ON ST. JOVINUS, OR JUVINUS, CONFESSOR, IN CHAMPAGNE IN GAUL,
PERHAPS IN THE NINTH CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Commemoration in the less ancient sacred Fasti, ecclesiastical cult, a Life of doubtful credit.
Jovinus or Juvinus, confessor, in Champagne in Gaul. (S.)
BY C. B.
Molanus, on this day, in the Usuard augmented by himself, announces St. Juvinus, or, Commemoration of the Saint in the sacred Fasti, as others write it with the second letter changed, Jovinus, very briefly in these words: In the district of Dulcrimum, of St. Juvinus, confessor. To this Molanian Auctarium of Usuard there come in addition, in Sollerius, three others as well, namely the Tournai, the Reims and the Eu; in the last of which, in place of the name of Jovinus or Juvinus, Vivinus is corruptly written. Juvinus or Jovinus is likewise celebrated on this day by Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints, by Rosweyde in his Fasti of the Saints, and, in the Martyrologies which they compiled, by Galesini, Canisius, du Saussay and, most recently of all, Chastelain. Yet in the pure Usuard and the other more ancient martyrologies which go by the name of the Classics, the name of Juvinus nowhere occurs on this day. Hence perhaps it happened that those who, about the last years of the sixteenth century, reformed the present Roman Martyrology likewise passed over St. Juvinus in it, as one whom they neither found entered in Belinus nor sufficiently knew from elsewhere. But there is no reason why anyone should wonder that the Saint is not entered today in the Classical Martyrologies, since, according to what will be said, he perhaps lived later in age than Usuard and the other compilers of those. However that may be, Juvinus is indeed deservedly numbered among the Saints, since he still today enjoys, or at least once enjoyed, the cult customarily paid to the Saints, and that not only, as I shall prove below, in the district of Dulcrimum in Champagne, to which he is ascribed in most of the sacred Fasti praised above; but also, as at least appears most probable, in two other places of the same most extensive province of the Gauls.
[2] ecclesiastical cult in a suburb of Reims, in the village of Loisy on the Marne. One of these is a suburb of the city of Reims, the metropolis of Champagne; the other is a village on the river Marne, named Loisy, which lies between Langres and Chaumont, towns of Champagne, as I find noted in Blaeu's Geographical Map of Champagne. That the Saint enjoys, or once enjoyed, ecclesiastical cult in the suburb of Reims, I gather from the Reims Auctarium of Usuard in Sollerius already mentioned before. For in this the Saint is announced on this day in these words: In the suburb of Reims, the heavenly birthday of St. Jovinus, confessor; and for this announcement, by which the Saint is attributed to the suburb of Reims, I am unable to find any cause other than one to be sought from ecclesiastical cult; for Juvinus did not make that place illustrious either by a life holily spent or by a happy and blessed death. It therefore appears most probable that the Saint was once honoured there with ecclesiastical cult, and that perhaps he is honoured there even today.
But as regards the village just named, which is situated on the Marne, that the Saint is venerated there too is understood from Chastelain, when, celebrating Juvinus on this day in his Universal Martyrology, he writes thus: In the district of Dulcrimum in Champagne, of St. Juvinus, confessor, to whom a church is dedicated at Loisy on the Marne. That a church is dedicated to the Saint in that village I learn neither from other writers nor from any monuments. But here the single testimony of Chastelain suffices me, who is generally found to have thoroughly examined the things he asserts about the cult of the Saints. There is therefore no doubt that the church of the aforementioned village is consecrated to the Saint; and that he consequently most certainly enjoys ecclesiastical cult there.
