Benedicta

ON ST. BENEDICTA, VIRGIN AND MARTYR, IN THE TERRITORY OF LAON IN GAUL,

Perhaps under Diocletian and Maximian.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Benedicta, V. M., in the territory of Laon in Gaul. (S.)

BY C. S.

§ I. The memory of the Saint in the Martyrologies; an account of the convent of Origny: her body there: relics separated from it and given elsewhere: whether her body is at Ruricurtis?

This holy Virgin martyr, of whose cult we have more certain things than of her deeds, Usuard first of all entered in his Martyrology. He, in the edition of our Sollerius, has thus at this day: The Saint inscribed at this day in the Martyrologies, In the territory of Laon, of saint Benedicta, virgin and martyr. There agree also (says the praised editor in the same place) the other Usuardine copies, unedited and edited, which he used, besides the codices of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Antwerp

Major, which for the words In the territory of Laon have: In the territory of Lugdunum Clavatum; and the editions of Molanus and the Lübeck Maxima, in which is read only: In the territory of Lugdunum, the word Clavatum being omitted, by which this Lugdunum is wont to be distinguished from cities of the same name. With these latter agree Labbe's Hagiologium of Franco-Gaul, and the Roman of Baronius, in which likewise is read today: In the territory of Lugdunum, of saint Benedicta, virgin martyr.

[2] Further, Laudunum and Lugdunum Clavatum are the same episcopal city of Gaul in the borders of the Remi, called in the vernacular Laon, under the metropolis of Reims. Nor is any other Lugdunum to be thought indicated in the remaining Usuardine copies, unedited and edited, nor in Labbe's Hagiologium and the Roman of Baronius; for although there are some other cities of the same name, as, for example, Lugdunum of the Segusiani, of the Convenae, of the Batavi, etc., yet none of these claims the arena of St. Benedicta in its own territory, and Laudunum, or Lugdunum Clavatum, is read not altogether rarely called by the mere word Lugdunum. Yet because Lugdunum of the Segusiani, commonly Lyon, is wont more frequently to be called simply Lugdunum, hence it came about that (as others have already observed before me) in the old French interpretation of the Roman Martyrology these words In territorio Lugdunensi were rendered in French Au diocèse de Lyon, that is: In the diocese of Lugdunum of the Segusiani; which error Labbe and Chastelain corrected in their interpretations.

[3] That you may have the less doubt, it pleases me here to adduce also the opinion of Théophile Raynaud. not of Lyon of the Segusiani. In the second Prolegomenon to the Little Index of the Saints of Lyon of the Segusiani he writes thus: St. Benedicta, virgin martyr, whom the Roman Martyrology and that of Usuard (in some copies, namely) at the 8th of October, and Peter de Natalibus, present as having suffered at Lugdunum, I determine is to be struck out of the roll of the Saints of Lyon (of the Segusiani). For what the Martyrologies and Acts relate of St. Benedicta having suffered in the territory of Lugdunum … is not to be taken of this metropolis of Lyon; but of Lugdunum Clavatum, or Laudunum, in the territory of which city she is for Christ, where also her holy remains are now seen in the royal abbey. So Raynaud. The territory of Laon, and Origny situated in it, are named also by the Lübeck-Cologne Usuardine edition, and, to pass over others, Chastelain too set it in the margin of his Universal Martyrology, and the Acts, such as they are, of the same Saint, which are to be edited, have them.

[4] of the monastery of Origny, flourishing even today, Now Auriniacum, by others Oriniacum and Origniacum, in the vernacular Origni, is a village of Gaul and an old convent of the Benedictine Order, of the diocese of Laon, in Picardy and the tract of Thiérache, situated on a pleasant plain on the left bank of the river Isara, otherwise Oesia, commonly the Oise, three leagues distant from Saint-Quentin. That the beginnings of the convent, which flourishes even today under the Rule of St. Benedict, are very obscure is acknowledged by Mabillon, tom. 3 of the Benedictine Annals at the year of Christ 854, num. 79, and by the learned continuators of Gallia Christiana, tom. 9, col. 620. Of its origin (says Mabillon there) there is no certain knowledge. Perhaps Pardulus (bishop of Laon in the middle of the ninth century) was its founder, with queen Hirmintrudis (wife of Charles the Bald), inasmuch as he asked that a privilege be granted to it by the king, at the petition of queen Irmintrudis, who favoured Pardulus, and conferred very many things on the same convent… Of this privilege Flodoard makes mention, namely in book 3 of the History of the church of Reims, cap. 27.

[5] its beginnings are very obscure, The praised continuators of Gallia Christiana, having first said that nothing prevents one from suspecting that the origin of the same monastery is far earlier than the age of Charles the Bald, prefer to conjecture that it, whether it was at first of monks, or of nuns together with monks, was founded in the sixth or seventh century over the tomb of the holy Martyr. That then, that monastery having been destroyed or dilapidated, perhaps under the mayoralty of Charles Martel, and the monks or nuns put to flight, canons were substituted; and at length in the ninth century it was restored by Pardulus, bishop of Laon, with the favour of Hirmintrudis, or Hermentrudis, first wife of Charles the Bald. They believe that these conjectures of theirs are supported because in the ninth century there stood in that place a collegiate church, which still continues under the name of St. Vedast, consisting formerly of twelve prebends, now of nine, subject to the nuns of Origny, whose abbess, besides that she rejoices to be called Prelate and Dean of the same chapter, confers all the prebends with full right, and receives the oath of fidelity from all the canons.

[6] And they assert it as altogether credible that that collegiate church, like most collegiate churches (they say) of those times, succeeded to some old monastery; writers disagreeing and that for that reason he who, a little after the monastery was restored by Pardulus, presided over the canons there was called not Dean but Provost, a word taken from the Benedictine Rule and rites, as Hincmar testifies in Flodoard, book 3, cap. 25. They add that Peter of Saint-Quentin, a Capuchin, in the book which he entitled in French the Mirror of Origny, was of opinion that that same monastery was founded about the year 680, and was of white monks before it passed to nuns; but that he did not try to support either by probable arguments. Claude Hémeré, in the Augusta Viromanduorum illustrated, page 329, affirms that he read in a fragment of a Chartulary, written in the year 1315 and preserved in the convent of Origny, that the body of St. Benedicta was dug out about the year 665 from the little hill on which she had suffered and been entombed, and translated to that place where the often-mentioned monastery stands, and that this monastery was inhabited first by monks, then by nuns.

[7] The Chartulary praised here by Hémeré, of which mention will recur several times, concerning its age and first occupants, I think is not different from the one of which the same writers of Gallia Christiana speak thus in column 624 of the same volume: Under her (Isabella d'Aci, whom they placed there in the twenty-fourth place among the abbesses of Origny) prefecture was written, in the year MCCCXV, the Book of the treasure, or of the Treasury, commonly the Livre du thresor d'Origni, by Helen de Conflans, a nun of the same convent, who in the Genealogical History of the great men of France, tom. VI, page 145, is wrongly said to have been abbess of the same place. Certainly the time of the writing of this book and of the Chartulary seen by Hémeré is altogether the same, and the argument of both agrees: which will appear still more from what is to be said. If therefore Hémeré read those things there, already from the fourteenth century, a few years after its beginning, there was this opinion among the virgins of Origny, that they believed that the sacred remains of Benedicta came to their monastery, or at least to the place in which it stands, about the year 665: but since between the year 665 and 1315 six hundred and fifty years have flowed by, and love of antiquity frequently imposes, I fear that the praised fragment of the Chartulary cannot be believed safely enough in this matter.

