Romana

ON ST. ROMANA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR, AT BEAUVAIS IN GAUL,

Under Diocletian and Maximian.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Romana, virgin and martyr, at Beauvais in Gaul. (S.)

BY J. B.

§ I. The writer of her Life, her sacred memory, her coming into Gaul.

The history of Beauvais was treated in set writings, about the beginning of the seventeenth century, by Pierre Louvet and Antoine Loisel. They have much about the antiquity, St. Romana, having suffered at Beauvais, the power and the warlike deeds of the people of Beauvais. The capital of the people was Caesaromagus, which is now called Beauvais from the name of the people. It has an ancient bishopric, suffragan to the metropolis of Reims, whose prelate enjoys the title of count and Peer of France (as they call it). The diocese of Beauvais the editors of the New Gallia Christiana describe thus: "It is bounded on the North by the dioceses of Amiens and Noyon; on the East by Soissons and Senlis; on the South by Senlis, Paris and Rouen; on the West by Rouen." The faith of Christ was first brought there by St. Lucian the martyr (his Acts have been given at the VIII day of January), and he is believed by many to have been the first prelate of Beauvais, though others dissent. Imitating him, St. Romana, having left the City, came into Gaul accompanied by some female companions, and, kindled with a like desire of martyrdom, obtained her wish among the people of Beauvais. Her Life, or rather the history of the translation of her relics, preceded by a summary of her martyrdom, was sent to the press by d'Achery in tome 2 of the Spicilegium, first edition, page 677, which he received from Nicolas de Boissy, Prior of the Congregation of France of the Canons Regular in the abbey of St. Quentin of Beauvais: whence Louvet also drew many of the things which he related about St. Romana in the Antiquities of Beauvais.

[2] To the author of this Life, whoever he was, not all, an anonymous writer nay few of the things done either in the martyrdom itself or before it were known: nor is this strange. "For those who lived in the Saint's times," he says at number 5, "and could have been spectators and witnesses of her deeds, being hard pressed by the urgency of the persecution, did not write the order of her passion; and posterity would not write about things which they had not seen, and hesitated to assert them, lest they be judged inventors of unknown things." Whence it came about that in the more ancient centuries of the Christian era no solemn day was established for her martyrdom, although it was abundantly well known to the people of Beauvais. At what time, however, he committed the Life of St. Romana to writing the author himself reveals in more than one place. At the beginning of Chapter 2 (according to our division) he speaks thus: "In our times, when Baldwin, count of Flanders, was raising the boy Philip, son of King Henry, to the throne of the kingdom, and was administering the kingdom on his behalf, the city of Beauvais was bereft of its prelate. With the approval, therefore, of the equity of the supernal goodness, Guy, dean and custodian of the church of St. Quentin of Vermandois and archdeacon of Laon, was appointed bishop of Beauvais by the aforesaid prince." And at number 7 he writes that this Guy was in exile for a whole year by order of King Philip, when the latter had taken up by himself the reins of the kingdom of France to be governed. Again at number 12, recounting a prodigy worked by St. Romana near Argenteuil, he testifies that he had ascertained it by the assertion of those who saw it and were present. Finally, in the epilogue of the Life also he uses such words that he seems to have completed his writing at Beauvais while Bishop Guy was still surviving.

[3] of the XI century, Aimoin, book 5, chapter 48, writes that Philip, elder son of King Henry, the first of this name, was anointed king in the year 1059, while his father was living and by his command; and that Henry died in the following year. The administration of the kingdom, however, was in Baldwin's hands for six years, and under him Guy entered upon the see of Beauvais in the year 1063 or the following: for the year 1072 was the ninth of his episcopate, as his charter in Loisel, page 254, given in the same year on the XV Kalends of July, has it. Whence the editors of the New Gallia Christiana advise that Alberic and Sigebert are to be corrected, of whom the one asserted that Guy received the office of blessing in the year 1066, the other in the year next following. Guy had already spent some years in the episcopate when, after founding and adorning the church of St. Quentin not far from the walls of Beauvais, he was compelled in the year 1073 to abandon his see: to which he did not return until the year 1074 or the following, as will be said below at number 27. Since, therefore, the anonymous author of the Life of St. Romana mentions all these things, he must not have written before that time: nor yet (although this is less certain) after the year 1085 (see the end of number 2), if it is true that Guy resigned the episcopate in this year and, having embraced the monastic life at Cluny, died piously about two years afterwards; as the cited editors of Gallia Christiana write from Guibert, abbot of Blessed Mary, from whom Louvet differs somewhat. What, however, is to be judged of the anonymous writer's credibility can be determined from what will be said at number 6.

[4] That the memory of St. Romana was less celebrated before the age of Guy the anonymous writer discloses at number 5 in these words: and some more recent Martyrologies celebrate her; "Our forefathers decided not to celebrate the day of her martyrdom solemnly, yet did not allow it to fall wholly into disuse, knowing that, crowned with martyrdom, the co-heir of Christ reigns in glory." Whence in the epilogue he not unjustly calls Bishop Guy the institutor and amplifier of the solemnity of St. Romana. And thence, I think, flowed the silence of the more ancient martyrologists about St. Romana. Of the more recent, du Saussay mentions her in the Appendix to the Gallican Martyrology: "St. Romana, virgin, whose body is preserved at Beauvais in the monastery of St. Quentin, long since glorified by God with miracles and devoutly honoured by the faithful people." Chastelain, in the Universal Martyrology, at this day: "In the district of Beauvais, St. Romana, venerated as Virgin and Martyr at Beauvais, where her body is in the church of St. Quentin." Her feast is also marked on the III day of October in the Breviary of Beauvais, which we have in manuscript, published under Odo, bishop of Beauvais, in the year 1554. This day, moreover, is not that of her martyrdom but of the translation of the relics of St. Romana, as Louvet observes, book 2, chapter 9: since the Christians who lived in the times of Diocletian committed to writing neither the order, nor the time, nor finally the day on which St. Romana suffered.

[5] The anonymous writer, beginning to explain the coming of St. Romana into Gaul, as he (explains) the Saint's coming into Gaul starts from the twelve heralds of the Christian faith who, after the Roman Church had been planted by SS. Peter and Paul and watered by their successors, were sent from Rome into Gaul to bring the light of the holy Gospel to the peoples of Gaul. "With the devotion of this intention," he says at number 2, "there went forth from the same City twelve most noble soldiers of Christ and excellent preachers, who did not hesitate to thrust themselves upon the savagery of Gaul, to root out the falsity of idolatry and to sow the truth of the faith"; and presently, coming closer to his purpose, he adds: "Among whom, like lamps set upon lampstands, shone forth the martyrs of Christ Quentin and Lucian." The names of these twelve Apostles of Gaul, whom the anonymous writer probably wished to indicate here, are expressed in this manner in the Acts of St. Lucian given at the VIII day of January: "At this time, therefore, the most blessed Quentin and the most holy Lucian, having gone forth from Rome, came into Gaul under the Lord's leading. It is said also, and the little books about their contests testify, that with them there likewise came Saints Crispin and Crispinian, Ruffinus, Valerius, Marcellus, Eugenius, Victorianus, Fuscianus, Piato and Regulus." The Acts of St. Fuscianus also have the same, in part 2 of Bosquet's Histories of the Gallican church, page 156, though with some difference. "The holy Men, therefore," they say,

"Fuscianus and Victoricus with a band of twelve companions, gathered in order, together with the venerable prelate Dionysius, the other companions being Piato, Ruffinus, Crispin, Crispinian, Valerius, Lucian, Marcellus, Quentin and Regulus, setting out from the city of Rome with intrepid course, fighting for the victory of Christ, the excellent warriors of God arrived within the borders of Gaul at the city of Paris, Christ being the guide of their journey."

