ON ST. SEVERUS OF TRIER, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR,
The fifth century well advanced.
SYLLOGE.
The deeds of the Saint from Constantius the presbyter, the time, sacred cult.
Severus, bishop and confessor, at Trier. (S.)
BY J. B.
Two lights of the Gallican church, long ago, the bishops St. Germanus of Auxerre and St. Lupus of Troyes, St. Severus, disciple of St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, our Elders brought into our Work, the former at the 31st day of July, the latter at the 29th day of the same month. These flourished in the fifth century of the Christian era, and, joining their forces together, among the other things gloriously done by them, once vindicated Britain from the Pelagian plague with very happy success: today we give St. Severus, bishop of Trier in Belgica Prima, the companion of St. Germanus of Auxerre on the British expedition, the disciple of St. Lupus of Troyes; certainly inferior to them in this, that he obtained heralds of his deeds not so weighty as they did, but rather none who claim for themselves undoubted credit from antiquity. The Life of St. Germanus was written by Constantius, presbyter of Lyon, a very great man, before forty years from his death had elapsed: that of St. Lupus by an ancient Anonymous, about whose age indeed it is not so precisely established, but about whose most perfect credit the learned do not doubt.
[2] on the testimony of Constantius the presbyter, To these must chiefly be credited the notice of St. Severus, such as it is, which has come down to us. And Constantius the presbyter writes of him together with St. Germanus in this way, in our volume VII of July At the 31st day of Jul., p. 216.: Meanwhile it is announced from the Britains that the Pelagian perversity is again being spread by a few authors: and again the prayers of all are brought to the most blessed Man, that he would defend the cause of God which he had formerly won. He hastened to meet their petition; since he both delighted in labours, and gladly spent himself for Christ. The envy of the enemy at length gave way, conquered by his virtues; nor did he dare to tempt him whom he had already perceived to be the friend of God.
[3] to St. Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, Having therefore joined to himself bishop Severus, a man of all holiness (who, then ordained bishop at Trier, was preaching the word of life to the peoples of Germania Prima), when he again made for Paris, he is received with the applause of the whole people, as befitted so great a Man. Being asked for his blessing, he bestows it abundantly on all. Meanwhile, not unmindful of the pledge long since specially commended by him there, he inquires more attentively about the girl Genevieve, how she was faring. I believe it by no means escaped the holy Man what things and of what kind the blessed virgin had borne from slanderers after his departure, infamies, reproaches, accusations, and lastly all the enmities which are wont to flow from the envious. And so that it might be possible to recognize their irrevocable obstinacy in evil, they could not in any degree suppress the venom of their wicked mind, and the efforts long since conceived, even in the very presence of the holy Man. But he, to whom she was better known than even to her own parents, disregarding the chatter of the detractors, betook himself to the lodging of the virgin, and greeted her, not without the great amazement of the onlookers, so humbly that you would have noticed that he venerated in her the presence of that very divinity whose temple she was. And lest the coming of the blessed Pontiff should seem to have brought nothing to the sacred virgin, or her person remain uncleared among the wicked, having held a sermon to the people, declaring the first auspices of her manner of life, he set forth evidently to all of what and how great merit she was before God, in proof of so great a thing showing the parched ground, on which she had been accustomed to lie while praying, wet with a frequent shower of tears. And so, the minds of all being settled towards the innocent one by the pastoral assertion, hastening the journey begun, he embarked on the sea, with Christ as author. The elements agree to the tranquillity of the voyage; the winds, the waves, the airs accompany the ship.
[4] the Pelagian heresy Meanwhile the evil spirits, flying through the whole island, announced with unwilling prophecies that Germanus was coming: so much so that a certain Elaphius *, the first man of that region, hastened to meet the Saints without any report of a manifest messenger, bringing with him his son, whom a lamentable infirmity had condemned in the very flower of adolescence. For with his sinews withering and his knee contracted, the use of a footstep was denied him through the dryness of his leg. The whole province follows this Elaphius. The Bishops come; the unknowing multitude runs to meet them: at once blessing and the teaching of the divine word are poured out: he recognizes the people persisting in the belief in which he had left them. They understand that the fault is of a few: they search out the authors, and when found condemn them.