[8] To pass over the opinions of others, I add only a few more certain things. that they were virgins in the time of Charles the Bald is certain. From the letters of Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, in Flodoard, book 3 of the History of the church of Reims, caps. 23, 25 and 27, it is certainly established that in the middle of the ninth century there existed at Origny a convent, to which Irmintrudis, or, as she is otherwise called, Hermentrudis, first wife of Charles the Bald, showed herself munificent, and, by the counsel of Pardulus, bishop of Laon, obtained from the same king her husband a notable privilege; and that after the death of this queen the Provost of the monastery of Origny did not use rightly the alms conferred by her, and that, the Regular abbess who presided over the nuns there having been ejected by Richildis, second wife of Charles the Bald, a certain neophyte named Ricoara was substituted. Who that regular abbess expelled by Richildis was is not known, and the praised continuators of Gallia Christiana confess that they have found no trace of any abbess of Origny before the ninth century; from which thing not a little probability accrues to Mabillon's suspicion that the first foundation of that place for nuns is to be ascribed to Irmintrudis and Pardulus.

[9] The Saint's body was translated thither, To return now to St. Benedicta, the monastery of Origny, which, the same writers of Gallia Christiana say, was dedicated at first under the invocation of St. Peter the Apostle, but afterwards became far more celebrated under that of the same holy Virgin martyr, at whatever time it began, has already for some centuries gloried in her sacred body; yet at what time it was deposited there is by no means established. Hémeré, praised above, assigned the middle of the seventh century from the Chartulary of the place, whose words it pleases me to recite here. There follows, he says, in the same fragment (for it pleases me to run through the rest, and, if it is granted, to make it a little clearer) that the body of Benedicta was dug up again three hundred years after her passion, that is, about the year of Christ DCLXV: that some bishops were present at the digging up, and the count of the Viromandui, namely Garifredus, or any other of those who have been named by us for those times: that the body was carried by the bishops from that little hill on which the virgin had suffered and been entombed to that place where the monastery is now built: that in that monastery there lived first monks, to whom black nuns at length succeeded.

[10] but the time of the translation is uncertain, Agreeing as to the time, the Reverend father Francis Giry, of the Order of Minims, or whoever of the same Order took care of the repeated Paris edition of the year 1719 of that Work, written in French, on the Lives of the Saints, narrates at this day under St. Benedicta, from monuments, as he asserts, received from Origny, several things on the same argument, which I contract into an abridgment. The body of the holy Martyr, buried by the Christians near the place in which she had suffered, had already lain hidden for three hundred years, when it was divinely revealed to a certain blind man at Paris that his sight would be restored to him in the place in which her body rested. He, being brought to Origny by the divine nod, stood still at her sepulchre, and indicated the place of that hidden sacred treasure to eighteen bishops, who, God so disposing, had come together thither from divers provinces. And while these were consulting what was to be done, a dove, which had flown a little round the neighbouring grove, settled before them on the place designated by the blind man. This prodigy being seen, the earth is dug up, the body of the holy Virgin is found with the History of her martyrdom, and, taken up, it is carried to the monastery of Origny, then of Canons Regular, now of nuns of the Benedictine Order.

[11] and the circumstances savour of fables. Thus far Giry, whose narrative, as it is more explicit than Hémeré's, so it is more wonderful and more suspect, namely lest someone has wrongly adorned the narrative of the Chartulary which Hémeré followed with these prodigies from vulgar tradition, and increased it with the finding of a History of that martyrdom, which, from what is to be said, is by no means probable. I cannot indeed persuade myself that Hémeré, who diligently noted from the aforesaid Chartulary the other things pertaining to the body of St. Benedicta and tried to illustrate them, would have passed over these things if he had read them in it. Yet even if they were read in it, they would be of uncertain credibility, since that Chartulary is not more ancient than the year 1315, while Benedicta is believed to have suffered at the beginning of the fourth century. As therefore I cannot doubt that the body of this holy Martyr has rested at Origny for many centuries, so I can by no means safely admit the year of its finding, and much less the prodigious circumstances of it related by Giry.

Of the Life or Passion I shall treat more fully below.

[12] I return to Hémeré, who, after what he said at num. 9 from the praised fragment of the Chartulary about the Saint's body being dug out about the middle of the seventh century, It is said to have been elevated again in the ninth century, found nothing further about it before the ninth century; asserting that it is read again in the same fragment that, other abbesses being unknown, the prioress of the place was Ricoara (whom, namely, we have said from Flodoard was wrongly intruded by queen Richildis into the place of the Regular abbess) while Charles was emperor — Charles, I say, the Bald — and while Arnulphus was bishop at Laon; who namely is Hedenulphus, successor to Hincmar, sitting in that chair about the year DCCCLXXVIII; which was the age of the emperor the Bald; which years the Chartulary also distinctly marked. That by the same bishop the body was brought out of the earth (which is its second finding), and enclosed in a wooden bier at the prayers of Ricoara. He is also called Hedenulphus in tom. 9 of Gallia Christiana among the bishops of Laon, where it is read that he was substituted for Hincmar, prelate of the same see, deposed in the year 876; and of him it is likewise added: He is said to have translated the body of St. Benedicta, virgin, into the church of St. Peter at Origny. What if this was not the second but the first translation of the same sacred body? For thenceforward mention of it is not rare, but before, from the year 665, in which they will have the first to have been made, there is none at all.

[13] Hémeré proceeds to set out from his fragment of the Chartulary of Origny the other things pertaining to the body of St. Benedicta; and in the thirteenth century borne into a silver case, namely, that it was kept in that coffin in which it had been enclosed under Ricoara in the ninth century, up to the years of Emmelina, whom Anselm, bishop of Laon, Emmelina's brother, had substituted in the prefecture of the monastery for Eustachia, who had abdicated it. Now this is the Anselm who was called de Malo nido, Maunid: that Anselm opened the wooden bier in the year MCCXXXI, on the 6th of May, there being present Emmelina the prioress, Eurard of Douai, canon of St. Vedast and treasurer of the place, Aelidis de Sisseio, Isabella de Cruce, Theodorica a lay sister, etc.; that he took the sacred pledges out of the coffin and laid them up again in a nobler casket, fashioned of gold and silver, the nuns contributing each her own ornaments and silver furniture with which the chest might be wrought: that, Isabella de Thorotta, who had succeeded Emmelina, governing the convent, the chest was completed, and the translation of the virgin Benedicta was then instituted by Bernerius (otherwise Garnerus), bishop of Laon; and that from these things was taken up again the beginning of that solemn procession by which the sacred car of the Virgin is carried with the greatest veneration to the same little hill (from which, as was stated before, the body had once been brought), all the tenants of the abbey standing by, on the fourth day of the week after Pentecost.