[6] destitute of suitable testimonies, If the anonymous writer narrates the truth, twelve virgins, emulating these twelve Apostles, joined among themselves in holy fellowship and inflamed with a like desire of martyrdom, did not hesitate, abandoning the City and their parents, to betake themselves to the peoples of Gaul, at that time barbarous and fierce. Of St. Romana indeed, and of two or three of her companions known from elsewhere, I would not deny it: but I shall not so easily be induced to believe it of the number of twelve virgins. Certainly, if they suffered under Diocletian, there was no lack of opportunity for martyrdom at Rome, so that they should have had to go to Gaul for its sake. The anonymous writer expresses by name St. Romana, Benedicta and Leoberia (du Saussay adds Jolana and Comania); why not the rest also? But granted that the earlier faithful of the Gallican church, while the storms of persecution raged, lacked the leisure to transmit their deeds and memory to posterity, or that the ancient records, if any existed about them, perished through the injury of time; the anonymous writer at least freely confesses that he was destitute of them. It is necessary, therefore, that he collected and committed to writing only those things which popular tradition in the XI century carried about concerning that band of twelve virgins; and of how slight moment this is, when it is separated by the space of so many centuries from the epoch of the events, especially when every support of antiquity is lacking, everyone sees. The same we also judge of the Breviary of Beauvais, into which Tillemont, treating of St. Lucian in tome IV, asserts that the history of St. Romana has been inserted, if it relates the same things: for we do not have it at hand.

[7] probably adorns with circumstances But granting that a fleet of twelve virgins came to Gaul after SS. Lucian and Quentin had been taken away by martyrdom, it will not yet become altogether certain that St. Romana was of their number: for the anonymous author of her Life, destitute of the authority of the ancients, was compelled to have recourse to the Acts of St. Benedicta, who is said to have been the leader and mistress of these virgins, and, after the fashion (so far indeed as appears) of him who produced the Acts of St. Saturnina (of whom at the XX of May), now and then to ascribe to St. Romana what is read in those Acts of St. Benedicta. A few specimens out of many will prove what I have said. At number 3 in the anonymous writer the beginning is this: "There were at the same time at Rome, in the habit of holy conversation, twelve noble virgins, joined to one another in the familiarity of one religious faith: in whose minds the virtue of sacred repute had produced an honourable summit of most pleasing virtue. For they were instructed in manifold kinds of virtues, and were formed by the teachings of the holy Scriptures in every work of piety, advancing by the grace of holy devotion, the divine clemency being propitious to them." What do the Acts of St. Benedicta say? "She (Benedicta) therefore had with her," they say, "in the habit of her holy conversation, twelve noble virgins sprung from the seed of one stock and comely with the repute of a most splendid disposition: in whose minds the virtue of sacred working had generated an honourable summit of most pleasing virtue." Nor is the likeness and consonance of words and sentences less in both as regards the rest.

[8] drawn from elsewhere Again, towards the end of the same number, the anonymous writer speaks thus of St. Romana when already dwelling at Beauvais: "She applied herself to fasts and frequent prayers and despised all things for love of the heavenly fatherland. For she was of wonderful patience, of holy humility, and adorned with the gifts of heavenly graces, tranquil in mind, shining in speech and holy in work." In almost as many words the same things are read in her Acts of St. Benedicta dwelling at Laon: "For she applied herself to fasts and frequent prayers, and despised the blandishments of all riches for love of the heavenly kingdom." And a little below: "She was of wonderful patience, of holy humility, and adorned with the gifts of heavenly graces, tranquil in mind, shining in speech, and holy in work." From which it seems to be understood that the anonymous writer drew his material from nowhere else than from the Acts of St. Benedicta; although not much probability accrues from them either to the pilgrimage of twelve virgins into Gaul: especially since St. Benedicta, who is described as the leader and standard-bearer of the rest, seems to have been of no very advanced age when she was crowned with martyrdom, from the words with which the judge addresses her: "Benedicta," he says, "still a wretched girl, take pity now on your tender age still set in childhood." Whence a prudent suspicion arises of the youthful age of the rest also, and consequently that expedition of virgins into Gaul bears so much the less probability as it has the more of wonder. What I was saying at the beginning of the preceding number, that, even granting the aforesaid virgins' journey from Rome into Gaul, it by no means becomes certain that St. Romana was of their number, I said for this reason, that no mention is made of her in the Acts of St. Benedicta, from which our anonymous writer appears to have drawn his material.

[9] and little certain Popular tradition, therefore, and that supported by no testimonies of antiquity, seems to have moved the anonymous writer to assert that St. Romana was one of the companions of St. Benedicta, and to think it lawful for himself to apply to this our Saint some things which are said of the other; to which perhaps was added some proximity, such as it was, of times and places. How much, however, the Acts of St. Benedicta ought to be valued can be discussed more fully at the VIII day of October, on which she is marked in the Roman Martyrology: meanwhile I note some things which may, if not wholly take away, at least diminish the credibility of the Acts. The first is the journey of twelve young girls into Gaul, of which we have already treated. The second is both the condition of the judge and his manner of acting. For he is said to have been a Jew, I know not whether after an example usual among Roman judges in the time of Diocletian: and if you say he was a Jew indeed, but secretly, and on that account insinuated it to the virgin privately, as seems possible to deduce from these words of his, "For I too will speak to you more privately, because I am a Jew by race," why does St. Benedicta, before others, strive with a long speech to convert him from Judaism to the Christian rites, and by the same act betray the judge? Then, in order to storm the Virgin's mind and render her friendly and obedient to himself, "I," he says, "am a Jew, I hate the name of Jesus Christ, I have never lent my ears to his doctrine, I have always destroyed the Church as far as I could." Apt indeed, if he had done this by blandishments of this kind not to soften the Virgin's mind but to incite her more keenly to the contest. Finally, the same judge, although he did not lack ministers of his impiety, took the martyr's hair in his left hand and whirled the axe with his right against the temples of the most sacred virgin, being, namely, judge and executioner at once. The third is the excessive multiplication of prodigies: for twice she is most savagely cut down, twice she is healed by angelic aid. The last is that, to say nothing of the harsher words against the judge from a virgin adorned with the gift of wonderful patience and holy humility, these words hint at no other source than the uncertain rumours of the common people: "Thus at length St. Benedicta with the aforesaid virgins … the borders of the Gauls … ARE SAID to have arrived"; and again: "Then Matroclus, the most wicked judge, IS SAID to have said this to these things: It is expedient for you etc."

[10] adorns. When, therefore, these twelve Roman virgins (as indeed the writer of the Acts would have it) had arrived in Gaul after completing a long journey, they settled, by the divine will, some in one place and some in another, so that they might benefit more people. St. Benedicta stopped at Laon with a certain foster-sister of hers, while holy Romana proceeded as far as Beauvais, where, having contracted fellowship with certain faithful whom the preaching of St. Lucian had borne to Christ, she gave herself wholly to fasts, prayers and exercises of the virtues. That St. Benedicta shone before the people of Laon, and St. Romana before the people of Beauvais, by the holiness of their manners and works, I would not call in doubt: but that separate seats were likewise divinely appointed for almost each of the twelve virgins, I fear may have been studiously invented, lest, namely, those who are said to have been equal in number and in desire of martyrdom to the Gallican Apostles whom they were emulating should be held unlike them in the fellowship of a single dwelling-place. Louvet, in book 2 of the History of Beauvais, chapter 9, left it in writing that Leoberia adhered to St. Romana as her companion: but the Acts of St. Romana, which he nevertheless had in hand, as also those of St. Benedicta, openly testify that Leoberia was the companion and associate of the latter, not of the former; not at Beauvais, but at Laon.