[5] to the one beating back in Britain When suddenly Elaphius throws himself at the hands of the Bishops, offering his son, whose need his age and infirmity pleaded, even without prayers. There is a common grief of all, especially of the Bishops; who brought the mercy they had conceived to the divine clemency. And at once blessed Germanus made the youth sit. He handles the knee bent with infirmity, and his healing right hand runs over all the extent of the infirmity. Swift health follows the salutary touch, moisture follows the dryness; the sinews recovered their functions, and in the sight of all soundness is restored to the son, the son to the father. The peoples are filled with amazement at the miracle, and the Catholic faith was strengthened in the breasts of all. The preaching to the people is then turned to the correction of the transgression: and by the sentence of all the authors of the depravity, expelled from the island, are brought to the Bishops, to be carried to the inland regions; that both the region might enjoy release and they correction. Which was done so salutarily that in those places even now the faith endures undefiled. And so, all things being settled, the most blessed Bishops returned with the same prosperity with which they had come.
[6] was companion, namely about the year 447; but whether It will help to observe some things here from Bosch's Commentary on the Life of St. Germanus as well as his Notes, before we proceed to the biographer of St. Lupus. St. Germanus undertook a twofold journey into Britain for the sake of beating back the Pelagian heresy, the first together with St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, the second with St. Severus: the former, on the testimony of St. Prosper of Aquitaine in his entire Chronicle, happened in the consulship of Florentius and Dionysius, in the year of the common era 429; the latter in the year 447, since that journey was undertaken, according to Constantius, a little before the death of St. Germanus, which happened in the year 448. Bosch likewise observes that St. Severus is said by Constantius to have been invited to the British journey when he was preaching the word of life to the peoples of Germania Prima, although Trier belongs to Belgica Prima. But nothing prevents his having extended to the peoples of Germania Prima, neighbours of Belgica Prima, the zeal with which he burned for teaching and increasing the true faith; that the Burgundians, who, on the testimony of St. Prosper of Aquitaine in his Chronicle, in the consulship of Lucius and Heraclian, or the year of Christ 413, had obtained the part of Gaul near the Rhine, were converted to the faith of Christ by the work of St. Severus is the judgment of Adrien de Valois, Rerum Francicarum book III p. 138., and of Boucher, Belgium Romanum book XV, no. 14, from whose opinion Tillemont, On the Emperors Hist. des Empereurs, vol. V, p. 268 and vol. VI, p. 89 and following, is not very far removed.
[7] the Burgundians The Burgundians from the fifth century inhabited the part of Gaul adjacent to the Rhine, as St. Prosper of Aquitaine writes at the consulship of Lucianus, or Lucius, and Heraclian, that is, at the year 413, in his entire Chronicle, published at Paris in the year 1711 together with his other Works col. 740.: and it is further established from Constantius, cited in the preceding number, that St. Severus acted as a herald of the divine word in that part of the Gauls which was called Germania Prima, in which were Mainz, Strasbourg, Speyer, Worms. Socrates, finally, a writer of that time, Eccl. Hist. book VII, chapter XXX, writes that the Burgundians, a barbarous nation having their seats beyond the Rhine, when they saw themselves exposed to continual incursions of the Huns and destitute of human help, but noticed that the God of the Romans was at hand for His own, asked the bishop of a certain city of Gaul that they might be cleansed with Christian baptism:
having obtained their wish, they boldly attacked the Huns, and, although far inferior in number to the enemy, they nevertheless came off superior in the battle; which Valesius says happened, according to Socrates, at the time when Proclus presided over the church of Constantinople, who began to rule that church, on the testimony of Socrates, chapter XL, in the consulship of Areobindus and Aspar, or the year of Christ 434; Tillemont, volume V on the Emperors p. 617., referring this conversion of the Burgundians to the Christian Rites to about the year 440. If, therefore, you put all these things together, the preaching of St. Severus, the neighbourhood of the people of Trier and the Burgundians, the date of the latter's conversion here asserted by Valesius, not very far removed from the year 447, in which St. Severus undoubtedly presided at Trier, you would not with difficulty call likely that opinion by which Valesius contends that the nation of the Burgundians received the Christian laws by the work of no other than St. Severus, although Socrates did not express his name.
