Ethbin

ON ST. ETHBIN, CONFESSOR, IN IRELAND,

ABOUT THE YEAR 625.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Ethbin, abbot, confessor in Ireland. (S.)

B. B.

§ I. St. Ethbin becomes a monk of Taurac. At what time that monastery was destroyed. The chronology of the Acts of St. Ethbin. On St. Samson of Dol and of Nantes, as also on certain other men contemporary with St. Ethbin. His passage into Ireland. His life and festal memory.

The confused chronology of the British Saints. What Fr. Bolland had already noted at the 29th day of January Acta Sanctorum, volume II of January, p. 959. comes into use here: that there are many things in the deeds of the British Saints that are obscure, not woven together with suitable chronology, and beyond belief. Our Sollerius adds, in the Preliminary Commentary to the life of St. Samson Ibid., 28th of July, p. 568, no. 1.: "In the Commentary on St. Paul of Léon at the 12th of March Henschen adduced not fewer things, from which we have already been well taught to select those documents only which, if they do not remove all the darkness, can at least be squared in some way with the received histories and a right chronological order." These things, while they will contribute to a right elucidation of the acts of St. Ethbin, will at the same time also receive new confirmation from those very acts. Wherefore we make our beginning by ordering the chronology as well as could be done, weighing the notes occurring in the manuscript life of St. Ethbin from which some light may be had for establishing, at least probably, the series of times or years.

[2] A passage from the acts of St. Ethbin is recited. "St. Ethbin was instructed in liberal studies in his father's house up to the fifteenth year. But his father Eutius having died, his mother Eula fled for refuge to the protection of St. Samson, bishop of Dol, and asked that he would consecrate her with the sacred veil. He, giving assent to her will and petition, both dedicated her to God, and made her son Ethbin a cleric, shaving the hair of his head. And Ethbin remained with blessed Samson some days, serving him day and night." So the acts to be published below from the Anchin Manuscript.

[3] [The age of St. Samson, to whom St. Ethbin is read to have been brought, is established,] The first chronological note, then, is drawn from the acts of St. Samson, a man most well known among the Armorican Britons, and of whom very frequent mention occurs in the writers who have pursued the ecclesiastical affairs of that region, inasmuch as he is commonly held to be the founder of the city of Dol. St. Samson, moreover, according to the distinguished Tresvaux Les vies des Saints de Bretagne, Paris, 1836, volume I, pp. 202–239., was born in Greater Britain in the year 480. When he had already been both abbot in his fatherland and ordained bishop, he crossed the sea, hastening to the borders of the territory of Dol about the year 548; he was present at the IIIrd Council of Paris, which he also subscribed, in the year 557; and finally departed from life about the year 565. Our Sollerius differs not much from this chronology, in the Preliminary Commentary to the life of St. Samson Acta Sanctorum, 28th of July, p. 568.. He thinks, namely, that he was born about the year 490; ordained an apostolic or regionary bishop in the year 521. Then he proceeds thus: "What is the only certain trace of the age of St. Samson" (for of this Sollerius treats of set purpose in the same place), "namely that in the Paris synod (whether it was the second or the third) of the year 557 his name is found subscribed in the second to last place in Labbe, volume V, column 818: 'I, Samson, a sinner, bishop, have consented and subscribed.'" And after a few words: "How long the Saint lived after that synod I would not dare to define with certainty. That he extended his age to the end of the century, nay to the year 604, as Wilson notes with others in the Martyrology, or to 607, nay to 615, as you have it in Albert (Le Grand), I shall never be brought to believe. Grant that he passed the year 560, and, as Mabillon judges, reached 565, so that he was not much younger than an octogenarian; I shall not much oppose; and that this, and not 120 years, was his age, all will judge who prefer true things to marvellous." These things Sollerius about the age of St. Samson and the various epochs of his life, which, as we have already noted, do not much differ from the distinguished Tresvaux, and altogether agree as to the year in which St. Samson died. Our Longueval also agrees, attaching his death to the year 564 Histoire de l'Église Gallicane, Paris, 1825, volume III, p. 273..

[4] namely about the year 556. Adhering to the words of the manuscript acts recited a little before, nothing prevents its being admitted that St. Ethbin came with his mother to blessed Samson in the seventh or eighth year before the latter's death, namely 557 or 556. Nothing likewise stands in the way of our saying that Ethbin had sixteen or seventeen or even more years when St. Samson made him a cleric. "And St. Ethbin remained with blessed Samson the bishop some days, serving him day and night." We do not seem to ourselves to do violence to the text if we should say that those some days were three or four years; the more so because Capgrave, in place of "some days," puts "some years." This is certain from the very nature of the matter, that those some days are not to be taken strictly. Nay, Albert le Grand relates that St. Ethbin remained with the archbishop (so he designates St. Samson of Dol) and was initiated by him into orders up to the Diaconate inclusive. Which indeed would betray in the ordained an age even somewhat greater than we here suppose. The council of Agde, celebrated in the year 506, decrees at canon XVI: "Let the bishop by no means commit the blessing of the diaconate to those younger than twenty-five years" Labbe, volume IV, column 1386..

[5] Ethbin becomes a monk in the monastery of Taurac. Then the acts of St. Ethbin proceed in this manner: "One day, while blessed Samson the bishop was performing the priestly office, and Baumerus the deacon was reciting the lesson of the Gospel, Ethbin heard the words of the Lord saying: 'Whoever does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple.'" Luke 14:33

"Compelled by this voice, he left all things, and came to St. Similianus, and received the monastic habit from his hand, and bowed his neck under the yoke of the Lord in the monastery which is called Tauracus." If, then, the things which we have written above are admitted, it will follow that St. Ethbin was at least twenty years old when he put on the monastic habit. And this age will be claimed for him even if something should be taken away from the numbers which we indicated a little before. But as regards the time during which he dwelt in the monastery of Taurac, this one thing is had from the acts, namely that he persevered in the life undertaken there "until the Franks, coming upon them, laid waste the church itself and all Britain." And from these we draw the second note which serves for establishing the chronology.

[6] It is inquired in what year the ruin of the monastery of Taurac happened. In what year or time, then, did that laying waste of the church and of all Britain happen of which the acts of St. Ethbin speak? "Albert le Grand assigns the year DXCIX to this devastation... But in the said year ... Childebert II, under whom he writes that that war was waged, was not living, having died three years before. Gregory of Tours, who was then living, writes in book V of the History of the Franks, chapter 3, that in the IIIrd year of Childebert and the XVIIth of Chilperic and Guntram, which is of Christ DLXIV, war was begun against the Britons, and in chapter XXX asserts that in the following year Doppolenus, a duke, was cast down against the Britons, and overwhelmed some places of Britain with sword and fire. The same war was then continued and resumed, so that the monastery of Taurac seems to have been laid waste about those times. The age of St. Samson, bishop of Dol, agrees, especially if he subscribed the IIIrd Council of Paris in the year DLVII." Thus Sollerius Acta Sanctorum, 28th of July, p. 248, no. 13.. Which opinion of our most learned predecessor clearly enough conflicts with what we established a little before about the age at which blessed Ethbin had come to St. Samson. For, granted that this happened about the year of Christ 557 or 556, and that St. Ethbin remained some years with the blessed prelate of Dol, and then professed the cloistered life at Taurac for some space of time; how could it be that that monastery was laid waste by the Franks about the year 564? Sollerius, therefore, must here be abandoned by us; and that the more easily because there is nothing in the manuscript acts of St. Ethbin by which we are compelled to ascribe that devastation of Britain to the said year. Nay, that the acts may be consistent with themselves and may be composed with the chronology by some plausible reckoning, it seems to us that the ruin of Taurac is to be referred to an altogether different incursion of the Franks against the Britons, which is recorded about thirty years later. Moreover, Sollerius does not treat this question of set purpose in the place cited, but deals with it only incidentally.

[7] [Towards the end of the sixth century Britain is laid waste by the Franks, when we think Taurac was laid waste.] Let us hear, then, Hadrien de Valois, who Rerum francicarum, book XVI, volume II, p. 472. Paris edition, 1658. at the year of Christ DXCIII has thus: "In the Ist year, then, of the reign of Childebert in Burgundy, a new war arises for him against the Britons. Waroch was then still living and held all Britain, or at least the greatest part of it, a crafty and wily man, who had often deceived Chilperic and Guntchramn with frauds and perjuries, and had snatched the Veneti from the one and routed the forces of the other in battle. He, thinking the death of Guntchramn his opportunity, entered the territory of Nantes and the district of Rennes with great forces, and depopulated the whole region, as he had been accustomed to do while Chilperic and Guntchramn were reigning. This being known, Childebert sent an army against Waroch. The Franks clashed with the Britons in a fierce battle, and were laid low with great and mutual slaughter. Which nation conquered our historians do not say: plainly as if no one, or very few, survived of either army of the Franks and Britons, and the victor could not insult the vanquished: or certainly as if the fight was of doubtful issue and they departed with equal victory. From these things it can be judged that Childebert, who had previously held in his power only Avranches, a city of the Parisian kingdom bordering on the Britons, after the death of Guntchramn snatched from Chlotar Rennes and Nantes, cities more exposed to their incursions, one or both, and then held them: since he would rather have attacked towns subject to the dominion of Chlotar than defended them from the Britons, and would rather have let the enemy loose upon his kingdom and provinces than repressed them. For what Guntchramn had done, sending now envoys, now armies into Britain, he had done as guardian, as paternal uncle, and even as father of Chlotar, whose borders he thought it his part to protect." Thus far Valesius.

[8] [On which supposition the chronology of the acts of St. Ethbin is ordered happily enough.] From which narrative it is more than sufficiently established that amid those furies and fires of war there was occasion for laying waste Taurac, which monastery, being situated in the district of Dol or in its neighbourhood, was not much distant from those two cities, namely Rennes and Nantes, upon which the chief onset of the war seems to have rushed. But if it be admitted that the ruin of the monastery of Taurac in fact coincides with the aforesaid incursion of the Franks into Britain, it will have to be admitted at the same time that St. Ethbin inhabited it for thirty and more years. Which indeed is not even in the least repugnant to the acts, which by far for the greatest part are occupied in narrating the things which were done by the holy Man while he lived in that monastery. It is agreed moreover among all who have written of his life that he met his last day advanced in age. The acts to be published below say that he was about eighty-three years old. Since, moreover, the same acts expressly relate that, Taurac having been laid waste, he crossed over into Ireland, and lived there in the wood which is called Nectensis for twenty years; from all these things the following chronological order may be ascribed to the life of St. Ethbin. Namely, about the year 557, aged seventeen years or even a little more, he is presented to St. Samson; under whose guidance, a space of five or somewhat longer years having been completed, he professes the monastic discipline at Taurac, up to the devastation of this monastery, which falls at the end of the sixth century. At the beginning of the following century he passes into Ireland, and, in the wood which is called Nectensis, a church having been built, blessed Ethbin lived in the same place for twenty years. He will accordingly have died older than an octogenarian, since according to what was said above he was born about the year 540. These things we certainly do not give as certain and proved on every side; but as such that, if they do not remove all the darkness, they can at least (according to the warning of Henschen, above at no. 1 of this Commentary) be squared with the received histories and a right chronological order, and that not in some way or other, but altogether happily. Let these things suffice about the chronology. Now let us step forward to the elucidation of the other difficulties occurring in the acts.

