ON ST. LEONARD OF CORBIGNY, CONFESSOR, IN THE DIOCESE OF AUTUN IN THE NIVERNAIS,
About the year 570.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The distinction of the Saint from Leonard of Limoges: mention of him in the Martyrologies: Acts sufficiently ancient: at what time he came into the region of Le Mans, and died: whither and when his Body was translated.
Leonard, confessor, at Corbigny in the diocese of Autun, in the Nivernais in Gaul. (S.)
BY S. D.
St. Leonard, different from the one of La Celle and the one of Limoges, Of the three Saints of this name who made Gaul illustrious in the sixth century, namely the one of La Celle, the one of Limoges and the one of Corbigny, there comes to be inserted in our Work today Leonard of Corbigny, or, as others prefer, of Vandœuvre; for the former surname is derived from Corbigny, whither his body was translated, the latter from Vendopera, where he stayed, died and was buried. I have preferred, however, to mark this Saint in the title as of Corbigny rather than of Vandœuvre, because there he enjoys a more celebrated cult, and has communicated his name both to the town and to the monastery, as I shall set out more fully below. But before I adduce here the hagiologies commemorating this Saint, it is pleasing to premise a few things about St. Leonard of Limoges; for he, because he flourished in the Gauls at almost the same time, has been confused by some with our Leonard of Corbigny; indeed so much that about the middle of the century now growing old the bishop of Limoges himself, as his letters then sent to our Elders prove, doubted very greatly whether he was in fact to be distinguished from our Leonard of Corbigny or not. Having received these letters, John Stilting discussed the matter, and, having compared the various MS. exemplars which we have of the Acts of both, wrote back to the aforesaid bishop that, all doubt laid aside, he believed the one to be plainly distinct from the other. But you will understand that not of any Acts whatever of our Saint, but of ours which are to be published; for there exist others, which, as will be said below, having been put together afterwards from the Acts of both, most probably gave occasion for the confusion.
[2] more often on the 26th of November than today Although ours are sufficiently ancient, indeed, as will become manifest at no. 4, written not long after the Saint's death, he nevertheless found a place neither in the classical Martyrologies nor among the older hagiologists, and hence a suspicion arises that he became famous for miracles rather after his death and the translation of his body. But the fact that there are more who announce him on the 26th day of November than who do so today, when his feast recurs, makes me suppose in advance with Baillet that his Body was perhaps translated to Corbigny on the 26th day of November. Among the few, therefore, who do so today, the palm is easily carried off by Greven, inasmuch as he, more distinctly and at length, after making mention of the holy Moorish Martyrs, continues his text thus: Likewise of St. Leonard of Corbigny, Confessor. Who, as Vincent relates, book XXII, in the times of king Lothair, in the district of Le Mans, having built a monastery for himself and his followers, was of such humility among all that, shunning the name of Prior, he showed himself baser than all: at length, renowned for life and miracles, he rested about the year 559. Less correctly do it Saussay in the Supplement of the Gallican Martyrology, and Ferrarius in the General Catalogue of the Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology: the former in words of this kind: In the territory of the Aedui (of Autun), in the monastery of Corbigny, the deposition of St. Leonard, presbyter and Confessor,
glorious for patience, humility, austerity, piety and also for signs of divine grace both in life and after death: the latter in the following words: In the territory of Le Mans, of St. Leonard, presbyter of Corbigny.
[3] announced by the Martyrologists, but only the more recent ones, For besides the fact that this Saint never stayed at Corbigny, nor died or was buried there, the cited Martyrologists hint openly enough that they thought the Saint whom they celebrate today was different from St. Leonard of Vandœuvre, whom they themselves, with many others, as I pointed out above, inscribed in their fasti on the 26th day of November. I believe the error arose from this, that, finding in the records lighting their way St. Leonard marked not only twice and on different days, but also in different places (here at Vandœuvre, there at Corbigny), they were most probably unaware from elsewhere that this was so because his body was translated from the monastery of Vandœuvre to Corbigny, and that perhaps, as I said, on the 26th day of November. Less far from the right did Arnold Wion stray in the Lignum vitae at the 26th day of November, and Peter de Natalibus, book X, chapter CXI; for although these too seem to have been unaware of the often-mentioned translation, they nevertheless establish only one Saint, though wrongly adding that he first flourished at Corbigny (which monastery was founded only in the ninth century), and then, made abbot in the monastery of Vandœuvre, happily fell asleep there. I pass over other Martyrologists who commemorate the Saint, as also the Benedictine Menology of Gabriel Bucelin: I pass over likewise Saussay, who, although they adorn our Leonard at the 26th day of November with an Elogium sufficiently ample after their manner, yet relate nothing which will not either be said below or be able to be read in the Acts to be published.
