ON ST. BERARIUS, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR, AT LE MANS IN GAUL,
PROBABLY IN THE YEAR 678.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Berarius, bishop and confessor, at Le Mans in Gaul. (S.)
J. V. H.
§ I. Synopsis of the Life of St. Berarius, his birthplace; the time of his episcopate and death.
The cult and brief Life of St. Berarius; With such heavenly favour, says at this day the Breviary
of Le Mans, published by order of Charles Louis
de Froullay in the year 1748, and with such singular
benefit of God was the Church
of Le Mans endowed, that, founded by Blessed Julian, it had as many Saints,
if you except one, for about four hundred years,
as bishops; whose
praise of piety and charity was so great that neither martyrdom
nor any illustrious confession of faith was needed
to assert their holiness. This excellent
series St. Berarius crowned, who about the middle
of the seventh century was the successor of St. Hadoindus.
To his pious affections and cares are owed the Relics of Saint
Scholastica, which he fittingly placed in the monastery of nuns outside
the walls of the city, called before St. Peter's.
To him also is referred the foundation and construction
of the monastery of Tuffé in honour of the Mother
of God, Mary. He died in the Lord about the year
six hundred and eighty, and had as his successor
Aiglibert. Although, therefore, the classical Martyrologies,
and even the present Roman one, omit the name of St. Berarius,
there is nevertheless no reason why we should be doubtful of his
holiness and cult. For the Church of Le Mans
keeps the Saint's feast, formerly indeed with simple rite, but today, according to the liturgical Directory
of the year 1827, with double rite.
Besides Saussay, who after his custom
weaves a fairly long eulogy of the Saint, his memory
is recalled by the Paris Martyrology in these words:
Near Bordeaux, of St. Berarius, bishop of Le Mans:
with which agrees Claude Le Chastelain in
the Additions to his Universal Martyrology, saying Martyr. Univ., Add. et Corr., p. 986.:
At Banethum (Bannech), St. Berarius, bishop of Le Mans.
[22] [of the Acts to be published, which are excerpted from the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans] Other Acts of St. Berarius we do not have than those which
occur in the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans.
That book John Mabillon says was written shortly after the death of Bishop Aldric,
who died in the year 856
Vet. Analect., p. 336, Paris edition 1723., in which there shines through the same kind
and style in all things, and the same aim, namely above all
that the abbey of St. Carilefus (Saint-Calais) and others should be claimed for the jurisdiction
of the Church of Le Mans. And indeed at that time
there especially blazed up the controversy between the bishops of Le Mans
and the monks of Anisola, or of St. Carilefus,
which was settled by the decrees of various councils and
of Pope Nicholas I, which pronounced in favour of the monks of Anisola,
as we shall set forth more broadly below. Although, therefore,
the Deeds of Le Mans are deservedly suspect whenever
they touch the right of the bishops over the monastery of Anisola,
it cannot nevertheless be denied that some ancient documents
lit the way for the writer, for example when he says
Ibid., p. 274 and 293. that he omitted two things because for age they could not
be read. Wherefore in those things which do not pertain
to the controversy of Anisola, one may give credence
to the writer of the Deeds. Let the same judgment hold of the other part
of the Deeds, which Steph. Baluze edited, that is, of the longer
Life of Aldric Baluze, Miscell., vol. I, p. 79, Lucca edition, year 1761..
[3] their authority: It is not, further, to be dissembled that our forebears
have already often inquired of how great authority
the Deeds of Le Mans are: among them John Stilting,
in the Preliminary Commentary to the Life of St. Victor, bishop of Le Mans,
at the 25th day of August Act. SS., vol. V of August, p. 144, n. 22., says that the Deeds
are of less weight than that from them a thing
should become altogether certain. It is to be noted, however, that by
Stilting and his colleague Urban Sticker, in the Preliminary Commentary
to the Acts of St. Principius at the 16th day of September
Ibid., vol. V of September, p. 329, n. 5., these Deeds are made of less account when it is a question
of defining the time spent in the pontificate by each of the bishops:
and a judgment of this kind may be of very great
weight when it is a question of bishops whose
age is more remote; for Victor flourished at the beginning of the fifth
century, and Principius at the beginning of the sixth.
But St. Berarius is nearly two centuries more recent,
whence it would have been easy for a writer of the ninth century more accurately
to define the deeds of a bishop whom the author preceded by only two
centuries. Another argument of sincerity to me
is that the author of the Deeds is sparing
in adorning the Acts of St. Berarius; for he scarcely relates anything
other than the translation of the Relics of St. Scholastica,
the foundation of the monasteries of St. Peter and
of St. Mary at Tuffé, and the years spent in the pontificate,
with the number of those whom he initiated into sacred Orders.
We shall therefore publish the Deeds as they occur in Mabillon in
the Vetera Analecta, and shall, after our custom, add the variant
readings of some moment which we have found
in our papers. We have a copy
of the Life from the codex of Anisola, or of the monastery
of St. Carilefus, but mutilated, inasmuch as, the rest being omitted,
it consists almost solely in the translation of SS. Benedict and Scholastica:
since, however, in these things it for the most part
shows a clearer sense, we have preferred its reading to Mabillon's.
[4] St. Berarius, an Aquitanian by nation, St. Berarius seems to have been born in Aquitaine,
since indeed partly Aquitanian, he may be reported: the same
opinion is followed by more recent writers [Bondonnet, Vies des Évêq. du Mans, p. 330. — Piolin, Hist. de l'Égl. du Mans, vol. I, p. 348.]. But
Bondonnet in the Lives of the bishops of Le Mans does not know
on what occasion St. Berarius came from Aquitaine into
the district of Le Mans: certainly today it cannot even
be guessed: it may, however, be noted
that the Church of Le Mans possessed various estates in Aquitaine,
as the testament of St. Bertichramnus, bishop,
who died in the year 623, shows Mabillon, Vet. Analect., p. 255.; whence
some reason is given of the connexion which existed between the Aquitanians
and the people of Le Mans, and which could have been derived
to St. Berarius. But as regards the time at which
he ascended the chair of Le Mans, and the number
of years for which he sat in it, these are most intricate questions
to be weighed here. We take our beginning from the years
during which St. Berarius occupied the see of Le Mans,
since this question will pave the way to the other.
On the number of years, says Le Cointe at the year 681,
§ LXXVIII Le Cointe, Annal. Eccles. Franc., vol. IV, p. 33., which he spent in the pontificate, a threefold
opinion occurs. In Saussay he rules the Church of Le Mans
with all solicitude and holiness
for thirty-seven years. In Le Corvaisier, who
cites a manuscript codex, he sits thirty-five
years, four months and some days. In
Bondonnet, who relies on the pontifical book, he piously governs
the episcopate for only twenty-six years
and about two months. Berarius therefore lived
up to the year of Christ six hundred and ninety-two
by the reckoning of Saussay, up to the year
of Christ six hundred and ninety by
the computation of Le Corvaisier: up to this year six hundred
and eighty-one by the calculation of
Bondonnet: the last opinion we gladly
embrace, which the years of the subsequent pontificates
will most strongly confirm. Thus far Le Cointe.
[5] the chair of Le Mans To these opinions our men also add their own in
the Chronological Appendix of the bishops of Le Mans
under the 21st day of June Act. SS., vol. III of June, p. 863, n. 6., namely that St. Berarius sat
26 years, 4 months, 17 days, and
died in the year of Christ 677. To this computation
the book of the Deeds comes very near, which writes that St. Berarius
sat 26 years, 4 months, 14 days Mabillon, Vet. Anal., p. 273.: so
that the only difference turns on the number of days, in
which also the more recent historian of the Church of Le Mans
varies, when he adds to the four months likewise
four days Piolin, Hist. de l'Égl. du Mans, vol. I, p. 360.. From this agreement of the weightiest authors about the number
of years and months, I indeed
do not doubt that the time of St. Berarius's episcopate
is to be extended to 26 years, 4 months:
but the same do not at all agree on the days which exceed the years
and months, some attributing seventeen days, others
four, others fourteen. Since,
however, all appeal to the Pontifical Book or Deeds of the bishops
of Le Mans, I believe one must stand
with the edition of John Mabillon, who, as
we have seen, adds 14 days to the 26 years and 4 months.
If we admit these things, the anniversary day of the Ordination
of St. Berarius falls on the 3rd day of June. Since,
moreover, we have from the beginning of the Deeds of St. Berarius
that he sat in the last time of Clovis, son of Dagobert,
and in the time of Chlothar and Theodoric, his sons,
it is necessary that our Saint's beginnings fell in
the later time of the reign of Clovis II, who held the sceptre from the year 638
to the year 656; for in such a way
the Saint will rightly be said to have been in the last time of Clovis.
It is necessary, further, that the 3rd day of June, marked with the letter
G, fell on a Sunday; from the year 644 or
650, of the celebration of the Council of Chalon, at which Hadoindus
was present, we have no other years marked with the dominical letter G
than 647 and 652, but we shall show below
that our Saint's Ordination cannot belong to the year 647;
and so it pertains to the year 652.
[6] he probably began to occupy it in the year 652. As far, then, as the chronological notes indicated in the Deeds
are true, so far also is the epoch
of the Ordination of St. Berarius certain. For it is notorious that it was
customary in the Church for the Ordinations of bishops
to be celebrated on Sunday: and so we can
and must admit with the highest probability that individual
Ordinations of bishops, unless something stands in the way, were celebrated
on that day. It is also to be noted that in the computation
of the time for which bishops sat, the very day either of Ordination or
of death is not included among the ancients, as becomes clear to one entering upon the reckoning of the Roman
Pontiffs in the chrono-historical essay of our Papebroch
Propylaeum of May, p. 24 and passim.. In this way are well reconciled the things said both
in the superscription of the Deeds of Hadoindus, bishop
of Le Mans and predecessor of our Saint, who is said to have sat
in the first time of Clovis II, and in
St. Berarius, who is reported to have held the chair
in the last time of the same king. Which words, since
they were not compared with those recited of Hadoindus, perhaps
led some writers, alleged at num. 4,
to put forward the Ordination of our Saint to the year
of Christ 655. But to an opinion of this kind
it stood in the way that at num. 1 of the Deeds of St. Berarius
it is read that he had Clovis favourable to him,
so that he could ordain some little monasteries in the parish
of Le Mans: it was necessary, therefore, that the Saint lived some
years as bishop under Clovis, and had
the same king as helper in founding monasteries.
Whence from this head also the epoch set forth by us above
rightly proceeds.
[7] which epoch is confirmed from the Deeds Against what has been elucidated so far certain things can be opposed,
which must now be discussed. First, the last
time of Clovis, of which there has already often been talk,
must be taken fairly broadly, as we have explained: what,
then, prevents the epoch of St. Berarius's Ordination
from being drawn back to the year 647, likewise marked with the dominical letter G?
But there stands in the way above all our Saint's
chronology: for if we place his Ordination in the year 647,
it becomes a consequence that he
died in the year 673. But we have
a charter of the Saint, given on the 2nd of July in the 4th year of the reign of our lord
Theodoric [Mabill., Vet. Anal., p. 275. Cf. Bréquigny, Diplom. ad res Franc. spect., vol. I, p. 510.], that is, in the year of Christ 677.