[9] St. Ethbin a native of Lesser Britain. Although in the manuscript acts it is not said clearly, yet no doubt seems to remain that St. Ethbin was born in Armorican or Lesser Britain. Which indeed is drawn manifestly enough from this, that, his father having died, his mother is said to have fled immediately to the protection of St. Samson, bishop of Dol. For if she had come from a distant region, this would be insinuated by at least one or another word, either when the first recourse of the mother to St. Samson is treated, or when Ethbin himself, Taurac having been destroyed, departed from Gaul. Moreover, I have found no writer who has ever raised a question about this matter. All to a man relate that he was a native of Lesser Britain, and indeed not far from the city of Dol. Nor is it easily to be supposed that the mother, her husband having died, at once undertook a long journey with her younger son. But as regards St. Samson himself, it is agreed among all that he was born in Greater Britain or England, and there professed the monastic discipline, was afterwards made abbot, and ordained bishop in his fatherland; but of what see is disputed. Our Sollerius judges it most probable "that St. Samson was ordained not in Gaul but in Britain by St. Dubricius, an apostolic bishop of uncertain or no see, so that those of York and of St. Davids contend among themselves quite in vain to claim this Samson of ours for themselves" Acta Sanctorum at the 28th of July, p. 570.. Since these things serve little to our purpose, let it suffice to have indicated them in passing.

[10] Whether St. Samson was bishop of Dol? The distinguished Tresvaux affirms it; But we think it should be inquired a little more diligently whether he was in fact bishop of Dol: for although in the acts of St. Ethbin this seems to be expressly affirmed, nevertheless it is disputed on both sides whether he was properly such. As we have already warned above, Sollerius thinks that Samson is probably to be called properly neither bishop nor certainly archbishop of the church of Dol; and he observes Ibid., p. 569, nos. 10 and 11. that in the original text of Usuard there is announced at the 28th of July: "In Lesser Britain, in the monastery of Dol, of St. Samson, bishop and confessor." From which it is certainly not made out that he was bishop of the church of Dol and founder of that chair. The Roman Martyrology indeed uses the words of Usuard: "In Lesser Britain, of St. Samson, bishop and confessor," but seems studiously to pass over even the very name of Dol or Dola, lest he should be thought to be called bishop of that place. On the contrary, the distinguished Tresvaux, where he treats of set purpose of the origin of the church of Dol [L'Église de Bretagne depuis ses commencements jusqu'à nos jours, Paris, 1839, p. 253.], confidently writes that St. Samson, bishop or archbishop, fixed his see at Dol in the sixth century, and had as successors SS. Magloire, Budoc and Thurian, and that this, he says, is clearly established from the acts of those holy prelates. And in another Work, treating of the twofold journey which the holy man made to Paris: "Before the servant of God," he says Vies des Saints de Bretagne, volume I, p. 232., "departed from Paris, the king (Childebert), having heard that he was a bishop, wished him to use that dignity in his kingdom; and established his see in the very monastery of Dol (which St. Samson, coming from England, had founded some years before). The Legend of St. Magloire refers this institution of the see of Dol to the first journey which St. Samson undertook to Paris, while his own Legend would have it belong to the later: which indeed is more likely; since on this second journey Samson subscribed the IIIrd Council of Paris as a bishop already residing for some time in Gaul. The beginnings of the church of Dol, therefore, must be said to belong to the year 555, and Childebert must be acknowledged as the founder or promoter of this bishopric; since both legends, of St. Magloire and of St. Samson, agree in this, namely that St. Samson was established bishop of Dol by Childebert; which see the king also endowed with ample possessions, which the succeeding bishops held up to the end of the XVIIIth century." These things the distinguished Tresvaux in French, which we have rendered in Latin.

[10] against whom many things are opposed, Which acts of St. Samson the praised writer used

he does not indicate. Certainly in the life written by an almost contemporary anonymous author, and inserted in our Work at the 28th of July Acta Sanctorum, volume VI of July, p. 573 and following., not even the slightest mention is made of the council of Paris: "plainly neglecting," says Sollerius Ibid., p. 569, no. 8., "what is the only certain trace of the age of the saint (Samson), namely that in the Paris synod (whether it was the second or the third) of the year 557 his name is found subscribed in the second to last place in Labbe, volume V, column 818" [Likewise Sirmond, Concilia antiqua Galliae, volume I, p. 317, Paris edition, 1629. In both, Labbe and Sirmond, it is entitled the IIIrd of Paris.]. Nor anywhere either in the aforesaid life is St. Samson said to have been established bishop of Dol by Childebert; but in the life of St. Magloire Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, century 1, pp. 223–231., which the distinguished Tresvaux relates was written about the Xth century by an anonymous author Vies des Saints de Bretagne, volume I, p. 338., it is read that St. Samson, hastening to the borders of the territory of Dol, received from the most vigorous king of the Franks Childebert the government of the archprelacy Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, Life of St. Magloire, p. 223, no. 3.. And below Ibid., p. 224, no. 6.: "The most blessed Magloire, after the departure of the most glorious confessor of Christ Samson, according to his word, raised to the pontifical honour of the church of Dol, obtained the government." Finally, Magloire, warned from heaven to abdicate the prelacy, not long after "consecrated as bishop of the church of Dol, in the order of his turn, a certain man by the name of Budoc, whom he knew to have lived holily and religiously with him from the rudiments of earliest age" Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, Life of St. Magloire, p. 223, nos. 7 and 8.. Thus Samson is called archbishop (which the distinguished Tresvaux himself does not admit); Magloire is said to have been raised to the pontifical honour; Budoc is consecrated bishop of the church of Dol. These things certainly are not plain on every side. Then from the fact that St. Samson subscribed the council of Paris, celebrated in the year 557, the distinguished Tresvaux deduces that the beginnings of the see of Dol are to be referred to the year 555. But, to pass over other things, what is in question is here supposed, namely that St. Samson was in fact bishop of Dol, which, however, cannot be concluded from the subscription: nay, according to several, the contrary is rather made out from it; for it runs thus: "I, Samson, a sinner, bishop, have consented and subscribed." Why, they say, if he had presided over the church of Dol, would he not have indicated it in subscribing? Which kind of argument, however, will not seem to bind sufficiently to one who inspects the acts of the aforesaid council, where among fifteen bishops who subscribe only four are numbered making mention of their see. See Sirmond and Labbe In the places cited above.. Finally, it cannot be said that both legends, of St. Magloire and of St. Samson, agree in this, namely that St. Samson was established bishop of Dol by Childebert. For the Life of St. Samson, as we have already noted above, does not declare this by even a single word; and in the legend of St. Magloire St. Samson is called archbishop. But if we are to stand by the legends, I would prefer to adhere to the life of St. Samson, written by an almost contemporary author, rather than to the legend of St. Magloire, which, as Don Tresvaux himself relates, belongs to the tenth century. For the rest, there will be occasion to examine these things more fully at the 24th day of October, where the acts of St. Magloire will have to be given.

[12] and in particular canon VIII of that council of Paris. There is also another difficulty, no less serious, taken from canon VIII of the said council of Paris, by which are condemned erections of episcopal sees made by the authority of the king alone, without the opinion of the bishops of the same province first sought and the consent of the metropolitan obtained. And the distinguished Tresvaux himself confesses that this canon has regard to certain prelates of Lesser Britain, and among others to St. Samson. "The Fathers," he says Vies des Saints de Bretagne, volume I, p. 234., "since it was not given them to revoke entirely what had been done, established a norm by which they might both provide for the future and emend the past." Then he recites the canon, rendered in French; we shall append it in Latin as it is had in Sirmond Ibid., p. 316.. "And because in some matters the ancient custom is neglected, and the decrees of the canons are violated, it has pleased that, according to ancient custom, the decrees of the canons be kept. Let no bishop be ordained against the will of the citizens, except him whom the election of the people and clergy has sought with the fullest will; let him not be thrust in by the command of the prince, nor by any condition whatever, against the will of the metropolis or of the bishops of the province. But if anyone, by the ordination of kings, should presume with excessive rashness to invade the summit of this honour, let him by no means merit to be received as bishop of that place by the comprovincials, whom they recognize as unduly ordained. If any of the comprovincials should presume to receive him against the prohibitions, let him be altogether separated from the brothers and removed from the charity of all of them. For concerning ordinations of pontiffs already made it is agreed thus, that the metropolitan, joined with his comprovincial bishops, or with neighbouring bishops whom he shall wish to choose, in the place where they shall come together, according to the ancient statutes of the canons, shall decree all things by common counsel and opinion." It could certainly seem strange that so severe a decree was passed in the presence of Samson, both abbot and saint, if he by royal ordination had presumed with excessive rashness to invade the summit of honour.

[13] what the distinguished Tresvaux replies to this difficulty. The Reverend Don Tresvaux replies As above, p. 235.: "Since St. Samson was a bishop, and indeed ordained several years before Childebert assigned him the territory of Dol, this canon does not strike him so directly as other bishops of Britain whom the same king had established, the authority of the metropolitan of Tours being neglected. It could also have happened that on account of the eminent fame of holiness which Samson enjoyed he was admitted among the fathers of Paris, the form which is prescribed in canon VIII not being observed. Moreover, it seems that the British bishops thought themselves not bound by this canon, inasmuch as they thought that they resided in Gaul such as they had been in Cambria, namely members of their native church, altogether distinct from the Gallican. And in very truth they did not obey the canon; which was the reason why in the second council of Tours its prescriptions were renewed more energetically and more distinctly."

[14] Reasons by which the difficulty does not seem solved. We shall not deny that those reasons have their weight. They do not, however, as it seems to us at least, untie the knot. For this one would have to ascend higher, namely to clear, authentic documents by which it would be established that St. Samson was in fact established bishop of Dol by King Childebert. On this the hinge of the whole matter turns. But instruments of this kind are nowhere found. One proceeds almost by conjectures, or by arguments drawn from a later age, such as are legends or acts of individual Saints, in which, as also in the acts of St. Ethbin, Samson is called bishop of Dol. But, besides that, as we have seen, they do not agree among themselves, nor can it be determined at precisely what time those legends and acts were written; it could be said that this naming obtained from the fact that St. Samson was in truth a bishop and at the same time also founder and abbot of the monastery of Dol, so that that naming is not necessarily referred to a see properly so called. In our opinion nothing certain can be deduced from those or similar words, which occur here and there in the older acts; otherwise it would have to be said that Samson was not only bishop but also archbishop of Dol. On which matter the Reverend Don Tresvaux notes these things Ibid., p. 233.: "In both legends (of SS. Magloire and Samson) the see of Dol is called archiepiscopal, either because both authors lived after Nominoë (Duke of Britain, who raised that church to the metropolitan dignity), or because both intended to designate the church where St. Samson had been ordained in Greater Britain; or finally because in the course of time the word archbishopric crept in in place of bishopric in the transcripts or copies, after the see of Dol had become metropolitan." The learned reader will notice that the same error occurs here which we censured above; in the life of St. Samson there is no more question of an archbishopric than of a bishopric.

[15] What is doubtful, what certain about St. Samson. However that may be, there seems no room for doubting that Samson was only a bishop; if, however, the beginnings of the church of Dol ascend to his times, which seems to us by no means proved. But it is beyond controversy that that Saint was both ordained bishop in his fatherland and was the author of the monastery of Dol, which he was also governing when St. Ethbin was brought thither by his mother; which things suffice for the Ethbinian acts to keep their credit in this part, provided, however, that the words "bishop of Dol" are not interpreted of an episcopal see properly so called. Let us now pursue the rest.

[16] Baumerus. Similianus I doubt whether any mention occurs elsewhere of Baumerus, deacon of St. Samson, by whose reciting of the lesson of the Gospel Ethbin was compelled to leave all things, going to the holy abbot Similianus, in whose monastery he received the monastic habit. Nor is the abbot Similianus to be confused with the bishop of Nantes of the same name, who is venerated on the 16th of June, and is said by Albert Le Grand to have died in the year CCCX; but by Papebroch, less determinately, in the IVth century, in the historical sylloge of St. Similianus See Acta Sanctorum at the 16th of June, p. 42., begun by Fr. Henschen, which Papebroch completed, Henschen having been taken from life. From the fact that certain persons, deceived by the likeness of the name, have confused those two Saints, not a few incoherent things occur with them in the lives of SS. Samson and Ethbin, openly conflicting with all Chronology. For the rest, scarcely anything is found written about St. Similianus the abbot. Chastelain in the index to his Martyrology Page 1170. has these words: "Similianus (Similien), abbot of Taurac in Britain, which monastery was laid waste." He notes also that he is omitted in his Martyrology and is different from St. Sembeinus (Sembein). By this name he designates the bishop of Nantes, whom the Reverend Don Tresvaux in his life Volume I, p. 19. calls Similinus, Similianus, Sambinus; others also write Semblinus.

