beila and Medmedunc, returned to Ghent, wished his feet to be bound in a stock, namely by his former servant, and lived in that state for almost four months, until on the fifth day before the Ides of November he was enclosed for his whole life: so that he did not die at the end of those almost four months, but, surviving almost a whole year afterwards, did the things which are then recorded. That the Saint did not die at the end of those months Theodoric clearly signifies, saying: And so, thrust for almost four months into this prison-struggle, while he was almost dying daily, he held the penalty for delights… Having then summoned the holy bishop Amand and the venerable abbot Florebert, he obtains … a complete enclosure not only of his feet but of his whole emaciated little body. He had dug out a narrow cave in the middle of the floor of the house to the capacity of a man standing upright, which would hold one entering only standing, and would allow the suspended face, as of a crucified body, to be turned aside in neither direction; … they assemble at the cell of enclosure … Bavo … is buried rather than enclosed. After this Theodoric assigns to the Saint almost two whole years more of life, which Pagi contracts to one not complete; because, namely, if, those two years being kept, almost four months are added, there does not remain out of the three years in which all was to be accomplished a sufficient space of time for the earlier deeds after the conversion.

[119] In this way, I confess, the Pagian series of events becomes likely; but if you ask for the foundation, you will find no other than the good pleasure of the distributor, adopting here, repudiating or correcting there, the chronological notes handed down by Theodoric, and that indeed at the very place where Theodoric seems to contradict our more ancient biographers. For these, as I observed above, say clearly enough that the Saint remained until the end of his life in the same custody into which he wished to be thrust by his former servant. Theodoric, on the contrary, indicates no less clearly that after almost four months the Saint passed to a cave dug in the middle of the monastery, and remained enclosed there until his death, that is, according to him, for almost two whole years. One may not doubt here that the testimony of the older writers is far to be preferred, especially if, by a light explanation of some words, the series of events can be made as likely as in the Pagian distribution, drawn from Theodoric altered and corrected where it pleased. Let us make the trial, and take up again what was said before.

[120] In the first year after his conversion St. Bavo accompanied St. Amand as he preached is dissolved,, visited the neighbouring monasteries, and inhabited the wilderness of Medmedunc for a few short stays. If this last appears too much, let us place the stay in Medmedunc, and the other for some days in Beila, at the beginning of the second year, so that in the third or fourth month of the second year he returned to Ghent, sought a cell in the monastery, and, while it was being built, raised a dead man. Neither do these things require a long time, nor anything else up to the meeting with the servant once sold. Let that meeting have occurred about the middle of the same second year; then he was willingly enclosed by the servant in the custody in which he remained until his death. But here at length the biographer offers himself to be explained, in these words: And thus for almost four months, serving as a soldier to God in this austerity, he in no way tasted strong drink or wine. These words, in order that the difficulty may be removed, cannot be taken in this sense, that he did not remain there longer, or that at the end of so little a time he departed from life (nor in fact does any word demand that sense), but that, having lived thus there for almost four months, panting for still greater austerity, he wished with the consent of his abbot to be confined more narrowly, as the same biographer then narrates.

[121] explained and compared But, you say, the matter being so explained, a new difficulty will arise. For on the testimony of the same biographer the servant, compelled by the Saint, committed him to the public custody, in which it is not likely that the things which are then narrated were done. For who would believe that the abbot, when asked, was willing to confine the Saint more narrowly in public custody, or permitted a Man so illustrious and so well deserving of the monastery — although willing and desiring it, yet not abandoning the rule of obedience — to remain in such a place until death? Nor is it likely to me, if it can be proved, that the author's meaning was to designate by custody the prison into which thieves and robbers were accustomed to be thrown; as some have thought, and perhaps Theodoric himself, so that for that very reason he wrote that the Saint after almost four months migrated from that place into another, and that one situated in the monastery. But, saving a better judgement, by public custody I understand nothing but the place or cell of the monastery into which he wished to be thrust in such a way as thieves and robbers are wont to be into prison, and there to be treated in that manner and afflicted and bound with such instruments of punishment that he himself should bear the appearance of a robber rather than of a penitent, and the place that of a public prison rather than of a cell.

[122] with the words of the older biographers. The author himself gives occasion for my understanding his words so, when in what follows he calls the same place which he had named public custody now an enclosure, now a cell. The poet also comes to our aid, who, after he had declared the things which St. Bavo had done with the servant, and had concluded with these verses:

*Then the aforesaid man, compelled, the Saint urging him greatly, Tortured his body with bitter blows, And shaving the hair of his head disfigured its honourable crown, And with limbs bound and feet thrust into the stock Had so wrought that a heavy custody should confine the Saint: In which, continually devoting himself to prayers with fervour, He persisted until the times of approaching death.*

He, I say, after these things sings thus of the stricter enclosure:

*He begins to count as nothing even the heaviest labour, And longs to bind upon himself still narrower fetters, To constrain the foot that hastens straight onward, Nor to permit the step to go backward at all Of one who long since resolved to stretch forward to the things before. For since he dwelt under the roof of a very small CELL, Where he remained alone, shut up AS IN A NARROW PRISON, He would not be held by the law of his own vow; But remains, as is the custom of the kindly monasteries, Subject in whatever their superior judges should be done… Nor does he wish to be deprived of the monastic right… Bowed down, he attempts to ask the abbot set over him That he would wish to shut him more narrowly in THAT PLACE IN WHICH, with so tight a rein, HE WAS WONT TO DWELL.*

These things are so clear that further explanation is superfluous. Wherefore I dispose of another question which arises on this occasion.

[123] Mabillon raises it, and leaves it unresolved in the Annotations to the Life Another difficulty by Mabillon: Why, he says, does he who was enclosed desire to be committed TO PUBLIC CUSTODY? Certainly Abbot Theodoric relates that this was done before Bavo's enclosure. By public custody Mabillon understood a prison, and this word indeed he used in the Annals; but let it be granted for a moment that it was a public prison: let it be likewise granted for a moment as true, what Mabillon puts forward in both places, that St. Bavo, as the older biographer writes, was enclosed before he was committed by the servant to public custody: even so the answer to the question is easy. He desired it, namely, in order to humble himself the more, and to make fuller satisfaction for his offences. For recluses, that they might be free for God and for themselves, were shut up in a special cell, never to go out of it during their whole life, unless the common good or some other necessity required it: but they were not treated like robbers, their feet were not bound with a stock or a fetter, they were not dealt with in the manner in which our Saint wished to be dealt with by the servant. He, therefore, being already then enclosed, through

a window (for according to the description in Du Cange, in the Glossary under the word Reclusorium, cells of this kind had three: one facing the choir, through which the recluse may receive the Body of Christ; a second opposite, through which he may receive his food; a third, from which he may have light) through a window, I say, whether by sight or by hearing, he detected his servant, and, having obtained the abbot's permission, wished to be treated in this way: what then? He passed from a hard manner of living to a harder and more ignominious one. I find nothing unfitting here, nothing out of the ordinary in a Man who held penalties for delights.

[124] However, what Mabillon puts forward, and what we have for a moment granted gratuitously raised, by a varied answer, namely that the Saint was enclosed before he was committed to public custody, is not proved to us to be true: nor do we find that the enclosure is placed after the public custody by Theodoric, as neither does the older anonymous writer place it after. The latter, after relating the enclosure of almost four months in the custody, expressly says that the Saint, placed in this confinement, asked that the abbot would so confine him upon the floor … that he would have no means of leaning in any direction … which was also done. Theodoric, having likewise first set down the things which the Saint had wished to suffer from the servant, adds that, thrust for almost four months into this prison-struggle, he asked and obtained from St. Amand and Abbot Florbert enclosure in a narrow cave, which would hold one entering only standing, and would allow the suspended face, as of a crucified body, to be turned aside in neither direction. Is not the same thing designated in both, and the same order kept? There is a difference, I confess, in the circumstances. In the anonymous writer the Saint does not change place, and that this is more credible to us we noted above; in Theodoric he is transferred from one place to another. The anonymous writer mentions only the Abbot as confining the Saint more narrowly. Theodoric adds St. Amand the bishop, the clergy and people, with crosses and censers and the whole ecclesiastical apparatus: but let us grant these things to be true, and passed over by the anonymous writer for the sake of brevity, and not ornaments added by Theodoric to increase the splendour of the event (about which we said above too that one could doubt); certainly they change neither the thing itself nor the time.

[125] and by the explanation of the word It probably seemed to Mabillon that our anonymous writer placed the Saint's enclosure before his confinement in custody, because he, at num. 14 in our edition, having said that the Saint, returned to Ghent, asked the abbot and brethren of the monastery for a cell, subjoined this: The little cell which he sought … he obtained: in which, thrust away, he called upon God with pious and unwearied prayers. The word retrusus ("thrust away") in fact sometimes means inclusus or reclusus; but just as inclusus and reclusus do not always involve enclosure for life, which is the question here, so neither does retrusus, unless the circumstances indicate it. Very often retrusus means hidden or removed from the intercourse of men, and in that signification I think the word was used by the author, so that the sense is that the Saint, alone in his little cell, gave himself frequently to prayers. Indeed nothing is added in the context which denotes strict enclosure, nor did our poet understand such, who, altogether silent about it, embraced the author's text in these verses:

Approaching him [] [*], he asked that he would give him some cell, Where to the Lord pure prayers, removed from all noise, He might offer… But when Bavo could learn the assent of the brethren, He was zealous to render manifold thanks to Christ, And going on to visit the cell granted him, He had bound himself so fast in the service of the Lord That the brethren whom he had first set before himself as an example Saw themselves afterwards surpassed by his fervour.*

[126] is resolved. The last verses show well enough that a rule of life different from that which the other brethren professed was not then taken up by the Saint; he at first imitated them and afterwards surpassed them by his fervour in the exercises of the cenobitic institute. The same poet, when afterwards about to give what the older anonymous writer narrates concerning the servant once sold by the Saint, with this opening: At length on a certain day he saw a certain man coming towards him, renders it thus:

By chance on a certain day a man had come to meet him.

Absurdly, if the word retrusus must always be taken for one strictly enclosed, or never to go out of his cell. Finally, Theodoric himself, who had the anonymous writer before his eyes, took the said word in another sense, since, where he writes of the cell obtained by the Saint, he records nothing of enclosure, and then begins the story of the servant in this manner: On a certain day it happened that (Bavo), having gone out of his dwelling, met a young servant.

\* the abbot

\* Bavo

§ X. In what state the monastery, afterwards called Bavo's, was when the Saint first came to it; and that he was a cleric before he was a monk.

A few things set down first on the state of the monastery, While in the preceding §§ I was inquiring into the year of St. Bavo's conversion and into the space of time which elapsed between it and his death, and while I was arranging his deeds from conversion to death in the best manner I could, and in an order more conformable to the writings especially of the old biographers, I deliberately passed over, so as not to break the thread, a question which it is not right indeed to dissemble, but very difficult to resolve clearly and definitely: namely whether St. Bavo from the beginning of his conversion professed himself a monk or a cleric. It was said above that the beginnings of the monastery erected by St. Amand in the fortress of Ghent are now referred by the common consent of the learned to about the year of Christ 631. Over this and the monastery of Blandinium, built about the same time, St. Amand set Florbert as abbot after eight years, as most think; certainly many years before the conversion of St. Bavo, as all today admit, contrary to what Abbot Theodoric writes, who refers Florbert's headship to after the conversion of St. Bavo.

[128] I shall not unfold here the much-agitated controversy when the Saint first came to it, concerning the first inhabitants of the Bavonian monastery, whom many more recent writers, relying chiefly on the testimonies of the same Abbot Theodoric, will have to have been clerics, and monks afterwards to have succeeded them, over whom Abbot Florbert was set; while others contend that they were monks from the very beginnings. For the former opinion Le Cointe fights above the rest in the Ecclesiastical Annals of the Franks at the year 631, num. 5 and following; for the latter Mabillon in the Preface to the second Benedictine Century, num. 28 and following, and again in the Benedictine Annals at the year 631, book 12, num. 19 and following, whom the curious reader may consult. To us it is sufficiently proved that there were monks there at least when St. Bavo came thither to St. Amand. Further, the things which preceded that coming concern St. Amand rather than St. Bavo, and for that reason I shall touch the said controversy only where it is connected with this question of ours.

[129] Let us see, then, what the ancients hand down concerning the first profession of our Saint the words of the ancients are recited, from which he draws out. Our older biographer says at num. 9: By God's favour also a monastery of clerics was honourably built in the fortress itself… These things completed, in the same monastery the blessed confessor Bavo, prostrating himself with the fullest devotion before the sanctuary of the temple of the Lord, begged to cut off [] the hair of his head, and, having obtained the honour of the clerical state from the hands of the venerable bishop Amand, merited to become a sharer with the Apostles.* Our poet:

*And a monastery is reverently built in the very place, And a numerous clergy soon begins to grow there… Then coming [*], loosed from every fetter of the world, He asks the holy Amand to cut off his hair In the very fortress of which we made mention above, Worthy thus to be associated with the rank of the Saints.*

The writer of the Miracles, num. 8: And he received in the same Ghent, in which he now rests, from the blessed Amand the tonsure of the clerical state, delegated by an unshakeable deliberation. Abbot Theodoric: There, before the altar of the blessed apostle Peter, having professed the warfare of Christ, shorn of beard and hair, he takes him into the clerical state. The Bavonian chronicler: St. Amand distinguished St. Bavo, after he had first distributed all his goods for God's sake, with the clerical tonsure in the church of Ganda, as is set down before. All these things, in Mabillon's judgement, are to be explained of the monastic state.

[130] Mabillon, that he was at once made a monk: To establish his opinion he first adduces various examples by which he may prove that monks were not rarely designated by the old writers with the name of clerics; then he adds that from ignorance of this matter Abbot Theodoric fell, and drew others, into error, when from the words of the older anonymous writer misunderstood he related that clerics were originally placed in the monastery of Ganda and that monks afterwards succeeded; and finally, reciting the text of the anonymous writer given in the preceding number, he adds to the last words, He merited to become a sharer with the Apostles: Which especially befits monks, whom St. Bernard and very many others call imitators of the apostolic life. The author expresses his meaning more clearly in what follows: "He let go the hair of his head, and found a crown of glory: he left the secular garments and received the white robe: he left the pomp of this world and put on the breastplate of faith." In which words that writer expresses clearly enough the religious garments and the tonsure. Now I reply to each point. That monks sometimes came under the name of clerics in the ancient writers I do not deny, especially when they were distinguished by some ecclesiastical grade, and so were at once monks and clerics: as has been said elsewhere. Likewise, that there were monks at Ghent at the time when Bavo came there I have already said is sufficiently proved to me: but from the things Mabillon observes it is not thereby proved that the Saint, when he obtained the honour of the clerical state, professed the monastic state.

[131] reasons contrary to him are set forth; For that it befits clerics too to be imitators of the apostolic life no one, I believe, will call into doubt. To let go the hair of the head was likewise a mark of clerics, as also to leave the secular garments and the pomp of this world; certainly then too clerics were distinguished from laymen both by dress and by manners, and put on such as befitted men who had wholly given themselves over to divine worship. Further, what is there in the whole context of the anonymous writer which cannot be applied just as properly to a cleric as to a monk, and which compels us to take the honour of the clerical state less properly for the monastic tonsure and profession? Where he is said to have obtained the honour of the clerical state, mention is made of St. Amand the bishop alone, none of an abbot, none of brethren or monks, none of a rule or of regular discipline, none of even a short stay in the monastery by which a Man lately drawn away from the world could have been imbued with these things; but he is said at once to have followed St. Amand preaching the word of God to the nations. Mabillon presses, saying: Nor should you seek any other cause why St. Bavo, who as soon as he was tonsured as a monk had joined himself to Amand as companion in preaching, "asked through the above-written bishop that leave be given him to go round the monasteries of the Athletes of Christ, so that he might learn the life of the monks and the manner of living of the cenobites." Of course, being a monk, he desired with all his wishes to search out and emulate the manners of more perfect monks.

[132] I, to one asking the cause why St. Bavo, who as soon as he was tonsured as a cleric a reply is made to another argument, and from the Acts,, to St. Amand

had joined himself as companion in preaching, asked for the said leave, think that I shall answer no less probably: Of course, being a cleric, and aspiring to a more perfect institute of life, he conceived the desire of embracing the monastic life, and went round the monasteries, both in order to choose out of them one which would be more suitable to his purpose, and in order to learn the rule of living of the cenobites, their regular discipline and their manners before making his choice. But, I pray, if he was a monk before, of what monastery was he a monk? Of that of Ghent, you say, of the Order of St. Benedict, in which he had received the tonsure and had put off the secular garment. But according to the Rule of St. Benedict one to be received to the monastic state was proved for a whole year. Let all the hard and rough things be foretold him by which one goes to God (the words are from chap. 58, On the Discipline of receiving brethren). If he promises perseverance in his stability, after the course of two months let this Rule be read to him in order… If he still stands firm … after the course of six months let the Rule be read to him, that he may know to what he is entering. And if he still stands, after four months let the same Rule be read to him again. And if, having deliberated with himself, he promises to keep everything and to observe all that is commanded him, then let him be received into the congregation, knowing that he is now established under the law of the Rule; so that from that day it is not lawful for him to go out of the monastery. And yet St. Bavo, as Mabillon admits in the Annals at the year 647, book 13, num. 43, having distributed his means to the poor, returned again to St. Amand, then staying in the fortress of Ghent. Soon he was distinguished by him with the honour of the clerical state, that is, as he himself interprets, was made a monk, and, as he says earlier, as soon as he was tonsured as a monk, joined himself to Amand as companion in preaching.

[133] Say, if you like, that the Rule was dispensed in favour of a Man who deserved extremely well of the brethren compared with the Rule of St. Benedict, it is concluded,; but what was the cause why, after about a year had passed, when the Saint returned to Ghent and asked Abbot Florbert for a little cell in which he might privately beseech the Lord's mercy for his misdeeds, the same abbot, as the older anonymous writer goes on to narrate, before he assented, according to the precept of the pious father Benedict, disclosed his prayers to the brethren of the same monastery, and, having called together the whole congregation, so that if perchance it had been revealed to a younger one what was pleasing to the Almighty, he might with all eagerness receive and fulfil that which is written: Do all things with counsel, and after the deed thou shalt not repent? Did Florbert use that precaution to inquire whether it was advisable to grant a cell to a professed brother of the same monastery, who had been tonsured a monk there by the founder Amand himself, and who had there, as the Rule of St. Benedict required, promised stability? To me indeed that appears less likely, especially since according to the same Rule of St. Benedict such ceremonies were not to be employed except in affairs of great moment, as is taught clearly enough in chap. 3, from which the anonymous writer drew most of the words just recited: As often as any SPECIAL matters are to be done in the monastery (this is the beginning of the chapter), let the abbot call together the whole congregation and himself state what is in question… And we have said that all are to be called to counsel for this reason, that often the Lord reveals to a younger one what is better… But if lesser matters are to be done for the advantage of the monastery, let him use the counsel of the seniors only, as it is written: Do all things with counsel, and after the deed thou shalt not repent.

[134] that he was first only a cleric, As though it were indeed a matter of such great moment to grant a cell to a monk returning to his own monastery, who had set out abroad with the consent of the abbot and brethren; for if St. Bavo was a monk when he followed St. Amand, it cannot be believed that this was done without their consent. Wherefore it is much more likely that the Saint was not a monk while he followed St. Amand, but that then first, when he returned to Ghent, he asked to be admitted to the profession of the monastic life. And then the Abbot could rightly judge the matter to be of sufficiently grave moment that it should not be carried out without a previous convocation and consultation of all the brethren. There was added that the question was of the admission not of any man whatever but of a cleric. For concerning the admission of priests and clerics a special law is prescribed in chap. 60 of the Benedictine Rule, and such a one indeed that no mention is made there of the year's probation or novitiate, because, as Hugues Ménard observes in the Notes on the Concord of Rules, page 1000, formerly they had no need of it, since they were mature men and conspicuous for gravity. And their characters and manners could be sufficiently explored during the time of hospitality, or in the space of two or at most six months.

[135] afterwards a monk. What was said before of the state Moreover in the same chap. 60 it is said of a priest received into the monastery: Let it be granted him, however, to stand after the abbot. To which Ménard: And accordingly before the provost and the deans, if they are not priests: of a cleric, however, the Rule says in the same place: let him be placed in a middling place, that is to say, neither among the highest nor among the lowest; and here there was new matter for deliberation, since it concerned a cleric to whom the monastery was bound by so many titles. For the rest, from what I have already recited from the older anonymous writer and compared with the Benedictine Rule, the studious reader will at once perceive by what reasoning I was led to assert above that it is sufficiently proved to me that there were monks in the Fortress of Ghent when St. Bavo came there. Mabillon, in the places cited, adds another reason from the same anonymous writer to confirm this, which I shall assign in the Annotations. But I add another from the metrical Life, which Mabillon probably did not see, and from which I think it is made plain that there were monks there long before St. Bavo's coming, certainly from the very time at which Abbot Florbert was given to the monastery. For where the older anonymous writer says: Therefore Adloinus, the man of God, having returned to the above-written Fortress of Ghent, to the venerable man Florbert the abbot, whom the kindly bishop Amand had appointed there as ruler over the flock of CLERICS, asked, etc., the Poet sings thus:

But he [], running through each of the kindly places, Was hastening again to visit the fortress of Ghent, Where one by name Florbert perchance as abbot Stood, set over the MONKS by the holy Amand.*

But Florbert was abbot there long before St. Bavo's coming; therefore there were monks also.

[136] of the monastery are confirmed; and the arguments, But from this you will form a new argument for Mabillon. For you will say that those very persons whom the anonymous writer calls clerics are called monks by the poet, and that from this therefore it is clear what is to be understood in other places also, where the same anonymous writer says that a monastery of clerics was built, that is, of monks, and that the honour of the clerical state was conferred on Bavo by St. Amand, that is, of the monastic profession. I shall admit the first assertion, not so the last part of the consequence. For even if it followed from the admitted first assertion that by the words a monastery of clerics a monastery of monks is to be understood, the reasons which I have brought to the contrary would prevent my admitting that by the honour of the clerical state monastic profession is to be understood. But if anyone wishes to sustain the opinion opposed to Mabillon's, he will not be compelled to admit even the first part of the consequence. For he will say that it is true that the same men were designated both by the older anonymous writer and by the poet, that is, those who, being clerics, were made monks under Abbot Florbert. But since the same authors were treating of the time at which that change was made in the monastery, he will say that those men were named by the anonymous writer from the state from which they had passed, by the poet from the state to which they had passed. And so he will further conclude that the words clerics and clerical state were everywhere used by the anonymous writer in their proper and ordinary signification, and he will unfold thus the passage on which Mabillon chiefly relies: Florbert was appointed ruler of the clerics, who under him were becoming monks.

[137] He will add finally that it ought not to be conjectured from the verse alleged which could be formed from it, that the poet thought that by clerics monks were everywhere understood by the anonymous writer, and therefore substituted monachis for the word clericis, which the metre did not admit; since the poet himself, recording the beginnings of the monastery, writes thus:

*And a monastery is reverently built in the very place, And a numerous CLERGY soon begins to grow there, To resound [] praises to the Lord by night and day.

where nevertheless for him, not much concerned about the elegance of the metre, the correction or explanation was easy, by saying:

And a numerous MONK soon begins to grow there.

or:

And MONKS begin soon to grow there, many.

But indeed, while I suggest answers of this kind against Mabillon's opinion concerning the first inhabitants of the monastery, I do not wish you to think that the opposite opinion, relying chiefly on the testimony of Abbot Theodoric, a writer of insufficient authority to determine me to the choice of one among differing opinions, is altogether approved by me. I have done it only to this end, to indicate that Mabillon's arguments also are not such to me as to prove the testimony of Theodoric so evidently erroneous that Mabillon may rightly conclude: From these things it is manifest that monks, not secular clerics, existed in the monastery of Ganda … from the beginning. Where, however, the same Mabillon, as by way of a supplement, at once subjoins the following argument, such as it is: Which the monastic profession of Amand himself renders more than sufficiently likely. Namely, a monk without doubt established monks in the places erected by him, a Benedictine Benedictines. But neither here will Mabillon's adversary labour for an answer. Grant, he will say, that St. Amand was a Benedictine monk: it is more certain that he was then a bishop, and from this it becomes more likely that in some at least of the places erected by him he established clerics, not monks: so that on this head it remains equally doubtful whether in the monastery of Ghent he established clerics living together, or monks.

[138] are anticipated. If, however, clerics were established there first, and then monks, I do not believe the change was made for the cause which some have related, namely that St. Amand removed the clerics because they lived too licentiously. For without the testimonies of old and trustworthy writers I should not dare to assert that they degenerated so far from their first rule of life in so small a space of time, about eight years, under the discipline and before the eyes of a most holy prelate. Wherefore, since Theodoric himself, speaking of the change in two places, in neither discloses any cause, if it must absolutely be admitted to have been made in that space of time, I should prefer to say that it arose from the piety of the clerics, who, advancing daily in the way of virtue through the exhortations and examples of St. Amand, of their own accord asked that a monastic Rule be given them and an abbot set over them; and to this sense I have fitted the answers to Mabillon's arguments. From the preceding questions another question could arise, and one by no means easier to solve: namely to what grade of the clerical state or ecclesiastical order our Saint ascended. There is no likelihood to me in what Rabanus, or perhaps an interpolator of his, relates in the Martyrology,

namely that St. Bavo was a bishop. Less remote from likelihood is the assertion of Bl. Alcuin, who, about half a century older than Bl. Rabanus, calls him a venerable Priest in these verses, in André Duchesne or Quercetanus, col. 1726:

*May the venerable priest Bavo sanctify these places, A disciple worthy in life of the father Amand.*

It is less remote from likelihood, I say, if by priest he understands a presbyter, or priest of the second order. Yet, although Alcuin's authority is great, I should not dare to subscribe to that opinion. For just as it does not appear credible to me that, if St. Bavo had been consecrated bishop, Rabanus alone would have recorded it, so I cannot sufficiently persuade myself that, if he had been a priest, no one except Alcuin, in so great a multitude of old writers as we have cited so far and are about to cite hereafter, would have committed it to writing.

\ Mabillon: to be cut off*.

\* Bavo

\* Bavo

\ Perhaps: pays*.

§ XI. The eulogies of certain ancients concerning the Saint.

Some eulogies of the ancients concerning the Saint are subjoined: Since in the present Commentary, according to our institute, we have undertaken to treat only those deeds of St. Bavo which were related by the biographers either not clearly enough or even in different ways, and so gave occasion to various conjectures, opinions and disputes of the more recent writers which needed a fuller discussion, and since we think this has now been sufficiently accomplished, we pass over other things set out clearly enough by the same biographers, or at least easy to declare in the Annotations; and the eulogies of certain ancients concerning the same Saint, hitherto cited or recited in part, we now exhibit in full. Before the rest we set the Verses or Letter of St. Livinus to the often-mentioned Abbot Florbert, with the Epitaph of St. Bavo, published by James Ussher in the Sylloge of Irish Letters, and thence by Mabillon in the second Benedictine Century, but copied by us from the Corsendonk manuscript.

[140] Verses [*] of St. Livinus, bishop and martyr, To Florbert, abbot of the monastery of St. Bavo. of St. Livinus, bishop and martyr,

*I dare to speak wonders: I have seen a sun without light; Here is day without light, here [*] rest without peace. Since I looked upon these peoples in clear light, The sun has not shone for me, it has been one night to me. An impious race, stirred up with barbaric tumult; Here the Brabanter rages, and bloodthirsty strikes me. What wrong have I done thee, who bear the messages of peace? It is peace that I bear; why dost thou move wars against me? But the fierceness which thou breathest, a happy lot of triumph And the glory of martyrdom will give the palm. I know whom I shall trust; nor shall I be cheated by an empty hope; He who promises is God: who can doubt? Yet there is something which gives consolation to my sorrowful mind, Nor does the black day wholly oppress me. Ganda prepares a bosom, in which she cherishes me with a glad breast; She invites, soothes, nourishes, loves, refreshes.*

[141] to Abbot Florbert *Here is Florbert, whom virtue adorns with its flower, In whom uprightness flowers, and the flower thrives by uprightness. Pattern of the flock, ornament of the church, concord of the brethren, Himself a physician to his own, and medicine to himself. Why should I relate the work of piety, that [*] while he cherishes me, A stranger, with glad services, he adds a burden? It would suffice to have called Livinus a brother of the brethren; The name of bishop, and of lord, weighs heavily upon me. Having gone out from my fatherland, the honour of mortal pomp I spurned, I renounced: God is my one hope. Yet what he zealously offers to Christ he will find; That I am thus poor will diminish nothing for him. Absent, he bestows something more by a generous gift; Present, he cherishes me with continual services. Even while I write these things, the hurrying driver of a little ass Comes with the accustomed gift, wearied by the load. He brings the delights of the countryside, butter with milk, And eggs, and baskets full of little cheeses weigh him down.*

[142] *Hostess, why dost thou stand still? Come now, bestir thy step, Gather up the riches, thou who wast but now poor. The dry pot-herb boils, but now it will be possible to season it: The little pot, hard before, anointed will be sweet. Holta, heavy village, who knowest not how to render fruit, Why, well tilled, dost thou return nettles and burrs? This is what refreshes me, all that my poor little hostess has, Or what of good Ganda sends me. And that pious father sends soft words with his gifts, And urges me with prayers to the task: And bids me mark GREAT BAVO with a title, And that light elegies be an ornament to his tomb. Nor does he reckon that when the pipe shrieks from split wood, Being shattered it is wont to give back a hoarse sound. Of a meagre stream, which a poor vein supplies, The wave to the weary scarcely supplies thin waters [*] So I, who once, when my study flourished, seemed To be a poet, now run on foot for a horse. And I who was said to be able, from the Castalian fount, To move the lyre wet with Dictaean verse, Now the Muses dictate words to me in a mangled song, And my sorrowing mind is not fitted for glad measures.*

[143] with the Epitaph of St. Bavo *I am not what I was, glad in festive song: How could I be, seeing bloody darts? Nor do I know what to do; this swelling [*] of a wanton mind, Whom, I ask, would it not offend, to refuse to give like for like? If indeed I refuse to contend in equal service, I sin, in delaying to return small things for great. He bestows great things on me who suppliant asks for little things, And yet I am found slow to the service. I shall gird myself to the task, although not with equal strength: Not to be able is a light thing; not to have refused is good. Therefore, writing a title for thee, MOST HOLY BAVO, I who wish what I cannot, do what I can.

THOU WHO WAST RULER OF THY FATHERLAND, HOPE OF THY PEOPLE, GLORY OF THE KINGDOM,

FIRST OF THE GREAT, WHO WAST BUT NOW GREAT.

NOT BECAUSE THOU WAST GREAT DOES GREAT GLORY MAKE THEE BLESSED,

BUT GLORY SPURNED MAKES THEE A GREAT ORNAMENT.

FOR CHRIST POOR, DESPISED, VILE AND NEEDY,

THOU ART [*] NOW HEAD AND ORNAMENT TO THE SERVANTS OF CHRIST.

CALLING BACK A DEAD MAN, THOU WHO DIDST TAKE AWAY THE RIGHTS OF DEATH,

SHOWING INDEED THAT THE RIGHTS OF HEAVEN LIE OPEN TO THEE.

THE CHURCH WHICH THOU DIDST FOUND, WHICH HOLDS THEE, RENOWNED BAVO,

PROTECT, O SAINT, BY THY MERITS.

These songs, father FLORBERT, I, LIVINUS, sending them, Have given to be had as a gift inscribed upon a stone: That when that place shall be laid waste by ruin, The buried stone may preserve these songs.*

[144] in which the author foretells his martyrdom, This most precious monument of antiquity, whether you regard its age or the dignity and holiness of its author, it has seemed good to transfer here in full, because, although it contains many things less pertaining to St. Bavo, yet the whole was composed on the occasion of the Epitaph which Florbert had asked of St. Livinus: and since we have given it in full, it will not be out of place to subjoin to it some observations; but brief ones, and to be more amply elucidated at the days to be mentioned presently. And first indeed there shines out in it the extraordinary humility of St. Livinus, who reckoned it a heavy burden to be called bishop and lord by Florbert; secondly, his apostolic ardour for spreading the word of God, from which, having left his fatherland and entrusted his bishopric in Ireland to another, and having spurned comforts and honours, he betook himself to a region from which neither the barrenness of the soil nor the savage character of the inhabitants at that time deterred him from persevering there until martyrdom. And this martyrdom he foretells so clearly and assuredly, and with such circumstances, that it could not be more clearly or assuredly, and there appears no doubt that he was endowed with a prophetic spirit. By the same spirit he may be judged to have foretold in the last verses that the monastery would one day be devastated — for that this happened we shall see in its place — and that beneath its ruins would be found the stone or brick on which he had caused the Epitaph of St. Bavo to be inscribed.

[145] Thirdly, there shines out in the verses the singular esteem which the same St. Livinus had for the virtues and holiness of Abbot Florbert and he greatly praises Bavo and Florbert., whose death is inscribed in various sacred Fasti on the 1st day of November. Fourthly, it might be observed what a splendid testimony St. Livinus furnishes of the extraordinary holiness of Bavo, of his remarkable power in the world before his conversion, of the church of Ghent founded with his means; but these things have already had their place in the preceding §§. That the verses were written not long after St. Bavo's death is clear from their contents and from the person of him who asked for them, and especially from the death of the author. For Livinus is related to have been crowned with martyrdom about three years after our Saint's departure from life. Finally, Holta, where St. Livinus was then staying and where after his martyrdom he was buried, was a village of old Brabant, which today is commonly called Hauthem and is assigned to Flanders, distant three miles from Ghent.

[146] The biographer of the same St. Livinus also wrote honourably of St. Bavo Of St. Bavo also honourably; he, because he called himself Boniface, has been believed by some to be St. Boniface, archbishop of Mainz: but wrongly, as Mabillon proves by solid arguments in the Preliminary Observations to the Life of St. Livinus, inserted in the second Benedictine Century, page 455 and following, and Papebroch in the Analecta concerning St. Boniface, archbishop of Mainz, in volume 1 of the month of June, page 494. But these two writers, agreeing so far, disagree greatly in their judgement on the age of the said biographer. Mabillon makes him contemporary with St. Livinus and older than St. Boniface of Mainz. Papebroch, adducing reasons neither few nor light, draws him down to the 12th or 13th century. We, since this matter, if anywhere it is to be resumed or elucidated, properly belongs to the 12th day of November, subjoin here the biographer's words, leaving to the readers the judgement of their truth, and we set them before the eulogies of other writers older than the 12th or 13th century only because they are in some way connected with what has already been given concerning St. Livinus.

[147] And when (says the author) he (St. Livinus) had travelled through very many places writes the biographer of St. Livinus;, scattering the seeds of the divine offspring, driving demons out of possessed bodies, healing the bodies of many sick persons, he came with his disciples to a certain monastery named by its ancestral name Gandavum, which the blessed bishop Amand, having rooted out the shrines of the heathen, caused to be founded, and which he himself also dedicated in honour of St. Peter the apostle and of all the apostles, having gathered there worshippers, over whom he set an abbot named Florbert, a ruler of holy religion, composed in worthy manners and full of the examples of all uprightness; by whom also and by the other brethren he was received with the office of monastic charity. There too he found a man of magnificent holiness and illustrious confessor of Christ, Bavo, resting in the Lord by a recent death, and buried with fitting honour in the monastery of St. Peter and the holy Apostles by the blessed bishop Amand and Abbot Florbert and the devout brethren, and shining with glorious miracles. In the same place also he stayed for thirty days, and at the tomb of St. Bavo, keeping vigil, he offered his prayers and celebrations of Masses to the Lord God. Thus far this author in Mabillon's edition and in our manuscript copies, with some diversity of reading indeed, but not so great as to change the thing narrated

or need annotations.

[148] A splendid Eulogy of our Saint was also woven by Milo, monk and priest of the monastery of Elnone, in the Life of St. Amand likewise Milo, monk of Elnone, composed in Heroic verse before the middle of the ninth century, as Henschenius proved in the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Amand, volume 1 of February, page 842; where, after the apostolic labours of St. Amand and his other deeds among the people of Ghent have been described, these lines follow on page 880:

*These fortresses too he afterwards commended to his friend, Hastening, a warrior, to go to other parts, So that a strong leader of the people might not be wanting to them. Blessed Bavo of God, the present page marks thee: Thou, once led by Amand, the Lord's captain, Didst spurn the world, didst trample on the slippery age, Taking up the arms of the cross, with hastening foot didst seek the wars, And didst carry off much spoil from the savage enemy: Among which the prey which he joyfully carried off, and Longed, in his own kingdom, if perchance it had been Possible, to shut up in the fire-flowing caverns of his prison: Thou, pouring forth holy tears, pious vows and prayers, Crying aloud in warfare, O Blessed one, with blessed wars Didst save it, and gavest thy gifts to the supreme King.*

[149] in the Life of St. Amand *What I speak of thou knowest, since thy deeds are sung. That enemy, namely, when, brandishing a missile weapon, He hurled it, set upon a wagon, and laid low one Of the servants, and a hunting was made for the fierce dogs. But yet in vain did he then pour out his attempts: For since afterwards, by praying, by a returning path thou didst call back The herdsman, brought back from the darkness of death, into the light, Having used many other holy arts, By this one he learned that thou wouldst never be conquered. O how magnificent a master hadst thou, O Saint, And with what signs did that preceptor of thine, Amand, Shine! which made thee such a minister! For in thy deeds we discern a kindly teacher, Excellent, beautiful, wonderful, worthy to be glorified. It is sweet to me to run through the texture of thy Life; But the song to be completed draws back my step. Yet, lest these verses be poured out for thee without interest, Render the return, and, guiding me by thy prayers, I beseech thee, Mayest thou obtain pardon for my wretched guilt, And, joined to thy King, fare well through the ages.*

[150] composed in verse *And thou, happy place, a region brighter than gold, Illumined by the pious light of the Just, hail: And thou people, comely enough, gathered with much labour By twin Fathers, it is fitting that thou follow with love Those whom the Almighty in His kindness assigned to thee As sweet Patrons, and in pity gave thee such friends. And if our Amand, departing hither in body, Has left thee, by his merits, if thou believest, he governs everywhere. And while he protects us too by his sacred prayers and merits, Remembering thee also, he opens to thee the gates of Olympus. Applaud sweet-sounding hymns to such great Shepherds; Lest thou seem to the other flocks an ungrateful fold. Mingling songs with the pages, my Muse running, I shall sing again with you, offering tokens of my love Towards them, memorials remaining without end, Who, because the wing of virtues lifted them, conspicuous, To the starry kingdom, have shown to you who hasten thither That the gates of the holy life can lie open. But I, shaggy with offences as a he-goat with bristles, And bare of the gleaming white fleece of a shining covering, Am dragged, pitiable, to the cruel halls of wretched death. Stretch forth your hands, I beg, and from the jaw of the devourer Snatch me…*

The victory here sung in the first part of the verses in preference to the other deeds of the Saint is the one which he won when by his prayers he called back to life, and snatched from the demon, a blasphemous man punished with sudden death, as our biographers describe at length; when you have read them, the things which could otherwise seem obscure will become clearer.

[151] Philip of Harvengt, commonly called ab Eleemosyna and many others., in the 12th century abbot of the monastery of Bonne-Espérance of the Premonstratensian Order near Binche in Hainaut, in the Life of the same St. Amand, written in an elegant style and printed by Henschenius at the 6th of February in the fourth place, celebrates the memory of St. Bavo on page 863 in the following words: Under his (Abbot Florbert's) happy mastership blessed Bavo entered the seclusion of a votive enclosure, after he had been converted from the vanity of the world by the preaching of blessed Amand, and tonsured by ecclesiastical rite for the grace of benediction. In which, fittingly intent on vigils, fasts and prayers, he busied himself to present himself faithfully to God the Father as a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing, according to the institution of the man of God. The anonymous author of the Epitome of the History of the translation and elevation of St. Amand, published by Henschenius in the same volume, page 894, also did not pass over St. Bavo; where, enumerating the holy disciples of the holy bishop and running briefly through the praise of each, he relates this of ours: Noble also according to the dignity of the world was Allouinus, who is called St. Bavo by the voices of all, converted from the rite of the pagans to the worship of God by the aforesaid bishop and wholesomely introduced into the way of the commandments, who through the grace of divine inspiration merited to ascend to such a summit of loftiness that he even called back a dead man from the jaws of hell, and showed him openly to all restored to life. That this author was deluded when he believed that St. Bavo was converted to God from the rite of the pagans it is enough to have noted. There are more illustrious testimonies than these concerning our Saint left by the ancients, but we refrain from reciting them because they have either been exhibited in the preceding §§ or are manifestly taken from others.

\* Ussher: LETTER.

\ Ibid.: so*.

\ Mabillon: by which*.

\ Ussher: help. Mabillon: perhaps riches*.

\ Ussher: fear*.

\ Ussher: And*.

LIFE

By an anonymous author,

From a very old manuscript of Saint-Omer, collated with a likewise very old manuscript of St. Bavo's and with Mabillon's edition.

Bavo, also called Alloynus, confessor, at Ghent in Flanders. (S.)

BHL Number: 1049

A. By an Anonymous Author

PROLOGUE.

The author, excusing his lack of skill, You seem to ask of all peoples one base and lowest, and you seek to have me, an unlearned man, shine through the Scythian nations and the Parthian fatherlands. For we read that Athens was the mother of all the liberal arts and of human learning: where of old the knowledge of the ancient Latin tongue flourished under Pissistratus ^a as its author, and whence almost all our arts were poured forth. Not, I say, did Hesperia hold me, nor Rome or Ausonia [], nor bear or nourish me; nor did Tytirus ^b teach me, nor am I supported by the arguments of Aristotle, of Varro, Democritus, Plato, Demosthenes and the other learned men. I am poor in wit, and dry of the river of words. Altogether I confess myself very sluggish. The weight of sluggishness also presses me and rolls me in the depths; since, empty [] of knowledge, I dare to write these things somehow with a frail pen.

[2] he indicates that he wrote out of obedience. Let the sayings of the excellent doctor Jerome the priest be for an example [] to us, by which we are able to resist [] the snares of detractors. I confess that I am rejoicing, holy Father, you who did by no means suffer my sluggish mind to persist, nor to exult with a malicious heart, nor to goad itself with malevolent inquiries, but compelled it, as far as an unskilled tongue avails, to imitate the footsteps of all the most eloquent men. To you, father, I shall take care to disclose whatever my art shall have devised or been able to find. Nor should you think that our sloth is puffed up [] by this: truly there is not in the bowels of my lukewarmness any calamity of self-exaltation, but my humility lies altogether at the bottom [], because the loftiness of knowledge does not abide with us. Your holiness is joined to me by an undivided love and charity. Why should I speak so much in words to you [*] of your own occasions? Therefore concerning the man of God Allowinus, namely St. Bavo, what you have judged to be desired, we wish, as we are able, to fulfil your will. May the Lord grant to me, the last of His servants, always to rejoice in your conversation, and with the flock committed to you, and with St. Bavo, who is called by another name Allowinus, to merit the kingdoms of the heavens ^c.

ANNOTATIONS.

\ Mabillon: Ausonius*.

\ Another reading: foolish*.

\ Mabillon: examples*.

\ Ibid.: refragare*.

\ Ibid.: inflamed*.

\ Ibid.: at the bottom* is lacking.

\ Ibid.: to you* is lacking.

PART I.

The illustrious lineage of the Saint, his marriage, the change of his manners, his approach to St. Amand.

A second prelude of the author. The character of good children is wont to become famous not so much by the dignity of their race as by their manners, the Lord approving, who said: Forbid not the little ones to come to me: and Wisdom saying: Forsake childishness, and live, and walk by the ways of prudence. Therefore, whether the works of a boy are clean and right can be understood from his pursuits, as someone says: How shalt thou find him in old age, whom thou didst not know in youth? And again: Receive instruction and thou shalt find wisdom: for not all things are expedient for all. No one can receive anything unless it be given him from heaven. For all have sinned, and need the glory of God. And it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Happy are they whose hope God is, and whose desires He graciously inflames and strengthens to perfection, because what is of God cannot be dissolved, as He Himself says: You are my friends, if you do the things that I command you. For he who clings to a holy man by assiduity of work receives his examples, by which he may be kindled to the love of truth. It is very praiseworthy to be good with the good; but it is much more praiseworthy to be good with the bad. For holy Church is wide in carnal things, but narrow in spiritual. And therefore not only the manners but also the company of the wicked are to be shunned. For if you are a companion of the conversation of the good, you will also be a sharer of their virtues. I shall not stretch out with long tedium the things which I desire to narrate of the Man of God: because a city set on a mountain cannot be hid: nor is a candlestick lit for any other purpose than to give light in the house ^a.

[4] Adlowinus, then, which name he received in holy Baptism the Saint's birth, youth, marriage;, whom the common people name Bavo, of noble race, of renowned parents, born in the duchy of Hesbaye ^b, was joined to a wife, namely the daughter of Count Adilio ^c, of whom he begot Agglethrude ^d, an offspring worthy of God, a virgin of Christ, to whom in the first rattles of her years a voice sent from the highest throne of the Most High resounded: Believe, it said, thou who art created also of the lineage of great ancestors, by the word of God alone thou shalt beget thy parents, who made both as man. For in the time of his youth blessed Bavo exercised his will in the wicked acts [*] of the world; he was constant in shameful things, inflamed with obscene bendings of the flanks ^e: but with Christ's help this continual vice of his was quickly turned into goodness.

[5] From that time also he did not despise the judgements of the law;

but also avoided the material of all crimes. the change of his manners, works of mercy. He did not harm his neighbours []; but stretched out his hand more widely to the poor. He did not refuse the faith of friendships, but sought it; nor did he so much cultivate fortune as imitate the virtues. By his mercy he relieved even the oppressed, ceaselessly recalling in all the practice of piety that God would be especially propitious to him for his sins in this, if he busied himself that all the unjustly oppressed should be relieved [] [by Him, of whom the prophet says to him: When the just man shall fall, he shall not be bruised; because the Lord will put His hand under him] ^f.

[6] His wife having died, he goes to St. Amand, At the same time too his wife died, namely the daughter of Count Adilio, of whom he had begotten Aggletrude, as has been set forth []. After she departed from this light ^g, he would not take another wife; but, by the inspiration of the Lord's mercy, he sought out Amand, the most holy bishop, for the way of conversion, asking pardon with tears; he also casts himself at his [] feet, confessed his misdeeds with compunction, and speaks to him of the passions contrary to himself, being about to do penance for his sins, the greatest and the least. Then the man of the Lord Amand, bearing the care of souls, which he was hastening to lead with him to the heavenly kingdoms, set before him words of the Scriptures by which he might gain him for the Lord, speaking thus: Vices are to be removed prudently, hidden things searched out subtly, and those openly known sometimes to be rebuked gently, and sometimes to be reproved vehemently.

[7] by whom he is instructed; I make known to thee the words of the Lord, by which thou mayest lay hold on eternal life. The Lord said: "Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. [Likewise: All things whatsoever you shall ask believing, you shall receive." And that: "If thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift." Likewise: "Amen I say to you, that you shall lament and weep, but the world shall rejoice. And you shall be made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy." Likewise He says: "Watch ye therefore, praying at all times, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are to come, and to stand before the Son of man. Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.] And every one that hath left house or lands, or father or mother, brethren or sisters, sons or daughters, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting." [Likewise He says: They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill. "And: I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance." Likewise: "Sell all whatever thou hast, and give to the poor; and come, follow me."

[8] he distributes his means to pious works; Having heard, then, these [*] divine things which St. Amand had announced to him according to the evangelical discipline, Adlowinus, the man of God, by God's inspiration, reckoning the riches of this world as a passing shadow or withering grass, lawfully distributed the substance of his estates to the places of the Saints and bestowed it on the poor, and returned to the aforesaid bishop, who was staying in the fortress whose name is Gandavum ^h: [which fortress, namely, is situated beside the Scheldt, where the same river Scheldt receives the river Lys.] In that fortress too antiquity had formerly set up abominable images and idols, which were worshipped there by the people in place of God. And the aforesaid bishop of God, taking his stand there, for the name of Christ destroyed all the shrines, broke the idols in pieces, and called all back to holy Christianity.

[9] at Ghent he renounces the world; And he caused a basilica to be built there in honour of the blessed apostle Peter, which, relics having been placed in it, he consecrated to the most high Lord with great honour; in which our Lord Jesus Christ afterwards worked many mighty deeds, granting sight to the blind, walking to the lame, firmness to the paralytic, health to the sick. By God's favour also a monastery of clerics was honourably built in the fortress itself ⁱ, where by day and night praise is sung to God by the faithful. These things completed, in the same monastery the blessed confessor Bavo, prostrating himself with the fullest devotion before the sanctuary of the temple of the Lord, begged to cut off [*] the hair of his head; and, having obtained from the hands of the venerable bishop Amand the honour of the clerical state ^k, merited to become a sharer with the Apostles. He let go the hair of his head, and found a crown of glory; he left the secular garments and received the white robe; he left the pomp of this world and put on the breastplate of faith. Wherefore also he was made worthy of the fellowship of the angels.

[10] Then the man of the Lord Amand, having commended and left the fortress, went on to preach the word of God to the nations he attends St. Amand as he preaches the faith, and blessed Bavo followed him, that he might be fed by his preaching. And he burned exceedingly in spirit to drink and draw in justice: for God had inspired so great an abundance into his mind that he chastised himself by great laceration of the body with alacrity of mind. Indeed he laid wounds upon himself, healing the diseases of the soul, so that, doing well, he might be secure in the day of judgement []. He looked daily around upon his infirmity, lest he should grow proud of the virtues received. For in general the heart of the upright, although the mind [] makes progress in great part, nevertheless sometimes labours with carnal acts. And therefore it is necessary that they return very often to the streams of sacred Scripture. For as the flesh is nourished by food, so too the inner man by the divine utterances.

[11] Therefore blessed Amand did not cease to preach these documents of faith also, which follow he is present as companion and hearer;, the crowds and St. Bavo listening, disputing thus: He who wishes to be always with God, let him pray frequently. For [] what is the present life but a vapour appearing for a little while? Lay hold on the eternal life to which you are called, and rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. Take up the arms of warfare [], the breastplate of faith, and resist the snares of the devil through the power of God. Nothing is stronger than he who has conquered [] the devil, and nothing weaker than he who is overcome by the flesh. The life of man is a temptation; whence the arrows of the devil are to be checked by the office of vigils, fasts, hospitality and almsgiving. The chief virtue therefore is, being born in the flesh, not to live carnally: and whence the flesh is worn down, thence the increase of spiritual virtues rises. []

[12] Therefore the man of God Bavo asked the above-written [] bishop to give him leave to go round the monasteries of the athletes of Christ he visits the monasteries., so that [] he might learn the life of the monks and the manner of living of the cenobites; and the Lord deigned to bestow [*] on him such ardour and compunction of heart that he was not content with the life of good cenobites; but more and more raised himself up in the service of God, and, placed frequently in groaning and tears, in affliction and vigils, in fasts and prayers, practised the life of the Saints, nor in any way gave rest to his body, wearing himself down by hunger, nakedness, cold, thirst and many tribulations. Indeed he desired that his life should be ended where he had cut off the hair of his head and had put away the arms of warfare and the pomp of the world. ^l

ANNOTATIONS.

\ Mabillon: works*.

\ Ibid.: his neighbours* (accusative).

\ Ibid.: to relieve*.

\ Another reading: foretold*.

\ Mabillon: of the blessed bishop*.

\ Mabillon adds: words*.

\ Ibid.: to be cut off*.

\ Another reading: of the Lord*.

\ Mabillon: spirit*.

\ Ibid.: And that*.

\ Ibid.: of justice*.

\ Ibid.: conquers*.

\ Ibid.: to rise*.

\ Ibid.: suprascriptum*.

\ Ibid.: quatinus*.

\ Ibid.: bestowed*.

PART II.

The Saint shuts himself in a cell, calls a dead man back to life, and produces wonderful examples of penance voluntarily undertaken.

Having returned to Ghent, he asks for a place in the monastery; Therefore Adloinus, the man of God, having returned to the above-written fortress of Ghent, to the venerable man Florbert the abbot, whom the kindly bishop Amand had appointed there as ruler over the flock of clerics ^a, humbly asked him to grant him a little cell in which he might privately beseech the Lord's mercy for his misdeeds. And when the pious father of the monastery heard his petition, he received it with joy: and, according to the precept of the pious father Benedict, disclosed his prayers to the brethren of the same monastery: and, having called together the whole congregation, so that, if perchance it had been revealed to a younger one what was pleasing to the Almighty, he might receive it with all eagerness of heart, and fulfil that which is written: Do all things with counsel, and after the deed thou shalt not repent. ^b

[14] The petition of Adloinus having been heard, then, as the abbot of the monastery related it, the brethren received it with grateful mind he is shut in a cell;; and so he obtained from them, God granting it, the little cell which he asked for: in which, thrust away ^c, he called upon God with pious and unwearied prayers, according to that which is written []: "Seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you. [For every one that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."]* This Man of God sought not gold or silver or precious gems, or the ornaments of this world, which after his conversion he reckoned as nothing; but the ardour of the God of heaven raised him up in vigils, in fasts, in groaning, in hunger and in alms to the poor beyond what could be written. Placed, therefore, in affliction of the body, he exercised in his mind as many heavenly instruments as the mercy of the Most High pressed upon his heart.

[15] And on a certain day of this time the brethren of the same monastery were directed [] under obedience a man who had cursed him, to build the cell of the man of God Bavo ^d. They began therefore to labour with their hands and to construct the building. And while the men [] of the aforesaid Abbot Florbert were supplying mortar with vehicles, one of them, Adinus [] by name, sat upon a wagon, which dogs coming out of the village surrounded, and began to press hard upon him. And he, caught in the snares of the devil and filled with envy, did not blush to blaspheme the man of God Bavo: but the devil, more cruel than every beast, confounded in all things, though they would have done him no harm [] if he had not blasphemed the Man of God, strove to attack him, now subject to himself, all the more as he saw that the other had returned to his former service. For the bloodthirsty one, seeing his idols changed into a temple of God, gnashing and roaring, sought whom he might devour.

[16] He therefore threw the animals with the vehicle upon the aforesaid man and had been punished with sudden death;: who, crushed by this weight, breathed out the spirit of life. The crowd, seeing him now dead, with weeping brought his body by boat to the aforesaid fortress of Ghent, that he might be buried there, as it is the custom to bury the dead. But the man of the Lord Bavo, seeing him now dead, groaned ^e with exceeding grief, with tears beating his breast, and reckoning the fault to himself, because he had met death in labouring for him, ordered the body of the dead man to be brought to his little cell; and at once the Man of the Lord gave himself to prayer, beseeching the mercy of the Lord with great weeping in these words: Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who not only forgivest sins but also justifiest sinners, and not only remittest punishment to the guilty but also givest rewards; grant these helps to my frailty, and graciously breathe in the heavenly [] effect of thy mercies, that I may be found aided by thy holy help.*

[17] by his prayers he calls him back to life. Thou who didst raise Lazarus, four days dead and stinking, from the tomb, let thy mercy profit us unworthy ones, that those who trust in thy goodness may the more quickly be heard; by the bounty of thy gifts renew the saving spirit of thy grace upon this body of thy dead servant, giving back to him the breath of life, O Sanctifier and Founder of the human race, who reignest with thy Son in eternal charity: grant that by the mystery of thy healing thou mayest be honoured by all thy servants, and mayest reveal thy presence, that we may exult in thy mercy and rejoice in thy glory: who livest and reignest God with the Son and the Holy Spirit through all ages of ages, Amen. The prayer then being completed, after the space of about three hours that dead man, at God's command, received back the soul which he had breathed out, and, made whole, stood upon his feet, and afterwards lived unharmed through many courses of years.