But if anyone contend that the beginning of the reign of Theodoric
III is to be computed from the death of his brother Chlothar,
and consequently from the year 670, not even so will he
obtain his point; since it is most probable
that Chlothar did not die before the month of July was well advanced
Longuerue, Annal. Franc., in Bouquet, vol. III, p. 691., and so our charter is to be referred
to the year 674.
[8] and on account of the year of the celebration But John Mansi, in the Supplement to Labbe,
on the occasion of the Second Council of Chalon, would have the Ordination of St. Berarius
anticipated Suppl. Conc., vol. I, col. 485. because of the testament
of Hadoindus, made on the 8th day before the Ides of February in the 5th year of Clovis
III, which coincides with the common era 642 Pagi, Crit. Baron., at the year 652, § VI.:
whence he suspects that Hadoindus closed his life not long after this year.
But this argument is very light;
for nothing prevents a testament being made
many years before death; I shall bring forward one example,
as it were a domestic one: namely, Aldric, bishop of Le Mans,
signs his testament on the Kalends
of April, on the holy day of Easter, in the year of the Lord's
incarnation 837, of the 15th indiction, in the
23rd year also of the empire of our Lord Louis, the most glorious
emperor, and in the fifth year of our ordination
Baluze, Miscell., vol. I, p. 97.. Behold a bishop who nineteen years before
his death, for he died in the year 856, having ruled his
Church for twenty-four years Mabillon, Vet. Anal., p. 300., declares his testament.
From the epoch of the making of the testament, therefore, it is not safe
to deduce the epoch of a near death.
Mansi, however, proposed a reasoning of this kind
in order to refer the Council of Chalon, to which
Hadoindus had subscribed through his procurator, to
the year 644, assigned by most of the more recent writers:
for, it being admitted that Hadoindus died shortly after making his
testament, it was necessary
that the said Council of Chalon was celebrated between the year 642
and 644.
[9] of the Council of Chalon, it becomes more certain. But what reasons moved certain more recent writers
to place the Synod in the year 644 I cannot
say; since I have nowhere found any foundation
for this chronology
[Mabillon, Annal., book XIII, § XXX, vol. I, p. 358. Hist. de la Fr. lit.,
vol. III, p. 560. Piolin, Hist. de l'Égl. du Mans, vol. I, p. 314.]. Although
thirty-eight bishops were present at the Synod and subscribed their names,
the same seem to have been living both in the year 644 and in 650, to which
Sirmond binds the council:
so that from this head the controversy cannot
be settled. There is one thing which urges that one must stand by Sirmond's opinion,
namely the synodal letter written to Theodosius,
bishop of Arles, in which they suspend him,
refusing to come to the synod and having professed penance,
from the exercise of the episcopal dignity
Sirmond, Conc. Gall., vol. I, p. 494.. But Theodosius, says Gallia Christiana Vol. I, col. 542.,
is read in an old charter of Arles to have visited his province by metropolitan right
in the year 648. If
this is right, the year 650 is to be retained as
the proper one of the Council of Chalon. But here again Mansi
has recourse Suppl. Conc., vol. I, col. 485., because it is certain, he says, that for proclaiming
and beginning Councils Sunday
was mostly accustomed to be chosen. Whence it follows
that this synod must be placed within the years 640,
in which SS. Eligius and Audoenus were declared bishops,
and 653, in which St. Audobert had already died.
Further, within that space of years Sunday
fell on the 8th day before the Kalends of November only in the year 649.
This epoch of the Council, therefore, must be established, until greater
light shines from some unedited monument of ecclesiastical
history. And we certainly wish for ourselves greater light:
meanwhile the openings of councils, as we have shown elsewhere
Auctarium to the Act. SS., vol. V of October, p. 47, note 60., fell not on Sunday but on
the second feria: and in the year 650, which Sirmond
assigns, the dominical letter was C, and so
Sunday coincided with the 9th day before the Kalends of November (the 24th of October),
and according to the ancient custom,
on the second feria, the 8th day before the Kalends of November, the Synod of Chalon
began. Let these things be said, that we may elucidate more nearly the year of death
of St. Hadoindus, of whom our men treated at the 20th day of January
Act. SS., vol. II of January, Append., 1140, and may establish more firmly the year of ordination of his successor,
St. Berarius:
which, if they are proved, it flows of its own accord that the Saint closed his life
in the year of Christ 678, as we noted at the head of this Commentary.
§ II. Translation of the body of St. Scholastica
to Le Mans; various foundations of St. Berarius; his death; inquiry into
another Berarius, bishop of Le Mans.
Whether the body of St. Scholastica The episcopate of St. Berarius was especially made illustrious by the translation
to Le Mans of the body of St. Scholastica, brought from Cassino.
All the learned know with how great contention it was formerly
disputed between the French and the Cassinese
about the possession of the bodies of SS. Benedict
and Scholastica. On both sides ancient documents were brought forward,
pontifical charters, whose sincerity
and authenticity it was not permitted to oppose. Wherefore not a few
came down to this opinion, holding
that the truth is spoken on both sides, if each party is understood
to speak of a part of the body, but not of the entire body
of SS. Benedict and Scholastica. This opinion our Stilting excellently
elucidated, after his custom, in
the Preliminary Commentary to the Life of St. Aigulf at the 3rd day of September
[Act. SS., vol. I of September, p. 733, § III. Cf. Oltrocchi, Eccles. Mediol. Hist. Ligust., vol. II, p. 644.]. Nor is it our mind to renew
the controversy: I shall, however, bring forward one bull of Pope Zachary,
who sat from the year 741 to 752, because
it is not found in Stilting, and yet
it manifestly declares that it was the common opinion
among the Cassinese that the body of each Saint was then preserved in the monastery,
and so that neither body
was translated entire into Gaul in the 7th century.
[11] is it brought to Le Mans, is sharply disputed: For after the place of Cassino had been abandoned by the monks
for nearly a hundred and thirty years, a noble
and rich man, Petronax of Brescia, went to Gregory II
and received from him the business of restoring the monastery.
In the year 718, then, having taken with him certain
monks of the Lateran, he came to Cassino, and
found some hermits there. To the founding of the monastery
the Roman Pontiffs gave the highest favour,
especially Pope Zachary, who in his bull, lately
published by Luigi Tosti Tosti, Storia della Badia di Monte Cassino, vol. I, p. 82., briefly narrates the course of the matter
and testifies that the bodies of SS. Benedict and Scholastica
rested in the monastery of Cassino in the year 742.
We give it entire, omitting only
those things which pertain to the temporal possessions of the Cassinese,
since we think that the charter still lies hidden
from many learned men who love ecclesiastical antiquity.
The authenticity of Zachary's Bull the most learned
D. Tosti demonstrates, because it is already pointed to in
the Precept of Charlemagne under Adrian I (772–795),
in which it is said Muratori, Antiquit. Ital. med. ævi, vol. V, col. 828 bis, Milan ed. 1741.: The monastery of Cassino of the blessed Father
Benedict, subject to the protection or right of no one,
has the protection of the Apostolic See, "by whose Pontiff
Zachary" it was restored through Petronax, the man of God,
in the hundred and twentieth year of its overthrow,
in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 720. It has
privileges of its protection from the Roman Pontiffs "and
from Zachary." The monastery of Cassino therefore had
a bull of exemption granted by Zachary,
which a few years later Adrian judges true and sincere.
Honorius III and Gregory IX inserted the same word for word in their bulls
Stor. della Bad. di M. Cassin., vol. I, p. 81..
D. Tosti shows the leaden seal still preserved, but
confesses that the original writing has perished, and that there survives
only a copy of the 11th century Ibid., p. 82 and 87.. Let us now show the Bull itself,
omitting, as I said, the description of the temporal goods.
[12] of Pope Zachary, Zachary, Pope, Servant of the Servants of God, to all
the sons of the Catholic Church, greeting and apostolic
benediction. To almighty God, whose
mercy is better than lives, we give thanks,
who is glorious and wonderful in His Saints,
and shows His powers, wherever He will, by ineffable goodness.
He indeed, by the power of His condescension,
appointed the most blessed Benedict father of all
monks; He disposed him to be the lawgiver
and worker of the monastic law: He, by his
merits, set the monastery of Cassino, in which he both most holily
lived and most gloriously died, over all monasteries throughout
the whole world with clement kindness.
Which most holy father, while he was leading the eremitic life,
admonished by divine revelation, came to
the same place, two Angels accompanying him,
with the most blessed Maurus and Placidus, son of Tertullus
the patrician, and some others. Where, destroying the temples
of idols and building a monastery,
he adorned it with apostolic virtues. Among which,
when it had been revealed to him that the aforesaid place
was to be destroyed, and for that reason he was weeping inconsolably,
he heard the voice of almighty God saying to him:
Do not, most proved and most chosen Benedict, bear
a sad mind for the things which you have learned will befall
this place, since what has once been fixed by God
is unchangeable and irrevocable, the souls of those dwelling in the place
alone being granted to you by your merit.
But the consolation of almighty God will be present,
which will restore this place to a fuller and much better
state than it now is: and the teaching of this order
will again shine forth from this place. Which
was accomplished after the death of the same Father.
[13] the bull. For it was overrun by the Lombards and burned
with fire; and the brethren, coming to the Apostolic See,
by the grant of our holy predecessor
Pelagius, built a monastery beside the Lateran palace,
and dwelt there for a long time.
But when almighty God had now decided to restore
the monastery of Cassino and to propagate from the same place the cenobitic
institution which had taken its beginning thence,
Petronax, our beloved son, was sent to restore it by the most reverend
Gregory the Third, our predecessor.
When he had come to the same place, our common
father Gregory departed from this world.
But after his departure, when our littleness had succeeded
in the Apostolic See, we brought to its end, with God's help,
the work begun by him in the restoration of the same monastery.
And on that day on which we dedicated the church of the most holy Father,
our littleness offered this: namely, the books of Holy Scripture
and the book of the Rule, which the most holy Father
had written with his own hand, the weight also of the pound of bread
and the measure of wine, and also we granted with Apostolic liberality various ornaments
for the ecclesiastical ministry and possessions.
And looking upon how the pledges of the same Father
and of his sister are placed, and finding them inviolate, out of reverence
for so great a Father we did not at all dare to touch them.
[14] which is related, And at the dedication of the same, while I * was present at it,
together with thirteen archbishops and sixty-eight
bishops *, the same our most beloved son
began to ask that we should strengthen by our privilege the possessions which
have been offered * to the same monastery by any of the faithful.
Assenting to their desires, as being worthy of love,
we corroborate in perpetuity, by the present privilege, these things which have been granted
by us and other faithful to the same place.
The Pontiff then describes various places
which pertained to the monastery of Cassino,
and further proceeds: Moreover we corroborate and
confirm in perpetuity to the same beloved son and his
successors that in every assembly of bishops
and princes he sit above all abbots,
and in counsels and judgments utter his opinion before the men of his order,
out of reverence for
so great a place, which merited to retain, living and dead, the first and supreme lawgiver
of the monastic law,
and which, he writing his legislation in the same monastery of Cassino,
by word and example made the cenobitic
purpose shine more clearly than the sun for those desiring it in the whole world.