[17] not to be confused with the Bishop of Nantes of the same name. Mabillon in the Index of the Saints passed over in the Ist Benedictine century Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, volume I, at the beginning. notes: "Similianus of Nantes, 16th of June. Read Albert de Monte Relaxo (le Grand of Morlaix) in the Armorica sacra." In the place to which Mabillon refers, St. Similianus the bishop is treated, who is there said to have died in the year of salvation 310 [Les vies des Saints de la Bretagne Armorique, by Fr. Albert le Grand of Morlaix, Paris, 1837, p. 308 and following.]. These things, then, to our Similianus, the companion

of St. Ethbin, do not pertain. Likewise in our Acts at the sixteenth of June Page 5. there is placed among the passed over: "St. Similianus, bishop and confessor at Nantes in Lesser Britain, is inscribed in the monastic Martyrology of Arnold Wion, and in the notes is cited Trithemius, book 3 On the illustrious men of the Order of St. Benedict, chapter 42, by whom, says Wion, he is called abbot of Caurac and preceptor of St. Ethbin, and is said to have flourished in the year of the Lord 600. Of his episcopate, however, he says nothing. And rightly, because the St. Similianus who is indicated, bishop of Nantes, died in the fourth century of Christ, and is venerated on this day. On whose occasion Wion thrusts forward another Similianus, of whose birthday nothing is established. Meanwhile he is also reported as a bishop by Dorgan in the Benedictine Kalendar. But Ménard establishes him as abbot, and corrects the error of Wion. But Bucelin confuses everything, as if about the year 600 he had been abbot, and then bishop of Nantes, namely in the fourth century. Du Saussay, following Ménard, reported the same in the Supplement. All which rest on a false foundation. If the sacred cult of the abbot is proved, he can be treated with St. Ethbin his disciple on the 19th of October." But no trace of sacred cult has appeared to us. Nor have we other things concerning the life of St. Similianus the abbot, besides those which we have noted in this place and which will be read below in the very acts of St. Ethbin.

[18] Taurac Likewise I have found nothing about Taurac, neither in Hadrien de Valois, nor in the old Gallia Christiana, nor in the annals of Le Cointe, nor in the preceding volumes of our Acts. Whence it is easy to conclude that that monastery, once destroyed, was never restored, and that its memory, through the lack or at least the destruction of annals and instruments, has almost entirely perished; and that it was never very celebrated either seems to be established even from this, that up to now in our Work mention of it has occurred only once, namely at the third day of March in the life of St. Winwaloe, where discourse is incidentally had about St. Ethbin; and on this occasion nothing else is noted except that the monastery of Taurac is also called Caurac, Thaurocanum and Caurocanum; so that it may be supposed that that monastery has become known up to this day from the acts of St. Ethbin alone.

[19] Winwaloe, monk and Priest, different from the abbot of Landévennec. In which also it is read that at the time when Ethbin came thither, there dwelt at Taurac Winwaloe, monk and priest, a man of great holiness. "He, joining Ethbin to himself, seeing from afar that he was illumined with heavenly grace, loved him as a father his son." This was a new source of confusion. For many have wished this Winwaloe to be the same as the holy abbot of Landévennec of the same name, of whom with us at the 3rd day of March Page 245 and following., where he is said to have been born about the year 455; to have died in the year VII, or XVIII, or even XXIX of the sixth century. From which it is already clear that Ethbin had not been born when Winwaloe of Landévennec ended his life. This one, therefore, is different from the companion of St. Ethbin, both in time and in place: for the one lived in the monastery of Taurac, the other in that of Landévennec. They slip, therefore, who with our Malbrancq De Morinis, book 2, chapter XXXII, volume I, p. 184. think that all the things which are reported of the abbot of Landévennec are to be applied equally to the monk and priest of Taurac.

[20] The hallucinations of Malbrancq on this matter. Nay, Malbrancq goes further when, suppressing any mention of Landévennec, he makes Winwaloe founder and abbot of Taurac, and says he died and was buried there; adding that this monastery was destroyed by the Franks laying waste Lesser Britain, the tomb of Winwaloe being preserved. Whence Malbrancq drew these last things we do not know. He cites indeed in the margin the manuscript Parchments of Montreuil and Surius on the 3rd of February, and below (opposite the words "the tomb of Winwaloe being preserved") appends: "So the life has it." But those parchments to which he appeals seem to be the same which, formerly sent from Montreuil to the hagiographers our predecessors, are still in our hands today; nay, as far as they pertain to St. Winwaloe, they were printed at the third of March Acta Sanctorum, p. 254.. And in these nothing similar is found. And that Malbrancq used those same ones is suggested by his silence about Landévennec, of which in fact no mention occurs there; but at the same time there is silence about Taurac too. The reason probably is that the life of Winwaloe contained in these parchments was written to be read by way of exhortation on the solemnity of St. Winwaloe [Compare Acta Sanctorum at the 3rd of March, Preliminary Commentary, p. 245, no. 2.]. Nor in Surius, who is also cited in the margin by Malbrancq, is anything had which even very slightly indicates Taurac. Moreover, he refers wrongly to the 3rd of February; read the 3rd of March. It remains that Malbrancq here, as also not seldom elsewhere, has given mere conjectures, and those not very happy ones either. His narrative, accordingly, is not to be made much of.

[21] A further investigation into both Winwaloes. Not to be too prolix, let it suffice to have excerpted certain things to the present purpose from our Acts at the said 3rd day of March Ibid., no. 14.. "This companion of St. Ethbin, therefore, is another ... than St. Winwaloe the abbot, of whom we are now treating; distinguished, namely, by the time in which he lived; by the place where he spent his life; also by the abbot and companion under whom and with whom he was a monk." (The abbot was St. Similianus, the companion Winwaloe, monk and priest.) "These things not having been weighed, they have been rashly heaped into one in John Capgrave in the Legend of the Saints of England and in the Utrecht manuscript life, where the apparition of Christ under the form of a leper is applied to St. Winwaloe, abbot of Landévennec; nay, in Capgrave he is even said to have died at Taurac. They have also been sewn on in the appendix to the life from the British Manuscript, where, however, part of the deeds of St. Ethbin is applied to a certain St. Idiunetus, plainly unknown elsewhere." (Something similar occurs in one of the two manuscripts which we have of the life of St. Ethbin. But discourse will return below on this matter.) "In the manuscript Kalendar of the Order of St. Benedict at the 23rd of November these words are read: 'Of St. Wingalatus, monk and disciple of St. Similianus the abbot, in the monastery of Tauracon?' Which are to be understood of the younger Winwaloe, companion of St. Ethbin. Of the same Trithemius treats, book III On the illustrious men of the Order of St. Benedict, chapter 43, in these words: 'Wingualocus, priest, monk and disciple of blessed Similianus the abbot in the monastery of Caurac, of which we have already spoken, a man of most holy conversation: he merited to see the Lord Jesus in the form of a poor leper, whose nostrils, while he touched them with his mouth, he at once recognized whom he had received, from whom he was worthy to hear: You were not ashamed of me, my servant, in my miseries; nor shall I be ashamed of you in the kingdom of my father. Your inheritance is with me. He flourished in the year of the Lord DLXXX.' Then in the following chapter he treats of St. Ethbin the monk, whom he relates to have been the minister of the aforesaid priest Wingualoeus and to have flourished in the year DCX; but in chapters 41 and 42 he had treated before of St. Samson the bishop and St. Similianus, abbot of the monastery of Caurac. And he adds that both flourished in the year DC. All which indicate that there the younger Winwaloe, companion of St. Ethbin in the monastery of Taurac, is treated" At the 3rd of March, p. 248, no. 14.. Which we too approve without difficulty, except however the year in which St. Samson is said to have flourished, who we said above, at no. 3, died before the end of the sixth century.

[22] By most one Winwaloe has been made out of two; hence confusion. Rightly, therefore, does the Reverend Don Tresvaux note Vies des Saints de Bretagne, volume II, p. 28 that the Winwaloe of whom the acts of St. Ethbin speak is indeed of the same name as the abbot of Landévennec, but very different from him. And a little below: "This astonishing apparition (of Christ under the form of a leper) so pleased those who wrote the life of St. Winwaloe, first abbot of Landévennec, that they did not hesitate to refer it to him, substituting for St. Ethbin of Taurac St. Ydunetus of Châteaulin (S. Ydunet de Chateaulin), whereby they confused the two Winwaloes and made one out of two, although no connection intervenes between the two except the name alone; and they are distant from one another by almost an entire century."

[23] What has come down to us about St. Winwaloe of Taurac. Finally, about St. Winwaloe of Taurac nothing else has come down to us besides the things which are had in the acts of St. Ethbin; namely that he was a monk and priest at Taurac under the abbot St. Similianus; that he was accustomed to visit with Ethbin a church situated a mile from the monastery, and to offer there, by order of the abbot, victims both for the living and for the dead; that one day Christ appeared to them in the habit of a leper; and that they persevered in the custom of prayer they had begun up to the devastation of that church. What became of St. Winwaloe after Taurac was destroyed by the Franks the acts are silent, nor is it known from elsewhere. The Reverend Don Tresvaux indeed relates As above, p. 29. that Winwaloe died in his monastery. "This alone," he says, "is known, that he died in the monastery of Taurac or Caurac." By which it is indicated that that house was restored after the departure of the Franks. But since the distinguished Writer does not say from what source he drew these things, nor have we seen anything of the kind anywhere, the things which we said a little before about Taurac seem to us to stand intact.

[24] "But St. Ethbin, fleeing into Ireland, St. Ethbin passes into Ireland. made a hut as a poor pilgrim in the wood which is called Nectensis, and built a church in honour of St. Silvanus the martyr, in which as a good servant he constantly did service for his Lord." The flight or passage of St. Ethbin into Ireland seems to have taken place immediately after Taurac was laid waste by the Franks. "But the Franks, coming upon them," say the acts, "laid waste the church itself and all Britain. Then blessed Ethbin, fleeing into Ireland," etc. Yet according to the Proper of Dol, the passage of St. Ethbin into Ireland would have taken place many years after the ruin of Taurac: "But Ethbin, burning with desire for the eremitic (life), withdrew into solitude, where he spent thirty years. Hence, having crossed into Ireland..." I should not think that the praised Don Tresvaux relies on other documents when he asserts that St. Ethbin, after the dispersion of the religious in Britain, withdrew into a solitude unknown to us, and lay hidden there for thirty years, and only afterwards migrated into Ireland. In the Acts certainly nothing similar is found; nay, the contrary is declared openly enough.

[25] The Wood of Nect. Various interpretation of the word. About the Wood Nectensis, which the French writers commonly call Necth, it would be difficult to define anything with certainty, either as to its site or as to the monastery founded there by St. Ethbin. Albert le Grand renders the words "the wood which is called Nectensis" in French

as épaisse forêt (dense wood). On which place D. L. de Kerdanet [Les vies des Saints de Bretagne Armorique, by Albert le Grand, Paris, 1837, p. 632.] notes: "Noctensis" (so he himself writes) "wood, which signifies a dense wood, dark as it were as night. Dom Lobineau, thinking that the first word indicates a proper name, renders it by the word Nocth. On which matter he could in turn be twitted, as he himself once twitted Martène, because the latter in his Literary Journey made out of the word Neodmeros, which in Greek sounds 'new,' a man by the name of Neometus." Perhaps D. L. de Kerdanet too could here be twitted a little, inasmuch as, against the faith of the manuscript Acts and the manner of writing used by all, if you except Bucelin, he calls the wood Noctensis, which all the others call Nectensis. Moreover, Dom Lobineau writes Necth, and not Nocth, as D. L. de Kerdanet seems falsely to assert. This is certain, that the distinguished Tresvaux has Necth Vies des Saints de Bretagne, volume II, p. 29; nor would he certainly have departed from the manner of writing which Dom Lobineau had used without adding a reason why he dissented. Compare no. 28.