§ II. The time of her martyrdom; the first translation of her relics.

It appears more probable The contests for the faith of the martyrs SS. Lucian and Quentin had already, as the Acts relate, been reported at Rome by the talk of certain persons when Romana set out for Gaul. Of St. Quentin we must treat at the XXXI day of this month: but the year in which St. Lucian underwent martyrdom our Predecessors did not define, because it did not yet seem timely to pronounce their judgment on the coming into Gaul of St. Dionysius, whose companion St. Lucian is believed to have been; of which matter there will be its own place for treating at the IX day of this month. Meanwhile, however, I observe some things from the Acts of St. Lucian given at the VIII day of January, and of St. Piato given at the I day of October: from the former, indeed, that St. Lucian won the palm of martyrdom after St. Quentin; for thus, chapter 2, number 8, page 467, they introduce St. Lucian speaking: "I give thanks to thee, Lord Jesus Christ, Redeemer of the world, who hast deigned to call me to the title of thy dignity, and to make me the consort of thy most blessed martyrs Dionysius and Quentin." And from the latter, that the death of St. Piato happened after St. Lucian had been taken away by martyrdom: for he too, at number 6, gives thanks to the Lord that he has been made the consort of St. Lucian and other martyrs. Further, that the martyrdom of St. Lucian was then recent, or at least had not happened long before, is suggested by the same time of the faith preached by both, and the same persecution under Maximian. Since, therefore, the death of St. Piato is set down at about the year 287 in the Commentary preceding his Acts, it follows that we should say that neither the death of St. Lucian nor the coming of St. Romana into Gaul was far removed from it.

[12] It is, moreover, very credible that St. Romana was not long unknown at Beauvais to her fellow-gentiles, that St. Romana of whom there was then a great number in that city, and who had it in their orders to search out the soldiers of Christ, especially those who had lately come out of Rome; particularly if that simultaneous flight into Gaul of twelve virgins sprung from senatorial stock be true; and consequently that she was distinguished with the crown of martyrdom shortly afterwards. The Acts indeed do not express the name of the Emperor under whom she suffered; yet since they indicate him by the title of Prince of the earthly empire, no other seems to come under that name than Diocletian, in whose hands the supreme power of the empire remained until his abdication; and who, in not unlike phrasing, is said in the Acts of St. Piato, number 3, to have been chosen for the empire of the whole world. Since he had proclaimed Maximian Herculius Caesar about the year 286, a most savage storm against the Christians in Gaul,

stirred up at the instigation of Herculius, raged in Gaul until the year 292, in which the administration of Gaul fell to Constantius Chlorus, father of Constantine the Great, a man not so hostile to the Christian name. And within these limits, as it seems to me, the passion of St. Romana can probably be circumscribed: for there is no reason why it should be deferred to that other persecution of the Christians to which the year 303 gave the beginning under the same Diocletian and Maximian, from which Gaul, if not wholly immune, certainly suffered less damage, on the testimony of Lactantius, chapter 16. "The whole earth," he says, "was harassed, and, except the Gauls, from the East to the West three most savage beasts were raging." Nay, as Ruinart says in the general Preface to the Acts of the Martyrs, page 67, the Gallican churches perhaps celebrate not even one martyr who suffered under Constantius Chlorus.

[13] Yet I do not on that account deny what pleases certain learned men, under Diocletian, that not a few of the Christians, even after Constantius had taken up the government of Gaul, were sacrificed either to the private cruelty of the prefects, or to the orders of the other emperors, or to the fury of the gentile mob, especially when Constantius was distracted by foreign wars: but I contend this only, that nothing particular occurs by which we are compelled to assert this of St. Romana, and that it is not remote from likelihood if we say rather that she suffered when the persecution raged most in Gaul and very many are known to have been punished with death, than when it was more relaxed; and for that reason I have marked the martyrdom of St. Romana broadly under Diocletian and Maximian. But neither would I conceal that there is something in her Acts which seems to oppose this assertion of mine. For they have thus at number 4: "But when the prince of the earthly empire, instigated by his prince the devil to destroy the religion of the Christian faith and exalt the superstition of idolatry, had published decrees of iniquity through the broad spaces of the earth, he compelled the servants and handmaids of God, wherever they were found, either to sacrifice to idols or to undergo the peril of death through various kinds of torments." "Now what persecution, then," you will say, "besides the universal Diocletianic one, is there to which the words of the Acts adduced could be applied more aptly and fittingly?" But he will not be greatly moved by these who pays attention to the fact that it is not unusual, especially for those writers who were removed by too great an interval from the times of the events, to ascribe to the Diocletianic persecution, the most celebrated of all, things which nevertheless happened somewhat earlier. The Acts of St. Quentin are a witness: "And it came to pass," they say, "in those days that a persecution of the Christians arose throughout the whole world": and yet he fell as a martyr not in the 4th but in the 3rd century, while St. Piato had not yet been taken from among the living.

[14] than under Julian the apostate, I can by no means assent to those who would have St. Benedicta to have suffered under Julian the apostate; of whom Hémeré, in the Augusta Viromanduorum illustrated, at the year of Christ 365, writes thus from the Passionaries of the church of St. Quentin: "Imitating Quentin, her fellow-tribesman and, as others would have it, her kinsman, Benedicta, a Roman virgin, also undertook a pilgrimage with some female companions to the same Viromandui, to enlarge the Christian faith herself as well. By the ministry of public preaching? That age certainly bore examples of the weak sex undertaking Gospel preaching, which you will read in Socrates and Sozomen. The companions of Benedicta were Leoberia, her foster-sister, Jolana, whose divine power is wont to be propitious among us to little infants dried up and wasting away with leanness, etc. Benedicta suffered at Origny on the stream of the Oise, which place lies two Gallic leagues from Augusta Veromanduorum towards Laon called Clavatum. And there her body rests. And a monastery of nuns of the Benedictine Order, noble for the frequency of its miracles, has been placed for the guardianship of the sacred pledge; in which is still shown the little axe which Matroculus, either lord or prefect of the place, a Jew, as some would have it, with a mind boiling up most savagely, drove into the head of the virgin Benedicta, in the reign of Julian the deserter." From which it would follow that not only St. Benedicta but also St. Romana arrived in Gaul, or at any rate suffered, much later than has been said. But this does not agree sufficiently with the Acts of either Saint. For the death of St. Quentin occurred towards the end of the 3rd century, as you will gather from number 11. And St. Benedicta and St. Romana went out from Rome when the contests of St. Quentin began to be heard of at Rome through the report of certain persons, which certainly cannot be deferred to the year 361, in which Julian began to reign, still less to the year 365, since Julian was killed in the year 363. Nor is it very likely that there survived in the reign of Julian those whom the preaching of St. Lucian had won for Christ in the preceding century, with whom, nevertheless, the Acts of St. Romana record that she was joined by close ties.