On account of which, exalting the monastery of Cassino,
we decree and confirm in perpetuity that
the aforesaid place excel in dignity, vigour and honour
all monasteries which have been built
or are to be built in the whole world: and that the abbot
of the same place stand higher and more celebrated than all
abbots holding the same rule:
and that there the law of the monastic order hold the head and
the primacy, where the describer of the same law, Benedict,
the most holy father, describing it,
promulgated the Rule; and that there abbots and monks
bring honour and reverence, and there, until
the day of judgment, seek their teacher, where the universal master
and teacher of monks, Benedict, the bountiful father,
resting bodily together with his sister,
awaits the day of the glorious resurrection.
[15] testifies that in the 8th century there were at Cassino And when the abbot has died, let the congregation from itself,
according to the sounder counsel of the wise and
of the elder brethren, choose an abbot for itself, and present him to the Pontiff
of the apostolic see to be confirmed and consecrated,
nor let an abbot be appointed there otherwise, or
be introduced thither from elsewhere, unless perhaps they shall not have from among themselves anyone
fit for so great a government, and for that reason
by sounder counsel shall have chosen an outsider for themselves. Moreover
we corroborate the aforesaid place, together with all the churches and possessions
pertaining to it throughout the whole
world, and by apostolic authority we forbid that it be subjected
to the dominions of any other Church
than of the Roman Pontiff. So that, unless he has been invited by
the abbot or by the provost, no bishop shall presume to celebrate the solemnity
of Masses in the same possessions, which, from the present first
indiction, we establish to be retained irrevocably in perpetuity,
and to be kept with the fear of God. Establishing
moreover, by apostolic censure, under observation of divine
judgment, and by valid and most dreadful
interdictions of anathema, that no one ever,
endowed with whatever dignity or power, presume
to inflict violence on the same monastery or on all its possessions,
or in any way take away or alienate anything
from them. Nor, either in time of peace or in
barbarian time, inflict any loss or molestation there,
while we decree that it is to remain perpetually with firm stability
under the dominion of the Holy Roman Church.
Promulgating this too by the authority
of Blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, before God
and the terrible examination, by this our apostolic
privilege we sanction and decree to be established
that, in all provinces throughout the whole world, things exchanged
and offered, or which shall hereafter be granted to the same monastery
by any person whatever, are to exist with firm stability
under the right of that monastery and to remain in
perpetuity. We establish that it be not permitted,
as has been said, to any person great or small
to take away anything from these, but that they remain there unshaken and irrevocably
in perpetuity.
[16] the bodies of SS. Benedict and Scholastica: We have also granted by this apostolic privilege
that for the obligation or ordination of priests,
deacons, subdeacons, and the consecration of altars
and reception of chrism, in any possessions whatever
of the same monastery, they may invite whatever
bishop they will. The Angelic Hymn also
we grant to be sung on Sundays and feast days
in the solemnities of Masses. And at the hours
of day and night the bell may be rung in the church;
in like manner we give and corroborate licence
in the aforesaid monastery and in all
its churches built throughout the whole world
for the font to be blessed and holy baptism to be celebrated,
and not only there, but also in those churches which henceforth
are to be built in the possessions of the aforesaid monastery in present or
future times,
the interdiction of any bishop whatever being removed.
We add also that no bishop forbid
the Christian people to enter the same churches,
or to offer anything of their goods in them, as is wont
to be done by pious religion. We will also that this our
command be observed, that no bishop in the
said monastery of Cassino and in all its cells
built throughout the whole world take tithes,
excommunicate a priest, or summon him to a synod.
In like manner also we give licence
to the same beloved son and his posterity, the abbots of the monks,
to assemble a synod, and to receive whatever
cleric they will, with his substance,
to dwell in all the possessions of the monastery of Cassino,
whether he be a priest or deacon or
of any ecclesiastical order; and to fear the contradiction
of no bishop. And let it be lawful for the same religious
Petronax, and his posterity and their provosts, in
perpetuity to judge the aforesaid churches, courts and
possessions throughout the whole world, and to promote to office every
cleric dwelling in the same possessions
without the power of a secular person and the prohibition of any bishop. If
anyone, however, which God forbid, shall presume with nefarious daring to corrupt, violate or oppose
those things which have been established by us for the praise of God, for the
stability and the preservation of the dignity of the monastery of Cassino,
and for the protection of its possessions,
unless he repent, let him know himself bound in the bond
of anathema, and estranged from the kingdom of God,
and to be assigned with the devil and his pomps and with Judas,
the betrayer of Jesus Christ our Lord, to eternal punishment
and eternal malediction. But
he who with pious regard is an observer of this our apostolic
constitution, may he obtain the grace of blessing from
our most merciful Lord God through the intercession
of our most blessed Father Benedict,
and merit to attain the rewards of eternal life.
Written by the hand of Leo, notary and regionary
and archivist of the most dear Roman Church, in
the month of January, in the aforewritten first
indiction. Given on the twelfth day before the Kalends of March
at Aquino by the hand of Benedict, bishop of the holy Church of Silva
Candida and librarian of the holy
Apostolic See, in the year, God being propitious, of the pontificate
of our Lord Zachary, supreme Pontiff and universal
Pope in the most holy See of Blessed Peter the Apostle,
the first, in the month of March, in the aforewritten indiction.
[17] it seems, therefore, that only a part of these bodies was brought into Gaul. The opinion of the division of the Body of St. Benedict
and of St. Scholastica is followed also by the recent writer of the History
of the monastery of Cassino, the already praised
Luigi Tosti; for he says it is impossible Tosti, Hist. Cassin., vol. III, p. 192. that
any opinion should strike root among the people without something
of truth underlying the tradition. Wherefore he judges that some
translation of Relics of each Saint was
made, from which afterwards the opinion of entire bodies
sprang. And indeed the belief in the continued presence among the Cassinese
of the Body of St. Benedict is confirmed by testimonies
above every exception; we have already seen a document
of the eighth century in the recited Bull of Pope Zachary,
to which may be added, for the same and the following century,
charters testifying the same, of Desiderius, king of the Lombards
Ibid., p. 89., and of Charlemagne Ibid., p. 94 and 98.; which also
John XV (or better XVI) confirms for the 10th century
Ibid., p. 233., and for the 11th century Benedict VIII Ibid., p. 246.,
Alexander II Ibid., p. 488. and Urban II Ibid., vol. II, p. 83.. When the 15th century was already
far advanced, namely on the 18th day of November of the year 1484, Cardinal
John of Aragon, commendatory abbot of Cassino,
ordered the sepulchre to be opened in which
the Bodies of SS. Benedict and Scholastica had been laid.
And in the instrument which Erasmo Gattola
shows us Hist. Cassin., vol. I, p. 595. Cf. Tosti, vol. III, p. 190., it is said that from the flesh of each Saint manna
continually distilled upon a porphyry slab
and was miraculously preserved on the slab itself.
A similar visitation was instituted in the year 1545 under the rule
of Jerome of Piacenza Gattola, l. c., p. 634, and Tosti, l. c., p. 303., and in the year 1659,
when Angelo de Nuce bore the pastoral staff Gattola, p. 712.. Nor
does any visitation, as far as I know, occur thereafter. Similar
and certainly no less sincere instruments are brought forward for
the translation of the sacred Relics into Gaul; which,
since they too prove their own credibility, show that
there also some pledges of each Saint were preserved.
Whence it flows of its own accord that both in the monastery of Cassino
and in Gaul not ignoble parts of each
holy Body were held in veneration.
This way of reconciling the opposed reasons our John Stilting
proposes and approves by his reckoning
in the Preliminary Commentary on St. Aygulf, abbot and
Martyr, at the 3rd day of September, num. 25 Act. SS., vol. I of September, p. 732.:
[18] Foundations of St. Berarius, Of the two monasteries founded by St. Berarius,
namely Tuffé and St. Mary's, there is no reason why we should here
weave a longer discourse, since in the Life to be published below
the origin of each is broadly explained. A third
monastery, moreover, Le Cointe attributes to our Saint
in his Annals at the year 681, § LXXVIII, namely Caladunum,
led by the authority of a testament of which, according to
the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans Mabillon, Vet. Analect., p. 281.,
St. Berarius is reported to be the maker: but, as will be shown below,
it belongs rather to another bishop of the same name,
who among the more recent writers is commonly called Berarius
II. St. Berarius in the year 658 subscribed
a double privilege which St. Emmo, bishop of Sens,
gave to the monastery of St. Columba and of
St. Peter. The former privilege, granted to St. Columba's, John Mabillon
first edited in the Benedictine Annals,
book XIV, num. 63 Mabill., Ann., vol. I, p. 412.; and in that which is read to have been given
on the 7th day before the Kalends of September in the third year of Chlothar
(III, son of Clovis II), we see that our Saint
subscribed in these words: In the name of Christ, Berecharius,
although a sinner, bishop, consenting to this privilege,
have subscribed. A little after, says the praised Mabillon,
Emmo issued another privilege for the monastery
of St. Peter of Sens, to which St. Mummolinus,
successor of St. Eligius, named in the said charter,
subscribed, to which St. Berarius likewise gave
his consent. We have no leisure to inquire more laboriously into
the Mabillonian chronology, which here perhaps stumbles,
and which, documents being brought forward, our colleague discussed
in the Preliminary Commentary on St. Mummolinus at
the 16th day of October, num. 39 and following Act. SS., vol. VII of October, p. 965: for
this question can more conveniently be investigated in the Acts of St. Eligius at
the 1st day of December; while, brought over here,
it would shed no light on the life of St. Berarius.
[19] a suit with the monks of Saint-Denis; About the end of his life St. Berarius was entangled
in a grave suit, which he had to argue before King
Chlothar III against the monastery of Saint-Denis
near Paris. The document is brought forward by Michel Félibien
in the History of the royal monastery of Saint-Denis, and
in it it is said Hist. de l'abb. de S. Denys, p. 26, and instrum., p. VII. that Beracharius the bishop claimed for his Church
certain estates formerly given to the monks of Saint-Denis.
That this charter, further, regards the holy
prelate three things chiefly make plain, namely
the perpetual tradition flourishing in the monastery of Saint-Denis,
next that in the reign of Chlothar III (years 656–670)
no bishop occurs of the same or a similar
name, and finally that the disputed estates were situated
in the district of Le Mans. Now Wandebert the abbot
contended that various vills belonged to him
against Berarius the bishop, and for him the king also had pronounced.
But our Berarius did not think the sentence should be acquiesced in:
for Ingoberta, widow of Ermelenus the donor,
probably at the instigation of our bishop, claimed back various
of those estates, as though formerly given to her;
but by a second sentence also the monks of Saint-Denis won.
The Rev. D. Paul Piolin, Benedictine of Solesmes, in
his recent work on the Ecclesiastical History of Le Mans
Hist. de l'Égl. du Mans, vol. I, p. 359., believes that St. Berarius's good faith was deceived by certain false
instruments, by which he was induced
to persist more obstinately in the suit. It would indeed be difficult
to refute the conjecture; yet that everything was false in
the instruments alleged by St. Berarius could be called
into doubt by one considering that among the goods given to the monks of Saint-Denis
there occur certain things pertaining to the right of the Church of Le Mans.