[3] And so you now have proved the ecclesiastical cult which the Saint even today enjoys in two places of Champagne distinct from the district of Dulcrimum, and in that of Dulcrimum, of which there is given here or once enjoyed. It remains that I should now prove also the cult which he enjoys, or once enjoyed, in the said district. Before, however, I do so, it will help, so that what is to be said may be more clearly understood, to set forth first a notice of that district, which is moreover made illustrious by the life and death of St. Juvinus, and which is also called the Dulcomensis district in the Eu Auctarium praised above. The Dulcumensis district, says Adrien de Valois in the Notitia Galliarum, in the diocese or parish of Reims, where the celebrated village of Sindunum is, is mentioned by Flodoard in book 1 of the Ecclesiastical History of Reims: it is also called the Dulcomensis district, and also Dolomensis, and Dulmensis; and also Dulminse, that is, Dulmensis, in the division of the kingdom of Lothar; without doubt le pays de Dormois, in which is the town of St. Menehould, and Cernacum, Cernay-en-Dormois, illustrious with the title of a barony, where there is one of the XVII deaneries of the church of Reims. Thus Valois here assigns the various formations of the name which the Dulcumensis district bears, and he would most probably also have added that it is sometimes called Dulcrimensis, if only he had had before his eyes here the sacred Fasti mentioned above, in which the name of our Saint is entered. However that may be, this writer, after some things interposed after the words just recited, continues thus about the Dulcumensis or Dulcrimensis district: This district extended from Cernay to the river Meuse, and contained the castle of Dunum on the Meuse, Dun, and the little township of Dulcon, once the head of the whole district, whence also the name of the district, and the village of Sindunum on the Aisne, commonly called Senuc, noted for the cell or priory of St. Oricle.
[4] Further, in this district or territory there is a village which has its name from St. Juvinus. a notice, a not undistinguished district of Champagne; It is situated on the right of the river which is called in French Ayre, in Latin Arola by Baudrand, Edera on the Geographical Map prefixed to volume 9 of Gallia Christiana; it is distant about two leagues' journey from the confluence of this river and the Aisne, having the little town of Grandpré lying between itself and the place where these two rivers flow together, at nearly equal distance on either side. Consult Blaeu's Geographical Map of the diocese of Reims and of the territory of Rethel, or also that in which Guillaume de L'Isle most recently comprised Champagne, and the matter will at once become manifest. But, you will say, did that village therefore draw its name from our Saint? I answer that this indeed cannot be proved either from the historians treating of the affairs of Champagne or from the ancient monuments of this region; but that there is nevertheless reason why it may not undeservedly be believed that the name was given to the village from the name of our Saint. For in the Life to be edited, at num. 12, it is written thus: But as the devotion of the people and the greatness of the miracles increased, a church was built there (on the Arola or Edera, where the Saint had been buried) in his honour, so that the place which before a multitude of beasts had held is now inhabited because of the humility of the holy Man (namely Juvinus), and down to the present day not only his church but also the whole township altogether is called by the name of St. Juvinus. From which words it is surely rightly gathered that the village of St. Juvinus which is marked on the aforesaid Geographical Maps on the river Edera or Arola (for no other village of St. Juvinus occurs on this river) is so called from our Saint Juvinus. Nor do we learn only this from those words, but also that a church was built to Juvinus in the said village, to which he gave its name, and that he was consequently honoured there by the faithful with ecclesiastical cult; which is also most clearly understood from the words which are subjoined to those just recited.
[5] where, that the Saint was venerated, from the Life to be edited alone They run thus: But many years having elapsed after his (St. Juvinus's) glorious passing, his most reverend body was raised from the sepulchre and placed by religious men and honourable persons in a wooden chest: which, even if in its own quality it appears too mean to contain so incomparable a treasure, very often frequented by angels, yet it befits us, who are more especially bound to his service, shining with chastity and modesty, to follow the examples of his holiness, if we desire to be mingled with him in the unspeakable joy of the Blessed. The village of St. Juvinus, therefore, situated on the Edera or Arola, most probably obtained its name from our Saint, and was at the same time also illustrious of old for his cult. But, you will say, is the Life of St. Juvinus, or rather its writer, of so great authority that it can safely be trusted, when
he affirms, without any suitable witness at all, that our Saint gave his name to the village of St. Juvinus, situated on the Edera or Arola, and was honoured there with ecclesiastical cult? I answer that this writer, however much, according to what will be said, he probably strayed from the truth more than once in other matters, nevertheless deserves entire credit in what he asserts about the village which drew its name from St. Juvinus, and about his ecclesiastical cult there. I think so for this reason: that the things he asserts pertaining to the Saint's cult, which he not obscurely indicates in the words recited above to have held their place in his own age too, he without any doubt had thoroughly examined; and from the ecclesiastical cult which Juvinus enjoyed in the said village it becomes most probable, indeed even almost certain, that this village drew the name of Juvinus from no other source than from our Saint.