[14] The nearer these things approach to the fourteenth century, in the fifteenth year of which the Chartulary from which they are asserted to be taken was composed, and her head was enclosed in a special case, the more certain credence they deserve. The things which are said there about Emmelina de Maunid, or de Mauni, substituted in the prefecture of the monastery abdicated by Eustachia, you have also in tom. 9 of Gallia Christiana, col. 624, and there also the following may be read: In the year MCCXXXI her brother (the praised Anselm), at her request and in her presence, recognized the relics of St. Benedicta; then on the 7th before the Kalends of July, in the year MCCXXXIII, he translated the head of the same Martyr into another casket skilfully wrought. Emmelina is said to have died about the year MCCXLVI. He whom Hémeré called Bernerius is called Garnerus in the same Gallia Christiana, col. 540. After Emmelina also, there in col. 624, it is subjoined: Isabella de Torote, sister of Robert II, bishop of Laon, brought the body of St. Benedicta into a more fitting casket made from the silver which Emmelina de Mauni had collected, on the 7th before the Kalends of June of the year MCCXLVI.

[15] a few things are noted about the time and the authors of this matter. Giry marks the same year, but Baillet 1248; and both observe that the 26th day of May was then the third day of the week of Pentecost; and Baillet adds that the memory of that event is recalled by a solemn annual procession on the same third day; but Giry on the day after, that is the fourth day after Pentecost. And he indeed noted more rightly the day of the annual procession; but neither in the year 1246 nor in 1248 does the 26th day of May coincide with the third day of Pentecost: for in the former of these years Easter fell on the 8th day of April, Pentecost on the 27th of May; in the latter Easter on the 19th of April, Pentecost on the 7th of June. Talk of the supplication will recur below. The same two writers speak of the separation of the sacred head from the rest of the body, and of the translation of the body itself into a new case, etc., as if they had happened at the same time under Garnerus, bishop of Laon, and Emmelina the abbess — things which Hémeré and the continuators of Gallia Christiana relate as done partly under these, partly under Anselm, Garnerus's predecessor, and Isabella de Torote, who had succeeded Emmelina. For the rest, Garnerus was indeed still surviving in the year 1248; but I cannot assert this of Emmelina, who in the words given above is said to have died about the year 1246.

[16] Other things pertaining to the relics of the same Saint, both here I do not have it found out at what time the right arm of the Saint was separated from the other bones, which Hémeré affirms is kept separately enclosed in a little silver vessel among the sacred relics at Origny. I add finally the things which the praised writers of Gallia Christiana noted besides about the relics of the same Virgin at col. 626, under Mary Catherine de Montluc, abbess. She repaired and enlarged the casket of St. Benedicta, whose relics she had recognized on the 13th before the Kalends of June of the year MDCXV; at which time she both enclosed the thigh-bone in another silver casket, and granted part of one rib to a certain pious citizen of Paris, which is now religiously preserved in the church of the Temple at Paris. Giry and Baillet give as the cause of the repair that this sacred case, carried hither and thither in the calamitous times of war, and especially of the Calvinists, and hidden under the earth, was much worn, and that therefore a new one of gilded silver was caused to be made by the praised abbess, which, as Giry testifies, could be compared in magnificence, size and workmanship with the reliquary of St. Genevieve at Paris.

[17] and elsewhere. Disagreeing somewhat as to the time, they name for the year 1615 the year 1619, in which Giry adds that the sacred bones of Benedicta were solemnly brought into the same by the vicar of the bishop of Laon. Baillet also mentions some portion of her relics preserved at Paris in the church of the Temple, and another there in the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois. Further, all these things, and whatever we shall say besides about the cult, seem to claim the body of this holy Virgin for Origny solidly enough, unless firm arguments be brought forward for the opposite side. Nevertheless Tillemont, tom. 4 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, page 540, speaks thus in French: Her body is believed even today to be held in the abbey of Canons Regular of St. Martin-in-the-Wood near Halluin, in the deanery of Ressons of the diocese of Beauvais; for which reason the Breviary of Beauvais makes mention of her; but what is read in it has little probability. She is asserted to have suffered at Origny on the Oise in the diocese of Laon, where there still remains an abbey of virgins, called by her name, who also believe that her body is with them.

[18] Concerning the monastery of St. Martin-in-the-Wood, or of Ruricurtis, in French Ruricourt, What is to be thought about the body of St. Benedicta formerly of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, now of the Gallican Congregation, consult, if you please, the continuators of Gallia Christiana, tom. 9, from col. 826; who, since among the abbesses of Origny, as we have seen, they treated studiously of the body of Benedicta as resting certainly with these, but here make no word at all about it, seem by this very silence of theirs to intimate either that the things which the people of Ruricourt perhaps alleged for the possession of that treasure were by no means approved by them, or that these very people had withdrawn from that opinion of theirs. Whether, however, and what the people of Ruricourt have alleged for it, I have not so far read; Baillet says indeed that these persuaded many of it, but names only Tillemont, whose words I have already given: Giry ascribes it to Origny without doubt, making no mention of Ruricourt.

[19] In vain also have I consulted Peter Louvet in the History and antiquities of the city and territory of Beauvais, honoured, as they will have it, at Ruricourt. who, although in book 1, cap. 9, he treats of St. Romana and Leoberia, who with some other Roman virgins are reported to have come into the Gauls under the leadership of St. Benedicta, and mentions the body of the same Romana both there and in book 4, cap. 14, yet keeps deep silence about the sacred remains of St. Benedicta, whom he does not even name: which silence again, what does it rather intimate than that it was unknown to him too that these were preserved at Ruricourt in the territory of Beauvais? On the other hand, for the virgins of Origny there stand the great veneration of her relics among them, at least from the thirteenth century, and the annual festivals to be mentioned below; and until I see equal or similar titles opposed to these, there is no reason why I should call the possession of Origny into doubt. Perhaps the abbey of Ruricourt at some time received some relics of the same Saint, which (as not rarely happens) came under the name of the body; nor do I dislike the suspicion of Jacques Longueval, tom. 6 of the History of the Gallican church, page 319, where, after he had spoken assertively of the relics of St. Benedicta venerated at Origny, he subjoined these things: The Canons Regular of Ruricourt (that is, of St. Martin-in-the-Wood) glory in the possession of the body of St. Benedicta: but since the name Benedicta is common enough, it is credible that there are two different Saints.

§ II. Her various festivals at Origny, translations of the body, and relics separated from the body, also elsewhere.

From the Office of Origny through the Octave Not less than the veneration of the sacred body of Benedicta is the rest of the Ecclesiastical cult of the same Saint in the abbey of Origny. I have in my hands the proper Offices of this monastery, approved at the instance of the abbess praised above, Mary Catherine de Montluc, by Benjamin de Brichanteau, bishop of Laon, in the year 1618, and printed in the following year at the Lille presses in Flanders. Among these St. Benedicta has on this 8th day of October, on which her martyrdom is recalled, an Office of double rite of the first class, with an Octave, through which the Lessons of the second Nocturn are distributed; and the Hymns, Responsories and Antiphons are proper, drawn almost from her Passion (would that it were a better one!), in which she is celebrated as virgin, martyr, and teacher of the faith in that tract of Gaul. I think it will not be out of place to have recited some things from it here. The Hymn at both Vespers and at Lauds runs thus.