[26] A conjecture about the site of the Wood of Nect. There is a certain place in the acts of St. Ethbin which seems to indicate to some extent the site of that wood. For a certain woman is said to have asked the holy Man to obtain health for her paralytic son. Ethbin answered: "Bring him to the sepulchre of St. Brigid." But she: "Thither, Father, I have already carried him; and in sleep I heard a voice saying: In the wood which is called Nectensis the servant of God Ethbin dwells; to whom if you lead your son, he will obtain health." These things certainly suggest that the hut of Ethbin was situated not far distant from the sepulchre of St. Brigid. For why, if it were otherwise, would that woman, carrying her paralytic son with her, be so easily sent from one place to another? Now St. Brigid died at Kildare in the year 523, as Bolland more probably judges Acta Sanctorum, volume I of February, p. 109, § VIII.. Others put the year 518 or 521. And on the following page, § IX, no. 58, Bolland adds: "It is more probable that she was buried at Kildare, and that her relics were preserved there for some centuries, and were afterwards carried to Dunum (Down), a fortified city; with Bolland agree Colgan with Camden." From these it would be made out that the wood which is called Nectensis was situated in the neighbourhood of the city of Kildare. Which opinion is moreover confirmed from this, that the said city is not far distant from the eastern shore of the island, and is only some miles away from Dublin towards the west. Whence access to that wood was easy for Ethbin coming from Armorican Britain. What Camden writes also favours it Britannia, volume III, p. 541, London, 1789.: "The plain of Kildare (the curragh of Kildare) is a certain vast level, formerly planted with oaks, from which also the name Culledair was imposed on the city. It was the seat of the druidic superstition, which was abolished by St. Brigid. This region is numbered among the most fertile of all Europe, extending to five thousand acres (english acres), which are pastures fit for nourishing innumerable cattle."

[27] St. Silvanus, St. Brigid. Likewise that holy martyr Silvanus is not mentioned elsewhere either. Perhaps that church was dedicated to some one of the holy martyrs of the same name who suffered not in Ireland but elsewhere; and whom Ethbin held in singular veneration, and therefore erected his church under his invocation. It is otherwise with St. Brigid, among the most illustrious Saints of Ireland, whose acts you will find in John Colgan Trias Thaumaturga, Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae, volume II, p. 515 and following.. Our Bolland also treats of her at length Acta Sanctorum, 1st of February, pp. 99–158..

[28] [Concerning the foregoing certain things are noted according to the mind of the distinguished John O'Donovan.] Here we subjoin certain notes sent to us by John O'Donovan, a most esteemed antiquary in Ireland, both because in them most of the things disputed by us up to now are touched upon, and also, and indeed chiefly, because they disclose the opinion of the more recent learned men of that region. Those notes were delivered to us on the 26th of January 1848 by the Reverend Fr. Francis Murphy S.J., and are of the following tenor: "1. St. Ethbin the abbot was venerated in Ireland on the 19th of October, according to the Calendar of Michael O'Clery; but today he is venerated nowhere. — 2. No traces of the wood of Nect now remain in Ireland. Its name is altogether unknown; but perhaps it was formerly written Fidh-Neachtain, which in Latin sounds 'the grove of Nectanus' (the name of a man). Neith was the name of a river in the region of Conaille Muirtheimne See Camden, Britannia, volume III, p. 690.. — 3. Cullidair is not the same as Cill-Dara: the former signifies the wood, the latter the church, of the oak. — 4. Among the saints of Ireland is numbered St. Silvanus, as appears from the Festilogium of St. Aengus (in a Note towards the end of the month of April)." Then the learned John O'Donovan adds certain things in English, which we shall render here in Latin. "The Irish Calendar, by the author O'Clery, simply gives the name of Ethbin the abbot, without adding the name of his church. I could find no word in Irish history to which the wood of Nect corresponds. I think this is a form (a latinizing) of the words Fidh Neachtain or the wood of Nectanus (Naghtans forest). The ancient name of the Ardee (of Ardee), a river in the county of Louth (of Louth), was Neith or Nith. So perhaps anciently a wood was called which was situated in the neighbourhood of this river, which is not far distant from the native place of St. Brigid. As regards the sepulchre of the same holy Virgin, I should not believe that it was at Down up to the times of Jocelin. My opinion is that she rested at Kildare in the time of St. Ethbin the abbot, as also in the time of Fogitosus. The word Curragh, inasmuch as it indicates the plain of St. Brigid at Kildare, most certainly denotes a hippodrome (a race course), and is so interpreted in the Glossary of Cormac, who moreover remarks that the word Curragh signifies also a marsh (a Sheskin or Moor). But, these things being passed over, it is evident that the Curragh of Kildare was from antiquity a place or field of hunting or games at the royal fort of Dun Ailleime (the platea or field of sports to the royal fort of Dun Ailleime)." — These things being cleared up, both as to chronology and as to other difficulties occurring in the acts of St. Ethbin, we judge that his life may not improbably be ordered and synoptically comprised thus.

[29] A compendious presentation of the life of St. Ethbin. Birth, Ethbin was born about the fortieth year of the sixth century, in Lesser Britain, not far from the monastery of Dol, which, founded by St. Samson, gave origin to the city of that name. Both parents, the father Eutius or Eutychius, the mother by name Eula, were distinguished by nobility of birth. Ethbin was instructed in liberal studies in his father's house up to the fifteenth year of his age. His father having died, he is led by his mother to St. Samson, bishop and abbot of the monastery of Dol, when he numbered sixteen or seventeen years, and accordingly about the year 557. Ethbin, his hair shorn, is enrolled in the clergy; the mother receives the veil. Ethbin remained with blessed Samson some years, say four or five, or even longer, if it be admitted with Albert de Monte-Relaxo (Le Grand of Morlaix) that he was ordained Deacon there, namely up to the 22nd or 25th year of his age. One day, while St. Samson was performing the sacred rites and Baumerus the deacon was reciting those words of the Gospel, "whoever does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple" Luke 14:33, Ethbin is so moved by this lesson that at once, leaving all things, he hastened to St. Similianus, abbot of the monastery of Taurac, which, as may be conjectured, was not far distant from the district of Dol.

[30] he becomes a Monk, There he takes the monastic habit and devotes himself to the Lord, about the sixty-first or sixty-fifth year of the sixth century. In the same monastery lived Winwaloe, monk and priest of illustrious virtue and holiness. He, loving Ethbin with a fatherly mind, used him as an inseparable companion when he went to a church placed in the neighbourhood, to offer there, by order of the abbot, victims both for the living and for the dead, "so that, namely, the worthy priest might be supported by a just deacon." (Which words, transcribed from the Acts, seem to indicate that Ethbin was in fact a deacon when he went to the monastery of Taurac, and accordingly was ordained by St. Samson. But if the latter here stood by the canon of Agde, it would follow that Ethbin had at least twenty-five years when he departed from the bishop and abbot of the monastery of Dol.)

[31] He sees Christ in the person of a leper. When, then, one day Winwaloe with Ethbin, their duty fulfilled, returning from the church, were making their way through the fields at the time of harvest, they came upon a leper, hideous with sores, lying on the ground and wailing tearfully. Both are moved in their inmost hearts by this sight; they ask what his infirmity is, or what remedy he expects from them. The answer being received, Ethbin lays down the book which he was holding in his hand, and, lifting the poor man by the sides, raises him from the ground on which he was lying prone. Then Winwaloe, applying his mouth to the part where the leper suffered most in his face (which kind of solace the sick man himself had asked), drew out no longer corruption but a wonderful little stone. Meanwhile Ethbin, looking up, sees heaven opened; the holy Cross appears on the head of the leper, and angels are seen coming to meet him in troops. "Father," Ethbin exclaims to Winwaloe, "him whom I hold with my hands and you with your mouth I believe to be Christ our Lord!" Who a little after vanished from their eyes and was received into heaven. And they, suffused with an unspeakable sweetness of spirit, return to their monastery, each attributing to the merits of the other the so remarkable gift of grace received, vying with one another in humility. Returning home, they persevered with new fervour in the custom they had begun, until towards the end of the sixth century the monastery of Taurac was laid waste by the Franks bursting into Britain.

[32] He passes into Ireland. His death. A little after, Ethbin, older than sixty, passed into Ireland, at the beginning of the seventh century. Where first in the Wood which is called Nectensis, not far from the sepulchre of St. Brigid, who had died and been entombed at Kildare, he built a Hut, and then a church or oratory in honour of St. Silvanus the martyr. And blessed Ethbin lived in the same place twenty years, faithfully working the work of God, giving health to the sick, and by his astonishing abstinence an object of wonder to all. When he was about eighty-three years old, perceiving death near, he called together the brothers who were dwelling in the same wood, and, prostrate before him, commended them to the Lord, ordering that when dead they should bury him at the right side of the altar, and offer sacred victims for the remission of sins. Having said this, he gave back his spirit before the altar on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of November, and was buried honourably in the place where

he had ordered. His death took place about the year 623, and his acts testify that his sepulchre became illustrious with miracles and prodigies, although its traces have entirely perished.

[33] He seems to have founded a monastery in Ireland, and to have presided over it. From the circumstances which accompany the death of St. Ethbin we gather that he had several disciples, whom he calls Brothers, and who lived in the same place. Whence it is easy to conclude that a monastery was founded by the holy Man in Ireland. And that he presided over it when he met death is not obscurely indicated, since he does not ask of the brothers, but prescribes to them, what he wishes to be done with him after death. Nay, that at least some among them were initiated into the priesthood is suggested by those words: "Offer sacred victims over it (the body) for the remission of my sins." Hence in the Roman Martyrology at this day he is called abbot: "In Ireland, of St. Ethbin, abbot." So also on the same day in the British Martyrology [A Memorial of ancient British piety, or a British Martyrology, pp. 146 and 147. London edition, 1761.] is had: "In Ireland, the deposition of St. Ethbin, abbot, sprung of noble stock from Britain, and formerly a disciple of St. Samson, bishop of Dol. He, called from heaven, renouncing all things which he seemed to possess in the world, crossed over into Ireland, and there led a solitary and most holy life in a desert called Nectensis Wood (Necten Wood), until he was called to the blessed mansions of the supernal paradise about the ninth century" — nay, the seventh, as we established above, nos. 3, 4 and 8. Let us note here in passing (since it slipped from us elsewhere) that in Lanigan An Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, Dublin, 1829. no mention is made of St. Ethbin, as also of the wood of Nect. And so the Roman and British Martyrologies.

[34] His memory in the Martyrologies. Likewise in many other martyrologies mention of St. Ethbin occurs. So in the Auctaria of Usuard from the Matricula of the Charterhouse of Utrecht (of which see Sollerius in the preface to the Martyrology of Usuard, no. 244) is had: "Of Ethbin, confessor"; likewise from the twin Cologne edition, the one of the year MDXV, the other of the year MDXXI, both prepared by Hermann Grefgen or Grefgin, more commonly called Greven or Grevenus: "In Ireland, of St. Ethbin, levite and confessor, disciple of blessed Samson, archbishop of Dol. He, making a journey with St. Wingualoeus, priest and most worthy confessor (of whom it is had above on the VIth and Vth day before the Nones of March), merited to receive Christ in the appearance of a leper, and to handle him with wonderful ardour of faith together with him, and also to hear the voice of the Lord ascending, promising salvation to those who should be mindful of both in their prayers. At length, illustrious in life and miracles, among which he is also read to have raised a dead man, he rested in the Lord by a blessed end." "You will note," says Sollerius, "that the parenthesis here inserted reads thus in the first edition: (who on the VIth and Vth day before the Nones of March ought not to have been passed over without notable commendation)." Finally, in the auctaria of the same Usuard from Molanus we have: "In Britain, of St. Ethbin, abbot of Nect."