[6] is drawn out. This is presented in summary by du Saussay, These are the things which, other documents being lacking, I have to record concerning the cult of St. Jovinus or Juvinus, and the village called by the Saint's name. I now proceed to discuss the Life of the Saint itself which is to be edited, and the things which pertain to it, and who and of what kind was the author who committed it to writing. Du Saussay, praised above, who celebrates the Saint on this day in Champagne with a more general announcement in his Gallican Martyrology, as being venerated, according to what has been said, not in the district of Dulcrimum or Dulcomum alone but in two other places of Champagne besides, du Saussay, I say, most probably had before his eyes the Life of our Saint which we are about to edit, or certainly another not very unlike it. What leads me to think so is the eulogy with which he adorns the Saint, and in which he presents a kind of summary of the Life to be edited, which, although it disagrees with it in some circumstances, yet in most agrees with it exactly. This will become clear from a comparison of the two. Here, then, so that this may be done more conveniently, is that eulogy too: In Champagne, of St. Jovinus, confessor and hermit, who, born in the territory of Reims, of servile lot, through sincere service of God attained to liberty, which Mark, count of Stadunum, conferred on him in view of his piety and of his signal gifts of grace. And using it well, as the Apostle admonishes, he led many by strenuous effort from the servitude of sin to the liberty of the sons of God: then, having performed many wonders in retirement, he went on to the Lord by a peaceful departure. His body, after many prodigies had been worked at his funeral, was at length buried in the very oratory of the little cell which he had inhabited: where, as signs grew more frequent, a notable basilica was built, to which the adjoining village gradually grew into a town, now conspicuous by his name on account of the aid of so great a Confessor.
[7] So du Saussay; what is to be thought of each of whose assertions will be made plain partly by this Commentary, who wrongly asserts a town conspicuous by the Saint's name. partly by the Annotations which I shall subjoin to the Life to be edited. At the end he says that the village which adjoined the church built at the Saint's cell gradually grew into a town conspicuous by the name of St. Juvinus; which indeed, as far as I think, is foreign to the truth. For in the Life to be edited (see the words recited at num. 4) the place which is mentioned as adjoining the church built at the Saint's oratory or sepulchre is distinguished only by the name of a township, and there occurs in Champagne, either among the historians or among the ancient geographers, absolutely no town which was called by the name of St. Juvinus. Moreover, that place which is held distinguished by the name of St. Juvinus on the river Arola or Edera is marked on the geographical Maps praised above not with the sign with which towns, but only with that with which villages, are customarily marked. Therefore what du Saussay asserts about a village which gradually grew into a town conspicuous by the name of St. Juvinus deserves no credit at all. Let the judgment be different about the eremitical Life which he insinuates was led by the Saint. For although the anonymous biographer of the Saint makes no express mention of this in the Life to be edited, he nevertheless commits to writing things which in no way stand in the way of the Saint's being believed to have led an eremitical life. For where at num. 6 he has narrated how the Saint was made free from a slave, at num. 7 he soon adds: He (St. Juvinus) then, the more he saw himself free from the service of men, the more ardently began to apply himself to the divine; both so that he might not use ungratefully the liberty granted him, and so that he might prepare himself more worthily for death (which was already approaching), applying himself, namely, to fasts, vigils, prayers and other holy works.