[21] the Hymns of Vespers are recited, With blessed light for us The festive day shines forth, Whereon Benedicta here began To possess the joys of heaven. Beneath a chaste breast Was a mind pure of all faults, Keeping the comeliness of virgins In limbs and life continually. Happy by the blessed Spirit, Teacher of the supernal country, She sets in the reward of the heavens The nations, nurslings of Gaul. At length, her office fulfilled, Laden with many merits, The Martyr triumphs, her rosy Neck cut by the sword.

[22] and of Lauds O truly happy spirit! Whom the Bridegroom, author of virgins, Rewarding the gifts freely received,

Crowns with a threefold diadem. The people, hastening, as a suppliant asks That thou stretch forth a helping hand, So that in these billows of the world Its life may be pleasing to Christ. Christ is appeased by the whiteness Of virgins; the happy purple Of martyrs wrests from His hands The avenging rod of faults. Us, therefore, burdened with very many Faults, mother Benedicta, Mourning, with bended knee, Be present to, being asked, we beseech thee. To the threefold God be glory, Who, rewarding gifts with gifts, Crowning His own bounties, Gives grace for grace. Amen.

[23] and of Matins; But the Hymn at Matins is this: The keenness of a dulled mind is overcome By the rays of a pure life, Benedicta, Nor are voices able to resound with worthy strings Thy rewards: Not even if the band of sisters, in accord, Should wish, by fourfold and fivefold number, To move heaven by the lyre-string, or by plaintive Or sweet voice. For she was wreathed with sacred gems, She was a virgin, she taught the faithful, She shed her blood, she merited to be wed To the Son of Mary. She was wed, living on earth without the flesh, She was wed, recalling the wandering to the stars, She was wed, dying with her blood poured out, She was wed to Olympus. O glory of our race, splendour of sacred Virgins, joined to Christ, Who abidest in the heavens, look favourably Upon our prayers. Praise, honour, power, glory and might To the bridegroom of virgins, the Son of Mary, Who blesses all, and raises to the stars those pure in heart.

[24] I add the Antiphons at the Magnificat and Benedictus: At first Vespers it is this: likewise the Antiphons at the Magnificat and Benedictus, and the Prayer. Let us celebrate with solemn Office the glorious contest of the most blessed Benedicta, who, noble among the first of the Romans, and illustrious offspring of a senatorial house, but more glorious by the faith of Christ, adorned the parts of the Belgae with her own blood. Come! Let us proclaim Christ the Lord, wonderful in His Saint. Alleluia. ℣. With glory and honour Thou hast crowned her, O Lord. ℞. And in the sight of Thy people Thou hast magnified her. And at second Vespers this: Today Benedicta, a Roman virgin, rising above the perishable things of the world, superior to the stormy billows of the sea, stronger than the punishments of the cruel tyrant, obtained by a happy end the crown of glory: let us rejoice, because she reigns with all the Saints for ever. Alleluia. At Lauds, finally, at the Benedictus, that: King of Thy faithful, O Christ, who art present to those who contend for Thee, and art Thyself faithful, receive the vows of the suppliant people, that we who venerate the crowns of Thy blessed Virgin may be helped by her merits before Thee. ℣. She hath declared Thy glory among the nations. ℞. And Thy wonders, O Lord, to the Gallic people. The Prayer, lastly, is such: Almighty everlasting God, grant us on the solemnity of saint Benedicta, Thy virgin and martyr, to rejoice with fitting piety, that we may both praise Thy power in her passion, and experience help provided for us. Through the Lord, etc.

[25] Another annual festival of the same holy Virgin, Another Office of the Translation there which is that of the Translation, the praised nuns of Origny celebrate on the 26th day of May. I say on the 26th day of May, although the 27th day of May is read there by a typographical error, which becomes manifest from this, that in the same Office there are prescribed from the Roman Breviary the ninth lesson and the commemoration of St. Eleutherius, Pope and martyr, at Lauds and at private Mass, which namely are read in the Roman Breviary and Missal not on the 27th but on the 26th day of May. For which reason our Predecessors placed the Translation of St. Benedicta, virgin, as wont to be kept in the monastery of Origny, at the 26th day of the same month among the Passed Over, the reader being meanwhile referred to this 8th day of October, on which, from what has been said, the principal feast of that Saint is kept there.

[26] This festival is celebrated with the double rite of the second class annually; a daily commemoration, in the same manner as the natal day above, but without an Octave, and with the Prayer taken from the Common of a virgin, O God, who among the other miracles of Thy power, etc., only the word Natal being changed into Translation; so that it is not necessary to note more about it. Further, since of the translations related above only that which Isabella de Torote caused to be made, whether in the year 1246 or 1248, is read to have been made on the 26th day of May, it is most probable that its memory is kept by the annual Office just mentioned. Among the suffrages, or common Commemorations of the Saints, to be recited daily except on double feasts, St. Benedicta also has her own there after the holy patriarch Benedict, at Vespers in this manner: O with how glorious a light shines the glory of the Virgin, who united to Christ the Lord the most invincible nation of the Gauls by preaching, by miracles and by her sacred blood poured out; to whom be praise and glory through the ages. ℣. God is wonderful in His holy Benedicta. ℞. And holy in all His works. And at Lauds thus: Let us recall the memory of the holy virgin Benedicta, who offered to the Lord a pleasing sacrifice in her virginity, a more pleasing in the preaching of the Gospel, a most pleasing in her passion; by her merits may we deserve to come at length to the heavenly Jerusalem. ℣. She hath declared, etc., as above, with the Prayer from the feast of the Translation, the word Commemoration being substituted for Translation.

[27] [and an annual solemn procession with the body to the little hill on which she is believed to have suffered.] I have already made mention above at num. 13, from Hémeré praising the fragment of the Chartulary of Origny, of the procession in which the Saint's body is wont to be solemnly carried annually at Origny, on the fourth day of Pentecost, to the little hill on which she is believed to have suffered and been first buried. Of the same there is read thus in tom. 9 of Gallia Christiana, col. 621: The lords of very many fiefs are bound to be present at the solemn supplication in which the body of the holy Martyr (Benedicta) is carried every year on the fourth day after Pentecost, and to renew their homage to the abbess. On the testimony of the praised Hémeré, this supplication took its beginning from the deposition of the body of the same holy Virgin in a silver chest, carried out at the instance of Isabella de Thorotta, or Torote, in the year 1246 or two years later on the 26th day of May, as has been said at num. 15; the memory of which Baillet and Giry also observe is renewed every year by the same procession, with this difference, that the former will have it done on the third day, the other on the fourth day after Pentecost. But I fear that both of these were of that opinion because they wrongly believed that the 26th day of May in the year 1246 or 1248 coincided with the third day of Pentecost; concerning which see what was said at num. 15.

