Goswin

ON BL. GOSWIN, ABBOT, IN THE MONASTERY OF ANCHIN IN THE DIOCESE OF ARRAS,

In the year MCLXVI.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Gosvinus or Goswin, abbot, in the monastery of Anchin in the diocese of Arras. (Bl.)

BHL Number: 3625, 3626

BY I. H.

§ I. The twofold Life of the Blessed Abbot: what use is to be made of each; the year and place of his birth, his learning, his journey to Paris, his contest with Peter Abelard, his canonry.

This seventh Abbot of the monastery of Anchin, of the Order of St. Benedict, had two writers of his Life, Our judgement on the two monks of the same monastery. Richard Gibbons, priest, had the lucubration of each printed at Douai from old Mss. in the twentieth year of the past century, and added a few remarks at the end of the Work. In these, with John Molanus in the Annotations to the Martyrology of Usuard at the 9th day of October, and others, he judges that the author of the former Life was Alexander, the immediate successor of our Blessed in the abbatial dignity; and makes the writer of the latter a certain monk of the same place who lived under Simon, the IXth prelate of Anchin. But the praised Molanus and Gibbons do not seem to have designated in Alexander the genuine writer of the first Life: nor likewise do they bring forward any reason for their conjecture. The former, in all the editions of his Martyrology of Usuard which I have seen, speaks roughly in this manner: Anchin has the history of abbot Gosvinus by Alexander his successor: the latter nowhere reveals why he thought so, unless he be said to have conjectured it from this, that the former Life is read in the little epistolary Preface of the same Life to have been written seven years after the Blessed's death.

[2] Lives of the Blessed, in whose But to me it appears more probable that this Life was written not by Alexander, Goswin's immediate successor, but by an inferior monk of Anchin. For the author of that Life not only offers and dedicates himself and his lucubration to some superior, without doubt the abbot of the monastery of Anchin at that time, but also grants him the faculty of correcting it and rejecting it altogether, as is manifest from the very beginning and end of the Preface. And the beginning of the Preface is of this kind: To his own, his own, himself: and the end: For the rest, do you, to whom my devotion has offered this gift, correct whatever you see in it to be corrected; erase what you judge to be erased: or if all things displease, provide a good narrator of so great a matter. That this opinion may be more established, it is to be noticed that Alexander was created abbot of Anchin on the very same day on which Bl. Goswin was committed to the earth, as is noted in the Ms. Chronicle of the same abbey, an apograph of which, taken from the monastery of Rouge-Cloître, exists with us in the codex marked N. ms. 6; so that Alexander, who according to the praised Chronicle presided over that monastery for eight years after Goswin, is more probably the one to whom that work was dedicated. That Gibbons attained the truth in assigning the writer of the latter Life is plain from the end of that Life, number 43, where the author has these things: Up to the present, when an abbot is elected in the church of Anchin, his (Goswin's) staff is placed in the hand of the one elected, and it is said to him: Receive the staff of abbot Goswin; that, namely, he may imitate the example of him whose office he receives. Which was done at the election of the lord Alexander, who was his successor, we heard from those who were present, and at the promotion of the lord Simon we beheld with our own eyes.

[3] Further, as the later biographer here betrays his age, the authors are inquired into, so the former does too in these words: Concerning the truth of the things to be said no one of the faithful ought at all to doubt. For I shall say either nothing, or almost nothing, which he himself did not tell me… I have seen many times, when the series of relating compelled something praiseworthy of his acts to be made known, his spirit become anxious within him, wish to leave off the narration, protest that he was acting foolishly; but there wrung from him what he wished to hide his charity toward his subjects, and the evidence of charity of his subjects toward him. These things I would have said for this reason, that the reader may give credit to what is said, knowing that I judge it most vile to be occupied in writing fables. From what has been said the Reader will easily gather what is to be thought of the time of each author; namely that the one was not only contemporary with our Blessed but also familiar with him; that the other committed his lucubration to writing not long after Goswin's death, and so that both writings belong to the end of the twelfth century, which will also shine out more fully from what is to be said below. Now let us disclose what we think of each Life, and what use we are to make of each.

[4] And first, as regards the style, it is more florid their judgement and use. than the simple narration of anyone's life would seem to require, and shrinks much from the composition of older Acts. Moreover, metaphors, allegories, and other figures of words, as they call them, occur to the point of nausea in both Lives: half-verses and entire verses are very often intermingled: nor is there lacking a multitude of texts taken from authors both sacred and profane, so that it is to be held rather for a piously elaborated panegyric of the blessed abbot than for an accurate narration of his deeds. Chronology, finally, is so nearly neglected that it has had to be dug out by us from elsewhere not without huge labour, and, so far indeed as was permitted, established. Neither, therefore, shall we reprint here as the praised Gibbons published it above, but we shall borrow from it fragments which shall seem necessary or useful for elucidating the Deeds of our Blessed and other things pertaining to it. These things noted first, let us come to the Blessed's birth and certain deeds in the world, before he entered the monastery of Anchin.

[5] In the castle, says the former biographer, book 1, chapter 1, which is named Duacus, Goswin was born. the place and time of the Blessed's birth, And what was formerly only a castle, called Duacus, is now an ample city of Gaul under the same name of Douai, situated on the border of the County of Flanders and Artois on the river Scarpe; concerning which whoever wishes will find more in Baudrand in the Geography, volume 1. These things the biographer about the birthplace of our Blessed, adding nothing about the time at which he was brought into the light, which must now be investigated. Pagi in the Critica at the year of Christ MCLXVI, number 24, cites the writer of the Auctarium of Anchin, speaking thus at the same year of Christ: Dom Gosvinus of pious memory, seventh abbot of Anchin, illustrious for charity, a lover of peace and religion, passed from this world on the 7th day before the Ides of October about the middle of the night, on Sunday, the 11th Moon, the XIVth Indiction. Both anonymous writers of the Life agree with this Auctarium of Anchin. Here are the words of the former about the time of Goswin's death, book 2, chapter 27: And on the evening of the Sabbath, which was dawning toward Sunday, and was the seventh day before the Ides of October … the old man, full of days and virtues (Bl. Goswin), passed to the Lord. Then, some things interposed, he continues: and he was about eighty years of age. And the latter writes thus, book 3, number 42: On the night of Sunday, on the feast of St. Dionysius, on which day namely the anniversary festivity of the dedication of our church (of Anchin) is celebrated, … that holy soul (of Goswin) was loosed from the flesh, namely in the year, as he had premised in the same place, the fifty-second from when he had renounced the world, and the thirty-fifth (elsewhere sixth is read) from when he had been promoted Abbot. The writers of a later age agree with this epoch: Molanus in the Natal days of the SS. of Belgium at the 9th day of October; Raisse in the Hierogazophylacium Belgicum, page 56, and others: Miraeus departs from it in the Belgian Fasti, page 585, writing that Goswin died in the year 1196; unless we think that error is rather to be ascribed to the printer than to this illustrious author. From which it is now easily concluded that the natal year of our Blessed was the one thousand and eighty-sixth or seventh.