[18] The Saint's virtues Admiring, therefore, these so great miracles in the Soldier of God, dearly beloved, let us strive in this contest of the present life to follow [*] his examples, so that we too may merit with him to receive from God, with His elect, eternal joys in heaven. We ought to seek nothing in this present life of the consolation and honour of the world, but to rejoice in the abjection of poverty; not only to cast away the means of this world, but also to root out pleasures from our hearts. Let it come back also to memory that the man of the Lord Bavo gave up many possessions for the name of Christ, that he might receive an hundredfold in the heavenly kingdom, and moreover life eternal: at whose prayers the Lord raised a dead man. To as many as came to him he commended his gifts. For the richest grace of humility inflamed in all the fervour of charity, as oil makes the light abound.

[19] are proposed for imitation, He bestowed all his possessions, then, for Christ, not for the sake of loss, but in the discovery of gain: because he never fails who advances by good example, and whose humility confounds the pride of many. And the man of the Lord Adloinus, breathed upon by heavenly desire, grew more and more daily in the service of God, and, so to speak, abstinence from bread did not seem to him to afflict him enough; but the more he advanced in goodness, the more fully he afflicted himself at once with lamentations, fasts, vigils and prayers: he also watered his face with a continual flood of tears, that he might fulfil the word of the Truth, who says: Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

[20] and wonderful examples of penance At length on a certain day he saw a certain man coming towards him, returned from exile, whom he had once sold, while living in the dress of the world: at the sight of whom he gave himself up to countless lamentations, because he had perpetrated so great a crime against him. Then at last, turning to him and casting himself at his knees, he said: For I sold thee bound with thongs ^f; I beg thee, do not remember the injury which I did thee, and do not deign to refuse the prayer which I ask. I beg that, for the crime committed against thee, thou beat my body with scourges, and shave my head in the manner of robbers, and, binding me feet and hands, as I deserve, thrust me into custody. For perhaps the divine goodness, if thou doest these things, will grant me pardon. Then the aforesaid man, casting himself at the feet of St. Bavo, says that he in no way dares to do this to his Lord.

[21] But the Man of the Lord, as he was most eloquent, at length persuaded him to do what he had asked voluntarily undertaken. For a long time, then, at length overcome by his prayers, compelled and resisting, he fulfilled what he had commanded him ^g: he bound, namely, the hands of the Man of God and shaved his head, and fastened his feet [] in a wooden stock, and committed him to the public custody ^h: where the Man of the Lord, thrust in, remained with his feet bound until the day of his departure, which was near, ceasing not by day and night to weep for the acts of the world, which he had been accustomed to set before the eyes of his mind as a mass of burden. This Servant of the Lord, full of so many virtues, did not exalt himself with swelling, but was humbled more and more. He was content with barley bread only, mixed with ashes, and with a drink of water, which he drank by measure. And thus for almost four months ⁱ, serving as a soldier to God in this austerity, he in no way tasted strong drink or wine. There, covered with hair-cloth and ashes, after the manner of the Prophet, he had put his foot in the fetter. His bed too was the bare ground, on which he was wont to rest for a little during the day. And a most vile hair-cloth was spread over his bed, ashes on top [], and a stone set under his head when he slept. Thus, then, he had condemned his members, which the delight of the world had once defiled. And after his conversion he strove rather to offer praiseworthily to God the perfumes of the virtues than to waste away in his iniquities, remembering the precept of the Apostle, who said: "Where sin abounded, grace also shall more abound []." And again: "You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord."*

[22] The most holy man of the Lord Adloinus, therefore, placed in this confinement examples are declared., willingly bore austerity and hunger. For in this confinement he did not abandon the rule of obedience ^k, but earnestly asked the abbot set over him to confine him upon the floor in such a way that, whenever he stood to say the praises of almighty God, he would be so hemmed in on the right and the left of the floor that [] he would have no [] means of leaning in any direction; but by day and night, as it were suspended in the struggle, he would adore [] God, stretching to the heavens and drawing deep sighs: which also was done. Then the Man of the Lord, groaning more and more, and now [] panting for the heavenly fatherland, commanded the servant who waited on him to bring him a stone. And he, fulfilling the command, brought a large brick. To whom the Man of God said: Look for a bigger one still. And at length he brought to the Man of God a stone that had been found, which could scarcely be carried by the hands of two men ^l. Which the Man of God, filled with great joy, received, and, while he stood to say the praises of God, he carried it on his shoulders.

ANNOTATIONS.

\ Ibid.: because it is written*.

\ Ibid.: went out*.

\* That is, subjects or dependants.

\ Another reading: Attinus and Adhinus*.

\ Mabillon: nociturus* (he who would harm).

\ heavenly* (accusative).

\ Mabillon: to follow him*.

\ Mabillon adds: his*.

\ Mabillon adds: sprinkled*.

\ Ibid.: did more abound*.

\ Ibid.: so that … not*.

\ Another reading: any*.

\ Mabillon: ad* is lacking.

\ Ibid.: adds ad*.

PART III.

The Saint's fortitude against the demon, heavenly visions, happy death, apparition, miracles, burial.

He spurns the terrors of the demons; But the ancient foe, the enemy of the human race, who does not cease to tempt the human race, and exercises the force of his wickedness especially against the elect, because the more he sees them advance, the worse he is kindled with the torches of envy, strove to cast the aforesaid Man of God out of that same cell, and with various threats and abominable images [] made a show of filling the same cell. For he was eager to strike terror into him with divers kinds of beasts, birds and serpents, so that he might at least in this way go out. But the most brave Man [], the athlete of the Lord, the more intently he saw the ancient foe press upon him, the more strongly taking up the contest against him, did not cease to fight daily. And the malignant spirits, seeing that their industry had profited nothing, withdrew confounded; and daring to thrust nothing more upon the Man of God, they vanished. Then the aforesaid Man of the Lord, rendering great thanks to almighty God, did not attribute this to his own strength, but to the mercy of the Lord, who deigns to be present everywhere to those who hope in Him. Working unceasingly, therefore, at the work begun, he did not draw back the hand put to the plough [], nor did he look back; because he recalled that this evangelical saying had been preached to him [] by the most blessed Amand: "But he that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved."

[24] And as the day of his reward drew near he enjoys heavenly visions, the man of the Lord Adloinus persevered unceasingly in the confession of God. And when he had given himself a little to sleep, he beheld the angel of the Lord coming upon him in the form of a dove; and him, terrified by this sight, it at once refreshes with the grace of divine consolation, and fills the whole little cell, in which [] the Man of God was, with a fragrance of inestimable sweetness; so that it was openly given to be understood that an angel of light and sweetness had come thither. And not undeservedly was an angel of light [] shown to him in the form of a dove, because he bore the simplicity of the dove in his heart, although he did not abandon the wisdom of the serpent in temptations. For it is clear that over the Redeemer of the human race, at the streams of the Jordan, the Holy Spirit was shown in the form of a dove, where the Father's voice is heard over His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased. Where also the Father in the voice, the Son in the man, the Holy Spirit in the dove, the whole Trinity together was manifestly declared. Without doubt, too, the Trinity itself showed to the blessed man Bavo an angel in the form of a dove, because he bore that same Trinity fixed within in his heart, certain without doubt that neither death nor life nor any creature could separate him from the love which he had in Christ.

[25] But that the repute of the preceding merits of so great a Man might spread far and wide, he who [], like a city set on a mountain, could not be hid, one day saw the standard of the holy Cross descend upon him from heaven, so that his faith concerning his reward might be increased the more, the more and more worthy he was of heavenly sights, and that he might open the door to the Lord [] knocking the more securely, the more he had known that certain signs had been [] shown to him. But the Man of the Lord, doubting nothing, hesitating at nothing, with unspeakable joy desired to be dissolved and to go to Christ. Yet this he said unceasingly: Lord, not my will, but thine be done.*

[26] I say boldly, although the circumstance of the time did not afford him martyrdom he may be called a martyr by virtue and by desire;, yet he will not lack the glory of a martyr; because by desire and by virtue he could be a martyr and wished to be. For in himself he voluntarily undertook all the penalties and torments to which human infirmity generally yields, and did not withdraw from the confession of the Lord, persevering immovable in the work of the Lord's commandments, so that, rejoicing in sores and tortures, he laughed amid any torments whatever. But although he was by no means cut down by the sword of the persecutor, he nevertheless fulfilled martyrdom without blood. What sufferings of human pains did he not endure for the hope of eternity, [by hunger, vigils, nakedness, fasts, the reproaches of the envious, the attacks of the wicked, the care of the sick, anxiety for those in danger?] For who was grieved, and he was not grieved? Who was scandalized, and he was not burned? Who perished, and he did not groan? Besides his daily divers contests against human and spiritual wickedness, while in him, assailed by various temptations, there prevailed [] the fortitude to conquer, the patience to wait, and the equanimity to endure, as though the Lord were ever repeating to him: Rejoice and exult, for thy reward is very great in heaven.*

[27] he foretells his death, and for it himself It is worth while to insert in this reading this also, how blessed Adloinus, who from the rising of his birth and from affection was called Bavo ^a, departed from this light. Therefore the most holy and most religious man of the Lord Bavo, after the confession of penance which he had received from the blessed bishop Amand, for three years, besides the abstinence of forty days ^b which he fulfilled, by the Lord's favour, with shrewd zeal and wonderful affection, served as a soldier in this world for the kingdom of God []. For, full of virtues and holiness, the Man full of God understood that his last day was drawing near. On which account he announced to the abbot and brethren of his monastery that the dissolution of his body was imminent, and wished a certain faithful priest, who lived far from him, Domlinus [] by name, of the monastery of Torhout ^c, to be summoned; because he desired to enjoy his conversation. For there was a great length of journey, and a forest of dense woods of vast solitude had taken up the way which lay between the cell of the blessed Man and the monastery of Torhout, in which the aforesaid priest dwelt.

[28] prepares; dies; appears to St. Gertrude; And at length, having summoned his servant, he commanded him to go to the aforesaid priest. And he, not refusing obedience, and knowing nothing of the way by which he should go, began to make the journey enjoined on him, not knowing it ^d. But, the angel of the Lord accompanying him, he came to the same priest with all speed, and by the most direct path through the vast solitude both came with incredible haste to the Man of God. On seeing him the most blessed Man was filled with great joy, and commanded him to take charge of his funeral. And while he panted unceasingly for the heavenly fatherland, and did not cease from divine conversations, and, always intent with eyes and hands upon heaven, did not relax his spirit, unconquered, from prayer, fortifying himself with the Body and Blood of our Redeemer ^e, he rendered to the almighty Lord his holy soul, loosed from the flesh, on the first day of the month of October ^f, received into the hall of heaven [*] with unspeakable triumph: and at once his spirit, appearing to the most blessed virgin Gertrude ^g, who with other virgins dwelling with her was situated far from him, commands that garments be sent to him for burying his body; which also was done.

[29] he is renowned for miracles; he is buried. And while the office of his funeral was being performed, a certain woman, who had already for a long time been vexed by a demon, touched the body [] of the holy Man, and at once was made whole. Another [], a frenzied man, was grievously vexed by a demon; who, as soon as he came to the tomb of the Man of God, by the Lord's favour received back his former health, as if he had suffered no injury from the ancient foe. There are indeed many other things too which the Lord deigned to work through him, which are unknown to us and known to God. But if we wished to follow out all that we have learned of his mighty deeds [], the day, I think, before the discourse ceased ^h would be ended. Let it suffice to have told a few things out of many, lest we seem to cause tedium to studious readers hastening on to other things. For the Man of God was buried with magnificent honour in the place which is called the fortress of Gandavum, whose monastery is now plainly called Ganda: where many benefits of his prayers are granted to the faithful, and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is praised by all, to whom with the eternal [] Father and the Holy Spirit be virtue, honour, glory and dominion, praise and power through infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

he had come to know well, as exhorter, consoler and helper in the final struggle: and hence Bavo's joy at the sight of the priest, his dearest friend. But where and when did so great a union of souls arise and grow together between the Saint and Domlinus, whence so great an experience on the one's part of the other's virtue and faith? There will perhaps be those to whom it will seem to have happened when the Saint was visiting the various monasteries, before he sought a cell at Ghent. Nor is this incredible. Yet, because the Saint did not spend a long time in visiting monasteries, as we said in the Preliminary Commentary, it is no less likely that he had Domlinus, a monk and priest, as a familiar friend and in some measure a director of his religious life in the monastery of Ghent itself, whence he was perhaps sent, not long before the last illness of St. Bavo, as ruler of the monastery of Torhout. Nay, since we are reduced to conjectures, what if Domlinus, while the Saint was still living in Hesbaye but already led to a better fruit by the efforts of his daughter Agletrude, was not only joined to him in friendship, but, as he was a most powerful prince, was his domestic prefect of Sacred things, or, as they say, chaplain, who followed his Prince when he bade farewell to the world to Ghent, and either here, or while the Saint was visiting the monasteries, embraced the monastic life at Torhout? Certainly the author furnishes at least some appearance of likelihood to this conjecture, where he signifies that the priest Domlinus was faithful to the Saint, whom the same Saint commanded to take charge of his funeral.

\ Ibid. adds: with which*.

\ Ibid.: Man* is lacking.

\ Ibid.: on the plough*.

\ Ibid.: had been announced*.

\ Ibid.: the same*.

\ Ibid.: of peace*.

\ Ibid.: because*.

\ Ibid.: Lord* (nominative).

\ Ibid. adds: by the Lord*.

\ Ibid.: abounds*.

\ Another reading: of the heavens*.

\ Another reading: Deolinus*.

\ Mabillon: into the hall of heaven*.

\* That is, the body.

\ Ibid.: also*.

\ Another reading: deeds*.

\ Ibid.: coeternal*.

METRICAL LIFE

By an anonymous author.

From a very old manuscript of St. Bavo's.

Bavo, also called Alloynus, confessor, at Ghent in Flanders. (S.)

BHL Number: 1050

A. By an anonymous author.

PROLOGUE.

*This custom is said to have flourished among the ancient poets, That they would not on any terms compose any songs whatever, Unless the horse's fountain ^a had first wetted their lips, Hoping that the divinity of the Pierides ^b would be readily at hand; And, continually seeking again the summits of lofty Cirrha* ^c, For this cause they had drunk at the wave of Helicon ^d. *Whom error therefore perverted in their blind breast, Because the vein of wit, sent as a heavenly gift, They did not ascribe to its Author on high; But, consecrating each of their things to insensible things, They believed they took sure help from those Which, it is plain by reason, consist of no essence, But are only names found by a deluded mind.*

*But we, holding the doctrines of the illustrious Paul, Who pours forth such words from his holy palate: All that you do, let it be sealed with the name Of the Thunderer, let us take care with every effort of our sense, That God may never find us ungrateful; And when we keep watch over writing songs, Let us know that His favour [] is to be sought frequently [*]; *That, while our hand consecrates its beginnings to Him, We may not perchance be held captive in any winding, But, stepping diligently [] *along the straight path, We may gain the wide end of all our labours. Nor let us ever take up empty matters to treat: How Jupiter corrupted all things with foul lust, Or how many giants were laid low by Hercules' sword; Or with what whirlwind of war the world was shaken For the foolish rape of the Greek-born woman [].

[3] *But how great signs God in His kindness decrees To show through those mindful of His commandments, He who, considering that the regions of the world, ignorant of the truth,* and, recalling the beginnings of the true faith *Were all growing foul with the worship of profane things, Had resolved to let Himself down from the lofty heaven, And, deigning to be born of the sacred womb of Mary, Shone forth like us, only without crime. Then, scattering heavenly gifts through the Jewish borders, He had chosen thence twice six followers, Whom after His illustrious triumph, death being conquered, He had sent, that through the sweet pastures of the holy word They might instruct all and cleanse them from every stain: Granting that they should become renowned by wonderful signs, So that among the mighty works which they frequently did They were able even to give back life to the dead.*

[4] *These, as soon as they sought all the recesses of the world, Made a countless people heir of the life on high,* and its progress, (the life) of St. Bavo, whose Acts Full of such fervour of faith [*] That [], when they knew their bodies were to be afflicted With dire torments, they desired to die for the name of Christ. But when He granted the Church [] *to grow so great That He allowed its own enemies to be its ministers, Then shone the life of the pious confessors, Whom, although the fierceness of the wicked sword had not touched them, Did not lose the worthy crown of martyrdom, Who continually mortified the flesh in themselves, That they might be able to restrain its depraved lusts: Among whom, excelling greatly [] *in great merits, Shines one called by the honey-flowing name of Bavo; Whose Life I now dare to take up for writing In versified song, but filled with rusticity* ^e. *And hence, that I may be able to reach the glad goal, May I be helped, I ask, by his holy merits.*

*Blessed Bavo, exceedingly beloved of God most high, I ask thee with lowly vows and sighs That thy intercession may guide my tottering step: For I have dared to trust nothing to my own strength, But what thou shalt ask of the Lord by thy rich merits He at once assents with countenance on high to grant. We know indeed that our measure confers Nothing on thee, because, ever splendid, thou livest In the eternal age, and never standest in need of it. But if the Lord grants that the renowned signs of thy virtues Be made manifest through our labour, May a very great throng become emulous of thy holy life, And when one day the hour of the judgement on high shines forth [], May it go to meet the King rejoicing together with such a ram.

ANNOTATIONS.

\ Ut* (That).

\ Perhaps fulserit* (shall have shone).

PART I.

The Saint's parents, marriage, conversion, approach to St. Amand, the miracle of the dead man raised, his most hard life.

*Of the twin nobility of great parents, It is agreed, the man of the Lord, blessed Bavo, was begotten, And because they were mighty everywhere in great riches, So too they shone diligently in holy deeds* ^a. *Many old men, finally, are wont to recall That the holy prelate Amand had come to Rome* ^b, *And because he saw that the nations dwelling through the Gallic countryside Still kept many abominable rites, Desiring to scatter there the seed of the divine word, He asked that solace be present for his great labour. Then a certain young man, called by the name Landmoldus* ^c, *Was living at Rome, full of the honour of merits; Soon, having been raised to the summit of the pontificate, He was bidden to go forth with the learned-tongued Amand, That he might be able to stand as a worthy fellow-worker to him. []

But his twin sisters ^d, *seeing him go far away, Not suffering in any way to leave such a brother, Strive to visit the farthest bounds with him. He indeed, being ever watchful in holy deeds, Did not turn aside from them until the day of his death, Performing many miracles by divine gift: Whose limbs rest happily in that place Which stands called by the ancient name CURTIS HIEMIS* ^e. *This was once the possession of St. Bavo: But one of his sisters, living chastely through her life, Merited to enjoy the eternal embraces of Christ. And they relate that the other, afterwards joined To an illustrious husband, bore Bavo as a happy fruit* ^f.

*He, growing happily from his earliest years, When now he shone with the flower of sweet-sounding youth, Had joined himself to the daughter of a certain count Adilio, who, made the wife of so great a Husband, Soon conceived in her womb the girl Aglethrude, Who was so pleasing to the Lord on high, and beloved, That, lying in her cradle in her first years, She heard a voice resound from the high throne: Believe me, thou who art created of the lofty stock of great ancestors, Thou oughtest never to beget a carnal offspring; But by the word alone thou shalt generate glad nurslings. In what order all know it to have come to pass: For afterwards, disdaining to take an earthly spouse, She stands joined to the bridal chamber of the eternal King* ^g

*But the illustrious Bavo, covered with the veil of the world, Although the abundance of immense pomp smiled on him, Did not, however, lack the uprightness of pious acts, Never accustomed to despise the judgement of the laws; And he abstained from cupidity, the mother of all evil, Nor was he wont to harm the citizens dwelling with him: With immense expenditure he always succoured the needy: Always seeking again the bonds of holy friendship, He wished to overcome the changing colour of Fortune, A true seeker and author of virtue alone, And never ceased to succour any who were oppressed: Thus trusting to merit the sure protections of the Lord, If he had striven to bring welcome solace to the wretched: Of which the organs of David's string have sung; When any just man is perchance expected to fall, He shall not be bruised, because great goodness protects him.*

And [] when once a tree of great nature has begun To put forth from its own bud a slender stem, Although at first the south winds gently drive it, It yields and is moved by the breath of a friendly wind, Yet its bark, the wind admitted, rejoices to harden Little by little, and tries to resist the winds: Until its summits lift themselves into a huge mass. Then, clinging with its solid root fixed deep in the earth, Although a whirlwind rush on every side with very mighty hail, And the sky let down all its clouds from the pole, Secure, it keeps a stable quiet for ever; So the magnificent Man, refreshed by the heavenly fountain, Living in a youthful body amid the waves of the world, Nourished the bud of the virtues by the aforesaid acts, Until by growing he should enjoy such strength That he could stand free of those things Which are wont to be a cause of perishing even to the unwilling, And the deserts offer a very ample place to virtue.* ^h

*For after he had mourned the funeral of his first bride, He sought again no further love at all, But handing over all his goods to Christ upon His lofty throne, Soon hastened to the holy bishop Amand, Who, it is agreed, was then residing in the fortress of Ghent, Desiring ⁱ by zeal for the divine word to break down There the shrines of the false gods which stood: And to deliver heavenly doctrines also to the heathen people:*

*And laying there the foundations of a lofty temple, And also the relics of the Saints being duly laid up, He consecrated it in honour of Peter, prince of the Church. In which very many signs of God on high were seen. It is agreed that there sight was given back to many blind: The lame merited to take up a straight step; And those whom manifold plagues tore on every side See themselves rejoice in longed-for health. And a monastery is reverently built in the very place, And a numerous clergy soon begins to grow there, To resound [] praises to the Lord by night and day.

*Coming thither, as I have said, blessed Bavo, Prostrate at the feet of the kindly prelate Amand, Did not cease to confess to him with devout mind The temptations of the frail flesh which he had suffered, And declares the pious vow which he held in his breast: Namely that he desires to be unburdened of the things Of the world, and to obtain the rewards of the eternal palm. And the prelate, taking care to provide a welcome remedy, Drew doctrines out of the Gospel sayings, Instilling by what path one ought, Whoever, leaving worldly business wholly, Begins to go forward on the narrow path of heaven.*

*But he, these admonitions being fixed in his humble breast, Began to glow with such love of virtue That whatever of property he possessed by right of his parents, He soon bestowed all on monasteries to be built. Spurning also the manifold luxury of riches, Like the flowering buds of the falling grass, He caused countless needy ones to be enriched from it. Then coming, loosed from every fetter of the world, He asks the holy Amand to cut off his hair In the very fortress of which we made mention above, Worthy thus to be associated with the rank of the Saints.*

*O venerable Father, with what praise can our very humble Muses fittingly resound thee; Since, while thou art touched within by the kindly word, Thou strivest to attain the likeness of the apostolic life, Made beyond any doubt a sharer with those Who obey the King calling them with one word, To be blessed for all times for such a reward: For thou sellest the gem snatched from the dust of the earth, And buyest, glad, the diadems of the eternal kingdom. And the more thou art seen to have scattered thy wealth, The more thou seest thy interest multiplied. And while thou despisest the swiftly gliding honours of the world, Thou shalt be associated for ever among the angelic princes. O what jubilation held the heavenly citizens, When the happy conversion of thy life was seen! The whole ninefold order smiled, rejoicing, When it saw thee sitting upon the shoulder of the gentle Shepherd And going gladly to His own folds. Thou, when the clouds shall begin to glow red for the judgement on high And the majesty of Christ shall have shone upon the world, Oughtest to sit, to be feared, upon one exalted throne With thine own King, over the twice six tribes.*

*Thereafter the prelate soon hastened to other shores, Taking care that he might fulfil the undertakings of his kindly ministry: But with swift foot Bavo strives to accompany him, Captivated by the sweetness of the heavenly dew. For the more he tasted the pastures of the true life, The more indeed was he delighted in them. And such compunction of heart stood fast in him That he continually afflicted his tender limbs, lacerating them; Yet he allowed his face to be comely with gladness. And, cautious, he had always foreseen the acts of the devil, Who, wont to bend the knots of his snares for the just, When he considers them shining with exceeding virtue, Tries to bring upon them some swelling of mind, So that, while perchance in the depth of the heart they exalt themselves More than is just, they may be forced to have a great ruin.*

*To this fraud, therefore, the holy Man resisted at all Times, and, while he appeared despised to himself, Prudently he had thus avoided the gnawing hook: Wont to feed himself on the holy streams of Scripture, He held this little saying, never unmindful of it; For as loathing of food is harmful to the flesh, Straightway begetting the immense penalty of death, So it certainly begets great pain to the soul, If it disdains to feed on the divine foods; And the sweetness of the flesh, while it satisfies, grows lukewarm In the stomach, begetting great labour by burdening it. But the incorporeal foods which profit the mind Are known to have so much the sweeter savour, The greater the abundance that is present to the eater.*

*Treating of these and other remedies of the soul, Bavo devoutly beseeches the kindly bishop That he would permit him at length to seek out The cells of the monasteries for the sake of following their example. The man of the Lord, Amand, glad, assents to these prayers. But he, running through each of the kindly places, Was hastening again to visit the fortress of Ghent, Where one by name Florbert perchance as abbot Stood, set over the monks by the holy Amand, When he resolved to leave the aforesaid fortress.*

*Approaching him, he asked that he would give him some cell, Where to the Lord pure prayers, removed from all noise, He might offer. Which words received, he, Having called the brethren and all according to the holy custom, As the precepts of the pious father Benedict show, Indicates what the illustrious Man was asking of them. And they soon suggested with a placid answer What the grace of the kindly Spirit sent into their heart; Saying that they had received it with kindly mind, Lest so great a petition should perchance be made vain.*

*But when Bavo could learn the assent of the brethren, He was zealous to render manifold thanks to Christ; He was zealous to render manifold thanks to Christ; And going on to visit the cell granted him, He had bound himself so fast in the service of the Lord That the brethren whom he had first set before himself as an example Saw themselves afterwards surpassed by his fervour. From this, then, the wonderful virtue of the Man stands forth, That in the very first time of his converted life He accomplished what others learn only by long habit, Who ardently strive, for the love of Christ, To submit themselves to such a rule.*

But why [] does it please us with the sole speech of words To diminish the so holy deeds of the blessed Man, When God by manifest signs has shown How great was the conversation of His Servant, And would not have the light placed under the covering of a bushel? For on a certain day it happened that such a sign shone forth That it struck the minds of all men, Pouring into them exceedingly great amazement. While the brethren of the aforesaid fortress at a certain time Were going perhaps together to the labour of their hands, According to what the holy rubric is known to ordain, They decide that a cell is to be built for Bavo: And Florbert was keeping certain men there, Whom he ordered to be present for the sake of carrying mortar: One was present with these, called Atinus; Such madness of mind suddenly seizes him That he tore the Saint with bitter reproaches; But he is at once delivered to the enemy who tempted him.*

*For when they had yoked the wagons for carrying the mortar, He himself, sitting on top, was going in haste thither, Where they were wont to bring the aforesaid material for themselves. But soon, terrified by the snares of the wicked enemy, He fell, and, his limbs crushed by the whirl of the cart, Quickly lost the breath of his own life. Indeed the fraud of the devil had contrived these things for this reason: He felt that, the shrines being utterly broken on every side, He was being driven out, confounded, from the whole world; But that all places were now held under the name of Christ. Yet he would then have prevailed nothing against the man himself, If he had not borne such great reproaches to so great a Man. But those who had been present began, grieving, To be held with exceeding terror at such an event: And weeping, they lift the pitiable body with their hands, And laid it before the cell of the blessed Man; Who, having directed prayers to the Lord with bended knee, Did not cease from a great shower of tears before His prayer touched the divine ears.*

*Then the former vigour returns to the cold limbs, And they rejoice to breathe the former life as much As, restored, the crushed limbs retain their strength; He who afterwards had passed many years of life, That he might merit to stand as witness of the illustrious deed. Who would not consider, and with faithful breast believe, That Bavo, having accomplished so great a power of sign, Led a perfect life after the likeness of the apostolic? Who could worthily search out each of the miracles, O Christ, Which thou showest through thine own Saints? Behold, the kindly Man, assailed with biting tooth, Provident, keeps his mind unmoved amid the reproaches: But thou, who didst forewarn us with gentle saying, Commanding that all vengeance be reserved to thee, Dost not suffer impious words to be without punishment. Again, when the love of thy kindly Servant beseeches thee For the limbs loosed by a very hard death, Thou assentest, and mercifully withdrawest from the lowest abyss Him whom a just sentence had snatched away for his wickedness. Of thee the sayings of the truthful prophet have sung, That thou art wont to weigh all things with true judgement, And whatever wonderful things of thy works perchance shine, They stand, countless, never with goodness removed.*

*Now, therefore, let us strive to hold with watchful mind How vile this Man, who merited to become renowned by so great a sign, Showed himself to his own eyes, And what kind of judgement ruled his gentle mind. For whoever carefully takes pains to consider this, Does not wonder at him shining with such virtue; For this is handed down by the kindly words of Scripture, That it certainly surpasses all miracles; And he shone forth outwardly comely with virtue for this reason, That he stood inwardly supported by great strength. By chance on a certain day a man had come to meet him, Withdrawing from those shores in which he had been an exile.*

*This man he recalls that he had once, captured, delivered for sale, While he was still bound by the fetter of this world: Seeing him, he does not cease to water himself with a fountain Of tears, and with immense prayers poured out to urge Him [] *that he would release to him all the evils he had done; And not without sobbing he brought out such words: I did not fear long since to bind thee with hard fetters, And by selling thee I forced thee to suffer a long exile: Now do thou, on the contrary, what I long to ask; Namely that thou be zealous to torment with hard scourges The body which had committed that outrage against thee; And shamefully, I beg, shear off my hair, A sign which is wont to condemn cruel robbers, And, a very strong chain binding me wholly, Let a harsh custody take possession of my sinning limbs; Perhaps thus I can escape the eternal penalty. And the Lord will have mercy on me by this covenant.*

*But he, exceedingly astonished at these words, Refused much what the renowned Man sought, And, rolled at his feet, began to beg That he would not force him to commit so great a crime against his Lord; But he, because he had been noble in the art of eloquence, Had persisted in the prayer begun, nor did he cease from it, Until he knew that what had been set forth was to be done. Then the aforesaid man, compelled, the Saint urging him greatly, Tortured his body with bitter blows, And shaving the hair of his head disfigured its honourable crown, And with limbs bound and feet thrust into the stock Had so wrought that a heavy custody should confine the Saint.*

*In which, continually devoting himself to prayers with fervour, He persisted until the times of approaching death, Not ceasing to shed incredible weeping from his eyes On account of the offences of his former work: Which he was wont to set before himself as a huge mass; That no elation of mind whatever Might have crept upon him through the temptations of the malign one, Nor taking any bread except that which barley gives, He had utterly fled all the luxury of wine, He strove to live by drinking water alone, Which he resolved to take under a certain measure; Lying on a vile hair-cloth through the times of sleep, Which did not give way except at the points of the first light of day.*

*Finally in the night hours he stood watchful; And when he granted his limbs even a little rest, He rejoiced to set a hard stone under his head, Thus he busied himself to condemn the limbs of his body,*

Which the Dindyma ^k *of delightful things long since Clothed, shining, glittering with gems and gold, And he who had been wont to rest on couches supported by ivory, Leaning on ashes, rests on the bare earth; Disdaining to feed on foods sought at small cost, Now he enjoys only the solace of vile bread, And he who also, amid cups of well-seasoned wine, Soothed his open nostrils with immense fragrance, Now decides for the taste of bitter water alone, Burning on the pure altar of a contrite heart The allurements of the flesh which dire pleasure had urged, Whence he brings forth to Christ an exceedingly sweet odour, Surpassing the incense which the Sabaeans themselves send. But since, if anyone, badly supported on a tender ankle, Strives to reach a place remote by a long path, And will not desist a little from the course begun, That he may better run through what remains, It happens that a heavier labour wholly oppresses his limbs; I urge thee, Muse, to rest a little from thy song, That, while thou art zealous often to restore thy former strength, Thou mayest better run through the remaining path.*

ANNOTATIONS.

\* That is, fellow-worker.

\ Read: Ut* (That).

\ Perhaps: persolvat* (pays).

\ Perhaps: utquid* (why).

\ illum* (him).

PART II.

The Saint voluntarily undertakes new torments, overcomes the temptations of the demon, aspires to heaven, foretells his death, dies, appears to St. Gertrude, is renowned for miracles, is buried.

*Others give praises to the Saints from their signs, Because they know how to succour weak limbs, Or heal souls brought back from the squalor of the abyss, Striking the ears of the Thunderer by the voice of prayer alone. But we, leaving all these things in Bavo, In which also he certainly is agreed to be most renowned, Delight with frequent praise to wonder at this: How, walled about with the luxury of such great delights, He could so suddenly, rejoicing, lay upon himself The most strict yokes of an austere life. And there stands also an illustrious doctrine of example to be followed, Like a new star spreading its lights far and wide, That, as the doctrine of Christ seems somewhat harsh, Which ordains to despise the vain pomps of the world, When others see that some obey it more promptly, They too may begin to be stripped of the things of the world, Rejoicing to take the sweet yoke upon their own neck, And the camel may be able to pass through the eye of a needle. This indeed is the wonderful power of God most high, It demands hence continual praises through pious proclamations, Whose work, although it always stands inscrutable, Yet is in the care of healing souls alone.*

*After this that rule does not contain the blessed Man, But as anyone, when he approaches the walls of his dear city, The less of the path he has seen to remain, The more quickly he hastens in going, And does not know that he now bears a heavy labour, For the desire with which he glows in his whole breast; So Bavo, full of love for the heavenly life, Sees, the more of the way of the kingdom has been traversed in walking, That he is the nearer to the longed-for prize, He begins to count as nothing even the heaviest labour, And longs to bind upon himself still narrower fetters, To constrain the foot that hastens straight onward, Nor to permit the step to go backward at all Of one who long since resolved to stretch forward to the things before; For since he dwelt under the roof [] *of a very small cell, Where he remained alone, shut up as in a narrow prison, He would not be held by the law of his own vow; But remains, as is the custom of the kindly monasteries, Subject in whatever their superior judges should be done; Let everyone at once grasp this with faithful breast.*

*For while in this manner he had surpassed in the summits of life All, wonderfully, who dwell in the deserts of the wilderness, He does not wish to be deprived of the monastic right, Desiring always to hold out a watchful mind for this, That the father's promise [] *should confirm all that he did: And because he perceived that no labours would indeed weigh upon him, In which one had been wont to sweat beforehand, all of them, Bowed down, he attempts to ask the abbot set over him That he would wish to shut him [] *more narrowly in that place In which, with so tight a rein, he was wont to dwell, So that, whenever he was suppliantly intent on prayers to be made, He would be so hedged round on every side and enclosed That he could not turn himself to either side, And his spirit, freer, would have poured out kindly prayers: While no wandering of the flesh, however small, does harm; Which the care of the kindly abbot soon fulfilled.*

*But Bavo, not knowing how to feel such great labours, Sought to take up the weights of a greater burden: For he goes about to command his servant forthwith That he take care to bring him, in haste, a stone. He obeys, bringing out without delay a large brick: Yet he is again bidden to seek out a larger one. Then going he is said to bring out so great a rock That perhaps twin men could scarcely carry it. Laden with this the wonderful Man was wont to stand, Whenever, singing psalms, he paid the divine odes, Or when he offered the holy libations of his prayers; He surely did not know by what deeds to show With how great love of the heavenly life he glowed.*

*But the most perverse enemy of the human race, Who assails the Saints diligently with many snares, Then too turning over the efforts of a greater mind, When virtue makes them shine more excellently, Who, although he knows the machination he prepares Will be weak, and that it touches wary minds less, Yet because, pestilent, he languishes in the fire of envy, He cannot desist from the wicked undertaking begun. He, seeing Bavo illustrious on the summit of such great merit, Labours in the art of his ancient fraud How he might drive him out of that cell. That he might be able to obtain the desired effect Of his wish, he is eager to turn himself into countless forms, Attacking the kindly Man not in one way only.*

Now indeed he hisses like a savage Hydra [*], *To show that he offers the snaky poison: Now, gnashing from the mouth of mad lions, He declares to all more certainly that he is himself He of whom the trumpet of the kindly Peter had already resounded, That he goes about like a watchful, ravening lion, Seeking some to be devoured by his monstrous jaw. Now by howling he strives to imitate greedy wolves, Standing ever as a fierce plotter against the flocks: And also with the various voice of birds as well as of beasts He rages, that he may thrust the Saint out of the cell itself. But he who has set his seat on the summit of a firm rock, Although a strong wind shake the lowest parts of the temple, And the immense volumes of the river rush violently, Cannot be torn from the foundation of his own strength.*

*Whence the eminent Man, proved by such fierceness, Keeps his mind immovable through so many perils; Because he places all the hope of his virtue in Christ: Without whom, he who has begun to give his zeal To the building of a structure, trusting too much to tender sand, If the winds blow a little, or the river floods, Will soon see his roofs scattered in great ruin: Because he does not stand in the strength of a firm foundation. The demon, therefore, seeing the Man safe in the protection of Christ, And hence daring to despise such great threats, And against such manifold arts of temptation Keeping the shield of prayer often ready, Departs fleeing, and like wax melting, When it has been warmed by fiery heat.*

*Why ragest thou, madman, why dost thou never rest? The footsteps of the Saints always tread upon thee, Yet thou ceasest not to stand forth [] *with proud mind. With these darts long since the illustrious ornament of monks, Antony, was vexed by thee very violently: But lofty grace adorns him with glorious triumphs, While great confusion condemns thee, conquered; And now Bavo, goaded by those very javelins, Not yielding, rejoices to lay thee low, reviving, So that as often thou liest prostrate on the lowest earth As thou darest to rise up with erect neck. Glory be to the King who prepares all things so warily, Who for this reason permits thee to approach the Saints, Not that thou mayest fashion [] *any wounds with dire darts, But that an illustrious crown may grow up for them when proved.*

*After this, indeed, the departure of the kindly Man had drawn near; Whence, flourishing, he takes care that he may persist in the path begun, And that he who had put his hand to the plough in guiding May not further hold his face turned back behind: And when the Judge on high should come to knock at the doors of the house, Like a thief, that, watchful, he might be able to open: He, while at the light of a certain early day He desired to grant his body a little sleep, An angel shone, sent down from the star-bearing stars, Entering the roof in the likeness of a harmless dove, At whose coming he is filled with great terror, Until soon he merited to be cherished by the goodness of the Lord, Who besprinkled the inmost parts of the cell with such an odour,*

*By which it could surpass the sweet savour of honey. Whence it is clear that a sure minister of light shone there, And that this was not a phantasm of the perverse serpent. []

*Not undeservedly did it please Christ that this should happen, Since He had wished it to be held known from such a sign How simple the man's devotion always was: Although the cunning of the serpent had by no means left him, When he stood against the machinations of the perverse Enemy, by which he was trying to bring him to ruin, So that it might also appear by manifest signs How dear a breast to the Holy Spirit dwelt In him ^a, who visits those minds alone Which strive to be free from all the gall of wickedness, And walk by the harmless path of a pious life. O most renowned gem of the holy confessors! How sweet it is to search out the summits of thy life, Because the height of so great merit adorns thee, That, before the end of this life loosed thy limbs, Thou didst merit to have a pledge of the eternal one, Which Christ has rarely granted to any mortal.*

*For although illustrious deeds make many renowned, Yet the approaching goal of their days Troubles them, a great penalty, torturing them with fear, While they shudder exceedingly to endure the malign encounters, And while their deeds are weighed in the scale on high, They fear lest something be found in the examination of the true Judgement which the vigilance of a cautious Breast did not look into, and prepare better on the anvil. The Almighty Lord of things, that thou mightest be secure from these, Sent thee such solace from high heaven, That thou who didst wish to take up such hard fetters Mightest by the sight of it, and by His nod also, Be freed from all the wicked ones at the time of death, Awaiting the heavenly rewards with glad mind. As God had gladdened His Servant with this gift, He also exalted him with the honour of another sign. Finally he saw the standard of the kindly Cross, Sent down from heaven, come glittering over him.*

*The pious dispensation of the kindly Christ had done this, That the fixed hope of the Blessed one might become the more certain Of not losing the reward of his great labour, The more the heavenly vision, shining upon him, Deigned so often mercifully to gladden him: Whence he ceases not to render pious thanks to the Lord With all his effort, and glows too with longing breast That his spirit might leave his earthly limbs, And might soon be able to behold the present face of Christ. Yet he had been wont to address the gentle Thunderer with these words: Not now, O Christ, do I desire my wish to be done, But whatever thy will, dispensing and never crooked, Decrees, let that be done, in which my mind exults. O Saint, adorned with the garland [] *of wonderful virtue! What worthy thing can our Muses bring to him, Who by his merit surpasses every ornament of shining speech?*

*For he knows that he glows wholly for the sight of the King, But he does not yet tremble to endure great labour. Thus, thus he knew it would be pleasing to the supreme counsel, He who is to be equalled by right with the highest pillars of the Church. For as those gave remedies by the word of holy Doctrine, gaining the hearts of many; So this Man corrects many by his kindly examples; Who, although perchance a hostile swordsman was wanting, And he had ended his life without blood shed, Was certainly not deprived of the honour of martyrdom. How should he, fearing any penalties, shudder, Who of his own will had shut himself in a dark cave, In which he was constantly zealous to undergo such hard things As others would flee from, even when held under the torturer? If bloody executioners perchance pressed upon him, He would soon, first, have admitted himself to every punishment, Amid which he would rather pour forth laughter than weeping, And would render all the lictors foolish.*

*But although the circumstance of the time deprived him of these things, Yet the glory of the illustrious palm was not wanting to him, Since he held in desire what he had not fulfilled in act: And he does not fear to bear such great pains with his body, So that he may not lack the sweetness of eternal life, And he permits his body to feel frequent hunger, His limbs rough on every side from exceeding cold; And he spends very many nights sleepless in time. Torn diligently by the harder tooth of envy, Strong, he suffers the reproaches of a lying tongue. He grieves with those broken by the adverse whirlwind of affairs, And burns on account of all who suffer scandals, Groaning much, if he knew of anyone perishing. Who would doubt that he is worthy of the honour of martyrdom? While he fights also against the invisible enemy, His holy mind is tortured with no small grief.*

*Now therefore may the clemency of Christ most high favour me, Purifying my heart with the sprinkling of heavenly dew, That I may be able in whatever way to touch upon with my pen In what order Bavo departed from this life, And rejoiced in the ethereal hall of heaven. For the little spark of a foolish vein will be able To bring forth nothing from the tiny treasury of a blind heart, Unless His goodness freely flood over me, Who knows how to make fruitful the bowels of stony earth, Granting that it grow up with fruitful ears, And commands the barren rock to produce a river. Therefore the holy Man had foreknown long before the day Of his own goal, and to the whole band of the brethren, Summoned in haste, he had said with presaging mouth That the hour of the loosing of his body now stood at hand.*

*There was then a certain distinguished and faithful Priest; he had been renowned, and held the name Domlim, who, zealous, ruled the monastery called Torhout, Celebrating the sacred office: Desiring to be relieved by whose wholesome speech, Bavo directed his own servant after ^b him, Who at once strives to obey his kindly Patron: But because the very rough path through dense forests Presented a very difficult track to each* ^c, *And he saw that the monastery was far remote, In which the kindly priest Domlinus dwelt, He did not know to what hours [] he should perchance betake himself.

*Then almighty God, seeking to show to all With the glory of how great merit He adorned Bavo, That he who had been known well enough within to Himself alone Might be known also without by the fame of his virtues, By the help [] *of angelic guidance directing the one sent, That he might come swiftly to the aforesaid priest, With whom he might bring the commands of the magnificent Master, Without delay compels him, hastening, to go with him, And so together, supported by the power of Christ on high, They strive to visit the brave Athlete with haste; Who, much gladdened by their coming, Prays with devout mind that he would not delay To keep kindly the care of his funeral.*

*And when now continually by nights and days He glowed with exceeding love of the heavenly fatherland, And also fed himself often on kindly conversations, And, with his eyes fixed on the summits of heaven, Ceased at no time from holy prayer: At the time when night, under the governance of the just Scale, Claims for itself the losses sustained through the summer hours* ^d, *And October too glows with the light of its first day, When he had taken to himself the kindly sacred mysteries of Christ, Breathing forth his soul, loosed from its fleshly burden, He gave it to the lofty stars, to live for ever; And soon, to the handmaid of God called by the name of Geretrude, His spirit appearing suggested such things, saying: Do not thou, O virgin, who art mighty in kindly deeds, Delay to send coverings for the burial of my limbs, That they may be fitted to the tomb in holy manner.*

*No delay holding her back, she at once obeys these words, Readily offering her services for such great obsequies; And while they duly performed the divine songs, God granted wonderful signs to appear to the crowd: So that no one of men should stand in doubt That the blessed soul of the Saint was resting in heaven. Whose mighty works — such as the body produced — It happened, for a certain woman was there then, Who, having lost all the reason of her own sense, Grieved to endure the cruel fury of a demon; She, as soon as she was able to approach the kindly tomb, The savage tyrant at once departing far away, Merited, healed, to be restored to her former health.*

*Another likewise, exceedingly vexed by the same disease, As soon as he touched the coffin bearing the most holy limbs, So soon he merited to be relieved by the goodness of the Lord, As if no madness had shaken his mind before. It has pleased me to patch together only these things in a little book, That praises of so great a Man might be made more widely. Yet more things could be noted in the discourse of the pen, Unless perchance tedium should oppress some reader. But after this, the exequies of the funeral having been duly performed, The Confessor of Christ obtains the rights of the tomb, Laid with all praise in that monastery Which, built in the fortress of Ghent when Amand was prelate, Shines forth in honour of Peter, prince of the Church, In which he shines through the ages with wonderful deeds, Coming quickly to the aid of everyone who asks worthy things; Nor is anything asked there perchance so difficult That any faithful heart should grieve to be disappointed.*

*O golden gem, glowing in the highest heaven, O Bavo, Deign to hear the groans of my prayers, With which I now, tearful, pray thee with devout breast, That thou take care to support me with kindly suffrage, That the sentence of the great judgement may not condemn me, Under which once rash Oza had fallen, When he presumed to touch the holy ark of the Lord. For I fear exceedingly to be struck down by that very offence, Because, running through the splendid deeds of thy works, I have been able to set forth in words nothing so worthy, As I have rather worn down, with the mixture [] *of a gross wit, The light shining with the immense brightness of merit, To which the measure of a lofty-speaking tongue scarcely befits.*

*Jesus, being ever a friend to the little ones, Gentle, never despises their pious gifts: As when once the throng of the Pharisees Were offering gifts in rivalry to the sacred temple, He showed that the widow's two little mites pleased Him before all, saying that she brought the greatest, Who, although it was little, yet resolved with faithful breast To give it all, and left nothing for herself: So I have composed for thee, Bavo, with the slender measure of my pen, Two very small metrical volumes, Asking that thou deign to entreat Christ for me, That He may not reject me as a presumptuous and foolish one; But because I have done what I could with modest strength, May He take care to protect it with merciful goodness, That there may be praise to Him who with the Father by eternal right And with the Holy Spirit reigns, three and one.*

ANNOTATIONS.

\ That is, roof*.

\ Read: permissio* (permission).

\ Read: abstrusisse*.

\* A mutilated verse.

\ Read: perstare* (to persist).

\ figas* (thou mayest fix).

\ of the serpent*.

\* That is, crown.

\ oris* (shores).

\ Read: opera* (by the work).

\* That is, mixture.

THIRD LIFE

By Abbot Theodoric

from Surius and two manuscript codices.

Bavo, also called Alloynus, confessor, at Ghent in Flanders. (S.)

BHL Number: 1051

A. By Abbot Theodoric.

PROLOGUE.

Bavo, of the vineyard of God After our Lord and Saviour had transplanted the vineyard, which He brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, beside the tree of the life-giving Cross, and, the rock having been struck with the rod — that is, the side of the Crucified Lord having been pierced with the lance — had watered it with the blood of martyrdom and the water of baptism, the roots of the planting filled the land, its branches stretched out even to the sea and its shoots even to the river: whose green leaf shall not fall off, and in the time of drought it shall not wither:

but its fruit shall not fail, because, planted beside the running waters, they are watered by the saving fountain springing up into life everlasting. When this vineyard of the supreme Householder had spread far and wide, when its shadow had covered the mountains, and its branches the cedars of God, and there was now no corner of the earth which did not hasten to rest under the shadow of the Lord, the Persian with the Scythian and the throng of skin-clad peoples broke their shrill and panting words into the melody of the Cross. Besides, as many as were predestined to eternal life grew and bore fruit as good branches.

[2] From this His vineyard, therefore, almighty God has stretched out one chosen branch of His even to us a chosen branch, to the readers, which blooms with such flower and abounds with such fruit that it is believed to be of the body of that vine which says: "I am the true vine; you the branches"; nor may it be doubted that it belongs to that cluster rightly carried by two men, which the old History records. Its happy extension and fruit, desirable even to perfect men, of which we sing securely: "The flourishing vines have yielded their sweet smell", we set before your eyes as a kind of mirror, so that when you have rested in its shade you may also behold your inner face in the mirror, imitate its beauty, and, to speak more fully, being perfect, may be conformed to the perfect: and while you draw in its sweet odour, being yourselves also about to become the good odour of Christ, you may stretch out your mind to the contemplation on high.

[3] For to one panting after true blessedness, to whom will the blessed athlete of God Bavo not suffice as an example, who trampled on the allurements of the evilly flattering world with so constant a mind that he is believed to have flown out of the world naked? The soldier has in him something to imitate the author, about to propose him for imitation,; the monk has something to venerate; certainly every Christian has a rule to follow: who will tremble the less amid their daily contests if they always have the triumph of the blessed Man set before their eyes. Now, since I enter to serve as a raw soldier among the grammarians ^a, I wish above all to be excused from grammar: do not, namely, require argumentative loquacity and knottiness of words: because both a grove is forbidden to be planted in the temple of the Lord, and I have judged myself to know nothing among you but Christ Jesus, and Him crucified.

[4] he excuses the slenderness of his style, I thought it unfitting that, being about to describe a Soldier, I should be bound by the rules of Donatus ^b, or obey Aristotelian arguments; because the argument of the world perished when the Virgin brought forth God: and the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. Whence in the Gospel little Zacchaeus, to see the Lord, climbed a sycamore, which is called the foolish fig: because those who humbly choose the foolishness of the world contemplate the very wisdom of God subtly: and then we prudently climb the sycamore, if we aspire to that foolishness which is divinely commanded. But because it is foolish to pour out words before the history, we do not greatly care for the mere trifles and dog-like eloquence of detractors, whom we do not think there will be none of ^c: against whom both the imperious authority of the brethren, which compelled me to dare this, and their ever-undaunted obedient charity will easily protect us. For since a leaden pipe often supplies streams of water for the uses of men, it seemed to them not out of place if, leaving silver eloquence to others, they themselves should drink from our lead, especially since Jethro too said something useful to Moses.

ANNOTATIONS.

PART I.

The Saint's fatherland, parents, marriage, purpose of a more perfect life, exercise of the virtues under St. Amand as master.

Fatherland, race, parents, The glorious athlete of God Allowinus, surnamed Bavo, chosen and predestined by God before the times of the world, of the race of Frankish princes and heir of the dukes of the Austrasians, was born and brought up in [] Belgic Gaul, in the district of Hesbaye, in a not obscure place, while Pelagius, who preceded blessed Gregory [], was administering the universal Pontificate, Justin the younger holding the sceptre, and Clodoveus ^b governing the monarchy of Francia. His father was called Eilolphus ^c, his mother Adelthrude, lovers of religion so chaste, treading the threshold of the church so continently, that you would think of the old example of Abraham and Sarah. Enriched with great nobility, an illustrious house and ample possessions, they esteemed the worship of God their only riches.

[6] Begotten, then, of such a stock, when Allowinus had grown up marriage, offspring;, he takes a wife, sprung likewise of most noble birth, namely the daughter of Adilio, a famous count at that same time. In the course of time a daughter, Agletrude, is born to them, she too chosen beforehand by God, and to be rewarded, as afterwards appeared, with the hundredfold fruit of virginity. Finally, in the first apprenticeship of her age, amid her very rattles, the angel of the Lord prescribed to her by a sure rule what and of what kind she was to be, how she was to live, by what law she was to preserve her virginity. Nor was the right hand of the Almighty wanting to the prudent young girl, which quickened her youthful members and raised her to the heights of supreme perfection, so much that at the beginning of her new manner of life her purpose became one to be imitated even by her parents themselves.

[7] Blessed Bavo began from that time to bend his mind to things on high virtues in marriage,, to weary of the delights of the world, to gird on the military belt more rarely, to observe the edicts of princes less ^d, to decline the frequenting of the circus, to give no place to the spectacle of the stage or to the luxury of the theatre, to take up the sword of the word of God against the spiritual forces of wickedness, to put on justice for a breastplate, to have equity always in his hands for an impregnable shield, to wash away light and daily sins with most bitter tears, to repent of his former life, to be frequently present in church: he was always zealous either to hear or to ask something about God: to dispose ascents in his heart from virtue to virtue, to frequent fasts with the fruit of almsgiving, and so to apply himself excellently to each virtue as if he had not the others. To a mind so flourishing the world and all its glory had withered, the great house and ample possessions had become altogether cheap. He would already have held the handle of the plough, and would already with free step have escaped to the wilderness of the Antonies and Macarii, had not care for his wife and for little Adelthrude [*] held back his foot. Yet he lived as a monk while a layman, and amid the officious multitude of the people that solitary wilderness which he had conceived in his mind never deserted him.

[8] Meanwhile his wife, who herself also served manfully in the commandments of the Lord and after his wife's death, by the zeal of the present life is taken up from the dwelling of dark Cedar ^e to the prize of the heavenly reward, and is snatched from the present wicked world lest malice should change her mind. Her funeral the widowed Husband so followed that he almost died himself; he so turned to the Lord that he seemed to have desired her death. Then indeed, the Holy Spirit breathing upon him, having entered with all sails upon the voyage of the sea of this world, he does not cease to carry out in the present what he had long deliberated in his mind, refusing a second marriage; so that you would understand that he had not long wished to serve the conjugal office, which he would never have assumed except for the sake of begetting offspring ^f.