[8] converted to the faith of Christ, But Paulus Orosius, book VII, chapter XXXII, testifies that the Burgundians, a very strong band and pernicious to the Gauls, in which, he says, they stand in possession presumptuously taken, were already Christians at the time when he was writing (and he wrote about the year 417): Although, he says, by the providence of God having all now been made Christians, having received the Catholic faith and our clerics whom they should obey, they live pleasantly, gently and innocently, not as with subject Gauls, but truly with Christian brothers; at which time St. Severus, inasmuch as he was the disciple of St. Lupus, bishop of Troyes, raised to the fillets only in the year 426 (see volume VII of July) At the 31st day of Jul., p. 63, no. 61., did not yet preside over the see of Trier. That authors contemporary with the things they write about may not clash with one another, Tillemont says Hist. des Emp., vol. V, p. 168. that the Burgundians of whom Orosius speaks were some, and those of whom Socrates speaks others, and that these, having crossed the Rhine later, could have been converted to the Christian faith by the work of St. Severus, as Socrates narrates, namely about the year 440. It seems to me, however, less likely that this was in fact accomplished by Severus, and I fear above all whether Socrates, writing in the East, was well and rightly informed about things which were done in the West. Certainly the victory reported by three thousand Burgundians over Huns superior in number threefold and more is not free from suspicion of fiction, at least if it is fixed as obtained about the year 440: for besides the fact that it seems unknown to any Latin writers whatever, it becomes the less credible because from the year 435 the nation of the Burgundians was utterly destroyed in that tract of Gaul, as Prosper writes: In the consulship of Aspar and Areobindus, in the consulship of Theodosius for the 15th time and Valentinian for the 4th … At the same time Aëtius overcame in war Gundicarius, king of the Burgundians, dwelling within the Gauls, and gave him peace at his supplication, which he did not long enjoy. For the Huns destroyed him with his people and his stock.
[9] appears less certain; Moreover, the date of the conversion of the Burgundians asserted by Socrates does not seem to agree sufficiently, so as to be attributed to St. Severus, with the year of the episcopate taken up by St. Lupus and with the stay of St. Severus with Lupus, which seems to have been too long for that bishop of the Gauls of whom Socrates speaks to have been Severus of Trier. St. Lupus was made bishop from a monk of Lérins in the year, as was said a little before, 426, already verging to its end: in what year of his episcopate his disciple Severus came to him is indeed hidden; let us suppose, however, the first, or the year 427. It is likewise hidden in what year of his episcopate the Gallican bishop of whom Socrates speaks cleansed the Burgundians with the sacred font: let us suppose likewise the first. Now, in what year did the conversion of the Burgundians take place? Not in the year 434, as Valesius says, not about the year 440, as Tillemont says, but much earlier, if we follow Socrates closely. He narrates in book VII, chapter XXIX, how Nestorius was raised to the see of Constantinople, and says he was ordained on the fourth day before the Ides of April, in the consulship of Felix and Taurus, or the year 428. Presently, about to narrate in chapter thirty the conversion of the Burgundians, he begins thus: But now I shall narrate a thing especially worthy of record which happened at that time; and having finished this narration, turning at once to the affairs of the East, he says that about the same time Barbas, bishop of the Arians, died, in the consulship of Theodosius for the 13th time and Valentinian for the 3rd, on the eighth day before the Kalends of July, or the year of the common era 430. In this way you would scarcely find three years in which Severus was numbered among the disciples of St. Lupus, which I do not think will be said without danger of error.
[10] he nevertheless preached to the peoples of Germania I It is now time to hear the ancient anonymous writer of the Life of St. Lupus: he speaks thus in our volume VII of July p. 7, no. 11.: To which the elation of the deed they hand down to posterity examples about to make those who were present true examples of virtue from the schools of his (St. Lupus's) disciples taught. For all were pre-eminent in remarkable miracles. Hence in St. Pulchronius, bishop of the church of Verdun, the grace of cures shone forth: so that, with their hands bound behind their backs, he commanded the demoniacs, and they perceived the sense (the effect of Pulchronius's command, the demoniacs did) before they fell headlong in the dashing of their bodies. St. Severus, ordained at Trier, preaching to the peoples of Germania Prima, we do not doubt was mingled with the fellowship of the Apostles. St. Alpinus too, pontiff of the city of Châlons, shining with the prerogative of long-lasting health (another reading: holiness) in very many places, must not be passed over in silence, how often he was a purger of demons. Rightly, in the proclamations of such (disciples), the glorious praise of the master is marked. Hence you may gather not only that SS. Pulchronius, Alpinus and Severus were fellow disciples, but also how illustrious was the school of St. Lupus, from which came forth so many men famous for episcopal dignity, holiness of character and miracles; so that it is not surprising if from it the people of Trier, bereft of a prelate, asked for Severus as their pontiff.