[6] of his boyhood, Now we proceed with the biographer to the Blessed's boyhood age, in which that one thing worthy of note occurs, namely the apparition of an unknown woman, divinely foretelling to the blessed boy, as the chapter's title has it, the dignity of provost or abbot. Receive the matter itself, set out at greater length by the writer of the first Life, book 1, chapter 2. While one day … he was playing with his fellows … he sees, unexpectedly, a certain woman entirely unknown to him standing by him; who, addressing none of his coevals, having contemplated him alone, to whom, as is believed, she had been sent, somewhat separated from the rest, and seeing that he bore on the right part of his chin a mark like a white and round scar, broke out into this prophecy: Know, she said, most certainly, that you will be either Provost or Abbot. Which said, as the boy did not know who she had been, whence she had come, so he did not notice whither she withdrew. Here a doubt arises in me whether this apparition truly happened, or was piously devised by an interpolator of a later age to amplify the Blessed's meagre boyhood. For why was the time of play chosen, if the future dignity was to be signified to the boy secretly from the others? Why did the unknown woman pronounce that a dignity of this kind was to be conferred on him from the fact that she saw the boy Goswin having a certain mark on the right part of his chin? Further, what has the colour and the figure of the mark to do with it? These things probably, in my judgement at least, are not of those which, as the author of the former Life says in the Preface of the Work, he received afterwards from the blessed Abbot himself.

[7] After these things, they are the words of the first biographer, book 1, chapter 3, his stay at Paris, boyhood having been passed through, when he was passing into adolescence, … and had gathered such fruit in the gardens of Grammar that he was now fit to be a master to others, … wishing also of Dialectic

to traverse the paths,… he set out for Paris, where (chapter 4) at that time master Peter Abailard (others write Abaëlard) … held a public school. But in what year of his age Goswin set out for Paris the biographer again leaves for us to conjecture here. We shall not seem to stray much from the truth if we bind that journey of Goswin into France to about the twenty-fifth or sixth year of his life, both of which, according to what we discoursed above about the time of our Blessed's birth, fall in the years of Christ 1112 and the following, at which time namely Peter Abelard was most flourishing in France, as is to be seen in Pagi in the Critica Baroniana at the year of Christ 1113, number 13, and likewise in our Work at the 20th day of August in the Commentary prefixed to the Acts of St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, §29. Certainly this journey of Goswin and his disputation with Abelard cannot be placed two years later, since at that time, as will be seen below, our Blessed joined himself to the monks of Anchin, nor is he read afterwards to have gone back to Paris to contend with Abelard. Further, it pleases me to set before the reader's eyes, certain things being cut away, what the writer of the former Life committed to writing about this celebrated combat of Goswin with that famous wanderer.

[8] Peter Abailard … was indeed of approved knowledge, of sublime eloquence, his contest with P. Abelard and his victory over him, but the inventor and asserter of unheard-of novelties: and, seeking to establish his own opinions, he was the disapprover of others that were approved… He said what no one before had presumed, that all might wonder at him. When therefore the absurdity of his inventions had come to the knowledge of those who were staying at Paris for the sake of learning; led first by astonishment, then by a certain zeal for refuting falsehood, they began to inquire among themselves who of them there was to undertake the business of disputing against him… Since therefore the venerable youth Gosvinus was of effective eloquence, as of perspicacious wit, they persuaded him to meet him over such trifles… But master Joslenus (others call him Goslenus), who afterwards ruled the chair of Soissons (namely from the year 1126, not 1127, as the Benedictine monks prove in Gallia Christiana of the newest edition, volume IX, column 357), forbade it to be done,… saying that master Peter was not a disputant but a caviller… But Gosvinus, not attending to his (Joslenus's) admonitions and reasons … went up the mount of St. Genevieve (it is the place where Abelard was then discharging the office of teaching), as David to fight a duel with Goliath, who was thundering out there to his hearers wonderful and unheard-of opinions. Then, many things interposed, there follows the conflict and Goswin's victory over Abelard in this manner: when all refuges of turning aside were closed to him (Abelard), he was at length convicted by this man, who was not ignorant of his cunning, of having asserted what was not consonant with reason… And so … when they had come to those who had stayed behind in the scholastic tents, they broke out into voices of exultation and joy, because the tower of pride had been humbled, etc.

[9] his canonry. This victory won, Goswin returns to Douai, and there takes up the office of teaching others and is enrolled among the Canons of the church of St. Amatus, at which time he had not yet been promoted to the sacred order of the presbyterate, as will appear from what is to be said below. Further, it pleases me to add here a few things from Jean Buzelin in his Gallo-Flandria, book 1, chapter 34, about that ancient church of St. Amatus: he has thus: Of the churches (of the city of Douai, of which he there exhibits an ample description) the most ancient and noblest are those consecrated in the name of St. Peter and of Amatus. In each there is a College of Canons. But that which has put on the name of Amatus prevails chiefly in the nobility of its founder, and perhaps also excels in the antiquity of its times.

§ II. Bl. Goswin joins himself to the monks of the monastery of Anchin, of which certain things are premised; goes round various monasteries; is elected abbot.

of the monastery of Anchin, of whose situation, The fourteenth or fifteenth year above one thousand one hundred of the restored Salvation was passing, the twenty-seventh or eighth of Goswin, when he was seized with such weariness of secular things that, having first entered into counsel with his younger brother, together with him, secretly from the rest of his kinsfolk, he embraced the monastic life in the monastery of Anchin. This most celebrated monastery of the Order of St. Benedict, sacred to the Saviour of the human race, begun to be founded in the year of Christ 1079, is distant two miles from Douai. The name Aquicinctum or Aquiscinctum was given to it because the place in which it was built was at that time girdled on almost every side by the waters of the river Scarpe. Let these things suffice about the epoch of the construction of this monastery and the situation of the place. It pleases me now to subjoin for the reader's sake certain things pertaining to its origin and progress. Among the books written by hand we have in our library a copy of an old codex, written by an anonymous monk of Anchin as the twelfth century was verging to its end, and bearing this title on its front: Chronicle of the abbots of the monastery of Anchin. An apograph of this Chronicle our predecessors procured in the past century from the monastery of the Regular canons of Rouge-Cloître near Brussels: and in it, about the middle, the anonymous author writes in this manner.

[11] origin and progress In the times, then, of the emperor Henry, Caesar Augustus (the IVth of this name), in honour of the Saviour of the world, who from eternity disposed how each thing should be done in time, this house was begun on the island of Anchin, Philip (I) king holding the monarchy of the kingdom of the Franks, Robert, son of Baldwin of Lille, administering the county of Flanders, and Baldwin, his nephew, deprived of his paternal inheritance by the violence of his uncle, holding the principate of the people of Hainaut, in the year one thousand and seventy-nine. Of whose construction we by no means attempt to narrate again what has already been said by others: but we busy ourselves to write, repeating the series of events, what was omitted by them, in a brief elogium full of faith, as it is found in the Chronicles.