[15] underwent martyrdom. Someone will perhaps contend that St. Benedicta and her companion virgins were roused to go from Rome into Gaul not only by the fame of the contests of SS. Lucian and Quentin, but especially by that of the prodigies, very many, which St. Quentin worked after his body, which had hitherto lain hidden, sunk under the waters, was found by Eusebia; that this, further, happened about 55 years after his death; that it could therefore easily have come about that only then did they go out from Rome and come into Gaul, and afterwards under Julian the apostate seal the faith with their blood; and that this very thing is related not only by Hémeré from the Passionaries of St. Quentin, but also by du Saussay and François Giry from the manuscripts of Origny. But in the first place it is not certain to me that St. Romana was a companion of Benedicta: for although in the Acts of St. Romana mention is made of Benedicta, in the Acts of St. Benedicta none is made of Romana. In both there is no mention either of Julian or of the miracles of St. Quentin, but only of the contests of SS. Lucian and Quentin. Besides, Lahier, in the Menology of Virgins, says that he had in hand fairly lengthy Acts of St. Benedicta received from the abbey of St. Vaast at Arras, and at the same time confesses that it is not expressed in them in whose reign she suffered martyrdom. Of what age and weight, however, those records of St. Quentin and of Origny are, neither do those authors set out nor have I ascertained; notwithstanding which, Chastelain marked the death of St. Benedicta at the year 286, while the authors of the Paris Martyrology published in the year 1728 marked that of St. Romana after the year 290, and that of St. Benedicta after the year 289.

[16] We have discoursed of the deeds of St. Romana, in which, as we have said, her body into the Beauvais the authority of the anonymous writer is of no great moment: now we shall pursue the other things pertaining to her, at which he himself was perhaps present, and in which on that account he deserves greater credence; if, however, we first say a few things about the first translation of the Saint's relics into the church of St. Peter. While the persecution of the Christians flourished in Gaul under the heathen emperors, they had no public churches, no liberty of exercising religion. Hence the faithful, if they had obtained any bodies of the holy Martyrs, buried them secretly and in certain hidden places, which the anonymous writer writes was done also with the remains of St. Romana: but as the number of the faithful gradually grew strong under the Christian emperors, gradually also trophies of the Cross began to be raised, and churches either to be founded new or the old ones converted to the use and rite of the Christians. Thus Lidorius, made prelate of Tours in the 1st year of Constantius, on the testimony of Gregory of Tours, book 10, chapter 31, afterwards built the first church within the very bosom of the city, and into it St. Martin, the third bishop of that city, brought the remains of St. Gatianus. In like manner the body of St. Romana was translated from the place in which it was first laid in the ground into the cathedral church of St. Peter of the city of Beauvais, the anonymous writer writing thus at number 5: "But her body is meanwhile buried by Christian men: which, however, when the madness of idolatry was drying up and the doctrine of the Christian religion was flourishing, was translated into the sanctuary of St. Peter and honourably enclosed in a tomb." Of the particular circumstances of the event, however, there are either none or none known.

[17] Moreover, the church of St. Peter, in which the body of St. Romana was once deposited and brought into the church of Peter. and long preserved, is the most ancient of the whole city, about which Louvet has much in the whole of chapter 1 of book 4; of which I render a little into Latin. "It is certain," he says, "that at the time when the walls of the city or fortress of Beauvais were built, the church (which, when the heathen superstition had been extinguished, was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St. Peter) was founded and built: both because the symmetry of the walls (and of the church) is quite similar, and because certain idols which the heathens adored are still to be seen placed on the western porch, which still survives. Further, in this church the bishops of Beauvais established their see and performed the divine services until the year MCCLXXII. But because in the year CMXCVII cathedral churches everywhere began to be renewed even to the point of rivalry, the people of Beauvais would not yield to the others in this matter. And they began not only to restore the churches of St. Stephen, St. Giles, St. Laurence and St. Nicholas, but also to undertake the choir of the cathedral church of Beauvais, whose foundations Bishop Hervé laid. For which reason the old cathedral church began to be called the lower work (le bas œuvre), to distinguish it from the choir, which they named the upper work (le haut œuvre)." He then relates various vicissitudes of that church, which the curious reader will find in the place cited. Loisel writes, page 58, that it was founded, or rather enlarged with a choir, in the year 991.

§ III. The building and dedication of the church of St. Quentin; the second translation of the Saint's relics, and miracles.

[18] Guy, bishop of Beauvais, (built) a church to St. Quentin The church of St. Peter possessed the remains of St. Romana until the times of Guy, bishop of Beauvais, who, as I said at number 3, entered upon the see of Beauvais about the year 1063. He, since from being dean and custodian of the church of St. Quentin and archdeacon of Laon he had been made prelate of Beauvais, wished to testify his love and veneration towards that saint by founding a church in his honour not far from the walls of Beauvais in a fertile and pleasant place, to the building of which he set his hand in the year 1067, and completed it two years later; about which matter these verses are read in the editors of the New Gallia Christiana:

In the year one thousand and sixty-nine Of the incarnate Word, in honour of blessed Quentin this place was made and dedicated to God.

Sigebert of Gembloux relates the same in the Chronography, partly at the year 1067, partly at 1069. At the former he speaks thus: "In these times, the city of Beauvais being bereft of its prelate, Guy, dean and custodian of the church of St. Quentin of Verdun" (rather, of Vermandois) "and archdeacon of Laon, is appointed bishop of Beauvais and is consecrated by Gervase, metropolitan of Reims. He, taking it hard that he was deprived of the presence of Quentin the martyr, built in his honour and memory a church not far from the walls of the city of Beauvais." And at the year 1069 he has this: "Guy, bishop of Beauvais, dedicated the church, completed in two years, in honour of his advocate Quentin the martyr, on the fourth Nones of October." Following Sigebert, Nicolas de Nos, book 3 On the Canons

Regular, says that Guy caused the church of St. Quentin to be built immediately after his inauguration, not noticing that Sigebert (if his words are to be taken strictly) is wrong in the year of Guy's taking up the episcopate, as was shown at number 3. I said, "If his words are to be taken strictly": for Sigebert, cited in the former place, writes that all these things happened not in the same year (1067) but "in these times."

[19] he founds, adding a house of Canons Regular, To the church of St. Quentin the same Guy added a house of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, which Sigebert relates began to flourish about the year 1078 under St. Ivo, afterwards bishop of Chartres, in these words: "From this time the canonical Order, instituted according to rule first by the Apostles and afterwards by the blessed bishop Augustine, began to flourish again in the church of blessed Quentin of Beauvais under the master Ivo, venerable provost of the same church, afterwards bishop of the people of Chartres." The author of the Disquisitions on the Order of Canons, published at Paris in the year 1697, page 349, refers the foundation of that house to about the year 1070. And of St. Ivo, at the XX day of May, these things are read in our Work: "In the Calendar of St. Quentin of Beauvais these things are recorded in particular: The first abbot of this church, afterwards bishop of Chartres, gave us thirty volumes, four chalices, a golden gospel-book, a golden cross, four phylacteries, four silver and gilt crosses, the right hand of Blessed Callistus the Pope, two silver thuribles." The letters by which Philip, king of France, confirms the foundation of this house are read inserted in the authors of the enlarged Gallia Christiana, tome 10, among the instruments of the church of Beauvais, page 246. They were given in the year of the Incarnation 1079; and in them mention of St. Ivo is made in this way: "There were present also others, whose names are subscribed: Ivo, prelate of the same church." The same Ivo, in a Charter of King Philip given in the year 1080 to the canons of Beauvais, is named abbot of the church of blessed Quentin of Beauvais. Gregory VII names Ivo provost of St. Quentin in letters given in the year 1083 to him and to his successors to be promoted according to rule; which d'Achery published in the Notes and Observations on the Works of Abbot Guibert, page 600; where he also says that the author of the Life of St. Ivo is to be charged with a slip in that he puts off the foundation of St. Quentin of Beauvais to the year 1078, both on account of the verses praised by us and on account of the words of Robert, continuator of Sigebert, speaking thus at the years 1066 and 1069: "Guy, bishop of Beauvais, dedicated the church, completed in two years, in honour of his advocate Quentin the Martyr, on the 4th Nones of October."

