ON ST. MEROVEUS, MONK OF BOBBIO, IN LIGURIA,
ABOUT THE YEAR 626.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
The memory and age of St. Meroveus; his translation made in the fifteenth century, from whose instrument the Reckoning of Bobbio is clearly determined. The Acts now first brought to light on the faith of a ms. codex.
Meroveus, monk of Bobbio, in Liguria. (S.)
BY B. B.
Of the monastery of Bobbio, founded by St. Columbanus at the beginning of the 7th century Acta SS. vol. II of March, on the X day, page 42., blessed Meroveus, otherwise Moroneus, Memory and age. Maroneus, and in the Molsheim codex Meroutuus, illustrated the beginnings with the holiness and ardour of his zeal. Some illustrious deeds of his were touched upon by a contemporary author, Jonas, a member of the same monastery Acta SS. ord. S. Benedicti, sæc. II, page 160. Paris, 1669.. Besides these nothing has come down to us, except that in the 15th century some translation of his is recorded, and so his cult is established, which otherwise would not be sufficiently proved. Bucelin's menology mentions him on this day, the 22nd of October, as does the calendar of the Saints of the order of St. Benedict published in German at the end of the past century [Kirchenkalender aller Heiligen, unter der Regel des H. Benedictus, 22 Oct. Edition at Insula (on the Danube, Donauwörth), 1786.]. In Castellan he is reckoned among the Aëmerii, or those who have no day fixed for them Martyrologe universal, page 821.. Hugues Ménard treats of him in the Observations at the 31st day of August, on which the translation of very many Saints of Bobbio, among whom blessed Morovæus, is announced Martyrologium Sanctorum Ord. S. Bened. page 319. Paris, 1629.; in the same way Arnold Wion Lignum Vitæ, second part, page 289. Venice, 1595.. The age of the holy Man is understood from the fact that he flourished under blessed Attala. He, the second abbot of the monastery of Bobbio, succeeded St. Columbanus (who died on the 21st day of November about the year 615 Pagi at Baronius's year 614. Annal. vol. XI page, 154. Lucca, 1742.), and died more probably in the year 627 [Mabillon, Annal. Benedict. vol. I, page 306. Lucca, 1739. — Pagi, where cited above, page 215 and 235. Likewise Acta SS. Ord. S. Ben. sæc. II, page 127.]; yet with us is read at the 10th day of March concerning St. Attala Acta SS. on the X day of March, page 42.: "How long he presided as abbot over the monastery of Bobbio, or in what year he departed from life, we nowhere read." From what follows there, however, it appears that this happened not long after the year just mentioned. But whether St. Meroveus survived blessed Attala or departed to the Lord before him, we do not know. Mabillon in the Annals Vol. I, page 305. refers his deeds to the year 626; in the German Calendar, of which above, he is said to have died about the year 640.
[2] The translation in the year 1483, "John de Mundanis," says Ughelli Italia sacra, vol. IV, col. 943. Venice, 1719., "translated the body of St. Columbanus to a fitting place on the day before the Kalends of September" (the 31st day of August) "in the year 1482, and a little after he is narrated to have translated the bodies of the other Saints of the monastery of Bobbio" (not John the bishop, but John the abbot of Bobbio) "in the following monument or instrument," which he subjoins there in full. Further, among those Saints comes Meroveus or Maroneus. Before I write out the part of the instrument which pertains to our matter, it will help to note that from it the Reckoning of Bobbio concerning the beginning of the year is clearly determined, which I find observed hitherto by no one else. The first part of the instrument pertains to the translation of St. Columbanus, and begins in this manner Ibid.: "In the name of the Lord. Amen. In the year from His Incarnation 1482, in the XV Indiction, on Saturday the last day of the month of August, at Bobbio, namely in the Tiburia of the church of St. Columbanus," etc. The Indiction agrees with the aforesaid year, and the last day of August fell on a Saturday, as may be seen in the perpetual Calendar Art de vérifier les dates, page 107..