[9] As if discharged [] of a great burden, he began to turn himself wholly to the worship of God the purpose of a more perfect life., to think of nothing but heaven, and, as though groaning that he was left behind, to cry out in his heart: When shall I come and appear before the face of God? and, turning over within himself that apostolic saying: They that will become rich fall into temptations and the snare of the devil*: whatever of gifts the bounty of kings had conferred, he transferred to the alms of the poor, giving an example of how a camel can enter the eye of a needle; how a crooked animal, having laid down the burden of its hump, may take to itself the wings of a dove and rest in the branches of the tree which grows up from the seed of mustard.

[10] The site and origin of Ghent; At that time blessed Amand, an apostolic man, made wholly of virtues, was flourishing: who, not fearing to suffer insults for the name of Jesus, the more he heard that the fury of the heathen was raging, came to Ganda, namely a fortress set upon two rivers, the Scheldt and the Lys, famous and renowned at that time for its well-known antiquity; a race of men so much the more superstitious as they were fiercer in spirit, and so much the more ignorant of their redemption in Christ as they had hitherto been ignorant of the Christian religion. They relate that Gaius [] Caesar, Gaul having been subdued by a long war, founded this place and gave it the name Ganda from his own name ^g. For when he was preparing arms against Hither Hibernia, which is now called England, he thought he should winter there, either on account of the advantage of the site, namely abundantly suitable for an army in water and fodder, or on account of the nearness of the sea, to which the crossing is very short, distant not more than six miles ^h. Others, however, will have it that King Ermenric too, whom the chronographer Jordanes ⁱ records to have subdued sixteen Northern [] nations, also came there and reigned there. Which of these is said more truly, let us leave to the judgement of those who say them ^k. We, however, rightly gather the antiquity of the place from this, that we have seen very many tokens found there, such as baked bricks of a wall and of small vessels. Besides — what will perhaps seem wonderful to the reader — iron shoes of different sex and age, and many things of that kind, which easily compel us to assent to its antiquity.

[11] St. Amand's journey to Rome, return into Gaul; When the holy man, in regard to God who pities all things, had come here, and was attacking by the word of truth the place into which the demons of almost the whole world had flowed together as into a bilge, seeing that he accomplished little (for he was both publicly insulted and driven out), since his hands were now heavy, he went to the holy Pope Martin ^l, and having complained much of his fruitless labour on a fruitless people, he is again encouraged by him to the work of the Gospel, reinforcements being given him, the venerable archpriest Landoald and the deacon Amantius ^m. Having crossed the Alps, therefore, they entered Gaul: and when Amand saw that the harvest indeed was great, but the labourers few, he left Landoald at Maastricht, where for nine years he also administered the office of bishop (for Bishop John ⁿ had very recently died), until the time of St. Remaclus ^o.

[12] and apostolic labours among the people of Ghent; He himself, conceiving the Holy Spirit with his whole mind, again approaches Ganda, having gone forth with authority from King Dagobert and from Aicharius, bishop of the people of Noyon, that whoever would not consent to the faith should be compelled [p]. Nor was the right hand of almighty God wanting to His soldier as he wrestled [*], which touched the hearts of the heathen and took into the portion of His inheritance a people long deluded by fanatical error. At length, the people having been baptized, the standard of the holy cross set up, the altar of Mercury is destroyed, the groves are cut down, all the shrines are demolished, a church is erected, completed, and solemnly consecrated in honour of the blessed apostle Peter. The vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth being thus planted, clerics first, monks afterwards, to render fruit in their season,

he brought in [q], and, having requested episcopal authority, Pope Martin also consenting to it, he endowed the place with perpetual freedom. But lest the digression, which we have not unprofitably undertaken, should become burdensome to studious readers, let us now turn our pen to the full conversion of blessed Bavo.

[13] Therefore, the fame of blessed Amand, as it were by a certain odour — an odour, I say the perfect conversion of St. Bavo;, as of a full field which the Lord hath blessed — being spread far and wide, holy Allowinus, no longer bearing to be made slothful [s] by worldly perplexity [r], takes a most certain counsel for his soul. Delaying nothing, he comes to Ganda by long and wearisome ways, finds Amand, confesses the fault of his former life, promises penance for the fault. He says that he wishes to seek counsel concerning his soul, to polish his rough life under his masterly [*] nail, and finally to give himself wholly to him. The holy man, receiving him devoutly, and rejoicing with him as over a sheep found, at once enters upon the evangelical preaching, and diligently instructs the still new Recruit, who was afterwards to be a perfect Soldier of Christ, concerning contempt of the world, desire for heaven, the temptation of the devil, the consolation of God, and all the things which pertain to the perfection of supreme blessedness.

[14] And since before you begin there is need of counsel, but when you have taken counsel, of prompt action the distribution of his goods to pious causes;, he at once, like a field of the Lord filled with abundance and a hill girded with exultation, bearing in the valley of his mind the grain of wheat, crying and saying a hymn, returns home on the counsel of his master and girds himself again for the work of God. A donation having been solemnly made, he hands over all his possessions to the places of the Saints; his private property, of which little or none had remained from the former bestowal, he again hands over to the uses of the poor; he reserves nothing of all for himself; finally he renounces himself, and carries the cross of Christ on glad shoulders. Let others praise the Pompeys, the Metelli and the Marii, hunting the popular breeze with triumphal largesse; to me Bavo, poor for Christ, seems more to be praised, who, having all his glory from within, had in the world he triumphed over as heralds the churches of the Saints and the little throngs of beggars. For what is more wonderful than this virtue? What stronger than this constancy? That a man of a noble family and of the race of senators trampled with so firm a mind on the pomp of the world and the riches in which he had been wholly brought up, that he then at last esteemed himself truly rich when he had taken up voluntary poverty for Christ? Let others send money and throw coins from their superfluity into the evangelical corbona [t]; on the witness of the Truth, no one has sent more than he who kept back nothing of all for himself.

[15] All things, then, having been laid aside and prudently ordered, Bavo, the dove of Christ the reception of the clerical state,, having taken up the branch of true innocence, and as it were leaving the worldly carcass to the ravens, returns to his spiritual Noah: and he whose feet now had no rest in the salt sea of the world asks that the door of the ark be opened to him. Received with worthy reverence, and asked again concerning his intention, he says he wishes to live as a cleric, so that, once bound under the yoke of a rule, it might not be lawful for him to draw back his foot further; but that he might turn the necessity voluntarily taken up into a will to live well. St. Amand rejoiced, but first prudently set before him many machinations of the devil: that the ascent which he wished to seize upon was heavy; he should fear a fall; the beginning, indeed, he declared easy, but the end difficult. When he sees that he delays at nothing, but is of a mind most ready to bear all things, giving thanks to God, who those whom He predestined from the beginning, these also He chooses at the last, embracing him as a most dear son, he leads him into the school of the divine service, which it is agreed he ruled first of all in the church of Ghent. There, before the altar of the blessed apostle Peter, having professed the warfare of Christ, shorn of beard and hair, he takes him into the clerical state and plants in the house of the Lord a cedar of Lebanon, fragrant with the inestimable odour of holy virtues and growing with incorruptible strength.

[16] his virtues, practised with St. Amand as master, Finally, as soon as he had entered on the way of holiness, he began to go with firm steps according to his master's mind, and, as though he had now placed the ship of his body on the longed-for shore, to set out the wares of all the goods which he had once collected, to show humility, to exercise patience, to extend the broad commandment of charity, according to the precept of God, even to the enemy; himself alone to serve all, to surpass glory by virtue, and to be loved [*] by those whom he seemed to go before. Frequent in prayer, continual in meditation on the law of God, ready to give an account to everyone who asked: so that you would think him one man compacted of divers virtues. Nor did he readily teach what he had not learned: but wherever Amand, the sower of the divine seed, went, thither he strove to follow, and, clinging inseparably to his master's side, burned to be filled with the fatness of holy preaching. And because the river of God is filled with waters, when the grace of the Holy Spirit inebriated its streams and multiplied its produce, the heart of the Disciple, springing up, rejoiced in the droppings of so great a master, and the beautiful places of the wilderness grew fat to bring forth the seed of the Lord.

[17] afterwards exercised. Clearly there was kindled in him that evangelical fire which Jesus, coming on the earth, willed to send into the faithful and to burn vehemently; filled with which the disciples on the way said with secure conscience: Was not our heart burning within us? And as often as he refreshed his weary limbs, and his members worn out with fasts, with a little sleep, lying on the bare turf, he thought that Christ lay with him, chastising the flesh of his delicate body and bringing it into the servitude of the spirit. He fled the popular breezes and the oil of the sinner as an evil spirit, and, the door of his lips being shut, prayed without intermission to God the Father in the chamber of his breast; never relaxed from good work the bow of the spirit, always bent; daily challenged the devil to battle. Let others say what they think; to me the athlete of God Bavo, set amid so many crosses, seems deservedly to be counted in that wonderful basket [*] which is adorned both with the lily of confession and with the rose of martyrdom.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Theodoric again confuses everything. As though indeed the things narrated here of King Dagobert, of Aicharius, bishop of the people of Noyon and Tournai, and a little below of the overthrow of the idols and the rest pertaining to the conversion of the people of Ghent

were later than St. Amand's Roman journey to St. Martin; since it is established that Dagobert and Aicharius had long since ceased to live, and that the faith had long since been planted at Ghent and the monastery built, before St. Martin was raised to the Pontificate.

q. Of the time and place of the building of the church with the monastery we said some things in the Preliminary Commentary, num. 104 and following. And of the profession of the first inhabitants of the monastery we discoursed ibid., num. 135.

r. Aporia in Greek signifies want of counsel; here it may be taken for wavering of mind.

s. Accidiari, for which Surius substituted retardari, is used for to be sad, to be anxious, to be affected with weariness.

t. So Surius: in one of our manuscripts in Euangelico corbanan, in another carbonan.

\ Manuscripts: in* is lacking.

\ Manuscripts: presided*.

\ Another reading: Aglethrude*.

\ released*.

\ Manuscripts: Gagium*.

\ Read: Arctoas*, that is, Northern.

\ Surius: contending*.

\ Surius: of the mastership*.

\ to be directed*.

\ Another reading: catalogue*.

PART II.

His solitary life, his dwelling among the monks of Ghent, the miracle of the dead man raised, his wonderful humility, incredible manners of tormenting himself, the victory won over the demon.

The Saint, having visited the monasteries, For, advancing from virtue to virtue, and eager daily to hear, see and do something new concerning God, with the consent of his Amand he girds himself again to go round the places of the saints and the neighbouring cenobites; if perchance it might happen that he would investigate something before unexperienced or unattempted, to the doing of which he might deservedly animate himself []. Finally, although for the uprightness of his manners and manner of life he was already resting among the clergy with the wings of a silvered dove, yet he thought nothing satisfied, if anyone could do some good thing to the doing of which he himself was not able to aspire. For since, according to Solomon, he that addeth knowledge addeth sorrow*, everything he perceived from the holy Scriptures was a sorrow to him for the days behind, reckoning that he had run in vain all that time which he seemed to himself to have as it were lost without penance. Then indeed he began to stretch the skin of his flesh on the wood of the timbrel, to become a daily sacrifice to God, and, like the wealth of a great genius, to gather the flowers of the virtues from every side and carry them into the hive of his honeyed heart; since he was inferior to none of those whom they call anchorites, he coveted the wilderness as if it were the paradise of God, reckoning that those alone dwelt with God to whom it had befallen to avoid the concourse of men.

[19] A fit [] opportunity of time and place the solitude in Beila, having entered [] the forest which they call Beila, suddenly, on the more remote side of a sloping valley, an aged beech presented itself to his eyes, whose hollow [] was spacious, not less than six feet, its height vaulted in the manner of an arch, and such as could hold a man standing upright in its belly []. Reckoning this as a dwelling prepared for him as it were by the angels of God, he enters it with as much delight as if he had shut up with himself within a narrow wall the delights of the whole world ^a. Hidden for some days, he could not lie concealed, and when he was frequented by the people, judging himself unhappy, he again leaves the place in the silence of the night. The same beech of wonderful size is to be seen to this day, which, for the eternal memory of this Saint of God, still contains in itself an ancient altar, where the priest of the parish frequently calls together the church and gives communion. Nor does the tree, so aged against custom, cease still to flower and bud, in which that flower lay hidden of which it is said: Flourish, ye flowers, as the lily. Delighted by the pleasantness of which flowers, holy Church speaks in her nuptial song: Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples; because I languish with love.

[20] Therefore, departing thence, the athlete of God Allowinus again, by long and wearisome ways, seeks another wilderness and in Medmedung;, Medmedung by name, distant from his Ganda a journey of only two miles. The place, growing wild into a very dense grove, stretched out by a vast and almost inaccessible marsh, fruitful also of the apples which [*] the forest bears and of nuts; and besides a stream flowing past with light murmur, easily recommend it as a dwelling. He enters with a hoe, weeds the ground, raises a very small cell, and as it were buries himself in it. The forest supplied his food, the stream his drink ^b. His garments he had brought with him, a cloak and a hair-shirt, which were not to keep off the cold but to prevent nakedness, not to encourage softness but to subdue the flesh. When he had thus remained unknown for some time, and, rumour again spreading it abroad, despaired of being able to lie hidden any longer, having learned that blessed Amand had substituted monks in the church of Ghent and had ordained the venerable man Florbert as abbot ^c (for because he himself was intent upon preaching, it seemed necessary to appoint one who would provide for the still new plantation), then indeed, reckoning himself as it were presented with a great gift, he resolved to return to the place of his profession, and there to run through the rest of the course of life that remained.

[21] Having returned, he is received as an angel of God, as he truly was his return to Ghent, and dwelling among the monks;; received, he is led into the guest-house; led in, he is honoured; nor did they ever have any more capital joy than that such a Man was received into their company. Next he calls the abbot into conversation, explains the cause of his return, asks for a private little cell to dwell in, and obtains it. For who, not only of monks but also of clerics, would not desire the company of Bavo? His living voice, his liberal hand, his grave countenance, his inestimable humility, his irreproachable cheerfulness, and I know not what bearing of a man beyond man, had made him desirable to everyone who lived well in the Lord.

[22] And when, whether from particular friendship or from the obediential [*] precept of the Rule, the brethren girded themselves to build the little cell of the Man of God by his prayers a dead man, the almighty Power, to declare the merit of His elect, showed such a miracle. A lay person, Attinus, about to cart sand and stones ^d, was riding on a wagon, but was hindered by the barking of dogs. And when he was pressed more heavily and held by a longer delay, he began to murmur with insolent mouth, and to vomit out curses of I know not what whisper against the holy Man: the devil, being permitted, who grieved that the shrines were being demolished and the churches of the Saints erected, flung the man off the vehicle, and by the mass of the load above and the onrush of the beasts left him dead. The people are called out; the body, bewailed, is placed in a boat not without pity, and when he had been brought into his house there was nothing else that they thought of but the tomb.

[23] is called back to life; When this was announced to Bavo, then indeed he grieved, was saddened and groaned, and, as if he had sent men in the blood of brave men to draw water from the cistern of Bethlehem, accused his guilt and imputed the dead man's blood to himself; and turned to God with his whole bowels, he said: Ah, Lord, why, being about to receive his soul, didst thou hide it from me? He then orders the body to be brought in to him, and, the door being shut, the rest to be removed: he himself alone stretched himself over the lifeless man, and, the fire of the Holy Spirit being kindled on the altar of his heart, he abundantly put under it the wood of tears, laid himself upon it as a holocaust, and burned the fat of peace-offerings to God, weighing out, namely, the incense of prayer in the gold of precious faith, by which he knew that all things are possible to him that believeth. Scarcely the space of three hours had passed, he had not yet ended his prayer, when death, compelled to suffer not [] its law, vomits back [] him whom it had seized. Attinus rises and walks; there is an uproar of the people; every age, every sex is shaken by the novelty of the miracle, and the praise of God sounds in the mouth of all. A wonderful spectacle, and fitting for strengthening the sons of the new-born church, who in this particular resurrection were compelled not to hesitate concerning their own and the general resurrection of all.

[24] his wonderful humility. This too was praiseworthy to behold in the holy Man, that, when every voice, every tongue sounded together in his praise, he cast himself down with such humility that he reckoned the raised man's standing as his own fall, if even a light wind of the popular breeze should enter to touch the root of humility. For whose mind, whose spirit would the favouring whirlwind of the storm not shake at the distinction of so wonderful a power, except his who had built his house on the foundation of the rock? And the rock was Christ: on whose highest summit, when the holy Man rested, he leaned on a firm root, presumed nothing of himself, attributed all that he was to His grace, and, when he was exalted without himself, was nevertheless humbled within himself in every way. Let those who weigh the merits of the Saints by the power of their miracles grant, even in the estimation of this miracle, that our Bavo is by right to be compared with all the Saints: let them grant him to be the peer of Elias among the prophets, equal to Eliseus; among the Apostles not inferior to Peter, not less than John — him whom we judge rightly comparable to all the Saints in the raising of one dead man. They raised several, he one. They, as many as [] the necessity of that dregs compelled; he, as many as [] the humility of this time required. For if we look to the merit of the man, both he that planteth and he that watereth are nothing without Him who gives the increase, God. Again, if we wish to weigh miracles by number, he could certainly by praying raise the bodies of many, who to this day does not cease to quicken countless souls dead by the weight of sins and buried four days in stench, the stone of despair being removed, and to restore them to their Author by his holy prayers. For what could he not obtain from God, who had become a true dwelling of the Holy Spirit? What would he not obtain by prayer from the Father, who, the flesh being overcome, had himself passed as a god into the adoption of the sons of God, as the Psalmist says: I have said, You are gods, and all of you the sons of the Most High?

[25] To pass to other things, one day, having gone out of his dwelling By a servant, it happened that he met a young servant whom once, having neglected household affairs, he had ordered to be exposed for sale at the market by way of punishment. When he saw him, as if he had sold Christ Himself to death, he poured forth most bitter tears, with a rushing run and confidence prostrated himself at his feet, confessed his fault, excused his ignorance and asked pardon: and, reflecting on this, that blood is washed by blood, he besought him with sacred words to put the shears and the scourge into his hands, that he might take vengeance on the seller of Christian blood. The servant on the contrary refused, gladly forgave from his heart the sin ^e, as far as it concerned himself, and promised that he would never serve him; he could never, he said, be persuaded to an insult to one who was once and still his Lord. But he, as one who never ceased to desire to share in the sufferings of Christ, did not [] desist until [] by wonderful eloquence he overcame the mind of the unwilling man and compelled him, rather than asked him, to his punishment.

[26] What more? His hand is bound, his feet are tied ^f wishing, like a robber,, his whole body is lifted aloft, he is afflicted with a most cruel penalty and, when he did nothing but give thanks to God, is beaten as it were into a ball; finally, in the manner of robbers, his whole head is shorn. These are thy works, good Jesus, this is thy fiery love, burning with which all thine elect burn off by the furnace of tribulation even the rust of sins, however rare, to be pure gold in the day of the dread examination. Then in the book of thy right hand will be found Song and Woe: the Song, namely, of the elect, who, the world triumphed over, will praise Him who lives for ages of ages: the Woe of the wretched, whose death in

death is most wretched, whose daily sin, heavier than any mass of iron, not even one little tear washes away, not even one fruitful [] alms extinguishes, much less voluntary punishments for Christ. Therefore, in consideration of this infirmity of ours, it pleases us to cry out with the Apostle: Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And since thine eyes, O Lord, have seen our imperfection, let us say what follows by way of consolation: The grace of God, by Jesus Christ.*

[27] At length the glorious champion [] of God Allowinus, taken down from this his rack he is treated;, orders his broken and tortured limbs to be received into that noble new little cell of his, which at the beginning of its foundation was honoured by the miracle of a man brought back to life, and at its completion by a venerable and truly praiseworthy punishment. Then, when he had little by little recovered his breath, as though he had not yet burned off the dross of his silver to the pure, and hoping nothing satisfied, he orders the fetter, which is commonly called the stock, to be brought besides, and those venerable feet to be confined in it which, set on the watch-tower of Sion, could have preached the peace of the kingdom on high among the people of God. What others think of the deeds of this holy Man I do not know; I am more amazed at Bavo willingly beaten than at him quickening the dead; I admire him more voluntarily put in the stocks [] than celebrated with the favour of the whole people. And so, thrust for almost four months into this prison-struggle, while he was almost dying daily, he held the penalty for delights. Although his tongue was weary, he was never silent from the praise of God. Surely the clay of his most holy little body had been hardened into earthenware by the fire of the Holy Spirit from above; and therefore in a wonderful manner, when he was tortured, he became stronger, so that you would think he said with the Apostle: For when I am weak, then am I stronger and powerful: and considering with what speed felicity flies away, which before human eyes flourishes as though permanent, he filled up those things that were wanting of the sufferings of Christ in his flesh, and, wounded in mind by inner charity, he burned with desire for the contemplation on high.

[28] he is enclosed more narrowly, Having then summoned the holy bishop Amand and the venerable abbot Florbert, he begs for a complete enclosure not only of his feet but of his whole emaciated little body, and scarcely at length obtains it. He had dug out a narrow cave in the middle of the floor of the house to the capacity of a man standing upright, which would hold one entering only standing, and would allow the suspended face, as of a crucified body, to be turned aside in neither direction. This cross of prayer he had prepared for himself; in it, during the canonical hours, he had chosen to be suspended rather than to stand: nor could [*] he easily be dissuaded from the labour, though most difficult; because to a mind now triumphing over the whole world in Christ nothing could seem laborious. On the appointed day, the clergy and people having been called together, they assemble at the cell of enclosure with crosses and censers and the whole ecclesiastical apparatus, and by the hands of the holy bishop Bavo, the victim of Christ, the church being witness, is buried rather than enclosed, on the fifth day before the Ides of November, which was the six hundred twenty-ninth year ^g of the Lord's Incarnation. He is buried, I say, to the world, living to God, to whom, because he had unceasingly clung to Him, he had surely hidden his life on high.

[29] in almost incredible ways He was enclosed, then, not without tears and the wonder of many, who saw so much vigour to be in a worn-out and almost decayed little body: then indeed at last, reckoning that he had set his ship in the port of supreme quiet, he sighed the more keenly towards his Author as it was permitted more securely to one withdrawn. According to the great orator, I fear lest duty be thought ambition, and lest what we do by the example of him who says, Praise the Lord in His Saints, we seem to do from desire of glory, and to insinuate not the truth of things but an officious verbosity. Observe, I pray, prudent reader, that in the Soldier the King is praised, and in the Saints God is honoured: and that, although it is good to hide the secret of a king, it is honourable to declare the glory of God. But whoever will slander us as it were for multiplying words, it is quite plain how little he blushes to disparage the elect of God: to whom it was the easier not only to subdue the flesh, but to change it, utterly conquered, into a perfect man, the more incorporately they had been made one with the Almighty, who, coming to form the race of Adam's mortality into the sonship of God, said: Be ye holy, because I am Holy, and Have confidence, I have overcome the world.

[30] he torments himself, Whatever I say is certainly less: for even if all the members of my body were tongues, they would utter nothing worthy of this most invincible Athlete of God: whose food was unleavened bread, the half [] of it ashes, his drink water taken only by measure: his vigils always to the point of failing, his sleep scarcely reached to refreshment, so that you would think him rather meditating something than sleeping: his bedding the ground and ashes sprinkled on it: for he said that a Christian ought not to lie in delights, whose glory is grass, whose end daily hastens to the destruction of ashes: for his weary head a stone was the pillow ^h: his covering was that most holy hair-shirt: his continence such that it almost exceeded measure, his patience such that it never yielded to tribulations, knowing that saying of Isaias: You that are weaned from the milk, that are drawn away from the breasts, expect tribulation upon tribulation, hope upon hope. And having the treasure in an earthen vessel, until this mortal should put on immortality and this corruptible be clothed with incorruption, he never grieved at the troubles of the flesh that came upon him, but always animated himself to hope in God, saying to his spirit: Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him: he poured forth tears from so abundant a fountain that you would think that saying of the Prophet fulfilled in him: Every night I will wash my bed, I will water my couch with my tears.*

[31] Like the fat separated from the flesh and incorporated in charity meanwhile solicitous for the good and advantage of others;, he had enjoined on himself this best province among men, to reconcile the discordant in peace; preaching that God is seen by peace, that by peace one passes to heavenly things: since he was the salt of the earth, he did not cease to rub away the folly of those who had become foolish, daily to cut away the rottenness of souls, and to heal them with the medicine of penance. And almost the whole neighbourhood flocked to him, noble and unknown; a mixed race kept watch whole days and nights before his doors. His little table was never without a needy person, his little cell never without a guest ⁱ. Besides those things which pressed from without, there was his daily solicitude for all the churches, over which he so watched, and with which he was so affected, as though he alone were debtor to answer for them. And who was grieved, and he was not grieved? who was cold, and he was not chilled? who suffered, and he did not endure? who was in want, and he did not want? To conclude in brief discourse: he joined a very sharp battle with every fortune, with sad fortune lest it should overwhelm him, with pleasant lest it should corrupt him. He did not stop below, he did not go beyond; he occupied the middle with firm strength. Truly happy, truly most worthy dwelling of almighty God, filled with so many and so great perfumes of the virtues.

[32] When he now held the summit of the supreme work, and had ascended to the step of the divine ladder which could suffice for perfect men he undertakes a new kind of self-torment;, as if he had begun nothing, he seeks out another torment, as praiseworthy, namely, as it was new and wonderful. He orders a stone to be brought, which, having weighed it in his hands, since it did not suffice for the weight he wished, he commanded another to be brought in its place, which would be the load of two men. This, between frequent genuflexion and constant prayer ^k, he held in his arms; in it he not only wearied himself, but almost mortified himself. Nor could the holy hand fail under the load of the stone, which the corner-stone sustained, who makes both one. Then indeed, if anyone objected why he tortured himself, that that is not a good virtue which exceeds measure, he answered prudently: The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us. I say boldly: he who so affected himself with daily martyrdom, if he had had the times of Decius or Diocletian, would of his own accord have anticipated all torments: he would not have fled the pyres, nor the rack, nor surely the beasts or the sword. Nor will he lack the glory of a Martyr who in the confession of the Deity bravely warred down the powers of the air, and, protected by the shield of justice, set an undaunted side against the monsters of spiritual wickedness. And what crosses did he not endure, what fires did he not pass through, whose whole life upon earth was a warfare? Which he so carried on that, though dying daily, he nevertheless said confidently to God: Prove me, O Lord, and try me; burn my reins and my heart.

[33] the demon tempting him Nor was temptation wanting, which at the very beginning he manfully warred down and conquered in the Lord. For that crooked serpent, who has a thousand windings, seeing and groaning that he was being triumphed over, relying on the good permission of God but on his own evil will, is emboldened to call the now old and veteran Soldier of Christ to battle. Like a whirlwind he attacks the little cell, hurls furies, threatens Stygian fires. He was not moved at all, nor terrified in the least; he set against it the shield of truth. For he did not doubt that this was the trick of the devil. If it had been permitted to set foot in public, or if as a man he could still hold his breath, he would without hesitation have gone out, would himself first have started the duel, and joined hands: such was his constancy of mind, such his confidence in God. For he said: The Lord is my helper, I will not fear what the crafty persecutor may do. At this voice, when that whirlwind had yielded, again the army of iniquity is present: now a dog, now a wolf, again a lion or a bear, finally the devil entire [*]; at once he made serpentine and bestial movements.

[34] he overcomes. Bavo from within mocked the son of iniquity, and, scoffing with great confidence, said: The Lord rebuke thee, Satan, and He rebuke thee that chose Jerusalem. No delay: the legion vanished, nor dared any more to attack the city set on a mountain. These are thy works, O Christ, thy power and mighty deeds, whose ways are justice and all whose sayings are truth. This is that faithful promise of thine which at the beginning of the nascent Church thou gavest as a signal donative to the Apostles, and through the Apostles to all who professed thy warfare: namely that they should cure diseases in thy name and tread upon demons with undaunted foot. And who more freely trod upon the head of the devil? Who more strongly overcame the son of iniquity attacking him? Yet he did not wish [*] to rejoice in this, that the evil spirits were subject to him, but rather to strive with the utmost effort that his name should be written in heaven.

ANNOTATIONS.

of places in Flanders whose names are akin to Beila prevents me from daring to choose one before another. Thus in Sanderus, the diligent and accurate describer of Flanders, besides Bella, otherwise the town of Balliolum, I find the villages Bella on the Scheldt, Bella on the Dender, Bellem, Belleghem, Balegem, etc.

\ Surius: ought to animate*.

\ Surius: Seizing, therefore*.

\ Ibid. adds: est, ubi* (was, where).

\ Ibid.: of the hollow*.

\ Ibid.: alvo* (belly, ablative).

\ Surius: which* (feminine).

\ Ibid.: obediently*.

\ Ibid.: not* is lacking.

\ Ibid.: restores*.

\ Ibid.: quod*.

\ Another reading: did not wish*.

\ Another reading: while*.

\ Surius: fruitful* (fructuosa).

\ Ibid.: athlete*.

\ Ibid.: bound in the stock*.

\ Another reading: could* is lacking.

\ Another reading: the half* (nominative).

\ entire* (masculine).

\ Another reading: wished* is lacking.

PART III.

Heavenly visions, sickness, death, apparition, burial, multitude of miracles.

Aspiring to heaven, Thus far our discourse on the Soldier of God has sailed through the rocks of tribulation and the shoals of daily martyrdom; now the harbour is to be entered with favourable sails, and we must hasten to that land of which it is written: But the just shall inherit the land; and: I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living: which the glorious athlete of God Allowinus received as a perpetual inheritance, the reward of his most holy contest; and when he saw that his call to possess it was now imminent, he afflicted himself unceasingly, and consoled his soul, thirsting for the living fountain and panting with unwearied desire for the vision of its Maker, daily with these words: Expect the Lord; do manfully: be strengthened and wait for the Lord. In this exhortation, when he had granted his afflicted and almost boneless body a little sleep, he merited to be consoled by the most sweet goodness of God.

[36] by heavenly visions For an angel was present in the form of a dove and rested so familiarly upon the Son of known simplicity that it seemed to say: Upon whom shall I rest, but upon the humble and him that trembleth at the words of God? The breast of the Friend, at once melted and almost terrified, it again gently refreshes, and fills the whole little cell with the whole fragrance of a wonderful odour, so that, thinking himself rapt away, he thought he was present at the delights of paradise; and as though now secure of his labours: Behold the inheritance of the Lord. I must not now lead the little stream of my wit through the meadows of the Scriptures, to tell what of innocence, what of simplicity the dove seems to have: why the Holy Spirit is read to have rested in it upon Christ baptized, or why an angel is wont to appear in it to the elect of God. The matter is rich for speaking and abundantly worn by the testimonies of the holy Scriptures, from whose fountain, even if less were at our disposal, we could borrow. But to one hastening to other things let it suffice to have said only this, that the angel came deservedly in a dove upon him who was full of dove-like simplicity; that he deservedly drew in that divine odour who with secure conscience could say: We are the good odour of Christ in every place. And when the vision had withdrawn, returning to himself and with watchful mind discussing its cause, as if he had added oil to the flame, he was kindled with a still greater love of the Holy Spirit; he was free for nothing by day or by night, and thereafter cried out to heaven: Woe is me, that my sojourning is prolonged; I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar!

[37] he is refreshed; There follows from the treasuries of God a glorious miracle, by which he who desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ might be mercifully consoled, and he who had hitherto been zealous to hide the lamp of holiness under the bushel of humility might be wonderfully manifested in the whole commonwealth of the supreme King. The sun was blazing in mid-heaven; the people who had come together were present looking on: when behold, the glory of the Lord from His holy place descended upon the head of His Just one, and in the figure of the life-giving Cross illuminated and crowned His Soldier: whom he at once met with such delight that, as if not doubting that this was his true garland, he seemed to receive it with outstretched hands and to say: This is my reward, my recompense. I have served as a soldier to the Crucified; I recognize the glory of the Cross. In all the days behind he was seen [] to have admitted rare or no gladness; thereafter, all sorrow being driven away, secure now of his reward, he rejoiced daily and said: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Rightly, then, was he wonderfully glorified in the descent of the Cross from above, who, having professed the warfare of the crucified Son of God, when, the world being now triumphed over, he said with the Apostle, The world is crucified to me, and I to the world, merited to hear from the Lord: Rejoice and exult, Bavo, for thy reward is very great in heaven.*

[38] Meanwhile the time was hastening in which the branch sick, he prepares himself for death; of the Lord's pruning should be purged, and the flower which had appeared should be gathered to compose the garland of the supreme head, when behold, the glorious Athlete of God fell upon the bed of sickness which he had so long before foreseen and foretold. The languor gradually grew heavier, and, the south wind blowing, a cold pallor smote the purple violet of paradise; yet he prayed, and with weary breath amid hard sighs spared neither his age nor his infirmity, exhorted the monks and the people, who were frequently present, with chastened speech; glad himself, he consoled the others weeping over him. You would understand that he was not dying, but migrating, and, as though he were looking on Christ present, desired to be dissolved. He had as a familiar friend Domlinus, priest of the church of Torhout, whom, when he desired him for conversation, it was not easy to have ^a. The long journey, the vast solitude, the very dense grove did not afford an easy passage. The servant, called and bidden to hasten to seek him, does not refuse the command, and begins to wish to go whither he did not know. As he delays at nothing, but presumes on the faith of his Master, suddenly the angel of the Lord is present, shows the way; himself accompanies him; leads him [*] all the way to Torhout, and, the business being set out, takes up the priest and accompanies him back. Him the Man of the Lord kept in secret while speaking, enjoined him to take charge of his funeral, and received the last communion by his office. Happy priesthood, happy that man whose hands merited to handle the most precious pearl of God!

[39] And now the axe of the divine call was being laid to the root of the most holy tree he dies;, when behold, with hands and whole body stretched out to heaven, he recognizes his fellow-citizens the angels, and, delighted by their sweet presence ^b, Farewell, he says, church of the servants of God: Christ is here; go forth, my soul, to meet Him. When at these words he had breathed out his spirit from the clay of these dregs, the throng of monks at once rushed upon him and, kissing the most holy body, first began the public mourning. There were present at the moment the holy bishop Amand ^c and the venerable abbot Florbert, who, themselves also entering the little cell, behold the wonders of God in the martyrdom of His Soldier. For what his spirit had done while living the dead body declared; in which the whole flesh seemed so consumed that the bones clung to the skin, and only the lips were left about the teeth. Who meanwhile would not weep with human compassion, or who would not rejoice with spiritual exultation? And the funeral, borne by the hands of the priests of Christ, who with much zeal set their necks under the bier, is placed in the middle of the church of the blessed apostle Peter to remain through the night. The whole neighbourhood had come together; every country place, every church round about had sent ministers and priests; and whoever had not had the fortune to be present at this holy deposition reckoned himself cheated of no small gift. Meanwhile it was pitiable to behold the throng of the poor, then truly orphaned, their Father lost, showing the garments and comforts which they had received from his hands, and filling the whole church with inconsolable mourning.

[40] And his happy soul, in the very hour of his departure, appeared to the holy virgin Gertrude, who dwelt far away he appears to St. Gertrude;, asking that she send the linen cloths needed for the burying of his body. Learn now, ye rich of the world, whose corpses rot in silk and gems: learn what you should grieve for, and at length begin rightly to despise what you wrongly love. Fine linen and purple cover you: Bavo, poor for Christ,

has not even in his funeral any but linen cloths sought from elsewhere. You, buried in gold, rot beneath built-up marble: Bavo in a lowly place scarcely has, with the Son of Man, where to lay his head: and behold, the case reversed, torments press you, the mighty, mightily; the humble God mercifully rewards him, the humble. You, according to the prophetic threat, for the contrition of spirit howl unto destruction; he, according to the divine consolation, laughs and says: Behold the man that made not God his helper: your noble cloak is turned into confusion, and [*] for the reverence of His poor one God has cut his sad sackcloth and compassed him with gladness: your place has smoked and is not found: his memory with God and men is in benedictions.

[41] he is buried at Ghent, The things necessary for the funeral having been completed, then, with lamps and tapers and choirs of those singing psalms he is carried back to the place of his contest, that is, to the little cell of his enclosure, and there by the office of the holy bishop Amand he is buried again ^d, no longer to fast, but to be satisfied with the bread of angels; not to thirst, but to be given drink from the living fountain; not to weep, but to laugh with the evangelical laughter; to sustain no affliction at all of this corruption, but to receive the robe of perpetual consolation. Happy fatherland, happy district, happy above the rest the precinct of Ghent, not as formerly by the sordid superstitions of idols and the vain monuments of ancient tyrants, but by the worship of the almighty King and the protection of this most invincible Soldier of the heavenly court! Glorious things are said of thee, in whose bosom rests a vessel of election and of grace; a vessel which the almighty Potter fashioned for Himself out of the mass of common earth unto honour, and for the profit of all who inhabit the house of holy Church. Of this vessel surely the sons of the desolate have tasted by believing and drunk the fountain of salvation by obtaining: the foreigners, Tyre and the people of the Ethiopians, have drawn from here the life-giving antidote: no one who asked has failed to receive, except him whom sluggish faith drew back from receiving: and since there is now no corner of the earth to which its salvation has not flowed from here, in thy valley, Ganda, it flows more especially, it waters thee more abundantly, and has savour for thee more plentifully, who alone keep with thee what profits the whole world in common.

[42] whose city he protects: Thou, namely, the keeper of this saving vessel, hast merited also to become the almost daily beholder of the miracles of God in it; for thee, the possessor ^e, it heals the wounds of bodies and raises the dead of souls; thou hast received it to be kept, and wilt give it back in the day of the Lord. O valley set on the summit of the highest mountain and filled with the richest abundance of God! The grain of heavenly wheat shall not fail from thee, in which is the habitation of them that rejoice: for the Lord will dwell in thee unto the end, and will set peace in thy borders; He will strengthen the bolts of thy gates, and will bless thy children. And the most pious purgation of this most precious vessel by the almighty Craftsman, after the refinings of many tribulations, and its glorious assumption into the honour of eternity, took place on the first day of the Kalends of October, in the year from his conversion forty days less of the third ^f, in the six hundred thirty-first year of the Lord's Incarnation ^g, Heraclius administering the Roman empire, Martin the universal Pontificate ^h, and our Lord Jesus Christ reigning with the Father and the Holy Spirit through immortal ages of ages. Amen ⁱ.

[43] he is renowned At once glorious miracles went before the very close of the blessed burial, and from the vessel of mercy cups were offered which shall not fail for ever, neither from the eyes of those present nor from the hearts of those absent, provided only they call upon him with faith. I set down a few out of many, only two out of countless ones which the grace of God showed to declare the merits of His Saint. The envy of the enemy, whose work is always unjust, whose will is never good; envy, I say, which cast out woman and man as exiles from paradise, was now also punishing a man together with a woman with a wretched penalty. Heavy gnashing, untameable fury, continual foam, a lamentable condition, a loathsome life, exceedingly hateful to all acquaintances and friends. What were they to do, whither to turn? No hope, no consolation: one who could heal this torment was found nowhere among the nations; for the salvation of men is of God alone. But when, rumour spreading it abroad, the funeral of so great a Father was not hidden even from the wretched, thinking it opportune to hope for the help of the Lord, they direct them, bound with hard bonds, dragged by the hands of men, useless, yet as victims, to this divine propitiatory. Not the tongue prayed, but necessity; not the voice of those calling, but the penalty of those perishing; ignorant of both sense and knowledge, by their torments they provoked the Fountain of mercy. The faith of the people came to their aid, crying: St. Bavo, help; thou who didst quicken dead limbs, deliver these who live ill.

[44] Broken, at the sacred body, that they might pray, and scarcely forced by miracles. to touch the bier (a wonderful miracle!) at once the demon fled, and the cleansed vessels speak the mighty works of God. The cry is raised on high, the name of the Lord is blessed, by whose munificence the death of the Saints is precious. These beginnings of signs, these tokens of his holiness went before the body that was to be buried, most praiseworthy for this reason, that they are in some manner befitting our Saviour (saving the peace of the readers). For in the death of Christ, although the rescue was generally of all sinners, it was especially of Eve and Adam. In the funeral of this man, though by Christ's gift, the deliverance of a male and a female was made. Both through the demon had lost the pontificate of nature: both through the price of a saving death received the benefit of life. But I compare the servant to the Lord, the creature to the Creator, with due regard: for the words of the Truth must needs be true, who says: He that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do. He indeed is mighty, not by accident but of His own. Bavo is mighty, not of his own, but of the Lord who gives; in whom, because he believed, in Him also he could do all things. And by this I set the foot beside the head, the member beside the body, and in the Lord who saves all things I not wrongly proclaim the servant. For the relation is such as of the species to the substance, of the singular to the universal: of which the one precedes as by a fitting power, the other stands under as by a consequent necessity.

[45] There are indeed many things besides these which the Almighty does not cease daily to work in this His noble member Epilogue, in which the author; which, if they were all to be noted by us, the day would fail before us, the weary hand would sink under the unbearable burden. Yet when we wished to undertake a few and measured our small capacity, what caused us not to proceed was this, that our tongue, as it were rusted by long silence and not yet polished by the use of speaking, was intending to say certain other things, in which, exercised as by a kind of prelude, it might at length be touched by the angel with a coal from the altar, and finally be circumcised for presuming so divine a work. But if anyone will slander us that we have taken up matter unequal to our strength, and have not turned it over long, as was fitting; although we have satisfied this in the Prologue, yet we wish this answer to be given, that we have not boasted of eloquence, but have sacrificed to our God the abominations of the Egyptians. For the sheep, a simple and clean animal, which the Egyptian abominates to eat, the Israelite offers to his God, as often as one does not belch forth [] proud loquacity, but professes humble simplicity. Besides this, there is added as the greatest cause of our silence the heavy wine-press by which, beyond what is usual, holy Church is not only heavily pressed but unbearably broken, so that it has been necessary to wake Jesus, sleeping for our sins, and to say: Master, save us: we perish.*

[46] he deplores the wretched state of the Church. For who could pass with dry eyes through kingdoms (a sign of desolation) divided among themselves, the commotions of peoples as of the sea, the scatterings of the stones of the sanctuary at the head of all the streets? The stones of the sanctuary, alas, are scattered: because those who were called bishops, the folds of Christ being broken and sold, set the sheep committed to them before the wolves and turned in flight, not shepherds, but hirelings. For an example there are churches burned by their hand, altars bloodied with human blood; the swarms of monks, part taken captive, part driven out ^k; right and law all confounded. And because the sins of some men are manifest, going before to judgement, when they have been drunk with the blood of others, they turn upon one another: bishops, what is impious to say, supplant and are supplanted, take captive and are taken captive; so that it is plainly clear that the wrath of God, raging, takes vengeance on the guilty by the hands of their own. The very virgin of the Roman dignity, having transgressed, has gone backward, and in our days the breasts of her youth have been broken. There is no prince, nor priest, nor place of sacrifice. Jerusalem is trodden down by the Gentiles, because there is none that doth good. Wretched Israelites, in comparison with whom Nebuchadnezzar is written the servant of God! And to those for whom amid so many evils it is scarcely or in no way permitted to live, how does it please to say or write anything? What alone remains is that we provide for ourselves the holy fathers and patrons of God, by whose happy oarage we may sail through the sea of this world, and that we, who are already sinking for our guilt, may by the favour of the Almighty be raised up by the hand which can calm the winds by a word and command tranquillity by a nod. To obtain which let blessed Bavo be set as mediator. Let Bavo be in the heart, Bavo always in the mouth; let him be defender and patron, let him be continual intercessor with the almighty Judge: may he look upon me writing these things with devotion, and upon thee, Christian, reading them with faith.

ANNOTATIONS.

The older anonymous writer fixes the place of the first burial only broadly in the fortress of Ghent; the poet in the monastery; Theodoric definitely in the little cell of the enclosure, but whether relying on solid testimony is doubtful to me; because St. Livinus, who survived St. Bavo only three years, signifies not obscurely that the Saint lay in the church of the monastery itself when he wrote his Epitaph, saying:

*The church which thou didst found, which holds thee, renowned Bavo, Protect, O Saint, by thy merits.*

Theodoric, and thus the first two chronological notes (although both erroneous) agree: but with them the third cannot be reconciled, since, as has already been said more than once, St. Martin did not obtain the Pontificate before 649. Hence Surius, thinking that this third note alone was erroneous, noted in the margin that perhaps Honorius should be read, who was in fact Pontiff in the year 631. But in our chronology, by which the death of St. Bavo is placed about 654, or in that of others, by which it is attached to the year 653, Martin is to be retained, who was Pontiff until 655; and so Theodoric, erring in the year of the death, marked rightly, but perhaps unknowingly, the Pontiff who presided over the Church of God at the time of the death. Nay, were not the same author convicted of many other errors, his second chronological note here, by which he connects the death of St. Bavo with the empire of Heraclius, could be excused or explained by saying that by Heraclius is to be understood not Heraclius, the successor of the emperor Phocas, but this Heraclius's grandson, the emperor Constans, who held the empire from the year 641 to 668, and was named Heraclius by the old writers Theophanes and Nicephorus. See Pagi in the Critica at the years 630, num. 9, and 641, num. 6.

\ Surius omitted est*.

\ Another reading: is led down*.

\ Perhaps: and for the reverence*.

\ belches forth*.

POSTHUMOUS GLORY.

Bavo, also called Alloynus, confessor, at Ghent in Flanders. (S.)

BHL Number: 1055, 1058, 1060

BY J. P.

§ I. Cult from his very death, and in the 8th century the elevation of the body and its annual festival, the restoration of the monastery of Ghent, the confirmation of its privileges and its naming after St. Bavo; what the Mass of this (saint is).

Cult from his death, by miracles It often happens to us, in elucidating the Acts of the Saints or treating their posthumous glory, that we labour either to find the beginning of the cult, or to designate the places where they are honoured, or to prove the uninterrupted continuation and perseverance of the same cult. Here the documents and testimonies of the ancients make us free of such care and labour, in so great an abundance indeed as it very rarely befalls us to obtain. Certainly no prudent person will doubt that the very epoch of St. Bavo's death is at the same time the epoch of the cult begun. For the faithful had conceived such an opinion of his holiness, confirmed by miracles and prodigies while he was living among the living, such confidence in the grace and favour of him, now dead, with God, that they invoked him before he was yet buried and experienced his present help. It appeared in the possessed woman who, while the office of the funeral was being celebrated, was freed from the demon at the touch of the sacred body, as our older anonymous writer testifies in the Life, num. 29; where he both declares specifically another miracle of the same kind, and affirms in general the continuation down to his own times of many miracles and benefits granted to those invoking his help.

[2] and by the testimonies of St. Livinus We have another, and that a most certain and most splendid, testimony of a notable cult shortly after his death, in the metrical Letter of St. Livinus, bishop and martyr, and in the Epitaph inserted in the same Letter for adorning the tomb of St. Bavo, sent to Florbert, abbot of Ghent, and printed above at num. 140 and following of the Preliminary Commentary. For the same holy martyr, surviving St. Bavo among the living not more than three years, as is the common assertion of the writers, not only calls him in the Letter Great and most holy, but also invokes him in express words as Patron of the church, saying:

*The church which thou didst found, which holds thee, renowned Bavo, Protect, O Saint, by thy merits.*

Hence it may deservedly be suspected that even from that time the Saint began to be honoured by others also as the special Patron of the place, and that the church itself, previously dedicated to the patronage and name of St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, began to be distinguished, by some at least, with the name of St. Bavo. Certainly, in the lapse of time, beyond doubt on account of the present and constant help granted to the wretched who flocked to the tomb from every side, both the church and the monastery itself came to be called by scarcely any other name than that of St. Bavo, as what follows will show.

[3] and of his biographer, is confirmed. St. Livinus's veneration towards St. Bavo, and hence the celebrity of the latter's cult at that time, is greatly commended by Boniface, the biographer of St. Livinus, when he says that Livinus, in the monastery of Ghent, where he found a man of magnificent holiness and illustrious confessor of Christ, Bavo, resting in the Lord by a recent death, buried with fitting honour, and shining with glorious miracles, stayed for thirty days, and at the tomb of St. Bavo offered his prayers and celebrations of Masses to the Lord God. The whole text, with the opinions of others concerning the author's age and state set before it, I gave at num. 147 of the Preliminary Commentary. With Livinus the writers of Belgium join another promoter of the Saint's cult, Eligius, a bishop of the same seventh century very celebrated for holiness. Of him Molanus writes thus in the Natales at the first of October: But also Bishop Eligius not only visited the relics of St. Bavo, but also honourably raised them from the earth on the Kalends of August. Sanderus likewise, book 1 of the Saints of Flanders: And the divine Eligius, bishop of the people of Noyon and Tournai, himself not the least apostle of the Flemings, not only religiously visited the relics of the deceased blessed Bavo, but also judged that they ought by all means to be honourably raised from the earth. So they; but they are far from proving their assertions about St. Eligius as solidly as those about St. Livinus.

[4] The same Sanderus, in book 4 of Rerum Gandensium, chap. 4, setting out the series and deeds of the abbots of the Bavonian monastery The body is said to have been raised by St. Eligius;, places the elevation under Wilfrid, the fourth abbot, as follows: In the year 680 the elevation of the most holy illustrious confessor of Christ Bavo, many signs of miracles having been performed far and wide through him, was magnificently celebrated in the monastery of Ghent by blessed Eligius, bishop of Noyon, and Wilfrid the abbot, on the Kalends of August. He does not cite here, as he does from time to time in other places, his Bavonian Chronicle; yet I think the chronological notes were taken from it, because the same occur in our manuscript, which is inscribed Chronicle of the city, church and Saints of Ghent, and which the author prefaces thus: There follows as it were the contents of the Easter tables of this church of Ghent, and I, Oliver, have diligently corrected the whole with the Chronicles in the year of the Lord 1437. Further, this little Work of Oliver's I have not used so far, because, whatever correction he promised, he gave nothing better than Sanderus's Bavonian Chronicle, whose chronology, faulty from the beginning down to the death of St. Bavo and beyond, he kept, and finally added these words: The elevation of the body of blessed Bavo by St. Eligius, bishop [] of Noyon or Tournai, on the Kalends of August, in the time of Abbot Wilfrid, celebrated in the year 680.* Hence, I say, I think that Sanderus also drew his statements from the Bavonian Chronicle; but I wonder that here at least the manifest error in the chronological notes was not observed by the same Sanderus, since he himself, in the Hagiologium of Flanders, page 53, marked the death of St. Eligius in the year 660, which the learned now generally attach to the year 659, before which accordingly the elevation must have occurred if it is to be ascribed to St. Eligius.

[5] Mabillon, in the notes to the older Life of St. Bavo, passes this chronological error over unnoticed of some against this tradition, and alleges another reason for which he tacitly hints that the elevation of the body recorded by Sanderus is suspect to him, saying: In the Bavonian Chronicle in Sanderus his (St. Bavo's) body is said to have been raised from the earth by St. Eligius: if this is so, it is strange why the writer of this Life either did not know it or omitted it. What Mabillon called strange, Baillet for the same reason pronounced incredible, arguing thus: They will have it that the body of St. Bavo was raised, one or two years after his death, by St. Eligius, bishop of Noyon and Tournai, in whose diocese was the city of Ghent, and that that ceremony was performed on the first day of August. But it is not credible that the author of the Life would have been ignorant of that circumstance, or would have passed it over, if it were sufficiently certain. It is true that the feast of his elevation or translation is celebrated at Ghent on the first day of August; but of that which was made in the year 1010 by Abbot Erembold. It ought indeed to seem strange that the said elevation of the body, which could scarcely or not even scarcely have been hidden from our biographer, was suppressed in silence, if that author had intended to declare specifically and in order each and every thing which he knew to have been done down to his own times. But that this was not his purpose he betrays in more than one place, and indeed in the very beginning of the Work, where concerning the Saint's deeds from his birth to his marriage he relates nothing, explains nothing, although he signifies sufficiently that many things were known to him, when he says in general that the Saint in his youth led a rather licentious life.

[6] the difficulty And at the end of the Work the author seems to have been zealous solely to commit to writing only those things which had been made illustrious by some special prodigy down to the Saint's burial, beyond which he does not proceed; attesting meanwhile that many things had been omitted by him, in those very words from which Mabillon gathered that he lived not long after the death of St. Bavo. If we wished, he says, to follow out all that we have learned of his mighty deeds [], the day, I think, would be ended before the discourse ceased. Let it suffice to have told a few things out of many.* Since, therefore, he does not seem to have wished to weave a complete and ordered history of each and every event, or to extend his narrative beyond the Saint's burial, and since he himself testifies that he omitted many things, I do not think it so much to be wondered at that he related nothing concerning an elevation of the body known to him indeed, but made illustrious by no prodigy. Assuredly, if he had wished to write such a history as I was just saying, and to extend it down to his own times, would it not be strange that he noted nothing of the illustrious epitaph which St. Livinus, bishop and martyr most celebrated in Belgium, composed in verse to adorn the tomb of St. Bavo? To me indeed it is not credible that this was unknown to the biographer; yet that it was omitted by him must be certain even to Baillet himself.

[7] is resolved. What Baillet adds, that the feast is celebrated at Ghent

on the first day of the month of August is not that of the translation or elevation which we are disputing here, but of that which was made in the year 1010, has been asserted more confidently than probably. Certainly in the History of the miracles, of which we gave notice in the Preliminary Commentary, and which Baillet himself, in the critical Table at the 1st of October, asserts without hesitation to have been written by an anonymous author of the tenth century, we are taught that the first day of the month of August was already then consecrated to the memory of St. Bavo. So it is read in book 3, in Mabillon num. 4, in our edition 44: Two nephews quarrelling with each other, having seized arms, the one [] overcame the other; coming to himself, therefore, he was terrified at the parricide [], went to the bishop, and after the manner of Christian remission received penance by pilgrimage. And when he was now completing the ninth year, he sought again the patronage of the Apostles. When he had crossed the Alps, he had recognized the holy Apostles in a vision, by whom he was admonished not to waste the rest of the way in vain labour: Returning, they say, visit the annual memorial of St. Bavo, which is at Medmedung. He rose, believing the vision indeed, but ignorant of the place; he returned to Ghent, made known what had been commanded him. And since he arrived at the very solemnities of the Saint, namely of the Kalends of August, he accompanies the others going thither. I confess the words are not so clear that I should dare to affirm absolutely that the discourse is of the festival which was kept every year at Ghent; since they can also be understood of the festival at Medmedung, whither that man was sent to the annual memorial of St. Bavo; and for that very reason I have copied the whole text.

[8] Mabillon understood it of the festival wont to be celebrated at Ghent The annual festival of the elevation, since he noted in the margin: It is the day of the Translation. I think there was a feast in both places: but that I should believe it was at Ghent is brought about by the author of the History of the translation, or rather of the uncovering, of the relics of St. Bavo, made in the year 1010, who, about to describe the notable deeds of the holy father Bavo done, as he says, in our times, speaks thus: In the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand and ten, King Robert reigning, the marquis Baldwin administering the abbey of St. Peter and St. Bavo, and the lord Erembold also ruling it, in order to remove a certain ill repute, it seemed good to the same father to uncover the pious ashes of St. Bavo; which work he undertook on the very Kalends of August, which are the solemnities of the holy Father. For my part I think these last words are to be so taken that the author indicates that that day was already solemn before, and that it was therefore chosen by the abbot rather than another for uncovering and publicly exhibiting the relics of the Saint, because it was solemn on account of the elevation once performed by St. Eligius, and because on that day there was a greater concourse of peoples coming to the festival from the adjacent places, before whom he might prove the genuineness of the relics.