[35] Hugues Ménard and Bucelin. So too in the Benedictine Martyrology [Martyrologium Sanctorum Ordinis divi Benedicti, illustrated with two books of Observations, by the Reverend Fr. Dom Hugues Ménard, of the Congregation of St. Maur, Paris, 1629.] at this 19th day of October the following announcement is had: "In Ireland, of St. Ethbin, abbot of Nect, disciple of St. Similianus." In the Tongerlo manuscript, which, like many others, was lent us by the Reverend Lords Canons of that monastery, and is entitled: Kalendar of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict our Father; is read: "Of St. Geremarus, abbot of Flavigny. On the same day, of St. Ethbin, abbot of Thaniacum." It will be a corruption of the word Thauracensis. Let us add what Bucelin has, from whom, as also from the foregoing, it will appear that most of the things pertaining to St. Ethbin were confused by the martyrologists, as we disputed of set purpose above. Bucelin, then, writes in the Menology [Menologium Benedictinum Sanctorum, Beatorum atque illustrium ejusdem ordinis Virorum elogiis illustratum, by the work and study of the Reverend Fr. Gabriel Bucelin, monk, Feldkirch, 1655.] at the 19th of October: "In Ireland, of Saints Ethbin and Winwaloe, abbots. Each was most conspicuous for wonderful holiness and unusual rigour of life. Among their deeds that above all is celebrated as most worthy of memory, by which they showed by most manifest argument an astonishing lowliness of mind and the most fervent charity towards their neighbours with which they were most ardently aflame. When, of a certain leper cast down on the road," etc. There follows the narrative of Christ appearing to them; then he adds: "Ethbin, the Franks laying waste Britain, surviving Winwaloe, withdrew into Ireland, and survived there for twenty years... Having first professed as a monk in the monastery of Taurac, he then acted as abbot of the monastery of Nect; where, in the eighty-third year of his age, foreknowing his death and foretelling it to the brothers, he gave back his spirit to God before the altar on the 14th day before the Kalends of November, about the year of Christ 590."

[36] The commemoration of St. Ethbin on Mont Blandin. In a more recent Belgian Martyrology, in manuscript and written in the French language, is read at this day: "In the monastery of St. Peter at Ghent, memory is made of St. Ethbin the Irishman." He is called an Irishman, not because he was a native of that region, but because, having died there, he is not without reason numbered among the Saints of Ireland. And that a reason may be given for the commemoration of St. Ethbin on Mont Blandin, one must call to mind what is had with us in the Acts of St. Winwaloe Acta Sanctorum at the 3rd day of March, pp. 245–261.; where in § II of the Preliminary Commentary much is treated about the body of St. Winwaloe formerly translated to Mont Blandin; so much so that the tradition of Montreuil (of which we shall presently speak) was almost called into doubt. All things, however, being weighed, our elders conclude (and rightly indeed, as will be plain from what follows) that the body of St. Winwaloe, abbot of Landévennec, was formerly translated to Montreuil and is still preserved there, and that only some relics of him were carried to Ghent; and they add: "if, however, the life of St. Ethbin can be taken of a second Winwaloe" (namely another than the abbot of Landévennec, which indeed is to us beyond all doubt), "it seems that it can safely be said that the body of one or the other was formerly translated to Ghent" Ibid., Preliminary Commentary, § II, no. 18, p. 249.. Whether, therefore, they believed it to have been the body of St. Winwaloe of Landévennec or of the other, namely of Taurac, of whom the acts of St. Ethbin speak, since with most those two Saints, as we demonstrated above, are confused, it will not seem strange that on Mont Blandin a commemoration was held of St. Ethbin, some relics of whom perhaps were also preserved there.

§ II. On the Relics of St. Ethbin. Their various translations. The sacred body preserved at Montreuil up to the end of the past century, when it was burned by sacrilegious persons. Acts.

[The relics of St. Ethbin first laid up in the Wood of Nect, then, according to du Saussay, translated to Pormort near Rouen.] Du Saussay writes in the last part of the very long encomium which, after his manner, he wove about St. Ethbin, less critically than emphatically and verbosely: "His immaculate spirit having been breathed out, his body, the most pure little vessel of so precious a gem, as the blessed Man dying had enjoined on the disciples standing around, was laid away near the altar itself. From which so many miracles thence flashed forth that the brothers, taught by these divine judgments of his eternal glorification, desisted from the pious suffrages which the truly humble Man himself had earnestly demanded for the expiation of his soul, thinking that he was not to be helped by suffrages whose happiness, known and explored by supernal testimonies, conferred so many protections on all who asked his aid. The bones of so great a Heavenly one, afterwards carried back into Gaul for the defence of his fatherland, were laid up among the people of Rouen, in the church of the village of Pormort, which the piety of the faithful raised in his honour, with the worthy cult of a friend of God; there up to now his venerable head, placed in a silver reliquary, is preserved with all religion. A jaw, however, plucked from it, is seen in the collegiate church of the holy Mother of God at Vernon, a town on the Seine of the same tract, laid away with the honour which is fitting." This presence as well as veneration of relics was unknown to Albert Le Grand and Dom Lobineau, as also to the latter's latest editor and corrector, the distinguished Tresvaux; since on this matter there is deep silence with all three. Nor have we found mention of those relics elsewhere either. We would not, however, wish it said thence that a veneration of this kind is not had in the aforesaid sanctuaries: but how solidly founded it is we leave undecided. The more so because du Saussay's narrative does not altogether square with what Malbrancq relates De Morinis, book II, chapter XXXII, volume I, p. 186..

[38] Malbrancq says they were translated first into Lesser Britain, For after he has reported that Winwaloe (whom, as we have noted, he wrongly confused with the other of the same name) died and was buried at Taurac; and that Ethbin met his last day in the Wood of Nect, and was committed to the earth there; he proceeds in this manner: "But although the dwellings of the two were separated by the sea for some time: yet God willed that the pledges of those in whom there was almost one mind and piety should grow together again: for while enemies were plundering Ireland, Ethbin was joined to the tomb of Winwaloe across the sea: and again, Lesser Britain being ablaze with the fires of the Northmen, the one coffin of the two was translated to Montreuil, that the town, remarkably fortified on a rock, might give it safety from the injuries of the enemies. Their bodies are presented there to the present day in a wooden chest covered with rich silver." And these things Malbrancq, without making mention of the head carried away, which, according to du Saussay, was exposed to the veneration of the faithful not far from Rouen.

[39] and thence to Montreuil. But it can be asked here whether these things were written by Malbrancq as truly as they were confidently? Certainly a question about the relics of Montreuil was already raised in our Work at the third day of March in the life of St. Winwaloe, where also the authentic instrument of the translation of his relics was presented; and we shall give here a similar instrument, no less authentic, concerning the body of St. Ethbin, from which likewise the ancient tradition of the church of Montreuil will be established, according to which in fact the one coffin of the two Saints had formerly been translated thither, as Malbrancq writes. But whence, when, how this translation was made is nowhere declared. So, namely, Jacques de Boves wrote to Father Henschen, humble pastor of the parish church of St. Winwaloe at Montreuil and canon of the collegiate church of blessed Firminus the martyr in the same city. The hagiographers, namely, had asked that the instruments and manuscripts pertaining to the Lives and Relics of the Saints which existed in the celebrated abbey of St. Salvius at Montreuil should be communicated to them; the praised J. de Boves, then, had most of them copied, and sent them to Antwerp, adding a letter, part of which it will help to set down here.

[40] [Notice of the relics of Montreuil from the letter of Jacques de Boves to Henschen.] "We send at length at some time, reverend father, the ancient manuscripts of Montreuil, absolutely all those which in the monastery or abbey of St. Salvius

of the order of St. Benedict are had about St. Winwaloe and the other Saints whose bodies or relics are preserved there. Nothing at all has been omitted. Copied by two monks of the said abbey, I have accurately read them over and collated them with the exemplars. Which exemplars were formerly comprised in one great volume on parchment; but now at this time the leaves are unstitched, dissolved, partly torn, dissolved and scattered, inverted in order, eaten away by age itself, so that it ought not to seem strange if Your Reverence has most of the lives mutilated, and especially the life of St. Winwaloe cut by so many gaps and with some parts sewn to others. That volume the monks formerly used as a Breviary, and they sang the lessons taken from it about the Saints of the whole year. Wingualoeus, or Winualoeus, or Winualocus, in French St. Waloy, is indeed called the companion of Ethbin in the life of the same Ethbin. But that companionship of Ethbin was with Winwaloe the Younger; which Younger lived at Taurac. But under what Similianus he lived I do not know, since the St. Similianus whose life Morleus or Morlaisius (Le Grand of Morlaix), writer of the lives of the Saints of Britain, describes, lived two centuries before... When, how, by what (way) the body of St. Winwaloe was translated to Montreuil, we have nothing except what is contained in the bundle of copies sent to you, page... Those are indeed authentic, inasmuch as copied from an old clean volume or manuscript book, where the immunities and revenues of the said abbey of St. Salvius are treated" (here the instrument of the translation from one chest into another is in question, which is found printed at the 3rd of March); "but they do not sufficiently declare the circumstances and manner of the translation" (namely the first, from a distant region to Montreuil). "When precisely, how or by what way the other bodies or relics of the Saints were translated to Montreuil we have nothing at all... We likewise have nothing about the translation of the body of St. Ethbin to Montreuil; but nothing is more certain than its translation into a new chest, as Your Reverence will see from the instrument."

[41] [That the body of St. Ethbin was translated to Montreuil is a most ancient tradition,] From this letter (which we have transcribed somewhat more fully that the serious character and no common literature of the man might become known to the reader) we understand that several bodies of Saints (ten in all were numbered) were formerly preserved in the abbey of St. Salvius; but whence and how most of them, and by name the body of St. Ethbin, were brought thither is in no way established. It is, however, beyond doubt that the tradition of Montreuil about the remains of that Blessed one having been translated to the said abbey is most ancient and most authentic, as is clearly made out from the following instrument, which is found in the bundle of copies of which mention is made in the praised letter.

[42] the faith of which an authentic instrument of the bishop of Amiens establishes "To all who shall inspect the present letters, or this present instrument, John de Harcourt, by the grace of God bishop of Amiens, everlasting greeting in the Lord, and to give credence to the present. We make known that we, exercising the office of visitation in the church of the monastery of St. Salvius of Montreuil, of the order of St. Benedict, of our diocese, among other things saw and handled the body of blessed Ethbin, confessor, laid up from the most ancient times in a certain chest or marble bier, which chest indeed on account of its antiquity was much decayed; whence also, at the supplication and request and in the presence of the religious of the said monastery, their abbot being absent, and of others both of the clergy and the people of the same town appearing before us in copious multitude, and almost the whole common people of the said town and of very many other towns and adjacent places assisting, solemnly and honourably and devoutly, after the celebration of Mass in the said church celebrated by us, we placed the same body of blessed Ethbin, confessor, from the said old chest into a new marble chest, seemly and notable, and caused it really to be enclosed. In which old chest indeed there was with the said holy Body a certain little schedule made in ancient script, containing the words which follow: Here rests the body of blessed Ethbin, confessor. And these things being done, the venerable and religious man brother ..., reader of the Carmelites of the said place of Montreuil, set forth the word of the Lord, narrating and declaring the life, virtues and merits of that St. Ethbin, to the praise of God and the commendation of the same Saint and of the whole heavenly court. Which we certify to all whom it concerns by the tenor of the presents; and in testimony of this matter we have caused the present letters, or this present instrument, to be made, and to be strengthened with our seal, with the sign and subscription of the notary written below. Given and done in the aforesaid place, in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand four hundred and twenty-four, in the second indiction, on the thirteenth day of the month of June, in the seventh year of the pontificate of our most holy Father and Lord in Christ, the Lord Martin V, by Divine Providence Pope. There being present the venerable Fathers in Christ, the abbots of the monasteries of Saint-Josse-sur-Mer and of Forestmontier, the venerable lady abbess of St. Austreberta of the said place of Montreuil, of the order and diocese aforesaid of ours, the venerable fathers the abbots of the monasteries of Longvillers, of the Cistercian order, of the diocese of Thérouanne, and of St. Andrew in the Wood, of the Premonstratensian order and of our diocese, together with the provincial of the Carmelite brothers and John Darques, professor of the sacred page, with many others" (whose names are there expressed and are here passed over for brevity's sake).