[4] although he found a nearly contemporary biographer here, Four MS. exemplars of the Acts, each of which is divided into nine lessons, our Elders received, short ones indeed, but so exactly consonant with one another, if you take away certain trifles, that they may rightly seem to have all flowed from the same source. Bolland noted in the margin of one that he had received it at Paris from Father Dardes, and he from Carilephopolis, or Anisola, so called from the monastery of St. Calais in the dominion of the people of Le Mans (St Calais): in the margin of another, that it was taken from a MS. of Toul; but whether you consider the history itself or the style of narration, you will think with me, I believe, that the said lessons, anciently accustomed to be read in the churches, are a copy of the Life of the Saint as it was originally written. Although the name of the author is unknown, that he was nearly contemporary with the Saint is invincibly proved by these words of his at the end of the narration: When he (St. Leonard) had been buried, by the election of those monks St. Domnolus (bishop of Le Mans) appointed one of them for himself and ordained him abbot: who to this present day governs and rules the same little cell under holy religion, the bishop disposing and ordaining. Likewise what he subjoins at no. 4 after narrating the miracle about the serpent: Which (miracle) also by the nod of God was made manifest to the other brothers. But also, as we have learned from them, from that day in that little cell no serpent could thereafter be seen by anyone.
[5] to be published, others being omitted, Another exemplar of the Life is at hand, drawn from a MS. of the collegiate church of St. Lifard in the city of Meung (Mahun-sur-Loire), far more prolix indeed than the said Anisola copy, but of so much less authority, the more it has mixed into itself things which are narrated in the Acts of St. Leonard of Limoges, such as that he was the brother of St. Lifard, count of Vendôme, whose Acts, relating nothing of the kind, Henschen illustrated on the 3rd day of June: that he was under the discipline of St. Remigius, archbishop of Reims: that he then betook himself to the monastery of Micy, and lived there for some time under St. Maximinus: that, having gone out from the monastery of Micy together with his brother Lifard, leaving him on the Loire, he advanced further into the solitude. These things, I say, and others you have affirmed of St. Leonard of Limoges in his Acts, which, of how slight weight they are, inasmuch as they are no older than the twelfth century, will be said more fully when his feast is annually commemorated, on the 6th day of November. The mentioned exemplar, therefore, put together from the Acts of both, as we also pointed out at no. 1, since it seems to have been written after the twelfth century in the manner of a sermon, we have judged unworthy of the press. We have also two other Apographs, of which one, from the Utrecht MS. of St. Saviour, the other from a MS. of Chartres, are only Synopses of the copy to be published; but although both end with these words: The Life of this Leonard is read at Corbigny, because his body rests there: whence also the place itself, on account of the multitude of miracles, is frequented daily by the peoples, and so they seem to have been committed to writing only after the translation of the body, which was not carried out before the ninth century, yet, because they contain some things which are lacking in the ones to be published, I shall compare them with these; now I pass to others who printed the Acts of the same Saint in later centuries.
[6] [the year of his coming into the region of Le Mans, and of his death, is nevertheless uncertain] In the French idiom this was done by Baillet at the 15th day of October, by Jean Bondonnet in the History of the Bishops of Le Mans Hist. des Evêq. du Mans., p. 167., by Antoine Le Corvaisier in the same History Le Courvaisier, Hist. des Evêq. du Mans, p. 152., by Simon Martin, book III of the Flowers of the Solitude, or Lives of the Fathers of the West Vies des SS., p. 491.: and in Latin, but more briefly, by Benedict Gononus in the Lives of the Fathers of the West p. 209., from Bernard, bishop of Lodève, and the Breviary of Le Mans, by Peter de Natalibus, book X, chapter CXI, by Le Cointe here and there in his Annals, and others; but since all these agree in substance with our Copy, we shall touch here only on those things which some of them added to the history besides elegance of style and other things pertaining to Rhetoric. Le Corvaisier, and from him Le Cointe, Annals vol. I at the year 541, § LXVI, Martin Bulteau vol. I Abrégé de l'hist. de l'Ordre de S. Benoît, p. 272., Bondonnet, Baillet and Godescard or Alban Butler assign as St. Leonard's homeland the province of Liège, some asserting that he was born in the city of Liège itself, others in that of Tongres, and that from there he migrated into the Gauls to the district of Le Mans, inflamed with the desire of the solitary life. But since neither our Copy, nor the old Breviaries, nor Bernard of Lodève in Gononus, nor the other sufficiently ancient documents which we have, teach his native soil, you might not undeservedly say that the cited writers conjecture it.