[9] However that may be, Baillet's argument is too light to overturn the long possession of the people of Ghent he is honoured on 1 August; its history is given, by which they have been accustomed to celebrate the first day of August every year with a solemn Office, primarily in memory of the Elevation instituted by St. Eligius. That Office, in the little book of the Propers of the cathedral of Ghent which we have printed in the year 1572, bears this rubric: On the Elevation of St. Bavo, which is celebrated on the Kalends of August; and it is prescribed to be read as on the day of the Deposition, 1 October, except for the Invitatory, some Antiphons and Responsories, and the lessons of the second and third Nocturns. In the second Nocturn this order is kept, that the first lesson contains only the history of the elevation, instituted by St. Eligius on the often-mentioned day; the second, that of the translation of the year 1010; the third, that of the translation which was made for almost the same cause in 1058 on the 10th of May. Whence you may again conjecture that, just as for the translation of the year 1010 the day of the first elevation, already then wont to be celebrated with an annual feast, was chosen, so to the same day was referred the commemoration of the translation of the year 1058, although it was performed on the 10th of May. The history of this as well as of the other translation we shall exhibit in their places; here we copy what the Office has concerning the elevation.

[10] Fourth Lesson. When St. Bavo had died and been buried according to ecclesiastical custom from the old Office,, God began gradually more and more wonderfully to commend his memory to men by countless miracles worked through him, and to show of how great merit and dignity he was with Him in heaven. Moved by which things, the venerable abbot Wilfrid at length judged that it was by no means fitting that so sacred a body of Bavo should remain longer hidden in the earth and unhonoured. For it is just that those whom God openly declares that He honours and holds in esteem, and whom He declares to be greatly useful and necessary to us for obtaining from Him benefits both eternal and temporal, we mortals too should honour with what honours and praises we can. The matter therefore having been referred to blessed Eligius, bishop of Noyon and Tournai, and he at once hastening to the church of Ghent for this purpose, the honourable elevation of the aforesaid sacred body from the earth was made in the year six hundred eighty, on the Kalends of August, about fifty years after he had departed from life.

[11] yet faulty in its chronological notes; The studious reader will at once notice that the author of this Office adopted the errors which we exposed above in the Chronicles of the affairs of Ghent of Oliver and in the Bavonian one, and moreover added a third error, in setting an interval of about fifty years between the death of St. Bavo and the elevation of his body. But the same reader will at the same time perceive that this last error flowed from the same source from which the others sprang, namely from the rashness of unskilled interpolators, by which, not finding the death and elevation distinguished by certain epochs of time in the ancient documents, they themselves fixed them to definite years, not capable enough to discern that those years could not be reconciled with the other circumstances and with historical and chronological truth. Hence, I say, that error flowed. For when the author of the Office found the Saint's death marked, by what was once a very common anachronism, in the year 631, and the elevation of the body in 680, by a consequent error he set between the two a space of about fifty years, which according to the right chronology could not have been more than about five years; if, namely, the elevation of the body is to be attributed to St. Eligius, who ceased to live in the year 659. I add this condition because, although on the one hand the reasons of Mabillon and Baillet are not sufficient for me to deny the elevation to St. Eligius, on the other I am not furnished with testimonies ancient or solid enough, supported by whose authority I might assert it to him without doubt.

[12] and the commemoration from the sacred At the 1st of August, as we pointed out in the Passed-over Saints of the same day, the memory of St. Bavo is indeed inscribed in various Martyrologies, but neither from this can we draw greater certainty, both because they are not ancient, and because not in all is the same title ascribed; for in some only a translation is spoken of, in others an elevation, in others an elevation and translation together. I bring forward one from each. Among the Additions to the Usuardine Martyrology in Sollerius, the Brussels codex has: At Ghent, the translation of the body of St. Bavo, confessor. The editions of Molanus in the same place: At Ghent, the elevation of St. Bavo, pious confessor. In the Benedictine monastic Martyrology in Wion, book 3 of the Lignum vitae: At Ghent, the elevation and translation of St. Bavo, pious confessor. Here in the Annotations Wion observes: The Elevation was made by St. Eligius the bishop: but the Translation by Abbot Erembold in the year of the Lord 1010. For the rest, if we believe Sanderus, or rather the Bavonian Chronicle, which he most probably used, in that same seventh century St. Bavo obtained a notable cult not only at Ghent but also at Medmedung, a place several times named; he had, I say, a church consecrated to his name.

[13] fasti; his cult in the 8th century. For the aforesaid author, in book 4 of Rerum Gandensium, chap. 4, relates this: In the year 693 the holy Childesa gave to the church of St. Bavo in Megmedonck her properties in Fursitum, in Henninga, and Hamma and d'Anceliaria. That the church of the said place is sacred to St. Bavo even today we shall see below. Further, we have not come upon more things pertaining to the seventh century noted in charters; for the eighth century one testimony only has been left us by Bl. Alcuin, otherwise Flaccus Albinus, abbot in Gaul, whose Acts were illustrated by us at the 19th day of May, and his death fixed in the year 804. And that testimony consists of two hexameter verses, given above in the Preliminary Commentary, num. 138, which he composed, as appears, for the inscription of some altar or Basilica erected to St. Bavo, and which accordingly, whether you regard the author or the matter, declare clearly enough that the cult of the Saint flourished in that century no less than in the preceding.

[14] For knowledge of the affairs of St. Bavo and of the monastery of Ghent in the ninth and tenth centuries, the chief aids are supplied by the anonymous author The monastery of Ghent burned in the year 813 of whom we treated in §1 of the Preliminary Commentary, author of the three books on the Saint's Miracles. But since he neither related everything nor set it out distinctly enough, it has seemed good, before we print his little Work, to run through, in chronological order as far as possible, whatever has been related to our purpose both by him and by others. The said anonymous author, then, in num. XI of his account, says that the church of Ghent, magnificently built and adorned by the liberality of the faithful, to which they were stirred by the frequent miracles of St. Bavo, was destroyed by a pitiable fire, and was raised again with the help of the same faithful. But he neither defines the time, nor names persons, nor declares the circumstances which others have. Sanderus, book 4 of Rerum Gandensium, chap. 3, both designates the year and signifies that the whole monastery together with the church then burned down, most probably from the Chronicle of Ghent. He has it thus: In the year of the Lord 813 the whole monastery of Ghent is destroyed by an accidental fire. Oliver agrees, from his Chronicles: The destruction of this monastery, totally burned by an internal fire in the time of Abbot Briddo, in the year 813. But what neither Oliver nor our anonymous writer noted, Sanderus again gives in the same place, chap. 4, saying: And into the place of him (Abbot Wenebald), who died in the year 809, came Briddo, who died in 816 on the eleventh day before the Kalends of March, after whose death there took place a dispersion of the brethren into England until Eynard was made abbot.

[15] Sanderus then goes on to describe some deeds of the same Eynard, whom others name Einhard and Eginhart Abbot Eginhard restores it and enriches it with relics;, with chronological characters added: Eynard, chaplain of the most pious emperor Louis and before that chancellor of the emperor Charlemagne, becomes in the year 826 abbot of the monastery of Ghent. He at once restored the monastery disfigured by fire, brought the wandering monks back into one, and in the year 828 sent relics of SS. Marcellinus and Peter, which had been brought, to his church of Ghent, on the fifth day before the Nones of July. He also obtained from the emperor Louis the approval of the privileges of the monastery of Ghent which his father Charles had previously granted it, and other new privileges. The same things concerning the beginning of Eginhard's government of the Bavonian abbey, and the relics of SS. Marcellinus and Peter sent thither, are related by Meyer in the Annals

and Chronicles of Flanders. But just as Sanderus does not declare that he found these things in the Bavonian Chronicle, so neither does Meyer indicate whence he took them. Whencesoever they took them, however, the days and the year of the arrival of the relics at the monastery of Ghent are rightly marked: as may be seen in our Work, volume 1 of June, where at the 2nd day of the month treatment is made of SS. Marcellinus the priest, Peter the exorcist, and other holy martyrs, and many things are adduced in praise of Eginhard.

[16] and its privileges Not so accurately marked is the year of the government undertaken by Eginhard, as is clear from the very diploma of Louis the Pious concerning the approval of the privileges cited by Sanderus, which is written as given in the sixth year of our empire, in the 12th Indiction, that is, in the year of Christ 819, in which accordingly Eginhard was already then abbot. That diploma, as it was published by Miraeus in volume 1 of the Opera Diplomatica, page 18 of the second edition, I transfer here.

In the name of the Lord God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Louis, by the ordering of divine providence, emperor augustus. If we bestow fitting benefits on places given over to divine worship for the love of God, and on those serving Him in those same places, we do not doubt that the reward of eternal recompense will be paid back to us with the Lord. Therefore let the diligence of all the faithful of the holy Church of God and of ours, namely present and future, know that the venerable man Einhard, from the monastery which is called Ganda, which is situated in the district of Brabant, built in honour of St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, where also St. Bavo, confessor of Christ, rests in body, brought before our eyes the grant of immunity of our lord and father Charles, of good memory, the most excellent emperor, in which was contained inserted how he, for the love of God and the tranquillity of the brethren living in the same monastery, had always held it under the fullest defence and protection of immunity.

[17] the emperor Louis the Pious renews and confirms For in zeal for its security the aforesaid abbot Einhard asked us that to the paternal grant, for the sake of security, we would also add our grant. To whose petition we gladly gave assent, and decreed that this our grant should be made towards the aforesaid monastery and its rulers for the sake of immunity and protection: by which we command and order that no public judge, or anyone whatever of judicial power, in our times or in future times, shall dare to enter into the churches or places or fields or other possessions of the aforesaid monastery, which at the present time it justly and lawfully possesses in any districts and territories within the dominion of our empire, or which the divine goodness shall hereafter will to be increased for the advantage of that holy place, for hearing causes or exacting fines, or making lodgings or provisions, or taking sureties, or constraining the men of that monastery, both freemen and serfs dwelling on its land, nor requiring any payments or unlawful occasions, or shall presume at all to exact the things which have been mentioned above.

[18] by a diploma of the year 819, which with others But let it be lawful for the aforesaid abbot and his successors to possess in quiet order the properties of the aforesaid monastery, together with all the fines granted, as is contained in the precept of our lord and father, under the defence of our immunity, and faithfully to obey our rule, so that it may delight those servants of God who serve God there continually to implore the mercy of the Lord for us and our wife and offspring, and for the stability of our whole empire, granted to us by God and to be preserved. And that this grant may obtain fuller security in the name of God, and may be more truly and certainly believed and more diligently preserved by the faithful of the holy Church of God and by ours, we have confirmed it below with our own hand and have ordered it to be sealed with the impression of our ring. Given on the Ides of April in the sixth year of our empire, Christ being propitious, in the 12th Indiction. Done at Aachen in the royal palace, in the name of God, happily. Amen. Sign of Louis the most serene emperor.

[19] To the diploma this notice of the editor is subjoined: This diploma of Louis the Pious is preserved at Ghent in the episcopal palace., as also those of the emperors Charles the Bald and likewise Otto II, granted in favour of the monastery of Ghent or of St. Bavo, are preserved entire with their seals even today at Ghent in the episcopal palace; which the most reverend lord Antoine Triest, bishop of Ghent, in his kindness showed and communicated to us. Entire, I say, they are preserved, as never violated by the Normans (a rare thing in the monasteries of Belgium), as he relates. For at the onset of the irruption of the Normans into Belgium, the monks of Ghent, with the relics of the Saints and the diplomas, betook themselves first to Saint-Omer, thence to Laudunum Clavatum, Laon, a city of Picardy, to avoid the storm. In which tract they remained for a hundred years more or less, and, affairs having calmed, returned by right of postliminy to Ghent, to their old monastery. So he, chiefly that the credit and authority of this and other documents may be established. What he adds concerning the irruption of the Normans, the flight of the monks, etc., we shall presently exhibit more fully explained.

[20] Further, in this diploma we notice that the monastery In the same century the monastery was called by the name of St. Bavo., although the body of St. Bavo resting there is recorded as its most precious treasure, comes under the name of St. Peter, the first patron, alone; but in other diplomas of the same 9th century we shall see that it was sometimes distinguished by the title of SS. Peter and Bavo, sometimes even by that of St. Bavo alone. This single title Eginhard uses in several places. In the history of the translation of SS. Marcellinus and Peter, volume 1 of June, page 185: I, he says, was at that time beside the river Scheldt in the monastery of St. Bavo. Again in the same place, page 201: Another little book was offered to me concerning the monastery of St. Bavo: and a little below: The relics of the holy martyrs of Christ Marcellinus and Peter came to the monastery of St. Bavo. The same in a Letter, in Duchesne, volume 2 of the Writers of the Franks, the twelfth in order: Let him (the priest Willibald) receive our dues from our men both at St. Bavo's and in the monastery of Blandinium. Memorable is what Eginhard has in Letter 24: We make known to you that we need wax for our service, and this we cannot recover in these places, because there has been a small yield of honey in these regions for these two years. Therefore we wish that you treat and consider with N. how, if it can be done, you may make us one soumata [] together with our vassals who return to us from those parts after the Mass of St. Bavo.*

[21] Of the word Missa used in this manner Du Cange brings forward several examples from ancient writings in the Glossary What the Mass of St. Bavo once. It is taken generally for the feast of the Saint whose name is added. Hence you will conjecture that the festival of St. Bavo was already then in the 9th century very celebrated; and not only among our Belgians, but also among foreign nations: since men who had most probably journeyed abroad to Ghent for the said festival were ordered on their return to the region where there was a lack of wax to bring from there one soumata, that is, unless I am mistaken, as much wax as one horse could carry. The word Missa is even today very much in use among the Belgians to signify one or another festival of the year. Thus the feast of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ is commonly called Kerstmis, that is, Christ's Mass; the feast of the purified most blessed Virgin Mary is called Lichtmis, that is, the Mass of lights. More appellations of feasts of this kind, as far as I know, the Belgian tongue has not retained. Very common indeed are the words Kermis and Baesmis; but these have now acquired a wider signification. Kermis, or rather Kerckmis, in Latin the Mass of the church, was formerly used to designate the anniversary day of a dedicated church: but now also fairs and more sumptuous feasts, at whatever time of the year they are held, are called Kermis; because, namely, fairs were accustomed to be held especially about the feast of the dedicated church, and the strangers coming thither to be sumptuously received by their friends.

[22] and what it now signifies. Similarly Baefmis, in Latin the Mass of Bavo, whose primary use was to designate the chief feast of St. Bavo, is now employed both by the people of Ghent and by all the Flemings, Brabanters and others generally who use the Belgian idiom, to indicate the beginning of the school year, or the month of October: because in this month, about the feast of St. Bavo, school exercises are resumed after some weeks of holidays or vacation from studies; and this vacation too, by a name distinguished from others, is called Baefmis vacantie, that is, the vacation at the Mass of St. Bavo, or before the feast of St. Bavo. Besides, the use of the word Baefmis is not infrequent when discourse turns on the state of the weather; namely, when in the more pleasant parts of the year the air is stormier than usual, they then say it is Baefmis weder, by which words they understand such weather as there is in the month of October after the feast of St. Bavo. And hence again you may conjecture how celebrated the name of our Saint both once was and now is throughout all Belgium: and how lofty an opinion men conceived of him is taught by a verse which, although I do not know by whom or when it was written, I transfer here from the aforesaid Sanderus and Molanus:

The world will perish before a second Bavo returns.

\ Read: episcopo* (bishop, ablative).

\ Another reading: deeds*.

\ Mabillon: the one* is lacking.

\ Ibid.: fratricide*.

\* Perhaps: the load of one horse.

§ II. The relics are transferred to Saint-Omer and afterwards to Laon by the monks of Ghent fleeing for fear of the Normans: whether these stayed in the monastery of St. Vincent in the suburb of the latter; what the Nigella is in which they dwelt, and whether there were any relics of St. Bavo in it.

In the year 846 the monks with the relics to Saint-Omer The peace and tranquillity which Eginhard had procured by restoring the monastery of Ghent and recalling the monks thither, a new storm disturbed in the same ninth century, namely the imminent irruption of the Normans indicated above from Miraeus. Sanderus, whom I place before other modern writers because he cites the Bavonian Chronicle, treats this matter in book 4 of Rerum Gandensium, chap. 3: In the year 846, he says, Hericus, abbot of Ghent, fearing the incursions of the Normans and Danes, caused the body of St. Bavo with many other relics to be carried to Saint-Omer, as to a safe place, and himself fled thither together with his monks, as to a safer and better fortified place. He relates almost the same things, but expresses the abbot's name otherwise, in chap. 4, saying: Eynkericus succeeded Eynard. He, on account of the incursions of the Normans, transferred the bodies of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis with other relics of the Saints to the fortress of Saint-Omer. He died in 852 on the Ides of July. Here Sanderus refers the reader to Locrius in the Belgian Chronicle, perhaps on account of what he added about St. Pharaildis, whose Acts were illustrated on the 4th of January. But since Locrius himself acknowledges Meyer as his author, we give the latter's words from the Chronicles of Flanders: 846. The bodies of Saints Bavo and Pharaildis, Enkericus, abbot of Ghent, and Frangerus the prefect, for fear of the Normans,

carried them to the fortress of the Shrine of Audomarus, then called Sithiu. Of the place Sithiu and the celebrated abbey of Sithiu, now called St. Bertin's, at Saint-Omer, a city of Artois in Belgium, ample notice was given in volume 2 of September at St. Bertin, and in volume 3 of the same month at St. Audomarus, which consult.

[24] The anonymous author of the Chronicle of the Deeds of the Normans in France, in Duchesne, volume 2 of the Writers, page 525, alleges the cause they flee for fear of the Normans, by whom why the relics both of St. Bavo and of the other Saints, whom he enumerates together, were carried to that place rather than to another: In the year of the Lord 846, he says, the pirates of the Danes, going to Frisia, laid waste the provinces and churches, and slew the people in them. Hearing which, the bishops and abbots of Flanders and of the neighbouring cities came with the relics of their Saints to St. Audomarus, because its enclosure had by divine providence been fortified with a strong wall and towers. These are the Saints who on account of that persecution came to the same fortress: Saints Bavo, Wandregisilus, Ausbertus, Vulfrannus, Wasuulphus, Piatus, Bainus, Winnocus, Austreberta virgin; and some of them remained there forty years. In the same year the Northmen, going to Frisia, having received tribute at their pleasure, and having also been made victors by fighting, take possession of the province. These things, which are read almost the same in the Histories of the Normans published by the same Duchesne, page 2, altogether confirm what we have just recited from Sanderus and Meyer, and at the same time declare what our anonymous author of the Miracles of St. Bavo relates of this first translation, with the notice of the place suppressed, in num. 12, in the following words: The inhabitants of this place (the monastery of Ghent), fearing the irruption of so calamitous a devastation, deposited the renowned limbs of the most holy Father (Bavo) to be kept in a safe place. But the author of the Norman Chronicle erred when he joined to St. Bavo and the others SS. Wandregisilus and Ansbertus, whose bodies were not translated in this year, nor from Fontenelle to Saint-Omer, as was shown at the 22nd day of July, §4 of the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Wandregisilus.

[25] What the monks of Ghent had feared happened not many years after a little later the monastery was destroyed,: For in the year 851 the Normans and Danes with barbaric cruelty laid waste Ghent, with the monasteries of Ghent, of Blandinium and of Tronchiennes, with sword and fire: as Sanderus relates, and with him Meyer and Locrius, and various older chroniclers testify. One of these, as a continuator of Bede, is cited and copied by the anonymous author just mentioned, who collected the Miracles of St. Bavo in the 10th century, and whom we too copy: In the Chronicle after Bede it is written in this manner: "In the year from the Incarnation of our Lord eight hundred fifty-one the pirates of the Danes with two hundred forty-two ships ravage Frisia and the Batavians. And raging even as far as the monastery of St. Peter and St. Bavo, which is called Gandavum, they set fire to the same monastery. And coming to the city of Rouen, they arrive on foot as far as Beauvais." The Bertinian annalist agrees at the same year, in Duchesne, volume 3 of the Writers, page 205: The pirates of the Danes ravage Frisia and the Batavians. And raging even as far as the monastery of St. Bavo, which is called Gant, they set fire to the same monastery. And coming, etc., as above. Nor does the chronicler of the Deeds of the Normans disagree, in the same, volume 2, page 525, except that here the year 850 is marked, most probably by an error of the copyist: In the year of the Lord 850 the Northmen ravage Frisia and the Batavians, and coming into the town of Gandavum set fire to the monastery of St. Bavo. Then Rouen, etc.

[26] in the year 853 from Saint-Omer to Laon, Tasradus, by others Tafridus, so Sanderus proceeds in chap. 4, succeeded Eynkericus (the abbot who died in the year 852 at Saint-Omer, as follows from what has been set down). He in the year 853 with his monks and the bodies of the Saints and relics fled from the Fortress of St. Audomarus, through terror of the Normans, to Laudunum Clavatum, a city of Gaul; perceiving that he with his own would not be safe even at Saint-Omer: and at length in the year 867 he died at Laon on the twelfth day before the Kalends of April, and was buried at Nigella in the same place. Meyer and Locrius again agree. The words of the former will suffice: Tasradus, abbot of Ghent, transferred the bodies of the divine Bavo and Pharaildis from the fortress of the divine Audomarus, through terror of the Normans, to Laon. These things also rest on the testimony of the often-mentioned writer of the Miracles of St. Bavo, so far, namely, as they concern the relics transferred to Laon: for as to the rest, although he signifies that the sacred relics were first deposited in a safe place for fear of the Normans, as we showed above, yet he does not name the place; nay, he so arranges his narrative as if the relics had been carried straight from Ghent to Laon. Let us now hear his text: Then also, fearing the madness of the Danes, who were preparing to come upon them, they transferred the relics of the Saint of God himself, with others of very many Saints, to the most renowned [] royal mount of Laon, to be kept there. The treasure also, with the various ornament of the holy place, they carried away with them, going into hiding: some also remained behind to guard the venerable place.* The last words designate clearly enough the monastery of Ghent, where, if some monks remained behind, this was done not then first, when the sacred remains were carried to Laon, but when they were carried to Saint-Omer before the devastation of the monastery.

[27] in whose suburban monastery of St. Vincent Further, Laudunum, commonly Laon, is a fortified city of Gaul in the province of the Isle of France and on the border of Picardy, of which it was formerly a part; situated on a lofty mountain, which is here called royal, because kings at one time fixed their seat there. The place where the sacred relics were then deposited, and where the monks remained, neither the writer of the Miracles defines, nor Sanderus, or the Bavonian chronicler, marks clearly enough. Mabillon, however, in volume 3 of the Annals, page 12, places it outside the city, writing thus: The monastery of St. Bavo at Ghent having been burned, as was set forth above, the monks betake themselves to Laon, which the ancients call Lugdunum Clavatum, with the body of St. Bavo and the sacred furniture, to the suburban monastery of St. Vincent, otherwise called St. Christopher's, where, having been lodged for a long time, they returned by right of postliminy to their own only in the following century. In the same work, page 446, at the year 939, about to narrate the return of the monks of St. Bavo with their sacred treasure to the monastery of Ghent, he prefaces thus: The monastery of St. Bavo at Ghent having been overthrown eighty years before, a great desolation came upon that place, briars and thorns sprang up there: the monks, exiled, wandering with the relics of the Saints, first indeed stayed at Laon at St. Vincent's for almost thirty years; then, canons having been established there by Bishop Dido, they betook themselves to Nigella in the district of Brie (for the Nigella of Picardy was not yet founded), where Radulf their abbot was buried, who however had died at Laon in the year eight hundred eighty-two. After him Elias was elected, buried at St. Vincent's.

[28] That what this author says of canons established in the Vincentian monastery by Bishop Dido is true that they stayed, is proved from the Charter of Dido, published by Mabillon himself in book 6 De Re diplomatica, page 553, and written, as is noted at the end, in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 886: but here there is no word of the monks of Ghent. The same Mabillon, in the Annals at the year 886, having recited some words of the Charter from which it is established that canons were introduced into the monastery of St. Vincent in the said year, at once adds: Nevertheless the monks of the monastery of St. Bavo of Ghent continued in the same church of St. Vincent, as is clear from what we said above of Radulf their abbot, elected there, whose successor Helias was likewise afterwards elected in that place. The place where he indicates that he treated before the year 886 of Radulf or his election I have sought with great labour and diligence, and have not found it. Hence it comes about that I do not follow his meaning, nor can I reconcile this text with what he afterwards wrote at the year 939, which I recited in the first place. For here, at the year 886, he says that the people of Ghent, canons having been introduced at St. Vincent's, nevertheless continued there, therefore up to and beyond the year 886. But afterwards Mabillon writes at the year 939 that the people of Ghent, monks having been established at St. Vincent's, betook themselves to Nigella, and that here indeed Radulf was buried, who had died at Laon in the year eight hundred eighty-two, namely four years before the canons were established at St. Vincent's.

[29] Moreover Radulf, as it is in Sanderus, was substituted as abbot for Tasradus, who ceased to live in the year 867 Mabillon writes,. And what am I to believe Mabillon brought forward, when he treated of Radulf or his election, from which it might be clear that the people of Ghent continued in the monastery of St. Vincent up to or beyond the year 886; especially since I clearly draw out from Sanderus that the same people of Ghent were living in the monastery of Nigella already before the year 882, nor do I detect in the same Sanderus any word by which I may be made certain that the monks of Ghent ever stayed in the Vincentian monastery? In one place only does mention of this monastery recur in Sanderus, in these words: Abbot Elias, elected by the brethren (of Ghent) after him (Radulf), died in 895 on the fourth day before the Ides of December, buried at Laon in the church of St. Vincent. But who would conclude from this that Elias and his predecessors dwelt with their monks in the monastery of St. Vincent, when the things which precede in the same place suggest the opposite, as we have shown?

[30] but the Chronicle of Laon, which he himself cites, and which others seem Mabillon, in the fifth Benedictine Century, in the Preliminary Observations to the Life of St. Gerard, abbot of Brogne, page 250, brings forward a passage from the manuscript Chronicle of St. Vincent of Laon, which, considered by itself, favours rather the stay of the people of Ghent in the aforesaid monastery. It is this: In the year of the Lord 895 Elias, the 19th abbot of the monastery of St. Bavo of Ghent, died at Laon in the monastery now called St. Vincent's, on the fourth day before the Ides of December, and is buried there with the mourning of the monks. But the monks, deprived of their pastor, and in great misery, as being set among strangers, held no election; but, wandering through divers places, were miserably dispersed for many courses of years, until the time of Abbot Gerard, a man venerable in race and holiness, who was ordained abbot of the aforesaid monastery of St. Bavo by Transmar, bishop of Noyon or Tournai, and Arnulf the Great, count of Flanders, in the year 937. By the former words, which chiefly concern this point, it is indicated that Elias was not only buried in the monastery of St. Vincent, as it is in Sanderus, but died and was buried in the same place with the mourning of the monks, certainly of his own people of Ghent staying there. But at what time and by whom the aforesaid Chronicle was composed, and accordingly of what authority it is, Mabillon passes over in silence.

[31] others did not know or neglected, To this, Luc d'Achery, Mabillon's colleague, in the Notes and Observations on the Works of Guibert, abbot of St. Mary of Nogent, page 648, gives a Summary of the History of the monastery and abbots of St. Vincent of Laon, collected from old

papers by Émilien de la Bigne, priest of his Order; but nowhere does he mention the same Chronicle. First he supplies this notice of the place: The monastery of St. Vincent as it were sits upon Laudunum Clavatum. Distant from the same city by about one milestone, it is situated on a mountain, between which and the city itself (likewise set on a mountain) a valley lies. Then: It was founded, he says, as is conjectured, by Bruna, daughter of Clovis I, king of the Franks… For so wrapped in darkness are the beginnings of that monastery, so deep the silence among historians, and so great the dearth of old monuments, that it can scarcely rest on conjectures. Then, having interposed a few things about Bruna, who was perhaps Brunhild, wife of Sigebert I, he adds in general: After the foundation and the establishment of monks, the abbey of St. Vincent was shaken by various disasters: and clerics also inhabited it at divers times, and at length in the year of salvation 947 Roricius … bishop of Laon … substituted monks … and set Mecalmus over them as abbot. From this Mecalmus or Melchalmus d'Achery, after Émilien de la Bigne, sets out the series of abbots, recording nothing of his predecessors; and the brothers Sainte-Marthe followed him in the Gallia Christiana. The writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, volume 9, did the same, where, lamenting that on account of the ruins of the overthrown old monastery nothing certain and definite can be brought forward concerning its first superiors for three or four centuries, they name indeed one or two whom John of Guise set down as abbots in his general Collectarium; but at the same time they indicate that this writer, of the fourteenth century only, and not very accurate, could learn or hand down with certainty little or nothing of things so remote from his age; that he asserted, but did not prove by documents.

[32] Let us return now to the manuscript Chronicle of St. Vincent of Laon cited by Mabillon does not have sufficient. Its author notes so expressly the death, year, day and burial in the said monastery of Elias, the stranger abbot, that it is not likely he drew the beginning of his Work from this point: he certainly set before it other older things about that monastery. Further, what shall I say is the cause why de la Bigne, d'Achery and the others cited did not even name that Chronicle, when they were treating the affairs of the same monastery and complaining of the dearth of documents? Nay, if the Chronicle was begun from the death of Elias, why did they not at least indicate this very thing? We are compelled to suspect that the author of the Chronicle was found neither ancient enough nor accurate enough for his assertions, destitute of old testimonies, to command credit; such a one, namely, as the writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana judged John of Guise to be. We suspect, I say, that the Chronicle was put together by a man of later centuries, who, in favour of his monastery, scraped together from the writings of outsiders whatever things in whatever manner pertained to it, and enlarged or explained them at his pleasure. Thence it came about that what is related in the Bavonian Chronicle concerning the burial of Elias was so explained in that of Laon as to be understood also of a death undergone in the Vincentian monastery, and a burial performed by the monks of Ghent dwelling there.

[33] But this explanation too is opposed to Mabillon's opinion in the Benedictine Annals at the year 939 authority to command credit., where he says that the monks of Ghent, their monastery of Ghent being overthrown, exiled and wandering with the relics of the Saints, first stayed at Laon at St. Vincent's for almost thirty years; then, canons having been established there by Bishop Dido (in the year 886), betook themselves to the monastery of Nigella in the district of Brie. For if, soon after their monastery was overthrown in the year 851, as Mabillon likewise hints at the said year, the people of Ghent betook themselves to Laon to St. Vincent's, they would have stayed there not merely almost thirty but more than forty years, since they left there only in the year 895, as the words of the Chronicle of Laon require. Wherefore, since the dwelling of the monks of Ghent in the monastery of St. Vincent rests on such weak foundations; since, at least in the places I have been able to find, its chief assertor Mabillon is so little consistent with himself, for my part, until better things are brought forward, I shall hold it as not sufficiently proved, and shall follow the order of events which Sanderus's Chronicle gives, adding brief observations for the sake of elucidation.

[34] In the year 853 Abbot Tasradus fled with the monks and the relics from Saint-Omer to Laon The Nigella in which the monks dwelt is better placed, than in Picardy,; where in the year 867 he died, when already the monks with the relics were inhabiting the monastery of Nigella. This I draw out first from the fact that Tasradus was buried at Nigella. Secondly, and more clearly, from the fact that Radulf, the successor of Tasradus, is said in the same Sanderus to have been elected by the brethren living in the monastery of Nigella. The words which I subjoin admit no doubt: Radulf succeeded Tasradus, elected abbot by the brethren of the monastery of Ghent, because the said brethren were living in the aforesaid Nigella by reason of the dispersion. He died in 882 at Laon, and was buried in the monastery of Nigella on the sixth day before the Ides of August. But where is the place of Nigella, already several times named, situated? Only one of that name do Valesius in the Notitia Galliarum and Baudrand in the Geography set down, the latter describing it thus: Nigella, Nesle, a town of Gaul in the province of Picardy, on the river Ingon, is distant 2 leagues west of Ham, and is almost midway between Noyon to the south and Péronne to the north. This Mabillon in the Notes on book 1 of the Miracles, and Pagi in the Critica at the year 851, thought was designated in Sanderus's Work.

[35] it is placed in Brie, The Sainte-Marthe brothers, in volume 4 of the Gallia Christiana, among the abbeys of Gaul, designate another in these words: Nigella Abscondita (commonly Nesle-la-Reposte), of the Order of St. Benedict, diocese of Troyes, in Brie, not far from Villenauxe. Of the same place or abbey Nicolas Desguerrois treats in the Work entitled The Christian Holiness of the diocese and city of Troyes, at the year 514, about which that abbey, the most ancient of the whole diocese, is believed to have been built. He testifies that he visited the place in the year 1632, and that whatever he writes he either saw with his eyes or heard from the monks. And soon he declares that that abbey is surnamed hidden because it is so hidden in the valley between two mountains that on account of the trees and the depth of the place it is not seen except in the descent, although it has a huge tower. For this place, as indicated in Sanderus, Mabillon stands in the Annals; who, to change his opinion, does not seem to have had any other reason (certainly he alleged no other) than that in Sanderus Nigella is called a monastery, and the Nigella of Picardy was not yet founded when these things were done.

[36] where some relics of the Saint are believed to be, Mabillon's second opinion is to me too the more probable, both for the reason alleged, and because the place, on account of its situation, was most apt for the body of St. Bavo to lie hidden safely there with the rest of the treasure, which the monks of Ghent chiefly intended. There is added (and this may seem the strongest argument) that in the monastery of Nesle-la-Reposte, in the year 1624 on the 27th day of the month of May, an inspection of the relics was made, the Acts of which, drawn up in Latin and signed by the Provost of the monastery, the aforesaid Desguerrois testifies that he had before his eyes while he wrote. And from those Acts he lists the relics in French, and among them: Des os de S. Babon (ou Bavon), which words in Latin mean: bones, or some of the bones, of St. Babo (or Bavo); and which do not seem to be understood of any other than our Saint. Nor does it stand in the way that, as will be proved afterwards, the monks brought the sacred body back entire from Gaul to Ghent about the year 939, and that the seals themselves, fixed on the case by an ancient hand, were found most entire, as the writer of the Miracles of St. Bavo testifies: for those bones, after the body had been brought back to Ghent, could have been sent to Nesle-la-Reposte, whether because the monks of the place asked it, or because the people of Ghent did it of their own accord in thanksgiving for so long a hospitality: since, according to what is related in Sanderus at the year 939, the sacred relics, from the time they were carried away from Laon, were deposited in no other place than in the monastery of Nigella, until they were brought back to Ghent. The words in Sanderus run thus: In the year 939 St. Bavo, with other pledges and relics of the Saints, translated from Laon to the monastery of Nigella, is carried back … to the citadel of his town.

[37] and with more than one reason for doubting And these are the things which make Mabillon's second opinion far more probable. Nevertheless, to dissemble nothing, there is more than one reason which keeps me from laying aside all doubt of its truth; which keeps me, I say, from not doubting whether the sacred relics, after they had been deposited at Laon, were ever carried anywhere else than to Ghent. The first reason is that the writer of the Miracles makes no mention of Nigella or of the monastery of Nigella. The second reason is that Meyer in the Chronicles, the author of the Office of Ghent in the proper Lessons, Miraeus in the Belgian Fasti, and Sanderus himself in the Saints of Flanders clearly affirm that the body of St. Bavo was brought back from Laon to Ghent, and keep deep silence about Nigella. Let Meyer be heard: 940. Arnulf (count of Flanders), with Gerard Cellensis, abbot of Ghent, brought back the bodies of the divine Bavo and Pharaildis from Laon to Ghent. The third reason, finally, is that in Sanderus's Rerum Gandensium, from which, unless I am mistaken, Mabillon as well as Pagi took the whole foundation of his opinion, discourse recurs of Nigella in three places indeed; but only in the one later place as distinct or remote from the city of Laon. In the former place Nigella is so mentioned that you at once understand it to be part of the city of Laon: He (Abbot Tasradus) died at Laon on the twelfth day before the Kalends of April, buried at Nigella in the same place (is it not at Laon?). To the same sense is brought back the second place, where Radulf, elected after Tasradus by the brethren of Ghent living in the aforesaid Nigella, is said to have died at Laon and been buried in the monastery of Nigella.

[38] All these things considered, what forbids us to doubt whether the third place is not corrupted the adduced, of the monks of Ghent,, and from Laon (de Lauduno) set for to Laon (Laudunum), so that the sense was: In the year 939 St. Bavo, … translated to Laon to the monastery of Nigella, is carried back to Ghent? Surely no one will say that Sanderus's Bavonian Chronicle is not liable to similar mistakes. Moreover, if by Nigella in Sanderus is denoted Nesle-la-Reposte in the district of Brie, which is distant from Laon about twenty-five French miles, we do not easily find a cause why, while the monks of Ghent were living there, the abbots Tasradus, Radulf and Elias stayed behind at Laon, where all are related to have died. I find, I confess, no trace even at Laon of a place which had the name Nigella or de Nigella: but eight whole centuries and more are surely enough for the memory both of the name and of the place to have perished. As regards the relics which, on the testimony of Nicolas Desguerrois, are believed to be preserved in the treasury of Nesle-la-Reposte, they indeed the strongest argument

could seem to be for Mabillon against Pagi; but as long as it remains uncertain whether the body of our Saint, after it came to Laon, was translated anywhere else than to Ghent, it may be believed that the said relics were granted to that monastery for another cause; nay, it may be doubted whether they are relics of St. Bavo. For since the inspection of the relics of the said monastery was made only in the year 1624, and Desguerrois asserts that the names attached to the relics of many Saints, men and women, were omitted in the Acts of the visitation because on account of age and the injury of the times they could not be read, it would not be strange if that name too had been worn away at least in part, and from the remaining letters, by conjecture aided by some sort of tradition of the body of St. Bavo having once been kept there, St. Babo or Bavo had been made where St. Babolenus was to be read, who was abbot of Saint-Maur near Paris, or St. Bovinus, who was bishop of Troyes, or a name akin to it of another Saint, whose relics they really were. Now let us follow up the series of events, interrupted for a little.

[39] Radulf died, according to what was said before, in the year 882; and Abbot Elias, so again in Sanderus, elected by the brethren after him, died in 895 on the fourth day before the Ides of December, buried at Laon in the church of St. Vincent the dispersion increased, of living. After whose death there was a great dispersion of the monks, which lasted more than 40 years. The reason why Elias was not buried at Nigella or in the monastery of Nigella, as his predecessors Tasradus and Radulf were, I suspect was no other than that the canons introduced into the monastery of St. Vincent by Dido, bishop of Laon, in the year 886, the fourth after Radulf's death, demanded it by the ancient right of their church. For there was annexed to that church of old the right that the bishops, canons, clerics, and also noble laymen of Laon should be buried there, as is clear from the Charters of the 10th century of Roricus, bishop of Laon, and of Lothair, king of the Franks, in d'Achery, in the Notes and Observations on the Works of Abbot Guibert, page 649. And that after the death of Elias the dispersion of the monks was great, or greater than it had been before, until the end of the exile, I should think proceeded from the straitness of circumstances by which in the course of time they were pressed in the monastery of Nigella (this the reader will place according to his judgement either in the district of Brie or in the city of Laon), and on account of which some were lodged in neighbouring monasteries, so that, united in mind and vow with those remaining at Nigella, they always constituted one flock: for otherwise, as far as was permitted, they always lived together and in common.

[40] the reason is set forth. The latter is expressly asserted in the compendious narrative of the exile, which, joined to the words just cited from Sanderus, I transfer here: For at that time, from the day of the coming of the Normans, there was so great a calamity in Flanders that the monks of St. Bavo were compelled to be in exile for almost a whole hundred years, and to wander through divers cities and regions (namely from Flanders to Saint-Omer in Artois; from Saint-Omer to Laon in Picardy, now in the Isle of France; and hence perhaps to the abbey of Nigella in Brie, in the tract of Champagne), yet always carrying about with them most diligently and most religiously the body of St. Bavo and of the other Saints, as a treasure by far the most precious of all, they consoled themselves in such great miseries by confidence in their presence: and although they were compelled to wander uncertainly hither and thither, yet they always lived together and in common, as far as was permitted, and humbly kept themselves under the obedience of one head; and as soon as an abbot had departed from among men, they at once elected another in his place, the exile notwithstanding. Yet no abbot after Elias is known to us until St. Gerard Cellensis, of whom presently in the following §, where we shall see at the same time what was meanwhile the state of affairs at Ghent.

\ &* is redundant.

§ III. The most wretched state of the Bavonian monastery while the Normans were bursting into Flanders, and long after their departure: in what year it was restored, and the monks exiled in Gaul returned to Ghent with the relics of St. Bavo; the double translation of particles of these and of those of St. Pharaildis granted to Count Arnulf. The reformation of the monastery of Ghent, and its possession attributed to the Order of St. Benedict. Goods taken from the monks, when and by whose efforts they were restored to them.

The possessions of the monks of St. Bavo After the monastery of St. Bavo at Ghent was burned in the year 851, nothing bearing on it occurs among the ancients until 864, in which Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, confirmed by diploma the estates formerly conferred on it. From this monument, preserved for us to this day and made public by Miraeus in volume 1 of the Diplomas, page 26, we perceive the care both of the same King Charles and of Reinhelm, by others Raginelm and Rainelm, bishop of Tournai and Noyon, that the goods of the monastery, as far as could be done amid so many disturbances, should remain unimpaired. For the king had already before set over the monastery as ruler Count Adelm, otherwise unknown to us indeed, but probably sufficiently powerful, pious and just, to defend its goods against unjust invaders and preserve them for St. Bavo and the monks who were to return from exile. And the bishop, together with the aforesaid count, brought it about with the king that he granted the present diploma. In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Charles, by the grace of God king. If we bestow fitting benefits on places given over to divine worship for the love of God, and on those serving Him in those same places, we do not doubt that the reward of eternal recompense will be paid back to us with the Lord.

[42] Charles the Bald confirms by diploma, Therefore let the industry of all the faithful of the holy Church of God and of ours, namely present and future, know that the venerable man Reinhelm, prelate of the churches of Noyon or Tournai, bearing the care of his ministry, and also our most dear faithful Count Adelm, who by our grant is also ruler of the monastery of St. Peter and St. Bavo which is called Gand, situated on the river Scheldt, approaching our magnificence with equal devotion, made known that the canons of that monastery had formerly had precepts of confirmation from our lord and father Louis, the glorious emperor, and from our other predecessors the kings, concerning the villages assigned to their uses, but that by the excessive harassment of the pagans, and our sins hindering, the same had perished and been burned with fire. Whence, humbly entreating our serenity, they asked that by our kindness the same precept of confirmation should be renewed and restored to the aforesaid holy brethren, by which, irrefragably and with no one hindering, they might henceforth be able more freely to use the villages and properties of that abbey, namely those assigned to their uses from ancient times. Here are subjoined the names of the villages or estates, then the formulas by which their possession is confirmed to the monastery, and which may be read in the cited Miraeus; further, the whole diploma or precept closes thus: And that this grant of our renewal and confirmation may obtain greater vigour in the name of God through the times to come, we have confirmed it under this charter with our own hand, and have ordered it to be sealed with the impression of our ring. Sign of Charles the most glorious king. Given on the fifth day before the Ides of October, in the 12th Indiction, in the 25th year of the reign of Charles the most glorious king. Done at the villa of Pettingehem, in the name of God, happily. Amen.

[43] in which two things worth noting Pettingehem, now Peteghem, is a village of this name, double in Flanders: one distant about three miles from Ghent towards Courtrai; the other situated near Oudenaarde on the river Scheldt. This second is said to be designated in the diploma in the Notes in Miraeus, which is also the opinion of Meyer in the Annals of Flanders at the year 865, where he says it is to be noted that it was anciently a house of kings and princes. Sanderus, in volume 2 of Flandria illustrata, page 589, treating of the same place, says: Peteghem, at the first milestone from Oudenaarde, although it is mentioned here in the last place, yet seems to surpass the other villages in nobility and primacy, if only for this, that it is declared by more than one author to have been an ancient dwelling of kings. Another thing worth observing in the diploma is at the word canons, to which these words are subjoined in Miraeus: Note that canons, not monks, resided in the monastery of St. Bavo in the year 864. The writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, volume 5, col. 177, do not deny this; but at once observe: Perhaps, however, by the word CANONS monks are to be understood, as we have shown above that by the word CLERICS they are to be understood; or else Count Adelm, having obtained the headship while the monks were wandering with their abbot, employed canons for a time to preserve divine worship.

[44] the things occurring are discussed. I confess, if none of those monks who, while the abbot and the other brethren fled into Gaul, remained at Ghent to guard the venerable place, as we saw above, survived among the living in the year 864, or if even they had fled into Gaul before, it is altogether likely that secular priests were employed there by Adelm for a time to preserve divine worship. But it is not likely to me that these priests were understood in the diploma by the word canons. For those who are called canons in the diploma are said to have formerly had from Louis the Pious and the preceding kings precepts of confirmation of the goods belonging to the monastery, which suits less well priests who had only lately begun to be employed there. Wherefore I plainly think that monks are to be understood, such as they certainly were in the times of Louis the Pious and the preceding kings, and that they were called in the diploma first canons, then once and again holy brethren, because according to the Canons, that is, according to the rules of their institute, they lived together religiously and fraternally, even then exiled in Gaul, or also at Ghent, if some of those who had remained behind were surviving. But neither to these, whether monks or secular priests staying at Ghent to preserve divine worship, was there peace or quiet from the Normans.

[45] For these, as the writer of the Miracles of St. Bavo relates The monastery of Ghent, of which, while the Normans raged,, having laid waste the city of the Morini and all the land of the Menapii, enter the river Scheldt, and destroy all the land of the Brabanters with fire and sword, and, gaping for burnings and devastations and thirsting for human blood, to the destruction and perdition of the kingdom, in the month of November they fix their seat for wintering in the monastery of Gandavum, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord eight hundred eighty. Then too they lay waste the city of Tournai and all the monasteries on the Scheldt with sword and fire, and after much slaughter of the human race return to Ghent. All these things almost word for word, and more about the cruelty of the Normans, are read also in the Chronicle of their deeds at the years 880 and 881 in Duchesne, volume 2 of the Writers of the History of the Franks. That frequent incursion and return of the barbarians who laid everything waste was the cause that the restoration of the monastery became more difficult and was longer delayed; since those goods and estates which belonged to it, and which, as may be gathered from the diploma of Charles the Bald, had escaped their first fury, afterwards beyond doubt underwent the same fate as the monastery itself had before, and in the course of time the whole surrounding region. And so were taken away the chief

aids for restoring the monastery which remained.

[46] Nor was the restoration made easier after the departure of the barbarians and after their departure; for when these were gone, the more powerful inhabitants of the region themselves invaded and usurped the estates, lands and possessions of the monastery, as it seemed convenient to each. This is testified by Othelbold, abbot of St. Bavo's, in the Letter written to Otgiva, countess of Flanders, in the year 1030, that is, less than a full century after the monastery was restored. In the first part of the Letter he lists the bodies and relics of the Saints with which the monastery was then adorned; in the other he enumerates the goods which it then possessed and had formerly possessed: and this part he begins thus: Now, our most sweet lady, since satisfaction has been given you concerning the bodies and relics of the Saints, let your piety, if it please, consider what and how great this place once was, and to what want it has now fallen; and yet it is the head of the region, holding the primacy over the other cities, and called by the ancients the fortress of Gandavum, where the holy bishop Amand, after the conversion of the heathen, built a temple to the Lord in honour of blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, with very great relics placed in it, and, establishing a band of monks there, most fittingly strengthened it with Apostolic privileges and the precepts of kings: where also the illustrious father Bavo, most approvedly perfected in the perfection of all virtues, as we have touched on before, was sublimely exalted by almighty God.

[47] And when by his merits and the signs of his virtues the same place was daily enlarged and grew by the offerings of the faithful the restoration had long been most difficult,, after very many courses of years, the sins of Christians requiring it, the Northmen come to the place itself, lay it waste, burn it and plunder everything; only the bodies of the Saints having escaped in flight, with the greatest labours of the faithful, to the royal mount of Laon. And while they (the monks of Ghent) stayed there a long time for fear of those Danes, since they had occupied everything, their inheritance was turned to strangers, and those of the household and outsiders plundered it. But also the great-grandfather of our lord (Count Baldwin), Arnulf the Great, taking away very large parts from it, distributed them to his Followers, according as each part was adjacent to each of them. Hence Othelbold proceeds to the enumeration of the goods which had once been thus taken from the monastery, and some of which had not yet been restored in his time, and then implores the countess's patronage. These things can be read in Miraeus, volume 1 of the Diplomas, where the whole Letter of Othelbold is printed, page 348 and following. The last words teach us abundantly in what wretched state the goods of the monastery were at the time of which we treat here, and how difficult accordingly was its restoration.

[48] at length, at the urging of Bishop Transmar, The thing was at last attempted and happily completed, chiefly at the initiative or urging of Transmar, bishop of Noyon and Tournai, to whom the church of Ghent was subject, and who — they are the words of the writer of the Miracles of St. Bavo — since he was a cultivator of holy places and a most eager instructor of the Christian religion, grieved from his inmost heart that the venerable place (the monastery of Ghent), which was of his diocese, had been stripped of the authority of its former vigour, and resolved that it should by all means be restored. The beginning of Transmar's episcopate is indicated by Flodoard in the Chronicle: In the year 937 … Walbert … bishop of Noyon having died, Transmar, provost of the monastery of St. Vaast, succeeded. The epoch is confirmed by two diplomas: one of Louis d'Outremer, king of the Franks, in Mabillon De Re Diplomatica, book 6, page 568, in which Walbert appears as still living in the year 936; the other of Arnulf the Great, count of Flanders, published by Miraeus in volume 1 of the Opera Diplomatica, second edition, page 39, and dated in the year 937, in which Arnulf asserts that he restores or gives various estates to the monastery of Blandinium, having taken counsel with Bishop Transmar.

[49] and by Count Arnulf, To the same year 937 Sanderus, or the Bavonian Chronicler, Oliver in the manuscript Chronicle of Ghent, and Meyer both in the Chronicles and in the Annals of Flanders refer the beginnings of the restoration of the monastery of Ghent; whence, and at the same time from the diploma of Arnulf, you may gather that to Transmar, as soon as he was made bishop, nothing was more at heart than that the sacred places should be restored to their former dignity and splendour. And that he should care above others for the restoration of this monastery was most probably stirred by the desire of receiving by this way into his diocese the body of St. Bavo and the remains of other Saints, which had now lain hidden in Gaul for almost a whole century. It was indeed a work most difficult to begin, for, on the testimony of the writer of the Miracles, as the whole surrounding district, so also the site of the monastery of Ghent, emptied of its cultivators, seemed more like a desert … the very remains of the walls, which had survived the burning, were covered with thistles growing up and dense briars … and the long desolation needed very great supplement. Hence the prelate first had recourse to the above-mentioned Count Arnulf. He sent word, says the same writer, by letter, as we find in his writings, on this business to the marquis Arnulf, to whom the same place belonged by royal benefice, that he wished to raise a ladder by which both might be able to ascend to heaven with light flight. What more? By these letters and frequent exhortations in conference he bent the goodwill of the marquis to what he wished, and the same place began to be restored to its former state both by the help of the two of them and by the collaboration of other faithful.

[50] Count Arnulf is here called marquis by our writer in the sense in which, when already dead, he is called by King Lothair in a diploma of the year 967, in Miraeus page 46, the venerable count Arnulf and others labouring at it,, namely our kinsman and most noble marquis of our kingdom. Further, among those who are recorded to have contributed their efforts with Arnulf and Transmar to the restoration of the monastery must beyond doubt be counted the old man who, as the same writer of ours relates, being sick unto death in the island of Britain, was admonished in a vision to set out for Ghent, and, soon healed, betook himself thither, and as long as he survived was a devoted restorer. But that St. Gerard Cellensis also had not the least part in the said restoration we shall be taught in what follows; yet we shall not run on in his praises here further than is necessary, since his Acts will come to be illustrated in this very month at the 3rd day.

[51] Let us hear now what the Belgian writers cited above relate concerning the restoration in the year 937. In Sanderus, book 4, chap. 3, we have these words: In the year 937 Arnulf the Great, count of Flanders, at the urging of the venerable man Transmar, bishop of Noyon, restored the monastery of Ghent, then demolished and like a desert, and reformed it for the better: who set in it the illustrious man St. Gerard, abbot of Brogne, the twentieth ruler of the said monastery of Ghent, a man of extraordinary virtue, such as all those times required. In Oliver's Chronicle of Ghent these things are noted: The restoration of this monastery of Ghent was made by Arnulf the Great, count of the Flemings, at the urging of Transmar, bishop of Noyon or Tournai, in the time of St. Gerard, abbot of this aforesaid monastery, in the year of the Lord 937. In both of Meyer's Works, finally: 937. The Great (Arnulf), at the urging of Transmar, bishop of Noyon, rebuilt the monastery of Ghent, overthrown by the Norman fury, restored the customary rites and ceremonies, and set there as abbot Gerard Cellensis, a man great in virtue.

[52] Most of the things mentioned so far are made indubitable by the diploma of King Lothair in Miraeus, page 42 it is happily restored., of which therefore, although given only in the year 954, the first part demands a place here: In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Lothair, by the favour of divine grace king of the Franks. Since it is recognized as worthy that we give assent to the petitions of our faithful, and especially to those pertaining to religion and to the restoration of holy Church, we wish it to be made known to all our faithful, both present and future, how our faithful Count Arnulf, and his son Baldwin, approached our clemency supplicating that the devotion of their will concerning a certain monastery situated in the vicus of Gandavum, where the rivers Lys and Scheldt flow together, built in honour of St. Peter (in which also St. Bavo rests in body, from whose time too, and that of other religious men, religion and regular order are recorded to have been kept there), should be confirmed by our authority. The same place, then, had for many times been deserted, both by the incursion of the pagans and by the incursion and [] negligence of the inhabitants, and reduced to solitude and made almost uninhabitable: so that nothing whatever of the divine office was paid to God there. But at the pious admonition of the memorable man Gerard the abbot it pleased them to restore the same*, etc.