[12] The monastery of the holy Saviour on the Island of Anchin was therefore begun by illustrious men, certain things namely Sicher and Walter. Which Sicher had a wife named Machtild, noble indeed by birth, but nobler in manners. She, by admonishing her husband very often, incited him to undertake this work, chiefly because a certain holy Gordanius was said once to have led the eremitical life there. Whence it came about that the aforesaid men, frequently conversing about this, exhorted each other mutually, and, deliberating, go to a certain Anselm of Ribemont, a most noble man, and request of him that island, because it was of his right. And Anselm, having heard their petition, rejoiced greatly, and without delay granted gratis what was asked.

[13] By agreement, then, they hasten together and go to Gerard, prelate of the city of Cambrai, are brought forward, to whose diocese that place then belonged: they disclose what they have in mind; and, because they were his parishioners, they ask that he assent to their wishes. Having heard which, the venerable pontiff most gladly assented. And, having received the estate from the hand of Anselm, which he held from him in benefice, he handed it over to them with the reed-bed. This received, he began to build a monastery there, and they enriched it fittingly from their allods, as they could. There are gathered there men devoted to God with their means, vowing themselves to Christ, eager to be his little flock. Bearing the care of whom, the mentioned prelate sent two monks of honest life of the monastery of Hasnon to instruct them, to one of whom, Alard by name, he committed their care and ordained him abbot. Thus far the Ms. Chronicle of Anchin, subjoining still more things pertaining to the same, which, that I may return to our Blessed, I judge should be passed over.

[14] Enrolled, then, among the monks of Anchin, and already ordained priest, Goswin enrolled among the monks, monastic discipline so advanced at once in the exercise of the virtues that he was appointed by the prelate Alvisus to discharge various offices among his own. Moreover he was already then so burning with zeal for keeping and promoting the Benedictine Institute that he was set over the monks even of outside monasteries to bring them back to regular discipline. There were at that time, namely the twelfth century being not much advanced, various dwellings of cenobites in Gaul which greatly needed, in order to be restored to their former vigour, the industry and hand of a prudent physician. Hear the writer of the former Life, a Benedictine monk, speaking on this matter, book 1, chapter 16: At that time, in the century, as I have just said, XII, the monasteries of Gaul were labouring with a twofold inconvenience, the losses of temporal things and the detriment of spiritual. They were vexed on both sides, on both sides they were ebbing away, on every side they wavered, and the more outwardly the more they were in dissension within… But the Lord sent into the heart of the Prelates to reform the lost Order and to form it to be kept, to subject outward things also to frugality, to bridle prodigality, to cut away superfluities… The abbot of St. Crispin of Soissons accordingly, since he was one of those who greatly needed helpers, went to Alvisus, father of the monastery of Anchin, and asked and obtained that he would send some one of his own to labour in the harvest of God. For he was fervently emulous of the beauty of the house of God, was jealous for the spouse of his Lord, hated the scatterers of the patrimony of the Crucified. Whence he appointed the venerable Gosvinus to so holy a work.

[15] at Soissons, in the monasteries of SS. Crispin And what an illustrious conversion of manners, what a perfect restoration of monastic discipline Bl. Goswin brought into the praised monastery of St. Crispin, the cited author of the Life goes on to narrate thus in the same chapter: He did that for which he had come, heavy to none of those staying there, but lovable to all; and because he did what he said, imitating Him who began first to do, afterwards to teach, he signified that what he taught was doable; lovable what he persuaded; imitable what he did. The face of that church grew green again in a short time, the dried-up religion put forth leaves again, the scattered Order blossomed again, the planting of the Saviour bore fruit, the rents of the garments of the Spouse of the Lord were repaired *, her robe whitened; she herself, adorned with purity, girded with chastity, crowned with charity, was restored to the right hand of God in gilded clothing, sprinkling the whole of Gaul with the odour of her ointments. And these things indeed were accomplished by Bl. Goswin in the aforesaid monastery of the city of Soissons.

[16] and Medard There was also another most celebrated monastery of the Benedictine Order near the same city, to which the name was from St. Medard. It had already from about the middle of the sixth century — in which, according to the Sainte-Marthes in the Abbeys of Gaul, letter M, it fed four hundred monks — flourished in uprightness of manners and observance of regular discipline. But, as the never-stable condition of human things brings with it, it had lost so much of its former splendour as the twelfth century was growing up, that Geoffrey, at that time abbot of that monastery, judged it altogether necessary, for recovering the celebrity of former times and restoring discipline, likewise to use the work of Bl. Goswin. Invited therefore by Geoffrey, Bl. Goswin soon flies to the monastery of St. Medard, at once puts his hand to so salutary a work, and in a short space of time brought in that change of manners among those cenobites which all good men, and above all Geoffrey, had desired with all their wishes. Receive the matter itself described more fully in the words of the former biographer.

[17] monasteries, In book 1, then, chapter 17, he has thus: After these things (by Bl. Goswin in the abbey of St. Crispin of Soissons

done), when not much time (namely about four years) had flowed by, Geoffrey, abbot of St. Medard, who afterwards (in the year 1131, at the prayers and counsel of St. Bernard, to whom that office had then been offered) adorned the chair of Châlons, was gathering suitable helpers for the raising up (the renewal of spiritual things) of his monastery, because the horror of much confusion had invaded it too, the Order had perished, resources had ebbed away, and the opinion of its shamefulness offended the more people, the greater was the multitude of those beholding it. Then, a few things interposed, he continues thus to our matter: The holiness and industry of Gosvinus had become known in some measure to those dwelling there while he stayed in the neighbouring monastery of St. Crispin, and the sweet odour of his name, which had reached all who were remote, had more fully bathed them on account of the nearness of the place: he was sought by the Rector of that place and obtained; because nothing was to be refused to a person who was no less to be loved for the pleasantness of his manners than to be revered for the title of holiness.

[18] and likewise, after he had been present at the council Here now, from chapter 18 of the same book, are the fruits which our Blessed's sedulous care produced among the cenobites of St. Medard: These and similar things (incitements to virtue), useful to Cloistered men, Gosvinus, made claustral Prior, set before them more by example than by word; and because he was known as most gentle in manners, he was held most effective in words, and the merit of his life commended the doctrine of his wisdom. And thus, the Lord co-operating and confirming the word, the face of that house, which had been in some measure disfigured, put on beauty; and its limbs, which sloth had weakened, resumed strength; and on this side, the rents of its garments having been mended, and on that, whitened, it was clothed round with a variety of virtues; and, crowned with the diadem of charity, it received a seat at the King's right hand, and, the bosom of hospitality spread out, to receive all and drive out none, it sprinkled both God and men with good odour, and by its raising up gladdened with great joy the churches of Gaul, but with greater the city of God, Jerusalem which is above, the orders of the Angels.