[7] his coming into the region of Le Mans, and of his death, the year is At what time the Saint came into the district of Le Mans the initial words of the said biographer indicate to some extent: St. Leonard, he says, was of the fellowship of those Saints who, coming in the time of Innocent (bishop of Le Mans) and leading a pilgrim life, came into the district of Le Mans. And Innocent sat, by the reckoning of Papebroch, who illustrated his Life at the 19th day of June p. 855, no. 1., about 45 years, namely from the year 496 to the year 542; but since no time is known from elsewhere, and how many years the Saint lived is unknown, it cannot be determined whether he betook himself thither at the beginning of the pontificate of St. Innocent, or when it was advanced in some part. He is said in the Acts to have died under Chilperic, king of the Franks, the son namely of Chlothar I; and since he obtained, in the year 561, as Pagi and others compute, the kingdom of France, or rather of Soissons, on his father's death, it follows that St. Leonard ceased to live not in the year 559, as the Utrecht MS. and some others computed, but long after this. Le Cointe places his death in the year 565; most others, however, about the year 570, with whom, because the MS. of Chartres assigns the same time, we have preferred to agree.
[8] his body, buried at Vandœuvre, He was buried, as his biographer relates, in his little cell, which he had built by the river Sarthe with the consent of Innocent, bishop of Le Mans; from which place, formerly, as Le Corvaisier notes, called Vendopera or Vandopera, in French Vendœuvre, St. Leonard, in the Additions to Usuard and elsewhere, as we said at the beginning, obtains the surname of Vandœuvre. You have this place in the province of Le Mans, on the right of the river Sarthe towards the borders of Normandy, scarcely another hour's journey from Alençon as you go away from there with the Sarthe flowing down, commonly called Saint Léonard des bois, and it is today a parish or priory dependent on the abbey of St. Vincent of Le Mans. Le Corvaisier describes the place more fully, and adds that not far from there, when the water decreases, a stone is seen like a sepulchral one, supported by four columns, which some say was the bed of St. Leonard, others his tomb: likewise a spring, which began to well up there from a certain mountain at the Saint's prayers. That this place grew after St. Leonard's coming into a huge monastery the Acts indeed testify, but that, after his body was taken away from there, on account of the diminished concourse of the people, which Le Corvaisier writes was very frequent, it gradually fell into decay, and so at last was converted into a parish church dedicated under the Saint's name, we suppose with Baillet and others. But when this happened, or when and whither the Saint's body was translated, must now be inquired.
[9] translated hence to Corbigny Baillet, having described his life at the 15th day of October, continues in roughly the following words, which I put into Latin: His body remained at Vandœuvre three hundred and more years. It seems to have been taken away from there for fear of the Normans, so that it might be withdrawn from their fury. It was translated towards the end of the reign of Charles the Bald (that is, about the year 877) to the abbey of Corbigny. Things similar to these Beaunier writes in his general Collection of the bishoprics and abbeys of France Recueil des Evêch. et Abbayes de France, vol. II, p. 460., also indicating the place somewhat graphically. Now Corbigny Corbigny is a town in the district of Morvan (commonly Morvant) of the former duchy of Nevers, about 12 French leagues from Nevers, somewhat further removed from Autun, to whose diocese it belongs; and it is so called from Corbo, a nobleman, who, since he was the father of Widrad, abbot of Flavigny, seems to have lived in the seventh century (for Widrad died about the middle of the eighth century). To the town of Corbigny, with scarcely a hundred paces between, the aforesaid abbey lies adjacent, which, although it is a daughter of Flavigny, having been first founded by Egil, its abbot, about the year 865, was nevertheless exempted from its jurisdiction by a privilege of Pope Paschal II in the year 1107; and then, after some years, enriched with the Relics of St. Leonard, as we shall soon see, took on together with the town the name of St. Leonard, and that most probably to distinguish it from Corbeny of St. Marculf, which is a town of Champagne. Thinking, therefore, that enough has been said about the notice of the place, I return to the question proposed, namely whither and when the Saint's body was translated.