[28] a solemn procession with the body. The same supplication could indeed, as Hémeré asserts from the fragment of the Chartulary, have taken its beginning from the translation made by Isabella de Torote; but since this is kept with an ecclesiastical Office, not on the fourth day of Pentecost, but on the same 26th day of May on which it is said to have happened, and neither here nor elsewhere in the whole Proper of Origny is there any mention of the same supplication, or of the first translation of the sacred body from the place of the passion to the church of Origny, perhaps the supplication of which we are treating was first made in memory of the latter at the translation on the 26th day of May under Isabella de Torote, and it was then at the same time decreed that it should thereafter be made annually on the fourth day of Pentecost, this day being fixed at will. It must be confessed, however, that this suspicion rests on no other reason than that otherwise a double memory would be kept of one translation, that is of the deposition of the sacred body in a new case, but none of the primary one, by which, namely, the same body was first brought to Origny; and that a procession of this kind with her body to the first tomb of the Saint, and the return to the monastery, agree exceedingly well with celebrating the memory of that event.

[29] Her Passion, which is falsely said to have been found in her tomb, So much concerning the cult of St. Benedicta among the virgins of Origny; and that it was formerly shown to her in the diocese of Cambrai also is shown by various Calendars, written partly in the twelfth century, partly in the two following, concerning which see what is to be said at this day under St. Ragenfredis. Now let us come to her Acts. Hémeré asserted above, num. 10, that these were found enclosed with the body about three hundred years after her martyrdom. Another may have lighted the way for him, of whom William Marlot in the History of the Metropolis of Reims, book 1, cap. 29, has this: The Ms. Deeds of her (Benedicta) were found after three hundred years in her tomb, relates (in the margin is added: In excerpts not yet edited) the most illustrious man M. de Lalain, a most skilful pleader of causes, who flourished at Laon in this (the seventeenth) century; and that it is had in them that St. Benedicta came with a certain foster-sister and her little servant to Laon (Which, he says, an older age would have called Bibrax), and was afterwards slain by Matroclus, a most wicked judge, whom Aloysius Lipomanus calls Macrobius; and that he lived in the time of Rictiovarus under Diocletian. These things I have thought should be copied in as many words, so that it may be clear to the reader that no other Acts are treated of there than those which I am about to edit: for the same things which Lalain recited from his are read in ours.

[30] We have several copies of them, namely in a notable Ms. Membrane codex, and of which we have some copies, formerly of the abbey of Vaucelles, which my Predecessors acquired by exchange in the year 1637 from the most illustrious man Balthasar Moretus: likewise in another membrane codex of ours marked Q. Ms. 15; a third from the Ms. of Rouge-Cloître, collated with that of Saint-Omer, of Bonnefontaine, and with the codex of the most serene Queen of Sweden marked 1171; and finally another from the monastery of Böddeken of Canons Regular in the diocese of Paderborn. And all these differ almost in this alone, that some of them, not all, have a Prologue prefixed, and that in the Böddeken one the same Passion has been ascribed to St. Saturnina, virgin martyr, the name of Benedicta being everywhere changed into Saturnina, as our Papebroch long ago observed under the same Saturnina at the 20th day of May. Peter de Natalibus, bishop of Equilium (for whom above in Marlot Aloysius Lipomanus is wrongly read), inserted one altogether similar, but much more compendious and without the Prologue, in his Catalogue of the Saints, book 9, cap. 40: nor did the nuns of Origny use any other for composing the proper Office of the same Saint, as is manifest to those who compare this with that.

[31] If (as some named above have said) this Life had been found in the tomb at the first finding of the body of Benedicta about three hundred years after her martyrdom, far after the times of the Saint it could surely claim for itself great authority from its age, and by this defend the things which are read in it not a little alien from the appearance of truth. For, this being admitted, it would have to be said to have been written by a contemporary, and entombed together with the sacred body of the Martyr. But that very Life not only does not agree with so great antiquity, but even opposes it. According to my division, num. 3, the biographer indicated the century in which the Saint lived in these words: When now the sowing of the perfect word had begun for the ages, and the word of God was being distributed to every age, every sex, and every condition … through the venerable princes of the holy churches, there was at Rome AT THAT TIME a certain venerable virgin, Benedicta in name and in merit. Who would not recognize here a writer not contemporary with the Saint, but rather far removed from her age?

[32] Of her Roman country and family there

he speaks doubtfully thus: and was written from popular tradition: And she … in race and country IS SAID to have arisen from the bosom of the Roman senate. Then at num. 5, concerning her coming into Gaul and that of her companions, he speaks no more affirmatively: Benedicta with the aforesaid virgins … having left their soil and parents, ARE REPORTED to have come to the borders of the Gauls. Likewise at num. 8, concerning Origny, the place of her passion and burial: For this place mentioned, he says, was then strong in antiquity, because it was pleasant with its river, fruitful in its lands, wooded by the situation of its trees; yet STILL exceedingly full of the filth of idols. Finally at num. 10: Then Matroculus (the judge) IS REPORTED to have said (namely to Benedicta), etc. Truly these are not the modes of speaking of a contemporary author, but of one of a far later age, and writing not from the relation of contemporaries, but from popular tradition, and at a time at which at Origny both the sacred and the profane commonwealth (at least as it seemed to the biographer) had been very much changed.

[33] yet not after the eleventh century, In what century, however, those Acts seem to have been written, it is not ready to my hand to say. That they are not later than the eleventh century I determine from the Life or Passion of St. Romana, virgin martyr, venerated at Beauvais, whose anonymous author in the same century transcribed not a few things from these into it, as has already been observed by us in the Preliminary Commentary to the Life of the same St. Romana, tom. 2 of October, page 131 and the following. Hence it is not to be wondered at that in the Acts of St. Benedicta about which we are inquiring no word at all is made of the translations of her body, which I have shown above were made in the thirteenth century under the abbesses Emmelina and Isabella in the monastery of Origny. Further, since there is a like silence in them about another, earlier, and perhaps the first of all, translation, brought about (as has likewise been said) at the end of the ninth century by Ricoara, they appear to be earlier than this. I said, Perhaps the first translation of all: for the first finding of the body, which some say happened about the year 665, and of which the biographer is silent equally with the rest, first became known only from a Ms. written about 650 years after, and as it is very uncertain, so it is the more unfit for adding to the Acts greater antiquity than they savour of.

[34] but perhaps in the ninth century, If I pleased to divine, nothing occurs to me more probable than that they were composed in the ninth century, when it had begun to be treated of translating the sacred body of the Virgin to Origny, or of elevating it there, by someone following the common tradition; unless perhaps the miracles obtained at her first tomb gave occasion for writing the same Acts before the said translation or elevation was thought of. For that the Acts were dug out of the first tomb of the holy Martyr in the middle of the seventh century is by no means probable from what has been set down before; but that in the writer's time the same tomb had become famous for miracles he himself indicates at the end thus: The venerable virgin suffered on the eighth before the Ides of October at Origny under Matroculus, an impious executioner, where through her most devout merits manifold wishes are granted to those who faithfully ask.