[19] At that time too, that is in the year, as Pagi proves in the Critica, of Soissons 1121, the Council of Soissons was celebrated under the presidency of Cuno, Cardinal Legate of the H. R. C., bishop of Palestrina, in which Peter Abelard was condemned and ordered to be thrust into the monastery of St. Medard. But in the narration of this matter both Pagi at the cited year, number XV, and above all the former biographer of our Blessed himself, book 1, chapter XVIII, were deluded: the former, in that he asserts that a certain Anselm presided as abbot over the monastery of St. Medard at that time; the latter, in that he binds this condemnation of Abelard to the times of Pope Innocent II. Let us bring forward the words of each. Abelard, says Pagi in the place just cited, having been called to the Council, without any previous interrogation, if credit is to be given to him speaking in his own cause against his rivals … was ordered to cast into the fire with his own hand the book composed by him on the Trinity and to recite the creed of Athanasius; then he was handed over into custody to Anselm, Abbot of St. Medard of Soissons, as he himself narrates in the praised Letter, chapter 10 … But in that Letter of Abelard, in which he describes his calamities, and a great part of which can be read in Labbe, volume X of the Councils, column 885 and following, no mention of an Abbot Anselm is to be found.

[20] Thence, they are Abelard's words, as if guilty and convicted, handed over to the Abbot of St. Medard, had been present, who was present, I am dragged to his cloister as to a prison. And Geoffrey had already presided as abbot over the monastery of St. Medard from the immediately preceding year, that is 1120, and continued to enjoy that dignity until the year 1131, in which he was taken up to the Chair of Châlons, so that no place is left for Anselm in that office at that time. Let us now hear the biographer cited in the preceding number. Whence it came about that, because this change of the right hand of the Most High (lately made among the monks of St. Medard by the labour of Bl. Goswin) was being spread round about, it was not hidden from the supreme Prelate Innocent too, and that he sent master Peter … convicted of falsehood of doctrine … thither (to the monastery of St. Medard) to be shut up … he was received in the cloister by the claustral Prior Gosvinus. Here a manifest error lies in Innocent, since it is established that Callistus II held the helm of the universal Church at that time, and that the Innocent of whom there is talk here was not raised to the supreme chair of Peter before the year of Christ 1130. On which matter consult Pagi at the year just mentioned, number 1.

[21] he restores at Reims in that of St. Remigius: These things thus accomplished by Bl. Goswin in the monasteries of SS. Crispin and Medard, he had resolved to return quickly to Anchin, to be free for himself alone, when, sought again by the prelate of another monastery to endeavour to carry out likewise among his monks what he had so excellently performed in the city of Soissons, he at once betook himself there. That monastery was in the city of Reims and was named from St. Remigius. Over it at that time presided Odo, a pious and prudent man, and also, as the Sainte-Marthes say in the Abbeys of Gaul, commendable by the fame of holiness. Nevertheless here too the fervour of regular discipline had grown lukewarm, and the cenobites needed correction of manners. Let the author of the former Life be heard again on this matter, writing in this manner, book 1, chapter 21: Regular observance having at length been formed in that place (the city of Soissons), other monasteries also desired their deformities to be reformed after its likeness… Whence it came about that he (our Blessed) was sent * to Reims too, to St. Remigius's, where he exercised the office of claustral Prior no less zealously than at Soissons; because there no less had the Order wavered, religion tottered, the adjacent goods been diminished. He (Bl. Goswin) remained there with grace, returned with glory to Anchin.

[22] He is elected Abbot of Anchin. Affairs having been so prosperously conducted everywhere, he thought it would at length be granted him to lie hidden and live for God alone, when, on account of the excellent endowments of mind which shone out in him, he was raised to the high Priorship, as they call it, and shortly after to the supreme government of the monastery of Anchin, Alvisus, abbot of Anchin, having been promoted to the fillets of Arras. It will help to exhibit this to the reader from the often-praised biographer, book 1, chapter 24, some things being added which may closely determine the epoch of this matter. About that time, he says (in the year of Christ 1131), the Church of Arras, destitute of its Ruler (Robert I, who died on the 10th before the Kalends of May of the year just mentioned), was solicitously searching for one in whom it might be well pleased, whom it might set over itself… When it had long (certainly not beyond the year 1131, in which Gosvinus is already then named abbot in the Chartulary of Lehun, as the writers of Gallia Christiana of the newest edition have it, volume 3, column 411) and much deliberated, the unanimity of all agreed on Alvisus, Father of the monastery of Anchin, because … he was worthy to become the groomsman of the Spouse of the Lord, and to drive the four-horse chariot of that diocese. He being raised from great things to greater … the moon of the church of Anchin suffered no Eclipse on account of the elevation of its sun; but standing in its order … snatched rather than elected Gosvinus for its government. The blessed new prelate was then passing the forty-third or fourth year, as can easily be gathered from what was said at the beginning of this §, compared with what the later biographer, book 3, number 7, committed to writing thus about Goswin's election as abbot; thus, he says, the blessed man,… the Lord Alvisus having been taken up to the Episcopate of the people of Arras, Gosvinus, … in the sixteenth year of his conversion, by the unanimous consent of all the brethren was made Abbot.

* read assentiat

* read coeperunt

* read resartae

* read Rhemos

§ III. The deeds of the Blessed more worthy of memory in the time of his government, his chief virtues, certain miracles, the gift of prophecy.

By fervent prayers a victory Certain things being premised about the excellence of the B. Abbot's virtues, of some of which there will be a place for us to speak below, the anonymous writer of the former Life, book 2, chapter 12, relates the singular victory which the monks of Anchin won, chiefly by the prayers of Bl. Goswin and his confidence in God, over the Canons of Tours. These, namely, were contending to snatch from the monks of Anchin two possessions, called de Baralla and Buffy (long sought by me in vain), which the monastery of Anchin had acquired by a just title of donation. The matter is referred by both parties to Samson, archbishop of Reims, to be decided. Meanwhile, the canons of Tours omitting no diligence, as the Benedictine Annals have it, volume VI, page 207, in preparing the cause and appealing to the judges, Bl. Goswin commended his right to God alone, to whom he poured out continual prayers, the monks whom he had brought with him from Anchin to further the lawsuit complaining in vain that the business was being neglected by him. And indeed shortly after it appeared that the favour of the supreme Majesty, won by entreaty, far surpasses forensic acts and the inventions of human wit, the whole matter having been adjudged by the archbishop of Reims to the monks of Anchin. Receive the matter itself in the words of the author cited at the beginning of this §.

[24] A certain controversy, he says, hard enough, had arisen between the monks of Anchin and the canons of Tours over the possessions of Baralla and Buffy, over the canons of Tours which the monks of Anchin had possessed and were possessing by title of donation … over which, when there had often been contention on both sides, at length the matter was carried to the Audience of Reims … The venerable Gosvinus, lodged at St. Remigius's, fulfilling his wonted service of the Lord, and so prolonging his prayer that he seemed unmindful of the business, was urgently reproved by the brethren for having cast pressing causes behind his back … Struck, not shaken, by which whips of harsher words, the Man of the Lord, having paid to the Lord the task of his debt, hastened to the court, and, all rebuking his sluggishness, … Samson, the reverend archbishop, not ignorant of the Man's custom, protected him with the shield of excuse, granting him the faculty of acting for himself; and when he had set out seriatim and luminously the process of his business, had expounded what befits a possessor in good faith, his proof having been introduced midway between his affirmation and their denial, the possession was adjudged to Gosvinus.