[11] made bishop of Trier About what year this happened I am not going to say; unless perhaps Constantius, when he wrote, Having therefore joined to himself bishop Severus, a man of all holiness (who then ordained bishop at Trier, was preaching the word of life to the peoples of Germania Prima), when he (St. Germanus of Auxerre) again made for Paris, he is received with the applause of the whole people, as befitted so great a man, wrote then ordained at Trier for this reason, that the ordination of Severus had been recently made when St. Germanus, with him as companion, made for Paris, about to set out a second time into Britain; wishing by the particle then to point the finger at this rather than at his preaching; and if it is so, there is no doubt that the episcopate of Severus began either in the year 447 or a little before; to which indeed my mind inclines, because, unless Constantius, who was accustomed to use a plainer style, had wished the time of the ordination of Severus to be indicated here, it seems to me that he would have written more plainly, Having therefore joined to himself Severus, bishop of Trier, a man of all holiness, who was then preaching the word of life to Germania Prima, when he again made for Paris, he is received with the applause of the whole people, as befitted so great a man, all ambiguity of diction being in this way shut out. Perhaps also Severus was companion, not yet then a bishop, in the first embassy of SS. Germanus and Lupus into Britain in the year 429; for it is not likely that those Saints betook themselves into Britain alone and without any retinue: indeed it is expressly read that St. Severus went to Britain with St. Lupus in a very short Life of St. Severus cited by Bolland in volume I of May At the 2nd day of May, p. 266.; and therefore Constantius perhaps, treating of the second embassy of both Germanus and Severus, wished to make express mention of his ordination then recently made. Bolland observes in the same place that Christopher Brower indeed opposes these things in the History of Trier, where he prolongs the episcopate of Severus, begun from the year 428, up to the year 455; but with no witness, with no mark brought forward. For us, however, since the year in which the holy Prelate ceased to be among the living is no less in obscurity than that in which he began to preside over the see of Trier, it has been enough to have tied his death in a broad way to the fifth century advanced beyond its middle part.
[12] after St. Auctor, whose episcopate St. Severus was immediately preceded in the chair of Trier by St. Auctor, of whom we treated in our Work in volume IV of August at the 20th day of that month p. 37 and following: there was likewise brought into it his immediate successor, St. Cyril, in volume IV of May, at the day on which he is venerated, the 19th of the same month p. 331.. No difficulty indeed is raised about the latter: but the matter stands otherwise as regards St. Auctor, his immediate predecessor: for there are some things which stand in the way of his episcopate, and not lightly either, says Hontheim, bishop of Myriophytos and suffragan of Trier, in the Prodromus Hist. Trevir. Vol. I, p. 79.; and first indeed, that he is passed over in the older Catalogues of the bishops of Trier, namely those of Prüm and of Saint-Ghislain. But that is little; for it could easily have happened that the name of St. Auctor, expressed in other Catalogues, was omitted in these through the drowsiness of the amanuenses: Hontheim admits, Hist. Trev. dipl. volume III, on the writers of Trier, §1 p. 963., that St. Hildulf and Hamularius are certainly to be numbered among the prelates of Trier, and yet they do not appear in those two Catalogues. That the latter was omitted through the drowsiness of the amanuenses Hontheim does not deny in the Prodromus Vol. I, p. 81.: but for St. Hildulf's being omitted in certain Catalogues he gives the reason in Hist. Trev. volume I p. 84, note c.: Frequent in the old Catalogues of bishops is the omission of those who did not die in their see: but Hildulf left the episcopal see of Trier long before his death, and closed his last day in Moyenmoutier, the monastery which he had founded. But if Hildulf was omitted for that reason in the Catalogues of Prüm and of Saint-Ghislain, Felix would likewise have been omitted in the same, who, as Hontheim writes in volume I of the Prodromus, in the Annals of Trier, at the year 398, having left the episcopate, withdrew to the monastery of St. Paulinus; although he is read to have departed from life not long after. There is no reason, therefore, why the silence of the said Catalogues about St. Auctor should be judged to stand greatly in the way of his episcopate, other Catalogues and the constant tradition of the people of Trier standing for it.