[35] and it is sprinkled with fables; yet to be edited. What further chiefly displeases in the same Acts has already been set out in our Work in the Preliminary Commentary on St. Romana just praised; the things said there I hold as inserted here, intending to advise the reader of each in the Annotata. And from an author of so uncertain an age, and by no means sufficiently ancient, and from the strangeness of the things which he narrates, I cannot but hold very suspect the Roman country of St. Benedicta, her senatorial family, and her coming into the Gauls, which not even the biographer himself has dared to assert except with the customary words of doubters added, It is said, It is reported. Nay, I remain in doubt whether I should believe her a Gallic virgin or a Roman. As regards the time of the martyrdom, from what was said in the Preliminary Commentary on St. Romana, on the 3rd day of this month, it would more probably be placed under Diocletian and Maximian, if the companionship of these Virgins were sufficiently established; and since this is not certain, I have preferred to write in the margin above: Perhaps under Diocletian and Maximian. For the rest, lest we should seem undeservedly to blame the Life of St. Benedicta, I subjoin it here with due observations.

* whether coruscat?

* whether gratum?

FABULOUS ACTS,

By an Anonymous Author,

From our codex, first of Vaucelles, then of the most illustrious man Balthasar Moretus, collated with others.

Benedicta, V. M., in the territory of Laon in Gaul. (S.)

BHL Number: 1087

A. anonymous.

The usefulness of knowing the deeds of the Saints The loftiness of the supernal goodness, by the nod of whose bounty all things were founded, earthly alike and heavenly, does not cease to instruct the bosom of holy mother Church with saving discourses, and to show increases through the merits of its virtues: whence it is exceedingly fitting to narrate to the throngs of peoples the examples of the holy faithful, for inciting the minds of their own to the rewards of heavenly joys. For who could worthily write how great an indulgence of perpetuity and salvation alike their deeds and the marks of their works of power confer upon us? For thence the foundation of charity and faith is made solid, the love of the highest piety is nourished, the desire of holy conversation is born, contempt of temporal things arises, the joys of the virtues are generated.

[2] For it is, as we see, a great gift of God, and worthy of the merits of all the Saints, usefulness. that, praising also the innumerable contests of those by whose eloquent preachings the Church shines happily; by whose most holy examples we have been taught to the pursuits of good works; with whose spirit of truth we have been armed in the battle of the contest, we should be raised up by their sacred merits to obtaining the mercy of God, and should insert these same things in perennial monuments for the edification of our capacity; and that we who are daily afflicted by our offences may be protected by their intercessions and cherished on every side by the consolations of their merits ^a.

[3] When, then, the sowing of the perfect word had now begun to be for the ages, Benedicta, born of a noble family at Rome and the word of God was being distributed to every age, every sex, every condition, according to the capacity of the understanding of each, through the venerable princes of the holy churches, there was at Rome at that time ^b a certain venerable virgin, Benedicta in name and in merit ^c: and she, of a noble stock, Christian in religion, according to the order of this world not lowest in the wealth of things, is said ^d to have arisen in race and country from the bosom of the Roman senate; whose highest hope was in Christ, and whose devotion of a most constant faith was ever present. Finally, that sacred and precious virgin Benedicta, preferring the poverty of Christ to all riches, wished rather to be a wanderer, an exile and a stranger, than to rule among her own, as she had been worthy. For she instructed the minds of the faithful around her, whomever she could reach, daily paying to God the vows of prayers and abundantly the proclamations of hymns and praises.

[4] She had with her, then, in the habit of her holy conversation, twelve noble Virgins, begotten of the germ of one seed ^e, and comely in the repute of a shining disposition, piously instructed twelve virgins, and, for love of Christ in whose minds the virtue of sacred working had produced an honourable summit of most pleasing virtue. They were indeed joined together always by the familiarity of a religious faith: they had never been coupled to any man by the marital bond: for the venerable Virgin had instructed them in manifold kinds of virtues, and in the perennial teachings of the holy Scriptures, and the young girls themselves were gradually formed in every work of piety, advancing in the grace of the same piety, the divine clemency being propitious to them everywhere. Afterwards, however, Benedicta, the blessed devout virgin of Christ, desiring by no means to obtain anything of her paternal substance, seeks out by every means how she might be able to serve Christ as a soldier. For with most humble prayers she demanded that he should never allow her to remain in her own means; but that she might spend the whole course of her life in the labour of pilgrimage.

[5] she travelled as a pilgrim into the Gauls, These things indeed, and very many others, thinking within herself, she often revolved in her mind, which she was to receive in heaven. For she had already then heard by the relation of certain persons the manifold glorious contests of the martyrs of Christ, namely of Quintinus and Lucianus ^f, and of others who, having set out from the city of Rome, in divers places, the grace of the Saviour working, had already obtained the palm of martyrdom, preaching the way of truth to the peoples of the Gauls. So at length holy Benedicta, with the aforesaid virgins, inflamed with a like desire, with concordant vow, having left their soil and parents, are reported ^g to have come to the borders of the Gauls, the Lord leading them. Not indeed did they, who had been strengthened by the love of one charity and the zeal of holy conversation, seek long spaces of lands either overcome by reason of fear, or timid of the trial of persecution; but knowing this from their heart, that whoever labours more in the service of God will be held worthy of a greater reward in the remuneration hereafter.

[6] where, being divinely ordered to separate from one another, For whoever professes himself a Christian ought truly in all things to follow the examples of his Author, as the Scripture says: "He who says that he abides in Christ ought himself also to walk even as He walked ^h." Whence, not unmindful of the Lord's command, they trampled upon the audacity of rashness with the humility of holiness, leaving temporal things; and for these they purchased eternal things. For no guile, no rancour of envious fraud had met the Saints on the journey, because they were fortified with the help of the heavenly right hand. And the aforesaid Handmaids of God, the grace of the divine Spirit admonishing them, were ordered to be separated from one another ⁱ, so that each of them, scattered abroad, might rather by her own talent acquire manifold fruit for the Lord.

[7] she betakes herself to Lugdunum, and hence to Origny, These, then, having been separated in such order, holy Benedicta at length, with a certain foster-sister and fellow-servant of hers named Liobera ^k, came to Lugdunum ^l, which an older age preferred to have called Bibrax ^m; and, having stayed there for a while, she began with the whole affection of her heart to serve the Lord Christ, as was her wont, given to holy conversations ⁿ, stripped of the riches of temporal things, having always laid up in the chest of her breast the monument of the Lord's precept; and therefore she is read to have venerably attained the will of her affection ^o. She was also instant in fastings and frequent prayers, and despised the blandishments of all riches for love of the heavenly kingdom. When therefore she was daily accomplishing so great a work of holiness, it was signified to her by an indication of the divine will that she should go to Origny, a place situated on the river Isara, and there insist with all her strength on the teachings of the preaching of Christ.