[8] In which words surely nothing lies hidden which conflicts with an eremitical Life of the Saint; Juvinus perhaps led an eremitical life. yet, if those words are considered together with du Saussay's Eulogy, Juvinus probably did not lead this before he had already become of a more advanced age. For, as du Saussay seems to mean in the eulogy transcribed here above, Juvinus did not embrace the eremitical life before he had already been presented with liberty by his master; but, as follows from the words of the Life to be edited just recited, he was not presented with this until death was already approaching, and hence probably not before he had already reached a more advanced age. However that may be, du Saussay, who attributes an eremitical life to the Saint, does not at all conflict here with the biographer of our Saint. But, you will say, does nothing occur from elsewhere either, on account of which credit deserves to be denied here to du Saussay, or rather to the author from whom he drew the Eulogy of the Saint transcribed here above? I answer that nothing of this kind has indeed been found by me. There is no reason, therefore, why I should pronounce the eremitical life of the Saint, asserted by du Saussay, unlike the truth. I therefore leave the matter to the judgment of others. Whatever they may please meanwhile to determine, it does not appear to be doubted that the Saint led a most holy kind of life. For he, as indeed seems to be admitted on the credit of the Life to be edited, drew breath, spent his life and met his death in the Dulcomensis or Dulcrimensis district or territory, so that he was very well known in this district or territory. Wherefore, since he obtained there, according to what has been said, a church dedicated to himself and a village called by his name, it is by no means to be doubted that he lived most holily and at the same time died most holily; for otherwise a church would not seem to have been dedicated to him in the said district as to a Saint, nor a village inscribed with his name. Hence also I think that Juvinus perhaps even became illustrious for miracles, both before and after his death.
[9] The miracles which are recorded by the anonymous biographer Far be it from me, however, to hold as certain and undoubted the miracles which the Saint is asserted in the Life to be edited to have performed. I shall soon give the reason why I think so. It pleases me first, so that the studious reader may perceive what and of what kind those miracles are, to set them before his eyes here with a brief summary of the Life to be edited. The Saint, born of servile stock and employed by the master whom he served in keeping swine, at a divine impulse builds an oratory in a grove; accused on this account of negligence and faithlessness before his master, he proves his innocence, first indeed by the herd, which had been dispersed in every direction, being in a short time gathered into one, in even greater number than was owed; and then by the staff which he held in his hands being suddenly turned into a tree growing out in three little branches and adorned with flowers. The master, having seen these prodigies, presents Juvinus with liberty. He soon devotes himself to the divine service even more fervently than before, and departs from the living by a happy death. The body of the Deceased cannot be moved from its place for burial except to the oratory which the Saint, while surviving among the living, had built in the forest. While it is being carried there, the river Arola or Edera, once and again, its waters, which had then greatly risen, being prodigiously divided on either side, affords a dry passage to those hastening to the burial of the Saint. Such is the summary of the Life of our Saint which the anonymous author wrote and which we are about to edit; such are the miracles which are recorded in it as performed by Juvinus.
[10] deserve to be called into doubt, These, although they do not appear altogether incredible, and are even among those whose like occurs very often among us in the genuine and sincere Acts of the Saints, I nevertheless, although I hold it as probable that miracles were performed by our Saint both before and after his death, am compelled to call into doubt; first indeed because they were drawn by the anonymous biographer of the Saint, by whom alone they were committed to writing, only from the untrustworthy report of the common people or from popular tradition, which is frequently wont to deceive, as is not obscurely indicated by him himself at num. 14 of the Life to be edited in these words: These things only concerning his (St. Juvinus's) life have we learned from faithful men, following what flies about on the lips of all the neighbours of that place: which few out of many we, though unworthy, hand down in writing, although we do not doubt that many other things were worked through him by the Lord, but through negligence were not comprised in writing, and therefore were consigned to oblivion; and then because the biographer of the Saint himself was removed from the age of St. Juvinus by so great an interval of time that in what he writes about him he cannot win sure credit for himself. He himself indicates this too at num. 13 of the Life to be edited, where he writes thus: But many years having elapsed after his (St. Juvinus's) glorious passing, his most reverend body was raised from the sepulchre and placed by religious men and honourable persons in a wooden chest.