[20] The church of St. Quentin of Beauvais, finished in all its parts and abundantly furnished with sacred appointments, Guy decided to dedicate with solemn rite and to enrich with the remains of St. Romana. and, enriched with the relics of St. Romana, Sigebert, the verses at the beginning of this §, the authors of the enlarged Gallia Christiana and others everywhere say that Guy actually did this in the year 1069; Louvet, book 4, chapter 13, in the year 1074. I should believe it a typographical error did I not read the latter year expressed by Louvet in explicit words. The year, as also the day, on which that dedication took place our anonymous writer does not indeed openly express, yet he suggests those chronological characters, and those circumstances of the dedication, from which Louvet can easily be refuted: for the day of the translation, on the testimony of the anonymous writer, was that on which her memory was celebrated, that is, the III of October. "He (Guy) translated the body of the aforesaid virgin and martyr Romana from the sanctuary of St. Peter to the church which he had built, one day before it was dedicated, namely on that on which her memory was celebrated," says the anonymous writer at number 7. And the day of the dedication, as he has at number 9, was a Sunday: it follows, therefore, that the dedication of the church fell on the IV of October, and the translation of the relics on a Saturday, since it was held on the day before the dedication. Now these things by no means agree with the year 1074: since this year had the solar cycle XIX and the Dominical letter E; and consequently the Kalends of October occupied feria IV, or Wednesday; the III of October, or the day of the translation, a Friday; and finally the IV of October, or the day of the dedication, a Saturday, not the Sunday to which nevertheless the anonymous writer explicitly ties the dedication.

[21] Nor are the circumstances of the dedication any less repugnant to Louvet: in the year 1069 for first, the anonymous writer again testifies at number 8 that Odo of Senlis was present at the dedication of the church of St. Quentin: but Rolland had already succeeded Odo from the year 1072; for in the Charter entitled "Of the gift of land made at Rubrium to the church of Senlis," which is extant in the editors of the New Gallia Christiana, tome 10, page 206 of the instruments, the third year of Frolland or Rolland is joined to the year 1075, so that the episcopate of Odo can by no means be extended to the year 1074. Next, just as in the year 1074 Odo of Senlis had already departed from among the living, so in the same year Manasses had already for some time ruled the church of Reims as bishop, who nevertheless, when he was present at the dedication of the church of St. Quentin, had not yet been advanced to the episcopal office. "Manasses," says the anonymous writer just praised, "then a noble cleric, soon to be archbishop of Reims." But that in the year 1074 Manasses had already presided over the church of Reims for some years is evident from the fact that in the year 1071 he subscribed a privilege granted by King Philip to the church of Corbeil at the request of Count Barchard, as can be seen in Marlot, tome 2 of the History of Reims, page 167. More could be gathered on this matter from the New Gallia Christiana in the series of the archbishops of Reims, but I think these things suffice to refute Louvet's opinion.

[22] dedicates it. "But," you will say, "an ancient codex of the house of St. Quentin of Beauvais taught Louvet that that dedication took place in the year 1074, in which both the Life of St. Romana is contained and this year of the dedication is found explicitly expressed; and Louvet praised it in the margin, book 4, chapter 13, as did Hémeré also in the Augusta Viromanduorum illustrated, at the year 1074, in whom these things are read: 'Father Guy and the other Pontiffs, the holy bodies going before, purify the exterior of the church with the due circuit, and having entered it, in its dedication in the year of the Lord 1074 and in the sacrifice of divine praise, they prolonged the day into the evening.'" But it must be that the codex cited by Hémeré and Louvet either does not contain the original Life of St. Romana, or that it has been interpolated with years added by one little skilled in the matter: the reason is drawn from comparing the text of both where there is discourse of the completed church of St. Quentin; on which matter Louvet reads in this way: "For in two years the venerable Guy began it and completed it in its beauty." And Hémeré in this way: "For in two years he began and completed it in the year of the Lord 1067 in its beauty." Louvet indeed assigns the same year to the completed church, but he did not find it expressed in the text itself: whence it is most probable that Hémeré mixed into the text what had been added by another hand (lest he be said to have done it himself), either in the margin or elsewhere, while Louvet omitted it. We must therefore subscribe to those who would have the dedication of the church of St. Quentin held in the year 1069, in which the solar cycle was XIV, the Dominical letter D, the Kalends of October feria V or Thursday, the third of October, the sacred day of St. Romana, a Saturday, and the fourth, on which the dedication was celebrated, a Sunday, just as the chronological characters expressed by the anonymous writer require.

[23] a great number of prelates having been convoked, For the rest, the anonymous writer greatly celebrates this dedication of the church of St. Quentin, and compares it with the dedication of the church of St. Remigius performed by St. Leo, of which we have treated at the 1st day of October, page 117 and following, both on account of the vast multitude flocking to it from every side, and on account of the presence of most eminent men, and finally on account of the abundance of sacred remains which on that occasion, as the ancient rite of dedicating churches required, were brought into the church of St. Quentin. And there were present at the solemnity chiefly these: Guy of Amiens, Ratbod of Noyon, Walter of Meaux, Hugh of Troyes, Odo of Senlis, all conspicuous in episcopal dignity; and Manasses, perhaps already then elected archbishop of the see of Reims; and that all these (if you take away Manasses) exercised the episcopal office in the year 1069 various records show which they subscribed, and which the editors of the New Gallia Christiana relate in their places. There was present also, on the testimony of Robert, Offredus or Effredus, dean of St. Quentin of Vermandois; whom Claude Hémeré asserts was passed over through the carelessness of the writer. But the anonymous writer could have included him under a general name, since he noted that venerable persons of the church of St. Quentin had brought with them the body of St. Quentin the martyr; to whom Hémeré contends that Heribert, count of the Viromandui at that time, should also be added, in these words: "And although that book of the house of Beauvais does not mention Heribert as present at the feast, yet that he was not absent from that solemnity, and from that office of Christian devotion towards the Patron, when his sacred carriage was conveyed from Augusta to Beauvais, especially with a most numerous company of clergy following, and of the nobility and people of Vermandois, is persuaded with certain reason by Heribert's piety towards the Saints, his religious fear lest by some fraud or theft the sacred pledges, or some portion of the divine guardian, should be lost to himself and the Viromandui; by Heribert's principality embracing part of the territory of Beauvais; and by the words which follow below, THE WHOLE PRINCELY RANK OF THE NEIGHBOURING AND DISTANT PROVINCE ASSEMBLED." But those words are not read in the Life of St. Romana as it exists in d'Achery: and the piety of Heribert alone does not make the matter certain.