[10] translated The writers of Gallia Christiana, volume IV col. 476., relate this about Hugh I, abbot of Flavigny: In his time the body of St. Leonard, abbot of Vandœuvre, was brought from the district of Le Mans to Corbigny, the monastery
to which it gave its name: they noted in the Margin, but erroneously: About 230 (perhaps 1130), from Edua Christiana. Le Corvaisier, however p. 158., and from him, unless I am mistaken, Bondonnet p. 168., making no mention of Corbigny, assert that the Saint's body rested and was honoured at Vandœuvre up to the times of Robert (he can be no other here than the son of Hugh Capet), king of France, who held the sceptre from the year 996 up to the year 1031: in whose reign, say the cited authors, William, count of Bellême (Belesmum, commonly Bellesme or Belleme, is a city in the county of Perche), ordered it to be translated into a collegiate church which he had ordered to be recently built within the circuit of his castle, and long since dedicated in honour of the same Saint.
[11] perhaps translated again and again. But what is now to be said to the question proposed? Since arguments are not available by which we might oppose one or the other opinion, you will with the greatest difficulty reconcile the aforesaid three opinions unless you grant that the Saint's body was translated to Corbigny once and again: for what prevents that in the ninth century, when the Normans most frequently burst into the Gauls, it was taken away for fear of them, and afterwards, that fear ceasing, brought back to its former place? What likewise prevents that it then came to Bellême, and from there again in the twelfth century to Corbigny? So, I say, the aforesaid writers, if indeed they all relate the truth, could be reconciled in some fashion. Further, that the Saint's Relics, brought to Corbigny, became famous for various miracles, is vouched for by our apographs of the MSS. of Chartres and of St. Saviour at Utrecht, cited above, in these words: The Life of this Leonard is read at Corbigny, and his body rests there; whence also the place itself, on account of the multitude of miracles, is frequented daily by the peoples. Hence most probably it came about that his feast began to be kept not only in the dioceses of Autun and Le Mans, but also elsewhere, as in those of Tours, Auxerre, Sens, Sées, Saint-Malo, indeed also of Esztergom in Hungary, and others, as their old Breviaries and Missals show on the 15th day of October.
LIFE OF ST. LEONARD
from the MS. of Anisola, compared with the MSS. of St. Saviour at Utrecht and of Chartres, by a nearly contemporary anonymous author.
SOLE CHAPTER.
He founds a monastery in the district of Le Mans: accused before king Chlothar, he clears himself: attacked by a serpent while praying, he is in no way harmed: having died and been buried in his little cell, he becomes famous for miracles.
Leonard, confessor, at Corbigny in the diocese of Autun, in the Nivernais in Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 4859
BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.
Prologue of the Author.
The life of most illustrious men, the more abundant it is in merits, The Acts of the Saints are to be made manifest to the faithful. so much the more frequent ought it to be in the voice of the faithful peoples: since whatever the Lord works through His servants and elect is not to be kept silent, but much more to be proclaimed for rousing the minds of the faithful. Attempting, therefore, to write something of the good deeds of the most blessed Leonard, we have judged it fitting to begin from the beginning of the knowledge of him.
[2] The Saint, having founded a monastery on the Sarthe, St. Leonard, therefore, was of the fellowship of those Saints who, coming in the time of St. Innocent, bishop, and leading a pilgrim life, came into the district of Le Mans where he might be able to build a little cell under a regular Order together with his followers, received a certain place from St. Innocent, bishop, in the desert above the river Sarthe [c], which took its name from the name of the same Leonard d], and is called the cell of St. Leonard of the Woods [e to this present day. And after he merited to receive the same place from the aforesaid bishop, to the right of whose see of the church it belonged, with his help he made there a church in honour of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and cloisters and the other workshops suitable for monks, where he also took pains to gather some monks, and taught them to live under the holy rule. By whose merits and good examples so great a concourse of people was there for three years, while the little cell was being built, that yet bread was never baked there , nor an oven made for baking bread, but by neighbours and men fearing God, running together thither for the love of God, bread sufficiently and the other relishes were brought to him and his monks and disciples, and also to his workmen, so much that they abounded in all things.