[53] There is not such agreement among the Belgian writers about the time In what year the exiled monks at which the monks exiled in Gaul returned to Ghent with the sacred relics. Sanderus, or the Bavonian Chronicler who went before him, defers this return to the year 939, saying: In the year 939 St. Bavo, with other pledges and relics of the Saints, translated from Laon to the monastery of Nigella, is carried back with seven monks to the citadel of his town, to the church built in the new castle, on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of October, because the monastery of Ganda had not yet been fully restored. Meyer and Oliver defer it to the following year, the former in these words: 940. Arnulf with Gerard Cellensis, abbot of Ghent, brought back the bodies of the divine Bavo and Pharaildis from Laon to Ghent: the latter in these: The bringing back of the bodies of Saints Bavo and Pharaildis from the mount of Laon to this monastery of Ghent by St. Gerard, the abbot mentioned above. The writer of the Miracles does not mark the year, yet he describes the return in such a way that you would understand it to have happened somewhat earlier: Therefore, he says, after the cessation of the Norman harassment, the region having at length been settled in the desirable quiet of tranquillity, fearing the disquiet of some incursion somewhere, those, namely, who had fled to Lugdunum [] with the holy relics and the monastic furniture, being set among strangers, hastened to return to Ghent as quickly as possible, taking with them the pledges of the holy Father. And since up to that time, as the whole surrounding district, so also the site of the monastery of Ghent, emptied of its cultivators, seemed almost more like a desert, they brought them into the church built in the new castle, to be kept there.*

[54] to Ghent from Gaul These things manifestly insinuate that at the time of the return the restoration of the monastery had scarcely or not even scarcely been begun; and in fact the same author undertakes to narrate the efforts and endeavours of Bishop Transmar towards it only after setting down these things. The authority of this writer standing, then, than which we have none better or more certain, the return of the monks cannot be deferred to the year 939, in which, according to the Belgian writers themselves, the building of the monastery must have been much advanced; much less to the year 940, in which it was brought to such completion that, according to the same writers, the relics of St. Bavo and of other Saints were deposited in the monastery itself. Yet since the writer of the Miracles does not everywhere strictly observe the sequence of the events narrated, perhaps he set forth the image of a place so wretchedly destroyed and deserted rather to show how difficult a business Bishop Transmar undertook than to exhibit to the reader the state in which the monks found the place. Certainly no sufficiently likely reason occurs why the monks, then perhaps for the greater part Frenchmen or at least strangers, should have betaken themselves thither, unless the sure hope of a restoration soon to follow had shone upon them. For it is not credible that there survived among them many — not to say any — who had inhabited the monastery of Ghent about ninety years before, that is, before the year of Christ 846,

so that the love of their ancient dwelling alone drew them without sure confidence of obtaining there a place in which they might not, as before, be held as set among strangers or as guests, but might dwell on their own ground, and deposit the sacred treasure fittingly and securely. But we do not find that they could have had confidence of this kind before the year 937; therefore neither do we think they undertook the journey before it.

[55] returned with the relics of St. Bavo, For my part I conjecture that this whole business was carried out in this order. In the year 937 Bishop Transmar, with the help of St. Gerard Cellensis, induced Count Arnulf both to restore the monastery and at the same time to recall, together with the sacred treasure, the exiled monks, or those who had joined and succeeded the exiles in Gaul: he induced him to this especially, namely, that the presence of the bodies of St. Bavo and of other Saints might both keep the count to his pious purpose and animate the other faithful to finish the work more quickly. A messenger was at once sent by Arnulf and Transmar to the monks, perhaps Gerard Cellensis himself, who was destined to be their abbot; and, made certain of the restoration either by the testimony of that man most celebrated for holiness or by letters brought by another, and secure of the favour and protection of the count, they committed themselves to the road. They arrived at Ghent in the same year 937 or at the beginning of the following, when, namely, the structure of the new building, if it had been begun, had not been brought so far but that traces of the former devastation remained. And so the sacred relics were deposited in the meantime in the church of the new castle, which was then called new in respect to that old one in which the monastery of St. Bavo had been erected.

[56] Concerning the beginnings of the said church Meyer relates this in the Annals and Chronicles and them from the church of St. Pharaildis: 912. At Ghent, beside the new citadel, the church of the divine Pharaildis began to be built. Of the same church Gramaye treats in his Gandavum, and Sanderus in volume 1 of Flandria illustrata, where in chap. 2 of book 2 of Rerum Gandavensium he exhibits a picture both of the church of St. Pharaildis and of the citadel or Stone of the count, commonly het Graven Casteel; and in book 3, chap. 9, or chap. 2 of book 5 of the same Work on the Affairs of Ghent printed separately, he says: The collegiate church of Blessed Pharaildis, which lately by consent of the princes migrated to the parish church of St. Nicholas, by the efforts of Arnulf, count of the Flemings, beside the new citadel of the same count, founded by Baldwin Iron-Arm, as Gramaye thinks, began to be built in the year 912, and was the refuge of the Bavonian monastery fleeing from the Norman disaster. But discourse will soon return to the same place. The building of the Bavonian monastery having at length been brought to such completion that the sacred treasure could worthily be placed in it and the monks could dwell conveniently, the removal was appointed and solemnly carried out on the 30th day of September of the year 940.

[57] The writer of the Miracles narrates the removal thus: When the sacred place was being raised daily by so many and such auspices of increase into the restored Bavonian, that anyone could easily notice that it was being illumined by the most almighty condescension of God, all the devout, both of monks and of clerics, foreseeing that the smallness of the narrower oratory (the church of the new castle) did not befit the dignity of so great a Father, resolved that his most sacred relics should be translated thither, and, the things needed for the work having been disposed, determined to carry it out on [] the day before the Kalends of October, on which the holy vigil of his deposition is celebrated. Abbot Gerard was present at this business, and had been a great part of it. But since the opinion of a false rumour had spread abroad, as though the same man had intended some machinations of fraud regarding the pledges of the Saint, in the course of the journey, the holy bier having been set down in the field adjoining the same monastery, to drive away the ill repute of the sinister rumour, he removed the pall and showed to all who were present the seals, fixed by an ancient hand, most entire. How much gladness there was there, how many tears were poured out from the love of a pious heart, anyone can conjecture for himself. Who ever, being of sound mind, would not fill his soul with joy and the affection of sweetness, seeing the limbs of the special Patron of the whole province, exiled through the deserts of the sinning inhabitants, God being at length appeased, revisit the enclosure of his own house? They were therefore brought into the lately rebuilt church, raised on a celebrated shrine in which they are seen today, all following with praises in honour of the majesty of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.*

[58] The year, and a few circumstances of the event which this author passed over in silence, are given in Sanderus, book 4, chap. 4, of the above-mentioned Work printed separately they brought them back to the monastery., which I use throughout: In the year 940, some relics of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis being left in the aforesaid church of the new Castle, situated on the bank of the river Lys, at the instance and devout supplication of Arnulf, count of Flanders, on this condition, that the clergy of the aforesaid church should venerably make an annual pilgrimage with their aforesaid relics to the said monastery of Ghent; the bodies of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis with other pledges of the Saints are carried back by St. Gerard, abbot of Ghent, from the aforesaid church of the new Castle, with a countless multitude of peoples, to the monastery of Ghent, and are fittingly placed there with great gladness.

[59] Particles of the relics of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis That relics of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis were granted to the church of the new Castle I by no means doubt; yet I should not wish to assert that they were left there before the sacred bodies were translated thence to the restored church of the Bavonian monastery, as the order of the thing narrated insinuates. For the writer of the miracles signifies not obscurely that the bier, that is the reliquary of St. Bavo, when it was now to be carried into the Bavonian church, was uncovered in the adjoining field and publicly shown to the multitude standing by, fortified with the same seals, still entire and unharmed, as it had formerly been when it was carried into Gaul for fear of the Normans. For what strength would that showing of most entire seals have had, or what confidence could it have brought, if, with these unharmed, the case could have been opened before, and particles of the body taken from it to be left at the new castle or given to other churches? I believe indeed that relics were promised to Count Arnulf for his church of the new castle, but that the promise was fulfilled only after it had been proved by the public showing of the seals that the case had been kept in the state in which it was when it had been carried into Gaul.

[60] granted to Count Arnulf The same Sanderus, in book 5, chap. 2, from which I copied a few things above about the beginnings of the church of St. Pharaildis, treats again of the same relics, and at the same time teaches what particle of the body of St. Bavo was granted to it. That second chapter, almost entire, with brief Annotations subjoined, our Predecessors reprinted at the 4th day of January, on which St. Pharaildis the virgin is honoured. But since the things related there concern St. Bavo no less than St. Pharaildis, it will be worth while to transfer the chief of them here too. After the words given above in num. 56 he proceeds thus: Whence (from the church of St. Pharaildis), when about the year 940 the monks were returning to their ancient seats (the restored monastery) with the sacred remains of the Saints, the marquis Arnulf (these are the words of the Bavonian Chronicle), seeing his church built in the new castle about to be bereaved of such great pledges, obtained from blessed Gerard a JOINT of St. Bavo and relics of blessed Pharaildis, on this condition namely, that the clergy of the church should make an annual pilgrimage to St. Bavo's, which was done for many centuries. This church was from of old the court church of the count's household and of the inhabitants of the palace precinct, and for keeping especially the relics of the same Saints the same marquis Arnulf established in it clerics with a Provost, raised not long after into a collegiate chapter of canons.

[61] they are translated into a new church in the year 1073, After these things a threefold translation of the relics is recorded, the first made in the year 1173, the second in 1336, the third in 1073. Sanderus does not bring forward a reason why the order of times was not kept in the account; yet he recognized that the translation which is noted as made in the year 1173 is the same that was made in the year 1073, and this is made certain from the prelates who are ascribed as present at the translation, as our Predecessors also pointed out in the Annotations. Wherefore, not to be longer than is necessary, I pass over the words which are adduced there in the first place, and substitute those which are set in the last place: The same Chronicle (the Bavonian) narrates another translation also of the same relics made in the year 1073, in these words: In the year 1073 the portions of the relics of St. Bavo and of St. Pharaildis, graciously granted long ago by St. Gerard, abbot of the monastery of Ghent, to Arnulf the Great, count of the Flemings, were translated in the church of the new castle, situated on the bank of the river Lys in the fisc of the monastery of Ghent, and formerly founded in honour of the aforesaid SS. Bavo and Pharaildis, by Radbod, bishop of Noyon, in the presence of Siger of Ghent and Folcard of Blandinium, abbots.

[62] Now I subjoin what is set before it in the same place concerning the second translation and then in the year 1336 into a new reliquary.: In the year 1336 also the portions of the relics of St. Bavo and Pharaildis, in the church of the new castle, now called the Count's Castle, situated in the new port of Ghent on the bank of the river Lys, and formerly founded in honour of the aforesaid Saints, were translated from the old shrine into a new one by the venerable father lord Andrew, bishop of Tournai, afterwards Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, in the presence of the venerable man master de Portali, archdeacon of Tournai, and of many other venerable priests of divers dignity, canons of the same church of Tournai, and also of religious persons, Dom Henry de Muda, Prior, and Baldwin Borluyt, Provost of the monastery of Ghent, reverently directed thither by the venerable man Dom Gerelinus Borluyt, abbot of the aforesaid monastery; who had been diligently requested by lord Martin, provost of the above-mentioned church, and by the canons of the same church, to be present at the aforesaid translation; but on account of his exceeding infirmity was not able to be present there.

[63] The order of time, hitherto studiously kept, I have here deserted for a little The church sacred to St. Bavo as well as to St. Pharaildis., and have digressed to the deeds of the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, chiefly for this cause, that the reader might notice from each narrative of the translations that the said church of the new castle, erected in the tenth century and enriched with the often-named relics, was from the beginning sacred to St. Bavo as much as to St. Pharaildis, in whose honour it is recorded to have been founded without any distinction. In the course of time indeed it was called by the name of St. Pharaildis alone, but this was most probably done because there was another which in the lapse of time also began to be distinguished by the name of St. Bavo alone, namely the church of the Bavonian monastery. The same happened to the present cathedral church. For this was dedicated in the year 941 by Transmar, bishop of Tournai, to the Virgin Mother of God, SS. John the Baptist, Bavo and Vedast, and once bore their title, as Sanderus writes in book 5, chap. 1; but St. John the Baptist gradually obscured the name of the other patrons; especially since every appellation of Blessed Bavo passed to the neighbouring monastery, now already erected again, as the same relates in book 1 of the Saints of Flanders, page 28; afterwards, however, the same church resumed the title of St. Bavo, and today retains it almost alone, which I reserve to be proved elsewhere,

lest I wander again beyond the prescribed limits. I return to the monastery.

[64] In the often-cited Sanderus, book 4 of Rerum Gandavensium, chaps. 3 and 4, the chief affairs of the monastery are set out in a certain chronological order, and these things are noted first in chap. 3 The reformation of the monastery of Ghent, and its possession by monks: In the year 946 the monastery of Ghent, with the congratulation of the brethren, is reformed by St. Gerard the abbot and exalted for the better. Then in chap. 4 the same things are repeated, but with a word or two changed: The monastery of Ghent, with the congregation of the brethren, is rebuilt by St. Gerard the abbot and exalted for the better. These things can be taken in a double sense, and probably ought to be taken in both: first, namely, that the building erected in the year 940 sufficed indeed to hold the few monks who had been brought from Gaul to Ghent, but not the others who meanwhile in greater number had offered themselves for monastic profession, and that therefore a new enlargement was then added to it. Secondly, that Abbot Gerard, all things having then been duly settled, introduced a stricter discipline into the monastery, and taught the monks to live according to the prescription of the Rule of St. Benedict. In the year 947, so it proceeds in the same place, chap. 4, Bishop Transmar, at the request of Arnulf, count of Flanders, privileged and made free the church of St. Peter in the fortress of Ganda, situated on the Scheldt and the Lys, which is called the monastery of Ganda.

[65] [of the Order of St. Benedict confirmed in perpetuity. Certain things less honourable to the memory] From then nothing occurs until the year 954, in which Lothair, king of the Franks, confirms by his authority the monastery of St. Bavo at Ghent, at the prayers of Count Arnulf and his son Baldwin, to the monks serving the Lord therein according to the Rule of St. Benedict … to be kept and possessed in perpetuity, etc. The first part of the diploma I gave in num. 52; the rest the curious reader may see in Miraeus, volume 1 of the Opera Diplomatica, page 43. To the year 956 some things are referred in Sanderus which are less honourable to the memory of Count Arnulf, the restorer of the monastery and hitherto its notable patron; but rashly and imprudently, as I at least think, deferred to this time by older and unskilled chronologers. And they are these: In the year 956 Arnulf, count of Flanders, took away many things from the monastery of Ghent, which he divided among his nobility. What is asserted here of that of Ghent alone is maintained of several monasteries in Meyer in the Chronicles and Annals, but this author inserted and added a few things by which he might insinuate that it was suspect to him, as follows: 956 … Count Arnulf, if we give any credit to the Chronicles of the monasteries, took away many things from the monasteries, which he divided among his nobility, as from the monastery of Ghent, etc. Soon there are subjoined, as also in Sanderus, in a long series, the possessions thus taken from the people of Ghent; but Meyer, a few things interposed, concludes thus: The Bertinians sing almost the same song, although Arnulf restored almost everything to them before his death. What Meyer says of the Bertinians I do not inquire further; but that the very same ought to be said of the people of Ghent I am altogether persuaded.

[66] are refuted, and he is proved It is true, Arnulf once took away and distributed among his own the goods belonging to the monastery of Ghent; nay, he took away the same goods which are listed in Sanderus and Meyer; Abbot Othelbold testifies to this in the letter cited above, written about the year 1030 to Otgiva, countess of Flanders; and so far the chroniclers whom Sanderus and Meyer used wrote rightly. But when did Arnulf take away these goods and distribute them among his soldiers or nobles? Then, namely, when the monks of Ghent, as Othelbold clearly signifies, had fled to Laon, and while they stayed there a long time for fear of those Danes, since they had occupied everything; that is, before the year 937, about which the same Arnulf, at the entreaty of Transmar, bishop of Tournai, recalled the monks to Ghent, restored their monastery to them, restored beyond doubt what he himself had taken away, and took care that what he had granted to others should be restored as far as could be done, and never thereafter ceased to be beneficent to them. Hence is plain the unskilfulness and imprudence of the chroniclers, who, while they copied Othelbold or some such old author, did not distinguish the times, and referred what had been done before the year 937 to the year 956, when everything had long since been restored and increased with new benefits: and so they were the cause that posterity, reading these things in them at the year 956, and finding nothing of a restitution made after this year, kept a sinister and plainly injurious opinion of the memory of Count Arnulf.

[67] That Arnulf was, further, beneficent to the monks of Ghent until his death beneficent to the monks of Ghent, to whom also some goods, is again persuaded to me by the diploma of Lothair, king of the Franks, in Miraeus, volume 1, page 46. For in it the king, in the year 967, at the request of Baldwin, count of Cambrai, and Womar, abbot of Ghent, confirming various estates to the Bavonian monastery, renews once, twice and a third time the memory of Count Arnulf, then dead, as of a venerable man and restorer of the monastery, and finally a fourth time with this clause: Therefore let all that they (the Bavonian abbot and monks) possess, and that they shall acquire or obtain, God helping, serve their uses by quiet right, so that without want and without molestation from anyone, applying themselves to the divine praises, they may implore the divine clemency both for the soul of the venerable Arnulf and of their other benefactors, and also for the quiet and advantage of the whole kingdom. These things assuredly exhibit Arnulf as a most beneficent giver to the monastery until his death, by no means as a man by whom, a few years before, very many goods of the same monastery had been taken away and never restored.

[68] Not all the goods, indeed, which had been withdrawn from the monks while they were exiled in Gaul were restored to the monastery of Ghent during Arnulf's lifetime which Arnulf had not been able to restore before his death,: but this ought not to be attributed to his fault; since he was not the only one who had once withdrawn goods or divided them among his own. For on the testimony of Othelbold, their inheritance (of those exiled in Gaul) was turned to strangers, and those of the household and outsiders plundered it… But also the counts of the provinces and the bishops each obtained their parts of them, each in his own places, until the times of our predecessor of pious memory, namely the lord abbot Odwin, who, approaching the most pious emperor Otto, obtained certain villages adjacent to his empire, some remaining, as they had been unjustly plundered there, his death intervening. It must therefore be judged that the goods which were not restored during Arnulf's lifetime, and long after his death down to the times of Othelbold, had once been plundered by others, whom Arnulf, as being outsiders, had been unable to induce or compel to restitution.

[69] From time to time the authority of the emperor Otto I and Otto II was interposed are restored by imperial authority,, and the restitution of at least some goods which were subject to their dominion was obtained. This is made indubitable by the diploma of Otto II confirming in the year 974, namely the first after his father's death, the restitution made by the latter's authority. It is extant in Miraeus, volume 1, page 49, and runs thus: In the name of the Lord God eternal and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, by the bestowal of heavenly clemency Otto emperor augustus… We wish it to be known to the industry of all our faithful, both present and future, how the venerable Womar, abbot of the monastery of St. Bavo, confessor of Christ, approached the excellence of our lord and father Otto, of good memory, the most excellent emperor, appealing to his most kindly serenity concerning certain properties situated within the bounds of our kingdom, for some time unjustly seized from the aforesaid monastery of St. Bavo; who at once, after the manner of his accustomed piety, most gladly gave assent to his just petition, establishing and commanding that the same properties be restored with all integrity to the aforesaid place and brethren, which he had also often before kindly given back to the brethren of the same place, who equally approached him for this: but, overtaken by the lot of the human debt, passing, as we believe, to better things, he had issued no writing of imperial authority on this. Wherefore … restoring to them with all integrity the properties themselves, long taken from them, we confirm them by the immunity and protection of our authority. After this the names of the goods thus given back are expressed, and the diploma is closed with the formulas usual in a matter of this kind, with this subscription: Sign of the lord Otto, the most invincible emperor; and the note of time: Given on the twelfth day before the Kalends of February, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 974, etc.

[70] and the possession of many others is confirmed: Two years after, the said emperor confirmed to the people of Ghent the possession of the same and of many other goods by a new diploma, which can be seen in the aforesaid Miraeus, page 344; but from which, as also from the preceding, it becomes clear that Othelbold, however near to the times, did not speak accurately enough when he said generally in his letter that the goods remained with the invaders until the times of … Abbot Odwin, who, approaching the most pious emperor Otto, obtained certain villages adjacent to his empire. For in both diplomas Womar appears by name as abbot of the Bavonian monastery at that time; and this Womar, by others Wolmar, according to the catalogues of the abbots of the said monastery, discharged that office until the year 982. He had succeeded Abbot Hugh in the year 965, as it is in Sanderus; in the year 967 he obtained a confirmation of certain goods from Lothair, king of the Franks, as was seen above; in the years 974 and 976 he received diplomas from the emperor Otto II, as we have just proved; in the year 980, in which a new church with a choir is built in the monastery of St. Bavo, as is read in Sanderus, he caused the bodies of SS. Landoald and his Companions to be translated from Wintershove, a village of Hesbaye, to Ghent, and to be solemnly elevated in the year 982, in which at length he died.

[71] that the restitution of these goods for a time These last things, which are related in Sanderus concerning the translation and elevation of the sacred bodies, are described at length, and certain others of the things said before are confirmed by his testimony, by a contemporary author, a monk of Ghent, printed by us in volume III of April at the 19th day of the month; from whom accordingly I transfer some things here. He begins chapter 1 of his History with these words: Our Lord Jesus Christ reigning for ever and governing all ages, in the year, namely, of His most sacred Incarnation nine hundred eighty, in the 8th Indiction, in the times also of the lord Otto the Younger, the most illustrious emperor, when he had with most kindly mind restored many things taken of old from our place by the faithless, and had accordingly, for the brotherhood of the monastery of the fortress of Ghent, been desirously asked for the court called Curtis hiemis, which a certain palatine cleric of his had invaded without his knowledge, he restored it without any delay, after he had learned of it, by powerful command. Then we brethren, of one mind, when we had learned of the relics of St. Landoald the archpriest and his Companions, began with assiduous prayers to ask the lord abbot, then however provost and sufficiently solicitous administrator of our place, not to delay long to translate with due honour to our place the bodies of the aforesaid Saints, who up to then had been placed there in neglect and without the due attendance of priests,

he would busy himself. And when after very many entreaties, God favouring, we had obtained this, brethren were sent by our lord abbot Vomar with the lord Provost, namely the lord dean Trudgand, to the aforesaid place, and two other brethren, Robert and Filiold, etc. Towards the end of chap. 2, in which he narrates the deposition of the relics in the monastery of St. Bavo and the solemn elevation made afterwards, the same author again says thus: And this most sacred translation (that is, elevation), most pleasing to God and men, and in all respects most welcome to the holy angels, was made on the Ides of June by Lindulf, a most venerable man, bishop of the city of Noyon … in the year of the incarnate Word nine hundred eighty-two, in the tenth Indiction, in the third year also of the coming to us of our most glorious Saints.

[72] From these things it is again clear that Othelbold did not speak accurately of Abbot Odwin is wrongly deferred. when he deferred the restitution of the goods to the times of Odwin, who certainly did not rule the abbey of Ghent before the said year 982, the last of Abbot Womar. For Womar was succeeded by Wido, who, voluntarily withdrawing, at length made place for Odwin. And of Odwin I find nothing committed to writing that concerns this abbey except these words in Sanderus: Odwin died in 992, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of July. Under him was begun in 985, in greater excellence, the greater building of the church and choir of the monastery of Ghent, on the Kalends of April. After him came Erembold, by whom relics of SS. Pancras and Barbara, with very many relics of other Saints, were brought from the city of Rome … to the monastery of Ghent. This Erembold, who governed the abbey up to the year 1017, publicly and solemnly exhibited the body of St. Bavo to be seen by the people in the year 1010. But since we have resolved not to carry the Posthumous Glory here beyond the 10th century, we reserve the History of this event for the following §. And although the little Work on the Miracles of St. Bavo, which we have often mentioned, and of which we gave sufficient notice in §1 of the Preliminary Commentary, num. 16 and following, also belongs to the same tenth century, it has seemed good to subjoin it, elucidated with the due annotations, not here, but only at the end of this posthumous glory, so as not to interrupt the commentary begun on it.

\ Another reading: incursione &* are lacking.

\ Read: Laudunum*.

\ Perhaps: idem* (the same).

§ IV. The cult of St. Bavo in the 11th century, translations, miracles.

The privileges granted to the monastery of Ghent by Otto In this eleventh century the veneration of the faithful towards Bavo, approved also by miracles, and the benevolence and favour of princes towards his monastery and church, held the same course as in the preceding. In the year 1003 St. Henry the emperor confirmed by his authority the possessions and privileges granted to the monastery by Otto his predecessor, at the request of the above-mentioned Abbot Erembold. His diploma, which Miraeus exhibits in volume 1 of the Diplomas, page 337, has such an opening: Henry, by the favour of divine Clemency king. If those things which our faithful… Therefore let the industry of all the faithful of the holy Church of God and of ours, namely present and future, know that the venerable man Erembold, abbot of the monastery of Ghent, which is situated where the river Scheldt is joined to the river Lys, built by blessed Amand the bishop in honour of St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, where also the illustrious Bavo, confessor of Christ, rests in body, offered to us the grant of immunity of our lord predecessor, namely Otto the most invincible emperor. In which was contained inserted how he, for the love of God and the reward of eternal retribution, restored to the same monastery the proprietorships of properties unjustly seized by the tyrannical invasion of certain persons, and strengthened this by the writing of his confirmation; and that he had the favour of fraternal fellowship granted him in the same monastery, or how he remitted the exactions of all tolls.

[74] are confirmed by diploma by St. Henry. For in zeal for its security the aforesaid abbot Erembold asked us that the same things be renewed, namely, that for the sake of so great security we would also add our authority. Gladly consenting to his petition, we decreed that a precept of the royal dignity be made, namely that the same monastery should quietly possess its properties, of which these are the names. After the enumeration of the places and the usual formulas of confirmation there follows: And that the authority of this recall and confirmation may obtain greater vigour in the name of God, I have confirmed it beneath with my own hand, and ordered it to be sealed with the impression of the ring. Sign of the lord Henry the most invincible king. Egilbert the chancellor, in place of Willigis the archchaplain, verified it. Given on the Nones of February in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand three, in the second year of the lord Henry, king, the first. Done at the palace of Aachen, happily. St. Henry, whose Acts were illustrated at the 14th day of July, succeeded to the kingdom of Germany on the death of Otto III in the month of January of the year 1002, and in the year 1014 was crowned emperor, the second of that name.

[75] The bodies of SS. Livinus and Brixius the infant to Ghent In the same year 1003, on the seventh day before the Kalends of May, Abbot Erembold began the western work of the monastery of Ghent, as we read in Sanderus, and, a few things intervening: In the year 1007, to the monastery of Ghent, the abbot, immediately after the departure of the emperor Henry, translated the bodies of SS. Levinus and Brixius the infant, with many signs of miracles, from Holthem to the monastery of Ghent, a very great multitude of the people running together to meet him. The same is related in Meyer in the Chronicles, but at the year 1008. And this translation is said to have been made immediately after the departure of the emperor Henry, because he, as is reported, waging war in Flanders against Count Baldwin, surnamed the Bearded or Fair-Beard, had a little before thought of carrying away with him the body of St. Livinus, which was shining with many miracles in the village of Holthem, three miles distant from the city of Ghent. The discussion of these things belongs to the 12th day of November, sacred to St. Livinus; but to our Saint also belongs a prodigy which happened in the said translation. That the History of it was written at the end of the eleventh century or the beginning of the following Mabillon gathers, and exhibits it in part 1 of the sixth Benedictine Century, page 65 and following.

[76] The anonymous author, then, narrates in the same place, num. 7 are translated, and a miracle happens which, that when the sacred remains had been brought as far as Ghent, they were deposited on a hill, which was thence called St. Livinus's Hill: then he proceeds thus: Rumour ran more swiftly before the messengers to the monastery of St. Bavo, and the brethren who were present adorned the face of the temple and the house of the Lord for the reception of so great a guest about to arrive. For a countless multitude of peoples went out to meet him, and the various festive order of clerics and monks ran to meet him. Meanwhile, that they might meet the procession, when they tried to lift the shrine of the Saint (Livinus) from the ground, in a wonderful manner they wondered to find it cling to the hill like an immovable hill. Running, therefore, through the peoples, this wonderful report is spread; this thing worthy of memory had filled the mouths of all, that the holy martyr of God could not be lifted from the ground. The whole people of Ghent gathered, as one man, to behold this heavenly prodigy; the whole region was moved … solicitude of mind and fear troubled especially the abbot and the monks. Nevertheless, using wholesome counsel, they set watches at the bier of the Saint, and, having returned to the monastery, they came before the face of the Lord in confession and satisfaction. They plan, then, to hold a nobler procession and one more worthy of God, that even in such a way they might find the great martyr of God appeased. They fasted, wept, prayed, and watched that whole night in the praise of God, and on the following day celebrated the solemnities of Masses, and, celebrating, communicated most humbly.

[77] belongs also to St. Bavo, Thus purified, then, in the Lord, they humbly approach the holy of holies sancta sanctorum, take up the lord and patrician of the fatherland, St. Bavo the great, patron of all Flanders, receive St. Landoald the archbishop and the bodies of Saints Vinciana and Landrada, and with all reverence and religion go out to meet the friend of God with such a procession. What of power and joy there was in this procession, what of salvation and happiness befell the people, no one will explain. But when the order of this procession had come to that hill, at once the holy martyr was lifted from the ground, as the Saints came to meet him, as if about to render them the courtesy of greeting and of devout visitation… All stood exceedingly astonished at this spectacle, and crying out with lofty heart and suppliant voice: Help us, Christ, Son of the living God… The abbot beginning the Te Deum laudamus, so happy a procession of the Saints returns with joy, and all the people, having obtained the heavenly benefit, accompany it, crying aloud on high: Kyrie eleison. They bring, then, to his lodging, namely the monastery of Ghent, the holy martyr of God… The bodies of the Saints are replaced with worthy reverence in the sanctuary… This translation was made, Henry being emperor of the Romans, Robert king of the Franks, Baldwin marquis, Erembold abbot of the people of Ghent, in the one thousand and seventh year of the Lord's Incarnation, whose kingdom, power and dominion is closed by no end. In Meyer's Chronicles Baldwin himself is said to have been present at the translation: At that translation the Bearded count was present, and at the exhortation of his wife Ogina he restored to the monks whatever they had lost in his dominion through the storm of war.

[78] But a little later in the same Meyer things are noted which touch the posthumous glory of our Saint more nearly of whom, while a translation also is made, which: 1010. At Ghent the translation of the body of the divine Bavo was made, at which, in the presence of Erembold the abbot, Fastrard the advocate and Lambert the senator, Mensunindis, a paralysed young girl, a native of Antwerp, received health. This translation too is marked in the Chronicle of Ghent of the several times cited Oliver in these few words: The first translation of the body of the most blessed confessor Bavo, made by the aforesaid Erembold, abbot of the said monastery, in the year 1010. It is called the first translation, namely since the time at which the sacred body was deposited by St. Gerard in the restored monastery. The same is described more fully in the historical account of which Henschenius long since gave notice in volume 1 of April, at the 10th day, at St. Macarius, page 874, where, running in passing through the Deeds of Abbot Erembold, he observes these things: In the year 1010, on the very Kalends of August, he caused the body of St. Bavo to be uncovered and shown; and then in the following year 1011 he received a pilgrim guest, St. Macarius the bishop; whom, having died most holily in the next year 1012 on the fourth day before the Ides of April, he honourably buried in the crypt of Blessed Mary before the altar of St. Paul: and when the said Saints soon shone with very many miracles, he caused them to be diligently written down by one of his monks; which we have obtained from a very old manuscript. The author in the History of the uncovered body of St. Bavo speaks thus: "Compelled by true obedience, I have undertaken to set out somewhat more clearly the notable deeds of the holy father Bavo done in our times."

[79] from an anonymous author, his prologue set first, The last words betray the author's age too openly to need elucidation; wherefore I proceed to the copying of the history itself, which, as is marked in the margin of our copy, is extant in the 7th book of St. Bavo's after the Life of St. Livinus, and shall subjoin afterwards whatever seems worth annotating. Prologue. Those who strive to excel the other animals ought to strive with the utmost effort not to pass their life in silence, like cattle,

which nature has fashioned stooping and obedient to the belly. Whence I, overcome by heartfelt love of the brethren and compelled by true obedience, have undertaken to set out somewhat more clearly the notable deeds of our holy father Bavo done in our times, and have brought into my mind as the greatest gain to serve as much as possible the advantage of those for whom I have always procured my own. With the accuracy of an elaborated diction I do not busy myself, nor am I ashamed if the treatment of an unadorned speech, which perhaps will be approved in its matter, offends the followers of empty words. And even if I could have fulfilled the affectation of composition, as one skilled in speaking, yet that composition has seemed to me well adorned which brings forth the affections of the mind with a certain clearness, not that which serves the allurements of the ears. For that seems to be judged Latinity which expresses intelligible things by the propriety of familiar [] words, not that which luxuriates in trapped-out eloquence [] with crafty turns: since words were instituted not for the sake of things, but for expressing things. But now I shall approach what is to be brought forth in whatever way.

[80] is described, In the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand and ten, King Robert reigning, the marquis Baldwin administering the abbey of St. Peter and St. Bavo, and the lord Erembold also ruling it, in order to remove a certain ill repute, it seemed good to the same father to uncover the pious ashes of St. Bavo: which work he undertook on the very Kalends of August, which are the solemnities of the holy Father, those placed round about having been summoned, whose number was unspeakable. Among which throng of the multitude were men of the highest reverence, namely Adhelbert the elder, founder of the holy monastery of Ghent and ruler of the monastery of St. Mary; Fastrad also the advocate, and Landbert, who then presided over the office of governor. Before their eyes the case of the Saint is opened by the effort of smiths: whose limbs they beholding altogether entire, what joy assailed the minds of those beholding, let the hearers judge. But since it could not be seen by all, it was resolved that it should be carried to the hill surnamed of the Cross, that it might be seen more freely by all. But what miracle happened on the way I shall lay open publicly.

[81] A certain girl, called Meinswindis, grown up at Antwerp a girl contracted in her limbs, and another deaf woman, are healed., contracted in her whole body, was so weakened that, unless she was supported, she lay on her back or at least leaning. She, awaiting the carrying out of the holy Father, lay immovable before the doors of the church. And when the most sacred limbs were being carried out, with only her eyes raised, the rest of her limbs being immovable, she sighed thus to the Saint with what effort she could: Ah, she said, St. Bavo, behold, when all are accompanying thee, shall I alone stay behind? And having said these things, when half of the litter of the most sacred ashes was outside and half inside in the middle of the doors of the church, the crowds delaying, she too rose most sound, and, going before, glorified the Saint, exulting. She remains with us up to now, and intends to remain to the end as a witness of so great a glorification. On the same way another, deprived of the office of the ears, when she stood astonished, and saw indeed but did not hear what was being done, a sudden effusion of blood burst out, and she merited to hear.

[82] In the district of Flanders, namely in the port of Bruges, there was a young man Two young men, one on the feast of St. Bavo,, named Thietbold. He, loosened in his whole body, supported himself, creeping with miserable effort on knees and arms. From his neck hung a horn, so that, heard by its sound through the streets and houses, he might be protected from being torn by dogs. He was carried by the conveyance of a vehicle, with others going to Ghent, by a memorable matron named Imma, with whom he had been lodging now for ten years. He, on the day on which he arrived, since it dawned festive for the Saint, lay down to pray while we looked on, and rose up whole. And when he had unexpectedly begun to be vigorous in strength, hired by a certain merchant of the same market-town, he oversees up to now all his goods across the sea, flying to and fro, and every year he comes to his holy Protector, gives thanks, and returns.

[83] The other was a youth, Folbert by name. He, struck with paralysis the other at the tomb, obtain health., had his limbs from the loins downward to the feet as good as dead: and, living thus half-alive, for the course of eight years, carried about on sticks, he governed the offices of his feet. But desiring to recover the health of his own state, he came to the tomb of the Saint. Where, falling down in the devotion of prayer, he began to groan with gnashing of teeth. While those standing round were looking at him, he again began to grow pale and to sweat, and to repeat the Saint's name over and over. And a delay having been made in such anxiety, his tongue, long mute, is loosed, his ears are opened for hearing, his limbs, long clinging together, are released, and, his bases wonderfully strengthened, by his own effort he stood rejoicing upon his feet, continuing for the rest of the space of his life in the same health which he had received. Here ends he who procured for us the copy from the Ghent codex, with this note added in the margin: There followed three blank leaves. Thence the Life of Macarius was subjoined. Of these things Henschenius also warned the reader at the 10th day of April, and added that three clean leaves had been left, namely that the miracles which should afterwards be worked might be able to be subjoined.

[84] Of uncovering the relics, and publicly This indeed is credible, but neither is it doubtful to me that the author's work is mutilated as regards the history of the uncovered body. For this, where the journey is said to have been undertaken to carry the sacred relics to the hill of the holy Cross, is broken off in order that the miracles may be narrated, and is not resumed, that we may be taught what was done on the hill itself or afterwards. And that this too was committed to writing by him the author declares abundantly in the Life of St. Macarius, which the same man wrote, and which he began thus: At the time when the sacred limbs of St. Bavo were uncovered and laid back in the order mentioned above, St. Macarius came to this monastery of Ghent. This defect is somehow supplied in the proper Offices of the Patrons of the cathedral church of Ghent, printed in the year 1661: where at the 1st day of August, on the feast of the elevation and translation of St. Bavo, these things are found in lesson V: A controversy arose among the people whether the body of St. Bavo had been faithfully brought back from Laon, or after the return had been secretly taken away from the monastery. But Abbot Erembold, for the refutation of that error and the restoration of veneration towards the Saint, having called together from every side the gravest men as witnesses, opened the coffin before all the people, and exhibited the body of St. Bavo, found entire and carried to the neighbouring hill, publicly to be seen in a more elevated place. Then, the solemnity having been performed, he honourably brought back to the church of St. Bavo the bones and sacred ashes, most religiously transferred into another more excellent case, in the year of the Lord one thousand ten.

[85] of exhibiting in the year 1010, what the cause was, The reason why Abbot Erembold uncovered and publicly exposed the sacred body, alleged only in general terms by the older writer as to remove a certain ill repute, is declared in the same manner as in the given lesson of the Office in the History of another similar exposition of the relics made in the year 1058, as follows: In the time of Abbot Erembold the first translation of the most blessed Patron was openly made, which the envy of certain persons prompted to be made, who said that blessed Bavo had been taken away by theft or never brought back from Laon. But this objection was proved false by the argument of truth. The rest will be given in its place. For the rest, regarding the History of the translation just recited, two things chiefly may be asked. First, for what cause the 1st day of August is said to be the solemnity of St. Bavo. But this question we resolved at the beginning of the Posthumous Glory, and at the same time disapproved the opinion of Baillet, who asserts that the 1st day of August is festive in the church of Ghent on account of this translation made in the year 1010.

[86] and who Adhelbert is, who Second, who that Adhelbert was whom our author distinguishes with the title of founder of the holy monastery of Ghent and ruler of the monastery of St. Mary. For my part I conjecture that he is the one who by others is called Albert and Ascelinus of Tronchiennes, and was Provost of the monastery of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Tronchiennes near Ghent: the very man of whom, sooner than is fitting, these things are read in Meyer in the Chronicles: 977. Albert, called by another name Ascelinus, son of Baldwin, count of Flanders, bishop of the Parisians, the same prelate of Tronchiennes, dies, Walter succeeding. The same year Sanderus too marks as Albert's year of death, in book 4, chap. 6, of the Gandavum printed separately; but sooner than is fitting, as Colvenerius in the Notes, Mabillon in the Benedictine Annals at the year 995, and the authors of the enlarged Gallia Christiana among the bishops of Paris also contend and prove from Balderic's Chronicle of Cambrai.

[87] For, on the testimony of Balderic, book 1, chap. 110, when Rothard, bishop of the people of Cambrai, had died about the year 995 the founder of the monastery of Ghent in the recited, a certain Azelinus by name, of the villa of Tronchiennes, son of Baldwin, count of the Flemings, by a concubine, but afterwards bishop of the Parisians, aspired to the see of Cambrai, but suffered a repulse. By the same author Balderic, in the same place, chap. 122, when Erluin, Rothard's successor, was labouring in his last illness (he is written to have died in the year 1012), Azelinus, who we said before had gaped after the bishopric after the death of Rothard … again asked for the bishopric of Cambrai, but in vain. And at last about the year 1016 Ascelinus obtained the see of Paris, as the aforesaid authors of the Gallia Christiana make out from these codices, in some of which he is called Albert, and in that of de Thou expressly Adalbert. By the latter name he is also called in the Epitaph which was once read in the church of the abbey of Blandinium near Ghent, where he was buried:

*The members of the shepherd of the Parisians rest here; This the supreme Trinity gives to Adalbert in the tomb. Him thus the divine marquis Baldwin had begotten, Son of Arnulf, equal to his father from an equal*, etc.

[88] The same authors of the Gallia Christiana, in whom the whole Epitaph may be read translation, is named in the History., conjecture that his father was Baldwin the Younger, or the third of that name, namely son of Arnulf the first, surnamed the Great, who died in the year 961. And this opinion is more consonant also with our conjecture, since the author of the translation, in the year 1010 or a little later, calls his Adhelbert the elder. But why he wrote him as founder of the monastery of Ghent we can again reach only by conjecture, although a sufficiently likely one. Abbot Erembold, according to what was said before, began in the year 1003 the western work of the monastery of Ghent; to it Adelbert, a powerful man, probably contributed very many goods, and since he was still living when ours described the translation and the miracles, he seemed fit to be adorned with that title.

[89] The Life of St. Macarius mentioned above supplies opportune matter St. Macarius, sick, by St. Bavo and other by which to follow up the Glory of St. Bavo. Its author, a monk of Ghent, contemporary and an eyewitness of many of the things he narrates, and the same who committed to writing the translation of St. Bavo made in the year 1010, having related the coming of St. Macarius to Ghent to the monastery of St. Bavo, proceeds thus: He, being received kindly and hospitably enough, was admitted to the fraternal fellowship on account of the devotion of his holy manner of life. Gladdened by whose blessings both we and those living round about rejoiced for days with no small joy. And, greatly desiring to possess him among us for unending time, we tried daily to persuade him: but since that did not sit well in his mind, but rather it pleased him to revisit his fatherland, he was permitted with the greatest grief to depart. Then companionable faith the certain and the doubtful of his companions

separated by their countenances: for he is left by his own, content with one companion only. And when he had moved to the neighbouring port, he is seized with a swelling of the feet and kept to his bed, and when the languor grew heavier for some days, his life is despaired of. They go to the monastery, that he might be brought back. They go, and he is brought back, and he lay with us for some time more like a lifeless man.

[90] And behold, in the silence of a certain dead of night, not indeed weighed down by sleep the Saints appearing to him, he is healed, and afterwards, he sees St. Bavo stand by him and address him in these words: Rise, he says, enter the church, and make known what thou shalt see. He, as it seemed to him, rose, entered the church, and found Saints of both sexes sitting before the holy altar. From whose company, as it seemed to him, St. Bavo, raising himself, held him with outstretched hand and led him out beyond the threshold of the temple, and commanded him to stand behind the altar of St. Peter, once dedicated by St. Amand. While he waited there, he sees the same Saints approach this very altar with tapers, whom on account of the brightness of their exceeding splendour he could scarcely look upon. By their admonition he is strengthened, and is assured that he would remain well for the rest. Of whose company he recognized St. Landoald mitred, who, celebrating the solemnities of Mass in the customary manner, he merited to be blessed together with the rest. He at once in the morning rose most sound, made known what he had seen, and by the token of his health made us certain of the vision: and so, having stayed with us for the space of five months, he resolved again to go to his fatherland.

[91] he dies; by whom his acts were written. But, seized by the plague, as the author sets out at length, St. Macarius died in the monastery of Ghent itself in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand twelve, Christ, namely, so disposing, and the merits of St. Peter, prince of the Apostles, in whose honour and name the same place flourishes, and at the same time of our pious protector Bavo intervening, that in the place in which, when entreated, he refused to remain, he should remain to be glorified. So he, who, a few things interposed, proceeds to the miracles of St. Macarius that followed, and, where he is about to relate the last of all, expressly marks the year in which he wrote, saying: In the present year, which is the one thousand and fourteenth of the Lord's Incarnation, etc. And in the things which precede he clearly teaches with how great solemnity and how great a concourse of peoples the festival of St. Bavo was celebrated at that time. In num. 4, treating of a blind girl restored to sight by the merits of St. Macarius, he observes that she had come there as desired, since the solemnity of St. Bavo was coming soon, crowds flocking from every nation. Again in num. 9: The celebration of St. Bavo, he says, occurs festively every year. Merchandise is brought in by the inhabitants, by traders of every nation, and by the other peoples from every direction. In the same eleventh century, but more advanced, another monk of Ghent undertook to describe the Acts of St. Macarius more fully, and omitted nothing of the things which I have already brought forward from the former concerning our Saint, as may be seen in the said volume 1 of April, page 886 and following; one place, however, where he speaks more clearly of his feast, I subjoin to these: it is found on page 889 and runs thus: It was the Kalends of October, a day celebrated indeed on account of the festival of St. Bavo: many more than usual were flocking to Ghent from divers regions, some to pray, some to trade, most from curiosity about the fair, etc.

[92] Of a certain Bruno and of Baldwin, count of Flanders, To the same year 1012 the death of St. Macarius is referred in Sanderus, and at once the following are subjoined: A certain man named Bruno gave to St. Bavo nine marks of gold and containing the weight of 18 denarii, two chalices of gold, patens having five marks, two chasubles, two copes and two palls, for the refreshment of his soul. At the year 1019 is marked the death of Abbot Erembold, under whom the things were done which we have brought forward so far from the year 1003; as his successor is set Othelbold, often cited in what precedes on the occasion of his letter to Otgiva, countess of Flanders, in which he enumerates the bodies of the Saints kept in the church of his monastery, and calls St. Bavo the first and chief patron of our fatherland. Under his rule, namely in the year 1030: Count Baldwin, who was called the Bearded, having gathered the bodies of the Saints of his march, of Bavo, Wandregisilus, Amand, Vedast, Bertin, Winnoc, with countless other relics of the Saints, in the presence of Hugh, bishop of Noyon, with many other bishops and abbots, having gathered the chief men of his whole realm at Oudenaarde, caused the peace sworn by all the people to be confirmed; as the continuator of the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gembloux, published by Aubert Le Mire, relates, with others whose testimonies we brought forward in volume VI of September at the 21st day of the month, in the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Gerulph, martyr at Tronchiennes in Flanders, because they list among the named and many other Saints Gerulph also, and affirm indeed that to his body, as being born and martyred in Flanders, the first place in the public processions was granted. Let the curious reader go to the said volume of ours, page 257, where he will also find some things observed about the cause of this assembly proclaimed by Baldwin.

[93] Abbot Othelbold died, so in Sanderus, in 1034 on the Nones of December beneficence towards the monastery of St. Bavo.. After him was Lidwin of Arras, who resigned the abbey in 1036. Rumold of Bergues succeeded, who in 1038 is deposed, and in the following year Folbert is ordained. Of the things done in the abbey in the two years of Lidwin's prelacy I likewise find nothing noted elsewhere; but to the times of Rumold belong the things which are subjoined at once in the same place. In the year 1037 Baldwin the Pious, count of Flanders, with Adela his wife, assigned much the most ample possessions to the monastery of St. Bavo of Ghent. Baldwin V, count of Flanders, surnamed the Pious from his divine worship and excellence of manners, called also of Lille from the Flemish city of Lille, which he loved and adorned above the rest, was the son of Baldwin IV, surnamed the Bearded or Fair-Beard, cited in the preceding number: and Adela, his wife, was the daughter of Robert, king of the Franks. But what goods or what possessions they conferred on the Bavonian monastery we do not know; as also the cause why Rumold was deposed from the prelacy and Folbert or Fulbert substituted as abbot.

[94] Of the latter it proceeds thus in Sanderus: In the year 1066 this Folbert made the second translation of St. Bavo, on the seventh day before the Ides of March The translation of the relics is made again;. The writers of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, volume 5, among the Abbots of the monastery of St. Bavo, followed the text of Sanderus: but there is an error, unless I am mistaken, both in the year and in the day of the translation. Certainly in our manuscript account of the translation the year one thousand fifty-eight is expressly marked, and the day the sixth before the Ides of May. As to the year, Oliver agrees in the manuscript Chronicle of Ghent, where these words are read: The second translation of the body of the most blessed Bavo, the most pious protector of this monastery of Ghent, by Baldwin, bishop of Noyon or Tournai, in the time of Folbert, abbot of this said monastery, in the year 1058. Meyer likewise in the Chronicles and Annals of Flanders: 1058. Baldwin, bishop of Noyon, translated the body of the divine Bavo in the monastery of Ghent. Finally the author of the Office to be recited on the feast of the Elevation and Translation of St. Bavo at the 1st day of August, having in lesson 6 thus: In the year of the Lord one thousand fifty-eight, under Baldwin, bishop of Noyon, and Floribert [] the abbot, the relics were again translated into another casket. And the day of the translation noted in our manuscript account is confirmed by the Additions to the Usuardine Martyrology in our Sollerius. For on the sixth day before the Ides, or the 10th day of the month of May, it is read thus in the Brussels codex: At Ghent, of St. Bavo; thus in Greven's edition: The translation of St. Bavo, confessor.*

[95] of this one, which is not mentioned by Mabillon. Mabillon in the Benedictine Annals mentions neither this translation nor that which we showed above to have been made in the year 1010. I did not so much wonder at his silence about the translation of the year 1010, since no mention of it is made in Sanderus either, whom he used very much for the affairs of Ghent: but why he was silent here I did not at once grasp; until at length in the said Annals at the year 1058, num. 26, I came upon these words: In this very year Wichard, abbot of Ganda or of St. Bavo's, departed from the living on the Kalends of April, whose Epitaph Sanderus reports; after him Everlinus ruled the place, and after ten years Folcard. In these I at once detected the cause which I was seeking. Mabillon indeed consulted Sanderus for the affairs of the Bavonian monastery pertaining to these times, but not in its proper place. Sanderus, in book 4 of the Gandavum printed separately, chap. 2, exhibits the series and Lives of the abbots of Blandinium; in chap. 4 of the same book those of the abbots of St. Bavo. He does the same in the Supplement to volume 1 of Flandria illustrata; on page 40 he lists the abbots of Blandinium, and on page 53 those of St. Bavo's. The first place Mabillon seized upon through inadvertence, and Abbot Wichard, whom he read there to have died in the year 1058, he took for a Bavonian, who did not preside over the monastery of St. Bavo, as neither did Everlinus nor Folcard, whom Wichard had as successors at Blandinium. Hence it came about, I think, that, suspecting nothing of his error, Mabillon did not proceed further, and so knew neither Folbert, then really abbot of St. Bavo's, nor the translation of our Saint which he carried out.

[96] is handed down from a Ghent manuscript The account of this we obtained from a small Ghent manuscript, but of how great value it is we do not know, since it bears no note of the time at which it was written or of the author. The prelude, in which the author teaches that formerly, in the year 1010, a translation was made on account of the envy of certain persons who said that blessed Bavo had been taken away by theft or never brought back from Laon, I gave in num. 85; and the account itself is conceived in these words: Afterwards, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand fifty-eight, Folbert being abbot of St. Bavo's, envy grew warm again, rushing into the vice of the first and same falsehood, as though the matter now already proved had been buried in the tomb of oblivion. It seemed good to the aforesaid abbot, on the counsel of the brethren and friends, that the lie should be driven off on the day of the apostles Peter and Paul: so that by opening the bier and holding out the relics to the sight of all the truth itself might be touched. In a matter of so great weight he asks the counsel and favour of help of Count Baldwin, who, circumvented by a counsel of malice, turns the abbot away from the effect of his prayers. The abbot therefore, returning not without grief, sends word to Bishop Baldwin, summons certain chief men of the land. These all, not without the brethren, having been called together on the sixth day before the Ides of May, say nothing better than that the opening of the bier would shut out the ill repute of the lie. The bier is opened by the skill of smiths; the treasure, which envy had reckoned stolen, is shown to all by the bishop: the rejoicing then held the tongue cannot explain: and that this joy might be made more manifest, the Saint is carried again to the hill of the holy Cross, whither he had been carried before, that as it were for the proof of a double testimony he might again be shown there.

[97] the account, Behold, at the very going out from the church, a certain woman of the household of St. Bavo, creeping on stools amid the feet of those treading, stuck to the ground; who, while she could turn in no direction against the feet,

called piously upon the Saint. And the Man of God does not disdain to be present to the tearful petition. The woman, hitherto a servant of lameness, the joints of her legs being loosed, follows the Saint, partly singing, partly weeping, crying aloud well: I am whole. The bier, then, having been carried to the hill of the holy Cross, now of St. Pancras, a preacher of the divine word feeds and refreshes the people concerning the magnificence of God and of His Confessor. And while the treasure of the relics is being opened for greater testimony to those standing round, heaven is opened, and, heaven being opened, the sign of the holy Cross is shown above the bier.

[98] This account is followed by some miracles or prodigies ascribed to the patronage of St. Bavo to which, some things, of which I shall treat after I have observed some things about the account itself. Count Baldwin, mentioned there, is he who in the year 1038 with his royal wife Adela was munificent to the Bavonian monastery, surnamed the Pious and of Lille, and who then, in the year 1067, in the same monastery, with Philip, king of the Franks, whose aunt Adela was, with his wife and his son Baldwin of Mons and the nobles, assisted at the elevation of St. Macarius, having died in the same year. Perhaps he is here said, with a harsher phrase than he deserved, to have been circumvented by a counsel of malice, for no other cause than that he judged the genuineness of the relics of St. Bavo sufficiently proved in the year 1010 and confirmed by miracles, and this translation less necessary for the same end, and therefore did not wish to be present at it. The other Baldwin named in the account was bishop of Noyon and at the same time of Tournai from about the year 1044 to 1068.

[99] And the hill to which the bier was carried to make the public exhibition of the relics having been observed, is called, in the account of the like exhibition made in the year 1010, the Hill surnamed of the Cross; here, of the Holy Cross, now of St. Pancras; in the History of the elevation of St. Macarius just mentioned, in the year 1067, in our volume 1 of April, page 891, only the Hill of St. Pancras; and this Annotation is subjoined from a Flemish little book on the Life of St. Macarius composed by the Rev. Dom Jan Schatteman, pastor at Laerne, a place situated on the extreme borders of the territory of Dendermonde, two leagues from the city of Ghent: St. Pancras is honoured on the 12th of May, whose relics Erembold, afterwards abbot, brought from Rome in the year 985: and I believe they were deposited on this hill, so that from there the sacred pomp of the translation to the monastery might begin, and that from then this name remained to the hill. And the hill is very near the city, about a hundred paces distant from the public road leading to Dendermonde: where down to the present day (the little book was published in the year 1641) there is seen a half-ruined altar, intended for placing the sacred relics (of St. Macarius), while before them a sermon was preached to the people coming every year in procession: which ceased to be done after the destruction of the monastery. And it is established from the instruments by which the place is handed over to be inhabited that it was thence called the Hill of St. Macarius. So much concerning the place where the relics of St. Bavo were exhibited.