[3] from which the Reckoning of Bobbio is determined; The second part of the instrument refers to the relics of St. Attala Italia sacra. Ibid. col. 945.: "In the name of the Lord. Amen. In the year from His Incarnation 1482, in the XV Indiction, according to the reckoning of Bobbio, on Friday the VII day of the month of March, at Bobbio," etc. Here, however, according to our manner of reckoning, the year does not agree: for the VII day of March fell on a Friday in the year 1483, and not in the year 1482; therefore is added "according to the Reckoning of Bobbio," by which the beginning of the year was drawn from the feast of the Annunciation, or the 25th day of March, as is clearly shown from this very instrument of ours. For a little below the translation of SS. Meroveus and some others is said to have been made "in the thousand written above" (namely in the year 1482), "on Sunday the 16th of the month of March written above," which day again, in our manner of reckoning, does not fall on a Sunday except in the year 1485; and finally the translation of certain others again is recorded "in the year from the Incarnation 1485, in the 1 Indiction, on Tuesday, the XXV of the month of March." Since therefore the 7th and 16th days of the month of March are referred
to the year 1482, but the XXV of the same month to the year 1485; no doubt remains but that according to the Reckoning of Bobbio the year began from the feast of the Annunciation. So that here there obtains what Martène noted somewhere [Art de vérifier les dates, in the preliminary dissertation, page IV. Paris, 1770.]: "The lunar (or Golden) number and the Dominical letter change annually on the feast of the Circumcision, but the years of the Incarnation of the Lord change in that land (of which he there treats) on the feast of the Annunciation of blessed Mary." It is certain therefore that, in our manner of reckoning, the translation of St. Meroveus is to be referred to the XVI day of March in the year 1483.
[4] The instrument, so far as it regards St. Meroveus, is of this kind Italia sacra, vol. IV, col. 945 and following.: "In the name of the Lord. Amen. In the thousand written above" (namely 1482) "on Sunday the 16th of the month of March written above, its authentic Instrument at Bobbio in the place written above, and in the presence of" (the names of the witnesses follow) "all citizens of Bobbio, and suitable witnesses, known, asked and called. And there the reverend father and lord in Christ D. Giovanni Antonio of Pavia, by the grace of God abbot of the monastery of St. Columbanus of Bobbio, and count, vested after the manner of prelates, singing the divine offices together with many monks of his chapter and convent being with him. To the honour of God, of the blessed virgin Mary His mother, and of blessed Columbanus, patron of this city, and also of blessed Bertulf, third abbot of the said monastery, all the solemnities, however, being observed which are required and are wont to be kept in such things; he translated the relics or body of the aforesaid St. Bertulf, otherwise raised from his old monument, and laid them back in a certain ark quite worthy, prepared for this, being on the left side towards the north of the said Tiburia; and also the relics or bodies reduced to ash of the holy monks and holy virgins written below, namely of St. Walcharius, St. Alo, St. Chunibert, St. Sunibert, St. Theopert, St. Tuniprand, St. Ratald, St. Petronilla virgin, St. Suniverga virgin, St. Rotrada virgin, St. Andrew, St. John, St. Peter, St. Leo, St. Bladulf, St. Maroneus, St. Agibod, St. Theobald, St. Baudacharius, St. Leopard, all formerly monks of the said monastery, otherwise raised from a certain vestri (read old) monument, being then behind the sepulchre of St. Athala; and he translated them and laid them back in a certain ark quite sufficient, being on the right side towards the south, near as it were to the ark of St. Athala in the place written above. All which being thus done, the aforesaid reverend lord abbot commanded me, the notary written below, for the eternal memory of the matter, to draw up a public instrument of the aforesaid things, the witnesses written above being present, and another great multitude of the people and of persons ecclesiastical and lay." At the end of the whole instrument, in which, as I have said, several translations, one after another, are contained, there is had the following attestation Ibid.: "I, Columbanus de Cachastino, public notary of Bobbio by imperial authority, and of the aforesaid lord abbot and monastery, was present at all and each of the aforesaid things while they were being thus done and performed: and being asked, I delivered, abridged, completed and so wrote the six present public instruments written above of the translations and repositions of these Saints, of whom mention is made in the said instruments, and in faith and testimony of the premises I have subscribed myself with my accustomed sign." Several times in this instrument there recurs the word Tiburium or Tiburia; "in the Tiburia of the church of St. Columbanus," etc. That word is very unusual, so much so that it is not found either in the onomastic Indices of our work, or in the similar Indices of exotic words added to the several volumes of D. Bouquet. Does it mean the same as Tribuna? Under which word Du Cange's Glossary has these things: "Others interpret Tribuna as a round and vaulted work"; and it is added that it is taken by Uguccio also for Apse, which at any rate would make exceedingly for our matter. Compare Nuceus Muratori, Rerum Italic. Scriptores, vol. IV. page 258, note 12.. Finally Du Cange notes: "Tribuna is said by the academicians of the Crusca to be the principal part of a sacred edifice or of another notable fabric." From these things one might conjecture that Turibia is taken for the choir or hemicycle near the high altar of the church of St. Columbanus.
