Baudericus

ON ST. BAUDERICUS, OR BALDERICUS, CONFESSOR, IN THE DIOCESES OF LANGRES AND AUTUN IN BURGUNDY,

Perhaps the sixth or seventh century.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

The Acts of the Saint fabulous, his cult legitimate, his age uncertain.

Baldericus or Baudericus, confessor, in the dioceses of Langres and Autun in Burgundy. (S.)

BY C. G.

To the ancient county of Magnimons among the people of Langres Magnus mons, or the town of Magnimons, once famous among the Lingones, gave its name (says Valesius in the Notitia Galliarum), The Acts of the Saint, of which we have several the homeland of St. Sequanus, three leagues distant from his monastery of Segestrum, keeping nothing now but its name, for it is called Maimont or Mesmont. In this county or territory, how widely it extended the said Valesius does not declare, St. Baldericus was born, of whose cult and deeds whatever we can bring to light we must credit to two most learned and likewise most zealous former helpers of our Work, the Reverend Fathers Vignier and Chifflet. First of all we have transmitted by them three exemplars of the Acts of St. Baldericus, of which one, which is noted as copied From two parchment Breviaries, one of the church of Salive (in French de Salive) in the diocese of Langres, and the other of the church of Attalans (de Estalante) in the diocese of Autun, agrees exactly indeed with another, which Chifflet transmitted to our Elders copied in his own hand; but it is somewhat more prolix than the third exemplar, which Vignier had faithfully copied from the Codex of the church of Salive alone by its parish priest, a man, as he says, learned and upright, and in which some things which are had in the two other exemplars are passed over; but these Vignier sufficiently noted from the somewhat fuller Codex of Attalans, with which he afterwards compared his apograph, so that between it, considered together with the additions added from the Codex of Attalans, and the other two exemplars there exists only a slight difference, which I shall not omit to indicate in the course or in the Notes, where it is worth while.

[2] exemplars, To these is joined a fourth exemplar, agreeing also with the said apographs, but truncated in its middle part, to which is subjoined the proper Prayer of St. Baldericus, to be exhibited below when I prove his cult; and it is, as I think, excerpted from the records of the church of the town of St. Burrisius or Burricus (in French St. Burroy), situated in the diocese of Autun and the Archpresbyterate of Semur. For the rest, anyone could gather at first sight that the authority of the Acts is beyond doubt from this clause, with which our two more prolix apographs end: Of whose (St. Baldericus's) blessed Life John was the principal assertor, and as his companion was present through all things and beheld it with his eyes, he made it clear in writing to the praise and honour of the Almighty, etc.: for even if the Acts written by John, a contemporary and eyewitness, as is said, are supposed to be different from those which are in our possession, it could nevertheless not absurdly be argued from the words adduced that these lighted the way for the composer of our Acts, and that he, faithfully following them, handed down to memory at least most probably most of the things which he had found in the earlier Acts written by John: but Critics know that one should not at once acquiesce in such things, and our Elders have sometimes warned of it, who more than once found by experience that fabulists from time to time put on the masks of contemporary and eyewitnesses, covered by which they safely and without suspicion of falsehood either sprinkle their fables into the true and genuine Acts of the Saints, or attach to the Saint whose Life they intend to pursue with the pen wonderful stories of whatever kind read even in other Lives of Saints. I do not wish, lest I be too prolix, to heap up more examples of this; for a specimen meanwhile let there be the Life of St. Procopius, general and Martyr, published in volume II of July At the 8th day of Jul., p. 556., which, although of no great moment, Pinius taught in the cited volume p. 554, no. 18. was in great part applied to the holy Martyrs Ephysius, of whom at the 15th of January p. 997.; and John, of whom we treated at the 19th of May in our Work p. 304..