So certainly in the testament of St. Bertrand,
bishop of Le Mans, who died about the year 623,
mention is made of Tauriacum and Moncianum Gesta episc. Cenoman., in Mabillon, Vet. Analect., p. 259 and 261., which names
are found also in the charter of Saint-Denis: whence
it could have happened that the documents which the holy bishop set forth
to claim his property were not false in every respect.
[20] The charters of Anisola The Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans report
first a charter of Ibbolenus, abbot of Anisola
(today Saint-Calais, dept. La Sarthe) Ibid., p. 273., in which the same
professes that he is there permitted, through the benefice of the bishop of Le Mans,
under the order of usufruct, for the time of his life,
to hold all the properties of the monastery; and he promises
also to pay yearly dues to the mother church of the city
and to its pontiffs and rectors:
that is, for the light of the church four pounds of wax,
and for the use of the bishop one cambutta
(the episcopal staff) and two subtalares (episcopal
shoes), and for the use of the canons serving God
there two prepared flasks of the best wine,
and on the Lord's Supper a full modius of eggs. Ibbolenus
consents also that after his death the bishop of Le Mans
and his successors may recall into their power or dominion
the said little monastery in all its integrity, and
the properties pertaining or belonging to it. The charter is given
at Le Mans on the 4th day before the Kalends of May, in the third year of the reign
of Chlothar, that is, of Christ 659. A similar charter under
the same terms St. Berarius again granted to Ibbolenus
the abbot, but the chronological notes are lacking Mabill., Vet. An., p. 273.: nay, since
the charter is given by King Dagobert, it seems to be referred to later
times, namely to Dagobert
III, who began to reign in Neustria in the year 711,
and so held the sceptre long after the Saint's death.
But the difficulty is graver, the same Dagobert gave
a precept to the monks of Anisola, by which, no mention being made
of the bishop of Le Mans, he confirms the monastery of St. Carilefus
under every immunity Martène, Thes. Anec., t, vol. I, col. 6.. For these things plainly destroy the other
charter shown in the Deeds,
and since the people of Le Mans lost in this controversy,
as we shall presently show, I have no doubt
that the diploma or precept shown in the Deeds is false.
[21] condemned of falsity; For above at num. 2 we have already said that charters
of this kind deservedly incur the suspicion of falsity.
For the monks of Anisola exposed them as spurious,
and professed that they had always been under the protection or Mundeburdium
of the king, and in that sense
the Fathers of the Council of Verberie pronounced,
as is plain from the Notice of Charles the Bald which is read in the Benedictine
Annals, book XXXVI, § VII Mabillon, Annal., vol. III, p. 97.: in it
indeed the bishops and abbots are said to have examined
the proofs and instruments of each party, and,
these things, says the Notice, being thus elucidated, the reverend prelates
and most noble chief men, and the others present,
most plainly recognized, and recognizing affirmed,
that the royal possession of the same monastery preponderated,
which had never and nowhere been
interrupted, but had remained continuously unshaken:
but that the episcopal was therefore to be refuted, because
its instruments appeared neither true nor having effect;
nor had any of the pontiffs held
the same monastery except by right of benefice through princely
munificence. The advocate of the bishop, therefore,
professed with truthful reasoning that he did not have true
and legitimate instruments through which he could hold
the same monastery; whence he also concredited himself (professed himself
beaten Cf. Du Cange, Gloss. med. ævi, under Concrederese.) and, by no force or oppression of the prince or
of the judges, but by his own will
and the just judgment of all present, he werpivit (renounced
Ibid., under Verpire.) the same properties with the querela (with the very suit brought
Ibid., under Querela). With this charter agree the councils
of Bonneuil of the year 855 Mansi, Suppl. Conc., vol. X, col. 934. and of Verberie
of the year 863 Ibid., col. 986., in which the liberty of the monks of Anisola was confirmed,
which at length St. Nicholas, Pope I, formerly
less favourable to the monks of Anisola, sanctioned by his authority
Labbe, vol. VIII Conc., col. 459.. From what has been said so far it is clear that the things which
are reported in the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans as writings of St. Berarius
are doubtful Cf. Piolin, Hist. de l'Égl. du Mans, vol. I, p. 449..
[22] from a certain testament More certain is the writing of our Saint in the case
of Hunaldus and his wife Deodata. For these had obtained from
the Church of Le Mans in usufruct
the vill of Cabariacum, situated in the territory of Bordeaux
[Mabillon, Vet. Anal., p. III. Bréquigny, Diplom. ad res Franc. spect., vol. I, p. 510.]. These spouses, by a letter given on the 2nd day of July
in the 4th year of the reign of Theodoric III, probably of Christ
673, and directed to the lord and father Berarius the bishop,
and also to the whole congregation of the Holy Church of Le Mans.
And in that instrument the spouses
in turn give their own proper portion in the same
territory to be possessed in perpetuity by the Church of Le Mans,
yet so that, as long as they live, they may enjoy it.
Cabariacum is today Cameyrac, a little vill under the chapel-of-ease
of St. Sulpice (Gironde, arrondissement of Bordeaux,
Canton of Carbon-Blanc). Besides these writings
there is attributed also to St. Berarius a testament in which
mention is made of the monastery of Caladunum, as founded by
him, as Le Cointe has it in the Ecclesiastical Annals
of the Franks at the year 681, § LXXVIII; but it
belongs to another Berarius, also bishop
of Le Mans, of whom Gallia Christiana was ignorant, and whom
Mabillon indicated by conjecture Annal. Bened., vol. II, p. 26.: concerning whom some things
seem to us to need saying. We show first the very
testament from Mabillon's Analecta Vet. Analect., p. 281..
[23] The foundation of Caladunum cannot be attributed to St. Berarius, In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
With the Divinity propitious, by the gift of God, although unworthy,
I, Berarius, [who] am called bishop, have determined that
whatever God has enabled us up to now usefully to acquire or draw to us, both from the proper
substance of my parents and from our own, or whatever hereafter, God
helping, we may be able to draw to us, whence also a testament
concerning the monastery of Caladunnum, which we built by our own labour,
concerning all our properties, which is built in
the district of Le Mans, in the condita of Jublains,
built in honour of Saint Mary and Saint Peter,
where Cagliberta the abbess is seen to preside,
near those abbeys or benefices which, by
reckoning of Saint Gervase, we have in benefice.
These are: the monastery of Busogilum with its
appurtenances, Priscosiccinum, the monastery of Jublains, that monastery
of Saint Martin, and the cell of Saint Victurus,
which is built within the wall of the city of Le Mans:
these places named above, with all
their adjacencies or appurtenances, and other places
which we hold as a benefice of the Church, Bisigarium,
Patriniacum and Mantum, as we have said, on account of those
places which we have not confirmed to Caladunnum, we also
have confirmed all our properties, with this full and entire
will, to the aforesaid monastery at Caladunnum
and to its congregation abiding in the name of God;
and I will it to be confirmed in perpetuity; wherever
our testament speaks, or
whatever is seen to be our possession, I will it to be confirmed and
granted to the aforesaid monastery at Caladunnum,
on this reckoning, since it is known that
the illustrious man Duke Crodegarius does not cease to furnish us help
in contributions or from whatever quarter,
or gives aid both to us and to the house itself,
and arranges to do so hereafter; it has been agreed by us that his daughter
Chrodilda, in the same monastery named above,
for the merit of this, after the departure of the said
Calibertana, we should institute or confirm as
abbess.
[24] as is plain from the chronology Which we have also so done, that in the time of her life,
as long as God shall give her space, according to God
and the holy Rule, in the time of her life she ought to be abbess
in the same monastery, and under the government
of the lord Berarius himself, as long as he lives: and
that neither we, nor our successors, nor anyone
whatever, as long as she lives, shall have power
concerning that abbey or that monastery, neither to dismember * nor
to alienate, nor to do this.
And it has been agreed by us that after our departure
the lord Herlemundus, or another pontiff
of the city of Le Mans, shall take the same monastery into
his hand to rule or govern, or shall introduce an abbess
after the departure of the said Chrodeilda,
so that their Order may always be guarded to the end
and perpetually preserved. Because, since
it is known that the lord Herlemundus has granted to us so great benefices,
the abbeys or ecclesiastical benefices named above,
and even to the present day Canariagum given to us for
the use of benefices; for the merit of this it has been agreed by us, as
we said of those named above, that the same monastery
of Caladunnum after our departure the pontiff himself
or his successors shall have to rule or govern,
as also the other monasteries over which, while they have privileges in
their parish, so also over this one he shall have
power, that while we live, we shall not have power to put those benefices
of the abbess of the same monastery into another's hand,
nor to alienate nor
to change them, but that (as we have said) it ought always to be under
the government of Saint Gervase and of its pontiff after
our departure, so that those benefices
named above, which we hold as a benefice of the lord
Herlemundus or of his Church or of others,
after our departure, with every property improved,
without any separation, the pontiff himself
or his successors shall cause to be recalled on behalf of the church of Saint Gervase
into their dominion or
power.
[25] of the charter shown. And it has been agreed by us that none of us concerning this
agreement, which is comprehended above,
none against his peers by any ingenuity whatever shall be able to change
an article. Whoever shall do this, or
shall stand forth as a false accuser against his peer, as much
as the other things, as much as the properties themselves at that time
improved shall seem to urge, whether Crodegarius,
or the lord Herlemundus or the lord Berarius,
whoever shall wish to change this, let him be held
liable, and let him claim nothing of what he seeks: but the present
letters, written in one tenor, one
which the lord Herlemundus shall retain for himself in the chest of his Church;
another, which the lord Berarius shall have in
his monastery, and the third, which the illustrious man
Crodegarius ought to have for the use of his daughter Chrodehilda.
And these letters we were seen to have confirmed by their hands among themselves,
both by themselves and by their fellow citizens.
Done at the vill of Marogilum in the 16th year
of the reign of the lord Childebert our king, on the 12th day before the Kalends
of November. In the name of Christ, I, Berarius, bishop, have subscribed this
letter made by me. The King Childebert
of whom it here treats is the third of this name, and
he administered with royal title Neustria, of which the district of Le Mans was a part, and
Burgundy. His reign
is enclosed between the years of Christ 696 and 711:
and so the 16th year of the reign coincides with the common year
710. There were, as Mabillon notes,
Annal. book XIX, § LVII Annal., vol. II, p. 26., those who ascribed the testament to our St. Berarius;
but wrongly, since
in the 10th year of the eighth century he had long since closed his last day.
Next, Herlemundus the bishop,
of whom there is talk in the testament, is said in the deeds to be the successor
of the later lord Berarius Vet. Anal., p. 281.: we have therefore
another Berarius, who is called the later. Finally
a certain third Berarius seems to occur, since
Berarius the testator says that Caladunum ought to
continue under the government of the lord Berarius, as long
as he lives Vet. Anal., loc. cit.: for if the testator had wished to speak of himself,
he seems rather to have been about to use the first, as he does elsewhere, than the third
person in his speech.