[5] [] Arnold Wion testifies Lignum Vitæ, part II, page 289. that the history of this translation was sent to him by the Reverend Fathers of Bobbio. But what he adds, that the translation was made "in the year of the Lord 1482, on this day" (the 31st of August), is to be marked with an asterisk, as above at num. 3. He then adds the names of the Saints, male and female, whose relics were translated, as they had been transcribed from the original instrument. Which names indeed are not always written in the same way as in Ughelli. Thus he who in the latter is Maroneus is called Moroneus by Wion. Nor yet can any doubt remain but that he is the same as our St. Meroveus. For in the instrument there follow one after another: SS. Maroneus, Agibald, Theodebald, Baudacharius and Leopard; who occur in altogether the same series in the appendix to the Life of St. Bertulf, third abbot of Bobbio, by Jonas, in Mabillon Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened. sæc. II, page 164 and following., as also in our Molsheim codex, of which we shall speak in the following number. And in this codex are contained the books of the same Jonas on the Life of St. Columbanus, likewise of St. Eustasius, of St. Burgundofara; then of St. Bertulf, and at the end of this there is treatment of Blidulf the presbyter, of Meroutus, Agibold, Theodoald, Baudacharius and Leobard, monks. So that it strikes the eyes that those five monks were translated of whom mention is made in exactly the same order in Jonas, through whose work alone, besides, the knowledge of them has come down to us. Besides, the words, if you look at the manuscript strokes, scarcely differ, so that the letter e could easily have been taken for a or o, and the letter u for n or V. Meroutuus, Merovicus, Meroveus Maroneus: Add from the same Wion Lignum Vitæ. Where cited above. that the name of a certain other Saint (besides those whom he reckons there to the number of nineteen) could not be read in the instrument because of the age of the characters, by which again it is declared that it is not to be wondered at if the names of some others were read somewhat differently by different persons. Finally the praised Wion adds: "The instrument of this translation is kept in the aforesaid monastery of Bobbio, in the book of instruments marked with the letter V," which was afterwards published by Ughelli. This also appears, that the translation of all those of whom there is discourse in the whole instrument is celebrated together on the 31st day of August. But how it came about that the day of St. Meroveus occurs in Bucelin's menology on the 22nd of October, I for my part could not say. This one thing I note, that this was my reason for giving his Acts today, since not more conveniently elsewhere.
[6] The Acts. Besides those few things which are had at the end of the Life of St. Bertulf by Jonas, nothing about the deeds of blessed Meroveus has come down to us. Mabillon notes Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened. sæc. II, page 160.: "The Life of Bertulf, third abbot of Bobbio, falsely ascribed to the venerable Bede, and polished by Surius At the 19th day of August., we have tried to restore. We found it, but mutilated, in a certain copy of our monastery of Compiègne, in which the lucubrations of Jonas, except the Life of St. Eustasius the abbot, are found divided into three books; the thirteenth chapter of book III comprises the acts of St. Bertulf; the other five (the following chapters and the last of the whole book), which indeed in the torn ms. codex (of Compiègne) we have supplied from Surius, touch on the illustrious deeds of certain monks of Bobbio" (among whom St. Meroveus). Thus Mabillon on the Acts of St. Bertulf. Our Cuper also Acta SS. vol. III of August, page 752. testifies that he had in hand an ancient codex, in which are read the chapters about the illustrious deeds of certain monks of Bobbio which were wanting in Mabillon's mutilated codex. And he adds: "But since St. Bertulf of Bobbio alone is to be illustrated by us today, we refer those monks to their own places, of whom it has already been treated in our work, or will be treated in its time" Ibid.. Nor should I think anyone is to be found who doubts the genuineness of those chapters. For the rest, Jonas, who, as Mabillon has it Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened. Where cited above., was present as witness at almost all the events, is called in Fabricius Bibliotheca latina mediæ et infimæ ætatis, vol. IV, page 175. "abbot, disciple of St. Columbanus and of his disciples Attala and Eustasius; the same who is called Irish, by others Scot, or Italian or of Bobbio, of Lérins or of Luxeuil." Which words