[100] Of the prodigy of the sign of the holy Cross appearing above the bier others are silent three by the patronage of St. Bavo, but the author of our account too passed over in silence the things which were probably inserted from other documents in the Office of Ghent at the 1st day of August concerning the relics of St. Bavo then translated into a new casket, for the adorning of which (as follows in the same place) a certain Bruno, eminent in religion and wealth, offered nine and a half marks, besides many other precious gifts and twelve pounds of gold, spent on the goldsmith's skill and labour. This pious liberality of Bruno Sanderus, as we saw before, referred to the year 1012, perhaps less accurately than the author of the Office. Further, to the account of the translation, as I was observing before, some miracles or prodigies attributed to the patronage of our Saint are subjoined in the manuscript copy. But among them there are two, wonderful indeed after a fashion, yet not such that they could not have happened naturally, and the first moreover is clothed with such circumstances as I shall find no way of elucidating. Wherefore, dismissing these, I copy the rest.

[101] the miracles attributed are listed At the very elevation of St. Macharius a certain man, contracted in both feet from the beginning of his birth, betook himself to the merits of the most holy Bavo, where, falling down before the clergy and people, he prayed not without tears the more [] ardently as he laboured above others with the straitness of a long languor. For when the church is illumined with golden brightness, the contracted man is raised from the ground: the miracle seen there by those standing round is spread in several places. For there were many present who had both seen him creeping before, and afterwards for a long time walking freely. The elevation of St. Macarius, at the care of Abbot Siger, successor of the several times named Folbert, was solemnly performed by Baldwin, bishop of the people of Noyon, and Lietbert, bishop of the people of Cambrai, in the year 1067 on the 9th day of the month of May; when at the same time the dedication of the church was made, as the second biographer of St. Macarius teaches at length in volume 1 of April, page 890 and following, and Oliver in these few words in the Chronicle: The elevation of St. Macharius the archbishop, and the dedication of this church of Ghent, the old work having been thrown down and rebuilt in a better state, by Baldwin of Noyon or Tournai and Lethbert of Cambrai or Arras, bishops, in the name of Christ, in honour of all the Saints, in the time of Siger, abbot of this monastery, in the year 1067.* The said 9th day of the month of May they celebrate down to these our times, but under the sole title of the Elevation of St. Macarius, in the cathedral church of Ghent with a greater double Office of the second class.

[102] of which the last happened The second miracle or benefit which I transfer here from our manuscript bears no note of time. Lambert of Cramham, a man hard towards God, unjust towards his neighbour, lifted up his heel against his own head. For, capturing a head-tributary (capite census) of St. Bavo, he subjected him to himself, usurped him for himself: and, fearing lest he should make his foot a fugitive, fettered him like a thief. And the fettered man often cried out: Lord, have mercy, I am not thine, lord, I am St. Bavo's. St. Bavo, whose I am by head, will gather wrath against thee. These and similar things he repeated with weeping. But, what is worse, his words with his tears are subjected to the scurrility of derision. But who that trusts in the Lord is cast behind the back? In broad day the fetter is loosed: the captive meditates flight, and, going out secretly with the whole fetter, runs to the monastery of St. Bavo, and brings his whole mishap to the knowledge of the brethren. Here, as in other documents in Du Cange's Glossary of middle and low Latinity, capite census is the name of a man who paid a tribute annually for his head to the church or to another lord to whom he was bound.

[103] The third runs thus: While the bell-tower of the church of St. Bavo was being built, Lambert the carpenter (worker in wood) showed himself sufficiently serviceable according to the measure of his strength. But when he was passing from the roof into the bell-tower after the prelacy of Abbot Siger, of whose, he fixed an axe in the wood, supported by which he might lean. But the axe slipping from the wood, the wretched man is deceived and falls: and, slipping from so high, fell all the way to the ground, wonderfully not deprived of life. For in the very fall, although he was turning like a wheel, he calls on Bavo for help, and without delay puts his hands to a rope hanging there, and so, relieved a little from misfortune, reaches the ground hard; saved by the favour of him whom he invoked. This event, in which they not undeservedly recognized the help of St. Bavo, seems to be referred to about the year 1138, when the western work of the greater tower of the monastery of Ghent was begun on the first day of March, as is read in Sanderus: therefore long after the prelacy of Abbot Siger, who was voluntarily released from it in the year 1073, after he had caused another church, situated in the same Fortress of Ghent, to be dedicated to our Saint, as is added in the same place: In the year 1072 the parish church situated in the fortress of Ghent, which is commonly called the church of the holy Christ, was dedicated in honour of the holy Cross and of St. Bavo by Radbod, bishop of Noyon, Abbot Siger promoting this.

[104] The same Radbod, second of this name, bishop of Noyon and Tournai a few things are subjoined about his successors., in the following year, when Abbot Siger had not yet abdicated the prelacy, translated the relics of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis in the church of the new castle, which had once been consecrated to both, but afterwards retained the name of St. Pharaildis alone, as we said in the preceding § of this Posthumous Glory, num. 63. Siger was followed by Stephen of Egmond, abbot of the Bavonian monastery, and in the year 1074 — I copy Sanderus again — he translated the relics of divers Saints with his brethren into the aforesaid parish church of the holy Cross and of St. Bavo, and there fittingly placed them in a new shrine prepared for this. Afterwards, in 1076, he is deposed, and Wichmann succeeds, who in the year 1092 is deposed, and Adelard is brought in. Under this one (namely Wichmann, and in the year 1083, as Oliver notes in the Chronicle) the first translation of the relics of St. Levinus, Pancras and Barbara was made. Adelard died in 1099 on the Nones of March. Under him the church of St. James at Ghent began to be founded in 1093. To Adelard was given as successor Wulfric, who in Sanderus, without any declaration of deeds, is said to have died in the year 1131, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of July.

\ Read: usitatorum* (of customary).

\ Perhaps Phalerata eloquentia*?

\ Another reading: Folberto*.

\ tanto* (so much).

§ V. The cult of the Saint from the twelfth century to the fifteenth, and the vicissitudes of his monastery in the sixteenth century.

A few things about the Saint's cult from the 12th century There is no doubt that in the 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th centuries the same honour was paid in the monastery of Ghent to St. Bavo and his sacred remains, the same confidence placed in his patronage, and the same solemnity kept in the festivals as in the preceding centuries. But these centuries open a far more barren field than those for adorning the Posthumous Glory of our Saint; either because in the later centuries everything flowed in so ordinary a course that the authors found very few things to note, or because they were less studious and diligent to transmit each thing to the knowledge of posterity. And I said for adorning the Posthumous Glory of our Saint, to which, as I warned before, I do not think belong the successions of the abbots and the histories of their deeds; the elevations and translations of other Saints in the church of St. Bavo; goods, privileges, prerogatives granted to the same church or monastery or to the abbots by the supreme Pontiffs, emperors, kings and princes, both ecclesiastical and secular, without special mention of cult or veneration towards the Saint or his relics; and finally similar things, which cannot be referred to him except in so far as the monastery with the church was distinguished by his name as founder and chief patron, and for explaining and enlarging which the writers of Belgium, notably Sanderus in his Gandavum and Miraeus in the Opus diplomaticum, would otherwise supply ample matter.

[106] present themselves up to the 15th century, after which These things therefore I dismiss, and exhibit those few pertaining more nearly to the Saint himself. For the twelfth and thirteenth centuries nothing of this kind presents itself: for the fourteenth, first that

which we have already given from Sanderus in the third § of the Posthumous Glory, num. 62, concerning the relics of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis translated into a new case in the year 1336 in the collegiate church of St. Pharaildis; secondly, what the same author relates in these words, book 4, chap. 4: John the second, called de Moro, becomes abbot. He in the year 1345 graciously obtained from Pope Clement wholesome indulgences to be gained on the festivals of SS. Bavo, Livinus, Macarius and Landoald in the aforesaid monastery of Ghent: and Oliver in the Chronicle in these words: Indulgences were granted to this monastery of Ghent on the festivals of Saints Bavo, Macharius, Landoald and Livinus, at the instance and devout supplication of John, the second abbot, by the Lord Pope Clement VI, in the year 1345. For the fifteenth century again nothing; for the beginning of the sixteenth a few things in Sanderus, from which you may understand how preciously adorned the reliquary of St. Bavo then was. It concerns Giles Boele of Dendermonde, abbot of the Bavonian monastery from the year 1507 to 1517, and among other things these are recorded: He also adorned the bier of St. Bavo with gold, and that of St. Macarius with silver. But as we proceed from here and come nearer to our own age, there present themselves in great number changes and alterations of affairs concerning both the monastery of St. Bavo and the sacred remains of our same Saint: of both we shall now treat: the affairs of the monastery we shall dispatch briefly, as far as the abundance of the matter will permit and the plan of our purpose allow; of the relics, as pertaining more nearly to the Posthumous Glory of our Saint, we shall discourse somewhat more at length.

[107] his monastery in the 16th century, The aforesaid Giles Boele, then, had only two successors in the abbatial dignity: in the year 1517 Livinus Hugenoys, and after his death, in the year 1535, Lucas Munich: and under the beginnings of the latter, namely in the year 1536, the most holy Lord Paul III, Supreme Pontiff, at the request of the most serene Charles V, emperor and count of Flanders, converted the abbey into a college of secular canons. The reasons set out to him by the emperor the Pontiff sets first in the Bull, which you have printed entire in Miraeus, volume 2 of the Diplomas, page 1051: That although the monastery of St. Bavo, situated near the town of Ghent, of the Order of St. Benedict, of the diocese of Tournai, immediately subject to the Apostolic See, formerly founded by the aforesaid St. Bavo, count of Hesbaye, and in the course of time endowed by the counts of Flanders, the predecessors of the Emperor and Count Charles himself, is recognized to be notable and distinguished … yet since the said town (which gave birth to the same emperor Charles V) is most distinguished and famous, and the principal and chief of the said county, and in the same town there exists also another wealthy monastery of the same Order, dedicated under the invocation of St. Peter, and no secular cathedral or collegiate church except one only, old and impoverished, under the invocation of St. Pharaildis, … so that at present there is no canon there who can decently support himself from the fruits of his prebend…

[108] at the request of the emperor Charles V, The aforesaid emperor Charles has caused us to be humbly supplicated that in the said monastery of St. Bavo we would deign of Apostolic kindness to suppress and extinguish in perpetuity the name and title of monastery and the abbatial and conventual dignity, and also the aforesaid Order, and every state and every regular dependence, and also each of the offices and monastic portions of this kind, and to erect and institute its aforesaid church as secular and collegiate, as is set forth, and to provide otherwise opportunely in the premises. Thus it would come about that the more happy state of the church of the monastery of St. Bavo of this kind would be provided for, as is set forth, and both it and the town itself would be more adorned and rendered more beautiful, and divine worship in the same church, and the devotion of the faithful of Christ towards it, would be not a little increased, with their spiritual consolation and the salvation of souls.

[109] Then the Pontiff says that he assents to the petition, what is to be observed being observed by the Roman Pontiff into (a college) of secular canons, and ordains among other things that for the abbatial dignity henceforth suppressed there be substituted a provostship; for the priorate a deanship; for the regular provostship a cantorship; for the regular treasurership a secular one; for the provostship in Papingloo a scholastership; and that besides these dignities there be twenty-four canonries and as many prebends for as many canons, who with the provost, dean, etc., shall constitute the chapter of that church: so that the abbot and monks themselves, now regular, shall henceforth be, and be held and reputed as, provost, dean, cantor, treasurer, scholaster and secular canons of that church; and shall henceforth by no means be bound in future to wear the regular habit of the said Order and to observe its regular institutes, definitions, rites and customs, even as regards the celebration of the divine offices, fasts, diet and the use of foods and of garments, and any other things whatever to which they were bound by reason of the said Order or profession. Finally he orders the dignities and canonries thus: And by virtue of these presents the present abbot may retain the secular provostship in place of the suppressed abbatial dignity, and the present prior the deanship, and the present provost the cantorship, and the present regular treasurer the secular treasurership; and also the present provost in Papingloo the scholastership so erected, and each of the aforesaid monks one of the canonries and one of the prebends so erected, without other provision to be made to them of them. The rest of the Bull may be seen in Miraeus at the place cited, as also the Acts of the secularization in the same work, page 1290 and following.

[110] Lucas Munich, then, the last abbot, was made then the first provost of the college of canons, with that jurisdiction, power, authority and pre-eminence is converted into a college,, even as regards the use and exercise of pontificals and the bestowal of solemn benediction, which the abbot had been accustomed to have before, as had been ordained in express words in the aforesaid Pontifical Bull; yet he himself still wrote himself abbot afterwards too. And the church of the monastery thereafter began to be called the collegiate church of St. Bavo of Ghent, the Patron of the monastery, namely, being retained, from whose goods the college of secular canons was founded. Both are clear from the title which, on the testimony of Sanderus, he then ascribed to himself: Lucas, by divine permission abbot of the collegiate church of St. Bavo of Ghent, of the diocese of Tournai, immediately subject to the Roman Church. The testimony of Sanderus is made certain by Lucas himself in his testament, which he made in the year 1560, and from which at the same time we learn that he used the same title up to the end of his life (he died in the year 1560). This testament Cornelius Paulus Hoynck van Papendrecht, archpriest of Mechelen, made public among the Analecta Belgica, volume 1, page 177, and this is its beginning: In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. Since nothing is more certain than death itself, and nothing more uncertain than its hour; We, Lucas Munich, humble abbot of the church of St. Bavo of Ghent, etc.

[111] which then from the site of the monastery But with the death of Lucas the title of abbot was altogether extinguished. In the Analecta just mentioned, at the beginning of volume 1, Jacob Yetzweirtius inscribes some verses to his immediate successor thus: To the most illustrious lord D. Viglius Ayta of Zuichem, provost of St. Bavo's, etc. The same Viglius himself, to omit many other examples, begins his testament in the year 1577 thus, in the same work, page 197: In the name of God. Amen. I, Viglius, called Zuichemus ab Ayta, priest and doctor of both laws, provost of the cathedral church of St. Bavo of Ghent, etc. Yet a new change had been made there before Lucas made his testament, and another again before Viglius composed his. The first Sanderus sets out in few words thus: In the year 1540, on the 12th day of May, the chapter was translated from the former monastery of St. Bavo to the formerly parochial church of St. John, the invocation of St. John having first been changed into the invocation of St. Bavo. A little more broadly Jean-Baptiste Louis de Castillion, then provost of the distinguished collegiate church of St. Pharaildis at St. Nicholas's in Ghent, afterwards bishop of Bruges, in the sacred Chronology of Belgium printed in the year 1719, page 50: For three years this college of canons remained thus in that old place of St. Bavo, situated at the confluence of the Scheldt and the Lys; and since it seemed to Charles V suitable for a citadel to be raised for the guarding of the city, this college was translated thence to the parochial basilica of St. John the Baptist at Ghent, the title of St. John being changed into the title of St. Bavo, by Alexander Cardinal Farnese, legate a latere of our Lord the Pope and of the Apostolic See, according to the letters given by him in 1540 on the fifth day before the Ides of May, and according to the letters of the emperor Charles the Fifth, given at Bruges in the same year 1540 on the 10th day of July.

[112] destined for the building of a citadel The alleged letters of Alexander Cardinal Farnese are extant in Miraeus, volume 2, page 1055, and run thus: Alexander, by divine mercy deacon Cardinal of St. Lawrence in Damaso, called of Farnese, vice-chancellor of the Holy Roman Church, legate a latere of our Lord the Pope and of the Apostolic See to the kingdoms of Spain and France, and also to any other places and provinces whatever to which it may befall us to turn aside, for perpetual memory of the matter. By the office of nunciature enjoined on us by the Apostolic See, we gladly assent to the wishes of emperors and kings, especially those concerning the peace of their dominions and the public and evident utility of their subjects, and we follow them up with opportune favours. Indeed, on the part of the most devoted son of the said See, Charles, emperor of the Romans ever Augustus and Catholic king of the Spains, a petition lately exhibited to us contained: That lately he himself, for keeping the minds of the citizens of the town of Ghent, of the diocese of Tournai, under due fidelity and obedience, and for perpetually fostering and preserving peace and tranquillity between them and the whole fatherland and county of Flanders, of which the same Charles is also count, and impelled by other necessary and most urgent causes moving his mind, began to establish and build one fortified citadel or fortress in the collegiate church of St. Bavo of that town, as the place more suitable for this.

[113] into the church of St. John, And because (as the same statement added) for completing such a citadel or fortress it is necessary to demolish the whole said church, or its greater part, he earnestly asked us that we would deign to suppress altogether the aforesaid collegiate church, and also to transfer it to the parochial church of St. John of the same town, towards which the same emperor Charles bears a singular affection of devotion, and in which he received the sacrament of Baptism, and also to delete from that parochial church the invocation of St. John, and to erect it into a collegiate church under the invocation of the said St. Bavo, and to provide otherwise opportunely in the premises. We therefore, furnished with sufficient faculty for what is written below by letters of the said See (which according to the indult granted us in them we are not bound to insert), inclined to the prayers of the same emperor Charles in this matter, by the Apostolic authority granted and committed to us, which we exercise in this matter, by the tenor of these presents the collegiate church of St. Bavo, and also in the said

parochial church the invocation of St. John, we suppress in perpetuity; and we erect and institute in perpetuity the same parochial church into a collegiate church under the invocation of the said St. Bavo, with chapter, cloister and other collegiate insignia.

[114] And to the same newly erected collegiate church of St. Bavo by the concession of the Apostolic nuncio, we transfer the abbey or principal provostship, and also the other dignities, canonries and prebends, chaplaincies and benefices of the said church to be demolished, with the anniversaries, foundations, provisions, collations, patronage and funeral dues, and other rights, jurisdictions, rents, fruits, revenues and proceeds, and also privileges both personal and real, immunities, exemptions, pre-eminences, honours, franchises and graces, and lamps, bodies of Saints, relics, reliquaries, bells, books, chalices, crosses, ornaments, biers, jewels, and other goods movable and immovable and self-moving, and all these we apply and appropriate in perpetuity to the same newly erected collegiate church. And to the same emperor Charles we grant licence and faculty to demolish the aforesaid collegiate church for the building of the said citadel or fortress, or the part of it necessary, without any scruple of conscience.

[115] And also to the reverend father the bishop of Tournai or his suffragan, or to any other prelate or person constituted in ecclesiastical power, we impart the power of making the translation itself with the solemnities and ceremonies necessary and opportune in similar cases and, the approval of the Roman Pontiff being added, it is transferred,, and customarily employed; notwithstanding Apostolic, and provincial and synodal constitutions and ordinances, and statutes and customs, even strengthened by oath, Apostolic confirmation or any other security whatever, and any other things to the contrary whatever. Given in the said town of Ghent in the year from the Nativity of the Lord 1540, on the fifth day before the Ides of May, in the sixth year of the Pontificate of our most holy Lord Paul, by divine providence Pope, the third. In the same year 1540 Pope Paul, by a Bull issued on the third day before the Nones of December, approved, confirmed and renewed each and every thing done here by Cardinal Alexander. That Bull you may read in Miraeus in the same work, page 1059; but the letters of the Cardinal legate, which are inserted in it almost entire, seemed fit to be copied here, because from them it is clear that in that business of the translation not the least account was taken of the honour and glory of our Saint.

[116] and this church, its title changed, was called St. Bavo's, For since the church of the ancient monastery and recent college of canons, of which St. Bavo had been acknowledged and honoured for so many centuries as founder and primary patron, was then to be destroyed, and accordingly the honour and glory of the same Saint there to be extinguished, we learn from the letters that it was expressly ordained that the parochial church to which the college of canons was to migrate with his sacred body and the other remains of the Saints should not only become collegiate, but should thereafter assume the name and patronage of St. Bavo, the name of the ancient patron St. John the Baptist being suppressed. This decree is repeated likewise in the Pontifical Bull, and was observed in the public instruments and acts. You have an example in the above-cited testament of Lucas Munich, abbot or provost, who in the year 1560, the twentieth from the translation, wrote himself abbot of the collegiate church of St. Bavo of Ghent. The same was observed after the same church was raised into a cathedral, as again is clear from the testament of Viglius ab Ayta, who in the year 1577 named himself provost of the cathedral church of St. Bavo of Ghent. To bring more examples would be superfluous: it will suffice to have said that that usage of naming it under the invocation of our Saint so prevailed that in our age the cathedral church of St. Bavo is most celebrated and best known to all, certainly throughout all Belgium, but many are found who do not know that it was once dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

[117] and made a cathedral, the bishopric of Ghent Further, it was made a cathedral in the erection of the new bishoprics throughout Belgium, when, namely, Paul IV, Supreme Pontiff, at the prayers of Philip II, king of the Spains and lord of the Belgians, instituted the archbishoprics of Mechelen, Cambrai and Utrecht; and the bishoprics of Antwerp, Ghent, Bruges, Ypres, 's-Hertogenbosch and Roermond, suffragans to the archbishop of Mechelen and primate of all Belgium; likewise those of Haarlem, Deventer, Leeuwarden, Groningen and Middelburg, subject to the archbishop of Utrecht; and finally those of Saint-Omer and Namur, which, with the ancient bishoprics of Tournai and Arras, were to have the prelate of Cambrai as metropolitan. The Bull of the aforesaid Pontiff on this general institution and division of the bishoprics, given in the year 1559 on the fourth day before the Ides of May, was printed by Miraeus, volume 1, page 472, and by Arnold Havens, Prior of the Charterhouse of Ghent, in the Work which he wrote on this matter and published in the year 1609 under this title: Commentary on the erection of the new bishoprics in Belgium; whom the curious reader may consult.

[118] For the particular erection of Ghent, however, may be seen the Bull of Pope Pius IV erected with many others throughout Belgium., by which he confirms the erection made by Paul his predecessor, defines the limits of the diocese, designates the endowment for the bishop, and disposes and orders other things bearing on it. It was given in the year 1561 on the seventh day before the Ides of August, and published in volume 5 of the enlarged Gallia Christiana among the Instruments, col. 340. It is also inserted in the Letters of François Richardot, bishop of Arras, by which, as judge and delegated executor, he promulgated it, as may be seen in Miraeus, volume 2, page 1066, in the year 1568, in which same year at length the first prelate of the people of Ghent, Cornelius Jansenius of Hulst, a Fleming, doctor of sacred theology, a man most renowned for learning, writings and piety, was consecrated and took possession of his see. Whoever desires to know more of him and of the succeeding bishops, let him go to the volume 2 of Miraeus just cited, page 1076; to part 2 of the Sacred Chronology of Belgium of Jean-Baptiste Louis de Castillion, page 509; and to volume 5 of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, col. 161, where in ordered series are exhibited the chief deeds and the praises of each down to the year 1716, in which the most illustrious lord Philippe Érard van der Noot held the bishopric, and had held it from the year 1695, paternal uncle of the present most illustrious lord Maximilien Antoine van der Noot.

§ VI. The body of St. Bavo is happily preserved from the fury of the heretics in the year 1566, and afterwards, the same raging again, is lost.

The body of St. Bavo in the year 1566 from the fury of the heretics The body of our Saint, with the rest of the sacred treasure, according to what was said in the preceding §, was carried about the year 1540 from the church of the old monastery, which three years before had been made collegiate, to another, formerly parochial, then also collegiate, now the cathedral of St. Bavo. Here it was kept and held in the great veneration in which it had always been until then, until the year 1566, when on account of the imminent tumults of the heretics it was carried to the new citadel built by the emperor Charles in the place where the monastery had formerly stood. With prudent counsel indeed; since in this very year, in the month of August, the Calvinists of Ghent, as of other cities of Belgium, violated and plundered the churches of the Catholics, the spoliation of sacred things being continued up to the third day, as Famiano Strada relates in the first Decade on the Belgian War, book 5, page 262; and of the church of St. Bavo specifically Sanderus, book 4, chap. 4 of Rerum Gandensium: In the year 1566, on the 22nd day of August, the sectaries of the Calvinist sect, between the eleventh and twelfth hour of the night, entered the church of St. Bavo of Ghent and broke all the images and altars of the said church; on which occasion the bodies of Saints Bavo, Livinus, Chrysogonus, Adrian, Landoald, Macarius, Ida, Barbara, Vinciana, Landrada and Pharaildis were translated from the preceding church into the new castle, built in the time of the emperor Charles V in the domain of St. Bavo, and they were there until the seventh of October in the year 1567, except the body of Blessed Levinus, which was brought in the same year in June on the day before its translation, and they were placed with all reverence in the collegiate church of St. Bavo, to which they belong.

[120] is kept in the castle of Ghent, and afterwards, as the letter After these things Sanderus leaps over to the year 1577, in which he says that Viglius ab Ayta, provost of the chapter, died on the 8th day of May, and closes the affairs, both of the monastery and of the church of St. Bavo, carried down chronologically to that point, with these words: Thus far the Chronicle and its supplement, which the Rev. Dom Gerard de Nebra, canon of the cathedral church of Ghent, a man conspicuous for knowledge of the laws, especially the sacred ones, and for virtue, handed to me. The same author, in book 5, chap. 1, resumes discourse about the cathedral church, and at the end of the said chapter prints the letter which the lord George Chamberlain, in the name of the bishop of Ghent and the canons of St. Bavo, of whom he was dean, gave to the most serene prince Albert, archduke of Austria, concerning the relics preserved in the same church, and in which he first addresses him thus: You have asked, with a religious devotion worthy of the Austrian name, for a Breviary of the sacred treasure of the said church: obeying which, we give to your most serene Highness the names of the Saints whose relics are religiously preserved in the church, formerly regular, now cathedral, of your city of Ghent: we had more, which sacrilegious hands, supported by the calamity of the times and armed by avarice, stole away. Hence, a few things interposed, he proceeds to the enumeration of the sacred bodies then extant there, and to each he joins a eulogy or compendium of the Life of each Saint, in this order: The body of St. Macarius; the body of St. Landoald; the body of St. Brixius; the body of St. Vinciana; the body of St. Pharaildis; the body of St. Landrada. But to these he subjoins: The bodies of Saints Bavo, who before the iconoclasm had been enclosed in a golden bier, and Livinus, and a great part of the body of St. Barbara, were taken away by the fury of the heretics.

[121] the letter to Archduke Albert hints, is lost; that, namely, At this, I confess, I was astonished; and more so when, studiously reading through the rest of the catalogue, in which the lesser relics of the Saints, bones or fragments of bones, are contained, I did not find even the name of those three Saints, and was compelled to conclude thence that, their sacred remains having been so happily withdrawn from the fury of the heretics in the year 1566, on the testimony of Sanderus, the cathedral was afterwards so despoiled that nothing of them worth noting remained before the year 1621, in which the most serene Albert, archduke of Austria and prince of the Belgians, closed his last day. I went therefore first to the other writers on Belgian affairs whom we have, and curiously turned them over, that I might learn at what time so great a loss was inflicted on the said church, and in what manner, most of the other bodies and relics being safe, the two bodies of the primary patrons Bavo and Livinus had perished. They relate that the heretics raged again against the churches of the Catholics at Ghent, that the clergy were driven out, and, as Sanderus also relates in the consular Fasti of Ghent, that many detestable and mournful things happened there in the year 1578; but what relics were lost, which were preserved or how, they do not declare, although it is easy to judge that the discourse in the letter to the archduke cited above is of that disaster.

[122] whatever Raissius objects, from authentic documents, Meanwhile Raissius, in his Belgian Hierogazophylacium, which he published at Douai in the year 1628, many years indeed after that letter was written, and one

at least after he made it public, exhibits on page 85 and following the sacred treasure of the church of St. Bavo as if even then the bodies of SS. Bavo and Livinus were kept in it; since he begins thus: In the cathedral church of St. Bavo of the city of Ghent the bodies of these Saints are laid up: of St. Bavo, patron of the people of Ghent, a most holy and most celebrated confessor; and afterwards mixes in the following: The body, namely, of St. Livinus, bishop and martyr, is laid up. Since I could not reconcile these things with the letter to Archduke Albert, I thought the people of Ghent themselves should be consulted, and asked that, if they had any documents for elucidating this matter, they would deign to communicate them to us, and to inform me of the present state of the relics of St. Bavo (for I knew they had obtained some afterwards). For that business I used the services of the Rev. Fr. Pieter Van Royen, priest of our Society, prefect of the distinguished library of the college of Ghent and professor of sacred theology in the episcopal seminary, who had already before obligingly promised me his help, and had rendered it, and on this occasion too rendered it most obligingly. For he obtained from the reverend and most ample lord Pieter Van Damme, canon and treasurer of the exempt cathedral church of St. Bavo, archivist and secretary of the chapter, and apostolic notary, that he copied from the capitular Acts of the said church various things conducive to our purpose, illustrated them with his own observations, and most kindly took care that they be sent to us with other instruments likewise very useful.

[123] The aforesaid most ample lord takes his beginning from the preservation of the sacred relics asserted in Sanderus in the first calamity by which also the asserted preservation of the body which the church of St. Bavo suffered from the heretics in the year 1566. That, he says, the biers with the enclosed relics of the Saints, notably the bier of St. Bavo, escaped the fury of the Calvinists, when in the year 1566 in the month of August they invaded the church of St. Bavo, overturned the altars and broke the images, is evident. For on account of fear of the iconoclasts they had been translated in good time by the chapter to the new castle and delivered into the keeping of its captain. For in the capitular Acts of the year 1567, on the 17th day of September, in an extraordinary chapter, an enumeration is made of the biers etc. existing in the new castle. The Acts run thus: "The lord Adriaan de Meyer declared that, with the lords Goethals and Erasmus, according to the commission of the lords given to them yesterday in the sacristy, he had been in the new castle to see there delivered or consigned by D. de la Mollier, captain of the said castle, the jewels, precious objects and relics of the same church into the hands of the most noble lord Alonso de Ulloa, commonly called the mgro del campo of the Spanish soldiers, who was henceforth to have the keeping of the said castle, and he received the same into his keeping and trust.

[124] "Following which commission, the said lords its preservation in the castle, and then, on the day of the date of these presents, in a chapter convoked for this purpose, reported that the consignment of the aforesaid precious objects had been made in their presence, there being present there deputies both on the part of the senate of the chamber of Flanders and of the magistrate of the town of Ghent: the same commissioners adding that before the said mgro del campo, by means of their oaths, they declared from their certain knowledge that the same jewels, there visited and inventoried, had belonged and belong to the church of St. Bavo, as they are here inserted. Namely, first the bier of St. Bavo, covered with plates of gold and silver: the bier of St. Barbara, silvered: the bier of the divine Pharaildis, somewhat silvered: likewise seven other linen [] biers, in which are enclosed the relics of Saints Landoald, Macharius, Grisogonus, Adrian, and of Saints Landrada, Vinciana and Ida: likewise two small chests or boxes, in which are laid up some relics of the eleven thousand Virgins: likewise two silvered staves, which the cantors use on the more solemn feasts, and another silvered staff, when it is carried in procession on the greater feasts …"*

[125] the deduction made from it is proved, Omitting the rest, the said most ample lord warns that the bier of St. Livinus is not listed in the instrument, because, as Sanderus also observed above, it had been brought back in the month of June of the same year 1567 to the church of St. Bavo: and this he likewise proves from the capitular Acts. The words can be given at the 12th day of November, when St. Livinus will have to be treated. The rest, so continues the same reverend and most ample lord, named in the inventory above, were brought back on the 7th of October 1567 to the church of St. Bavo, as is clear from the Acts of the 8th of October in an extraordinary chapter, where it is said: "In this chapter extraordinarily convoked, D. Clemens proposed concerning the relics carried out of the castle yesterday, that they should be placed [] elsewhere honourably and safely: and it pleased the lords that those relics and biers which are wont to be placed behind the high altar should be placed on the rood-loft, so that they can be seen in some manner, but that the other more precious biers, namely of Bavo and Barbara, should be carried to the choir, and that a Mass be said under the rite of a greater double, since it is the Octave of Bavo, singing the Mass which is sung on the 12th of May of the translation of the Saints, with due ringing."*

[126] was in the year 1578 first under a specious After these things, by which the assertions in Sanderus about the sacred remains preserved in the years 1566 and 1567 are most solidly proved, the often-cited most ample lord proceeds to the year 1578, and shows that what is related in the letter to the most serene Archduke Albert concerning the bodies of SS. Bavo and Livinus and the relics of St. Barbara afterwards taken away is likewise more certain than were to be wished, and that the hope which the words of Arnold Raissius hold out is vain. But, he says, the church of St. Bavo felt another and far sadder fury of the Calvinists in the year 1578, when the bodies of Saints Bavo and Livinus and a great part of the body of St. Barbara were taken away and lost by the fury of the heretics. Here he cites first a book, written in Flemish, whose title is: Affairs of Ghent, or Chronicle of the tumults and heresies in and around the city of Ghent from the year 1566 to 1584. It is divided into two parts and has this in Flemish, part 2, page 8: On the 22nd (of February 1578) they carried out of the church the cases of the relics of Bavo, of St. Livinus, of St. Barbara, and of the head of St. John the Baptist, with other treasures, putting them contemptuously on a wagon, and leaving nothing in the church except a silver censer and some chalices for celebrating Mass; and these indeed were entered in the list of things found.

[127] pretext taken away, and then For the understanding of these things it is to be noted that, as Fr. Bernard de Jonge relates from the register of his convent of Ghent in the Belgium Dominicanum, or History of the Order of Preachers in Belgium, page 54, when at that time the Spanish soldiers had left these regions, those in whose hands was the supreme power over Belgian affairs let in the soldiers of the opposing party, and a little after (the words are copied from the register) under the pretext of paying the soldiers hired for the common safety of the fatherland (for so they spoke), they first laid sacrilegious hands on the treasures of the church, and that through certain commissioners, as they call them, deputed by the magistrate for this, and, lest so wicked a thing should lack a specious title, the gifts or jewels of the aforesaid church were received under the valuation of goldsmiths and at the price of their weight, with a promise of their restitution, or even of greater, after the storms raised should calm down.

[128] By this same way, by this fraud, the bodies of SS. Bavo and Livinus and the bones of St. Barbara came into the hands of the heretics by the chapter, whatever diligence being used,, as being enclosed in more precious cases than the other relics of the cathedral church, as is made manifest by what the reverend and most ample D. van Damme at once subjoins to the words taken from the Flemish little book; whom I continue to copy: And in the capitular Acts, so he says, on the last day of February 1578, at matins, the following are found: "The lords the treasurer Zelandre, the receiver of the fabric Vale, and also two masters of the secular fabric, the gentleman Pieter Courtewiele and Hendrik Soete, were deputed to betake themselves to the town hall, to see the gold and silver taken off and removed from the precious furnishings and jewels of this church, carried and transferred thither a few days ago from this church on the part of the magistrate, and also to recover the relics and pledges of the Saints, and to receive them from those who took them away." On the same last day of February 1578, an ordinary chapter having been convoked, "the lords the treasurer and Zelandre, having returned from the town hall with the other co-deputies before the end of this chapter, reported to the chapter that they had been present where the silver and silver-gilt was taken off the jewels of this church and afterwards weighed according to the inventory made thereupon and signed by Sanders. Of which, that I should make an authentic copy was enjoined on me by the chapter, and that I should afterwards have it laid up in the chapter's chest. Declaring that they had further understood from the Eighteen Men that the biers of Saints Livinus and Bavo were still untouched; the relics found in the said jewels they brought back, and the chapter delivered them to the lord Adriaan Vale, receiver of the fabric, to be reverently kept."

[129] Then on the 20th day of March 1578, in an ordinary chapter, among other things is found it is established that it could not be recovered.: "Since the chapter understands that on the part of the magistrate or of the Eighteen Men there have been deputed Bussaert van Hembyze, Nicolaas Sersanders and Lieven d'Herdde to treat concerning the restitution of the biers of Saints Livinus, Bavo and Barbara, from which the gold and silver is said to have been taken away and stripped off: Therefore on the part of the chapter the lords archpriest Zelandre and Vale have been commissioned to recover the sacred relics of the said Saints, and to treat with the same deputies whatever things are necessary to be done in the premises." From the 20th day of March to the 23rd of August no further mention is made of the biers or relics; on which day, after the Acts, it is noted in the register: "Here it is to be noted that our college was dispersed on the 24th day (has the month dropped out?) of the year of the Lord 1578; when (alas!) our church, the primary one in this city, was taken from our college, the images in it thrown down, the altars overturned, etc., both by the violent hand of wicked and abandoned heretical men." From this time until the year 1584 the chapter was dispersed and there are no capitular resolutions. After the reconciliation of the city of Ghent with the king of Spain and the restoration of the Catholic religion, the canons, having returned from their exile, began to treat of recovering the relics, and deputed to the magistrate for that end, and made many inquiries and searches; but (as is clear from the Acts) all in vain; and of the relics of Saints Livinus, Bavo and Barbara they recovered nothing.

\ Perhaps lignea* (wooden).

\ reponendis*.

§ VII. The relics of St. Bavo still surviving at Ghent in the year 1594 are increased by others received from elsewhere, and especially from Oudenaarde.

The scanty relics of St. Bavo at Ghent in the year 1594 From what was related in the preceding § from the letter to Archduke Albert, and confirmed from the documents sent to us by the often-cited most ample lord Van Damme, we

had compelled to conclude that at the beginning of the 17th century there were either no relics of St. Bavo, or certainly none of much note, in the cathedral church of Ghent, especially since no mention of them was made in the list inserted in the said letter. Yet that at least a few or small ones existed there in the year 1594, and that others too, probably not more notable, were then added to them, the same most ample lord teaches us in the following words: "In the capitular Acts of the 23rd of September 1594 is found:" The lord Dean exhibited to the chapter certain relics of St. Bavo, found in a certain bier of St. Lawrence, of the parochial church of Upper Eename, and that with the knowledge and licence of the rural dean of that district; considering that very few relics of the same holy Patron of the church remained here, the lords, receiving them with thanksgiving, concluded that a small casket should be made, in which they might be enclosed to be set before the people. In what manner those former ones escaped the fury of the heretics, or by what way or at what time the others came to Einhamum, is unknown to us. Further, Einhamum, by others Enamum, Eenhamum and Eenamia, was formerly a town and fortified castle, and is now a village with a distinguished abbey of the Order of St. Benedict, situated on the river Scheldt near Oudenaarde, a town of Flanders, and its parish church has St. Lawrence as patron. See more in Sanderus, volume 2 of Flandria illustrata, page 514.

[131] surviving, are increased, especially by those received from Oudenaarde, After the letter to the archduke was written, the relics of our Saint in the cathedral of Ghent were gradually increased by the accession of other parts. And first indeed in the year 1637, when three parts of them were received in the just-named town of Oudenaarde and carried to Ghent, as our Predecessors noted in the Preliminary Commentary to the Acts of St. Macarius of Antioch, volume 1 of April, page 895. This they had learned from the little book which D. Jan Schatteman, pastor in Laerne, a place of the diocese of Ghent, composed in Flemish on the Life of the same St. Macarius and printed in the year 1640, and whose very words I render from Flemish into Latin: When by a wonderful chance relics of St. Bavo the confessor had been found in the church of St. Mary the Virgin of Pamele within the town of Oudenaarde, the venerable lords of the cathedral church of St. Bavo of Ghent, by the kindness of the very Rev. D. Hugues d'Enghien, abbot of Eename and patron of the aforesaid church of Pamele, obtained three parts of the aforenamed relics of St. Bavo, which, accepting them with all veneration, they solemnly received on the 29th day of March in the year 1637. To these is added that on the following day the most reverend lord D. Antoine Triest, bishop of the people of Ghent, in thanksgiving gave to master Nicolaas Outschoorn two notable parts of the body of St. Macarius, one for the church of the abbey of Eename, the other for the church of Pamele, in which this part, received by the people of Oudenaarde with the greatest pomp, was placed on the principal altar beside the relics of St. Bavo.

[132] To me reading these things there came a desire to learn more which, when they came to Oudenaarde,, namely for how long a time the relics of St. Bavo had lain hidden at Oudenaarde, and by what chance they had at length been found. The desire again, as far as he could, the most ample D. van Damme satisfied, writing back thus: The relics of St. Bavo seem to have come to the parochial church of Pamele at Oudenaarde about the year 1422. For so the little papers found in ostrich eggs seem to signify, of which mention is made in the original consultation of the doctors of Douai, of which a copy is inserted here: The Case. "In the parochial church of Blessed Mary of Pamele in the city of Oudenaarde there were two ostrich eggs, from time immemorial placed on the altars on the greater feasts, and also, before the troubles, wont to be carried round in processions by the deacon and subdeacon: of which one was lately broken by chance, and relics enclosed in it were found with little papers attached and an inscription, namely this: Of St. Bavo, and again another: In the year 1422; which gave occasion to open the other, in which similar relics and inscriptions were found. It is asked whether these relics ought and can be held as genuine.

[133] "This case having been seen and well examined whether they ought to be held as genuine relics,, it seemed to the undersigned that these relics about which the question is can and ought to be held as genuine: since they have been held as such for two hundred years and more; and accordingly are not to be counted among new relics, concerning which the Council of Trent, session XXV, ordained that new relics are not to be received unless the bishop recognizes and approves them. Azor agrees, part 1 of the Moral Institutions, book IX, chap. VIII, question VIII, saying: If some relics of someone who has long since been enrolled in the catalogue of the Saints are found anew, they can be honoured even publicly, but only after the bishop has first recognized and approved them. So it was seen and deliberated, saving a better judgement, on this 9th day of October 1635 at Douai. And it was signed: George Colvenerius, doctor of sacred theology and royal and ordinary professor; François Sylvius, doctor of sacred theology and royal and ordinary professor; Theodore van Couverden, doctor of sacred theology and royal and ordinary professor; Valentin Randour, doctor of sacred theology and royal and ordinary professor." This resolution having been seen, the bishop of Ghent wished to be informed about the cult: and to that end gave a commission to the rural dean of the district of Oudenaarde and to the pastor of Pamele, that they should take information thereupon, etc.; as will be more clearly apparent from the subjoined copy, whose original is preserved in the archive of the chapter.

[134] The instrument he cites is again drawn up in Flemish, and does not easily admit a strict Latin version [and whether the eggs in which they were enclosed (were honoured) as cases of sacred relics]; wherefore it will suffice to have exhibited its sense here. On the 22nd day of August 1636 Pieter Ramaert, priest; Jan Moreels, priest; Joris Rombaut; Willem Voet; Joris vande Woestynen; Joost vanden Hende, son of Andries; Simon Dilbael; Jan Robyns the elder; Jan de Bie; Lodewijk vanden Perre; Jacob van Heelant and Daniel van Coppenol, the elders and more honourable men of Pamele, presented themselves before the lords Lodewijk vanden Berghe, rural dean of Oudenaarde, and Nicolaas Outhoorn, parish priest of Pamele, and before them, as deputies of the most reverend lord bishop of Ghent, being asked, affirmed, and testified with the subscription of their own hand, that two ostrich eggs, covered with silver and belonging to the church of Pamele, had from ancient times been held and honoured as sacred relics, or as cases of sacred relics; placed on the altars, and in public processions or supplications carried and borne round by the deacon, subdeacon or at least by men clad in the cope, and that they had seen these things with their own eyes.

[135] were honoured of old, (this) having been examined, After the subscriptions of all follows the testimony of the bishop's deputies themselves, declaring and affirming on the said day and year that the same things as those named above had testified had also been testified before them by the lord Sebastiaan van Opstalle, about eighty-six years of age, an honourable and pious man, who from his youth had lived with the lord parish priest of Pamele, his brother; that he testified these things, I say, when he was disposing himself for a happy death, which he met on the third day after. The whole instrument is finally closed with the subscriptions of Lodewijk vanden Berghe and N. P. Outhoorn. Then the reverend and most ample lord canon van Damme proceeds thus: The rest concerning the manner in which the relics of St. Bavo were found at Oudenaarde, and how they came to the cathedral church of Ghent, is otherwise clear from the authentic copy which the pastor of Pamele made in the year 1740 from the Memorandum shown him by the dean of the district of Oudenaarde, a copy of which is joined here. To the said Memorandum, or Description of the whole transaction, this title is prefixed: The bringing in of the holy relics of St. Macharius, bishop and confessor, to the parochial church of Blessed Mary of Pamele in the city of Oudenaarde. But its first part, which alone, copied by an apostolic notary, the same most ample lord sent us, concerns chiefly the relics of St. Bavo.

[136] the manner also in which they were found, It runs thus: Wonderful indeed is God in His Saints, which although it could be shown in divers ways; yet, as is plain to the eye, it can be shown on the occasion of the aforesaid bringing in: the case follows: In the aforesaid parochial church there were two ostrich eggs, encircled with silver bands, and wont to be carried round in processions; of which one (God so disposing) broken by chance, laid open the enclosed treasure, and brought to light a little bag covered with tawny fine linen, in which certain relics were enclosed with a certain memorandum of this tenor: Of St. Bavo; which gave cause to open the other egg, in which was a similar little bag, one in size and colour, of the same fine linen, with a certain little paper of this tenor: In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and twelve. Thence indeed a dispute arose between the cathedral church of St. Bavo in the city of Ghent and the aforesaid parochial church of Pamele, which was at length settled on these conditions; namely that the provost, dean and chapter of the aforesaid cathedral church should receive from the hands of the pastor of Pamele three notable parts of the relics of St. Bavo, and in their place should deliver to the same pastor a notable part of the relics of St. Macharius; which contract was indeed so entered into between the deputies of the cathedral church and the pastor of Pamele in the presence of the very Rev. lord Hugues d'Enghien, abbot of the exempt monastery of St. Saviour of Eename of St. Benedict, as patron of the aforesaid parochial church, and that on the nineteenth of February of the thirty-seventh year above the one thousand six hundredth.

[137] And the delivery was made in this manner: Master Nicolaas Authoren, Bachelor of Sacred Theology and then delivered to the people of Ghent, pastor of Pamele, having with him as deputy on the part of the aforesaid abbot the noble and venerable man Pierre Ernest Garnier, provost of Eename, set out on the 29th of March of the aforesaid year, riding in a carriage, with the relics of St. Bavo enclosed in a well-adorned case, which he had caused to be made for receiving at Ghent the relics of St. Macharius, and brought them in the company of two notables to the monastery of the Friars Minor Recollects in the city of Ghent, and a little after delivered them to the most illustrious and most reverend lord Antoine Triest, bishop of Ghent, and also to the venerable men and lords the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of St. Bavo of Ghent, who caused them to be carried with the greatest concourse of the people by the Recollect fathers, the chapter going before in procession, and the most reverend Lord following in his habit, as far as the entrance of the aforesaid cathedral church, where, the procession halting somewhat, the aforesaid most reverend lord and the reverend lord dean of the aforesaid church carried the aforesaid relics, enclosed in the adorned case, on their shoulders up to the high altar, and placed them on it, the choir meanwhile beginning and completing the solemn chant of the Te Deum laudamus; and that finished, a collect being sung by the most reverend lord, upon whose completion the trumpeters of the city of Ghent at once sounded their trumpets, as they had also done at the reception at the Recollect fathers', the greater bells in the tower meanwhile ringing in sign of gladness.

[138] This indeed having been done, on the following day, which

was the thirtieth of March were, is set forth from a contemporary writer,, the same pastor with his companions received a notable part of the relics of St. Macharius for his church, and another for the abbatial church of Eename, from the hands of the most illustrious and most reverend lord bishop aforesaid, in the presence of the noble and venerable men … [] de Gistel, dean and canon, and also … [] van de Woestyne, treasurer and canon of the aforesaid cathedral church of St. Bavo, to be carried to Oudenaarde and placed in the church of Blessed Mary of Pamele, which was done in this manner and order, as follows, etc., etc. Here our copy ends: but he who made it warns that below is found: These things, to the greater glory of God and the honour of St. Macharius, bishop and confessor, particular patron against mortality, I have copied word for word from the Memorandum shown me by the dean of our district of Oudenaarde, this 4th of May 1740, and in truth of concordance I sign (and it was signed) A. Tollenaers, pastor of this parochial church for more than 25 years, S.T.B.F. Finally is subjoined: It agrees with its original, which I attest, P. Van Damme, apostolic notary.

[139] I would not deny that the account from which this fragment was taken was drawn up not long after the relics of St. Bavo had been carried from Oudenaarde to Ghent who, although in some things which, and the relics of St. Macarius from Ghent to Oudenaarde, and by a man who perhaps was present at the translations themselves, and who deposited it with the rural dean of the district of Oudenaarde, so that it might be established for posterity whence and how the church of Pamele had obtained especially the relics of St. Macarius. For what he noted concerning the translations and their circumstances is accurate enough. Yet he does not seem to have been so well informed about the circumstances of the finding of the relics of St. Bavo. Certainly what he relates about the little papers found beside the relics does not agree with the Statement of the case made to the doctors of sacred Theology of the university of Douai on the 9th of October 1635 by the lord Outshoorn himself, parish priest of Pamele, as is expressly asserted in the cited Flemish instrument of the year 1636 concerning the hearing of witnesses on the ancient cult. For in the Statement of the case the little papers are said to have been inscribed: In the year 1422; in the fragment of the Account: In the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and twelve. Again, in the Statement of the case two little papers are said to have been found in each egg, of which one contained the name of the Saint, the other the year; but in the fragment of the Account only one little paper is said to have been found in each egg, so that the little paper of the first egg, broken by chance, indicated only the Saint, that of the other only the year.

[140] concern the finding of the relics of St. Bavo, The first discrepancy, although not slight, can be attributed to copyists, who carelessly expressed in words the year marked with arithmetical figures, or the reverse. But the second is such that it must be judged that one or the other author erred. Far greater probability and authority stand for the truth of the Statement of the case. For, first, those who once enclosed the relics in the eggs would have proceeded less cautiously if they had written the name of the Saint on one only; since, that one being lost or stolen away, it could never have been known whose Saint's relics lay hidden in the other, as in fact it seems to have been unknown until one was broken by chance and the little paper disclosed the name of the Saint. Secondly, because no one ought to have known the circumstances of the finding better than he who stated the case, the parish priest of the church of Pamele, and who could not without enormous rashness and fraud have asserted that two little papers were found in each egg unless it had been certainly established to him; for such an alteration of the circumstances would have notably altered the case itself, at least for the relics contained in that egg in which the name of the Saint had not been found.

[141] errs in the circumstances, yet in the manner But an honourable man, a priest, the parish priest of the place, who, as the whole history of the affair indicates, sought the resolution of the case from the doctors of Douai only out of pious and laudable caution, and whom the most illustrious bishop of the people of Ghent himself willed to be his deputy in receiving the testimonies of others concerning the ancient cult of the relics; such a man, I say, it would be wrong to hold suspect of rashness and fraud without a testimony beyond all exception. And testimony of this kind cannot be furnished by the Memorandum or account of which I have brought forward a fragment; being an instrument without note of time, and certainly later than the Statement of the case, without the name of an author, without other authority than that of another parish priest, who testifies that he copied it word for word in the year 1740, that is, a whole century after the thing was done, and of the Apostolic notary, who professes that, a collation having been made, our copy of the fragment agrees with it, or has been faithfully taken from it. Moreover its author seems to have recorded the finding of the relics of St. Bavo only to pave the way for narrating the coming of the relics of St. Macarius to the church of Pamele, which he had undertaken of set purpose to describe, as is clear from the title and the closing clause; hence it is not strange if anywhere, less informed or less solicitous about the circumstances of the finding, he went astray. In the rest, however, that he was accurate enough will be clear from the following instrument.

[142] by which he narrates that they were delivered to the people of Ghent, Antoine Triest, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Ghent, the provost, dean and chapter of the cathedral church of St. Bavo of Ghent, to each and all who shall see, read or hear read these presents, eternal salvation in the Lord. We make known that, when with the consent of the Rev. lord Hugues d'Enghien, abbot of the exempt monastery of St. Saviour of Eename, from the lord Nicolaas Outshorn, pastor of Pamele in the town of Oudenaarde of this diocese of Ghent, three sacred bones of the body of St. Bavo our patron, exposed from time immemorial to the cult of the faithful in the church of Pamele, which is of the patronage of the aforesaid lord abbot, and wont to be carried round in processions, had on the twenty-ninth day of the month of March of this year one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven, the same day being Passion Sunday, been translated by us to our church from the church of the Friars Minor Recollects of this city of Ghent, whither they had been brought from Oudenaarde by the Rev. lord Pierre Ernest Garnier, provost of the aforesaid monastery of Eename, and the aforesaid lord pastor, we, by way of gratitude, have given a part of a bone of the sacred body of St. Macharius, bishop and confessor, preserved in our church, taken for us from the reliquary of the same Saint, we being gathered in chapter, to the lord Pierre Ernest Garnier, provost of the same abbey, so that he might consign it into the hands of the aforesaid lord abbot of Eename and it might be exposed there to the veneration of any of the faithful against the scourge of the plague.

[143] And that the truth of all these things might be established for all future times he is shown to be accurate., we have given these presents, fortified with our seals, at Ghent in the chapter house, in the year of the Lord one thousand six hundred and thirty-seven, on the thirtieth day of the month of March (and it was signed) Antoine, bishop of Ghent; and upon the fold: By mandate of the most reverend and the very reverend lords, Guyart, with his hand-sign. And there hung two seals with parchment tags, impressed in red wax, the first of the most reverend lord Triest, and the other of the aforesaid chapter of St. Bavo. A collation having been made with the original, this copy agrees word for word; which I attest (signed) P. van Damme, priest, apostolic notary. In the margin of this letter the very often cited lord canon van Damme noted these words: The original is preserved in the abbey of Eename in the reliquary of St. Macharius. Hence it is gathered why no mention is made in it of the relics of St. Macarius given at the same time to D. Outshoorn for the church of St. Mary of Pamele, for which beyond doubt similar letters were also drawn up separately.

\* Francis.

\* Maximilian.

§ VIII. The present cult of St. Bavo at Ghent, and the state of his relics in the past and present century.

Of the relics of St. Bavo For this § too the cited lord Canon supplies a great many things in his documents. All the things having been done, he says, which are narrated in the said Memorandum (see num. 136, 137 and 138), on the 29th day of September 1638, in an extraordinary chapter, "the most reverend lord presiding, after High Mass the small reliquary of the relics of St. Bavo was solemnly closed, in which is enclosed the cowl of the same Saint, taken out of the reliquary of the relics of St. Pharaildis, likewise one small bone with a tooth, taken out of the round glass vessel which was wont to be carried round in processions; likewise three other bones of the same Saint, from the church of Pamele at Oudenaarde." Besides the aforenamed relics, enclosed in the silver small reliquary, in the year 1649 the cathedral chapter of Bruges gave as a gift to the cathedral chapter of St. Bavo of Ghent a tooth of the same St. Bavo.