[26] That Berarius should be called bishop of Le Mans, But this last is by no means clear
to us: for this third Berarius too is distinguished with the honorific title
of lord, by which appellation in the instrument
bishops alone are adorned. But that we should accept two bishops of the same name
living at the same time at Le Mans,
nothing at all urges: for there is not so great
consistency of style that we should wonder at a passing from the first
to the third person. Nay, since
the testator professes that he founded Caledunum,
it was natural that he should reserve for himself, after the custom of those times,
the government of the monastery. But if on
the contrary we admit a different and third Berarius,
no reason is given in the testament on account of which
the administration of the monastery should be ascribed to him; unlike
what is done for the others, e.g. for Chrodilda the nun, to be instituted abbess after
the departure of Cagliberta, because
her father Duke Crodegarius gives aid both to us
and to the house itself (Caledunum), and arranges to do so
hereafter. We judge, therefore, that it treats of one and the same Berarius,
yet different from our Saint, in the praised testament.
[27] the succession of the bishops of Le Mans stands in the way, But here another more intricate question is objected, namely who
that Berarius, the bishop testator, is? Of our
Saint, already dead, there can be no talk:
next, we have Herlemundus called the successor of the later
lord Berarius, which words indicate a twofold Berarius,
each a bishop of Le Mans.
Nevertheless the ancient Catalogues of the bishops
of Le Mans indicate no other Berarius besides our Saint:
nay, the charters of Le Mans,
as they are read in the Deeds, hint the contrary. Thus
Herlemundus is said to have been bishop after Achilbert (Aglibert)
Ibid., p. 287., in others the bishops are shown
in this order: Hadoindus, Berarius, Aglibert,
Herlemundus Ibid., p. 284, 286, 287.. And indeed if we compute the times
of the succeeding bishops, we shall find no interval
of time between St. Berarius
and Herlemundus sufficient for any bishop to be intercalated.
For St. Berarius, as all confess,
sat 26 years, 4 months and some days
(cf. what was said at num. 5); we have shown also that the Council
of Chalon was more probably celebrated in the year
of Christ 650 (cf. num. 6), and so that the beginning of his episcopate must be bound to the year 652,
the end to the year 678;
and when he died in the year 678 Aglibert succeeded, he too
a pontiff for 34 years, 6 months, 11 days Ibid., p. 226.,
wherefore his death coincides with the year 712;
whence it is plain that his immediate successor, whoever
he finally was, could not have occupied the chair of Le Mans
in the year 710, and so on this
side the testament wavers, especially since Childebert
III, king of Neustria, died six months later, namely
on the 14th of April 711.
[28] of Le Mans, I know indeed that these things can be reconciled after a fashion
by applying the chronology of the very recent and excellent writer
on the Church of Le Mans Piolin, Hist. de l'Égl. du Mans, vol. I, Introd., p. CXX., and I would gladly
accede to it. But it stands in the way that in the middle of the calculations
which chronological investigations demand, some error
has crept in. For he says that St. Berarius sat
26 years, 4 months and 4 days Ibid., p. 360. and began his episcopate
in the year 654, St. Hadoindus having died, namely,
in the tenth year after the Council of Chalon Ibid., p. 347.: St. Berarius would
therefore have died in the year 680; but the writer puts the death
of the Saint at the year 670 Ibid., Introd., p. CXXIII and 348.. We differ, therefore,
by a whole decade, which, if it be added to his chronology,
he runs into the same difficulties as we, as regards the testament of the other
Berarius. Nor, in order
to extricate ourselves from these tangles, may we anticipate the beginning of St. Berarius by a decade;
for the Council of Chalon prevents it,
which we said above at num. 9 was more probably celebrated
in the year 650, and at which St. Hadoindus was present through his procurator.
To emerge further from this difficulty,
nothing else occurs to me than to
deny that Berarius the testator was bishop of Le Mans:
I will easily grant that Berarius was distinguished with the episcopal
character, but nothing urges me to admit that he occupied the chair
of Le Mans.
For I read Berarius the bishop subscribed in
a privilege for the monastery of St. Mary, which is said to have been given
in the month of June in the 11th year of the reign of the lord
Theodoric, the most glorious king, the third of this name,
that is, in the year of Christ 681: and if he is the same who then
in the year 710 makes the testament, not unwillingly, as I hope,
will everyone agree with me that this Berarius
was a bishop living in the district of Le Mans,
since he is called bishop under Aglibert and Herlemundus;
but that he ever occupied the chair of the same Church
I would by no means admit. Nor will this seem wonderful
to anyone considering that at that time there were bishops
even in monasteries, as the writer from whom I depart
confesses Piolin, vol. I, Introd., p. CXXVIII., and as Du Cange in the Glossary under Episcopus and the Authors of the New
Treatise of diplomatics Nouv. Traité de Diplom., vol. V, p. 424. show by various contemporary examples.
[29] and the year of the death of Childebert III. But if anyone, nevertheless, because of the words of the Deeds,
in which Herlemundus is called successor of the later lord
Berarius Vet. Anal., p. 281., contends that another Berarius is to be reckoned
among the bishops of Le Mans, I shall not
altogether resist; provided he is willing to put forward the beginnings of the episcopate
of Herlemundus to the year of Christ 715:
for in this way we shall find a triennium in which it will be permitted to intercalate
the pontificate of Berarius II. And that the beginnings
of the episcopate of Herlemundus are to be put off to the year 715
the Academician de Foncemagne grants, relying on Le Cointe Annal. at 717, § XXV. and Bondonnet Vies des évêq. du Mans, p. 323.,
in the Memoirs of the Academy
of Inscriptions of France Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscript., vol. XX, p. 216.. But if in this way
the difficulty about the place to be occupied by Berarius among
the bishops of Le Mans is removed, there remains another
about the time: for in the year 710 Aglibert was still living;
how then could Berarius speak of
Herlemundus as though then bishop? Nor is
the question solved by the probable error of some number,
perhaps badly written: for the greatest difficulty lies in the name
of Childebert III, who, no one, as far as I know, denying it,
died in the year 711, when Bishop Aglibert was still
living. Wherefore we explain these tangles more conveniently
when we do not press too much
the words of the Deeds about the successor of the later lord
Berarius, especially since in expressing the very names of bishops and
kings the copyists sometimes laboured,
as is plain in the precept of Childeric concerning the Court
of Ardunum in the district of Poitiers; the superscription is:
There follows the exemplar of that beginning made under Berarius or
Aiglibert. But a Childeric who ruled Neustria
while either St. Berarius or Aglibert was living
I find none: for there are two kings of this name,
of whom the former held the sceptre of the Franks in the 5th century,
and the latter in the years 715–720 occupied Austrasia alone.
Because of ambiguities of this kind
I would prefer the later Berarius struck out of the catalogue of the bishops of Le Mans,
although I have said these things as it were
by guessing, ready, if anything better is shown,
gladly to embrace it.
Annotations* there?
* we were present?
* offered (fem.)?
* to be disturbed
LIFE OF ST. BERARIUS, BISHOP OF LE MANS AND CONFESSOR,
BY THE ANONYMOUS AUTHOR OF THE DEEDS OF THE BISHOPS OF LE MANS,
From the Anisola manuscript and Mabillon's Vetera Analecta collated a.
The Deeds of the lord Berarius, also bishop of the city of Le Mans, who was in the last
time of Clovis, son of Dagobert, and in the time of Chlothar and
Theoderic, his sons.
Berarius, bishop and confessor, at Le Mans in Gaul. (S.)
BHL Number: 1177
aBY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.
St. Berarius, bishop of Le Mans, The lord Berarius, bishop of the city of Le Mans,
by nation partly Frank, partly Aquitanian,
sprung from most noble parents of both sexes,
made and ordained some little monasteries in the parish
of Le Mans, and instituted that they should live
according to rule. At the time, then, in which Clovis, son of Dagobert
b, ruled the sceptre of the kingdom of the Franks,
a man indeed most noble and most perspicacious in the administration of public
affairs c: for since he was strong in
excellent manners, he gave both ready and devout
assent to the just petitions of the servants
of our God [d]. Whence it came about that in his
time many monasteries were built throughout his kingdom,
and many tokens of religious acts were increased.
[2] he sends to Monte Cassino, Finally, among the other signs of divine acts of his time,
the pledges also of blessed bodies, namely of Benedict,
the chief Confessor of Christ, and of the holy
Virgin Scholastica, his sister, were shown to certain
servants of God who came from Gaul into the province
of Benevento for this very purpose, a revelation having been made by God,
and, the Lord going before and accompanying,
they were venerably carried into Gaul [e]. For these most sacred bodies
had for a long time been removed from the frequenting
of men. Since indeed the places of Monte Cassino, which
held them, from the time when they had been
utterly overthrown by the Goths, remained reduced to a solitude.
When, then, the nation of the Lombards had long been unwilling to be free of the darkness
of their unbelief, and, refusing to bear the yoke
of the Lord, had decided to attack those who were,
it came into Italy for the sake of attacking the Christian name,
and of subjecting it to its own dominion:
whose inhabitants God by a hidden judgment
delivered to its sword to be struck. Which nation, far and
wide extending the cruelty of its slaughter, undertook to storm the province
of Benevento; whose
cities it levelled with the ground, laying waste monasteries and vills,
and wrought no small slaughter of Christians.
For, tearing the Lord's sheep, shut out from the sheepfolds, with diverse
slaughter, it overturned the sheepfolds of the Lord; so
that places formerly desirable seemed turned into the waste
of a desert. Whence, among its other crimes,
laying waste the monastery of the excellent father Benedict,
it rendered it bereft of everything and uninhabitable
f.
[3] then foully laid waste, How this overthrow, while the same
Blessed Benedict was still living, was foreseen and foretold by him
through the Holy Spirit, whoever
wishes to know more fully will easily be able to find in the books of the Dialogues of Blessed Gregory,
to which inviting the reader g, let us pursue the things
which we have begun. While, then, the aforesaid king
was happily governing the helm of the Franks,
at one and the same time a not dissimilar vision was divinely shown to two
lovers of God, although bodily placed far apart
on either side, namely to the lord Berarius, bishop of the city of Le Mans,
and to Mummulus, venerable abbot of the monastery of Fleury,
situated in the district of Orléans,
each, however, being ignorant of what had been shown to the other concerning the same holy bodies
h. On a certain night, then, while
the aforesaid venerable prelate Berarius, set in prayer,
was persevering wakeful after his custom, it was divinely
(as we have said) enjoined upon him that he should direct to the region
of Benevento, to the place which was called Monte Cassino,
most devoted servants of God, who should
carry the body of the most holy Scholastica, namely the sister
of the most holy Benedict, which had long been neglected
indeed by men, but frequented by Angels,
most devoutly and with all
veneration to his, that is, to the city of Le Mans,
and to the same venerable bishop, to be thereafter
venerably kept. Not unlike this revelation,
in the monastery of Fleury, a vision was shown to the blessed man written above, Mummulus
the abbot, in which it was enjoined upon him that
he too should send religious men to the same province, to the aforesaid
place, to carry the most sacred
body of Blessed Benedict to him in the aforesaid
monastery, which had lately, the Lord willing, been founded from the lowest
foundations, to be placed there in like manner
[i]. Which was so fulfilled, the Lord favouring, by the merits
of the pledges described above.
[4] one of his own together with the man of Fleury The aforesaid lord Berarius, then, the venerable
prelate, firm in faith, conspicuous in happy action,
carried out most zealously according to the vision divinely shown to him,
and most wisely instructed most devoted servants of God
how, the Lord teaching, they ought to accomplish a thing of this kind;
and without delay directed them to perform it according to
their strength. He himself
meanwhile was zealous to build and construct a monastery from the lowest foundations
on a site, little habitable hitherto,
of the church of his see, busying himself in every way that,
if the work begun should receive, the Lord favouring, a happy and desired
effect, on their return they might find a place
prepared and fittingly * adorned, in which the desirable
treasure could be embraced and most ornately laid.