[3] for the greatest part indeed, That the same was done here, and that that masked John, who does not appear in Vignier's exemplar either, nor consequently in the Codex of Salive, was foisted in by a notable impostor, I am not allowed to doubt by the Life of St. Emanus the Martyr, published in volume III of May At the 16th day of May., p. 596., with which our Baldericus Life so agrees that it appears manifest at the first glance that the one was in great part copied from the other: for in both St. Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, appears, and each Saint, namely Emanus and Baldericus, is ordered to build a church in his honour; each Saint proceeds, the feast of St. Symphorian being at hand, to Autun, where the holiness of both is declared through energumens, but both are shut up in prison by bishop Nectarius, suspecting fraud, which being soon miraculously opened and suffused with a most sweet odour, they are honourably led out by the same Nectarius and taken up among the clergy; to each appears a deacon with his companion, as is said in no. 2 of the Life to be published, killed by robbers, and admonishes that his body and his companion's, thrown into the waters, be sought out and given honourable burial: the same zeal of each Saint for freeing captives is exhibited in both, the same is related about a thief trying to carry off a horse, but standing unmoved, and the miracle about sheep, likewise carried off by theft, and changed into the form of dogs; finally the same proper names are read in both, such as are Nectarius, bishop, Euphronius, archdeacon, Theodebert, king of Austrasia, Baudastus or Bladistus, an honourable man, his servant Abbo or Apo, and many others, which I forbear to set out further here, because I am persuaded that no one who has compared the Acts of our St. Baldericus together with the Acts of St. Emanus will leave himself any doubt that one biographer copied the other almost entirely, with circumstances of places and others of small moment changed here and there.

[4] as by various By the same work it can also easily be perceived that the biographer of St. Emanus did not consult the Acts of St. Baldericus, but rather that their author borrowed most things from the Life of St. Emanus: for since in the Life of St. Emanus the series of deeds is so arranged that all things fitly cohere with one another, and nothing, a few things excepted which Henschen supposed were added afterwards by an interpolator, occurs there which is unworthy of a contemporary author, such as its writer professes himself to be, there is also no reason why his credit can rightly be held suspect. But since on the contrary in the Life of our St. Baldericus both the style is in many places rather barbarous, and not a few things are met with that conflict with one another, no one, I think, will fail to impute the crime of plagiarism to its author rather. Surely whoever weighs the Acts of St. Baldericus in any way will see a cento from ill-cohering

deeds ineptly stitched together: for it is said at the beginning that St. Baldericus was sprung of a family of parents; who can doubt (says Vignier in letters given to our Elders) that NOBLE or HUMBLE or OBSCURE was deleted or omitted there? But the things which are related afterwards in the Acts are so contrary to one another that they leave it altogether ambiguous whether the Saint ought to be said to have been born of humble or of noble family; for the fact that, as the Acts have it, the Saint, When he was twelve years old, was sent by his parents into a wood named Sigestrum, to feed pigs, marks (says the same Vignier) an obscure origin, while the fact that he possessed estates in various places, and sometimes approached kings, indicates the brightness of his family; to one inquiring it was twice answered that nothing else was contained in the exemplars, and that the opinion of the common people is that Baudericus had obscure parents; to which opinion indeed I think one should agree even for this reason, that, as we are taught by daily experience, nobility of family is often found to have been falsely attributed to the Saints by more recent biographers or popular tradition, but very rarely an obscure origin.

[5] reasons This opinion also stands firm for this reason, that, if the Saint had in fact been sprung of a noble pedigree, the biographer would most probably not have neglected to express it clearly, nor would posterity seem likely to have so easily suffered it to be missing from the Acts, who would certainly have borne it ill that the Saint, sprung on that hypothesis from noble stock, should be sent away by the biographer to the keeping of pigs, and so be thrust down to the lowest lot of men. But now, if the Saint was born only of humble family, as must altogether be judged from what has been said, in no way likely will be the possessions of so many estates as the biographer attributes to him; incredible also will be the things which the Acts relate the Saint did among illustrious men and the king himself. The said Vignier indeed, although he seems to insinuate that St. Baldericus was born of obscure parents, nevertheless wished to follow the biographer as regards other things too, writing thus in the Chronicle of Langres: May I be permitted to number among such illustrious men (St. Valentine and other Saints of noble stock) a keeper of pigs, equally a Saint. This Baudericus or Baldericus was to Theobald, king of the Burgundians and Austrasians, whose father was Theodebert, not unknown, and revered by many powerful men, whether dukes or counts: but if this most learned writer had been able to compare the Life of St. Emanus with the Acts of St. Baldericus, which he held suspect on other grounds, I scarcely doubt that he would have judged with me that whatever is read in the Acts of our Saint's dealings with princely men was taken from the said Life of St. Emanus, and wrongly attached to our Saint by a witless fabulist, who more than once betrays his ineptitude, when he also asserts that the same Saint, already a widower of his second wife, and not, as appears, sufficiently imbued with letters, was ordained a cleric by Nectarius, bishop of Autun, as the biographer of St. Emanus also narrates of him, and presently sets him before us fulfilling the divine office, against the express authority of the Sacred Canons, by which access to ecclesiastical orders and sacred functions was expressly shut to bigamists, however holy.