[43] and various chronicles. Mention of this translation is also made in the Chronicles of St. Andrew in the Wood [Recueil chronologique des choses remarquables de l'abbaye de S. André au Bois, Ordre de Prémontré, by Fr. Claude Sallé, regular canon of the said abbey and prior of Valrestauld, Saint-Omer, Carlier, 1651, in quarto, p. 100.]. "In the year 1424 our Ingelrannus (Enguerrand de Fruges, twenty-first abbot in order of St. Andrew) was present, with the abbots of Saint-Josse-sur-Mer, Forestmontier, Dommartin and Longvillers, at the translation of the bodies of SS. Kilian, Ethbin, Corentin and Conocan, bishops and confessors, made in the abbey of St. Salvius on the thirteenth day of June by John de Harcourt, bishop of Amiens." Likewise this translation is recorded in two other manuscript Chronicles of the same abbey of St. Andrew in the Wood: the one of Nicolas Ledé, abbot of St. Andrew from the year 1636 to the year 1680; about whom these things are had in the New Gallia Christiana Volume X, column 1377, where of the Abbots of St. Andrew.: "Some of his works have been published in print: the Catalogue or Foundations of the abbeys of the Premonstratensian order; an historical Kalendar for the course of the whole year. Several manuscript volumes composed by the same aspire to the light. After the example of Nicolas (Ledé), and the companion of his studies, Claude Sallé published a Chronicle of the Memorable Things of his monastery, first at the press of Paris in the year 1634, then at that of Saint-Omer in the year 1670, and left other things to be published." The other manuscript chronicle which we were intimating is that of another abbot of the same St. Andrew in the Wood, by name Antoine Boubert, who in the former part of the seventeenth century wrote these things: "In the year 1424. The translation of the relics of SS. Killian and three other bishops and confessors, in the abbey of St. Salvius at Montreuil, at which were present the bishop of Amiens, our abbot, and many others."

[44] [There is therefore no room for doubt about the veneration shown of old at Montreuil to St. Ethbin.] Already, therefore, at the beginning of the fifteenth century all were persuaded that the body of St. Ethbin had been laid up at Montreuil from the most ancient times; which was established even from the chest itself, or marble bier, "which on account of its antiquity was much decayed." Moreover, "in the old chest there was with the said holy Body a little schedule made in ancient script, containing the words which follow: Here rests the body of blessed Ethbin, confessor." The venerable antiquity of that sacred deposit, therefore, cannot be doubted, unless the authenticity of the instrument just recited be denied. But this stands firm and unshaken. For the praised J. de Boves testifies that he had the authentic exemplar in hand. Here are the words which he wrote with his own hand in the margin of the instrument of the translation of SS. Salvius and Ingaudus: "This instrument is altogether authentic, with all the rest of this kind. I have read the originals on parchment, well fortified with signs or seals."

[45] [It is not, however, established whence, how and when the sacred body was brought thither.] It is therefore beyond controversy that the sacred remains of which the aforesaid instrument speaks were brought to Montreuil many centuries before; and that they are accordingly to be judged worthy of the highest veneration. It would certainly be desirable that equally clear indications were had by which the translation of the body of blessed Ethbin from Ireland or the Wood of Nect into Gaul, and so to the abbey of Montreuil, might be proved. For then even the most obstinate would have to confess that the relics of our Saint were in fact preserved there. But, even against our will, we must confess with the Reverend Don de Boves that we have found nothing at all among the ancients by which a Translation of this kind is established; but neither have we come upon anything in the old documents by which it is either called into doubt or denied. Our Malbrancq therefore indulged in conjectures when he wrote that the sacred body of Ethbin was carried first from Ireland into Lesser Britain, and thence, the Northmen raging, to Montreuil.

[46] Two other Instruments about the relics of Montreuil: There are, however, certain other things not to be passed over here, by which, if complete strength is not added to the tradition of Montreuil about the original translation of the relics, at least it is very much elucidated. Namely, in the new Gallia Christiana Volume X, columns 283–86, among the Instruments of the church of Amiens. are recited two charters serving our purpose not a little. The one of Count Alulf of Hesdin (Hesdin, a little town today fortified in the diocese of Arras), who is entitled advocate of St. Salvius. This charter is commonly called by the annalists the Notice of Ramiricus; the reason for which denomination will shine out from its tenor, to be subjoined presently. Which Ramiricus indeed comes first in order in the catalogue of the abbots of St. Salvius Nova Gallia Christiana, volume X, column 1297.; yet several others, whose names have not come down to us, had preceded him, since he himself in the Notice mentions his predecessors, who had held in long peace the estate of Cavero (Cavron St Martin) given by Count Helgaldus, of which (peace), when disturbed, he constituted Count Alulf of Hesdin advocate in the year of the Lord M, as is plain from the charter itself, which is as follows: "Since often the memory of things done and the recollection of all things past falls from the minds of men as long spaces of time glide by, therefore I, Ramiricus, humble minister of the church of blessed Winwaloe of Montreuil, providing lest anyone, perhaps seduced by evil counsel, should presume to usurp for himself what was not his own, have taken care to declare to the knowledge of those in future reading and hearing this charter how the body of blessed Winwaloe, by a certain bishop by the name of Clement and a certain abbot by the name of Benedict and certain other monks, clerics and laymen, fleeing for terror of the Franks laying waste the land of Lesser Britain, and into the greater

Britain wishing to carry it, inasmuch as they were altogether devoted to his service, was brought to Montreuil. Which Helgaldus, who was then count, receiving honourably, kept more honourably; because he also gave to the saint the estate of Cavero, which was his own allod, altogether free, without advocate, without mayor, whence the servitors might live, and where the laymen who had followed the Saint might dwell; which my predecessors held in long peace; but, worldly wickedness growing strong, partly through the lords dwelling round about unjustly invading our possessions, partly through the inhabitants at times refusing to be subject to our jurisdiction, in our times that peace has been disturbed. Compelled, therefore, by this so very grave necessity, by the counsel of the chapter and of my friends, whom I believed to be prudent and faithful to me, I have constituted Alulf, count of Hesdin, advocate, than whom I have known none stronger nor more able to protect our right, that by his power he might repress the lords invading our possessions, and compel the inhabitants who should be rebellious to come to our jurisdiction... And it is to be known that the count must be advocate and defender: but if anyone shall refuse to come to the jurisdiction of the abbot, the count must compel him; and if the abbot shall wish to have help from anyone, the help and justice of the count must be given. And I, Alulf, count of Hesdin, have ordered this charter to be made for this reason, that it may become known both to those present and to those to come that this agreement stands strengthened with perpetual stability and by the confirmation of our hand. This was done in the monastery of St. Winwaloe at the castle of Montreuil, in the year of the Lord's Incarnation M, Indiction XIII, in the IIIrd year of the reign of King Robert. Sign of Count Alulf, who ordered this charter to be made and confirmed it with his own hand. Sign of Abbot Ramericus," etc. It will not be out of place to have noted here from Muratori [Antiquitates Italiae medii aevi, volume III, column 6. Milan edition, 1740. Dissertation XXXIV: On doubtful or false ancient Diplomas and Charters.] that it not seldom happened that, when barbarians were bursting into Italy, or intestine wars were blazing, or for other causes too, Archives were burned or charters carried elsewhere: "which happened especially at the beginning of the tenth century of Christ, when the most ferocious nation of the Hungarians afflicted almost the whole of Lombardy with various irruptions. Gaul too and Germany lay open, from the long-continued incursions of the Northmen, to an even graver Iliad of evils. Then, therefore, religious men, lest some inconvenience should be created for them from the loss of diplomas of this kind and other parchments, or lest an entry should be opened to the wicked for invading their goods and rights, chose a lawful protection, namely to obtain letters of the king or emperor, by which their rights should be provided for in future, if ever they were brought into danger."

[47] The other, of Henry I, king of the Franks. The other charter, pointed to above, is entitled the diploma of King Henry for St. Salvius. It will suffice to have set down here its beginning, which pertains to our purpose. "In the name of the holy and undivided Trinity. I, Henry, by the grace of God king of the Franks. Since the fruit of the primal virtue, namely charity, is eminent among the other virtues, and surpasses in proportion to its dignity, all must labour in common with every effort and strive to the utmost that we may more zealously love what we find more pleasing to our author Jesus Christ, whom we have as redeemer and judge, and, loving, vigorously fulfil it by the bestowal of our goods. For liberality, which serves the office of charity, the more adorns and cultivates the royal dignity, as it shows a greater effect in it. Whence let it be known to all the faithful of holy mother Church and to ours, both present and to come, that we, following the custom of our predecessors, namely kings and emperors, have determined to bestow liberality on our places of the Saints and congregations of the faithful, so that, relying on their intercessions, we may merit to obtain present goods with ease and eternal ones with happiness; whence we confirm to the place of St. Winwaloe, situated at Montreuil, the things granted by many, by the precept of our authority, and have ordered them to be signed with the impression of our Seal. In the first place, the things which have been granted to the aforesaid place by our liberality, or that of my father Robert, or of my grandfather Hugh, namely two mills serving the uses of beer, the one from me with five tenants, and the other from my aforesaid grandfather Hugh, with the tenth penny of the bridge and two churches consecrated in memory of St. Josse, of which one is within the fortification, the other situated over the river, with the fishery of the water from Atiniacum as far as Brivermacum. We add moreover, by confirming them, the things which my father conferred, three churches; namely one consecrated in honour of St. Peter, another in honour of St. Wingualoeus, the third in commemoration of St. Salvius; and the passage of Neuville, for which every year are paid fifty cartloads of wood and two measures of wine, with five shillings and the tenth of the levy of the beers. We urge moreover, by corroborating them, the things which were granted by the first founders of the place, namely by Count Hilgoldus, who, receiving with liberality and munificence into hospitality the aforesaid Saint, lately carried from the parts of Britain for fear of pirates, in the time of the emperor Louis, son of Charles the Bald, gave him first the public court, namely the burial-place of strangers and pilgrims, then nine manses below Firmitas with the meadow contiguous to the same manses; and finally added to these the estate of Caveroniacum without the exaction and render of any custom, with two churches and as many mills" Nova Gallia Christiana, volume X, p. 284, among the Instruments.. The rest, as serving nothing to our purpose, we pass over.