[25] After this, with the same arms of fervent prayer, he overcame also an enemy of another kind. and over a rebellious subject This was a certain Chiret, a crafty and contumacious man, who, for certain possessions which belonged to the monks of Anchin, had bound himself to Bl. Goswin by the oath of fealty (the jurists call it Homage), and now did not fear to break it openly, to ruin the goods of the monastery, nay even to threaten death to the blessed Abbot. Often admonished, and not coming to his senses from his perfidy, and at length summoned to law, since he had refused to come even there, he had been condemned for contumacy, separated from the communion of the faithful, and compelled to enter single combat, according to the rash custom of those times. They run together on both sides; Goswin prays; the enemy, slain, pays the penalty of his obstinacy. It will help to exhibit this to the reader in the words of the former biographer, book 2, chapter 14, omitting what serves little to the matter.

[26] he wins: Which then, he says, appeared manifestly (how much Bl. Goswin availed with God by prayers) when a certain man named Chiret, who had done homage to him

owed, but was violating the rights of homage, had risen to so great a crime that he added to violent injuries and manifest violences contempt as well, so that he deigned neither to stand before the court, nor to enter on the case, nor to undergo judgement … He threatened death .. to his lord … he slew his servants … houses having been burned, he disembowelled the animals … he occupied his ways and could in no way be corrected … And when all hope of * his correction had gone into the wind, … (the judges) decreed that he, cast out of the church for his crimes, should be judged by a judgement which the church (rightly) does not receive, and determined that it should be dealt with against him by the laws of single combat.. Therefore … they armed against him a certain Almann holding his Gazamentum from the church (a stipend formerly accustomed to be given to champions, concerning whom see Du Cange under Campiones), and, proceeding in the case in judicial order, they went to the place of the contest. Meanwhile the venerable Abbot, casting his thought upon the Lord, prayed that the honour of the church of the Lord might be preserved … The sons joined their prayers to those of the father … That their voices had reached the ears of the Lord … the victorious outcome showed: since he wearied the adversary persevering in malice by his own just judgement more than by the staff of the champion of Anchin, dismembered him wearied, overcame him dismembered, slew him overcome. But what is to be determined about contests of this kind, long since rightly abolished, in which, as Atto, bishop of Vercelli, says in d'Achery, volume 8 of the Spicilegium, page 51, the innocent are often seen to be the vanquished and the guilty the victors, the reader will easily gather from what both the author just cited and Mabillon, Acts of the SS. Ben., Century VI, Part 1, Preface, number 43 and following, and others have committed to writing on this matter.

[27] Nor was our Blessed very dear only to the supreme Majesty on account of his zeal for prayer and other virtues plainly singular, the highest, on account of which to Eugene III but he was also in the love of the supreme Vicars of Christ on earth and of other men illustrious no less for holiness than for learning. In the year of the Christian era MCXLVIII, under Pope Eugene III, a general Council was celebrated at Reims, in which Eudo or Eon, an impious heretic, who preached with blasphemous mouth that he was He who is to come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire, was condemned, and a new Creed of the Faith was composed against the errors of Gilbert de la Porrée, bishop of Poitiers. Among the Abbots who had flocked to it from all parts of Gaul, there come to be celebrated above all St. Bernard of Clairvaux and Bl. Goswin, whom Eugene, scarcely having seen him, not only received with singular humanity and goodwill, but also admitted to intimate familiarity, and employed in counsel with St. Bernard in the gravest matters, being thereafter accustomed to call him by antonomasia his Abbot. Let us bring forward a few more things, pertaining also to this, from the writer of the later Life, book 3, number 10: When the Lord Pope Eugene was celebrating his Council in the city of Reims, among so many and such great persons, archprelates, prelates, abbots, the powerful, nobles and commoners, there was no day on which he did not, on account of the fame of holiness, in testimony of great love, send * to him (Bl. Goswin) his dishes by his own servant. Let us now proceed to the other virtues of the blessed Abbot.

[28] I take my beginning from humility, that is the notable lowliness of his mind. very dear, by lowliness of mind, How deep roots this virtue drove in the heart of the B. Abbot it pleases me to set before the reader's eyes from both his biographers. Appointed leader (Abbot) by the brethren, says the former, book 2, chapter 2, he was not lifted up, but was among them as one of them, and together with them chanted psalms, ate, rested. In the safety … of humility, they are the words of the same writer in the following chapter, he had placed the whole fabric of his action … so had this virtue established a citadel for itself on the summit of his mind, … so did it exercise dominion, that it compelled all his affections, speeches, actions to fight for it. Nothing appeared in his acts that did not smell of humility; his words resounded nothing other than humility … In this he was so specially eminent that it seemed to be held as if alone, and to obtain the monarchy in him. Thus he. Now let us consult the other author of the Life too. He writes in this manner, book 3, number 3, about this virtue of our Blessed. Wherever he was … he had his eyes fixed on the ground, and showed the humility of his heart to those who saw him. He preferred, he says in the following number, to be called humble in wisdom than to be held wise in pride. And how much he advanced in humility is most openly declared from this, that after him until the present we have seen no one who at such an age has learned by heart the usage of the church of Anchin, so that even to the young … he was superior in this. He did not blush, O Lord, a man of mature age, and named wise and master among the wise of his time, to become a boy of thy boy the Lord Jesus. And raised, he writes in the same place, number 7, to pastoral government, he was not changed by the new honour; but persevered most constantly one and the same as he was before. Prosperity did not know how to lift him up. Then at number 14 he has these things: And to compress very many things in few, who ever saw in his whole life even a mark of pride? His look indicated how humble he was within. Lastly, after the things narrated hitherto, he concludes at numbers 25 and 26 with a notable example of modesty, which I here relate summarily from him. When Bl. Goswin was celebrating at the altar one Sunday, very many had flocked to the sacred building to be present at the divine rite, among whom there had been brought a man deprived of the use of his eyes. He, trusting very much in the divine goodness and the merits of the B. Abbot, earnestly besought God at the time of the sacrifice to restore to him the faculty of seeing which he had lost. About three parts of the sacred rite having been completed, when the B. Priest was about to repeat the third Agnus Dei, the blind man suddenly broke out into these words: God help me, behold, I see light. Those who were present and had known the blind man first wondered at the thing exceedingly, then cried out extolling with the greatest praises the power of the kindly Majesty and the merits of his blessed servant, by whose intervention that benefit had been conferred; meanwhile Bl. Goswin, who openly named himself a sinner, and said that God can work miracles through whomever he wills, even through dumb animals, severely forbade the multitude standing by, and especially his own monks, who attributed it chiefly to him, to ascribe this astonishing cure to any other than the heavenly Physician.