[145] in the 17th century, There is in the archive a simple copy of that donation of the following tenor: "We, the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of St. Donatian of Bruges, make known that a round ivory pyx together with a smaller square box of gilded copper was this day found among other relics in the reliquary or bier of St. Machutus preserved in our aforesaid church, and opened by the most reverend lord Triest, formerly bishop of Bruges, now of Ghent, by our previous resolution; and that in the same smaller square box was found a tooth, wrapped in fine linen, with this inscription: Tooth of St. Bavo; which sacred tooth, at the instance of the aforesaid most reverend lord bishop, and also of the very reverend lords the Provost, dean and chapter of the cathedral church of St. Bavo of Ghent, we have given and give by these presents to the same cathedral church of St. Bavo by way of gratitude and for the strengthening of mutual confraternity. In faith whereof we have caused these presents to be fortified with our seal and the signature of the secretary, in the year 1649, on the fifteenth day of the month of October. Signed by mandate of the very reverend lords the dean and chapter of the aforesaid cathedral church of Bruges, H. Waghenaers, secretary." Besides the aforesaid acts of donation, in the capitular Acts at the second day of May, in an extraordinary chapter under oath, the following are read: "The lord dean declared that he had received from the most reverend lord the tooth of St. Bavo given to this church by the very reverend lords the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of St. Donatian of Bruges, and also a notable part of the relics of the same St. Donatian given by the aforesaid chapter to the most illustrious lord, which he himself has bestowed on this church; and the lords accepted them with thanksgiving, etc."

[146] in the 18th century begun Finally, in the year 1719, to the aforesaid relics was added another tooth of St. Bavo, as is clear from the letter given thereupon by the most illustrious and most reverend lord Philippe Érard, an authentic copy of which is joined to these. "Philippe Érard van der Noot, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Ghent, to all who shall see these, salvation in the Lord. We make known and testify by these presents that we have opened a small leaden casket duly closed and sealed with the seal of the most illustrious and most reverend lord Jacques Boonen, formerly bishop of Ghent, and before this taken from the high altar of the choir of our cathedral church of St. Bavo, and in the same we have found, according to his letter, enclosed in the said casket

with three grains of incense according to the Roman Pontifical, relics or four teeth, namely of SS. Bavo, Stephen and Remigius, confessors and martyr, and that without sign of distinction, wrapped in a silk cloth of red colour with an inscription on parchment, when the aforesaid most illustrious D. Jacques Boonen consecrated the said altar on the 11th of February 1617. In which casket we have again enclosed the same relics and teeth with the same letters, inscription and grains of incense, and have fortified it with our seal impressed in red Spanish wax, and have sealed it, with faculty to place it in the silver reliquary of the same cathedral church in which other relics of St. Bavo are laid up, and at the same time to expose it with the others to the public veneration of the faithful, to the greater glory and honour of almighty God and the veneration and cult of the same St. Bavo. Given at Ghent in the episcopal palace under our seal and signature, in the year of the Lord one thousand seven hundred and nineteen, on the twenty-seventh day of the month of October (signed) P. E., bishop of Ghent. (And below) By mandate of my most illustrious and most reverend lord the aforesaid bishop, J. B. du Chesne, secretary. It agrees with its original, which I attest (signed) P. Van Damme, apostolic notary."

[147] And the present state of the relics of St. Bavo in the cathedral church of Ghent is this and until now: In the great silver bier with the inscription "St. Bavo, confessor" there are still today the same relics which the most illustrious and most reverend D. Antoine Triest, bishop of Ghent, placed in it in the year 1638, namely: the cowl of St. Bavo, one small bone with a tooth, and three bones of the same Saint brought from the church of Pamele at Oudenaarde; to which in the year 1719 was added the small leaden casket containing four teeth of SS. Bavo, Stephen and Remigius, confessors and martyr, yet without sign of distinction. In the round glass vessel which is wont to be carried round in processions, from which in the year 1638 the small bone with the tooth are said to have been taken out, is placed the tooth of St. Bavo which the cathedral chapter of Bruges gave by way of gratitude to the cathedral chapter of Ghent in the year 1649.

[148] The great silver bier containing the relics of St. Bavo, and three other silver biers the state (of the relics) now advanced,, of the same form and size, containing relics of other Saints, are exposed in the choir on the high altar to the veneration of the faithful on all the more solemn feasts, or feasts on which the bishop performs the office. The bier of the relics of St. Bavo alone is exposed, as above, on the days within the Octave and on the octave day of the deposition of the same Saint. The round glass vessel containing the tooth of St. Bavo is carried round in processions on the 1st day of August, when the feast of the elevation is celebrated, and on the 1st of October, the feast of the deposition of St. Bavo, when the bishop does not perform the office. Thus far the Reverend and most ample lord Van Damme, who then instructs us, with documents added too, concerning a sacred bone of our Saint once granted by the lords canons of the church of Ghent to the church of Haarlem in Holland: but these we shall use after we have finished what remains to be said about the relics and present cult of St. Bavo in the city of Ghent.

[149] to which a few things about the relics of St. Pharaildis We treated above of the relics of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis granted in the tenth century to the collegiate church which was founded in honour of both, and was afterwards accustomed to be called by the name of St. Pharaildis alone; and we gave from Sanderus two translations of the same relics, one made in the eleventh century, the other in the fourteenth. The same relics are also mentioned in the Office of St. Pharaildis which the cathedral church of Ghent uses at the 4th day of January, although in the year 1661, in which our more recent copy of the Office was printed, the said relics of St. Pharaildis had already been lost for almost a whole century, and probably those of St. Bavo too. The first is plainly affirmed by the most illustrious de Castillion in the sacred Chronology of Belgium, which, being then provost of the collegiate church of St. Pharaildis, he composed and published at the press of Ghent in the year 1719: where, treating the affairs of the said church much more fully than those of any other, he speaks of the reliquary of St. Pharaildis in this manner, page 73: This and other silver and gilded reliquaries, in which great relics of the Saints were laid up, and the precious furnishings, the sacrilegious hands of the Calvinists and iconoclasts stole away when Belgium was in tumult in the year 1566 about the 20th day of August; and so the chapter remained despoiled of the relics of its patroness until Charles Maes, bishop of Ghent, in the year 1611, at the petition of the chapter, presented it with a new particle taken from the cathedral.

[150] and (things) noted of St. Bavo are added. And I said that with the former relics of St. Pharaildis those of St. Bavo too probably perished, first because the words of the most illustrious man in some manner indicate that all the reliquaries of the Saints of the said church in general were stolen by the heretics. Secondly because the relics of SS. Bavo and Pharaildis of which the discourse is here were contained in the same case in the year 1336, in which, if Sanderus writes rightly from his Chronicle, their last translation was made. I repeat the words: In the year 1336 also the portions of the relics of St. Bavo and Pharaildis in the church of the new Castle … were translated from the old shrine into a new one by the venerable father lord Andrew, bishop of Tournai, etc. If, I say, Sanderus writes rightly; for the aforesaid de Castillion, page 72, exhibits from the autograph the letter of Bishop Andrew himself, in which the translation is fixed in the year of the Lord one thousand three hundred thirty-seven on the seventh day of the month of October, and mention is made of the bones of St. Pharaildis alone, as follows: The bones of the most blessed Pharaildis, virgin of Christ, we have translated or transferred from a certain old reliquary into this new reliquary or case. The phrases from the old shrine into a new one and from an old reliquary into a new one leave no doubt that the same translation is treated in both places, and that in one or the other place the year was marked faultily, more probably in Sanderus's Chronicle, where 1336 was set down or copied for 1337. And the reason why in the letter of the bishop of Tournai St. Pharaildis alone is mentioned was perhaps that for the relics of St. Bavo, although laid up in the same reliquary, a separate letter was also drawn up, which perished together with the relics.

[151] The festival of St. Bavo among the people of Ghent is double, Of the annual festivals of our Saint among the people of Ghent the reader could already have learned much from what was said before. The Directory of the canonical hours, containing the proper Offices etc. of the exempt cathedral church of St. Bavo of Ghent for the year of the Lord 1761, declares the present rite of celebrating these festivals with abbreviated forms of these words. At the first of October: The Deposition of St. Bavo, confessor, principal double of the first class. Office of the most illustrious lord bishop: and exactly the same at the first of August, on which the feast of the Elevation and Translation of the same Saint is kept. Yet there is this difference between the two festivals: the Deposition is celebrated through the octave, not so the Elevation. We have two Propers of the said cathedral church of Ghent, in which the Offices for each festival are inserted. The first was printed at Ghent in the year 1572, the other, but altered and brought into better order, at Antwerp in 1661.

[152] In the former, the Office to be read on the first day of October and through the Octave the old ecclesiastical Office, has almost everything proper, that is, antiphons, hymns, versicles and responsories, and most taken from the Acts or accommodated to them. The lessons of the feast for the first Nocturn are taken from the Book of Wisdom: Justus si. Those of the second Nocturn are a compendium of the Life of St. Bavo up to his last illness. Those of the third from the Homily of St. Gregory the Pope on the Gospel: If any man come to me, and hate not his father, as in the Common of one martyr. Through the Octave, however, the lessons of the first Nocturn are noted to be taken from the occurring Scripture; those of the second contain the death of the Saint and the translations of the relics, and other things pertaining to the Posthumous Glory, and more fully discussed here by us. In the third Nocturn, finally, the said Homily of St. Gregory the Pope is continued. The Prayer is this: Grant, we beseech thee, almighty God, that the examples of blessed Bavo thy confessor may call us to a better life; so that we may also imitate the acts of him whose solemnity we keep. Through our Lord. At the first day of August the same Office, a few things excepted, is prescribed as on the first of October; and the lessons of the second Nocturn exhibit the history of the Elevation and Translations of the relics. Those of the third Nocturn are drawn from the Homily of the venerable Bede the priest on the Gospel: Behold, we have left all things.

[153] In the more recently printed Proper, which the cathedral church of Ghent uses even now and its (Office) in the new one, from which one, and a copy of which, at the care of the Rev. Fr. Pieter van Royen, it sent us as a gift, the Office of the first day of October also has most things proper and taken from the Acts of the Saint or accommodated to them, although they are different from those which are read in the older one, or rather disposed in another manner and order. Take a few things which I transfer here:

Hymn at Vespers.

*Let Ghent, a city noble by its famous Man, Lift Bavo with the honours his merits deserve, Whose life, renowned for holy manners, Calls the peoples to Christ. Let the city of Haarlem sing Bavo in allied compact, By whose defence it once shone forth, Safe in the midst of perils [], *Nor falling under present evil. Bavo, glowing with Christ-bearing fires, Thou shinest before us as mirror and pattern, While thou goest before by famous example and movest The sacred goads of the virtues. With thee as Patron, we, thy followers, with pious steps Follow to Christ: do thou cherish with constant help The servants devoted to thee, A Guardian in hard things. Whatever the Styx vomits from its headlong channel, Let it, by thy gift, be banished far from these borders: Let virtue come, and the white purity of life Knowing no stain. To the holy Triad be pious praise continually, Whom the trembling dweller of the world with bended knee Celebrates, whose glory endures Through all ages. Amen.*

The things inserted in these verses concerning the city of Haarlem will be explained in the following §.

[154] and another hymn, and some other things Antiphon at the Magnificat. Bavo, father and patron, with gentle prayer admonish Jesus that He deliver us His servants and set us in a safe harbour. Hymn at Matins.

*Festive light, returned to us in yearly course, Hail: to thee we now give ourselves, Duly paying the venerable feasts To great Bavo. He, after the torches of the wedding chamber, And his green youth given to wars, Already a recruit of Christ, began new wars, Heaven his auspice. Greater than the world, and than the vices of the world, The gifts of fortune and his ancestral wealth He entrusted to the clear stars, That would give immense interest. Thence, lest the wind of the popular breeze Should puff up his mind, mindful of his goods, A noble Exile, he fled far away To foreign shores. Where Flanders with glass of like colour washes The shallows of the Scheldt, and receives the allied waters Of the Lys, on the greening bank He stayed as a Guest. Here he entered first the inner recess of a hollow beech, Soon the home of a slender cell, Where with frequent groaning he might expiate The times that had slipped away. Here he spent days wanting food; He watched sleepless the hours of the night, Ever intent on stretching above the stars With sure course.*

*Praise be to the lofty Parent of the heavenly ones, Who enriches His Bavo with merits; Let the nations scattered under either sun Sing songs together. Amen.*

[155] are brought forward, by the most illustrious lord Antoine Triest The lessons of the first Nocturn are from the Book of Ecclesiasticus: Beatus vir. Those of the second from the Acts of the Saint written by Abbot Theodoric. Those of the third from the Homily of St. Bernard the abbot on the Gospel: Behold, we have left all things. Within the Octave the lessons of the first Nocturn are from the occurring Scripture: those of the second contain the rest of the Saint's deeds, miracles and the history of his cult; those of the third are assigned from the said Homily of St. Bernard. The Prayer is everywhere the same, as follows: O God, who didst grant to blessed Bavo thy confessor, having trampled on the world, to serve as a soldier for thy crucified Son: grant us, we beseech thee, to be protected by his patronage from all enemies, and, the warfare of this life being happily completed, to be crowned with eternal glory. Through the same. At the first day of August this Prayer is read: O God, who gladdenest us by the merits and intercession of blessed Bavo thy confessor: mercifully grant that we who ask thy benefits through him may obtain them by the gift of thy grace. Through our Lord. In the lessons of the second Nocturn a compendious narration is made of the first Elevation, the translations of the sacred body, and some miracles. The rest are noted to be taken from the Office of the day of the Deposition, except the eighth Responsory and the Antiphon at the Benedictus, which are also proper to the Saint. Through the year, however, for the common commemoration of St. Bavo as patron of the church, this Antiphon is set at the Benedictus: St. Bavo, good father, do thou with the heavenly assembly plead for us before God in our struggle. At the Magnificat the same as at the first Vespers of the Deposition. The Prayer that of the first day of August just recited.

[156] Further, this alteration or correction of the Offices was caused to be made about the year 1639 by the most illustrious and most reverend lord Antoine Triest the bishop of the people of Ghent, the alteration; by whose munificence, bishop of the people of Ghent: a man most celebrated both by countless other titles and especially by his munificent piety towards the poor and the churches of God, and an eminent patron and propagator of the cult of St. Bavo. He it was, namely, who, according to what was said before, enriched his cathedral church with relics of the same Saint received from Bruges and Oudenaarde; who at his own expense splendidly enlarged and enriched the fabric of the same cathedral of St. Bavo, as the inscription of the elegant mausoleum erected to him there in the choir has it; who left a great sum of money for the further adornment of the same church of St. Bavo, from which in this our century too the principal altar of marble has been very magnificently built: while he held the bishopric, and beyond doubt contributing to the expense, in the year 1631, which was then believed to be the thousandth from the death of St. Bavo, a jubilee was celebrated, thus recorded by Sanderus, book 1 of the Hagiologium of Flanders, page 34: When in the year 1631 a thousand years had elapsed from the death of St. Bavo, the clergy of the cathedral church of Ghent celebrated a jubilee with incredible solemnity in honour of the same Saint. The principal church was adorned with the most precious hangings, curtains and tapestries, and various sermons were delivered to the people, and many other proofs of veneration and reverence towards our excellent Patron were given for the greater glory of God most good and most great.

[157] Of the often-mentioned cathedral church of St. Bavo, as it existed in his time, Sanderus, from whom its drawing is here set before the eyes of the readers [the various (ornaments) of the church of St. Bavo, of which some things from Sanderus,], has handed down these things in book 5, chap. 1 of his Gandavum printed separately: Its fabric is altogether excellent and august, to be compared with any of the most splendid basilicas of Europe, and, if it were extended forward some thirty feet perhaps, even to be preferred. Nowhere narrow, low or dark: but bright with the brilliance of its windows, it offers a glad aspect to those entering. Transmar the bishop is read to have dedicated it in the year 941. The crypt, second to none in all Belgium in size, chapels and range of columns, the counts Baldwin and Arnulf built: others assert it to be the work of the family of Vilain or of Ghent, most noble in Belgium, as we showed in the earlier books. However that may be; Gerard Vilain of Ghent, who had as wife Elizabeth, daughter of the count of Saint-Pol, restored it at huge expense, and was buried there. The choir, with lofty vaulting and an august crown of chapels, the senate erected in the year 1228, others, as Varnewyck, in 1274. The porch of stupendous mass was added about the age of the emperor Charles. The foundations of the tower were laid in 1462, on the twenty-sixth of May, the day before the Lord's Ascension, by the abbot of Blandinium, formerly patron of this church, Nicolaas vander Zickele and Jan Huysse being consuls. The cross was placed on it in the year 1535… But the ornaments of this building, to which the heretical fury had done injury, are now various, and the sacred furniture, by the donation both of clergy and people, costly. The marble altar in the choir also exhibits the Patrons of the church elegantly sculptured; soon a Rubens picture is to be inserted in it, and other adornments added.

[158] ornaments were added, These things Sanderus wrote about 1627; to which, for fuller knowledge of the present church of St. Bavo, the most illustrious de Castillion adds the following in part 1, page 51 of the sacred Chronology of Belgium, published in the year 1719: Besides the notable and excellent structure, there make it (the church) most splendid the marble chapels, provided for the most part with doors of bronze; pictures by the more celebrated brushes of Belgium; and finally the greater marble altar, which is now being built most sumptuously, and which has already been brought almost to its summit; besides which there are seen in the circuit of the choir thirteen others, and below fourteen, magnificently adorned. In the lower or subterranean church, which they call the crypt, there are ten altars. To these ornaments of the cathedral church of St. Bavo there was added in the year 1745, from the accumulations of the sum of money which the above-cited most illustrious and most reverend lord Antoine Triest, bishop of the people of Ghent, left for the further adornment of the church of St. Bavo, from the proceeds of many years, a pulpit skilfully built of white marble.

[159] There is added even now what ought by no means to yield to the other ornaments and are added today., a work of most elegant structure that is to be, notice of which, by letters given from Ghent in this very year 1763, in which these things are written, the Rev. Fr. Pieter van Royen, priest of our Society, cited above, having seen the design which, as he writes, the most ample lord van Eersel, archdeacon and canon of St. Bavo's and director of the work which is now being built in the said cathedral church, showed him, and which was drawn by the most celebrated architect and at the same time sculptor of the most serene Count Palatine, lord Pieter Verschaffelt, most obligingly supplied, as he had promised; and it is this: The old rood-loft, which separated the choir from the front of the church, having been thrown down, there now rises another, so divided in two that it affords to those entering the church a free view of the principal altar. This greater altar, formerly wrought by the illustrious artist D. N. Verbruggen, receives no mean splendour also from the new work: for above a plinth of polished dark marble, which equals the height of the steps by which one ascends to the choir, on either side a lesser altar of white and black marble is built, marble columns likewise of white colour surrounding it to the height of 16 2/3 feet, the whole work scarcely exceeding the height of 25 feet; and after that form the whole circuit of the choir, as great as it is, and the transverse nave of the church will be adorned with continuous labour. These things, adds the same Rev. Fr. Pieter van Royen, the aforesaid most ample lord archdeacon deigned most kindly to explain to me.

\ periculis* (perils).

§ IX. The cult of St. Bavo at Haarlem in Holland, and the church built to him there.

The occasion, Having finished the things which seemed worth noting concerning the relics and cult of St. Bavo in the city of Ghent, we hasten to the other cities and places in which the same Saint has obtained special veneration; in which, I say, either his relics are honoured, or sacred buildings are dedicated to him, or memory of him is made in the divine Office. Before the rest we place Haarlem, a large and elegant city of Holland, distant three miles from Amsterdam and five from Leiden. For the people of Haarlem, before heresy began to lord it over them, scarcely yielded to the people of Ghent in veneration towards St. Bavo; nay, if you regard the annual festivals, they even surpassed them. At what time that cult began there I do not find committed to writing. But the occasion is set forth in general thus in the fourth lesson of the Office which, as will be said below, used to be recited there on the 10th of May: When the religious veneration of St. Bavo the confessor had happily become known to the people of Haarlem from their commerce with the people of Ghent, his glorious apparition, made some centuries of years ago, led and united both peoples to a communion of piety under his patronage. For the venerable tradition of our ancestors declares that, when the people of Haarlem were in the highest affliction and devoted themselves to the protection of St. Bavo, he appeared and freed the citizens from imminent perils. The sacred and perennial memory of which thing is confirmed by that solemn basilica which the clergy and people of Haarlem, with the help of Albert of Bavaria, the twenty-third count of Holland, erected to their Patron with excellent structure and very great expense, built over a whole century and more. The same is testified by the sacred fraternity of the clergy and people of Haarlem, instituted for some centuries under the invocation and patronage of St. Bavo in honour of almighty God.

[161] the progress The progress of the cult is traced somewhat more fully in the Office which was wont to be recited on the octave day of the deposition by the clergy both of Ghent and of Haarlem. The fourth lesson runs thus: At Haarlem too in Holland, many centuries of years ago, the cult of St. Bavo was miraculously propagated. For when the citizens of Haarlem, pressed by the greatest straits, had devoted themselves to his patronage, he is said by an illustrious apparition and by his protection to have freed the city from imminent perils. Whence afterwards the clergy and people, recalling the memory of the sacred benefits with devout and religious gratitude of mind, took him as Patron and Protector, and, a solemn basilica having been erected, they everywhere set up statues of him, portraying him with armour and military cloak, in the dress of princes, holding in his right hand a drawn sword, and in his left a falcon (in the manner in which he is believed to have appeared). Lesson V. From the greatness of the miracle and of the religious cult consecrated to St. Bavo by the people of Haarlem, Albert, duke of Bavaria and twenty-third count of Holland, piously moved, notably promoted by his liberality and zeal the illustrious basilica of excellent and sumptuous architecture, long since begun by the citizens. For he obtained from Boniface the ninth, Sixtus the fourth and Innocent the eighth, successively Roman Pontiffs, the plenary indulgences called of St. Mary of the Angels of the Portiuncula; by which he invited the faithful of Christ, penitent and communicating and visiting the basilica of St. Bavo, to liberal almsgiving for completing the fabric: which, wrought over a whole century and more, was at length completed in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and seventy-two. The clergy of Ghent too, confederating themselves with the people of Haarlem under the patronage of St. Bavo, gave to the church of Haarlem a notable part of his sacred body, namely a joint of the arm, with a mutual communication of good works to be imparted to each other in perpetuity, and with some other conditions. Which relics the clergy of Haarlem, gratefully accepted and then reverently enclosed in a silver case in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred, guarded with the greatest religion. The sacred translation also

feast, to be celebrated thereafter with annual solemnity, it obtained from the bishop of Utrecht, and religiously observed.

[162] The sixth lesson, which exhibits the things done afterwards and the long duration of the cult of St. Bavo among the people of Haarlem,, I shall give when I have brought forward some things conducive to the elucidation of the preceding. The phrases by which the apparition is said to have been made some centuries of years ago, and the cult of St. Bavo propagated many centuries of years ago, indicate antiquity indeed, but not a defined one. If, however, the mentioned apparition of the Saint occurred not long before the foundations of the church of Haarlem were laid, it can be fixed broadly before the middle of the fourteenth century; since a whole century and more was spent on the church, brought to completion in the year 1472. But what is related of the indulgences which Albert, duke of Bavaria and count of Holland, who died in the year 1404 — in which same year Boniface the ninth, Supreme Pontiff, also ceased to live — obtained from the supreme Pontiffs Sixtus and Innocent, is to be understood only of the renewal and confirmation of the indulgences formerly granted by Boniface, as is made clear from the age of the Pontiffs Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII, and is set out more distinctly in part 2 of the Batavia sacra, page 290, where at the same time is exhibited a description of the church itself, which I transfer here.

[163] Illustrious above all is the church which is sacred to St. Bavo by whom a church was built to the Saint. A church, as Hadrianus Junius relates, august and in the judgement of architects most celebrated, and a most beautiful work, resting on most solid columns, with a panelled vault of interior timber, which overlooks a spacious and square market-place; Albert of Bavaria aiding and promoting a work of such mass, who had obtained from Pope Boniface, the IXth of that name, Papal indulgences for promoting and completing the structure of the sacred building. Similar indulgences Pope Clement V granted. These Bulls were renewed, confirmed and established, with supplement of the errors which could have occurred, by Pope Sixtus IV in the year 1472, and after him by Pope Innocent VIII in the year 1490, by which the treasury was enriched with great treasures. Thus, Montanus relates, this church was completed. In the year 1516 they began to build of wood a tower, gabled, armoured, rising in height by steps to the very summit, which, brought to its proper height, the builders covered with a coating of lead. A lofty and elaborate pulpit was erected in the year 1432.

[164] Of the relics of St. Bavo granted by the people of Ghent to the said church, and of the conditions attached to the donation, the Haarlem Office at the 10th of May treats a little more explicitly in lesson V the people of Ghent give (it) his relics,, which I likewise subjoin: The fabric of the basilica having been completed, the clergy and people of Haarlem, striving to preserve the glorious memory of their Patron with the fruit of his benefits, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand five hundred obtained by pious instance from the abbot of the monastery of St. Bavo near Ghent a notable part of his relics, namely a joint of the arm. There was added a mutual and perpetual communion of pious works and merits, to be fulfilled with the help of divine grace, both on the part of the Religious of the same monastery and of the clergy and people of Haarlem enrolled in the fraternity of St. Bavo. The people of Haarlem moreover, in thanksgiving and as a continual memorial of piety, promised by pious vow that a taper of one pound should be offered every year by a certain messenger in the church of St. Bavo at Ghent on the Kalends of October at the Offertory of High Mass. The festal days too of his deposition on the Kalends of October, likewise of the elevation on the Kalends of August, and also of his translation and commemoration occurring on the sixth day before the Ides of May, they vowed with equal piety to keep with annual solemnity.

[165] which, from two But a far ampler knowledge both of the grant and of the conditions attached to the grant has been supplied to us by the often-cited Reverend and most ample D. van Damme, who sent copies of two instruments which are preserved in manuscript in the archive or record-office of the chapter of the cathedral church of Ghent. The first is the letter of Pieter Quicke, bishop of Tournai, giving licence to Raphael de Bourgogne, abbot of the monastery of St. Bavo at Ghent and at the same time bishop of Rosea (a city of Dalmatia subject to the Turks), to give relics to the church of Haarlem, and it runs thus: Pieter, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Tournai, to the venerable father and lord in Christ Raphael, by the same grace bishop of Rosea and also abbot of the distinguished church and monastery of St. Bavo near Ghent, greeting and sincere love in the Lord. That you may be able to give and grant some part of the relics of St. Bavo the confessor, whose body is recognized to rest in the said church and monastery, to the parochial church of Haarlem of the diocese of Utrecht, which exists founded and erected in honour of the same St. Bavo, so that that part of the relics may be transferred to the same church, that the people may flock the more to that church for the sake of devotion, and the aforesaid church may thence receive increase, we grant and impart to you by the tenor of these presents licence and likewise authority. Given at Ghent under our seal in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred ninety-nine, on the twenty-eighth day of the month of February. On the fold was written: By the lord bishop, Bourgne, notary, with a certain hand-sign, and there hung a seal of red wax, half broken, from a parchment tag.

[166] authentic instruments, with the conditions of the donation The other instrument is a copy of the letter by which the governors of both orders, civil and ecclesiastical, of Haarlem profess and declare whatever they are thereafter to do in thanksgiving both for the abbot and monks of Ghent and in honour of the Saint. They run thus: Since the Rev. father and lord in Christ Raphael, by the grace of God and of the Apostolic See bishop of Rosea, abbot of the distinguished church and monastery of St. Bavo near Ghent, at the instance of the Rev. father and lord master Nicolaas de Ruyter, archdeacon of Brussels in the church of Cambrai, provost of Louvain and of our parochial church of Haarlem, has adorned our aforesaid church, founded and erected in honour of St. Bavo, with relics of St. Bavo our patron by a gift of special grace, and also the same Rev. Father and Lord has received us into participation in the virtuous works and merits which shall be fulfilled at the aforesaid monastery in perpetuity in future times, and as he has kindly accepted: We, the schout, burgomasters and proconsuls of the town of Haarlem, master Hugo van Asseldelft, vice-curate of the aforesaid church of Haarlem, the dean and confreres of the fraternity of St. Bavo in the aforesaid church, in recompense for the gracious and special donation and kindly reception aforesaid, receive the same Rev. Father and Lord the bishop and abbot mentioned, the religious lords Giles the prior and all the brethren of the aforesaid monastery and their successors into our fraternity in the aforesaid parochial church, in Masses, exequies and other virtuous works and spiritual exercises, and make them sharers of them.

[167] Moreover in good faith for ourselves and our successors we promise every year to celebrate, sing and observe as solemn and festive the days of the death and translation of the same St. Bavo is made known, together with the conditions;, our patron, and also for the brethren of the said monastery a Mass of Requiem and a solemn anniversary every year in perpetual future times; and when the day of the death of our Rev. Father Raphael, the bishop and abbot mentioned, and of his successors shall have been made known to us, to observe and hold solemn exequies in our fraternity. Then also we promise, and bind ourselves and our successors in perpetuity, to offer, or cause to be offered, by a certain messenger of ours, one candle of the weight of one pound before the bier of St. Bavo on the first day of the month of October at the Offertory of the High Mass, and to leave it there. And if it happen that a bier or receptacle of the relics of the most glorious confessor Bavo our patron be made or constructed by us, we shall cause to be carved, written or painted in legible letters around the circumference of such bier or receptacle nothing other than in this form of words: "In this bier is contained a part of the arm, namely a joint of the arm, of the most glorious confessor of Christ Bavo, which we received with many prayers, with the highest devotion and by special grace, from the Rev. Father and Lord in Christ Raphael, bishop and abbot of the monastery of the same St. Bavo near Ghent, of the Order of St. Benedict, of the diocese of Tournai, in the year from the nativity of the Lord one thousand five hundred." In faith, attestation and testimony of all which we, the faculty [], Burgomasters, proconsuls of the town of Haarlem, the vice-curate of the parochial church of the aforesaid town, the dean and confreres of the fraternity of St. Bavo in the aforesaid church, have fortified and strengthened the present letter with the seals of the aforesaid town and of the cure of Haarlem, in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred, on the fifteenth day of the month of April. And there hung two seals from a parchment tag, one of the city or town of Haarlem, the other, on which was impressed the image of St. Bavo, bearing a falcon in his left hand and a sword in his right, whose inscription was: Seal of the cure of Haarlem.*

[168] He who at the beginning of the letter is said to have obtained the relics from the abbot and monks of Ghent and set forth by those who wrote the last of them,, D. Nicolaas de Ruyter, was the primary rector or provost of the church of St. Bavo of Haarlem, then only parochial and subject to the bishopric of Utrecht: yet he does not appear among those in whose name and by whose authority the letter was drawn up, because, since the provost of the said church was at the same time chaplain to the prince or count, and was wont to accompany him, he ruled his church through a vice-curate and four chaplains. Hence the vice-curate is named in the letter as the chief person of the ecclesiastical Order then present. The same D. Nicolaas de Ruyter, as is clear from the letter, was at that time provost at St. Peter's at Louvain and archdeacon at Brussels, a city then of the diocese of Cambrai; but afterwards, in the year 1501, he was promoted to the bishopric of Arras.

[169] What was proposed in the letter about building a bier or case for laying up the relics in the church of St. Bavo at Haarlem the reliquary, the relics having been brought, was soon built, does not seem to have been long delayed; nay, if the words of the fifth lesson in the Office of the octave day of the deposition are to be taken in the strict sense, it was put into execution in the same year in which they were obtained: The relics, I repeat the words, the clergy of Haarlem, gratefully accepted and then reverently enclosed in a silver case in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred, guarded with the greatest religion. But that it was also put into execution magnificently and sumptuously we gather from the Batavia sacra above, where these words are read: To Bavo above all, under whose name this (Haarlem) church was consecrated to God, this honour was paid, that a statue of silver of great price was erected, which weighed IX half-pounds of Cologne weight, and whose silver bones, laid up in a chest, were also held in veneration there, until, withdrawn from the fury of the iconoclasts, as we said under Bavo, they were carried to Cologne. Of St. Bavo the author had treated separately in part 1, page 26 and following, where he had copied what we have just given from the Office of the octave day, and a few things about the relics translated to Cologne. These things we too shall presently recite, keeping the series of times.

[170] and the cult of the Saint increased at Haarlem, which city into a bishopric Further, to such a summit of splendour did the cult of our Saint rise among the people of Haarlem after they had received

the relics, that not only was the feast of the deposition kept there on the first day of October with a double Office of the first class, as of the titular patron, with an Octave, and on the first of August the feast of the elevation and translation with the rite of a greater double, but also on the 10th of May, on which nothing is noted of St. Bavo in the Ghent Proper, the feast of the translation and commemoration was celebrated, likewise with the rite of a greater double, as had been ordained in the letter of the year 1500. Finally, lest Haarlem should yield to Ghent even in this respect, at the same time at which the church of St. Bavo at Ghent, first parochial, then collegiate, was raised into a cathedral, the church of St. Bavo at Haarlem was likewise made a cathedral, and a college of canons was instituted there.

[171] erected, his collegiate church there The Bull of Pope Paul IV, given at Rome in the year 1559, on the general erection of the new bishoprics in Belgium, I assigned above when I was treating of the erection of the bishopric of Ghent; and the particular one of Pope Pius IV, by which in the year 1560, confirming the erection of his predecessor, he established the bishopric of Haarlem as the first suffragan of the archbishopric of Utrecht, placed the episcopal chair in the church of St. Bavo, instituted there a college of canons, etc., you have in Miraeus, part 1 of the diplomas, second edition, page 797, and in the Batavia sacra, part 2, page 284, where moreover on page 291 is found an Apostolic Brief of the same Pontiff, sent in the year 1561 to D. Nicolaas Nieulant, otherwise a Nova-terra, designated by Philip, king of the Spains, as the first bishop of the people of Haarlem. The beginning of the Apostolic Brief is such: Pius Pope IV. Venerable brother, greeting and Apostolic benediction. Lately, after Paul Pope IV, our predecessor of happy memory, for certain causes then expressed, had erected the parochial church of St. Bavo, the church of Haarlem, formerly of the diocese of Utrecht, into a cathedral church, We … have set thee … over it as bishop, etc.

[172] is raised to a cathedral, from which The erection of the bishoprics, and some things pertaining to that of Haarlem, are also inserted in the proper Offices of our Saint. The sixth lesson of Ghent and Haarlem on the Octave day of the deposition is this: And when about the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred and fifty the Calvinist heresy, having slipped from France into Belgium, threatened the destruction of the Catholic faith and religion, Paul the Fourth, Roman Pontiff, at the request of Philip the second, king of the Spains and hereditary prince of the Belgian dominions after his father the emperor Charles the Fifth, instituted three archbishoprics and fifteen bishoprics in Belgium for preserving the state of the Catholic faith and religion. Among the other cities and churches he erected those of Ghent and Haarlem, both of St. Bavo, into cathedrals. From that time the cult of St. Bavo, religiously observed between both clergies, produced such a union of minds that, offices being communicated, and the old fraternity of both colleges also being renewed, the canons of the cathedrals of Ghent and Haarlem called one another brothers. In the Haarlem Office a few things are added about the relics of our Saint translated to Cologne; but since the same are more fully recorded in the sixth lesson of the Haarlem Office of the 10th of May, omitting these, I copy that one.

[173] But when, after the episcopal chair had been erected by Paul the fourth at Haarlem in the church of St. Bavo the relics of St. Bavo to Cologne,, the factions of the heresies were infesting all Belgium on every side with most impious tumults, among other places the city of Haarlem was occupied by the Gueux soldiery, and afterwards the cathedral church too, its altars destroyed by the iconoclasts, was profaned. But the sacred relics of the most glorious Confessor, diligently guarded at that time, and reverently taken from the cathedral church, were carried to Cologne. Then, however, the tumults having somewhat subsided, they were faithfully brought back to Haarlem, and received with the highest exultation of the whole cathedral clergy. In perpetual memory of which benefit the feast of the translation and commemoration, first proclaimed by the vow of our ancestors for the relics received, and fallen into disuse through the injury of time, was from that time onward ordered to be celebrated to obtain the help of St. Bavo, and was restored to its former cult.

[174] The year 1566 gave the beginning to the heretical tumults at Haarlem the heretics rioting, they are transferred,: For in this very year (the words are those of the author of the Batavia sacra, part 2, page 293), on the 21st of July, in the village of Overveen outside the walls of Haarlem, in the sand-hills, on a Sunday, the first sermon according to the Calvinist rite was held by Jan Arentsz, a basket-maker, called from his craft Mandemaker, of Alkmaar, about 300 persons flocking thither, among them fifty men. The poison crept thence into the city itself too, some Religious and priests drinking it in. And since the iconoclasm which had already raged in most places was believed, with no vain fear, to be about to invade Haarlem, the cathedral church (by order of the magistrate, whether ecclesiastical or secular is doubtful) was closed on the 23rd day of August, and remained closed for the whole three months, not opened again before the 7th day of September (most probably December). Whether in the same year, as we saw above was done at Ghent, the relics of St. Bavo were laid up in a safer place, or whether even from then they were translated to Cologne or not, is unknown to me. The episcopal see at that time was held by the before-named D. Nicolaas a Nova-terra, who on account of the troubles and his bodily infirmities withdrew from the bishopric in the year 1569.

[175] No more peaceful, nay much more turbulent, times were met by Godfried van Mierlo and thence, tranquillity being somehow restored, they are brought back;, the successor of Nicolaas, and second and last bishop of the people of Haarlem. For in the year 1572, which was the second from his consecration, he beheld the tragedy recorded in the lesson just given, and described in these words by Famiano Strada, first Decade on the Belgian War, page 443: Haarlem, a noble city of Holland, whither Federico (of Toledo, son of the duke of Alba) had carried the war, invited by the convenience of the faithful city of Amsterdam, not only proudly rejected the pardon offered by him, but, having received a new garrison of the party, and in order to cut off from itself all hope of reconciliation, having openly put off the old religion, broken the sacred images, and violated and plundered the churches, it bore a siege of eight months, with equal contempt of the enemy and of life. Finally, after many signs of the hatred of the besieged both towards the Catholic religion and towards the Spaniards, which can be read in the same place, the city, exhausted by famine, surrendered at the discretion of the victorious Federico in the year 1573. Here the first care was of sacred things, says Theodorus Schrevelius, cited in part 2 of the Batavia sacra, page 313; on the 5th of August they expiated and consecrated the church sacred to St. Bavo through Bishop Amerledus, who performed the Sacred Rite before the Toledan, after the Gospel had been recited, the oath having been taken to preserve the immunities of the Catholic Church. Then too beyond doubt the relics of St. Bavo were brought back from Cologne, as is found in the lesson of the Office.

[176] but, the religion being wholly overthrown by new troubles, There was peace and quiet of a sort at Haarlem until the year 1578, when a new and most savage storm arose, which wholly overthrew the Catholic religion: For on the very feast of the Most Holy Sacrament, says the author of the Batavia sacra, page 314, of the year 1578, which [] then fell on the 29th day of May, the city having been surrendered to the forces of the prince of Orange, a most savage slaughter was made in the cathedral church, called by our writers the Haarlem None, because under that verse of None: "Thou art just, O Lord, and thy judgement is right", the irruption into that church and against its ministers was made on that day. Others being slain, "Bishop Godfried van Mierloo", says Theod. Schrevelius, "who at that time had still been preaching, was miraculously saved by a searcher or bandit in an underground cellar, to whom, with other soldiers faithful to him, he gave about 50 florins as a gratuity, the price of redemption." On the 4th day of December all the churches at Haarlem were violated and the monasteries demolished. Bishop Godfried, having happily escaped by flight, withdrew to Münster in Westphalia. The rest of his deeds are briefly related thus in volume 1 of Miraeus's Diplomas, page 803: Then, called to Deventer, the See being vacant, in the year 1588, he reconciled the cathedral church impiously profaned, and, having been taken from among the living on the 28th day of July of the same year 1588, was buried there. After this, the city and diocese of Haarlem having been occupied by the heretics, no further bishop of this See was named.*

[177] what befell them is unknown, yet St. Bavo, I have studiously searched all the histories or accounts, whatever I could obtain, of the affairs of Haarlem, especially the sacred, later than the last tumults, that I might learn what then befell the relics of St. Bavo at Haarlem; whether, namely, they were safe and withdrawn from the hands of the heretics, or lost or dispersed. But in vain. In all there is as deep a silence about them as in the lessons of the Offices, although these, as will presently be clear, were composed even later, and expressly record the translation of the relics to Cologne and their bringing back to Haarlem not long before the last troubles. If they were preserved even then, I should believe that it was judged more advisable not to publish it in print, much less to divulge where they lie hidden today and are honoured by the faithful. However that may be, the Roman Catholic clergy of Haarlem continued to honour their Patron, although with less apparatus and splendour, yet with equal piety and affection, and to celebrate his annual festivals with the ecclesiastical Office. This we have learned from the proper Offices of the century just past and from various Directories printed in this current century.

[178] In the year 1618 the most illustrious and most reverend lord Philippus Rovenius and his festivals the clergy of Haarlem, then Vicar Apostolic throughout federated Belgium, afterwards also archbishop of Philippi, in a letter to the clergy of Haarlem ordained thus: The feast of St. Bavo, as patron of Haarlem, wont from of old to be observed here most solemnly, let the faithful be admonished to celebrate religiously, to which we invite them by the grant of forty days' indulgences; not however intending to bind anyone under mortal sin concerning its observance. In the other feasts let the moderation now generally received be observed. So he, in part 2 of the Batavia sacra, page 87. The same archbishop, in the same place, page 102, in the Constitution of the year 1628 commands: The feast of St. Bavo, as patron of Haarlem, wont from of old to be celebrated here most solemnly, we ordain to be celebrated henceforth on the Sunday next after the feast of St. Michael, to which we invite the faithful by the grant of forty days' indulgences. In the other feasts and fasts let the custom and moderation hitherto generally received here be observed. Finally, by the same man's care and approval, the Offices of the Saints of the archbishopric of Utrecht and of the suffragan bishoprics of Haarlem, Deventer, Leeuwarden, Groningen and Middelburg, arranged according to the norm of the Roman Breviary, were published at Cologne in the year 1640.

[179] Among those, for the bishopric of Haarlem separately, three proper (Offices) are given of St. Bavo with ecclesiastical Offices and Mass, to be recited on the days and with the rite written above; and for the days indeed of the 1st of October and through the Octave not impeded by another Office, as also of the 1st of August, if you except very few things, the Offices are the same as those extant in the Proper of the cathedral church of Ghent, and which a little before, the college of canons of both churches concurring, the most illustrious and most reverend D. Antoine Triest, bishop of Ghent, had caused to be composed and published: as he himself testifies in his letter of the year 1639 prefixed to the Ghent Proper, saying: We, according to the duty of our office and in affection towards the tutelary saints, by the counsel and work of some

very reverend lords canons, both of our cathedral church of Ghent and of the like cathedral church of Haarlem, lately taken into perpetual fellowship and confraternity, have caused the certain to be separated from the uncertain, and these Offices to be brought back more nearly than ever before to the form of the said Roman Breviary. On the 10th of May, however, the Office at Haarlem is taken from other festivals, except the lessons of the second Nocturn, which are proper here too and were recited above, where the sequence of the history required it.

[180] The people of Haarlem have besides a proper Mass of the Saint continued to celebrate with proper (Offices) of him., printed at the end of the Offices, and the first among the feasts of October, as follows: Introit. Let us all rejoice in the Lord, etc. Prayer. O God, who blessed Bavo, etc., as in the Ghent Office of the same day. Epistle. The things that were gain to me, etc. Gradual. Lord, thou hast prevented him with blessings of sweetness: thou hast set on his head a crown of precious stones. Verse. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him length of days for ever and ever. Alleluia, alleluia. Verse. O remedy of salvation on the way, blessed Bavo: reconcile us to God by thy prayers. Be to us a Patron in the court of heaven, where the just shall stand with confidence. Alleluia. Gospel. Simon Peter said to Jesus: Behold, we have left all things. Credo. Offertory. But God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world. Secret. Fountain of all mercy, O God, look upon our gifts which on the solemnity of blessed Bavo thy confessor we offer to thy glorious Majesty: and by his interceding merits grant that the oblations of our gifts may become the defences of the devout. Through our Lord. Communion. You who have left all things and followed me shall receive an hundredfold and shall possess life everlasting. Postcommunion. Almighty everlasting God, Father of all consolation and peace: grant to thy family, gathered on the solemnity of St. Bavo to the praise of thy name, through the body and blood of thine only-begotten Son the pledge of eternal redemption. Through our Lord. The same Mass is prescribed on the other Festivals of the Saint, but in these the first prayer is that which we gave from the Ghent Office of the day of 1 August; at the 10th of May, however, to these words of blessed Bavo thy confessor the people of Haarlem add our Patron. The same prayer the people of Haarlem use through the year for the common commemoration of their holy Patron at Vespers and Lauds, with the Antiphons described before from the Ghent Proper.

\ Perhaps scultetus*, as above, that is, prefect (schout).

\ quod*.

§ X. The other churches dedicated to St. Bavo, enriched with his sacred remains, or devoted to his cult.

Other churches in various places, The other churches sacred to St. Bavo are enumerated in this order in Sanderus at the end of chap. 4 of book 4: One church of Ardenburch, Mendonck, Vinderhoute, Zinghem, Vliersele, Caneghem; Wilrick in Brabant, and Bouchoute: they are listed in another and somewhat more distinct order also in the Proper of the Offices of the Saints of the cathedral church of Ghent, lesson 5 of the fourth day within the Octave of St. Bavo: In the year of the Lord nine hundred and sixty, in Rodenburch, a celebrated and ancient town of Flanders of old (now named Erdenburch), the first church was dedicated in honour of the divine Bavo the confessor. And not far from there another afterwards in the land of Oostburch beside the sea. Another likewise afterwards on the river Lys in the territory of Courtrai, from which the village itself is commonly called Vivia of St. Bavo. There is also the parochial church of Zynghem not far from Oudenaarde, and also the church of Vliersele, consecrated to the patronage and name of Blessed Bavo. Mendonck likewise, Vinderhout, Caneghem, churches by no means uncelebrated; and in Brabant the churches of Wilrick and Bochoute, to pass over all others here, acknowledge Blessed Bavo as patron and protector.

[182] namely in Flanders at Ardenburg, Oostburg, The place which comes first in both texts, and is called there Ardenburch, here Rodenburch, is one and the same, and is described in these words by Baudrand: Ardenburgum, a small town of Flanders under the power of the united provinces since the year 1604. It is distant one league from Clausulae (otherwise Slusa, commonly Sluys) towards the east and a little less from the small town of Middelburg, and was formerly the chief city of all this tract … it is also called Rodeburgus. Buzelinus, book 1 of the Annals: The mother of cities, he says, in that tract was Rodenburgus, which today they name Ardenburgum. A broader notice of it is given by Sanderus, Flandria illustrata, volume 1, page 299, where he similarly warns that it was once the head of the maritime cities of Flanders, and then adds: The church of the divine Bavo, dedicated in the year 940, and also of the Mother of God, to which this whole coast of Flanders has no equal, was rebuilt with proud work on the occasion of the frequent miracles there in the year 1296, enlarged by a college of canons through Michael, bishop (of the people of Tournai), and shone, filled with the gifts of kings and princes flocking thither for the sake of a vow. The institution of the college of canons Meyer in the Annals and others also refer to the year 1296, all of whom, however, Jean Cousin corrects in the name of the bishop, in book 4 of the History of Tournai, proving that Bishop Michael ceased to live in the year 1291, and that therefore the said institution should have been placed under Jean de Vassoigne, Michael's successor. There is also another thing which is indeed to be corrected in Sanderus's words, but which I should think is to be ascribed to the typesetter alone, who put 940 for the year 960; since in the same Sanderus, in the separate Gandavum, book 4, chap. 4, the first dedication of the sacred building of Ardenburg or Rodenburg in honour of Blessed Bavo the illustrious confessor is expressly marked in the year 960, as in the lesson of the Office. The other place, called in the Office Oostburch, otherwise Oostburgum, is a fortified castle of Belgium, says Baudrand, in the county of Flanders, near the island of Cadzand, and scarcely one league distant from Clausulae towards the east, under the dominion of the provinces of united Belgium. Sanderus again furnishes more about it in Flandria illustrata, but does not mention a church sacred to St. Bavo.

[183] The same Sanderus, volume 2, page 423, treating of the affairs of Courtrai, makes mention of the third place named in the Office at Vivia of St. Bavo,, and at the same time of a family which of old was called by the name of St. Bavo, as follows: There are two Viviae here, one of St. Eligius, which Malebrancus calls the castle of Vivium, the other of St. Bavo, both on the river Lys, both pleasant, watered by streams, and in summer flowering with pastures. For the rest, in the old rescripts of Flanders the memory of the family of St. Bavo is not infrequent (which family, however, I believe to have its rise and origin from the lordship and monastery of St. Bavo in the port of Ganda); at the year 1262 is read Machelinus of St. Bavo and Agatha his wife, who lawfully sold to the church of St. Bavo of Ghent two parts of the tithe of the parish of Wtberghen, with the consent of Guy, count of the Flemings, and of Mathilda his wife, lady of Béthune and Dendermonde, from whom the said tithe was held in fief. In the same, Elizabeth of St. Bavo, at the year 1269, was married to Hendrik van Voirde. Another Machelinus of St. Bavo came into marriage with Margaret, daughter of Jacob van Ravescot. They frequently held magistracies among the people of Ghent, especially when thirty-nine men governed that commonwealth about the year 1276, when Godfried, son of the lord Mathias of St. Bavo, was a senator of Ghent. Of Vivia of St. Bavo he treats again in the same place, page 436, saying: Vivia of St. Bavo, a village other than Vivia of St. Eligius, also situated on the Lys, in a place especially pleasant in summer: it contains 500 bonniers, also under the dominion of the baron of Ingelmunster, and under the ecclesiastical guardianship of the abbot of St. Martin of Tournai. St. Bavo gives the name to the church as to the village.

[184] Zynghem or Zinghem, on the geographical map of the castellany of Oudenaarde in Sanderus, cited volume 2, page 582, is written Singghem at Zinghem, Vliersele, Mendonck,, and is placed about a mile and a half from Oudenaarde; but the same Sanderus, observing on page 584 that the patronage of its church belongs to the bishop of Ghent, says that it is inscribed to the Virgin Mother of God, most probably together with our Saint; since he himself asserted above that it is sacred to St. Bavo. Vliersele, on the map of the dominion of Aalst in the same work, page 507, is placed a little less than two miles from Aalst; and on page 508 its lordship and the patronage of the church are said to belong to the bishop of Ghent. Of Mendonck, otherwise Medmedunc, discourse has already been made in more than one place; and particularly in the Preliminary Commentary, num. 114 and following, where we brought forward the words of Abbot Theodoric in the Life of our Saint and of the anonymous author of the 10th century in the Miracles of St. Bavo, describing the site of the place which they relate was inhabited by the Saint; then in num. 7 of this Posthumous Glory, where we discoursed of these words of the said anonymous writer: Visit the annual memorial of St. Bavo, which is at Medmedunc. To these, however, we add what Sanderus has in volume 1 of Flandria illustrata, page 175 and following: Mendonck has a church sacred to Blessed Bavo, whose patronage belongs to the bishop of Ghent, as also the temporal lordship of the same place. And although this village is not of such size, containing only one hundred and fifty bonniers of land, and inhabited lately by eighteen families, yet it is of renowned name and ancient, and has obtained the title of a county. From the tradition of the ancestors the place is shown where Blessed Levinus (nay, beyond doubt St. Bavo or Alloinus) did penance. It has rich pastures, and all this neighbouring tract is commended for its fat calves, which have a price in all Belgium.

[185] Vinderhoute, Caneghem, and in two On page 178 Sanderus opportunely supplies a notice of the place which follows next in the lesson of the Office: Vinderhoute, a village in the Castellany of Oudenburg, situated at the first milestone from the city of Ghent; the new canal which flows from Ghent to Bruges cuts through it. It has a splendid house, which some hundred years ago Lieven Pottelsberghe, treasurer of the emperor Charles the fifth, an excellent man and in favour with the same prince, built. The lordship is now with the family de Wouters, who hold by like right elsewhere too. The church is sacred to St. Bavo, patron of the people of Ghent: and the pastoral office in it is conferred by the prelate of Ghent. It contains in its circuit three hundred bonniers, happy also in pastures. The last place noted in Flanders, finally, Sanderus declares thus in volume 2, page 434, where he treats of the affairs of the Castellany of Courtrai: Caneghem was situated in the pagus Menapiscus, as the diploma has, given by Arnulf, marquis of Flanders, to the Bavonian abbey. It extends to six hundred bonniers of land. The title of the place, or in the place, is claimed by a man of generous nature and upright mind … of the family of the Dhanis. The church is inscribed to St. Bavo, and the bishop of Ghent has its patronage in so far as he is successor of the Bavonian abbot.

[186] in villages of Brabant sacred to St. Bavo, The two places which remain are villages situated in Brabant, and both indeed in the territory and bishopric of Antwerp; Wilryck in the deanery of Antwerp, about one mile from the city; Bouchoute in the deanery of Lier, about two Brabant miles from the same city of Antwerp. But the patronage of the church of each, sacred to St. Bavo, is held by the bishop of Ghent as successor of the abbot of the Bavonian monastery. That besides those already enumerated there are more churches in our Belgium consecrated to the name of the same Saint I believe, on the assertion of the author of the Ghent Office; but to search into them one by one I have judged a thing more unpleasant and difficult than useful. One I found by chance in Sanderus, volume 1 of Flandria illustrata, page 215, where, exhibiting the bishopric of Bruges divided into its deaneries, he places under the deanery of the city itself the parish of St. Bavo; and in the same work, page 290, where he points out its site, saying: In the other part of the suburb of Bruges are the churches of St. Bavo and of Michael.

[187] There is also scarcely any doubt that throughout the same Belgium, in churches distinguished by the title of other Saints others enriched with his relics, namely that of Bruges,, there exist altars erected for the special cult of St. Bavo, especially in those places in which either his relics are kept or an annual Office of him is recited, and of which it now at length remains to treat. We begin with the city of Bruges, which we have just mentioned, very celebrated and episcopal in Flanders. In the catalogue of the relics of the cathedral church of St. Donatian of Bruges, which the just-cited Sanderus gives on page 214 and following, are listed Two teeth of St. Bavo and his beard. But here it is to be noted in passing that after Sanderus wrote these things, nay after the Flandria illustrata came to light (it was published in the year 1641), the dean and college of canons of the cathedral church of Bruges in the year 1649 gave one tooth of St. Bavo as a gift to the cathedral church of Ghent; whence you may conclude that probably only one is still preserved today in the cathedral of Bruges. Probably, I say, not certainly; because in the instrument of donation the tooth granted to the people of Ghent is so recorded that it might seem to have been found by chance in the reliquary of St. Machutus at Bruges, and alone and separated from the other relics of St. Bavo which Sanderus lists.

[188] Further, in the same church of Bruges St. Bavo had a cult of old which formerly honoured him with ecclesiastical rite,, and retains it to these our times. The antiquity is proved by a Breviary printed at Paris in the year 1520 with this inscription: Breviary for the use of the distinguished church of St. Donatian of Bruges, of the diocese of Tournai; when, namely, the said church had not yet been erected into a cathedral; for a proper bishop was given to the people of Bruges only about forty years afterwards. In the Calendar which is prefixed to the Breviary an Office is prescribed of SS. Remigius, Germanus, Vedast and Bavo; but at the very day of the 1st of October St. Piatus is added, and the Office is so disposed that St. Bavo has his proper parts before the other Saints. In the second Vespers of the 30th day of September, after the Prayer of St. Jerome, there follows a commemoration of St. Bavo with the Antiphon: St. Bavo, excellent confessor, pray for us to the Lord Jesus Christ, that we who gladly sing beforehand the joys of thy solemnity may always be relieved by thy intervention from every weight of vices. Versicle: The Lord led the just; Prayer: O God, who us, etc., as in the common of a confessor not a bishop; then a commemoration of the other four Saints together is subjoined.