[6] is shown, Indeed our Saint would seem not likely to have suffered himself to be initiated into these against the ecclesiastical prohibition, nor has anyone thus far said that Nectarius, bishop of Autun, held by some for a Saint, although without sufficient foundation, as appears, was such a despiser of the Sacred Canons that, fearing nothing for himself from the censures and penalties threatened against transgressors, he would have wished to break them so easily and without any necessity. What of the fact that the credit of the Acts is also rendered suspect by the miracle which they have about the prisons of the castle of Avallon opened of their own accord at the prayers of St. Baldericus, and the captives held there by count Nicasius wonderfully freed, which is not indeed found in the said Life of St. Emanus, but nevertheless, certain circumstances removed, is so like that which Venantius Fortunatus, a most weighty writer and contemporary of St. Germanus, narrates in the Life of St. Germanus of Paris in our volume VI of May At the 28th day of May., p. 782, no. 19., that that wonderful story seems undoubtedly to have migrated from the said Life of St. Germanus into our Acts of St. Baldericus. However that may be, since most of the things which are read in the Acts of both Saints, namely Emanus and Baldericus, are sufficiently credible of St. Emanus, and on the contrary, as everyone will gather from what has been said, cannot be applied except ineptly to our St. Baldericus, it must be altogether determined that his Acts were in great part transcribed from the Life of St. Emanus by a biographer far removed from the Saint's age, who thought he would be doing something very worth while if, for the same Saint, of whom perhaps no Acts or only slight ones were extant, he composed a Legend magnificent rather than true.

[7] are fabulous, but nevertheless the same Acts Therefore, the Acts being considered, and the legitimate cult soon to be proved, it seems to us that we must only say that there existed among the Lingones a St. Baldericus, a keeper of cattle, and consequently humble indeed in condition, but sublime in virtues fitting his state, which was probably the married one, who ended a holy life with a death precious in the sight of the Lord; for since the biographer doubtless drew these things from a tradition in no way suspect, and similar things are not found in the Life of St. Emanus, they seem able to be safely believed too; but the rest, which are also almost all had in the said Life of St. Emanus, in so far as they are said to pertain to our Saint, we judge must be held as suspect and fabulous. But although it is so, and the Acts are for the greatest part fabulous, yet, since they have hitherto been unpublished, I shall give an apograph of them copied by Chifflet in his own hand, pointing out in the Notes which things are lacking from Vignier's slightly shorter exemplar, so that the reader himself may compare them with the Acts of St. Emanus, and from the continual agreement of both, which he will find, and which I shall also indicate here and there in the Notes, determine, if he is willing to acquiesce in our judgment, that our Saint is such as many have a place in our Work, namely one whose deeds are almost unknown, but whose cult is legitimate and certain: his cult, I say, is certain from the Acts, all of whose exemplars of ours are divided into nine lessons, doubtless received in use, since they are extracted from old Breviaries, and to one exemplar this title is prefixed: Office of St. Baldericus, Confessor. There follows in the same exemplar a short hymn which runs thus: St. Baldericus, confessor of Christ, hear thy little servants asking, and bring down the indulgence obtained from heaven. O St. Baldericus, golden star, by the Lord's grace, receive the groans of thy little servants with thy wonted Clemency. Glory, etc. To this hymn I subjoin this proper prayer, which is had in another mutilated apograph: Almighty everlasting God, whom all the elements serve, by the intercession for us of Blessed Baudericus, Confessor, graciously hear our prayer, and grant us thy mercy, that whatever thou commandest we may do, and may he help. Through our Lord, etc.