[29] by love of poverty, Hence further it ought to seem wonderful to no one that the Man of God, thinking so humbly of himself, always burned with the highest love of poverty and singular charity toward his neighbour, which also was sometimes approved by some prodigy, as we shall see. And of the former virtue indeed the anonymous writer of the first Life records these things, book 2, chapter 3. So great was his poverty of spirit that he never deigned to have anything of his own, and thus he walked even to old age along the paths of poverty, so that many times he testified, all standing by, that he had turned nothing asked of anyone to his own uses. This love of religious poverty too he always studied to kindle and nourish in his own both by example and by command, severely forbidding any of his subjects ever to use any thing not pertaining to the common use of the whole monastery. And when some of the monks of Anchin had violated this precept, who had had chests, locks and dark lanterns made for themselves secretly from the blessed Abbot, the blessed Prelate, when he learned of it, blazed with such ardour of religion that he at once ordered the locks to be broken and the night lanterns to be burned with fire. Let the anonymous author of the second Life be heard, book 3, number 28, narrating the whole matter in this way. To none … of the monks, says the cited writer, did he grant a key or chest for private work, except the more excellent deans, for laying up the goods of the church. Sconsae (these are dark or night lanterns, as Du Cange explains in the Glossary under Absconsa), whose number is now innumerable, neither Prior nor Abbot ever had, except that which was common to all. At a certain time, when through the curiosity of some very many locks and sconsae had been made, he (Bl. Goswin), burning with zeal for religion, had all the locks broken, except those of the armarius (understand the keeper of the Library, as you can learn from Du Cange under Armarius) and of the greater keeper, that is the one set over the church, whose office it was to keep the things pertaining to the church; and all the sconsae, except one (serving the use of the whole monastery), he burned with fire. Those who feared God bore it gently that they had nothing of such things; since he himself (Bl. Goswin), who was the supreme father of all, was in such things the poorer than all: for it was most pleasing to him, naked, to carry the naked cross of Christ. And so much for his zeal for poverty.

[30] by charity toward his neighbour Let us now begin discourse about his charity toward his neighbour, sometimes, as I said, approved by a prodigy. Above all he pursued all his subjects with such love that he was never an offence or sadness to anyone by word or nod, but always the greatest solace and protection to all. Nor did his charity contain itself within the domestic walls, but it extended also to outsiders, especially the poor, or those oppressed by any other calamity whatever, whom it was a delight to him to succour in whatever way he could. On this matter the writers of both Lives are again to be cited. The former, book 2, chapter 7, has these things: But if anyone wishes to have it not unknown how he abounded in bowels of mercy toward the poor, let him know that he was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, clothing to the naked, nourishment to the hungry, a father to the orphan, a spouse to the widow, consolation to the troubled, release to the bound, a provider to the sick, a protector to the oppressed, a lodging to the wayfarer, a purse to the debtor, and, that we may not wander further, he quenched the thirst of all miseries with the streams of his mercies. The words of the latter, number 3, book 15, are: He refreshed the hungry, clothed the cold, succoured orphans and widows in tribulation from the goods of his church.

[31] Here now, from the author of the second Life, book 3, number 27, with whom the other also agrees, book 2, chapter 16, proved prodigiously, is the prodigy by which God, the supreme giver of all good things, was seen to approve his servant's largess toward the poor. At a certain … time, by the authority of the archbishop of Reims, the venerable Father was compelled to set out to the same city (namely of Reims) (in order to see to the lawsuit, of which at number 23 of this Comment., being decided before the praised prelate)… When therefore he had passed into the villa which is called Piscatoria Curtis (Pecquencourt), and had almost gone out of the wood of Anchin, which is contiguous to that villa, a poor man meets him, and begs the poor man of Christ that the help of alms be given him. To whom the Man of God: Brother, God knows that, as I think, I do not have a coin, not even just one. Yet he puts his hand to his little purse, which he wished to carry with him for no other cause than only for the poor; he found a coin, * and drawing it out to the poor man

he gives it. The Man of God had gone on a little, again another poor man meets him, likewise asks alms. To whom the lovable Father gave an answer equivalent to the former. Yet he applies his hand to the purse, which the divine power makes fruitful with a coin, which the excellent poor man at once gives to the poor man. What more? All the way to the city of Reims a coin is always distributed, nor is any poor man allowed to go away disappointed; and always a coin is found in the purse, yet in no way is a pair found joined to a pair. These things we heard from those who saw them, or heard them from him himself: for Bl. Goswin, lest so great a goodness of the Lord (they are the words of the former Life, book 2, chapter 16) should always remain unknown, judged it should be made known to certain persons whom he judged worthy of so great a relation, whom he knew … would not spread it abroad while he survived.

[32] On account of these and other virtues, both his writers of the Life testify that Bl. Goswin was moreover adorned by God with various heavenly gifts, by austerity of life, by a wonderful healing namely an astonishing deliverance from a most grievous disease through St. Gregory, a prophetic spirit and the knowledge of hidden thoughts. But of these we shall bring forward only a few things, that we may the more quickly reach his last illness and happy death. Already from the time at which he had put on the monk among the monks of Anchin, he had persecuted his own body with such hatred that he was accustomed to withdraw from it not only delightful things, but very often even necessary ones: whence, his stomach having been weakened, he began to labour with continual nausea of all foods and to be tortured with most acute pains of the bowels. And since he rejected all the work of physicians, nor remitted anything of his accustomed afflictions of the body, the force of the disease grew so strong that, while he was staying in the monastery of St. Medard, which was treated at number 16 of this comment., all despaired of his life. Meanwhile our Blessed, placing all hope, next to God, in the intervention of St. Gregory the Great, whose relics were kept there, on the following night seemed to see the aforesaid holy prelate approaching him, holding a certain little vessel in his left hand and a small spoon in his right, and to hear him, the spoon held out, speaking thus to him: Drink; for it will profit you. Do not fear; for it will be in your mouth as sweet honey, and your belly will be emptied, and you will be cured. He drank … and was cured. These things the author of the second Life relates in just so many words, book 3, number 6, subjoining the following: Which sweetness of the potion he (Bl. Goswin) belched forth all the days of his life afterwards in discourse of exhortation. Further, that this apparition of Bl. Gregory was not an empty dream of a sick man, but really took place, the writer of the former Life sharply maintains, book 1, chapter 20, where he also institutes a prolix comparison between this healing of Bl. Goswin through St. Gregory and the rescue of the Prince of the Apostles from chains and prison by an angel. Volume 2 of March of our Work, page 752, can be consulted here, where the same prodigy is related.