[11] The biographer of the Saint therefore did not flourish until many years had already elapsed after the death of Juvinus. as also other circumstances of the Life; Indeed it appears probable that the biographer did not flourish until at least one, or perhaps even several, centuries had already elapsed after the death of Juvinus. I think so because he nowhere indicates that he learned what he commits to writing either from eyewitnesses or from those who had heard from eyewitnesses, which he would beyond all doubt have indicated had he drawn his material from so approved a source, nor would he have had recourse, as according to what has already been said he does, to the common report of the people alone in order to win credit for his assertions. These are the things chiefly on account of which I consider that the prodigies narrated in the Life to be edited are to be called into doubt, and which will also, as I think, on that account not easily find credit with anyone. Nor do I hold as doubtful only the prodigies of the Life to be edited, on account of what has already been said, but also whatever is recorded in it concerning the servile condition of Juvinus, concerning his service and keeping of swine with Mark, count of Dulcrimum, and concerning his obtaining liberty after he had been accused of faithlessness before him. These things are akin to those which are related in chap. 1 of the fabulous Life of St. Serenus, inserted in our Work on the preceding day. Did the biographer of Juvinus perhaps have this in his hands, and fabricate some things in imitation of it? I would indeed dare neither to assert nor to deny it without doubt.
[12] However that may be, he seems to me to deserve not much better credit than the biographer of St. Serenus. from which, moreover, the age of the Saint cannot certainly be determined. What he nevertheless worked out, St. Juvinus's
Life I have thought fit to publish in print, both because from it at least, according to what has already been said, we have ascertained the ancient cult of the Saint in the district of Dulcrimum, and also because from this very thing it will come about that the studious reader will perceive how deservedly our credit wavers regarding a composition of this kind; in which, moreover, there occurs absolutely no chronological mark from which you might certainly determine either the year or the century in which Juvinus flourished. He notes indeed at number 7 that the Saint departed from the living on the fifth day before the Nones of October; but he adds neither the year in which this happened, nor anything from which it might be gathered. Moreover, at num. 15 the biographer indeed writes thus: Now we, through his (St. Juvinus's) most holy merits and those of all the Saints interceding, ask absolution of all the crimes by whose knots we are bound, and so to lead the present life that we may be able to arrive at the eternal, in which the God of gods shall be seen in Sion, by the grant of that Lord who has deigned to bring us to the thousandth year and beyond from the coming of His salvific Incarnation; by which words he not obscurely signifies that he flourished in the eleventh century; but not even from this can either the year, or even merely the century, in which Juvinus died be certainly drawn out. For, according to what has been said, he leaves it in obscurity whether he was removed from the age of Juvinus by only one century or by several. Nevertheless, since he asserts at num. 6 that the tree raised up by St. Juvinus through a prodigy (for this I would not wish to vouch) still survived in his own age, and since it was then very aged, as he writes that it surpassed all the trees round about in its size, it may be that he flourished only a century or thereabouts after St. Juvinus, and hence I have doubtfully written the ninth century in the margin at the beginning of this Commentary. For the rest, if anything besides ought to be observed on the Life to be edited, it will be supplied in the Annotations to be subjoined to it according to custom.
A LIFE OF DOUBTFUL CREDIT,
By an anonymous author,
From the Belfort manuscript, which is noted as having been taken from an old manuscript of the parish church of Juviny in the diocese of Soissons.
Jovinus or Juvinus, confessor, in Champagne in Gaul. (S.) BHL Number: 4617
By an anonymous author.
The Saint, on whose name the biographer here plays, The venerable and ineffable goodness of God, which wills all men to be saved, grieving over the transgression of our first parent, deigned in the very beginning of the fabric of the world to choose from among men themselves those by whose praiseworthy example it might recall others to the felicity of the blessedness that had been lost. For by the Lord Himself, the bestower of all good things, the holy patriarchs were founded, the blessed prophets illuminated with most true knowledge, the glorious Apostles sublimely taught, the most valiant martyrs strengthened with long-suffering patience, and the eminent confessors with praiseworthy perseverance. In whose number is altogether justly reckoned the man of God, the most holy Juvinus, so named not without reason by his Christian parents in holy baptism: who not only, while he was here present in the flesh, helped juvabat all, but even now also, joined to Christ, if he is faithfully invoked, does not cease to help much more a.