[3] and the number of his disciples increasing, And many, noble and base, leaving their estates and possessions, and selling all, gave to the poor for love of eternal life: they also joined themselves to the aforesaid St. Leonard, and were gathered in his little cell, bringing him what remained, and led their life in common and according to rule together with him, and “they had all things common. f” Whence it came about that the ancient enemy, led by envy, stirred up the minds of certain men against him, who accused him to the king of the Franks, Chlothar g by name: and they said against him that he persuaded both their freemen and their slaves to desert their services and subject themselves to his service, and that therefore they could not fulfil the king's service. The aforesaid king, ordering this cause to be diligently inquired into, sent to him his apocrisiarii h, who, if they found it so in truth, were to cast him out from there, so that he could not thereafter perpetrate such things there. They, coming to him at a quick pace, diligently inquire into what had been commanded them: at whose coming also a certain young man, loving the common and regular life, noble in family and fit for exercitabili * business, came to St. Leonard, indicating that he had sold all his things, and the greatest part of them had been given to the poor, and that he wished to bring the rest and put it in their common store, and to lead with him and the other disciples and his monks the common and regular life.
[4] accused by the envious as harmful to himself and to the royal service, Which the apocrisiarii of the aforesaid king seeing and hearing, said to one another: what need is there to question anyone, or to inquire anything about these things which our lord commanded, when we ourselves have already seen that the things which have been said of this very magician i are true? Then they question the aforesaid St. Leonard why he was perverting the kingdom of the Franks, and persuading men to despise their own things, and taking away from the king his soldiers. To whom St. Leonard answered: I do not overturn the kingdom of the Franks, nor do I take away from the king his men; two things he denied, but one he confessed: he denied that he took away from the king his men and overturned the kingdom of the Franks, but confessed that he taught men to despise their own things. Then they say: already this whole district follows you and your companions, and if it is permitted to you to carry it through as you have begun, this is not the kingdom of Chlothar, but yours. To whom blessed Leonard answered: this is the kingdom of Christ our Lord, who redeemed us with His own Blood. To whom they: is not this kingdom also our lord's k, Chlothar's? Greatly desiring to catch him in his speech: but he so tempered his speech that he turned back their false darts with true shields. For he said: have you not read, dearest brothers, the Lord saying to a certain man: “Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come, follow me l?” And elsewhere the truth says: “Whosoever shall leave father or mother, wife and children, brothers, sisters, houses or lands for my sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess eternal life m.” If, then, I preach and teach what our Lord Jesus Christ taught to be taught, why do you accuse me?
[5] he is acquitted; a serpent attacks him in vain while he prays; To which they could answer nothing justly and reasonably, but spoke as disciples, and, seeing his manner of life, answered that they willingly wished to imitate him; which there is no doubt was done by the nod of God. And when they reported these things to the aforesaid king Chlothar, he with hands spread out to heaven gave immense thanks to God; and he also gave some help from the gifts of the fisc for completing the aforesaid work; and besides he bestowed on him gifts not small, since he very greatly loved the servants of God, and enriched them with gifts. Whence it came about that at last more were converted to the aforesaid holy life than had formerly been, and so, the devil being conquered, the service of God was the more multiplied and strengthened n. For the aforesaid St. Leonard was affable, greatly filled with the flowers of the holy Scriptures, lovable to God and beloved of men. For St. Domnolus o, bishop of Le Mans, whose monk also he was, was accustomed to send him to St. Germanus [p], bishop of Paris, who was beloved of both and trusted [q]. And one day, while the said St. Leonard was praying in secret in his aforesaid little cell, there came a certain serpent [r], climbing up on his feet; thence, going round his legs and belly, and springing out through his bosom, it could do him no harm, nor could it disturb his prayers, but at once springing out from his bosom [s] it fell dead; which also by the nod of God was made manifest to the other brothers. But also, as we have learned from them [t], from that day no serpent could thereafter be seen there by anyone; which we believe were put to flight from there by his prayers and merits.