[48] What is made out from both Instruments From these two charters it is made out that the body of St. Winwaloe was brought to Montreuil in the time of the emperor Louis, son of Charles the Bald. He was Louis, the second of this name, surnamed the Stammerer, king of Aquitaine from the year 867; he succeeded his father on the 6th of October in the year 877, crowned first at Compiègne by Hincmar of Reims on the 8th day of December of the aforesaid year, and then again by Pope John VIII in the council of Troyes on the 7th day of September 878; and on the 10th day of April of the following year, on the Lord's Preparation day, he died at Compiègne and was buried there L'Art de vérifier les dates, p. 539.. Louis the Stammerer is called emperor in the diploma only improperly. "Charles the Bald, the fifth emperor, having died," says our Petau, "Charles the Fat, son of Louis king of Germany, is numbered the sixth, from the year 880. For they are deceived who reckon Louis the Stammerer, son of the Bald, among the emperors. The cause of the error was that he is said to have been crowned by Pope John VIII on the Ides of September in the year 878; but this was a royal, not an imperial, crown. Although John, favouring the Stammerer, strove that the empire should be transferred to him, and on that account, harassed by the Romans, was compelled to leave the city, as Sigebert recorded at the year 878. Setting out hence to the Stammerer, he was with him a whole year. The Stammerer, therefore, king of France, perished in the third year from his father's death, on the 4th day before the Ides of April (that is, the 10th), on the Preparation day: which character falls in the year 879" [Rationarium Temporum, part I, book VIII, chapter X. Leiden edition, MDCCX, p. 324.]. Hence the translation of blessed Winwaloe from Lesser Britain to Montreuil is referred to 878 Gallia Christiana, volume X, column 1297.. But here it is worthy of note above all that in both instruments, just recited at least in part, nothing is in question except the body of Winwaloe alone; nothing at all is added about any other. Likewise neither is the see over which that bishop Clement presided indicated, nor is mention made of the abbey of Landévennec: "how the body of blessed Winwaloe, by a certain abbot by the name of Benedict," are the words of Ramericus in the notice or charter of Alulf.

[49] About the same Relics from the manuscript Chronicle of Dom Ducrocq; These things being noted beforehand, we shall present the narrative of various persons about the time and manner in which several bodies of Saints are related to have been brought to Montreuil. In the manuscript Chronicle of Dom Ducrocq, a Benedictine monk, these things are read: "It is certain that Count Helgod greatly favoured this abbey (of St. Salvius), as the notice proves which begins with these words: 'I, Ramericus.' Further, that Ramericus, who was abbot of St. Salvius, aimed at indicating at what time the Relics of St. Winwaloe, St. Malo, St. Justin and certain others were brought from Lesser Britain to Montreuil. For from his notice it is established that this happened in the year of the Lord one thousand." (Here indeed Dom Ducrocq goes shamefully astray; nay, he did not even understand the notice of Ramericus, which was indeed given in the year one thousand, but has regard to times long since elapsed, as strikes the eye of anyone reading even cursorily.) "Namely, Clement, bishop of Corisopitum (Quimper), and Benedict, abbot of Landévennec, when barbarians and Franks were laying waste lower Britain, the aforesaid bishop and abbot undertook to transport the relics into greater Britain, inasmuch as both were natives of England. But when they had reached Montreuil, Count Helgod (Helgaud) received them with such goodwill that they did not pursue their journey further. Part of the relics, therefore, Helgod retained with himself; part he sent into the estate of Cavero (Cavron St Martin), which he also granted to the monks, and which even today belongs to the abbey of St. Salvius. Nor did Count Helgod leave this testimony only of his munificence, but he also gave many other things for their sustenance, and, in order the more effectually to induce them to remain there, he wished his monastery to be named thenceforth after St. Winwaloe, namely in honour of the holy abbot whose body the aforesaid bishop and abbot had translated. And in very truth there is scarcely doubt that the monastery of St. Winwaloe, which was at length called after St. Salvius, was called by another name before." In another place of the chronicle of Dom Ducrocq he would have the said relics brought to Montreuil in the IXth century, while the Normans were infesting Gaul; and again elsewhere, repeating almost word for word what we have reported above about the coming of the bishop of Quimper and the abbot of Landévennec, among the relics which they carried with them he numbers the bodies of SS. Malo and Kilian, as also of St. Ethbin, abbot of Taurac, who flourished in the year 640.

[50] his hallucinations. From these things it shines out sufficiently that it is rightly asserted by Charles Henneguier (a citizen of Montreuil, a most excellent and learned man, who submitted not a few documents to us) that the chronicle of Dom Ducrocq sins in many things, confuses with one another many things very diverse, and not seldom fails in chronological order. Elsewhere we have noted how ineptly he infers from the charter of Ramericus that the body of St. Winwaloe was brought to Montreuil in the year one thousand, which he himself writes in another place took place in the IXth century. Moreover, among the bishops of Quimper I have found none who is called Clement [See L'Église de Bretagne, ou Histoire des sièges épiscopaux, abbayes et autres communautés régulières et séculières de cette province, by M. Tresvaux, Paris edition, 1839, pp. 112–146.]. In the catalogues of Landévennec there occurs indeed towards the end of the ninth century an abbot by the name of Benedict, but there is deep silence about the aforesaid pilgrimage Ibid., p. 395..

[51] About the same Relics according to Philippe Luto. Philippe Luto, priest, about the year 1730 wrote a history (still unpublished) of the county or Pagus of Gesoriacum or Boulogne (Comté de Boulogne). Charles Henneguier calls him a diligent and accurate writer. In the first part, then, of this chronicle (which alone survives) Dom Boucher (Boucher) is cited, a monk of St. Salvius, who treated of the antiquities of Montreuil in a manuscript Work now lost. "Fr. Boucher," says Luto, "a Benedictine monk" (let us note in passing that reformed monks of the congregation of St. Maur were summoned to Montreuil in the year 1706 by François Benoise, commendatory abbot Gallia Christiana, volume X, column 1302.), "who applied himself to investigating the antiquities of Montreuil, contends that the original monastery founded by St. Salvius and repaired by Count Helgod was for a long space of time distinguished by the name of Winwaloe, because his body had been brought thither from Armorica by a bishop by the name of Clement and an abbot by the name of Benedict, when on account of the continual incursions of the Normans they were hastening into England. Nor did they bring with them only the body of St. Winwaloe, but also the bodies of St. Maclovius or Machutus and of others, which are still found today in the treasury of the abbey of St. Salvius." He then adds how, retained by Count Helgod, they fixed their seat there in the year 878, in the reign of Louis the Stammerer, and appeals to the twofold charter, namely of Ramericus and of Henry I. Then Philippe Luto himself subjoins: "The town (Montreuil) was already fortified and not infrequented by inhabitants when a certain bishop by the name of Clement, perhaps of Quimper, and an abbot by the name of Benedict, perhaps of Landévennec, fleeing from Armorica, continually harassed by the Normans, into England, came thither. Who indeed, having left the body of St. Magloire at Paris, brought to Montreuil a great quantity of holy Relics, among others the bodies of St. Winwaloe, St. Malo and others, which today are laid up in the treasury of the Abbey of St. Salvius." After this Count Helgod is again treated, who retained them from the journey into greater Britain. Elsewhere, on the witness of Charles Henneguier, the bodies of SS. Winwaloe, Malo, Justin, Ethbin, Kilian, Corentin, Conocan are said to have been brought to Montreuil by the bishop of Quimper and the abbot of Landévennec. From all these things it is made out that the assertion of the Reverend Don Jacques de Boves (cited at no. 40 of this commentary) remains unmoved, namely that nothing at all is had from which it is sufficiently established when precisely, how or by what way the other bodies or relics of the Saints (besides the body of St. Winwaloe) were translated to Montreuil. For the rest, besides the seven just enumerated, three other bodies of Saints, of Salvius, Ingoldus (Ingaud), Wulphlius (Wulphy), were preserved in the treasury of the abbey of St. Salvius.

[52] The reliquary of St. Ethbin is described. In the year 1713, on the eleventh day of April, an inventory of all the relics was made, in the presence of the monks and the aldermen, Jean Caudavaine and François Desprez, public notaries in the aforesaid city, writing. From the transcript or authentic copy of this instrument, the often-named Charles Henneguier submitted to us the following things pertaining to St. Ethbin: "Likewise another reliquary, resting on a base of gilded wood, adorned with silver plates and with lilies at the same time (fleurdelysées), and with thirteen images with Christ fixed to the cross, and with two other figures at either end, likewise of silver. That reliquary has three feet four inches in length, two feet in height, one in breadth; and it bears above three silver vessels or urns and fourteen smaller columns of brass. In this reliquary rests the body of St. Ethbin, abbot. The bier or coffin of the aforesaid reliquary is damaged: for there is at one end a hole, arising from the key of the carrying frame; which hole indeed pierces the reliquary to a height of a foot and a half and more; wherefore a plate was put on by the aforesaid goldsmith Delhomel." Finally, in the Ceremonial of the supplications or processions written in the year 1723 is read: "Afterwards will walk the smiths, carrying the relics of St. Eligius. Afterwards the shoemakers, or cobblers, carrying the body of St. Ethbin."

[53] The destruction of the Relics of Montreuil. It remains that we narrate the abominable and impious destruction of that most illustrious treasury of Relics, made at the end of the eighteenth century. On the last day, namely, of the month of September of the year 1793, the proconsul (André Dumont), sent with authority into those parts by the government which was then bringing ruin upon all France with slaughter and blood, having entered Montreuil, ordered the statues which in great number adorned the most excellent portico of the church of St. Salvius to be cast down amid the disorderly clamours of the rabble, so that only two remained entire; all the rest being either altogether destroyed or foully mutilated. And these things were done in the morning time of the aforesaid day. In the afternoon a more unworthy crime was perpetrated. The Relics of the Saints had been put aside in the sacristy of the abbey: namely those ten sacred bodies mentioned above; likewise three others, namely of SS. Austreberta, Tramechildis and Juliana, brought formerly from the monastery of St. Austreberta; a huge quantity besides of lesser relics, gathered either from the treasury of St. Salvius or from various abbeys, convents, parishes. All which, as also a very great quantity of little wooden images, ritual books, etc., Dumont had carried into the market-place (Place d'Armes). And when they had been piled into a heap, a nun is summoned from the hospital (Hôtel-Dieu) and is compelled, with arms joined in the manner of lovers, to walk together with a priest, the vicar or vice-pastor, as they say, of the aforesaid city, who had taken the oath to the civil constitution, as it is customarily called. Both, then, holding a torch in hand, almost dead, but compelled by terror, put fire under the pile, the proconsul looking on. While that venerable treasury, not only of religion but also of antiquity, was burning, the reliquary enclosing the relics of St. Ethbin (namely the same of which we spoke above at no. 52), having previously, as also the other reliquaries, been despoiled of its ornaments and silver plates, came apart; from which the head or cranium, slipping out, began to roll towards the multitude. "Which," says the so often praised Charles Henneguier, "my father (who, being then about thirteen years old, had been present from the beginning as a spectator of the abominable crime), seizing and hiding under his garment, could not, however, keep, being compelled to let go his prize by a soldier who struck him between the shoulders with his musket reversed."

[54] Nothing of the body of St. Ethbin survives. Of so many and so great Relics, formerly held in the highest veneration partly at Montreuil, partly in other places, nothing has been saved except certain smaller reliquaries, mostly skilfully made, which the nuns of St. Austreberta had withdrawn when they were cast out of their house, and afterwards, the state of things being changed, restored: likewise some smaller bones either received by the faithful or obtained for a price paid to those who were despoiling the sacred Reliquaries of their ornaments before they were delivered to the fire: which indeed also, the storm being driven away, were restored to the church. Not a few half-burned bones also, snatched from the ashes and heaped promiscuously into several larger reliquaries, are preserved today, as also the other things just mentioned, in the ancient abbatial church of St. Salvius, now the parish church of Montreuil. Further, nothing now survives, not even a particle, of the relics of St. Ethbin; unless perhaps among the half-burned bones heaped up promiscuously.