[2] born in the diocese of Reims, he serves the count of Dulcrimum, This most Blessed man was indeed from the territory of the metropolitan city of the Remi, from the county which is called Dulcomensis b. This county, namely, and that of Stadinium, a certain count by name Mark c then ruled: of whom also this man of the Lord, Juvinus, is asserted by very many to have been a slave; although we have learned from the teaching of the Doorkeeper of heaven that God is not a respecter of persons; but in every nation he who fears God and works justice is acceptable to Him. Which the kind Lord sufficiently showed when He not only drew this Saint of whom we speak, placed in the service of men, to His love, but also sublimely made him equal to the merits of His Saints.
[3] When, therefore, the count had appointed to keep swine him whom he ought to have venerated, and while, divinely enlightened, he builds an oratory in a grove, and the most gentle Man, having undertaken such an office with humility, was leading a life pleasing to God, it happened one day, as he was following the herd committed to him, that in the grove itself, which in the rustic tongue is called Serra d, he saw from afar a place beside the river Ayre e, in which by a spirit of foreknowledge he recognized that his members would one day be entombed, and that many thousands of men would be baptized there, and also fed with the Bread of angels and nourished with the nourishment of the sacred word f. Understanding this, the Man of God, having committed the keeping of his herd to God, undertook to clear that place, and persisted so long in the lengthy labour of his hands until he completed an oratory.
[4] But, as through the envy of the devil death entered into the world, he is accused of faithlessness before his master. so his fellow slaves, envying his good will and holy work, accused him before his master. He, having called to him the Man of most innocent life, said: I hear that you deal faithlessly with me, and waste time to no purpose, intent upon I know not what vain work, and leave my herds to be torn to pieces by beasts. And when the Servant of God, with a calm countenance, humbly excused himself, saying that he had never been wanting to his duty, and the count nevertheless, still ignorant of the divine dispensation, said, not without anger, that he would prove the truth of the accusation, he placed his whole hope in God, not withdrawing meanwhile from his purpose (which he knew to be pleasing to God), and patiently awaiting His divine good pleasure.
[5] When morning came, Count Mark with his servants, [But by the prodigies which he works for him, as he inquires into the truth of the accusation,] having mounted his horse, sets out to the countryside to spy upon the Servant of God. And when, still placed far off from him, he looked about, and the herd nowhere appeared to him, blazing with anger he at length approached the place in which, as we have said, blessed Juvinus was applying himself to the venerable work, and said to him: Well, Juvinus, where is the herd committed to your trust? I myself now see how it has all perished. Then the venerable Man, as he was wont, turned with his whole mind to God, invoked His omnipotence, in the sight of all, that the herd might be gathered together; and at once at his prayer it was gathered in so great a multitude that the count denied that half of it was his.
[6] Seeing him astounded at this work of divine power, the confessor of the Lord, Juvinus, he proves his innocence, is presented with liberty, trusting more and more in the goodness of God, having fixed his staff in the ground, added, saying: If I am a faithful servant to you, may our Lord Jesus Christ deign now to show it g. And immediately that staff, in the sight of all, its roots fixed downward, grew into a tree spread out in three little branches and adorned with most beautiful flowers: which, for the showing forth of the merits of this most holy Man, survives even to this day, surpassing all the trees round about in its size. When they had beheld this miracle, so remarkable and unheard of in this region, from then on they began to venerate him whom before they despised: and his temporal master pronounced him free from all service, giving him power to go wherever he wished h.
[7] He then, the more he saw himself free from the service of men, the more ardently began to apply himself to the divine: both so that he might not use ungratefully the immunity granted him, and thereafter serving God alone more fervently, he departs from the living. and so that he might prepare himself more worthily for death (which was already approaching), applying himself, namely, to fasts, vigils, prayers and other holy works. While he was intent upon these with the whole zeal of his soul, he merited to be rewarded by the Lord with the eternal rest for which he ceaselessly sighed, passing from this world on the fifth day before the Nones of October, in that very place in which, as we related above, his staff grew into a tree i.