[13] which Hontheim raises against it, But, says Hontheim, cited in the first place (which is his second reason), no notice at all is had of it (Auctor's episcopate) earlier than from the histories of the translation of this Saint made in the year 1113. Hontheim did not remember, when he wrote this, what he had read either in the Acts of the Translation of St. Modoald made in the year 1107, exhibited by us in volume III of May At the 12th day of May, p. 63., or what thence in volume I of the Prodromus Hist. Trev. p. 679 and following
he brought in: and in the former place, chapter 1, no. 11, it is read that the monks of Helmarshausen in Saxony obtained from the sanctuary of Bl. Maximinus at Trier an arm of St. Auctor, archbishop of Trier, a man of great holiness; which in the following number is said to have been brought with great veneration into the sanctuary of the temple of Helmarshausen in the year 1105, on the day before the Ides of May. And in Hontheim himself the same are read to have received again from the monks of St. Maximinus in the year 1107 the upper shell of the head of St. Auctor, archbishop, and also two of the larger members. And these things were not only done before the year 1113, but also written: for these Acts of the Translation of St. Modoald were sent, as is clear from the Letter prefixed to them, to Stephen, abbot of St. James, namely the one who had sent the Life of St. Modoald written by himself to the monks of Helmarshausen: and he, the second abbot of the same name, on the testimony of Gabriel Bucelin in Germania sacra et profana Vol. II, p. 193., died on the Non. Kal. of February in the year 1112, which Bartholomew Fisen also relates was his last in the Flores ecclesiae Leodiensis p. 328..
[14] stand not much in the way. But what strength, you will say, does so slight a difference of those notices in respect of antiquity bring to the episcopate of St. Auctor? Much indeed: for first it follows thence that the episcopate of St. Auctor was known to the monks of St. Maximinus either from records of an earlier age, still then preserved in their possession, or certainly from a constant and to them in no way doubtful tradition of the place propagated up to the twelfth century. Then it further follows thence that the episcopate of St. Auctor began to be believed from an entirely different source than from a woman's vision, certainly of no great weight, as Hontheim seems to hint in the third place, presently subjoining these words to those cited at the beginning of the preceding number: 3rdly. In the Acts published by Leibniz St. Auctor is said to have appeared to Gertrude, the marchioness (who translated his Relics to Brunswick in the year 1113) (add from the Acts of the Translation of the Relics in Hontheim p. 689. that he said to Gertrude: I am Auctor, who was once archprelate of Trier) and to have revealed that his Relics were to be found at Trier in the church (of St. Eucharius, as Brower, Annal. Trev. book XIII, no. 42, supposes) “towards the southern quarter in a raised tomb, in which once, when a rumour of sedition was pressing, for fear lest they should perhaps be stolen, they (were) enclosed.” How suspect similar revelations ought to be held there is no reason for us to repeat here. But what Hontheim thinks stands in the way of the episcopate of St. Auctor in the fourth place, namely that the Acts of the Translation of the relics of St. Auctor, in which he is adorned with the title of archprelate, arose only in the thirteenth century, is no stronger, since this title is vindicated for him from elsewhere by what has already been said. Having weighed, therefore, one by one the points which Hontheim objects to the episcopate of St. Auctor, they do not seem to be of such a kind that for their sake that Saint should seem to be struck out of the number of the bishops of Trier. Finally, I do not see how Hontheim does not fight against himself, saying here that a notice of the episcopate of St. Auctor older than the year 1113 is not had; but in the History of the cult of the Saints of Trier Prodrom. Hist. Trev., vol. I, p. 370. saying that the primitive Gesta Trevirorum, exhibited by D'Achery Spicil., vol. II, p. 208., can conveniently be referred to the tenth century, in which, however p. 209., almost at the very place he cites, Auctor is placed between St. Leguntius and Severus, bishops of Trier. If of St. Wendelin, of whom Hontheim treats in the same place, from the primitive Gesta Trevirorum cited by him and mentioning St. Wendelin a little after, why could not likewise the notice of the episcopate of St. Auctor, recorded there on the page immediately preceding, conveniently be referred to the tenth century? Consult what Hontheim relates in volume III of the hist. Trev. p. 963. about the writers of the Gesta Trevirorum. But let these things have been said in passing about the episcopate of St. Auctor: we are called back to St. Severus.