[24] The celebrity of that dedication was not a little increased both by the relics of St. Romana and various relics of Saints having been carried about. and by those of other Saints which on that day were exposed in the same church for the veneration of the faithful and carried about with solemn rite, namely of SS. Quentin and Lucian, martyrs, of whom the former is patron of the Viromandui, the latter of the people of Beauvais; of St. Justus, whom the Roman Martyrology mentions at the XVIII day of October in these words: "In the territory of Beauvais, of St. Justus, martyr, who while still a boy was slain in the persecution of Diocletian under the governor Rictiovarus." Louvet writes, book 3, chapter XI, that his relics were translated about the year 850 from the village of the same name to Beauvais, for fear of the Normans, and rested there until his own age, and he makes him different from the one who is venerated in the church of the Blessed Virgin at Paris. At the same time also were translated to Beauvais the relics of SS. Geremarus and Ebrulfus, as also of SS. Angadrisma and Constantianus, of all of whom the anonymous writer makes mention here. See tome 6 of September, page 695 and following, where not a little is argued about St. Geremarus and his relics translated to Beauvais. The Acts of St. Ebrulfus have been illustrated at the XXV day of July: of St. Angadrisma there will be its own place for speaking at the XIV day of October, on which she is venerated. St. Constantianus is venerated on the I day of December. Du Saussay celebrates him with a lengthy eulogy, which he concludes thus: "Yet his body, gleaming with so many rays, was afterwards translated to the territory of Beauvais, to the monastery of Breteuil, by the pious care

of Godwin the founder, count of Breteuil and vidame of Chartres, who rests there." Moreover, Hémeré is the authority, at the year 1074, that Bishop Guy, who used a distinguished liberality towards his guests, received as a gift a finger of St. Quentin and deposited it in the new house, where it was venerated with much honour.

[25] Thus far things had flowed as desired for the religious of St. Quentin through the care and bounty of Bishop Guy: The house of Canons Regular, but not so very long afterwards they were compelled to experience no slight vicissitude of fortune: for when Guy was driven into exile by King Philip, his see was reduced almost to nothing, the canons were despoiled of their goods, and above all the ornaments of the church of St. Quentin were snatched away. The cause of Guy's exile, about which the anonymous writer is silent, the editors of the New Gallia Christiana adduce as this: "Further, on this monastery (of St. Quentin) founded by himself he (Guy) conferred several lordships and parishes; meanwhile, the people and clergy protesting that, in order to found, enrich and adorn that house, he had oppressed his subjects and had not spared the churches, complaints were carried to the king and the great men against the prelate, which even reached Pope Alexander II, who wrote letter 18 to Archbishop Gervase about the year 1064, that he should inquire into these matters." And these things indeed are sufficiently in conformity with the cited letters of Alexander, in which the Pontiff speaks thus of Guy: "But the bishop of Beauvais, whom we have heard to be atrociously squandering the goods of the church and the people of God, if it is true, we command you so to strike with the rod of holy authority that the rest, if there are any like him, may be corrected by the example."

[26] while Guy was absent, But the things which are narrated about the protest of the clergy and people, about the complaints carried to the king, the great men and Pope Alexander, and about his letters to Gervase, archbishop of Reims, are to be understood not of the time when the house of St. Quentin was already completed and finished, but of Guy's earlier years in the episcopate, in which he began to plan that building and to prepare what was necessary for it, although the words of the aforesaid authors seem to insinuate the other. For even these very authors of whom we are treating write that the church of St. Quentin was not completed until the year 1069, and it is clear from the anonymous writer that hands were first set to it only two years before; and so it could by no means be that as early as about the year 1064 complaints were lodged with the Pontiff against Guy as having already spent excessive expense on the construction of that Work, and that he already then wrote back to Gervase that he should inquire into these matters. Add that Gervase ceased to be among the living in the year 1067, either on the IV Nones of July, as the same authors relate, or on the IV of April, as Marlot asserted: and that the church of St. Quentin did not begin to be founded before this year has already been said often in the foregoing. Now let us hear what followed further.

[27] suffers grievous things: "But Guy," say the authors I have mentioned, "fled to Rome to Alexander, by whom, after he had been kindly received, he returned to France in the same year (1064 or thereabouts), and approved in the year 1072 the foundation of canons in the church of St. Vaast, from Loisel, page 254, and Louvet, tome 1, page 693; and about the same year the institution of a dean in the collegiate church of Gerberoy, which, according to Pillet, had been founded under King Hugh Capet, as can be seen in the same Pillet, pages 24 and 44. But a little afterwards, a storm being stirred up again, he was ejected from his city in the year MLXXIII as much by his people as by the king himself. Whence, having set out again for Rome, he betook himself to Pope Gregory VII, through whose patronage, every controversy with the king, with the Castellan of the city, and with the people and others having been settled, he obtained from the same supreme Pontiff in the synod (the Roman one of the year 1074) absolution for the clerics and citizens who had been excommunicated on account of the injuries inflicted. This we are taught chiefly by the letters 74 and 75 of Gregory, book 1, written on the Ides of April in the year MLXXIV to the clergy and people of Beauvais and to the king himself; in which, namely, the Pontiff seriously admonishes both, the king to make good the damages inflicted on the Church of Beauvais, and the clergy and people to render due obedience to their prelate. They are extant in Loisel, pages 255 and 256, but are wrongly referred to the year 1073: both because Guy, by a truly memorable example, obtained the absolution of the people of Beauvais in the Roman council celebrated in the year 1074, and because these letters were given in the XII Indiction, on the Ides of April, and consequently in the year 1074."

[28] When Guy had been driven into exile, the fury raged chiefly against the Canons Regular of St. Quentin, [but on his return he makes good the damages, the Saint's relics having been carried about.] whom he had both instituted and enriched with goods and estates, so much so that from want, on the testimony of Louvet, they were compelled to pawn even the sacred furniture itself: but when Guy had returned to his see in the year 1075 (which is evident from a charter which he subscribed in that year, in Loisel, page 260), about the same time "they carried about the excellent virgin Romana," says the anonymous writer at number 10, "through the neighbouring regions, intending to spend in redeeming the ornaments of the church whatever was offered them by the faithful"; and indeed with such fruit that, returning to the monastery, they redeemed the greatest part of the ornaments by the bounty of pious men. Something similar we have learned was done also with the relics of St. Ebrulfus at Beauvais in the year 1457. For the rest, the piety of the faithful had St. Romana propitious to it on that occasion, as the two miracles which the anonymous writer recounts show. And although he has set out only two, yet that the holy Virgin poured out more benefits than these upon men, and went on pouring them out further, these words by which he puts an end to his narration sufficiently declare: "Distinguished by these and other powers, the glorious Virgin, when she was brought back to Beauvais, is received with common exultation by all the people, and is led to the church of St. Quentin, whence she had been carried away, with the joyful voices of those singing psalms and asking pardon, and is laid back among the Holies of the Saints. Where, if anyone comes to entreat the Lord with sure faith, he will without doubt obtain what he asks by the intercessions of both: which the cures of many infirmities and the frequent consolations of those in distress intimate to us." Of which indeed I grieve that nothing has been found anywhere by me. Arthur, in the Sacred Gynaeceum, at the IV day of February, adds that the body of St. Romana was enclosed in the year 1520, by the liberality of Dom Michael, Prior of Poix, in a richer and wonderfully adorned casket.

LIFE

By an anonymous author.

From the manuscript of the abbey of St. Quentin of Beauvais.

Romana, virgin and martyr, at Beauvais in Gaul. (S.) BHL Number: 7295

By an Anonymous author.

CHAPTER I.

The martyrdom of St. Romana.

The heralds of the Christian faith sent into Gaul by the holy Roman Church God, good, just, almighty, who has never denied his mercy to the human race, and has always instructed all mortals in common unto the knowledge of himself by most abundant benefits, took pity by a more secret counsel and a loftier goodness on the voluntary blindness of those who were straying and on their wickedness prone to worse things, by sending his Word, coequal and coeternal with himself: which, made flesh, tempered the divine nature to human nature, so that his inclining to the lowest things might become our advancement to the highest. That the effect of this unspeakable grace might be spread throughout the whole world, when the twelve Apostles, taught by the Holy Spirit the speaking of all tongues, had undertaken, the parts of the earth having been distributed among them, to imbue the world with the Gospel, the most blessed Peter, prince of the Apostolic order, and his fellow-Apostle Paul, the vessel of election, are destined for the citadel of the Roman empire, so that the light of truth, which was being revealed for the salvation of all nations, might spread itself more effectually from the very head throughout the whole body of the world. And into what great harvests of peoples these two illustrious sprouts of the divine seed shot up the countless abundance of martyrs slain in that same place, strengthened by their example to the endurance of the passion, bears witness.