[33] and celebrated for the gift of prophecy. Of the prophetic spirit with which Bl. Goswin was adorned by God, the author of the Life cited in the latter place has these things, book 2, chapter 19. Indeed he overflowed with such abundance of divine gifts that not even the prophetic spirit seemed to be lacking to him. Then, a few things interposed, he continues thus: Especially in the words in which he dealt with a contingent future, scarcely anything of his discourses fell to the ground or went into the wind, but the outcome followed everything. And to bring forward one for the sake of example, he advised indeed, but by no means persuaded, Simon of Oisy, who was resisting with all his strength Philip, count of the Flemings, still a youth, to submit to his Lord. To him abusing the salutary counsel he foretold that disinheritance would follow, which the loss of the tower of Inci testifies even until now. Whence afterwards the adherents of the aforesaid Simon confessed with late repentance that the holy Man had by no means lacked Prophecy. I would wish that this writer had brought forward here at least one other example by which he might more strongly prove that Bl. Goswin was gifted with the spirit of prophecy. For who would rightly enough judge someone, however celebrated by fame of holiness, adorned with the gift of prophecy because he announces to an obstinate subject, waging perpetual enmities with his lawful lord, invading his lands, and prevailing with far inferior forces, that, unless he submits himself to the prince, who would certainly avenge well the injuries inflicted on him, he will at length some day pay the due penalties of rebellion according to his deserts? I would not, however, have you infer from this that the gift of prophecy is denied by me to the B. Abbot, whose words, in which he dealt with a contingent future, the outcome followed in everything. This has been remarked only that it may be known to the reader of what critical judgement the writers of that age were. I subjoin besides other things to be noted in this place. Bl. Goswin must have foretold these things to Simon before the 7th day before the Ides of October of the year 1166, in which he departed from life: but Philip obtained the County of Flanders not before the death of his father Theodoric, which fell on the Kalends of February of the year 1169, so that he is undeservedly called Count of Flanders at that time: unless you would have it that the title of Count of the Flemings was attributed to Philip by the praised writer because he ruled Flanders in place of his father, who was then staying in Palestine in the sacred war, and was the eldest of Theodoric's sons, and so already then possessed that County by hereditary right. These and other things about that Simon of Oisy and the lost castle of Inci the reader will find set out more prolixly in Buzelin, Annales Gallo-Flandriae, book V and at the beginning of book VI.

* Perhaps correctione?

* redundant

* read extractum

§ IV. The last illness of the Blessed, his happy death, burial, memory in the sacred Fasti.

By his last The blessed Abbot had now prolonged his life on earth in the continual exercise of all the virtues to about the eightieth year of his age, when, ripe for heaven, about the middle of September of the year 1166, his last illness invaded him at Anchin. On this matter the former biographer, book 2, chapter 24, has thus: In the year, then, of the Lord's Incarnation one thousand one hundred and sixty-six, and from the time he had undertaken the pastoral care the thirtieth, on the sixth day before the Ides of September, he began to labour with a quartan fever; whose first attack was so vehement, and its raging so lingering, that it seemed able to suffocate anyone vigorous as much in strength as in youth, much less a man wasting as much with weakness as with old age. In which place, either by the carelessness of copyists, as has often happened, or by the fault of the printer, an error has without doubt crept in; for it is to be read: In the year …, from when … he had undertaken the pastoral care the thirty-sixth, on the Ides of September; so that the comma in the place just cited has wrongly been put after thirtieth: which is plain even from the same author of the Life, who begins chapter 25 of the same book thus: From the IDES, then, of September … he laboured, AS WE HAVE WRITTEN ABOVE, with a quartan fever. Moreover it is manifest from Gallia Christiana of the newest edition, volume 3, column 411 (consult number 22 of this Comment.), that Bl. Goswin presided as abbot over the monastery of Anchin from the year 1131. From which, if the reckoning be entered to about the middle of September of the year 1166, there will come out thirty-five years, or even six incomplete, in which our Blessed ruled the monastery of Anchin. Whence the other biographer rightly writes thus, book 3, number 42: In the fifty-second year, then, from when he had renounced the world, but the thirty-fifth (elsewhere sixth is read) from when he had been promoted abbot, he began to labour with the trouble of a quartan fever.

[35] Further, in describing Bl. Goswin's last illness, illness the virtues exercised by him at that time, and his happy death, the writer of the former Life is so exact that he seems to have devoted his chief labour and zeal to this. It will suffice, then, to have related his accurate narration of these matters from book 2, chapter 25 and the two following. From the Ides, then, of September until the solemnity of Bl. Matthew he laboured, as we have written above, with a quartan fever: on which day namely, sacrificing the Son to the Father for the last time, and as it were bidding farewell to the sacred ministries, he was seen to cling to the altar longer than usual. From then indeed the Lord, intending after a little to set his Beloved at his table in the kingdom of heaven, doubled the blow of the quartan fever, so that, like gold passing through the furnace, refined to purity, he might be joined to those who are without spot before the throne of God. Yet the doubled trouble did not prevent him from frequenting the church, but on his own foot, though with others' strength (namely supported by the hands of his sons, as the writer of the second Life has it, book 3, number 42), he hastened to hear the solemnities of the Masses, where, having received the Eucharist from the hand of the priest celebrating the Masses, his sons' hands guiding his steps, he returned to his bed after the completion of the divine things. And as they were preparing for the Father about to depart whatever officious charity could devise more appetizing and easier to swallow… You labour in vain, he said, you busy yourselves to no purpose, you beat the air… And when those standing round said that no trace of death appeared in him, and that he should rather allow someone skilled in medicine to be called,… he is recorded to have answered: If the Lord has decreed to save me, I shall be freed at once; but if the time of departing has now come, what need do you think there is for me to give attention to medicines?

[36] seized (Meanwhile) the labour of the sickness grew stronger, rest was drawing near, and he suffered such exhaustion of strength that he was now scarcely able to form words. He ordered therefore that there be brought to him freshly washed garments, which he had had reserved for the day of sacred unction; clad in which, when he desired to bend down to wash his feet, his strength failing altogether, he scarcely permitted two brethren to perform that ministry, saying that he had worn the monastic habit indeed for more than fifty years (namely 52), but no one besides himself had touched his feet to wash them. And (note the writer's age) as we have seen and testify, although his infirmity received increase at every moment, he embraced all with such affection that he omitted to speak to none of those coming in, though he could scarcely be heard. On the third day, then, before the Nones of October, when all hope of the recovery of his health had now failed, and they saw already imminent what they had heard him so often foretell, they supported him on this side and that as he went to the church, and while he was being fortified with the life-giving Sacraments, the brethren, according to his precept, spread a hair-cloth in the place assigned to brethren dying. Meanwhile, the divine mysteries completed, prayer performed, he sought the hair-cloth bed, walking indeed on his feet, but supported by the hands of those standing round… When at last he went to the hair-cloth, a great cry and wailing is sent forth by all; greater when he was fortified by him with the sign of the Cross; greatest when he laid down his wearied limbs on it.

[37] is anointed with sacred oil, And the venerable Hugh (II), abbot (of St. Amand) of Elnone, exercised on him the ministry of sacred unction, and did not withdraw from him placed in extremity the affection which he had shown him living. To console the brethren too… the aforesaid Hugh began a discourse on the matter that was in hand: Be comforted, be comforted, saying, my people; be comforted if he lives, because a Father most dear to you is preserved: be comforted if he departs, because a most strong Patron is being prepared for you. Then, the unction having been performed, as is the (custom) of the Order, the holy Father bade farewell to all with a kiss, with so many

tears of all that not even he himself could contain his bursting tears. And silence having been enjoined on all, as he was lying on the hair-cloth, he began to make a discourse; to which the brethren attended the more longingly as they were not to hear him any more; and because they were struck by so great a miracle, that he who a little before could not be heard for failure of voice spoke as one feeling no trouble. Which discourse, as it was the last, so was it also most useful… He instructed his own, therefore, about the election to be made according to the Order, commanding the Juniors to adhere to the counsels of the Seniors, to beware of discords, to avoid schisms; asserting that the dissension of a few would harm all, which he testified he had learned by experience. Likewise about pursuing hospitality, about keeping chastity, about charity toward one another, about mercy toward the poor; finally about all things pertaining to good men he instructed them, being soon to withdraw from them. Finally, his hand raised, he ended the discourse with a blessing, and, commending them to the Holy Spirit, gave them leave to withdraw, knowing that the hour of departing had not yet come… Nor, as is wont to happen, had he lost anything of memory or understanding, so as to seem to say or do anything hesitating; but he testified to all standing by that never had a fuller memory, a clearer intelligence, a better sense been present with him.