[15] St. Severus, sometimes confused with St. Severinus of Cologne, That the notice, such as it is, of the Deeds of St. Severus is owed to the biographers of SS. Germanus and Lupus we have already said above: from Constantius, the biographer of St. Germanus, Bede drew what he wrote about SS. Germanus and Severus in book I of the Eccl. Hist. of the English people, chapter XXI: And again the prayers of all the bishops are brought to the most blessed man (St. Germanus), that he would defend the cause of God which he had formerly won. He hastens to comply with their petition: for having joined to himself Severus, a man of all holiness (who was a disciple of the most blessed bishop of Troyes, and then, ordained bishop at Trier, was preaching the word of God to the peoples of Germania Prima), he embarked on the sea, and with the elements agreeing, made for the Britains in a tranquil voyage, etc. Ado too drew from him, inserting St. Germanus in his Martyrology at the 1st day of October in almost the same words as Bede. More deeds of St. Severus you will seek in vain: unless perhaps with Bolland in volume I of May At the 2nd day of May, p 266 in the Notes on the Life of St. Germanus the Martyr, written with little accuracy, you judge it likely that St. Germanus, bishop and Martyr, venerated among the Ambiani in Gaul on the 2nd day of May, was ordained bishop by him. He, the son of Audinus, when he was first warring down the Pelagian heresy in Britain, having grown older, preaching to various peoples the faith which he had received in baptism while still a little boy, came at some time to Trier: and thence was presented with the episcopal fillets by St. Severinus (see page 265 of the volume just cited, no. 15), archbishop of Cologne: but since of the two Severini, one occupied the see of Cologne too early, the other too late, to have been contemporaries of this St. Germanus, while on the contrary he was most probably known to St. Severus of Trier, who was in Britain together with St. Germanus of Auxerre in the year 447, not rashly did Bolland suppose that St. Severinus of Cologne was confused with St. Severus of Trier by a writer otherwise of little accuracy.
[16] venerated at Trier. So also Severus, that we may finally come to his sacred cult, is confused with St. Severinus, bishop of Cologne, who died at Bordeaux and is venerated on the 23rd day of October, in Sollerius at the 21st day of the same month, in the Usuardine codices, the greatest Antwerp one, the Utrecht one and the Leiden one: At Bordeaux, of St. Severus, bishop of Trier; as also in the Brussels one: At Bordeaux, the deposition of St. Severus, archbishop of Trier. There will perhaps be someone who wonders that neither Bede nor Ado brought the name of St. Severus into their Martyrologies, although they had well known to them from Constantius the presbyter both his outstanding holiness and his Apostolic labours in Germania Prima: I think both had a scruple about inserting Severus in the ecclesiastical tables before they had learned that he was honoured with public cult: and that this was paid to him later you may gather even from the Calendars of St. Maximinus and of St. Simeon of the tenth, eleventh and twelfth centuries, published by Hontheim in volume I of the Prodromus hist. Trev. p. 373., in which St. Severus of Trier nowhere occurs: but in the one which is exhibited in the fifth place there, and is of the end of the thirteenth century, is read thus: Ides (of October), of Severus, bishop of Trier, and of the Holy Moors. He likewise constantly had a place in the Offices of the church of Trier, as Hontheim testifies in the Hist. of the Saints of Trier, from the age of Baldwin, who ruled the church of Trier from the year 1307 up to the fifty-fourth year of the same century. His feast is likewise marked in the same way as in the other Calendar, already cited, of St. Simeon, in the Calendar prefixed to the winter part of a MS. Breviary, as it seems, of the village of Fusbach in the diocese of Trier. A MS. Florarium completed in the year 1486 compels me to doubt whether this day was the day of death of St. Severus; for it has thus: Likewise the Translation of St. Severus, bishop of Trier; of which translation I have nowhere else found a trace. He is also inscribed at this day in the German Martyrology called Canisius's, and in other more recent ones, and in the Roman indeed in these words: At Trier, of St. Severus, bishop and confessor.
Notes* another reading: Elasius
* perhaps cujus (of which)?
* relationem (the account)
* factorum (of the deeds)
* et quia fuerunt (and because they were)