[8] and the other things also adduced here prove the legitimate cult, The other things which pertain to the cult of the Saint were diligently noted by the said Chifflet and Vignier, the latter of whom speaks thus in letters given to our Elders: Attalans (commonly Estalante) is a village of the diocese of Autun, on the military road by which one goes from Langres to Alise and Autun, where there is a chapel and the Arm of St. Baudericus. Saliva, not Salina, (commonly Salive) is a town of the diocese of Langres, in which the greatest part of the body of St. Baudericus is preserved, not far from the source of the river Tille; Chifflet adds that the principal patron of the church of the same town is St. Martin, and the secondary our St. Baldericus. Moreover, in the bishopric of Autun (says the same Chifflet), in the archpresbyterate of Semur in Auxois (in French en Auxois), there is a church called of St. Burrisius, commonly saint Burroy; in the tables of Buxeria it is also called St. Burreius and St. Burricus. The parish priest of that place and other neighbouring presbyters know that this is the very St. Baudericus, whose Life also they have, which begins (as is also its beginning in all our exemplars): Among the laurel-bearing choirs of Confessors; and they assert that he is venerated there as patron on the eighth day of July. The said Chifflet then cites two instruments which seem to show that the cult of our Saint is also very ancient, namely Charter XXX from the Cartulary of Flavigny, given in the 2nd year of king Robert, in which is mentioned the Altar of St. Baldericus, and another charter of king Lothair, given in the year 955, from which he excerpted the following: Concerning certain things of St. Botricus remaining in the district of Burgundy: and in the estate of Casliacum above the river Duine, namely eighteen manses and half a church in the county of Beaune, with another whole church in the county of Chalon, dedicated in honour of St. Lupus, situated above the aforementioned river. But although Burrisius, Burricus, Botricus and Baldericus are synonyms, as Chifflet also observes, and this variety of name is derived from the word S. Burry, as our Saint is called among the French, yet since it is unknown what church comes under the name of St. Botricus in this diploma of king Lothair, and it is equally unknown to us in what place the Altar of St. Baldericus mentioned in the said charter of the Cartulary of Flavigny existed, I would not dare to declare with the said Chifflet whether our Saint is spoken of in the said instruments, especially since in the diocese of Reims too there is another celebrated St. Baldericus, who, on the testimony of Flodoard, History of Reims, chapters XXXVIII and XXXIX, sprung of royal stock, was presbyter and founder and abbot of the monastery of Montfaucon in Champagne, and of whom consequently there can be talk in the same charters, which can be inquired into further at the following day, on which this St. Baldericus will have to be treated in our Work, if it seems worth while. This doubt of Goor seems in no way founded: only two holy Baldericus are known, one of Montfaucon, in the territory of Reims, the other of Langres. Whence a sufficiently probable argument is formed that both altars, erected in Burgundy, are to be attributed to the honour of St. Baldericus of Langres rather than of the saint of Reims, probably unknown to the Burgundians.]

[9] which is paid to the Saint on this day and on the 8th of July. Further, since it is clear from what has been said that in the diocese of Langres and also of Autun the cult of our Saint Baldericus is very celebrated, I cannot wonder enough that his memory is recorded neither in the rather long Elenchus of the Saints of Langres by Gualtherot, nor in any Martyrologies, however new and ample, if you except the single Universal one of Castellanus, in which the most diligent digger-up of the Saints, especially those pertaining to Gaul, has thus at the 8th day of July: At Magnimons (a Memont) near Dijon, of St. Baldericus, shepherd. And indeed on this same day we saw in the preceding number that the Saint is venerated in the church of the town which from his name is called St. Burrisius or St. Burricus (in French S. Burroy); but in the church of Salive only his translation is celebrated on that day, and his birthday is kept on this 15th of October, I learn from an old Calendar of the same

church prefixed to its Breviary, in which, as the often-cited Chifflet testifies, it is read thus: On the Ides of October, of Baudericus, confessor; on the 8th day before the Ides of July, the translation of Blessed Baudericus, confessor. But since the place is unknown where the Saint met his happy death, or where his sacred remains were first committed to the earth, from where their translation was made to the church of Salive, in which the greater part of the body of St. Baldericus, or to the church of Attalans, in which, as we have already said, his Arm is preserved, I am not going to declare; it is said indeed in the Acts that St. Baldericus at Sombernon, a village of the diocese of Langres, built a church or oratory in honour of St. Eusebius, and was afterwards given burial in the same; but St. Emanus is said by his own biographer to have done the same, whence it comes about that not undeservedly we hold the credit of the Acts, otherwise also slight, suspect here.