Meanwhile the aforesaid most devoted envoys
of the venerable prelate, being about to perform most willingly his precepts
for accomplishing a work of this kind according to
the will of God, began, the Lord going before, to take
the journey: and turning aside into
the monastery of Fleury for the sake of lodging, they very aptly joined themselves to those
sent as written above. These professed that they were themselves
making the journey which the others too were making,
and yet none of them told the other for what reason
they were taking care to make such a journey. And going forward thence
together, they came on the journey begun as far as Rome,
and accomplished it undivided. When they had arrived there,
they went together to the basilica of Blessed Peter for the sake of prayer:
and going out thence, as under
the pretext of visiting singly the places of the Saints,
they parted from one another. This they did, as the truth of the matter
shows, that each of them might be able to conceal from the other
what he was seeking, and that it might not become manifest to anyone
of the other party.
[5] to carry off the bodies of SS. Benedict and Scholastica: Being about, then, to accomplish the business which they had begun,
they divided themselves, as we said, from each other's journey: but at
the destined place of the castle, that is Cassino,
they came together again on one day, the one ignorant of the other, but the Lord
willing it. And when they perceived that they had again
unexpectedly arrived together, hesitating indeed
as to what the zeal of the other party wanted,
judging that by God's nod such an event had happened
to both: at length they disclosed to one another mutually the cause
of their journey, and for what desire they had undertaken so long
a labour, which * they had long concealed:
the men of Le Mans, namely, that they were seeking the body
of Saint Scholastica, and the men of Fleury that of
Saint Benedict, being directed by their prelates, to whom it had been shown
by divine revelation; and that, if the Lord should fulfil their desire,
they had come to carry them; and ceasing there a little
from travelling * , they awaited the outcome
of the matter, and earnestly besought the Lord that
He would show the vision which He had deigned to reveal to them:
and that He who had destined them to this work
would not delay to show them the treasure for
which they had come, that they might not have run in vain.
[6] who by a heavenly sign When, therefore, for the sake of obtaining some sign,
they were running about through the places of the same mountain, and
as diligent explorers turning their eyes hither and thither,
certain shepherds of flocks, seeing them, asked
for what reason they had come there, or
why, considering the same places so diligently,
they were taking care to explore them. But when they refused
to make manifest to them the business begun, one of them,
weightier in age and pre-eminent in length of days,
touched by the nod of God, understood that they
wished to investigate some more hidden cause, and calling them
aside more secretly, he said: Why do you make the thing for which you have come
so hidden from me? For if you make it known to me, if
it be very secret, it will remain hidden with me just as
with you. But if I can be privy to the thing
which you seek, a worthy recompense being given me by you
according to the quantity of my knowledge, I will take care to make manifest
the outcome of the matter. When the aforesaid servants of God had heard these things
from him, reckoning
within themselves whether perhaps the Lord had directed him there for this,
that he might indicate to them what they were seeking;
considering also that wisdom is found in the ancients,
and counsel of things past; being asked,
they unfolded in order the history of the thing for which they had come,
and made known what vision had been shown
for this thing. There will be, they say,
no delay in rendering you a reward, if you can satisfy
our desire. Then the old man said: When
the next night comes, as the day withdraws, rest
a little, then rise more quickly, and going out of the enclosures
of the house, stand as prudent watchers under the bare
axis of the sky: and when you shall see some place of this
solitude shining with a most clear light
like a most bright mountain, note the place
diligently: for I truly believe that there
you will find the cause for which you have undertaken so great a labour.
[7] Enlightened, they find the holy Relics. The venerable men, then, burning with desire for this kind of thing,
taking a little sleep, as the old man had foretold them,
and rising at the first watch,
go out of the house, and, anxiously considering the tract
of the aforesaid solitude, they see a certain
place lit by a clear light, as if by various torches
and innumerable lights, gleaming most brightly.
Having seen which, filled with joy, they gave immense thanks to the governor
of all, and spent the rest of the night sleepless
in praises. And when the following day first began to shine, they
most devoutly approach the place over which they had seen the aforesaid splendour,
with litanies and hymns and prayers suppliantly beseeching the Lord
that He would fulfil their vow.
After long prayer,
approaching with the highest veneration that most sacred place in which
the holy bodies were resting, they find there a place outwardly
indeed mean, but inwardly gleaming with pearls of great
price. And skilfully considering the church
placed above it, they discern the names of those whose
most sacred pledges were laid within:
and the coffer having been emptied and opened from
the side, they shut up the desirable treasure within the bosom of one
little basket: and soon, retracing with the greatest
haste the way by which they had come, they took care to return hastening,
carrying the precious pearls which, the Lord
being propitious, they had found k.
[8] and they carry them into Gaul. Meanwhile, as they were returning, and already reaching the borders of that
region, a voice from God, made divinely by
night, admonished them to take care to return thence more swiftly,
and to make no delays in returning,
lest some hindrance should befall them from the citizens or from anyone
of those regions. For on the same night
someone thus addressed the Roman Pope l through a vision:
Why, he said, does so heavy a sleep
oppress you that, given up to your bed, you neglect the care of your province?
And why, the public advantages being let go,
are you entangled in your own? For, that what I say may be more manifest
to you, know that you today lack the patronage
of great powers, namely of Saint Benedict
and of Blessed Scholastica his sister, whose
bodies certain men, coming hither from the regions of Gaul,
are now carrying with them thither to be buried. Having heard
these things, the Roman Pope, leaping from his bed without delay,
seeks arms and companions, and, having joined to himself auxiliaries
of the Lombards, tried to pursue those withdrawing.
But the servants of God, having received the aforesaid vision, fearing
lest perhaps something sad should befall them, frequently
look back, and see themselves swiftly followed by
enemies. And then, filled with fear,
they prostrated themselves on the ground, suppliantly imploring almighty God
that He who had deigned to reveal to them the bodies of His Saints,
and who had
so far granted them a prosperous outcome,
would both mightily free them from their pursuers, and
mercifully grant them to carry the same holy pledges to their own
without grave hindrance.
[9] where by miracles Whose prayers the divine loving-kindness soon heard,
and so filled with a density of darkness the spaces which were between
the two, that to the servants of God going before
and carrying the bodies of the Saints
that same density of darkness was no hindrance at all, but to the pursuers
it altogether denied all faculty of seeing or
finding those going before: and so
the servants of God, all fear removed, returned undaunted, the Lord
granting it. At length, then, though
laboriously, yet safely, so great a journey being completed,
they returned to a certain little estate, Bonodium
by name m, situated in the district of Orléans: weariness
compelling them; in which place, while they were indulging a little
in rest, behold, a certain man poured forth eyeless from his mother's womb
came, and with great voices of mouth and of faith he besought the Saints
that they would grant him the eyes which nature had denied.
While, then, he persisted in these cries,
a short interval and scarcely one hour having passed,
the mist of blindness being dispersed, he began to behold the light so long denied him,
and began to extol God and together St. Benedict
and his most holy sister Scholastica
with great voices of praise.
[10] they are made illustrious by various ones; It pleased the Divinity to join another to this miracle in
the same place, that it might show of how great holiness they were
whose ashes were being carried. For
a certain weak man, who could not walk upright, dragging himself
creeping along the ground, as being one destitute of the use of all
his limbs, came, imploring
help from almighty God through His servants.
And so in a wonderful way the sinews, long
contracted, began to stretch out, and the channels of the veins, long dry,
to be moistened with a flooding of blood; and so, God
willing, strength having been received, he stood joyful upon his feet
and blessed his healers with great voices.
Which place to this day retains a basilica consecrated in
their honour. And when it pleased them to move from the same place,
they went to another little estate, distant about a thousand
five hundred paces from the monastery to which
they were tending, Villa-Nova by surname n. In it
also, when it had pleased them to rest a little,
a certain blind man met them, who, with great
violence, making a ferocious rush, seized the basket in which the bodies of the Saints
were being carried; whom the man of God
Aygulf o was zealous to chastise with moderate correction,
and to recall from his unlawful presumption. But
he whom the lost light grieved answered
that he could in no way be torn from that place unless he received
his light as soon as possible; and he declared that he was of so great
faith that whatever the Saints whose
Relics were being carried should ask, the Lord assenting to them,
they could grant. Worthy rewards followed his faith:
for, the darkness gradually receding from
his eyes, he departed from the same place seeing clearly.
[11] and the Relics of St. Scholastica, After this, when no delay was made in going,
columns of monks with the people of the territory
of Orléans came out to meet them a mile from
the monastery, in the place which is called Old Fleury [p];
and there with joy and gladness and great honour
they received the bodies of the aforesaid Saints,
on the fifth day before the Ides of July, and in the same place on that day
they performed their solemnity with immense joy
in the praises of God [q]. When, therefore, they had celebrated
the solemnity of the holy bodies, as was said above,
the people of the city of Le Mans, sent by the lord
Berarius the bishop, came to meet their fellow citizens to
carry the body of Saint Scholastica, for which
the same pontiff had sent, eager to carry it with them fittingly,
as was proper: but the men of the same place
striving to retain both holy
bodies with them, and asserting that they would by no means
wish the bodies of the holy Brother and Sister
to be separated from one another, but that, just as it had pleased that they had lain together in the former monument,
so they wished them to rest undivided in the second.
On the contrary, all the noble and wise men of Le Mans
contradicted thus: It is proved not to be just, they say,
that those whom the divine will made sharers in the supernal
vision of the supernal oracle and in the revelation and showing
of the long-hidden treasure, and who together went to the tomb of the holy
bodies, and who were equal in bearing
a labour of this kind, should not also share equally
the fruit of the labour. And above all they said
it was not fitting that the narrowness of one place should confine two great lights,
since single ones would suffice for single
places.
[12] from the bones of St. Benedict Acquiescing, then, at length in these and such
words, they willingly gave assent to their petitions;
thus deliberating, they decreed that
they themselves should retain only the body of St. Benedict,
and should with all charity let their companions, together with their fellow citizens,
carry the body of St. Scholastica to the lord Berarius, who had sent them for this,
to the city of Le Mans.
Meanwhile no small uncertainty arose about distinguishing the bones of the bodies,
since both had been carried mixed together
in one and the same, as we have said, little basket
[r]. This difficulty of distinguishing having thus arisen,
they decreed this to be wise counsel, that the bones
which seemed to be smaller should be placed separately,
and the larger gathered on the other side: which was so
done. But since they were still uncertain about these things, and
wished to know something more certain from this,
earnestly asking the Divinity that He would deign to show it to them more clearly,
they spent the space of the whole night in prayers.
And when morning came, it happens that the bodies of two little children
were being carried lifeless to places adjoining them,
of whom one was of the male,
the other of the female sex. Counsel therefore being taken,
they had both bodies brought to them, and had the body of the male
placed beside the holy bones which seemed larger,
invoking the omnipotence of the divine majesty
that it would deign by this means to make their understanding
more certain. And it came to pass, the divine power
working, that as soon as the body of the dead touched the dead
bones of Blessed Benedict, he who lay dead
rose alive.