[2] (St. Romana) imitating The Roman Church, therefore, having been planted by them and watered by their successors, the Lord giving the increase, sent through the various parts of the world, to root out the wiles of the ancient enemy, warriors of the divine battle who had drunk from the fountain of her faith. With the devotion of this intention there went forth from the same city twelve most noble soldiers of Christ and excellent preachers ^a, who did not hesitate to thrust themselves upon the savagery of Gaul, to root out the falsity of idolatry and to sow the truth of the faith. Among whom, like lamps set upon lampstands, shone forth the martyrs of Christ Quentin and Lucian ^b, of whom the one undertook to storm the unbelief of Amiens, the other that of Beauvais, until they were crowned with a distinguished martyrdom.

[3] St. Romana, at Beauvais, There were at the same time at Rome, in the habit of holy conversation, twelve noble virgins, joined to one another in the familiarity of one religious faith: in whose minds the virtue of sacred repute had produced an honourable summit of most pleasing virtue. For they were instructed in manifold kinds of virtues, and were formed by the teachings of the holy Scriptures in every work of piety, advancing by the grace of holy devotion, the divine clemency being propitious to them. Hearing, therefore, by the report of certain persons, of the manifold contests of the aforesaid martyrs, kindled with a like desire, with one accord in their vow, and having neglected the sweetness of fatherland and parents, they are said to have arrived at the borders of the Gauls under the Lord's leading ^c. For, knowing in their inmost hearts that whoever labours more in the service of God will be held worthy of the recompense of a greater reward in the future, they chose to endure temporal straits by which they might obtain eternal retributions. No guile, no rancour of envious fraud had met the Saints on the journey, since they were united by the help of the heavenly right hand. But at the admonition of the grace of the divine Spirit, they were bidden to separate from one another, so that each of them by her own ability might acquire fruit manifold for God. Blessed, then, by name and merit, Benedicta ^d came with a certain foster-sister of hers, Leoberia ^e, to Laon ^f. And Romana, going to Beauvais ^g, began to serve the Lord with the whole affection of her heart. For, joined to certain Christians whom the preaching of St. Lucian had added to the Lord's sheepfold, she applied herself to fasts and frequent prayers, and despised all things for love of the heavenly fatherland. For she was of wonderful patience, of holy humility, and adorned with the gifts of heavenly graces; tranquil in mind, shining in speech and holy in work. Thus the nobility of her mind surpassed the nobility of her body.

[4] But when the prince of the earthly empire ^h, instigated by his prince the devil to destroy the religion of the Christian faith (won) the laurel of martyrdom and to exalt the superstition of idolatry, had published decrees of iniquity through the broad spaces of the earth, he compelled the servants and handmaids of God, wherever they were found, either to sacrifice to idols or to undergo the peril of death through various kinds of torments ⁱ. The city set on a mountain, namely blessed Romana, placed upon the foundation which is Christ, could not be hidden. For having received oil in her vessel, she kept watch with a lighted lamp which could by no means be extinguished, she who could in no degree be cooled from the burning of the love of Christ either by threats of punishments or by the deceptions of blandishments. Resisting the persecutors bravely, therefore, and having received the capital sentence, she preferred to die for Christ rather than to be defiled by the filth of diabolical servitude. The most pious Virgin was therefore pierced through with the sword ^k. Whose soul, in the robe of innocence

and of virginity adorned, was presented to the sight of the supreme King, to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes, with those who are without spot before the throne of God.

[5] But her body is meanwhile buried by Christian men: and she obtains a tomb; but afterwards is laid in a more honoured one. which, however, when the madness of idolatry was drying up and the doctrine of the Christian religion was flourishing, was translated into the sanctuary of St. Peter and honourably enclosed in a tomb. But since those * who were present in the former times, being hard pressed by the urgency of the persecution, did not write the order of her passion; and posterity, lest they be judged inventors of unknown things, hesitated to assert things about her which they had not seen; our forefathers decided not to celebrate the day of her martyrdom solemnly, yet did not allow her memory to fall wholly into disuse, knowing that, crowned with martyrdom, the co-heir of Christ reigns in glory.

ANNOTATIONS.

* add "qui" [who]

CHAPTER II.

The translation of the relics of St. Romana.

When Philip was reigning as king of France, In our times ^a, when Baldwin, count of Flanders ^b, was raising the boy Philip, son of King Henry, to the throne of the kingdom ^c, and was administering the kingdom on his behalf, the city of Beauvais was bereft of its prelate ^d. With the approval, therefore, of the equity of the supernal goodness, Guy, dean and custodian of the church of St. Quentin of Vermandois ^e, and archdeacon of Laon ^f, was appointed bishop of Beauvais by the aforesaid prince, the illustrious man Gervase, metropolitan of Reims, ordaining him with the other bishops of the same province ^g. For, a noble man, ascending prudently the higher grades of the Church, he attained the episcopal summit. He, not bearing easily to be deprived of the presence of the martyr from the breasts of whose church he had sucked the milk of spiritual doctrine, built in his honour and memory a church not far from the walls of the city of Beauvais in most pleasant places. For, surrounded by the delightfulness of meadows and a river and the fertility of vineyards, it makes those who dwell there more cheerful by the continual refreshment of vernal greenness and the delight of the purest air. And although it is admirable in the beauty of its composition, it can be held more admirable for the very ease of its most celebrated construction. For no human strength would accomplish so great a work in so short a space unless, the martyr interceding, divine power gave aid. For in two years he began it and completed it in its beauty ^h.

[7] Guy, bishop of Beauvais, The same reverend bishop Guy, having whitened it on every side and distinguished it with painted ceilings, having honoured it with precious ornaments for covering the altars or the walls round about, with the vestments of priests and of the other ministers, and adorned it with an abundance of gold and silver, whereby many volumes of the holy Gospel were honourably decorated on the outside, vessels were completed for confecting * the Sacraments of the Lord's Body and Blood, and for the other mysteries suited to ecclesiastical uses, revenues having been added which could suffice for the needs of very many canons, and many buildings having been erected round about most suitable for their life. He, by divine inspiration, using wise counsel, with great honour, accompanied by crowds of clerics and laymen singing psalms, translated the body of the aforesaid virgin and martyr Romana from the sanctuary of St. Peter ⁱ to the church which he had built, one day before it was dedicated, namely on that on which her memory was celebrated ^k, no human foresight observing this, but the grace of God alone disposing it for exalting the glory of his Martyr. For it was established that from that time her festival should be celebrated there every year with fitting honour. The same bishop gathered the relics of many Saints collected from every side; part of which he placed in the altars and in the Holies of the Saints ^l, and part, enclosing them in gold and gems, he set before the holy altar to adorn the temple.

[8] But since we have made mention of the dedication of his church, into the church of St. Quentin founded by himself, it seems not unfitting to discourse somewhat about it. For neither long before, nor after the dedication of the church of St. Remigius by the lord Pope Leo, a most holy man ^m, was so glorious a dedication heard of in any part of the world. Coming to it, the venerable persons of the church of St. Quentin brought with them with triumphal honour the very body of the excellent martyr. There assembled also, with a copious retinue of clergy and knights, many bishops: Guy of Amiens, Ratbod of Noyon, Walter of Meaux, Hugh of Troyes, Odo of Senlis, and Manasses, then a noble cleric, soon to be archbishop of Reims ⁿ. There assembled an innumerable people of both sexes and of various ages. With what alacrity, with what triumph did the bishop of Beauvais go to meet his advocate the martyr Quentin and his fellow-bishops? How often and with how great obedience did the canons of Beauvais, obeying him, go in procession with him solemnly on that very day? What gladness, what joy was carried on through the streets and squares? For there was no native who did not recognize that a friend, a kinsman, a companion, a guest had arrived, and gladly embrace him, since in receiving them no one was burdened. For the episcopal court sufficiently distributed to all everything necessary.