[10] The age of the Saint is uncertain. For the same reason, namely the slight authority of the Acts, it is not readily in our power to determine in what century the Saint lived: for although Vignier in the Chronicle of Langres makes him contemporary with Theobald, king of Austrasia, who according to Le Cointe held the helm of the kingdom from the year 548 to the year 555, he most probably did so from no other source than the doubtful Acts, in the exemplar of which transmitted by the same Vignier it is read that the Saint went to king Theobald to petition him (other exemplars have Theodebert, Theobald's father) about the possession of a certain estate, which a certain malevolent man was attempting to take from him. Castellanus departed little from the Acts, assigning the Saint to the seventh century, whether better records lighted his way I do not know: but since we cannot teach anything more certain about his age, we have wished meanwhile to adhere to these, until some greater light shines forth, and to place the Saint's death at the head of this Commentary in the sixth or seventh century, though doubtfully.

LIFE OR ACTS

From Old Breviaries.

SOLE CHAPTER.

The homeland of the Saint, certain deeds in youth, his married state, miracles, death.

Baldericus or Baudericus, confessor, in the dioceses of Langres and Autun in Burgundy. (S.)

BHL Number: 0897

FROM OLD BREVIARIES.

LESSON I.

[The Saint, who already in adolescence had overcome the temptations of the devil and become famous for miracles,] Among the laurel-bearing choirs of Confessors the name of Blessed Baldericus * [a] is beautifully inscribed, who, from almost the very cradle having attained the summit of holiness, shone with the sacred signs of miracles. For he was sprung from the territory of Magnimons, of a family of parents ^b, excelling in the summit of religion from his very birth, forestalled by the grace of the Holy Spirit. When he was twelve years old he was sent by his parents into a wood named Sigestrum ^c, to feed pigs; and the devil, as the author of crimes and envious of good men, strove to drive him by terrifying him with the fraud of his cunning, whence, transforming himself by persuasive art into the likeness of stags, they, surrounding him, stood driving with a rush: but St. Baldericus, although frightened, as is the way of a boy, yet constant in mind, committing himself wholly to the Lord, said: “God, Lord of all, by whose nod all things are ruled, and by the invocation of whose name every destruction of phantasy is shaken, terror flees, and security is granted, cease not to support me with thy help”: and so he fortified himself wholly with the sign of the cross, and then that whole phantasmal army of the diabolical multitude, confounded with a huge crash, vanished, nor did it dare any more to send the fraud of its cunning against him in tempting.

LESSON II.

Not long after he undertook to visit in the parts of Carrasia his maternal uncle, Avitus by name, where, while he was leading a celibate life with him, a certain demoniac deprived of the faculty of hearing is brought before him, for whom pouring out prayers to the Lord, the man, bound by a twofold calamity, returns wholly unharmed. Another, detained by a long illness, already almost given over to death, lying not far off in a house, is restored to his former state at the entrance of the aforesaid Saint; thus his boyish age merited to obtain from the Lord a triumph by shining forth.

LESSON III

[2] So then, the time of puberty now arriving, growing through the courses of years and excelling in holiness and heavenly virtues, [bereft of his first wife he marries another: he buries the bodies of Martyrs, and sees their glory.] compelled by the persuasion of his parents, he takes a wife named Syagria ^d, not kindled by the torches of lust, nor invited by love of offspring, but imbued with the zeal of charity, by which one's neighbour is to be loved; and as he lived sincerely and modestly with her, it came about that the death of the same wife came; after which, remaining two years without a wife, his acquaintances persuading him, he is joined to another, not unmindful of chastity, but forestalled by love of companionship. Then, famed in a course of wonderful kindliness: a certain deacon, together with his cleric, desiring to make his return home by the estate of Celsiacum, when they had turned aside on the bank of the river Ormencio for a little to refresh themselves with their horses and all their things, were pursued by robbers, everything taken from them, killed and thrown into the water; at which time they appeared in a vision to Blessed Baldericus, declaring the innocence of their death and the savagery of the laymen, and they said they had been sent so that he should commit their bodies to sepulchres; and he, rising at once, came to the place, and having made prayer, they were cast back on the shore, and by him were buried in the village of Ormenciacum ^e.