are repeated in the preliminary notice of Migne's Patrology to the writings of Jonas, abbot of Elnone Patrology, vol. LXXXVII, col. 1009 and following.; Mabillon, however, doubts whether he was truly an abbot Ann. Bened. vol. I, page 282 and 441.. Jonas indeed testifies that he was a guest in the monastery of Elnone, afterwards of St. Amand, who had founded it three leagues from Tournai, and elsewhere that, travelling already for three years through the shores of the ocean, he had often crossed the sluggish marsh of Elnone on account of the suffrage of the venerable pontiff Amand Ibid.; but nowhere does he say that he was adorned with the abbatial title. Whence I wonder that in the aforesaid Patrology the works were not rather named as of Jonas, monk of Bobbio. But as regards his country, the same Mabillon notes Ibid. page 282.: "Whom (Jonas) some wrongly feign to have been a Scoto-Irishman, since, from Jonas himself, his birthplace was Segusio (Suze), a noble city, formerly a colony of the Taurini, distant from Bobbio a hundred and forty miles." Finally, "Jonas began to write the two books, which some old codices divide into three, on the Life of St. Columbanus, etc., after the six hundred and forty-third year" Ibid.. We give the Acts from the codex praised above by Cuper, formerly of the Bollandian museum, now of the royal library of Brussels, num. 8518, fol. 63 and 64. And accordingly today for the first time the text of Jonas on St. Meroveus comes out into the light: for what is had in Mabillon (whom Migne's Patrology recites word for word) is taken from Surius: and he, after his custom, changed the style, which he himself also notes to the reader. Some Surian emendations I shall indicate in the Annotations, from which it will appear that Surius's style is very different from the original author's manner of writing. We are taught the origin of the codex from the following words written in the hand of Bolland (and not of Henschen, as Cuper said) at the beginning of the first leaf: "This codex we received from the college of Molsheim through Fr. Peter Richart by exchange"; and in the catalogue of the royal library it is noted to be of the 9th century 2/3, but on the back of the volume it is marked 10th century.
Of St. Meroveus, monk.
By Jonas, monk of Bobbio.
From the Molsheim ms. codex, fol. 63 and 64. In the royal library of Brussels, num. 8518.
Meroveus, monk of Bobbio, in Liguria. (S.)
BHL Number: 0000
BY JONAS, MONK.
St. Meroveus wonderfully preserved; At that same time, then, another monk, Meroutuus a by name, sent by blessed Atala to the city of Tortona, arrived there; and on account of the condition on which he had come b, having gone forward further from the city, he came to a certain estate above the river Hira c; going forward thus, he saw a shrine with trees set between; and he put under it fire that he had brought, and heaped up there a pile of wood in the manner of a pyre. The worshippers of the shrine, seeing this, seized Meroutuus, and, having beaten him for a long time with clubs and bruised him with blows, they try to plunge him into the river Hira; but the wave did not dare to receive the Monk; although he was altogether ready to die for such a cause d. And when they saw that he could not be sunk whom the compassion of the Lord was guarding, there was among them a vain e counsel: they lay Meroutuus out flat upon the waves, and heap timber above him, that the huge weight might put him under the waves. And when they believed the crime accomplished f, leaving, as they thought, the corpse, they return to their lodgings g. As they were going away, Meroutuus, feeling no harm, rises unhurt from the river, and, his bonds burst, enters Tortona safe, and afterwards, returning, arrived at the monastery.
[2] divine vengeance on his persecutors. And soon, as Meroutuus went on, divine vengeance struck the attendants h: for all who were in that fellowship for perpetrating this work were afflicted with divers plagues: blindness i burns some, fire others, contraction k of the knee-joints others, weakness of all the members others; diverse men received diverse torments. But after they learned that Meroutuus had returned safe to Bobbio, certain of them l, brought with difficulty, arrived; but very few of them escaped through the medicines of penance; all the rest died in the same vengeance.
[3] Epiphonema. A wonderful gift m does the Finder of things bestow on His servants! while, after losses of flesh and body, He both strengthens in the present life with His support those injuries inflicted, and glorifies in the future by crowning after their contests those whom He foreknew would here, especially, undergo injury willingly for His name.