[189] At Matins again the three lessons of the first Nocturn are proper to our Saint alone and even today still honours the Saint,, copied from that part of the Life composed by Abbot Theodoric in which his last illness and happy death are narrated. At Lauds, finally, and Vespers he has an Antiphon, Versicle and Prayer separately from the others. The Antiphon at Lauds is this: The most invincible warrior of the Lord Bavo, most approved in the perfection of all virtues, perfected today, triumphing from the conflict [] of the present world, has passed to the ethereal hall of heaven. This at the second Vespers: The body of blessed Bavo has been laid up with all reverence in the place which is now plainly called Ganda, where very many benefits are granted to the faithful: hence to the Trinity be continual praise and glory. These things of old. But now in the proper Offices of the Saints of the cathedral church of St. Donatian of Bruges, brought to the norm of the Roman Breviary, at the 1st day of October the whole Office is prescribed to be recited of St. Bavo with semidouble rite, with commemoration and ninth lesson of St. Piatus only. And the lessons of the second Nocturn, proper to our Saint, are noted as taken from Mabillon, Molanus and Lippeloo; those of the third Nocturn from the Homily of St. Bernard the abbot on the Gospel: Behold, we have left all things*: the Prayer is the same as in the Ghent Office.

[190] that of Tournai, which formerly The cathedral church of the most holy Virgin Mary of Tournai in Belgium too is enriched with sacred remains of St. Bavo, and probably has been for many centuries; since formerly the city of Ghent constituted part of its diocese, and translations and elevations of relics were frequently performed at Ghent by the bishops of Tournai, as is established from what was said before. The Tournai relics Arnold Raissius indicates thus in the Belgian Hierogazophylacium, page 314: Two little bones of St. Bavo the confessor, tutelary patron of the people of Ghent. That it was an ancient custom that in this diocese too the memory of St. Bavo should be celebrated every year in the divine Office, the Breviary of the church of Tournai, printed at Paris in the year 1508, teaches us, in which at the 1st day of October, sacred to St. Piatus, patron of the same church, at first Vespers and at Lauds a commemoration is prescribed of the Saints whose names the following Prayer contains: May the glorious confession of thy Confessors, O Lord, and likewise bishops, Remigius, Germanus, Vedast, Bavo, Trudo and Wasnulphus, confer on us an increase of pious devotion, who, trusting in thy name, merited to be honoured.

[191] did the same, But at second Vespers this Rubric is subjoined: And a commemoration shall be made of St. Bavo where his day is celebrated… On the morrow all shall be of St. Bavo from the common, where his day is celebrated; in other places nothing shall be done of it, but all shall be of St. Piatus. To these is joined a compendium of the Life, taken from Abbot Theodoric and divided into nine lessons; the rest of the Office is noted to be taken from the Common. Moreover, into the Greater Litanies, which are subjoined there to Compline, the invocation of St. Bavo is also inserted. So of old, when the churches of Ghent, Bruges and others were annexed to the bishopric of Tournai; but after the separation of the said churches from that of Tournai, a change was beyond doubt made here too in the Offices of the Saints. Certainly neither in the Calendar prefixed to the Tournai Proper of the year 1626, nor in the Proper of the same church and diocese of the year 1712, does St. Bavo appear anywhere.

[192] and that of Brogne; The aforesaid Raissius, enumerating on page 124 and the three following the relics by which Brogne, or the monastery of St. Gerard of Brogne, of the Order of St. Benedict, in the county and diocese of Namur in Belgium, is ennobled, places among them some of the body of St. Bavo, the renowned confessor. It can easily be conceived at what time and by whom these were brought thither; namely by St. Gerard himself, who, as we shall prove more fully at the third day of this month, was the founder of the monastery of Brogne in the tenth century, and, as we have already shown, as abbot of the restored monastery of Ghent translated the sacred remains into the new church of St. Bavo about the year 940; nay, afterwards he carried relics of some Saints from Ghent to Brogne, as the biographer of St. Gerard testifies in express words: Besides OTHER things there was brought thither (to Brogne, by St. Gerard) from Ghent the arm of the same blessed abbot Wandregisilus, etc.: for it hence becomes most probable that among the other remains of the Saints, here mentioned only generally, were contained those which Raissius announces of the body of St. Bavo.

[193] More things to be said about relics do not occur; a few remain about the ecclesiastical Offices likewise others which, although they lack relics of the Saint, yet him: but even from these (for the old Breviaries or Calendars or Propers of all particular places are not at hand) we conjecture that there were few churches throughout all Belgium in which the annual memory of St. Bavo was not formerly celebrated. That it was celebrated in the diocese of the Morini, whose head and episcopal see was Thérouanne, once a large city but now destroyed, and which one diocese extended so widely that it is now divided into three bishoprics, that of Saint-Omer in the same province of Artois, that of Boulogne in Picardy, and that of Ypres in Flanders; that in it, I say, the annual memory of St. Bavo was celebrated is established from the Breviary of the church of the Morini, in the Calendar of whose Winter part (this alone we have), printed at Antwerp in the year 1542, an Office is set of SS. Remigius, Germanus, Vedast, Bavo and Piatus at the first day of October. The order of the Office we gather from the Breviary of the church of Saint-Omer, which was printed at Paris in the year 1518, and in whose Calendar the same Saints are announced, and in the summer part at the said day the disposition of the Office is such that the three lessons of the first Nocturn are proper to St. Bavo. The commemoration of him equally with Remigius and the other Saints is noted in a very old Breviary of Arras, as also in another, which was printed for the abbey of Arrouaise of the diocese of Artois and Arras in the year 1538, and also in the Brussels one of the collegiate church of St. Gudula of the year 1516, in which this church was still subject to the bishopric of Cambrai.

[194] The same is done in the Breviaries of Utrecht on the Rhine of the years 1508 and 1518 honoured him at least formerly with ecclesiastical cult.; the same in various ones of the archiepiscopal church of Cologne, among which one is of the Venetian edition of the year 1498; but in that which is more recent than the rest, and published about the year 1618, St. Bavo has a proper sixth lesson. The same again in very old ones of Tongres and Maastricht on the Maas; the same in the Missal of the church of Liège printed at Paris in the year 1509, and in the Breviaries of the years 1514 and 1520: but in the propers of the Saints of the said church and diocese, which, brought to the form of the Roman Breviary, were printed in the year 1633, and in the Liège Breviary of the year 1636, such a change was made that the commemoration of the 1st day of October, which before extended to SS. Germanus, Vedast, Bavo, Piatus and Wasnulphus, was then restricted to Bavo and Piatus alone. The same, finally, in the Breviary of the most holy Virgin Mary of Antwerp, which came from the press at Venice in the year 1496. But after the church of Antwerp was raised to a cathedral, a change was made here too. For now, the first day of October being left to the Office of St. Remigius the bishop, an Office of St. Bavo alone, to be recited with semidouble rite, has been fixed to the third day. The whole is done from the Common of a confessor not a bishop, except the Prayer,

which in our Antwerp Proper of the Saints is the same as in the Ghent one; the lessons of the first Nocturn, which are from the occurring Scripture; of the second Nocturn, which comprise the chief deeds of the Saint; and of the third, which are taken from the Homily of St. Bernard the abbot on the Gospel: Behold, we have left all things.

\ conflictu* (conflict).

THE MIRACLES OF ST. BAVO COMPRISED IN THREE BOOKS,

By an anonymous author,

From a very old manuscript of St. Bavo's.

Bavo, also called Alloynus, confessor, at Ghent in Flanders. (S.)

BHL Number: 1054

A. By an anonymous author.

PROLOGUE.

The author, not from desire of glory, It is the business of a Christian that each should ardently press on in his own advancement, and add daily ^a, as far as he is able, to the gain of his salvation. For nothing more excellent can be devised for his profit, nothing more lucrative can be experienced; since in a short time and by a sweat that has an end that good is acquired which can neither be stolen by interruption nor mutilated by an end. Although this, then, is in its own consideration altogether inestimable, it is yet estimated by the diverse possibility of circumstances: since this variety of outward condition does nothing to prejudice the obtaining of it, provided only that the intention of good will does not in any way swerve. For as a material wall ^b totters without a foundation, so without the disposition of right intention moral fitness is made foolish. It is necessary, then, that whatever labour and zeal is applied by anyone should answer to the reward on high. These things being so, let the deadly tickling of one's own praise depart, let the itching tetter of harmful flattery be put to sleep, let the whole be committed ^c to the recompense of Him to whose gift belongs the overflowing of all good. Now let us come to the relating of those things for the sake of which we have touched on these few things beforehand.

[2] but asserting that he writes at the impulse of others, Asked, nay compelled, to commit to writing some of the notable miracles of the most glorious father Bavo, conscious of my own frailty and ignorance, I was forced to refuse altogether. And behold, the force of charity, which hopeth all things, is held out against me, the inexcusable yoke of holy obedience is laid upon me ^d, a most abundant fruit of alms is promised, if things that will profit the advancement of many are laid open by my account. On the contrary, if I persisted in refusing, I should be struck with the condemnation of the buried talent, cheated of the joys of admission on high, being indeed by my silence liable for as great losses as the benefits which I could confer by relating.

[3] he excuses the slenderness of his eloquence, Overcome, I confess, by these exhortations as much as by terrors, I gave way, preferring to run the risk of slenderness of knowledge rather than of obstinacy of mind. Therefore nothing of fattened speech, nothing of Rhetorical declamation is to be expected here; because I confess myself in every way ignorant of these arts. Let others take up the copious furniture of various excuses; namely that truth, content with its native vivacity, does not seek the application of colours from elsewhere, and that the rudiments of the Christian faith were promulgated not by orators but by fishermen and unlearned men, and that the kingdom of God consists rather in the efficacy of power than of speech, and very many other things falling within that reasoning: to me the occasion of an easy apology lies open, namely that no practice of any learning favours me. But as nothing is to be presumed rashly, so one must never despair of the mercy of God, to whom, although nothing at all is impossible, yet He often exerts the force of His power more magnificently in the least things.

[4] Wherefore let there be in us a sincere deliberation of good work and he asks the benevolence of the readers.; from Him without doubt will come the effectual completion. For the rest, I pray that whoever shall deign to take up these things, such as they are, for reading, if indeed he shall judge them worthy of recitation, may in place of recompense bring me the help of his intercession. But if he shall think they are to be ascribed to the haughtiness of presumption or the character of arrogance, let him remember to pray for me the more carefully, the more copious the mass of offences with which he conjectures me to be pressed. And thus not all profit will be excluded, while the opportunity of true compassion favours, by means of that charity which is God, who in substantial Unity and personal Trinity lives and reigns through all ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

a. That is, day by day.

BOOK I.

The site and beginnings of Ghent, the history of the monastery of Ghent, a compendium of the life of St. Bavo, and the translations of his relics up to the middle of the tenth century.

A brief description of Ghent, Although by the authority of the sacred word the place is believed to be chosen by God not for the sake of the place the people, but for the sake of the people the place ^a; yet it ought not to seem out of order if, before we commend with our pen, as we are able, the miracles of the most loving father Bavo, we record a few things concerning the place predestined from on high for keeping his relics. This place, then, almost adjoining the border of Gaul and Flanders, towards the northern quarter, is distant six miles from the shores of the Ocean ^b. Conspicuous also for its green and spacious beauty, it is delightfully watered and girded by twin rivers ^c, which, I know not whether they bring more pleasantness or more usefulness to the inhabitants by their convenience. For they are both rich in the catching of fish and fruitful in the carrying of merchandise. Whence, both by favour of this advantage and on account of the most present merits of St. Bavo, the same place is most thronged with a populous concourse.

[6] And they say that Agrippa, once a general of the Romans whose inhabitants, given to idols,, founded a fortress in it, and called it Gandavum. But others relate that King Herminric established there a citadel of empire for himself. Which of these is truer, we leave to the judgement of those who say these things ^d. For since the authentic libraries have often been burned, whether by accidental chance or hostile ferocity, we do not rest with sufficient certainty on this inquiry. Yet daily proofs are at hand for those who look, that the same place had its beginnings not from mediocre but from magnificent and chief men. For the traces of ruins, and the qualities of various kinds found beneath them, speak of the most opulent and most powerful authors of the same structure ^e. The inhabitants of the aforesaid place, then, were wholly averse from the Christian religion, and on account of the harshness innate in them almost inaccessible to holy preachers ^f: and the inextricable obstinacy of this error remained until the times of King Dagobert ^g, when, by the regard of the goodness on high, there came to the wretched the desirable time of being pitied, that they might be mercifully rescued from the error of the blindness inflicted on them.

[7] they are converted to Christ by St. Amand. There shone at that time a man most delightfully endowed with the grace of God, and for that reason worthily called Amand (lovable), who, having wandered through divers regions for the purpose of preaching, diligently gained for the Lord manifold fruits of his contest. And when, pressing on more laboriously in these holy pursuits, he had turned aside to the aforesaid place, as a strong athlete he did not cease before he had brought the work begun to completion ^h. Finally, renouncing paganism, they were washed and cleansed by expiatory Baptism. The cautery of inherited ⁱ and actual transgression being removed, they were anointed with the oil of most wholesome exultation. These things having been thus accomplished, Christ breathing upon them, the fame of so great a man began to spread everywhere with happy increases. Whence there flocked to him in rivalry a concourse of divers age, sex and dignity, desiring to be formed in spiritual exercise by the discipline of the eminent father. Among these holy Allowinus, who is also Bavo, more noble among the nobles of the district of Hesbaye ^k, breathed upon by heavenly desire, betook himself, as afterwards appeared, with heartfelt devotion to be imbued by his mastership. He, as soon as he received with diligent mind the seeds of the divine word, did not suffer them to be choked by harmful sloth, but like good earth multiplied them with more fruitful interest.

[8] to whom St. Bavo joins himself, For what others reckon the summit of perfection, he undertook at the beginning of his first conversion. All his means having been given up, his dignities spurned, he handed over his estates by lawful donation, to be profitable to monastic disciplines; his money gains, or those heaped up by the sweat of his forebears, he scattered with his own hand to the needy. Thus unburdened of the deadly load of worldly desires, naked and stripped for action, he fled to the help of good Jesus ^l. And he received in the same Ghent, in which he now rests, from blessed Amand the tonsure of the clerical state, delegated by an unshakeable deliberation ^m. But of what strictness thenceforth, of what rigour he was in macerating himself for the service of God, or what assaults of the ancient foe he felt, sustained and overcame, or to what summit of the virtues he ascended under the attestation of miracles, the book of his deeds ⁿ instructs clearly enough those who wish to know. But after the manifold contests of the present life his spirit is received into heaven to enjoy its reward for ever; his body, after the manner of humanity, is committed to the earth.

[9] and by his example many more afterwards. How much increase, however, the religious life of this place drew to itself from time to time is given to be understood from this, that the recent and as it were still warm memory of the pious Patron and the daily incitements of miracles carried it ever to higher things ^o. For it is said that those who, after the departure of St. Amand, bound themselves to regular studies after the example of so great a Man reached the number of sixty and beyond [*]. It pleases me, then, before we touch on the things that have been done in our times, to relate one benefit of his, from which an indication may be taken of his wonderful condescension and singular kindness [p]. For very many things of our predecessors have been passed over — be it said with their leave — through negligence, and so far committed to oblivion that they are hidden from our knowledge as if they had never been done at all.

[10] When, then, the same sacred place was flourishing in all opulence [q] A singular benefit of St. Bavo towards a thief., it happened at the time of a certain chief festival that, among the other furnishings of the church, which were then most abundant, a golden chalice was left on the holy altar after the solemnities of Masses had been performed, without guards. And a certain one of the merchants came in to pray, whom the force of a storm had struck with such a shipwreck that, his goods acquired from every quarter being lost, he committed himself to a livelihood begged from door to door. And since he had often sought the memory of St. Bavo, propitious to the wretched, he began an audacity great indeed, yet full of faith. For, seeing the aforesaid chalice left somewhat incautiously, he gave himself to prayer more intently in this manner: I pray, he said, O St. Bavo, thy inestimable clemency, that after thy sweet manner, that is, mercifully, thou receive my intention; for thou knowest it best, and much more clearly than I myself, because thou art inseparably joined to Him who knows all things. May it please thee, then, to relieve my necessity a little, so that, as long as I live, thou mayest have me as a debtor of thy service. Let it be lawful for me now, by thy connivance, to take from here what it may please thee afterwards to receive back multiplied. Having said these things, presuming himself heard with faithful rashness, he undertook a theft not only venial but even profitable: and holding the so easy assent of the most holy Father as a pledge, he was effectually loosed from the fetter of calamity [r]. And not long after, coming to the monastery, he disclosed each thing as it had been done, paid his vows most largely, and, making many sharers of his eagerness, returned to his own with gracious safety.

[11] By these and similar benefits the opinion of the eminent Father grew immensely The monastery of Ghent, burned, is restored., and in the place in which he rests the increase of every advancement. For the church of the same was garlanded, from the zeal and offerings of the faithful, with various kinds of revenues, both for adornment and for support; with lead

also covered with costly effort. But oh! Nothing in human affairs is so continuous with safe integrity that it is not dulled in some part by misfortunes. For all these advantages of outward abundance which we have spoken of before, the negligence of one lamp carelessly handled consumed. For the flame, let out through the adjoining lengths of hangings, which had been spread out on the occasion of a solemn festival, devoured everything within and without to ashes. But again, God having mercy and the sweat of the faithful labouring with Him, they were restored to the state of their former vigour [s]. And so it remained for a long space of time, until the storm of the Norman harassment.

[12] Whose savagery grew so like a whirlwind that it consumed almost all the parts of the West with plunderings, burnings and slaughters For fear of the Barbarians the relics of St. Bavo are transferred elsewhere. [t]. And the aforesaid inhabitants of this place, fearing the irruption of so calamitous a devastation, deposited the renowned limbs of the most holy Father to be kept in a safe place. Then also, fearing the madness of the Danes, who were preparing to come upon them, they transferred the relics of the Saint of God himself, with others of very many Saints, to the most renowned [] royal mount of Laon, to be kept [] there. The treasure also, with the various ornament of the holy place, they carried away with them, going into hiding: some also remained behind to guard the venerable place [u].

[13] King Charles's munificence towards the monastery of Ghent; In these days also King Charles, who had succeeded the emperor Louis the Pious, before he received the Roman empire through the blessing of Pope John, was seen to have given with the highest devotion to St. Bavo and the brethren dwelling there the church called Fasleia and half of the vineyards belonging to it [x], and besides two villages, Colonia [y] and Niela [z]; and since the peoples who then seemed Christian, their sins, as we believe, stealing upon them [*], had offended God in many things, they were delivered to barbarians and wicked pagans to be grievously smitten, as it is written in this manner in the Chronicle after Bede [aa].

[14] it is burned by the Northmen, far "In the year from the Incarnation of our Lord eight hundred fifty-one the pirates of the Danes with two hundred forty-two ships ravage Frisia [bb] and the Batavians. And raging even as far as the monastery of St. Peter and St. Bavo, which is called Gandavum, they set fire to the same monastery. And coming to the city of Rouen [cc], they arrive on foot as far as Beauvais [dd] [ee]." Likewise, a little after: "After the death, he says, of Louis, the most pious augustus, a ruinous dissension arose among the Franks [ff]. These finally being at discord among themselves, the Northmen situated beyond the sea, hearing of the discord, having crossed the sea by naval expedition with an infinite multitude, laid waste Thérouanne [gg], the city of the Morini [hh], in the month of July with fire and sword, and, going through all the land of the Menapii [ii], lay it waste with iron and fire [kk].

[15] and wide with iron and fire After this they enter the river Scheldt and destroy all the land of the Brabanters with burning and iron." And likewise: "But the Northmen, gaping for burnings and devastations and thirsting for human blood, to the destruction and perdition of the kingdom, in the month of November fix their seat for wintering in the monastery of Gandavum, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord eight hundred eighty. Then too they lay waste the city of Tournai and all the monasteries on the Scheldt with iron and fire, the inhabitants of the land being slain and taken captive [ll]." But whoever desires to know this more fully, let him read the book itself of which we spoke above [mm]. We have set down these few things for the testimonies of authority; for it is long to record all the evils.

[16] raging, Therefore, after much slaughter of the human race, they secretly returned to Ghent, and, their ships having been repaired there, making their way by land and sea, they entered the Maas, and burned with fire the most famous palace of Aachen, and burned with fire monasteries, the most noble cities of Trier and Cologne, the inhabitants being slain [nn]. But, these joyless things being meanwhile set aside with such an outcome, we gird ourselves to unfold how the condescension on high again regarded the place assigned from the beginning to its holy service.

[17] the fear of whom ceasing, at length, Transmar Therefore, after the cessation of the Norman harassment, the region having at length been settled in the desirable quiet of tranquillity, fearing the disquiet of some incursion somewhere, those, namely, who had fled to Lugdunum [oo] with the holy relics and the monastic furniture, being set among strangers, hastened to return to Ghent as quickly as possible, taking with them the pledges of the holy Father. And since up to that time, as the whole surrounding district, so also the site of the monastery of Ghent, emptied of its cultivators, seemed almost more like a desert, they brought them into the church built in the new castle, to be kept there [pp]. But in the meantime, because the often-mentioned place was neglected by the cult of all veneration, the very remains of the walls, which had survived the burning, were covered with thistles growing up and dense briars: and so miserable an exhaustion of desolation remained there until, the state of many flowing away with the courses of the times, after some others Bishop Trasmar succeeded to the see of Noyon [qq]; who indeed, since he was a cultivator of holy places and a most eager instructor of the Christian religion, grieved from his inmost heart that the venerable place (for it was of his diocese) had been stripped of the authority of its former vigour, and resolved that it should by all means be restored.

[18] And because the long desolation needed very great supplement [at the exhortation (of Transmar), others labouring at it, it begins to be restored,], he sent word by letter, as we find in his writings, on this business to the marquis Arnulf [rr], to whom the same place belonged by royal benefice, that he wished to raise a ladder by which both might be able to ascend to heaven with light flight. What more? By these letters and frequent exhortations in conference he bent the goodwill of the marquis to what he wished; and the same place began to be restored to its former state both by the help of the two of them and by the collaboration of other faithful. And all these things, defined by divine indication, and to come to pass thus in subsequent times, had been foretold both by evident visions and by angelic manifestations: which, lest we seem to have passed them over untouched, gathering a few out of many, we have thought it worthy to insert here somehow with moderate brevity.

[19] A few (years), then, as we set down before, after the Norman incursion, a certain old man of simple life dwelt not far from the holy place and into it, miracles; and, because he was of the fisherman's craft, one night, roused from sleep, he was going to lift the nets he had let down. When he came before the place of the oratory, then almost demolished, he found three men in white garments standing opposite, and, astonished at the novelty of the vision, a little after, hope having been resumed, because he saw them as it were talking with one another, with fixed step he applies his ear to the things they were saying. Then one of them: Alas, he said, how grave a loss of the service of our God, that this place, once fit for those serving Him, now lies so miserably neglected in squalor! To this the other, who both in authority and in splendour of dress seemed to excel the rest: Most easily, he said, will the divine condescension repair it, when the sincere entreaty of the faithful shall favour. And he added: Although this will be a little later, yet this place will be most worthily restored. And that thou mayest be more certain of the rest, all the honour of its former beauty will be restored to it. He spoke, and the three who were seen, bowing their faces together, adored Him who lives for ever, and appeared nowhere. And he to whom it was given to see these things, from whose mouth they were gathered, was of such religion and so great severity that it is not easily given to any of the faithful to doubt of these things.

[20] At almost the same time another old man was dwelling in the island of Britain some things going before,, but brought to extremity by exceeding sickness. To him someone stood by in a vision in bright dress, and admonished that, if he wished to recover his former health, he should go to Ghent, once a most strong fortress, and labour as he could in restoring it. When he made the vow, he recovered, crossed the sea without delay, and when he came to the place, as long as he survived he was a devoted restorer.

[21] now completed And to run through what we have begun, when the sacred place was being raised daily by so many and such auspices of increase that anyone could easily notice that it was being illumined by the most almighty condescension of God, all the devout, both of monks and of clerics, foreseeing that the smallness of the narrower oratory did not befit the dignity of so great a Father, resolved that his most sacred relics should be translated thither; and, the things needed for the work having been disposed, determined to carry it out on [*] the day before the Kalends of October, on which the holy vigil of his deposition is celebrated [ss]. Abbot Gerard was present at this business, and had been a great part of it [tt]. But since the opinion of a false rumour had spread abroad, as though the same man had intended some machinations of fraud regarding the pledges of the Saint, in the course of the journey, the holy bier having been set down in the field adjoining the same monastery, to drive away the ill repute of the sinister rumour, he removed the pall and showed to all who were present the seals, fixed by an ancient hand, most entire.

[22] the relics of St. Bavo are again translated. How much gladness there was there, how many tears were poured out from the love of a pious heart, anyone can conjecture for himself. Who ever, being of sound mind, would not fill his soul with joy and the affection of sweetness, seeing the limbs of the special Patron of the whole province, exiled through the deserts of the sinning inhabitants, God being at length appeased, revisit the enclosure of his own house? They were therefore brought into the lately rebuilt church, raised on a celebrated shrine in which they are seen today, all following with praises in honour of the majesty of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And that it might be established to all how pleasing this stood with God, the signal miracles that followed brought it about. Which also, because it is wrong to have passed them over, and they are known to need an epilogue of their own, the tenor of this little book being ended, may more conveniently be entitled with a following beginning.

ANNOTATIONS.

less there than here would the subject matter have been suitable for an inquiry of this kind. Meanwhile let the curious reader see what we annotated there at the cited letters.

p. From the circumstances it is clear that a miracle is treated here — if, however, it is to be called a miracle — performed long before the author's age.

q. Namely before the irruption of the Normans into Flanders and other neighbouring regions.

r. The faith and simplicity of the man could indeed have brought it about that a theft committed not with evil mind was not displeasing to the Saint; but must the prosperous fortune of the merchant which followed be therefore certainly ascribed to Bavo, even if he did not hinder it, under the name of a singular benefit prodigiously conferred?

s. Of this burning of the church of St. Bavo, nay of the whole monastery with the church, and of its restoration made afterwards, see the Posthumous Glory, num. 14 and 15.

t. How great the savagery of this harassment of the Normans was, and how far and wide they raged with iron and fire especially through the western provinces of Gaul and other regions of Europe, the curious reader will find in the Chronicle of the Deeds of the Normans in France published by Duchesne in volume 2 of the Writers of the History of the Franks, page 524, and especially from page one to 37 of the ancient Writers of the History of the Normans, whom the same Duchesne published in a separate volume.

u. All the things which are narrated in this number concerning the relics of St. Bavo translated for fear of the Normans, and the circumstances pertaining to that translation, are set out at length and clearly, with the note of the times also added, in the Posthumous Glory, num. 23 and following.

x. The diploma of Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, granted in the year 364 in favour of the monastery of St. Bavo at Ghent, we have also already given from Miraeus, who first printed it in volume 1 of the Diplomas, chapter 19, in num. 41 and 42 of the Posthumous Glory; but for the names of the villages or estates whose possession is confirmed to the monastery of St. Bavo by the said diploma we referred to the same Miraeus: in him, then, among the villages or estates which are confirmed to St. Bavo, Fasleia, of which the writer of the Miracles of St. Bavo speaks here, is listed thus in the said diploma: In the pagus also, that is, the land or territory, of Soissons, in the villa of Vaesley, half of the vineyards, and the church which is known to be situated there; Miraeus adds in the annotations: Vaeslei, perhaps Walez near the city of Soissons; but other villages, and among them Valleany and Velly, occur, situated in turn not far from the city of Soissons, which, if not more, at least equally approach Vaesley or Fasleia by affinity of name; however that may be, from the mentioned diploma it is at least known that Vaesley or Fasleia was situated in the territory or land of Soissons.

y. This villa or village is assigned in the diploma of Charles the Bald cited at the preceding letter to the territory of Cambrai; but in the geographical maps of the territory of Cambrai I could find neither the name Colonia nor one akin to it.

z. This villa or village is not named in the often-cited diploma of Charles the Bald, who, probably, is wrongly asserted here too to have given Fasleia and Colonia to the monastery of St. Bavo, since Charles the Bald did not give those goods anew, but only confirmed their possession to the monastery of Ghent in perpetuity by the mentioned diploma, as will be clear to one inspecting it.

aa. The discourse here is of the Chronicle written by a certain continuator of Bede: see the Posthumous Glory, num. 25.

bb. By Fresia or Frisia is here perhaps understood in part also that part of Flanders which today obeys the federated Orders of Belgium, and which once, together with Ganda or the territory of Ghent, had the name of maritime Frisia. See Sanderus, book 1 of Rerum Gandensium, chap. IV.

cc. Rotomagus or Rothomagus, a city of Gaul, on the river Seine, with a port, the capital of the province of Normandy.

dd. There are two cities of this name in Gaul, one in upper Languedoc, the other in the province of the Isle of France; of this last, which is distant only 16 leagues to the east of Rouen, beyond doubt the discourse is here.

ee. See the things which are narrated so far in this number confirmed in the Posthumous Glory, num. 25.

ff. Nithard, who by order of Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, committed to writing the history of the year 840, in which Louis the Pious died, and of the two following, as he himself testifies in his preface, throws the whole cause of this dissension in book 2 upon the ambition of the emperor Lothair, who strove, now by force, now by fraud, to draw to himself the whole inheritance of his dead father Louis the Pious, and to subject to himself his brothers Louis and Charles.

gg. It was once a city in the county of Artois, but, taken by storm by the emperor Charles V and levelled to the ground, it was never rebuilt afterwards.

hh. Peoples whose chief city was Thérouanne just mentioned, and who inhabited in part that tract of lands which now comprises the diocese of Boulogne in Picardy, of Saint-Omer in Artois and of Ypres in Flanders.

ii. Peoples who in Caesar's age inhabited both banks of the Rhine, but afterwards, their seats having been transferred between the Maas and the Scheldt, most probably also inhabited the eastern part of Flanders, as Ortelius thinks. See Cellarius, book 2 of the Ancient Geography, page 228 and following. Further, from what Sanderus writes in volume 1 of Flandria illustrata, page 4, the Menapii too seem, the Scheldt having been crossed, to have inhabited that part of Flanders where the Waas dominion now is, in our writer's age and long before, and to have extended their borders as far as the Morini.

kk. Our writer, or rather that continuator of Bede whom he copies, does not seem here to keep the order of events in narrating: for in this last sentence he joins the irruption of the Normans into the land of the Morini and Menapii, which happened not long, as the manner of narrating hints, after the death of the emperor Louis the Pious, who died in the year 840, to the other irruption of the same Normans into Frisia and Batavia, which, as he himself writes, happened only in the year 851.

ll. See the Posthumous Glory, num. 45.

mm. Namely the Chronicle after Bede, or the work which he cites towards the end of num. 13 as a continuation of Bede.

nn. The curious reader will find almost all the same things in the Chronicle of the deeds of the Normans at the years 881 and 882 in Duchesne, volume 2 of the Writers of the History of the Franks, as also in some other little Works on the deeds of the Normans,

which the aforesaid Duchesne inserted in their History published by him.

oo. That is, Lugdunum, namely Clavatum, or Laudunum. See the Posthumous Glory, num. 27.

pp. These things were set forth in num. 53 and the two following of the Posthumous Glory.

qq. The epoch of the bishopric of Noyon and Tournai begun by Transmar see in the Posthumous Glory, num. 48.

rr. In what sense Arnulf, count of Flanders, is here called marquis, num. 50 of the Posthumous Glory discloses.

ss. See the Posthumous Glory, num. 56, 57 and 58.

tt. Namely Cellensis, founder of the monastery of Brogne in the county of Namur, whose Acts we shall illustrate at the following day.

\ ultraque*.

\ &* is redundant.

\ servandas*.

\ Perhaps subrepentibus* (creeping upon)?

\ Perhaps idem* (the same).

BOOK II.

Various Miracles worked by St. Bavo in the tenth century.

While the relics of St. Bavo rested in the new castle, Desiring to mark in some way by the office of the pen the wonderful works of the all-powerful God, by which He has deigned to make known to the world the merits of His most beloved athlete Bavo, works truly suited to the advancement of many, we think it will not be out of place if, before those things which have been shown in modern times in the place where he now rests, we commit to memory a certain magnificent miracle, and on account of its novelty profitable, manifested in the new castle before his relics were translated to that place ^a.

[24] a leather-worker irreverent towards the Saint In the territory of the aforesaid fortress there were dwelling laymen who from their trade were surnamed leather-workers. One of these, enticed by desire of gain on a Saturday beyond the custom of the Christian religion ^b, pressed on at his work longer than the rest. But a colleague, rebuking him: Why, he said, dost thou not give honour to God and to St. Bavo, who rests near by? Who St. Bavo is, he says, I am not ignorant; but if this is lacking to me, what will he give? He had not yet finished the unspeakable words, and, wonderful to see! contracted in his whole body he fell. There is a concourse of the citizens, and they carry him like a shapeless monster, calling on the help of the holy Father. For a little while he lay most like a dead man, and, the crowds looking on, rose up whole.

[25] But oh, nothing is ever safe with the enemy! The wretch, as soon as he recovered he is punished by God a second and a third time,, said that he had suffered this unjustly. And again, paying the penalty, he is rolled like a ball along the ground. For with his arms folded he clung wretchedly between his knees at the hips, and, his legs being bent back, his feet were fixed to his buttocks as far as the heel, and, what was a grief to see, he had nothing of a man but the soul. And so those of his who were present, grieving at his misery, dedicated him for ever to the service of the Saint. And behold, the legs and arms of the contracted man began to be drawn apart, and again before all he rose up whole. And when he wished to go away, he learned that he was rather to serve the Saint perpetually. He despised it, and refused that he would do it. Wonderful to say! A third time he was rolled on the ground to be tortured. And those standing by, wearied by such a remarkable miracle until sunset, returned each to his own. By the regard of the most merciful Father, a third time most perfectly healed, he followed those who went before with the greatest eagerness.

[26] By the merit of this benefit, then, honour and reverence began to be held towards the eminent Father, not only among the neighbours and, (the relics) having been translated into the rebuilt monastery,, but widely through the world; and he whom before (the man) misused [*] for contempt began to be feared with love among whatever nations to whom his fame could be carried. For the pleasing clemency of almighty God, as it had begun, made His Saint wonderful in manifold ways day by day. For with how many and what signs he shone forth after his relics were translated to the place destined for him from on high will be established by the truth of the discourse subjoined.

[27] A certain man of the world lived [*] not far from the holy place another, shut in prison, having invoked the Saint, is freed., powerful indeed in possessions, but less fit to manage what he possessed. It happened that his goods were lost by theft. Searching, then, for the one guilty of the theft, he seized an innocent young man: inflicting on him tortures for the crime, he at length consigned him to prison custody. And since he was of the Saint's jurisdiction ^c, he unceasingly begged the solace of deliverance. Nor did the Saint fail to see that the innocent man was saved. On that very night he noticed that the barriers of the prison yielded to him, but that, chained, he could not go away. At length, taking counsel for himself, using flight, he went somehow step by step, chained, to the oratory; he poured out prayers, and the chain fell from his feet: he rose glad, and paid back the offices of thanks for his rescue.

[28] A certain young man of the household of the holy Confessor ^d, compelled by the times An offering from the price of a young man sold is prodigiously rejected., was sold by a certain man of his own will, that he might have the necessaries of food. And when the seller, returning, came to the place of highest reverence, he went in to pray: he approached the tomb, and wished to deposit a coin of that sale. But wonderful to relate! He could neither deposit the coin nor stretch out his fingers. He stood, then, astonished with the offering, wondering at the novelty of the thing. When he came to his senses, conscious of the sale, he was terrified: he withdrew to one side, brought out a coin sought with dutiful sweat, and so came again to the altar, and, as he disposed his hand, merited to have it restored.

[29] There is a maritime island whose name is Walachra ^e One labouring with dropsy is healed.: in it a certain matron, of the household of the above-named St. Bavo, was vehemently afflicted with the disease of dropsy, so that, her belly distended down to her legs, she scarcely breathed with diseased panting. And while, lying on her bed, she awaited her end, inspired from heaven, and most wholesomely remembering her Patron, she ordered herself to be taken to Ghent with hurried haste, and arrived at the very solemnities of the Saint. She remained some time, and without injury to herself found an opening below her belly, from which the matter of the whole disease ran down drop by drop. She herself, formerly barren indeed, having received health, is made fruitful with sons.

[30] One not celebrating the feast of St. Bavo is punished. With the same islanders there dwelt a handmaid of St. Lambert the martyr ^f. She received the command that she should keep holy the festive solemnities of the holy Father. Treating this as void, she went into a garden situated near by; she thought she could gather certain herbs with impunity. When, then, she touched some dill, it clung to her hand. At the report of the deed a multitude of wondering people was present, and, all being amazed, it stood forth wonderful to see, not only the vengeance of the martyr inflicted, but to be feared by all thereafter who should not celebrate the feast. And since the most renowned deposition of St. Bavo was at hand, she hastened to go to that place with the rest. She came indeed, and in the first watch of the night the fingers fixed in her palm began to break out, and the contracted sinews to extend themselves: and so for joy she interrupted the choirs of those singing psalms, gave thanks to God, showed also the hollow places of the nails to be looked at by those wondering, and went away whole.

[31] A blind woman receives sight. A certain blind woman, led by the hands of her people, came to the very solemnities of so great veneration. And when on account of the throng of those flocking together she found the Saint's shrine inaccessible to her, she went on to the crypt, at his feet, to pray. She gave herself to prayer, and, overcome by sleep, as happens, fell asleep, and recognized St. Bavo standing by her. Roused from that sleep, she saw all things clearly. The report of the deed drew those who flocked together, and, they congratulating her, she returned to her own.

[32] A sick man is restored to his former strength. A certain young man among the maritime people lived by theft. He, seized by sickness, came to the extremity of life. Taking counsel for himself, he vowed amendment of his crimes to God and to St. Bavo. When night came on, sleep crept upon him. The Saint, then, appeared to him of kindly countenance, as he is; when he recognized him, he indeed shuddered. Be present, he said, in mind, and, putting away fear, commit to memory what I say. Visit the monastery of Ganda, and, as thou hast promised, pay thy vows. He rose with what effort he could, went to Ghent, fulfilled his vows, and departed whole.

[33] A mute (receives) the use of his tongue, At the city of Trier there was a very liberal matron. She had a little boy of nine years, but mute of all intelligible speech. And so, for the sake of healing, she resolved to apply the cutting iron to his tongue. The Saint took counsel for the resolve, and admonished that the little child should not be tortured. He admonished that vows of prayers be made first, and that she would rejoice over the boy's health. The mother obeyed the command, and felt the healing in her son.

[34] a captive is presented with liberty. A certain man of the household of the same holy Confessor ^g, taken by ambush, nay despoiled of his means, was committed to custody. And since he was visited by his own, for he was of a famous name of nobility, he was exiled beyond the region and thrust into prison, and there suffered many hardships. But relying on the help of God, and covered with holy faith, and animated by the hope of escaping, he unceasingly asked that St. Bavo be present to him. And behold, in the stillness of the dead of night, a light shone forth to him by divine nod. The chains were loosed from his neck and the fetters from his feet. Hence he rose glad, and found the bars of the prison opened by God, and so through immense spaces of roads came to his own.

[35] There is a nation of Frisians as broad as it is strong, although of very little faith; among whom St. Bavo had possessed hereditary land Various men injurious towards St. Bavo, necessary for the use of the brethren, namely for their clothing: which a certain Frisian ^h, as a man of faithless nature, had invaded, and had unjustly usurped a certain part for himself. And when he was admonished by the administrator not to do violence to the Saint, he defended himself publicly, not with impunity, by oath: but as soon as he had forsworn himself, he died. And the Lord, that He might make manifest the holiness of His Beloved, showed vengeance even in the dead body, in that, buried according to custom, it was seen to boil over with manifold worms. His own, then, shuddering at this vengeance, hasten to pay a vow to the Saint, restoring what had been unjustly forsworn. And as they did it, the worms did not appear.

[36] Another Frisian too, of the same stock of faithlessness, held in benefice a part of the same estate by death, apt for feeding flocks. For some time he paid the rent most excellently: but, the carelessness of forgetfulness stealing upon him, he treated the debt as neglected. When the administrator of the Saint learned this, he admonished him somewhat sharply: Nor is it hidden from thee, he said, that this part of the estate too is of the Saint's right ⁱ. But if it is at thy heart to possess these things for unending time, as before, pay what is due. His admonitions he set at nought ^k, and, beginning unspeakable things, answered: I, he said, will overcome by the judicial law set against thee, and will make this hereditary for ever for myself and my posterity. So the wretch spoke, and, striking the earth with his foot, belched out this blasphemy: Of this earth, he said, St. Bavo shall have only so much. As he hissed this out, shaking the hay-scythe from his neck and wishing to fix his outstretched right hand in the ground (for he was already mowing the flowering meadows), what is a grief to say, he cut off his own head with his own hand.

[37] On the border of Ghent another usurped for himself a meadow of the same Saint (punished) with death. This he boldly entered with his people to mow it, giving warning beforehand that a little food be brought to him. And among the food eggs too were brought: as he presumed to take one, it turned in his throat, and by the judgement of God he fell, and lost his life together with the meadow. A certain perverse man of the same village withstood the Saint in an inheritance, which, because when constrained he delayed to give it back, emptied by a flux of the belly, he poured out even his intestines. A matron of illustrious nobility, but of the household of the holy Confessor, blushed to pay the head-rent ^l; she went to Ghent, and, having substituted a slave in her place, went away as if free ^m. In a like manner another, wearied by the number of her wealth, was redeemed, men-servants and maid-servants being put in her place ⁿ. Not long after, punished for her contempt,

she came to such want that she begged the sustenance of a livelihood from door to door. A certain woman too, having obtained her liberty for a price, departed this life within a very short space ^o.

[38] A slave of the Saint cultivated himself too little, and every year withheld the head-rent [p] or otherwise. Given over to vengeance, he remained blind a long time. And so, taking counsel for himself, he restored what had been withheld, and received his sight. A certain perverse man in the very port of Ghent claimed for himself with vain hopes certain of the Saint's households [q]. And when he more boldly set at nought the Saint of God with more insolent words, and cried out that the same should be bound in chains, he betook himself home [*], and, having dined largely, went off to sleep. As he laid himself down, he utterly lost his sense: he began to grow insolent, and to redouble bull-like bellowings. At length he was seized and most tightly bound. So, then, by divine examination, he who had resolved to bind others fell first into the pit. But, brought back by his own to the Saint, not long after he felt him propitiated towards him.

[39] prodigiously Likewise three brothers in the very port with wicked daring did violence to a certain woman of the holy Confessor [r]. And so they lead her away with them, as if about to possess her for ever as a servant. And when they had crossed the river Scheldt, one fell into the river, and so departed this life. Another, seized on the very way, died without delay. The third, terrified by the novelty of the prodigy, repented and escaped vengeance. In a like manner three others deprived a certain one of the Saint's households [s] of his own inheritance. But he, full of faith, went to the Saint and sought vengeance; when he returned home, he found them all together carried off by death, dead.

[40] are punished. A horseman pursuing a little hare trampled the crops. At which a servant of the Saint, grieving, said: Ah, St. Bavo, why dost thou not defend thy field? Quicker than the word the horseman fell and broke his hip. The little hare, stumbling, dashed its throat. These few things we have touched upon concerning the miracles of the Saint avenging his injuries; which being left, we shall set our pen to the works of goodness.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. He was namely of that class of the household of St. Bavo those in which were bound both to render service and to pay an annual rent. See here the Annotations at letter c.

q. That is, most probably, he claimed or usurped for his own service with vain hope some of those who were devoted to the service of the Saint.

r. That is, a woman of the household of the holy Confessor in the sense which I set out at letter c.

s. See again the Annotations at letter c.

\ habebatur* (was held).

\ degit* (lives).

\ Another reading: domum* (home).

BOOK III.

Continuation of the Miracles of St. Bavo.

St. Bavo, the place in which, converted, he first dwelt, It is believed to be proper to the Saints that the more severely they justly avenge wrongs done, the more presently they grant things justly asked. Nor is it lawful to believe that the spirit of the Saints wills to be so angered that they cannot be appeased: since it is written in the person of the Lord: Whom He loveth He chastiseth; and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth ^a. But they punish injuries done for the sake of correction and amendment, so that those whom they see cannot be corrected by words may at least, worn down by penalties, come to their senses from evils ^b. But since so far the preceding page had in some way set forth the wonders of him avenging, it remains for it to disclose the works of goodness which occur to memory; first those which he performed in the place which is called Medmedunc ^c, where he is said to have first dwelt after his conversion, and mercifully granted to those who prayed piously.

[42] making it illustrious by miracles And this same sacred place, to speak for those who do not know it, is suited to those who wish to remain in seclusion, full of wild apples and other fruits, abounding in plenty of fish, and, to conclude in a few words, most apt for all who desire to inhabit the wilderness; which the same beloved of God inhabited for a few short stays, and sanctified by his holy habitation: and after his death made wonderful by signal miracles. Whence we think it not ill-advised, nor of the least faith, to set out an angelic vision shown there.

[43] he appears to an old man devoted to him, A certain old man, living on the border of that little village, cultivated this little oratory with wonderful affection; and, planning to restore it, then almost consumed by age, he begged supplements of help from those placed round about. Then he hired workmen, and hastened to press on with the work on certain days. And the stream flowing near by [d] also supplied catches of fish abundantly; and, so to speak, furnished feasts man by man. And it happened on a certain day that he rested with his people under the open sky after labour, and behold, an odour of such sweetness steamed forth from the little oratory itself, as if an ambrosial liquor filled the nostrils of those resting, or the roofs had been anointed with spices. A wonderful thing! After sunset, when they were laying themselves down to sleep, someone, bearing the habit of sacred religion, appeared to this old man, and asked what he was doing there. He, struck with horror and wholly speechless, answered nothing indeed, but by a touch on the side admonished the one next him to answer. And the angelic man: Fear not at all, he said, answer what is asked, namely, to whom thou spendest the work of thy labour. I, he said, am pressing on to rebuild for St. Bavo this little oratory, almost demolished. And he, repeating the sayings of the kind Saviour: Amen, he said, I say to thee, thou shalt not lose thy reward. This said, he returns whence he had come, and behold, a little bell hanging above rang without human touch, and he vanished from the eyes of those wondering.

[44] he has pity on a penitent parricide, Two nephews quarrelling with each other, having seized arms, the one overcame the other; coming to himself, therefore, he was terrified at the parricide. He went to the bishop, and after the manner of Christian remission received penance by pilgrimage. And when he was now completing the ninth year, he sought again the patronage of the Apostles. When he had crossed the Alps, he had recognized the holy Apostles in a vision, by whom he was admonished not to waste the rest of the way in vain labour: Returning, they say, visit the annual memorial of St. Bavo, which is at Medmedunc. He rose, believing the vision indeed, but ignorant of the place; he returned to Ghent, made known what had been commanded him. And since he arrived at the very solemnities of the Saint, namely of the Kalends of August ^e, he accompanies the others going thither. And when the skilled were now raising up [*] their sweet-sounding voices, and he himself was standing intent on prayer, by divine power the iron rings with which he was bound cracked, then, slipping to the ground, were broken into small pieces before all; and he, loosed from the bonds of his offences, returned to his own glad ^f.

[45] Likewise a servant of the same holy Confessor ^g, distended for nine months with an excessive sickness of swelling, was admonished in a vision to go to the same place. He went to the place and heals a sick man., sought help, and was eased. A certain lame man, brought to Ghent from afar, so limped on his foot that he could not walk without the support of a staff. He resolved to stay some time, and wintered at the fortress itself. And on a certain day, when he stood at the divine office, he fell suddenly to the ground; and when those standing by reckoned it an accident and wished to help him, he rose up whole by himself, and for the health he had obtained gave thanks with the rest to the holy Confessor.

[46] On the Kalends of October, which are the solemnities of the holy Father The Saint is beneficent at Ghent to various persons., a servant of blessed Amand, loosened in his whole body, was brought by boat to this very monastery of the fortress of Ghent: the people being witness, he merited the health of his weak limbs. A servant of St. Bavo, accused by his advocate ^h, was compelled to pay 30 solidi. On the appointed day he prayed his Saint with suppliant devotion that he might find the same man milder towards him. He went, then, to pay the debt; but he found the already-mentioned advocate dead; and so, glad at the event, he offered half the debt to St. Bavo, his propitiator. A poor woman of his, not able to pay the head-rent ⁱ — for she owed 12 denarii — sought solace in prayer: as she went out of the door of the house, she prayed prostrate; she rose, and found 12 denarii before her: she took them and paid the debt. A girl, living up to then at Ghent, was for courses of years hunchbacked and weak in all strength of body; and when she was begging from door to door in a carrying-chair, she came for the sake of health to the threshold of the holy Confessor, prayed, and, having obtained health, returned home on foot.

[47] A certain count of the same port of Ghent obtained relics of the Saint A candle lit before the Saint's relics is not extinguished in water., and carried them away with him by ship. Out of reverence, then, a candle burned continually in the night ^k. By chance it happened, and, all being asleep, it fell into the bilge. All night long it shone in the water, and to the wonder of all paid homage to so great a veneration.

[48] Farnewic is the name of a villa ^l, situated on the bank of the river Scheldt The mother of a boy fallen into the water,; there dwelt a woman of honest life, having a little son. He one day, after the manner of little children playing, was running about by the bank of the river: for other little boys had brought him with them. And when he moved over to the neighbouring bank, not well trusted, he slipped into the river to the bottom. When the mother learned what had happened, she ran up panting and believed him dead, whom the wave, having lifted him, had already drawn further away. And since human solace was wanting, she bloodied her face with her nails, disfigured her breast with her fists, and, repeating Woe, cried out many times. At length, coming to herself, she stretched out her hands, fixed her eyes on the heavens, and sought the suffrages of the chosen Father. No delay; the boy came back from the depth and began to swim beside the shore. The mother, catching hold of him, brought him back home unharmed and alive. She, not long after, paid worthy offerings to the memorial of so great a Father, gave thanks, and returned to her own.

[49] Whalers went out to sea to catch whales a fisherman,; and, a monstrous beast being seen, they surround it in rivalry. But it, having slipped many times between their hands, at length settled at the bottom. And it fell by lot that a servant of the holy Father should fix the iron in it: who, sighing heavily, said: Ah, St. Bavo, grant me this grace, that, having obtained my wish, I may pay to thy people the vows of reward. He prayed, and the fish came back from the depth; as he saw it, he leaped up rejoicing, and fixed the iron firmly. When he returned to shore, he sent the fins to the Saint's monastery.

[50] the wife of a poor man, and others A certain poor man, offering to the holy Confessor oxen fit for the yoke, presented himself humbly in person, and related in this manner the works of goodness shown to his wife. My wife, he said, kept in bed for many days, and now near to death, vowed that she would seek the Saint of the Lord in person, and would offer him these calves. I confess that, when I learned it, being informed, I too consented. Without delay the sick woman experiences his suffrage. Hence in her stead, behold, I pay the vows before you.

[51] by the patronage of St. Bavo obtain their wishes. Among the Morini, the farthest of men on the border of the sea, there was a man having a little child seized by sickness. And when he despaired of its life, the mother, of sounder counsel, admonished him to vow the same to the Saint, provided he would grant it recovery; and when he did so, the boy yawned, opened his eyes, and received back the life he had almost lost. Another likewise, older indeed in age, his sickness growing heavier, settled on the margin of life. And when he gave his limbs to rest, he sees himself in a vision standing beside the altar of the holy Confessor and serving with the rest. Coming to himself, then, he made a vow, promised service, and without delay received restoration ^m.

[52] One unfaithful in his promises is punished. A certain very rich man, when he had a little child, vowed him to the Saint as a monk. But as the boy grew up, the father repented of the vow. And one day he prepared a feast opulently for his kinsfolk, and the boy himself, now twelve years old, served: and when amid sweet cups they gladly crowned the wines, they praised the father for keeping back the boy. But by chance it happened that the broth [*] of meats was standing opposite. His foot, then, stumbling, the boy fell into it, and at once died. And so the father paid the penalty of his faithlessness.

[53] Health to a girl labouring dangerously, In the parts of Thérouanne ⁿ there was a very liberal matron of great uprightness. She, one day, for some business, went to the borders of the sea, accompanied by the only daughter of her hope, then ripe in virgin years and then marriageable. Which girl, seized unexpectedly by a most violent sickness, is laid prostrate on the ground, and is bewailed by those present as dead. And the mother prayed within herself thus for her rescue: Bavo, beloved of God, have mercy on thy handmaid praying, and glide down hither for a little, bringing the solace of Christ. Let the body of my stricken daughter feel the relief of thy indulgence, that she who lies lifeless beside me may pay the prayers of vows to thee. The prayer then being set forth, she rose, and sat down behind her daughter laid on the ground. Without delay she opened her eyes, and she who a little before was speechless began to speak. And so she rose and returned home on foot; unharmed, she went to Ghent, and made known the power of the holy Father propitious to her.

[54] and other benefits are conferred on others. The pirates of the Danes, not content with their own seats, making for Walachra ^o, lay everything waste [p]. There was there a handmaid of the holy Confessor, heaped with the resources of every abundance; when she learned that the Danes had come upon them, she threw herself on the ground and sought the solace of her Saint. By divine nod she not only escaped, but saved all her substance. Another of the household of the same Saint was indeed taken by the pirates, but mercifully freed. For, having been presented to the fleet with the booty, and because she was a noble person, she was assigned to custody, namely in the provision ship. She lay hidden among the thwarts for four days, and, the merits of the Saint pleading for her, when they put in to port she departed safe, recognized by no one. Likewise from the port of Ghent a certain man of the Saint's was taken and brought to Rouen [q], and, unexpectedly recognized by his own people, redeemed without delay, was sent back to his own by the merits of his Saint. These things, that they may suffice to the affected brevity of the avoiders of any [*] tedium, we have touched upon more restrainedly than their abundance suggested.

ANNOTATIONS.

or monasteries protected, and who were charged with this office, that they should be the ones who defended their causes in the public courts, and acted the part of plaintiff or defendant. See Du Cange in the Glossary at the word advocati, where he also sets out the various changes introduced into the office of those Advocates.

p. Since our writer (see the Preliminary Commentary, num. 17) does not narrate miracles earlier than the 10th century, in which he flourished, it is clear that the irruption of the Normans into Walachria is treated here, which happened either in the tenth century or certainly a little later.

q. That is, Rothomagus. See the Annotations after book 1 at letter dd.

\* That is, were raising on high.

\ Mabillon: vas* (vessel).

\ Another reading: qualiacumque*.