LESSON IV

These things done, he took the road to the territory of Vesonium to look after his own fields, namely Matriniacum in Sono ^f and Flaviniacum, where the blessed Martyr Andochius, appearing to him, said: “Know thoroughly, O Saint, that thou art truly worthy of the heavenly courts and of the citizens above, and rejoice that thou art already enrolled in their number; come, and I will show thee the rewards of the blessed, with whom, taken into their company, thou shalt enjoy eternal joy, and the punishments of the wretched in hell, in whose miseries none of the just has any share”; and, telling him his own name and the names of those with whom he was crowned with martyrdom, with a great appearance of brightness he withdrew. Who would not rouse himself to be subjected to the patronage of so great a man, or who, full of vows, would not give himself to his prayers?

[3] [His wife having died again, he is more given to abstinence, and, freed from prison at Autun, is ordained a cleric;] These things having been so done, the shepherds of a certain man, Baudassus, while they were busy as keepers of his flock, committing a theft from those dwelling round about, were taken and bound and led to the punishment of death; on learning which, St. Baldericus gave himself wholly to interceding for them, and when the judges disputed and were unwilling to release them, mindful of the precepts of the Lord, he voluntarily offered himself bound for them; then the judge, moved in mind, permitted them to go away freely ^g. Then coming into the territory of Alsenna, to an estate named Budriacum, he lived there with his wife ten years, which being completed, his wife finished the course of her life; from which time, just as before he excelled in the summit of holiness, he was more fervently wasted by abstinence through the habit of fasts and prayers, so much that, when he was very often troubled by thirst, he administered salt to himself instead of water, saying: “Take, insatiable gullet, let this be for thee instead of the sweetness of water.”

LESSON V

Moreover, the feast of St. Symphorian the Martyr ^h being at hand, he made his way to the city of Autun: while he was giving himself to prayer at the Martyr's sepulchre, many demoniacs, who had come together not only from the neighbouring places but also from places far and wide * to the threshold of so great a Martyr, cried out about him; hearing which, the venerable man Nectarius, bishop of the same place, not examining him as a man of holiness, but rather as one subdued by the malignity of hypocrisy, ordered him to be shut up in a dark place; but he, giving thanks to the Lord, prostrating himself more urgently in prayer, sought the heavenly life after his manner, wiping the walls and pavement of the prison with the edge of his garment; and behold, suddenly, the bolt being shaken and the door opened, an odour of wonderful sweetness was sprinkled through the whole house. Then Euphronius the archdeacon, finding the doors opened which had been thrice secured by him, and very quickly unlocked, perceiving the fragrance of the odour, blaming himself, reported it to the bishop; on learning which, the prelate, moved, surrounded by troops of clerics and peoples, received him with hymn-singing choirs and divine praises, begging forgiveness for the insults he had thrown on him, and seeing him worthy of the honour of the clerical state, obtained that he should take it on [i].