[13] miraculously distinguished, By like counsel also it was deliberated that
they should place the body of the dead girl beside the bones which seemed smaller.
And the supernal omnipotence of the Holy Trinity,
that it might demonstrate to mortals that those who had been brother and sister
on earth are joined in heaven for worthy merits,
made equal also in miracle those whom it had made equal in merit
[s]. For when the body of the girl touched the bones
of St. Scholastica, she who had been dead the day before
at once rose alive: and so through the dead
life was restored to the dead, and the bearers of the funeral, who
sadly carried the dead to the tomb, returned joyful to their own homes with them restored
to life. All things about
His Saints the divine clemency, with whom how much
their merits availed, even the lifeless bodies testified,
when, snatched from the jaws of death,
they became alive again. For here an ancient and, after the act of Elisha,
unaccustomed miracle is established;
because the hand of almighty God, to demonstrate
that the Saints lacked neither new nor ancient
miracles, exalted them living with new works, and dead with the ancient
works of the Prophets; and the truthful voice
of the Truth promising is fulfilled [t]: He that believeth in
me, the works that I do he also shall do, and greater
than these shall he do. With joyful minds, therefore, and great voices
all with one accord blessed the Lord,
who rendered certain by so celebrated a miracle
those things which had hitherto been doubtful to them.
[14] to Le Mans Every doubt, therefore, being removed, which for
the distinguishing of the holy bodies had long clung to their
minds, the people of Le Mans placed the body of St. Scholastica,
venerably lifted, on their own shoulders,
and with immense joy turned their way to the lord
Berarius, bishop of their city,
having as leader of this business a certain servant of God,
who, with another venerable companion joined to him,
had been directed to Rome and Benevento to fulfil this work
by the aforesaid lord Berarius.
But the other having died on the journey, the survivor, the Lord
having mercy, remaining to accomplish this business [v],
most fittingly managed the work begun. At length,
then, the mercy of the Lord going before and following
and accompanying them, they gradually drew near to the city of Le Mans,
the fame of their arrival being already spread through the whole of the same province.
Whom the lord Berarius, the venerable pontiff, together
with vested priests and clerics of all grades,
with crosses and censers and candlesticks,
and all the ecclesiastical banners, and also
with an innumerable multitude of both sexes and of every age,
coming to meet them, sounding a celebrated harmony,
most devoutly met, and venerably received the most sacred body of St. Scholastica.
[15] they are translated with great pomp. Who, entering the city, to the monastery
which (as we said) for this work between the wall of the city
and the river Sarthe he had nobly and fittingly founded from the lowest
foundations, he carried it with Litanies, hymns and psalms,
and various harmonies, with the highest veneration,
and there in the church which he had already dedicated in honour
of St. Peter [x] he placed it fittingly and solemnly
behind the altar: and having ordered the things which were
necessary for women consecrated to God and leading
the regular life, within a short space of time
he gathered very many noble women, that is, no fewer than fifty
hundred women, in the same monastery,
to the Lord's service and the regular warfare;
who, having left the world, humbly bound themselves to the yoke of the Lord
and His mastery. And he also
nobly enriched the monastery itself from the properties of his episcopate and
from his own, or from others, whatever his hand
was able to draw to it or acquire,
and judged that it with all things pertaining to it
should be subject in perpetuity to his see and to the mother Church over which he presided,
and left it to be possessed perpetually by his successors
or by the priests of the same mother Church
and the other canons [y]. Which to this day, the merits
of the most blessed Scholastica deserving it, is declared by innumerable
powers of miracles, the holy
and undivided Trinity granting it, to whom be always honour,
praise and glory now and always and through infinite
ages of ages. Amen [z].
[16] The foundation of Tuffé For in the time of the aforesaid lord Berarius,
bishop, there was in the same parish a certain woman
devoted to God, named Lopa, namely the relict
of Eiregnus, who, kindled with the love of God, wishing to build a monastery on her own
property in a certain vill named Tuffiacum [aa], situated on
the river Idonea [bb], and being by no means able to do it herself,
began to frequent the aforesaid Saint Berarius, that by his counsel
and help she might merit to bring the said work of God
to its completion. The aforesaid Lopa, using his counsels
and enjoying his very frequent conversations,
panting more and more in the aforesaid desires,
and with love and desire also for the aforesaid
lord Berarius, handed over by law the aforesaid vill of Tuffiacum,
with all its properties and possessions which
she had by no means formerly handed over to other churches and kinsfolk,
by instruments of charters, many bishops, abbots, counts and other
noble men subscribing, to the holy mother Church
of Le Mans, and to our said bishop Berarius,
before Clovis, king of the Franks,
namely the son of Dagobert [cc], as is found inserted in her
instruments, which are kept to this day in the archive of our mother Church.
And the aforesaid
solemn delivery having been performed by law before the said king,
and lawfully confirmed by his precept corroborated with his own
hand, they both began,
that is, the lord Berarius and Lopa, to build
the appointed monastery.
[16] and of the monastery of St. Mary: But before they set about making a new
church there, the aforesaid
Lopa, devoted to God, panted with so great a desire that the house in which she was wont
to dwell she should nobly prepare for performing the service of God.
She asked, therefore, of the said bishop that a
church be consecrated for her in honour of the holy Mother of God Mary.
To whose petitions the aforesaid holy bishop
giving assent, because he knew it to be pleasing to God,
canonically consecrated the house of the aforesaid matron into a church
in honour of the Mother of God Mary.
Which church remains to this day, and in it,
by the power of God and the merits of the holy Mother of God Mary,
many miracles are divinely done. This, then, being accomplished,
they both began to work the remaining buildings and
to build a cloister, in which they were zealous to gather bands of nuns,
and taught them to live according to rule,
and instituted that they should live according to the Rule of St. Benedict.
For from his own monastery,
which is built and dedicated in honour of St. Mary between the river Sarthe
and the wall of the city of Le Mans [dd], where at that time of St. Berarius the lady
Ada, who is also Aldrechildis, namely a kinswoman of the lord
Berarius, was abbess, and bands of nuns
served Christ under the Rule of St. Benedict, the aforesaid
pontiff brought nuns, well proved,
and living according to the norm of St. Benedict,
and appointed them to live according to rule in the aforesaid Tuffiacum together with the said
matron Lopa. The often-mentioned St. Berarius gave besides,
from the properties of the Church of his see,
some little vills and several villages, and also
various other possessions to the aforesaid monastery
as a help, which remain there to this day,
from which the congregation of that monastery
might have food and clothing, and adorn their churches,
and receive guests and pilgrims fully and according to rule,
and perform the services of God fully and
according to rule.
[18] The Saint's death. That monastery, then, he left under the right of the Church
of his see, and instituted that in future times it should be
and live according to rule under its dominion with increase
of properties: where he both gathered many bands of nuns,
and confirmed by his testament that there should be in perpetuity
the perfect, that is, the hundredfold number of nuns, together with the other
priests at the gate of the same monastery
and the other servants of God, together with their servants;
so that by his supports the servants of God and the poor
serving the holy mother Church of Le Mans
might be able to receive life and clothing more abundantly.
To whom may the Lord, at our prayer, manifoldly
repay his reward. The aforesaid
lord Berarius, then, made 61 ordinations, priests
405, deacons 228, subdeacons and other
ministers sufficiently [ee]; and he sat in the aforesaid
see 26 years, 4 months, 24 days, and died in
peace on the 16th day before the Kalends of November in Aquitaine, in the district
of Bordeaux, in the vill which is called Banett [ff]. Thence
he was fittingly carried to his own, and buried in
the xenodochium or monastery of Pontileva [gg], which he himself
had restored by his own labour, by his priests and disciples
with honour, by whose merits many
miracles were declared there. He also merited to obtain
with the Saints the everlasting kingdom; which we too,
supported by his prayers, may merit to attain, the giver
and prince of all granting it, and to possess through
immortal ages of ages, amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
a. For the most part,
where the reading was different, we have preferred the Anisola text, because it more clearly
expresses the sense of the writer: in the margin, however, we note the readings
of Mabillon.
greatly in describing the character of this Clovis: for some,
like ours, extol him with the highest praises, others on the contrary
traduce him as senseless and given to every lust Daniel, Hist. de Fr., vol. II, p. 43, Amsterdam ed., 1742..
d. The Deeds
of Le Mans bring forward no charters of Clovis II from which the assertion
of the biographer could be confirmed, but neither do the writers of French history
recount many: namely one to Blidegisil the deacon, in which he gives the Castrum of the Bagaudae
for the construction of a monastery, and four for the monastery of Saint-Denis
near Paris D. Bouquet, vol. IV, p. 633 and 636 and following..
e. This
narrative of the translation of SS. Benedict and Scholastica into Gaul, with not
many things, but those indeed of fairly great moment, changed, is found written
by Adalbert, monk of Fleury, in the Appendix to the life of St. Benedict
under the 21st day of March Act. SS., vol. III of March, p. 302..
because there was none, or because its memory was obliterated by the Lombard
destruction. Of this one, indeed, Paul the Deacon has, in the Deeds
of the Lombards, book VI, ch. XVIII Murat., Scriptt. rer. Ital., vol. I, part I, p. 158.:
The monastery of Blessed Father Benedict, which is situated in the Castle of Cassino, is invaded
by the Lombards by night. They, plundering everything, could not hold even one of
the monks, so that the prophecy of the venerable Father Benedict,
which he had long before foreseen, was fulfilled, in which he said: I could scarcely obtain from God that the souls from this place should be granted to me. St. Gregory the Pope relates this prophecy of the man of God, book II of the Dialogues, ch. XVII S. Greg. Magni Oper., vol. II, p. 244, Paris ed. 1705, and similarly interprets it of the Lombards. But if a Gothic devastation had preceded, which had utterly overthrown the monastery of Cassino, it does not appear how in a short interval it could have been so restored that St. Benedict should lament that the monastery built by him and prepared with all care would be destroyed by the Lombards.
i. It seems
that two were sent both from Le Mans and from Fleury to carry away the bodies of the Saints;
this is shown by num. 14 of this Life, in which it is said that the other companion
from Le Mans died on the journey itself. Although, however, the multiplication
of persons little favoured the keeping of the secret,
the danger was still graver of sending single men, who, failing on the way
by any chance whatever, the whole mission would go to ruin.
where the bodies of the Saints were laid up was to some extent known, namely behind or
beneath the high altar. Next, in order that the place sought might be indicated, how could it be useful
to look under the bare axis of the sky at a flashing light, which
would indeed indicate the church, but by no means a determinate place?