[9] Meanwhile the Lord's day dawned ^o: and at the prelate's command the whole congregation of clerics and monks went forth to dedicate the church with the pledges of the holy bodies and the other insignia of the sacred warfare. and with remarkable pomp he brings the Saint's relics into it, dedicated Here, then, the bodies of the holy companions Quentin and Lucian met each other. Here the bodies of the holy boy and martyr Justus, and of the holy confessors Geremarus and Ebrulfus and Constantianus, here of the holy virgins Romana and Angadrisma, were gathered together. An infinite multitude having assembled, father Guy and the other Pontiffs are girded with the sacred vestments: who, the holy bodies going before them, purify the exterior of the church with the due circuit; so that what they were doing by a visible mystery * might sanctify by an invisible effect. Then, having entered it, in its dedication [p] and in the sacrifice of divine praise they prolonged the day into the evening. These things having been completed, the solemn banquet of the above-written father received all who had come, without exception of any person, not only on that day but also on the following day. The exultation of so great a dedication being thus completed, he gladdened his fellow-bishops as they departed with most ample gifts. And he honoured holy Romana, resting in the aforesaid church, for many years with the veneration befitting a Virgin and Martyr.

[10] But she, who was unwilling to disclose herself to those who doubted and did not venerate her worthily, who, while through various places asserted by evident proofs to those who believed and honoured her that she obtained from the almighty goodness whatever she wished. For when King Philip, as a young man, having passed out of the power of the regent, had taken up the government of his kingdom [q], and, his anger blazing up in youthful fashion against the often-mentioned venerable man, the bishop of Beauvais, not rightly nor lawfully expelled from his bishopric with everything taken away, had worn him out for a whole year with the penalty of exile [r], at length, the king's benevolence having been recovered, the bishop is restored to his see, desolate and reduced almost to nothing [s]. But since a greater devastation, a more vehement desolation and alienation of ornaments had fallen upon the church which he had built, the clerics, grieving that the church which they served should be any longer unadorned, and at the same time desiring to relieve its founder of the redemption of the things which had been taken away, carried about the excellent virgin Romana through the neighbouring regions, intending to spend in redeeming the ornaments of the church whatever was offered them by the faithful. And when, travelling in the district of the Vexin, they had arrived at Mantes [t], they decided to take lodging outside the town in a certain parish.

[11] are carried about, There was in the same town a certain sick man, Berengar, who, held by infirmity for three years, had not risen from his bed. He, hearing that the clerics had arrived with the holy body, begs them humbly through his relatives that they allow him to keep watch for one night before the holy Virgin. But the guardians of the sacred treasure, at first for the sake of cautious observance, saying that every stranger was to be kept apart from them and that this man was not to be received, soon, moved by the prayers of priests and of other men of testimony not to be despised, who reported that he was a good man but sick, acquiesced in his petition. He was therefore brought in his bed, as he could not move himself. How great faith he had, and with how great devotion he offered suppliant prayers to God and to the holy Virgin, the health restored to him declared. For after midnight, conversing with the ministers of the sacred body, he testified that the holy virgin Romana had visited him and taken away all infirmity from him. Hearing this, they remained joyful in divine praises until it grew light. And when in the morning the priests came to the church with the people, he, made whole, rejoicing, related in public with how great a grace of deliverance the Lord had sprinkled him through the intercession of the holy Virgin. The matter, spread at once through the town, stirs up all to the veneration of the Virgin. Bringing her into their town with hymns and canticles, they received her with honourable hospitality in the church of holy Mary ever Virgin. And when on the next day the ministers of the holy body departed with it, the man restored to health set out likewise. And when he was admonished to return, he answered that he would by no means enter his house nor depart from the holy Virgin until she was carried back to the church of the holy martyr Quentin, whence she had gone out. Which he also did, and gave himself as a perpetual servant to St. Quentin and to St. Romana, his deliverer.

[12] are made illustrious by miracles. Continuing, however, the journey they had begun, when, wearied by the length of the way, they were resting at Argenteuil [u], let us relate with how great a largess of her blessing the most blessed Virgin fed her servants. For it was the Lenten season, in which a flood of rains had increased the abundance of the rivers: and that very abundance had shut off the possibility of catching fish. And when both the long journey and the prolonged fast admonished the fosterlings of the holy Virgin to indulge themselves in more ample refreshment, going out to the bank of the neighbouring river, they asked the fishermen, whom they saw coming out of a little boat, to give or sell them fish for love of the holy Body which they were carrying with them. They, first asking whence, and of what merit that holy Body was, and

by what name it was called, at length answered that they neither had fish nor had been able to take any in the fifteen days just past, and had spent that whole day in such work in vain; and yet that in the name of the Lord and in honour of the holy Virgin they would go into the water again, and if they took anything, would gladly offer it to her. A wonderful thing, but credible, is proved by the assertions of those who saw it and were present. For as soon as they had gone into the river and let down the net in it, a copious multitude of fish was enclosed: of which, having kept very many for themselves, they offered ninety-five to the holy Body. Distinguished by these and other powers, the glorious Virgin, when she was brought back to Beauvais, is received with common exultation by all the people, and is led to the church of St. Quentin, whence she had been carried away, with the joyful voices of those singing psalms and asking pardon, and is laid back among the Holies of the Saints. Where, if anyone comes to entreat the Lord with sure faith, he will without doubt obtain what he asks by the intercessions of both: which the cures of many infirmities and the frequent consolations of those in distress intimate to us.

[13] Let us therefore celebrate the festival of holy Romana with one mind and with joy, The author commends the cult of SS. Romana and Quentin. and let us implore with her the precious aforesaid martyr, that he for the founder and glorifier of his church, and she for the institutor and amplifier of her solemnity, the lord bishop Guy, and for the devout clergy and all the people, may deign to intercede [x] with him whom they served, whom they pleased, in whom they live, through whom they can what they can, who is blessed and praiseworthy and glorious and exalted above all for ever, amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. In Hémeré is read, wrongly inserted: "in the year 1074."

q. Philip, king of France, began to administer the kingdom by himself from the death of Baldwin in the year 1067, although he counted fewer years than were required at that time, namely only 15, says Daniel in the History of France; since no one is known to have been substituted for Baldwin.

r. Guy was driven into exile in 1073.

s. In the year 1074.

t. The district of the Vexin (le Vexin) extends from Gisors to Pontoise between the Epte and the Oise or Esia, and is contiguous to the territory of Beauvais: it is distinguished as twofold, French and Norman: in the former, on the Seine, is situated the town called in French Meulan, which Chastelain calls Mellentum. Not far from here there is also another town in the same French Vexin situated on the Seine, whose French name is Mante, which Chastelain names Medunta: the affinity of the words Medantum and Medunta in some manner hints that the latter is the subject of discourse here: but Louvet explicitly has Meulanc.

u. An elegant village near Paris, in French Argenteuil, which glories in the seamless tunic of the Lord.

x. Another mark of the time at which these things were written by the anonymous author.

* conficienda for confecting

* understand "God"