LESSON VI

[4] [warned in a vision by St. Eusebius, he builds an Oratory; he pardons thieves vainly attempting to carry off his horse and cattle.] And while he was leading a light-flowing life there for some days, as he was fulfilling the divine office in his usual way, St. Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, appeared to him with a little boy, splendid of face and shining of garment; and when the Saint asked his name: “I am (he said) Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, sent to thee to show thee the desire of thy heart, namely the place where it is lawful for thee to build a church,” and pointing out to him the place which is called Sombernio, he bade farewell and departed; in which place, according to the boundary of the indication, he built an oratory. (This done, a certain devil of a man, led by cupidity, tried by force to invade the possession of that estate named Blactiacum, and wished to appropriate it to himself; therefore, about to petition, the Saint went to the most glorious king Theodebert at Cologne, and because, sparing beyond measure in food and drink, he had used no other drink, he filled a certain little vessel, just as it was, without the seasoning of any flavour *, which, not failing for him and those going with him, sufficed going and returning. So this man, as being dear to so great a man, had been invited by the aforesaid Baudastus. Returning thence, a man of the aforesaid man, Apo by name, full of guile, seduced by cupidity, tried to steal his horse, but it is not lawful for the justice of the just to be mocked by the impiety of the impious [k].) So the Saint of God, returning home, reached his destination just as the course of the night was beginning, and according to custom the horse is put out of doors to be refreshed with the fodder of grass; the thief is there, and through the whole space of the night he thought he was carrying it far off, but the further he thought he was getting away, the nearer he was approaching: and now day came, when the thief perceived that he had laboured in vain, and, sitting on the horse, he stands before the Saint confounded, stuck to the mount; the wretch stands with his booty, unable to dismount from the horse except at the Saint's command; he indeed, caring more for souls than for riches or beasts of burden, satisfying his cupidity, gave him leave to go together with the horse, offering him help for making his journey, namely wherewith he might buy shoes for walking. In like manner thieves, attempting to carry off sheep from his fold, began to carry two rams on their shoulders; in a wonderful way, loaded with the weight of the rams, they seemed to themselves to be carrying the likenesses of dogs; putting them down and likewise lifting them up again, they thought there was nothing of sheep but of dog, and, leaving them, they went away confounded; on the morrow, acknowledging their own offence, they kissed the footsteps of the Saint, asking pardon for the guilt committed, and he, having restrained them, dismissed them unafraid.

LESSON VII

[5] It came about meanwhile that a bracelet of great weight of the already mentioned Baudastus, [He does not obtain health for a dying man by his prayers; but he frees captives from prison:] made of pure gold, was stealthily taken away, and all his household was tortured on that account; but the Saint intervening, as one full of the spirit of prophecy, it became known who was guilty, and the pledge having been found, he both obtained pardon for the offence of the guilty one and the ruin of the household ceased. After these things it happened that the same Baudastus fell into a mortal languor; one night, lulled in heavy sleep, he saw in a vision both Saints, namely Andochius ^l and Baldericus, sailing on the open sea,

and, released from sleep, calling the aforesaid athlete, he besought him to go to the threshold of St. Andochius for him… and he, fulfilling the command, sobbing worn out for him, the prelate-martyr appeared, saying: “Why art thou wearied for him, beloved of God, since, enticed by the goad of a curse, he has already been drenched with a heavenly destruction? For a golden chalice, which we * the parts of the East very often used for drink, he stealthily carried off from that basilica situated above the sea, of which he seems to have a part with him, and dost thou supplicate for him? Know, foreknowing, that on the morrow, at the third hour dawning, he will be subjected to death with the end of life, and when, about to receive the due penalty of his offence, thou perceivest a stench impending in the house, cease not to go out of it; but because he has received the grace of baptism, after the end of death pay over him the due office; for as to the rest, whatever thou shalt ask, know that thou shalt obtain it.” …

LESSON VIII

At almost the same time, divinely admonished, he went away from the castle of Avallon, in which two men were being held bound for their own guilt, of whom one was called Promotus, the other by name Deman, namely because they had killed the brother of Nychasius, count of the same place; and their wives, supplicating for them, met St. Baldericus, who came to make petition for them; but the judge refusing without a payment of a hundred solidi for each one, this Saint of God, approaching the closed doors of the prison, applying himself to prayer, by the divine nod the bolts were broken, the doors opened, and the bound men were released with eighteen others ^m. (This done, in the monastery of virgins devoted to God, where the venerable Edera presided as abbess, he stayed two days. ⁿ).

[6] There was in Thuringia a man endowed with riches, who had an only son, [he heals one deaf and dumb, frees a guilty man from prison and a woman from a demon, and again obtains the release of captives;] but deprived of hearing from birth, to whom, for the abundance of his property, it was a disgrace to have as heir a son dumb through deafness; and he, learning the fame of St. Baldericus, sent him his son with prayers and a reward of honour, by whose intervention he was made sound. A certain youth of the town, playing with his companions, at the instigation of the Devil killed one of them; and the parents of the slain, struck exceedingly with grief, seizing the guilty one, committed him to prison in the castle which is called Semur; and the servant of God often betook himself, as he was outstanding in piety, to entreat for him, but the mother of the dead, affected with grief, would not hear him: but the Saint of God, releasing the human sin, clung to the divine support, whence, coming before the prison and committing himself to prayer, the chains of the bonds were broken and the bars of the prison were opened; and the mother of the slain, seized by a demon, fell at the feet of the Saint, and he, laying his hand on her, healed her.