[55] The Acts of St. Ethbin from the Anchin Manuscript. We give the Acts of St. Ethbin from the Anchin Manuscript. Its transcript or copy, written entire by the hand of Fr. Heribert Rosweyde, exists among the Manuscripts formerly of the Bollandian Museum, now of the Burgundian library at Brussels. It is noted at the head of the said Manuscript that it was collated with another, the Marchiennes Manuscript. Surius has the same acts, but with the style changed, with this inscription: "The Life of St. Ethbin, abbot, by an uncertain author indeed, but worthy of credit." We have restored the original text, with notes added, in which, besides the variant readings, we indicate certain other things which it was necessary to pass over in the preliminary commentary. At what time the acts of St. Ethbin were written no one could easily say; since no note occurs in them which would serve to determine it. They seem to us rather ancient. For the rest, the manner both of narration and of writing indicates a grave man who, according to the generally received custom, amplifies indeed the deeds; which, however, as to substance cannot be rejected except by one to whom it is ratified and fixed a priori to receive with laughter or contempt any miracles plucked from the ancient legends and lives of the Saints.

[56] The Landévennec Codex; We have also another life of St. Ethbin copied from the archive of the monastery of Landévennec in Armorican Britain, as Papebroch noted with his own hand. This differs little from the former of which we have just spoken, except that on the first page and the beginning of the second, in place of Ethbinus is written Idinnetus or Idunetus; in the remaining pages up to the end the name of Ethbin is constantly kept. We said above that SS. Ethbin and Idinnetus were confused by some, which perhaps came from the Landévennec Manuscript. For it is not to be supposed that our copyist or transcriber substituted the name of Ethbin for the name of Idinnetus by his own authority. For if he had done so, he would have used both manners of writing promiscuously, and would not have written Idinnetus only four or five times at the beginning, and afterwards perpetually Ethbin.

[57] The Life from the Manuscripts of St. Salvius of Montreuil. Finally there is in our hands also a third life of St. Ethbin, copied from the old manuscripts of the abbey of St. Salvius of Montreuil. This seems truncated, since it extends only up to the devastation of the monastery of Taurac; after which the passage of St. Ethbin into Ireland is indicated in a few words. Otherwise this life scarcely differs from the two former. We shall indicate the variant readings in the Annotations.

ACTS OF ST. ETHBIN.

From the Anchin Manuscript, collated with the Marchiennes Manuscript.

Ethbin, abbot, confessor in Ireland. (S.)

BHL Number: 2621

FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS.

THE LIFE OF ST. ETHBIN, LEVITE AND CONFESSOR, DISCIPLE OF ST. WINWALOE.

The birth of St. Ethbin, his education at home. He is enrolled in the clergy. About to write the life of blessed Ethbin ^b the confessor, I ask to have as helper him whom he himself had as dweller within him. Ethbin was born in the parts of Britain, of a most noble father and mother. He was instructed in liberal studies in his father's house up to the fifteenth year. But his father Eutius ^c having died, his mother Eula fled for refuge to the protection of St. Samson, bishop of Dol ^d, and asked that he would consecrate her with the sacred veil; who, giving assent to her will and petition, both dedicated her to God, and made her son Ethbin a cleric ^e, shaving the hair of his head. And Ethbin remained with blessed Samson the bishop some days ^f, serving him day and night.

[2] He becomes a Monk Now one day, while blessed Samson the bishop was performing the priestly office, and Baumerus ^g the deacon was reciting the lesson of the Gospel, Ethbin heard the words of the Lord saying: "Whoever does not renounce all that he possesses cannot be my disciple" ^h. Compelled by this voice, he left all things, and came to St. Similianus ⁱ the abbot, and received the monastic habit from his hand, and bowed his neck under the yoke of the Lord, in the monastery which was called Tauracus ^k.

[3] and inseparable companion of B. Winwaloe. In the same monastery dwelt Winwaloe, priest and monk ^l, a man of great holiness, who, joining the blessed Man to himself, saw from afar ^m that he was illumined with supernal grace: he loved him as a father his son. It was the custom of blessed Winwaloe to visit a church which was situated one mile from the monastery, and to offer there, by order of the abbot, victims both for the living and for the dead. For ⁿ in the custom of this visitation he associated with himself Ethbin, an illustrious young man, a great deacon, that the worthy priest might be supported by a just deacon.

[4] They meet a leper, Now it happened one day, while, their custom fulfilled, they were making their way through the fields at the time of harvest, they found a certain leper lying on the ground, lamenting grievously, whose whole body was full of sores, crying out with tearful voice and asking help of them. Pierced ^o by his groaning and anguish, blessed Winwaloe said to Ethbin the just deacon: "Dearest brother, what are we to give to this poor man asking help of us? Gold we have not, silver we do not lay up; bare of the moneys of this world, what are we to give to this needy one?" But St. Ethbin, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, said: "We read, father, in the acts of the Apostles that when blessed Peter with John was entering into the temple, a lame man asked alms, and received from them soundness of step [p]." Then blessed Ethbin [q]: "Do you, then, approach the poor man and impart to him the gift of supernal grace."

[5] afflicted with a foul sore in his nostrils; Then blessed Winwaloe, standing beside the poor man, said: "What infirmities are in you, brother, for which you send forth such heavy sighs and such feeble words?" He, drawing sighs from his inmost breast, said with great humility: "Great anguish, many and grievous pains shake my wretched body: but above the others one pain is within, which is so harmful to my infirmity that if I pass this day without the cure of this pain, I know it to be death rather than life." To whom blessed Winwaloe: "Tell, brother, by what help you can be relieved: God is witness that we are ready to lay down part of our flesh for your help, if necessity shall prove it." "My nostrils," he said, "full of the pain of sores, gather filth from the burning, as you see, of so great an infirmity [r]."

[6] to which, while B. Winwaloe applies his mouth, Hearing this, Ethbin laid down on the ground the book which he was carrying in his hand, and, seizing the poor man by the sides, because he was lying prone on the ground, raised him up. And while the priest of Christ Winwaloe stretched out his hand to his nostrils, the poor man began to cry out with tearful voice as best he could: "Do not, elder, do not take my nostrils with your hand, because the pain does not permit it: but if for the remission of your sins you wish to relieve my pain, the pain which tortures me must be sucked out by your mouth and gently drawn out [s]." Hearing this, the blessed Priest humbled himself, who had been exalted by his merits in heaven: and while he was applied to succour the poor man, he received in his mouth the flesh of the Son of God.

[7] they learn that Christ appeared to them under the appearance of a leper; O wonderful thing and to be admired, and astonishing to all who hear! As soon as blessed Winwaloe drew it to himself, a wonderful stone fell into his mouth. And blessed Ethbin, holding the Lord by the sides, looked up, saw heaven opened, and on the head of the Lord whom he was holding the holy Cross appeared, and he saw angels coming to meet him, and then said to the blessed Priest: "Holy father, him whom I hold with my hands and you with your mouth I believe to be our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us." These words said, while they were exulting with great joy, desiring to hold him with their hands, the Lord Jesus Christ raised himself in the clouds, saying: "You were not ashamed of me, my servants, in my anguish, nor shall I be ashamed of you in the kingdom of my Father. Your inheritance is with me; and to those for whom you shall ask, salvation in my kingdom."

[8] who, having addressed them kindly, disappears. These words said, he vanished from their eyes, and was received into heaven with a great voice. The voice indeed they heard, but they saw no one. Astonished and glad with excessive joy, they praised him who loved them so much that he deigned to manifest himself to them in the likeness of a poor man. Then blessed Winwaloe said: "This has happened to us by your merits, brother Ethbin, who are of such humility and obedience that whatever a human tongue can command you most devoutly fulfil in heart." But Ethbin on the contrary said: "It is not so, father: but you, who daily immolate the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, have merited to see in his body him whom you hold constantly in your mind. See that it be not made known. For no one knows this deed but God alone, except us two." Thence, returning to the monastery, they made it known to no one; but persisted in the custom of prayer they had begun (in cœpta) up to the devastation of that church [t].

[9] Taurac being laid waste, St. Ethbin withdraws into Ireland. For the Franks, coming upon them, laid waste the church itself and all Britain. Then blessed Ethbin [u], fleeing into Ireland, made a hut as a poor pilgrim in the Wood which is called Nectensis [v], and built a church in honour of St. Silvanus [x] the martyr, in which as a good servant he constantly did service for his Lord.

[10] He heals a lame man. When, then, one day Ethbin was sitting before the doors of the monastery, a lame man came to him and asked alms of him. To whom blessed Ethbin said: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, rise sound and stand upon your feet, and bless God, who saves those who hope in him." And at once he rose so sound as if he had never been lame.

[11] He restores to a mother her paralytic son, sound in strength. A certain woman having a paralytic son, when she had come to the man of God, asked that he would come to her house and obtain health for him from the Lord. Then the blessed servant of God said to her: "We are sinners, we do not have this miracle in use. But if you seek the health of your son, bring him to the sepulchre of St. Brigid [z]. I believe through the mercy of God that there, by the merits of the holy Virgin, he will receive health." But she answering said: "Thither, father, I have already carried him, and while I was keeping vigil one night I fell asleep a very little, and in sleep I heard a voice saying to me: In the Wood which is called Nectensis dwells the servant of God Ethbin; to whom if you lead your son, he will obtain health by his merits, God bestowing it. And as the Lord lives, I will not let you go until I have brought my son back safe before me." Then blessed Ethbin, entering the oratory, lay in prayer before the altar so long until (the son), coming from his mother's house, said to the blessed man: "I give you thanks, father, who visited me lying on the bed of sickness, and raised me up with your hands, and gave me soundness from so great an infirmity." At this blessed Ethbin, raising himself, blessed the Lord, who deigned to work wonders in his Saints. "See [*], brother, that you tell no one, because not by my merits, but by the grace of God, have you received the gift of health."

[12] The wonderful abstinence of St. Ethbin. Blessed Ethbin lived in the same place twenty years, faithfully working the work of God, giving health to the sick. And this Blessed one was of such abstinence there that in the week he did not take refreshment except once, namely on the fifth day, and then with bread alone and water. Wine he did not drink in that place, except only when he approached the sacred mysteries.

[13] Near to death, he calls together the brothers; When, then, he was now about eighty-three years old, he began to be worn by a sharp pain. Having called together the brothers who were dwelling in the same wood, he foretold his death, saying: "I commend you, brothers, to the all-powerful Lord, who is present to his servants in all their necessities. Know that I am about to die in the body at present; place me at the right side of this altar: offer sacred victims over it for the remission of my sins."

[14] he gives back his spirit. And so, all being set at peace [aa], he gave back his spirit before the altar on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of November. And he was buried honourably in the same place where he had ordered. Where, the Lord bestowing it, miracles are done to the praise and honour of his name: whose is the power and might through infinite ages of ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

p. Acts of the Apostles, chapter III.

q. These three words are not read in the Landévennec Manuscript. And in very truth they are redundant here, probably by the fault of the copyist.

r. Surius renders these words thus: "My nostrils, eaten away by sores, from the so great burning of the disease contract purulent filth." Which indeed, if said less crudely, is plainly also said less truly, according to the mind of the Acts.

s. The Landévennec Manuscript: "It is necessary for me that you put my nostrils in your mouth and so draw them." Surius: "Bring your mouth to my nostrils, and so gently suck out and draw out the corruption which tortures me."

t. The Landévennec Manuscript has: "But they fulfilled their custom up to the devastation of that church." On the time at which this devastation happened, see the Preliminary Commentary, no. 6 and following.

u. Older than sixty, as we said in the Preliminary Commentary, no. 32.

v. On the Wood of Nect we have disputed many things in the Preliminary Commentary, nos. 25 and 26.

x. St. Silvanus the martyr is altogether unknown to us, as one who is not mentioned elsewhere. Preliminary Commentary, no. 27.

z. St. Brigid, a most well-known virgin among the Irish, of whom treatment is given at length by Bolland at the 1st day of February Acta Sanctorum, volume I of February, pp. 99–185.. Compare the Preliminary Commentary, no. 27.

aa. Surius has: "So, peace being given to all."

* Read "vide" [see].