Prudently, therefore, Adalbert of Fleury omitted Ibid., vol. III of March, p. 303, n. 6 to make mention of a church placed over the sacred Relics: he likewise
says, l. c., that the envoys of Le Mans and of Fleury only communicated their
secrets to one another after the finding of the Relics, whereas our biographer
at num. 5 relates that this happened before it. And indeed if the man of Fleury
alone had found both bodies, there would have been no reason why
the men of Le Mans could have claimed for themselves the Relics of St. Scholastica, as
is related in both narratives, here at num. 11 and in Adalbert Ibid., p. 304, n. 10. For the rest, a simpler and briefer history of this translation is shown us by an Anonymous German in Mabillon Vet. Analect., p. 211..
at that time St. Martin I, because he would not consent to the Ecthesis of the emperor Constans,
subjected to manifold persecution, was at length
ejected from his see and banished to the Chersonese. Since, however, we have no
more favourable epoch for the translation to Fleury than the time of the reign of Clovis
II, which extends to the year of Christ 656, it may come about that
this translation too should seem to be put forward to this year Act. SS., vol. I of September, p. 735, n. 32, when
St. Eugene held the Apostolic See: but I do not see by what right
the removal of an unknown thing could be reproached to a pontiff placed far away.
on which their Acts were published by our men. To St. Aigulphus is attributed by most
the translation of St. Benedict to the monastery of Fleury: but John Stilting
calls this into doubt in the Preliminary Commentary to the praised Acts L. c..
p. Is Old Fleury the same place which is today called Fleury-sur-Loire, distant about a thousand paces from the monastery of St. Benedict of Fleury?
q. At this day, namely the 11th of July, Usuard and many other Martyrologists recall the memory of this translation Mabill., Vet. Anal., p. 212..
r. The German Anonymous, praised above at note k, says Ibid., p. 211.:
And the bones being gathered and washed, they placed them on a most clean
linen cloth, yet each separately, that they might carry them with them to their region,
the Romans not knowing. Therefore the confusion of the bones, and the miracle which followed for that reason, collapses from this narrative.
s. We have preferred the reading of the Anisola MS., as being clearer: for Mabillon has: who had been brother and sister on earth, whom He made to be equal also in miracle, a sense which seems to me gaping.
t. The cited text, John 14:12, has: He that believeth (not he that shall have believed) in me, etc.
v. We have already noted above that not single men, but at least two each, both from Le Mans and from Fleury, were sent to accomplish the translation.
x. The church
of St. Peter, prepared for receiving the body of Blessed Scholastica, did not long
endure; nay, the place which it formerly occupied is conjectured to be the ground
where today is the crossroads of the Spur, Place de l'Eperon: but in the time
of the Norman devastations the Relics of St. Scholastica were carried off to
the greater church of St. Peter, which is also called of the Court, Grand-Saint-Pierre, Saint-Pierre de la Cour Pesche, Biogr. de la Sarthe, vol. I, p. 15, built
by Hugh I, count of Le Mans, in the year 969, under the pontificate of Sigefrid:
today the building still stands, preserved for the greatest part, and serves
the city Schools Pesche, Dictionn. topogr. de la Sarthe, vol. III, p. 350.. Having found the occasion, I judge it not inopportune to complete what our forebears at the
10th of February, num. 52 Act. SS., vol. II of February, p. 401, said about the body of St. Scholastica the Virgin, resting at Le Mans. About the year 874, as the old Breviary of Juvigny has it Gall. Christ., vol. XIII, Instrum., col. 311, at the urging of Richildis, wife of Charles the Bald, Robert, bishop of Le Mans, conferred the greater part of the bones of St. Scholastica on the queen, and they were brought into a basilica under the title of St. Scholastica. The rest, which remained, Robert enclosed again, lest the people of Le Mans should perceive it and turn to murmuring and sedition. From
these words it is plain by what reasoning the opinion could persevere among the people of Le Mans
that they perpetually possessed the body, or at least the greatest part of it.
And the relics of the Saint which were preserved at Le Mans were always held in the greatest
veneration. After, however, in the year 1562 the images and relics of the Saints had been laid waste by
the Calvinists, our men, l. c., following the Breviary of Le Mans at the 11th day of July,
say that the silver reliquary of St. Scholastica was withdrawn from the rapacity of the wicked;
but in this I would believe that they were deceived, and that the preservation of the Relics
was transferred to the reliquary. For we have before us a copy, extracted from the archive
of the Collegiate church of St. Peter of Le Mans, in which it is read that on the 10th day of June 1576 the Relics of St. Scholastica were placed in a new silver reliquary, the old one having been destroyed by the Huguenots in the year 1562 (laquelle avait ete defaite et demolie en l'annee 1562 que les Hugenots tenaient la ville du Mans): which
restoration the chapter of the praised church caused to be made at its own expense.
The people of Le Mans thereafter venerated the sacred pledges of their Patroness with the highest
religion, and on the 11th day of July and within its octave there was
yearly a huge concourse of the people, which also persists today, the faithful
people coming together to the parish church of St. Benedict, where today
what chiefly survives of the Relics is preserved. When, further, in the raging
of the French persecution in the year 1792 the altars and sacristy in the church of St. Peter
were being destroyed, the canon Savarre stole away one part of the Relics,
and, returning from exile in the year 1801, found it intact, and afterwards
gave it to the parish church of St. Mary de la Couture, in whose
treasury it is today laid up with worthy honour. Another part was withdrawn
when the silver reliquary was on the point of being broken and subjected to fire:
these Relics, deposited with the judge Maulny, still lie hidden in a cypress-wood case with
authentic instruments: as likewise a third part of the same,
found by a stonemason in the destruction, and formerly entrusted to the canon Rottier de Madrelle, and by him translated to his castle of St. Gervase (Saint-Gervais-en-Belin, arrond. du Mans, canton d'Ecommoy).
But the Relics of St. Scholastica which are today venerated with the greatest veneration at Le Mans
were formerly kept in the monastery of the Benedictine nuns
of St. Julian of the Meadow, and had been snatched from the profanation of the impious by the labour of Marie de
Brossard-du-Fresne, sacristan of the said monastery. And since the said nun
desired these sacred pledges to be restored to public
cult, Michel Joseph de Pidoll, bishop
of Le Mans, in the year 1803 committed the matter to be examined by Joseph Julien
Cailleteau, parish priest of the chapel-of-ease of St. Benedict within the city
of Le Mans. For which reason on the 27th day of July of the same year he
questioned the said Marie de Brossard, and her companion Renée Lebreton,
formerly a lay sister, who, having taken an oath, declared
that the Relics which they showed, namely of the bones of St. Scholastica, of St.
Benedict the abbot, of St. Victor, of St. Hyacinth the Martyr and of the blood of St.
Francis de Sales, had been kept intact, enclosed
namely in a pentagonal silver case, with a vaulted top and a small
cross set upon it: they declared moreover that the same case, hitherto closed with five
crystals, had at all times been exposed in the said monastery of St. Julian
to the veneration of the faithful, and that they consigned the same as a gift
to the church of St. Benedict, that it might enjoy public cult there. On the same
day Michel the bishop ratified this declaration and donation,
and permitted the sacred relics to be exposed to public veneration, and
again recognized by the present bishop, the most illustrious D. Jean-Baptiste
Bouvier, it was permitted that similar cult be shown them on the 13th day of November
of the year 1834. Further, to increase the devotion of the people to the holy tutelary patroness,
having been destroyed, the praised parish priest of St. Benedict had urged Cardinal Caprara,
legate of the Holy See, that he would deign to transfer the confraternity of St. Scholastica to
his parish church together with all indulgences and spiritual graces.
The Cardinal legate assented to the petition
and by letters given on the 2nd day of August 1806
granted the bishop of Le Mans faculty to make the requested translation. And these are
the things which we judged should be added concerning the present state of the Relics
of St. Scholastica, and which the Rev.
D. Guiller, steward of the episcopal Seminary, communicated to us, for which kindness we give him
the greatest thanks.
y. It was
then received in usage that it depended on the will of the founders to whom they should subject
the monastery founded by them, as Mabillon notes, Annal. Bened., book II, num. 19 Annal. Bened., vol. I, p. 40.. And St. Berarius, which often recurs in the Deeds of the bishops of Le Mans, subjected the monastery of nuns to his see.
z. From
this clause it may be concluded that the whole narrative of the translation was excerpted
from another document, and indeed, as we have already warned, from the Fleury
account of the same translation.
aa. Tuffiacum, Tuffé, dépt. Sarthe, arrondiss. Mamers.
bb. Idonea, to Mabillon l'Huine Annal., vol. I, p. 414, but if we consult the Cassini maps, Tuffiacum is set on another little river, namely la Caronne, which flows southward into the Idonea.
cc. It treats here of Clovis II, son of Dagobert I: but that the delivery is said to have been made to St. Berarius before the times of Clovis, we so interpret that our Saint
received it before he ascended the episcopal see of Le Mans, since
we have it that he was bishop, as the inscription of his Life reports, in the last time of Clovis. We can, however, so interpret these words that the delivery was made in the presence of Clovis, especially because a little below we read before the said king, and that it was corroborated with his own hand.
dd. Of the foundation of this monastery the Breviary of Le Mans treats, cited at Preliminary Commentary num. 1, in so far as the construction in honour of the Mother of God Mary is said to be referred to St. Berarius. Of this monastery I find no extant trace, unless perhaps it is the same as St. Julian of the Meadow, St Julien du Pré, which is sometimes also called St. Mary of the Meadow Pesche, Dictionn. topogr. de la Sarthe, vol. III, p. 348.. The place
certainly agrees, situated by the river Sarthe; but if what the praised
topographical lexicon has, l. c., is true, namely that only in the eleventh century were
nuns introduced there, the male monks having been expelled, then it would no longer be a question of the
monastery founded by St. Berarius: the antiquities of Le Mans are not well enough known to me
for me to be able to solve this knot. Although this too
could have happened, that there were first nuns there,
to whom monks succeeded, and these at length were in the third place replaced by nuns.
ee. Not only in this Life of St. Berarius, but
in the other bishops of Le Mans the Deeds frequently report the number
of ordinations and of those ordained: the Lives of the more ancient Roman Pontiffs
also recount the same number, as those who use the Roman
Breviary know well enough. But if both numbers, namely of those ordained by the Roman
Pontiffs and by the bishops of Le Mans, are compared, one
will find the greatest difference between the two, which cannot be explained in any other way
than if we say that the Roman recension, others being omitted, only
numbers those who were of the higher grade and the presbyterate of the Church
of the Roman Church constituted, such as the Cardinals were Nardi, Dei parrochi, vol. II, p. 95..
ff. For what cause St. Berarius went away into Aquitaine is not known; perhaps to avoid the persecution of Ebroin, mayor of the palace of Theodoric III, the slayer of St. Leodegar Pesche, Biogr. de la Sarthe, vol. I, p. XVI.. The place of our Saint's death I am not able to find, unless it is Bannes, dépt. de la Dordogne, arrond. de Bergerac, in the diocese of Périgueux: that vill can be said to be situated in some sort in the district of Bordeaux.
gg. Pontileva or Ponsleugua, Pontlieue, dépt. Sarthe, arrond. du Mans. In his testament Bertichramnus or Bertrand, whom our St. Berarius succeeded as the third, orders Mabillon, Vet. Anal., p. 259. that in the xenodochium of St. Martin at Pons Leugua
sixteen little souls devoted to God, that is, poor men, blind or infirm,
be placed, and that food be ministered to them every day sufficiently, a reckoning being made.
In later times it was a priory of the Order of St. Benedict under the abbey of St. Peter de la Couture at Le Mans Mabill., Annal., vol. I, p. 173.. Today no trace remains of the Relics of St. Berarius, nor is the place known where he once obtained burial.
* Mabill. decentem
* Mabill. qui
* by travelling?