[6] he dies in his cell and is buried, not without prodigies. The aforesaid St. Leonard died under Chilperic [u], king of the Franks, on the Ides of October, in peace, full of days in a good old age, and was buried in the aforesaid cell by St. Domnolus, the aforementioned bishop: for on the day before the said St. Leonard died, a divine voice came to St. Domnolus, the aforementioned bishop, commanding him to go and commend to God with his most holy prayers the soul of the aforesaid confessor, because it behoved him to depart from the world on the morrow, and his soul to be placed with the Saints and the elect of God. He at once with his ministers did not delay to accomplish what had been divinely commanded him: for the aforementioned St. Leonard, divinely foreknowing the coming of the holy pontiff, commanded the brothers to prepare themselves for his entrance, and to receive him worthily, as befitted a senior pontiff of the Lord, and to minister all necessary things. He also indicated to the brothers that on that same day, after the aforesaid pontiff had commended his soul to God, he would depart from the world. And so, when his aforesaid bishop arrived, and commended his soul, he soon rendered his holy soul to the Lord. When he had died, while his holy members were being carried to the tomb, blind men touching his bier received their former sight. When he had been buried, by the election of those monks, St. Domnolus appointed one of them for himself and ordained him abbot, who to this present day governs and rules the same little cell under holy religion, the bishop disposing and ordaining [x]. For at the aforesaid sepulchre of St. Leonard very many miracles very often take place by his merits: for there the blind are enlightened, lepers are healed, demons are cast out, the sick are healed, and many powers are done, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be honour and power for ages of ages. Amen.
NOTES.
a. So
it is also called in the Lives of Bl. Medard, bishop of the Viromandui, of Constantianus, abbot, and of Louis the Pious, emperor; but in Caesar and Livy the people of Le Mans comes under the name of the Aulerci.
This river rises not far from the most celebrated abbey commonly called La Trappe, on the borders of the Normans and the people of Perche, and, driven thence westward, traverses the province or county of Le Mans, as Theodulf of Orléans fittingly sings in book IV, Poem 6, in these metres: There is a river: the earlier Gauls called it the Sarthe, The Perche begets it, and the Mayenne drinks it. Penetrating with its waves the fields of Le Mans, It goes away past the walls of that city.
d. The maps exhibit another village of this name scarcely one or two leagues west of the city of Le Mans, most probably so called because it venerates the Saint as its tutelary.
was subject to Chlodomer, and when he was killed in the year 524 in the war against the Burgundians, Childebert and Chlothar divided his kingdom two years later, his two sons being likewise killed; so that the region of Le Mans from that time could be subject to Chlothar Col. 049B, although he obtained the whole monarchy of France only in the year 558, namely after the death of Childebert, his brother.
word denotes a seller of slaves: and he is here called a mango odiously for this reason, that he gathered to himself men fit for the service either of the king or of private persons, and as it were carried them off into servitude.
He had towards the wretched an affection of such compassion that he obtained this from God by prayers, that whoever was held in prison or in fetters should at once be loosed when his name was invoked. But these same things are read in the Acts of St. Leonard of Limoges, who, on the testimony of Le Corvaisier, is commonly honoured as patron of captives, as ours is of the deaf.
p. Henschen observes in the Commentary prefixed to the Acts of St. Germanus on the 28th of May, no. 9, from the Acts of St. Domnolus, that a very close friendship existed between him and St. Germanus, as is also manifestly hinted here; whence I believe that the following was added without foundation in our apographs: He continued therefore up to the times of St. Germanus, bishop of Paris, and of St. Domnolus, who succeeded Innocent, bishop of Le Mans, and when he had perhaps calmed them, disagreeing with one another, he foretold that he would end on the morrow … Similar things are also related by Peter de Natalibus, book X, chapter CXI: for our copy, or the other writers, have nothing about this discord.
q. Wrongly do Le Corvaisier, Bondonnet and Le Cointe add that St. Leonard was also very familiar with St. Cerenicus; for, as Henschen notes in the Commentary prefixed to his Life on the 7th of May, no. 9, St. Cerenicus is later than St. Leonard by more than a whole century.
r. For this reason Le Corvaisier is the authority p. 159. that this Saint is painted in the monastic habit wound round with a serpent.
s. Our apographs: Springing out through the hood of his tunic.
t. Consult what was said at no. 4 of the Prelim. Comment.
u. See what was said at no. 7 of the Prelim. Comment.
x. Consult what we said at no. 4 of the Prelim. Comment.
* read ut (that)
* read fuerit (had been)
* militari (military)