[38] Brought back, then (that is, lifted from the hair-cloth), he is laid on a softer little bed, he dies holily and, failing little by little — in strength, I say, not in memory — he had the Lord's Passion according to the four Evangelists recited to him; and with his ears attentive to the reading, but his eyes intent on the sign of the passion (the image of the Crucified Saviour), he seemed to die together with the Lord. He committed himself with all devotion to Him of whom he had so often discoursed so faithfully to the brethren, saying: "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ"… On the day, then, before he died, he is laid (again) on the hair-cloth bed, able to hear and understand, but powerless to speak. For when they came to the place of the Passion where it is said: "Father, if this chalice may not pass away, but I must drink it, thy will be done" (Matth. 26, verse 42), wonderful to say! with hands and eyes raised on high, he was seen to bring forth that very thing with the suffering Lord. Having entered, then, into agony, he passed that day (the 8th before the Ides of October) dying, yet remaining unconquered [in] * giving the blessing as often as it was asked. And on the evening of the Sabbath, which was dawning into Sunday, and was the seventh day before the Ides of October, the brethren being now asleep, a cry was made signifying his passing, and, all hastening to the commendation of his spirit, the abbot of Elnone anticipated the passing itself with a doubled Litany; and so, the brethren being placed before him and praying and weeping irremediably, the Old Man, full both of days and of virtues, passed to the Lord… And he was about eighty years of age.

[39] Then he goes on to narrate the Blessed's burial thus: The lifeless body, then, is washed, and is honourably buried. then clothed with the monastic cowl, covered above with priestly ornaments. It is carried into the church with tearful chants; it is laid in the choir of the brethren chanting psalms, that it might be at hand to all, whence the sight of all might be fed. And he lay as if asleep, having no trace of death, but rather, He who was already cherishing his spirit increasing the wonted beauty of his little body, it was most sweet to behold him with face uncovered. For since he was clad in the whitest garments, the whiteness of his garment seemed not much greater than that of his flesh. And when Sunday had now dawned, and obsequies befitting so great a Man were being celebrated, who could number how many kisses the mourning brethren imprinted on his sacred hands, how many on his reverend feet, how many on his honourable head? For a certain divine awe had forbidden the kiss of the mouth, nor did they dare to touch the holy face of the Father, which they saw had put on so much beauty. All things, then, having been duly celebrated both by the abbots who had come together and by the sons whom he had begotten through the Gospel, and also by the noble men to whom he was most dear, he is carried to the place of burial, and with hymns and weeping and immense wailing was laid up on the right side of the Presbytery of the Basilica of Mary the Mother of God, namely in the place where he had been accustomed to pray on bended knees. For the brethren would not have him deprived, dead, of the place which, living, he was thought to have loved more.

[40] An ancient epitaph Soon after his death Alexander, the Blessed's immediate successor, had the following epitaph inscribed on his mausoleum.

This brief urn contains a man sublime in merit, spread abroad in name, long in purpose. His was true faith, firm hope, warm love; his a humble mind, a prudent tongue, a kindly hand. In action he was Martha, and in giving himself to the Word, Mary; as Lia in bearing, so Rachel in contemplating. In discerning he was Jacob, Moses in praying often, And Phinees in piercing vice through. The ninth day of October, your last, added you, Gosuinus, to the nine supreme Orders. Hence, as we keep your ashes, may He himself make you Patron, who gave you to be father.

[41] and his memory in the sacred Fasti From which and from the other things brought forward hitherto the reader will easily gather with how great a fame of holiness our Blessed was blessed among his monks of Anchin and other monks of the same Institute, both before and immediately after his happy death: nay, this fame of holiness flourishes even today in the places adjacent to the monastery of Anchin, as is established from the letter of the most ample Dom de Bret, Prior of the same monastery, given at Anchin on the 30th of April in the year 1780, and afterwards transmitted to me on the 5th of May of the same year through the Rev. Dom P. de Lossy, priest, from Douai. From the same letter likewise I learned that the memory of Bl. Goswin was celebrated with an ecclesiastical Office in the abbeys of Anchin and of St. Bertin. Moreover in an elegant Prosopopoeia of Dom Gosvinus to his monks of Anchin, written in the year 1618 by a certain Religious of that monastery and prefixed to the Life of the same Blessed, the blessed Abbot is read to have had a cult not only in the abbey of St. Bertin, but also in that of St. Amand, and even in the diocese of Mechelen. Here are the words:

… a foreign house celebrates me with festal cult, And performs annual rites in my praise. Mechelen celebrates the honours neglected by you, Nor does it hesitate to insert me among its Saints. Hence the house of Bertin applauds me, thence that of Amand, Each honours me with the just honour of praise. The one has appointed for me solemn feasts with sacred rite… The other has given me the sacrificial odours of incense.

By Mechelen inserting our Blessed among its Saints I think is meant John Molanus, writing in that diocese, who in the Additions to the Martyrology of Usuard, printed at Louvain in 1573, has these things at the 9th day of October: At Anchin, the death of Gosvinus, Blessed abbot.

[42] is shown. With the same title of Blessed he is announced by Arnold Wion in the Lignum Vitae, Gabriel Bucelin in the Benedictine Menology, Antonius Sanderus in the Hagiologium of Flanders, Ménard in his Benedictine Martyrology, Chastelain in the Universal Martyrology, and many others, who even after the Bulls of Urban VIII on the veneration of the Saints had been published and well examined adorned Goswin with the title of Blessed. What more? The Sainte-Marthes in Gallia Christiana, volume 3, page 73, Papebroch in volume 2 of March, page 752, as also the authors of the Benedictine Annals, Paris 1739, volume 6, page 748, even call him Saint, who would surely have abstained from attributing such a title to Goswin had they not been persuaded of his cult older by at least a hundred years than the Bulls of Urban. Finally, let the notable elogium close this Commentary with which our blessed Abbot is celebrated in the History of the Saints of Gallo-Flandria, which came to light at Douai in the thirty-eighth year of the century just elapsed, by Martin l'Hermite, priest. It has thus at page 292: Bl. Gosvinus, patron of youth, crowned with knowledge, adorned with every kind of virtue; a new Samuel, angel of the tabernacle, cherub of the ark, Pharos and torch of shining charity and burning doctrine, who amid the tumults of darksome passions illuminates the sweet harbour of Religion, to which wisdom puts in: true heir of the glory of St. Amatus, honour of the pastoral staff, Wonder-worker of the age. If anything further shall occur to establish more the cult of Bl. Goswin, we shall exhibit it to the reader's eyes either in the Addenda to this volume or in another suitable place, adhering meanwhile in all things to the Protestation accustomed to be prefixed to each volume of our Work.

* Perhaps in?