LESSON IX

Lando, a leader of the army, desiring the daughter of a certain honoured man, shut up the father, who refused, in prison, an occasion having been seized: it came about meanwhile that the same Lando, about to have a battle with foreign nations, was making a journey through an out-of-the-way place named Spinogildum, and St. Baldericus came to meet him to entreat for the bound man, and holding the reins of the bridle he prayed that he would both release him and his daughter, and not be guilty of sin; but he, a steward of the passing world, holding the Saint's words of little account, with the pace with which he had begun, attempted to set out on the road; and then, having advanced a way of fifteen stades, he is stopped by the divine will, nor would the horse go forward, and, seized with great fear, quickly setting his foot back, he seeks him whom he had despised, and prostrating himself before him whom before he had decided not even to hear, he begged pardon, releasing the bound man with forty others, and so, secure, he went back to his own, and it came about that, while one was released, through the intervention of the Man of God many merited the grace of release.

[7] [he heals two energumens, declines human praises, and at length, having died, is buried in the church already built by him.] A certain man named Urfortius dwelt by the river Adonis ^o, so subdued by a demon that no one dared to touch him; he even tore his lips with his teeth; and his acquaintances, hearing the fame of this Blessed man, brought him forth bound to him, begging that he would apply himself to him by the power of his piety; and, laying his hand on him, he drove away the unclean spirit. A certain woman of the race of the Franks had a demoniac boy, her only one, especially beloved; he, without anyone knowing, as one out of his mind, went under a tree not far off; then, sought everywhere and not found, he was discovered by the revelation of Blessed Baldericus, and, restored to health, is assigned wholly unharmed to his mother. And so this holy and glorious man, not bearing the pomps of the present age, fleeing human praise, did not cease especially to urge on all to whom he gave a remedy that care be taken that no one anywhere, seeking his fame, should assert that he was worthy of any power; but rather awaiting the grateful reward of praise from Him to whom alone it belongs to give the triumph of eternal remuneration [p]. Finally, not being able to follow out clearly the remarkable Miracles of so great a man, yet, shaping them briefly and in unpolished speech as far as we can, so that his memory * may fade from the cave of the human breast, we have thought it right to set them in writing: so then, now fallen in the honour of old age, the course of his labour *, worthy of heavenly rewards, Christ calling, accompanied by the odour of paradise, and thronged by troops of Angels, surrounded by crowds of peoples, on the Ides of October, his soul seeking the heavens, he received the bright triumph of the heavenly garland; his holy body is entombed with divine praises in the basilica which he himself had built by divine revelation: at whose tomb greater and more frequent mighty works shine forth than the course of his life had received. Of whose blessed life John was the principal assertor, and as his companion was present through all things, and beheld it with his eyes, he made it clear in writing to the praise and honour of the Almighty, who is so wonderful in His Saints, who is the threefold Deity and highest power, to whom virtue and dominion remain without end for ages of ages. Amen [q].

NOTES.

a. The notice of this territory or county we gave in the Prelim. Comment., no. 1, and you have the same county described more fully in the Notes on the Life of St. Sequanus, volume VI of September At the 19th day of Sept., p. 38, note b..

St. Sequanus built his monastery there; and hence the biographer could have seized the occasion of inventing also temptations of demons about our St. Baldericus.

in the Beauce, for which our biographer substituted the river Ormencio or Hormentio, which rises in Burgundy.

i. How little credible it is that our Saint was ordained a cleric gather from what was said in the Prelim. Comment., nos. 5 and 6, nor is it to be doubted that our biographer borrowed this from the often-mentioned Life of St. Emanus, in which also from no. 11 up to 16 almost all the rest is had which further follows in the Acts up to the end.

k. What is enclosed here in () brackets is not read in the codex of Salive, but Vignier afterwards subjoined the same from his exemplar of Attalans.

p. The following are not read in Vignier's exemplar.

q. What seems to us credible and true out of the whole farrago of the ill-cohering Acts we have said in the Prelim. Comment., no. 7.

* otherwise Baudericus

* supply dissitis (distant)

* supply aqua (with water)

* supply in (in)

* supply non (not)

* supply consummato (being completed)