[8] The body of the Deceased cannot be moved from its place for burial, When his precious death was heard of, the neighbours gathered to carry him for burial to the church of blessed Mary ever Virgin, built in the village whose name is Cheherycus k, but he could not be moved. Then therefore they said that he should be carried to the township which is called Laudala l, which has a basilica in honour of the same Our Lady, but likewise he could not be moved from the place. For which reason some others joined themselves with those who had arranged to carry him, so that they might bring him to the church dedicated to blessed Medard in the village called Felici-Villa m, or to some other of the churches which are round about, but not even then were they able to take him away.
[9] except to the said oratory, which the Saint had built. While, therefore, all who were present were wondering, and conferring about the novelty of this thing, at length, God inspiring, it came into their mind whether perhaps it might please the Blessed man himself to be buried in the place which he himself had built for serving God n: and forthwith he was lifted up so swiftly that those carrying him seemed to feel no burden at all o.
[10] [But while he is being carried there, the river Atola, its waters prodigiously divided, once] When, therefore, those bearing the venerable pledge had come to the often-mentioned river Ayra [p] (which on one side has the great forest … [q], and on the other, a little higher up, the aforesaid Serra), and had found that river risen so greatly that it could not be forded, behold, that same hand of Almighty God which of old divided the Red Sea into divisions for the ancient Fathers here likewise turned the liquid element into hardness, and commanded it to stand as a wall on the right and on the left, until it caused its beloved Servant to be brought to the place chosen beforehand for his burial.
[11] and again affords a dry passage to those hastening to the burial of the Saint. Then, when the waters had returned into the channel and were running out in their accustomed flow, a certain poor woman, hearing these things, came after him: and since she could not cross, with great spirit and great faith she cries out to the holy Confessor of God, saying: Servant of God, Juvinus, permit me to be able to cross to bury you. Without delay the water is divided again, and this woman too crossed with dry foot, the Lord hearing the desire of the poor (as the Prophet says), His ear hearing the preparation of their heart [r].
[12] Afterwards a church was built there to Juvinus, Blessed Juvinus having thus been buried, all returned to their own homes in peace [s], praising and glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ, wonderful in His Saints. But as the devotion of the people and the greatness of the miracles increased, a church was built there in his honour, so that the place which before a multitude of beasts had held is now inhabited by the people because of the humility of the holy Man, and down to the present day not only his church but also the whole township altogether is called by the name of St. Juvinus.
[13] and his sacred body was raised from the earth. But many years having elapsed after his glorious passing, his most reverend body was raised from the sepulchre and placed by religious men and honourable persons in a wooden chest: which, even if in its own quality it appears too mean to contain so incomparable a treasure, very often frequented by angels, yet it befits us, who more especially
are bound to his service, shining with chastity and purity, to follow the examples of his holiness, if we desire to be mingled with him in the unspeakable joy of the Blessed [t].
[14] These things only concerning his life have we learned from faithful men, The source from which the biographer drew his material, following what flies about on the lips of all the neighbours of that place: which few out of many we, though unworthy, have handed down in writing, although we do not doubt that many other things were worked through him by the Lord, but through negligence were not comprised in writing, and therefore were consigned to oblivion.
[15] Now we, through his most holy merits and those of all the Saints interceding, and the time at which he wrote. ask absolution of the crimes by whose knots we are bound, and so to lead the present life that we may be able to arrive at the eternal, in which the God of gods shall be seen in Sion, by the grant of that Lord who has deigned to bring us to the thousandth year and beyond from the coming of His salvific Incarnation; to whom, with God the Father Almighty and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, power and dominion, through all ages of ages. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
p. And yet the biographer has made mention of this river only once before. Hence the suspicion can arise that this Life was contracted from a more prolix Life, in which the river Ayra, which I would prefer to call Arola with Baudrand, was mentioned more often.
q. I have filled in the name of this forest with dots, because it cannot be read in our manuscript.
r. I fear that these two miracles do not agree with the truth.
s. Did they return with the river again affording a miraculous passage, or had its waters perhaps by then subsided, the Saint's body having been buried?
t. What is asserted in these two last numbers about the church built to the Saint, the village inscribed with his name, and the body raised from the earth, I think conformable to the truth. Consult the Preliminary Commentary.