[8] For this place mentioned was then strong in antiquity, where, while she shines with holiness and benefits, because it was pleasant with its river, fruitful in its lands, wooded by the situation of its trees; yet still exceedingly full of the filth of idols [p]. This place, then, the illustrious Martyr had chosen as one to be sought, where, the grace of God helping, she might make a glorious contest of triumphing against the enemy, and after the conflict of so great a contest receive hereafter the reward of eternal beatitude. To which when she had first come with intrepid mind, under angelic leading, fortified with the shield of the Lord's protection, the same said place had obtained the greatest grace of Christ in the winning of peoples: where this glorious virgin, living in the devotion of a holy profession through her daily days, macerated her youthful limbs with happy fastings. For she was of wonderful patience, of holy humility, and adorned with the gifts of heavenly graces. For she was placid in countenance, tranquil in mind, elegant in speech,

and holy in work. And these and many other things about her, the divine clemency working, were spread abroad through the neighbouring places: therefore the infirm people flew to her, to whom the grace of the most loving Creator granted healing of soul and body through the merit of the same virgin Benedicta.

[9] Hearing these things also, a certain Matroculus [q], a most wicked judge, came swiftly to the aforesaid Origny, she is set before the judge: she confesses Christ, who had come to that place for this purpose, that if the venerable Virgin herself would not obey his commands, he might at once kill her by cutting her throat without any delay. In short, the minister of the demon and the tinder of all crime was striving greatly how he might send the soul of that precious Virgin, hastening to the palace of heaven, to the prisons of hell, and bow down again to the yoke of demonic servitude one redeemed by the blood of Christ. Hence the already mentioned Matroculus, when he had come to the aforesaid place, at once ordered a seat to be prepared for him there, and the holy Virgin of God to be set before his sight. And he says to her: Girl, who are you, or what are you called, or of what condition are you? Blessed Benedicta answered: I am truly a Christian; because I have always from infancy desired to worship Christ, and now and for ever I desire to persevere continually in His commandments. If you ask about my name or condition: I am a Roman citizen, according to the condition of my parents, but called Benedicta.

[10] Then Matroculus, the most wicked judge, is reported to have said this to these things: and in the confession If these things are as you say, it is expedient for you to obey my counsels, by which you may escape tormenting punishments and remain in our friendship. For I too will speak to you more secretly, that I am by race a Jew [r], and the name of Jesus the crucified, whose little servant you assert yourself to be in your heart and openly profess with your mouth, I have never loved in my mind, nor have I ever at all tried to admit His sayings into my ears; but I have always taken care, as far as I could, to destroy powerfully the summit of His Church, which seems venerable to the Christians. But holy Benedicta, having heard the audacity of his rashness and the injury of his excessive presumption, at once said to him: Hear, Matroculus, most unhappy of all men; hear me, the little servant of Christ, ready to render you an account of all things. For no one can be pleasing to almighty God and to His enemies in one and the same thing: for he denies himself to be a friend of God who pleases His enemy.

[11] persevering constantly, she is beaten with rods; And when he had heard these things, filled with wrath, he said to her: Benedicta, who is your God, or what is His power, that He may avenge your injuries on me, or who will snatch you out of my hands? But she, confidently, as the handmaid of Christ, fearing nothing of the punishments of the enemy, answered these words to the most impious executioner: For I have God for my helper, who is in heaven, to whom I have vowed myself a virgin, who has power over the whole creation: Him alone I serve day and night; to His service I desire exceedingly to cleave approvedly even to the end. Then Matroculus to these things: Benedicta, still a pitiable girl, have pity now at once on your little age, set in infancy [s]: for, if you are not rebellious, you will be most pleasing in our eyes. But she, answering, said: I am more ready to die for the name of the Lord than to please your will in any speech. But the pestilent Matroculus, hearing these discourses, filled with fury and wrath, ordered her to be stripped and beaten exceedingly with many strokes of rods; and he said to her: I indeed have already declared with a clement countenance that I would not hear the name of Christ any more; and you on the contrary display it to me. Take care, therefore, that you do not speak these things any further in the name of that Crucified One in the ears of our faithful.

[12] she goes on preaching Christ, To whom the holy Virgin said: Hard indeed and too harsh it seems to me to desert in vain my Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified for the salvation of men, whom both life and death do not cease to serve, the Creator of heaven and earth, of the sea and of men. Who of Himself, before He made anything from the beginning, begot the Son, and from His power brought forth the Holy Spirit: the Son, through whom He might create all things; the Holy Spirit, that He might quicken all things: who has made eloquent even the tongues of infants, and makes the minds of the faithful of one will. For, inflamed with His love, I have taken up the arms of truth and faith, so that I may be able powerfully to resist all the wiles of your impudence. Matroculus to these things: Benedicta, inexorable girl, why do you not devise more useful counsel concerning such great punishments of torments, which will be prepared for you by the authority of our command, if your obstinacy and hard assent do not forthwith agree with our laws?

[13] she is struck on the face with palms, To whom the blessed martyr of Christ Benedicta answered: Be certain, inventor of all malice, that I will never obey your precepts; because you are a son of death, and therefore you will be joined to your father the devil, who is in hell [t]. I indeed do not fear your threats; because I do not distrust the remuneration of Him who has promised that each of the faithful shall receive his own reward according to his labour: and therefore it is a very fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God for the sake of temporal things. And when the impious judge himself had heard these things, kindled more vehemently and more bitterly with the madness of fury and wrath, he ordered her face to be beaten exceedingly with very sharp slaps of the palms. And while the body of the glorious Virgin was being beaten so, she was carrying out in her punishments that example of the Psalmist: "Enlighten my eyes, O Lord, that I never sleep in death; lest at any time my enemy say: I have prevailed against her [u]." But she ever more praised and magnified the name of the Lord with all confidence, fearing nothing of the threats of her adversaries, so that all who stood there hearing these things marvelled.

[14] Then blessed Benedicta, the venerable martyr, said: and, stretched on the rack, with leaded scourges; brought back to prison Do you think, O tyrant, that I can be separated by your torments and threats of punishments from the faith and love of my Lord Jesus Christ? Wherefore hear me, most impious one, that even if you order all the members of my body to be cut off, not even so shall I be confounded. For I am already made firm and founded in Christ: I am built indeed in Christ, who is my strongest foundation. At these things Matroculus, most vehemently indignant, ordered her to be stretched on the rack and beaten with leaded scourges: and when the framework of her limbs was loosened by the excessive force of the punishments, and one wound covered the whole appearance of her body, the flesh flowed away, the secret parts of the bowels appeared, yet strong in spirit she remained in the confession of the holy Trinity. And after neither the terror of the prince nor the love of the criminal judge could in any way overcome blessed Benedicta, the devout virgin of Christ, he ordered her to be shut in prison again, until he should find with what torments he might tear her more cruelly.

[15] Finally, while she was praying in the darkness of the prison, and the dawn of day was now approaching, she is visited by an angel: she converts many to Christ. behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, having entered the enclosure of the same prison, and filled the space of the whole little cell with a great brightness of light, and said to her: Benedicta, glorious virgin, be constant, overcome all fear of punishments. The day of your calling is near, on which the Lord will receive you to Himself with the crown of perennial glory and the palm of martyrdom, and will make you a sharer of the citizens above. Comforted with inestimable joy by these discourses and others of angelic exhortation, she announced to the people who came upon her from every side that they should be purified by the perennial fountain, believing in the unbegotten Father, the only-begotten Son, and without doubt the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father and the Son. And when she was setting forth these and like things reasonably in the sight of all the people, it came about that of the peoples about one hundred and fifty-five believed in the Lord Jesus Christ through the holy exhortation.

[16] Further, when the most impious executioner had heard these things, burning more and more with fury, she is again set before the judge, and to him he commanded holy Benedicta to be brought before him again, and said to her: Benedicta, noble girl, be ready to obey our precepts, lest I make you, shamefully mocked, lose this present life through torments. For, if you do not do this quickly, you will be horribly consumed by the sword of our right hand. Then holy Benedicta, glorious martyr of God, with constant mind brought forth such things, saying: Consider, most shameless of the wicked, of how great a glory of blessed immortality you will be deprived, if, reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, you do not fly the more swiftly to the clemency of almighty God: for be it known to you that, for the tortures of the faithful, infernal destruction awaits you prepared. In no wise, then, O Matroculus, acquiesce in the lies of the Jews [x], who await Antichrist in place of Christ; but choose rather to live and be saved in Christ than to dwell temporally in the Jewish mire, and afterwards be tortured eternally in hell.

[17] For as regards us Christians and you Jews, that which is written must be heard: having tried to persuade him to the Christian religion, for thus it is read: "A living dog is better than a dead lion [y]." Now the living dog are we from the nations; but the dead lion is the people of the Jews, separated from the fellowship of almighty God. For we, living, know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; but your Jews, denying the holy and undivided Trinity, know nothing good, because they do not believe that the only-begotten Son of almighty God has already come to redeem. Wherefore leave their society, full of unbelief, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in confusion; because they savour only earthly things, not heavenly; and come to my Lord Jesus Christ, who once led your fathers out of Egypt, freeing them from the yoke of most grievous servitude; who also, as He did, many of them with the honour of liberty; sanctifying them reverently * through the grace of holy baptism. For do not delay to come to the bosom of mother Church, having still a space of time, before the gate of the heavenly kingdom is closed to you; and, lest, by coming late, you say, Lord, Lord, open to me, and be compelled to hear, I know you not, worker of iniquity; hasten, I say, to be purified by the laver of the grace of the Holy Spirit, by which you may come to the flowery glory of paradise.

[18] thrown back into prison, she is led out of it unhurt by an angel, Then Matroculus, when he saw her irrevocable constancy, caused her to be beaten sharply with thongs, ordering again that she should be committed to prison with her hands bound behind her back, where the glorious Martyr herself, afflicted with many pains, suppliantly prayed these words to the Lord: O inextinguishable Light of truth, Christ, who dost not forsake those who call upon Thee in truth, look upon me, Fashioner of all kindness, and deign to free Thy Handmaid from the power of the most nefarious executioner. Do mercy also, Lord, with Thy little Servant; because Thy holy goodness is exceedingly kind. And when she had prayed these things, at once an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and broke all the bonds of the fetters with which she had been bound; and the glorious Martyr went out thence before all without stain; which being seen, very many of the people believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,

marvelling that all the limbs of the holy Virgin still remained unhurt.

[19] and by the judge himself These things having been thus done, she raised her eyes to heaven, and poured out prayers of this kind to the Lord: O good Jesus, who hast guarded me among the hands of those who rage, and hast deigned to save me, my love of chastity unhurt, by the clement regard of Thy goodness, be Thou my protector in all things, as Thou hast promised to Thine own faithful: and again: Merciful and compassionate Christ, who willest to save Thy flock and to bring it to the knowledge of the truth, I flee to Thee, the Saviour both of me and of all the faithful; have mercy, Lord, because to Thee nothing is impossible; have mercy on my lowliness, Thou who bestowest large mercy on all who faithfully serve Thee. When therefore the judge of iniquity saw that she held such great punishments of torments for nothing, he pronounced this sentence of savage slaughter against her. It is fitting, he said, that Benedicta, the sacrilegious woman, unwilling to use the counsel of our friendliness, should perish destructively by the sword of our right hand.

[20] she is slain with an axe. But the martyr of God Benedicta, most sacred virgin, now understanding that the end of her contest was approaching, exulting with inestimable joy, and strengthened on every side by the sign of the Cross, goes on secure to the palm of martyrdom: whence the same enraged judge took the illustrious hair of that most blessed Martyr in his left hand, and drove the axe with his right into the temples of the most sacred Virgin [z]; and so, struck by his blow, she ended her earthly contest, about to receive from the Saviour the reward of eternity, which will remain without end unto the ages of ages: and her glorious soul, received by angelic hands, is borne venerably to heaven to be crowned; and, thereafter supported by such a guard of angels, the souls of the Saints received her with joy in the heavenly places.

[21] For which cause let us say songs to Christ, The author's epilogue: praising with jubilation together in ready speech: King of Thy faithful, O Christ, receive our prayers, Thou who didst grant to the glorious celibate virgin Benedicta to conquer the enemies of Thy name and to overcome intrepidly their unlawful deeds; fortified by Thy clemency, we earnestly ask her suffrages, that we may be helped by her prayers before Thee, who in no wise trust in our own. For to Thee, O ineffable Trinity, the venerable Martyr was joined by dying, to whom she had consecrated herself by living chastely, and for Thee, O King of immense goodness, she endured temporal punishment, that she might happily receive from Thee eternal glory: since it was done by the grace of Thy gift that, after the Virgin came forth from the womb of the Virgin, the fragile sex should be firm and strong, having in very many the triumph of fortitude. Since therefore that she conquered is of Thy right in both respects, because mortal infirmity avails nothing unless Thy goodness help it *, may she, we beseech, entreat Thy mercy for us, who received from Thee to conquer manfully the foe and enemy of Thy name; and mayest Thou propitiously grant that, venerating her patronage without ceasing, we may be fortified by faithful help, and, living continually in holy profession, may be refreshed by the example of heavenly grace, to the praise and glory of Thy name, O Lord, which is blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen.

[22] The venerable Virgin suffered on the eighth before the Ides of October at Origny under Matroculus, the day and place of the martyrdom: the tomb is famous for miracles. an impious executioner, where through her most devout merits manifold wishes are granted to those who faithfully ask [aa], the divine clemency working, to which be honour with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and glory through all the ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATA.

p. Here again the biographer discloses that he wrote long after the times of the Saint.

q. Elsewhere it is written Matroclus.

r. Nay, also by profession, from what is to be said; and how little probable this is in a Roman judge, let the reader determine.

s. The younger he makes the Virgin, the less probable he renders what he narrated above of her mastership and leadership among her companions.

t. Do these and like words befit a Virgin who, he said above, was of wonderful patience?

u. From Psalm 12.

x. Therefore this anonymous writer here thrusts upon us a judge who is a Jew not only by race but also by profession.

y. Ecclesiastes, cap. 9, v. 4.

z. Behold again something new in a Judaeo-Roman judge, that he himself should be the executor of the sentence pronounced by him.

aa. The biographer therefore wrote here when the sepulchre of the holy Martyr had already become famous for manifold miracles or benefits; and hence these Acts were not deposited together with the body of the Blessed one in her first tomb.

* eam is redundant

* other copies: reverenter

* whether huic?