ON BL. BERTRAND, ABBOT OF GRANDSELVE IN OCCITANIA,
IN THE YEAR 1149.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Bertrand, confessor, abbot of Grandselve in Occitania. (S.)
BY J. V. H.
§ Single. His certain cult; the monastic life at Grandselve; the association of the same monastery with the Cistercian Order.
In various Ephemerides on various days Blessed Bertrand, inscribed, On this day, the 23rd of October, the Cistercian Menology of Chrysostom Henriquez composes the following elogium of St. Bertrand, whom it calls Bernard: At Grandselve the deposition of Blessed Bernard, monk, a man of great virtues: who, after he had shone before all by a wonderful example of humility and sanctity, and, being carried out of his senses, had contemplated most glorious visions, flew up to heaven full of merits. Gabriel Bucelinus in his Benedictine Menology under 20 November reports: At Grandselve, of St. Bertrand, abbot. Bertrand was conspicuous for the radiance of an altogether admirable sanctity, and by it was known to all Gaul while he lived. "For he was," says the writer of his Life, "like some most splendid star among the Cistercian stars, by whose number and beauty the Church was adorned, shimmering and shining." He benefited not only his own but also the province lying around on every side, which, having won it for Christ by his example, he rescued, very many of them, from the mire of vices. And such was the glory of virtues and miracles with which he shone in life that from his death he deserved to be enrolled on the Register of the Saints. Antonio de Heredia in his Hagiology of the Saints of the Order of St. Benedict, written in Spanish, has the same under 23 October, and adds that St. Bertrand took the most diligent care of the sick and with great love wiped away even their most loathsome filth Vidas de santos de la Relig. de San Benito. tom. IV, pag. 140.. A Hagiology too, put together in German by a monk of Donawerth (Donawerth), writes an elogium of the saint under 20 November, in which it has this special point, that he would go out to the neighbouring peoples to preach the word of God Kirchen-Kalender aller HH. Ord. S. Bened. tom. II, pag. 265.. From these things it is clear enough that for these martyrologists the day either of the cult or of the death was uncertain: although from the Life written by a contemporary monk we have it that St. Bertrand died on the fifth before the ides (11th) of July, on the second day of the week, in the year 1149, which is marked with the dominical letter B; and so the second day of the week exactly agrees with the 11th of July in that year. These things, however, in no way hinder the cult of Blessed Bertrand, whose name is recorded among the principal saints of the Cistercian Order in the manuscript codex of the Seminary of Bruges under num. 131.
[2] having died on 11 July, The Life of St. Bertrand, which we edit below, was composed by a monk of Grandselve who was, as we said a little above, contemporary; and it was preserved in the Annals of the Order of St. Benedict by Mabillon Annal. Ben. tom. IV, pag. 701.. The continuators of the Literary History of France call this writing unedited Tom. XIV, pag. 630.; their Benedictine predecessors had said the contrary, namely that the Life had been edited by Mabillon in his Annals, and by the Bollandian fellows in the first volume of July Tom. XII, pag. 439.: but in this they err; for nowhere does any mention occur of Blessed Bertrand of Grandselve. They err also when they assign his death-day as 3 July 1149, as if they had read the fifth before the nones for the fifth before the ides of July. Finally, in the visions reported by the biographer, nothing surpasses human credibility; since they seem rather the dreams of a sick but pious man,
as becomes manifest to the reader. And indeed that the writer was a monk at Grandselve is shown by the repeated formulae by which he calls the saint his father: thus at the very beginning he says: To the honour of God almighty let there be handed down to memory that which was disclosed in few words by our most reverend and venerable father Bertrand himself at the time of his death. This quality of father he then repeats often in the course of the writing, so that there is no doubt that a monk of Grandselve is the author of the composition. That the writer, moreover, was contemporary with the events he narrates is manifest from the words reported at num. 4; namely: As the hour of his death approached, the brothers being gathered around him (and it was, I think, more than midnight), and he being now, as it seemed to us for certain by sure signs, lifeless, while the brothers chanted psalms he opened his eyes, etc. The writer was therefore present with the dying man: deservedly therefore he says at num. I that what he has undertaken to narrate is free of falsehood, full of truth, to be believed by all without doubting. The author also establishes his trustworthiness when he reports scarcely any miracle, and confines his whole narration within some visions, such as saints frequently have: indeed it is surely to be regretted that the deeds of St. Bertrand are scarcely touched upon, and that rather the last illness of the holy man is narrated.
[3] abbot of Grandselve, The monastery of Grandselve, enrolled under its first abbot Stephen in the Order and Rule of St. Benedict, and then under Blessed Bertrand, his successor, receiving the Cistercian institute, was founded by Blessed Gerard of Sales around the beginning of the 12th century. But since no mention was made among our predecessors of Blessed Gerard on the day of his death, the twelfth before the kalends of April, although he has obtained public cult, what we know we shall attach to the Acts of St. Bertrand in the place of an Appendix. Distant ten, says Gallia Christiana Tom. XIII, col. 127., from Toulouse and Montauban (Montauban), and only one from the left bank of the Garonne, Grandselve is founded at the beginning of the twelfth century, say in the year 1114, by Blessed Gerard of Sales. Formerly of the diocese of Toulouse, it is now enclosed within the bounds of the bishopric of Montauban, inasmuch as it belongs to the division of the Tarn and Garonne (Departement de Tarn-et-Garonne). And indeed ancient documents show that the monastery of Grandselve was founded before the year 1117. For in the year 1118 there were already brothers there, to whom land is given, as the instrument teaches us by which in the month of January of the year 1116 (according to our reckoning of time, beginning the year from the kalends of January, of the year 1117) Oliver de Bessens and his wife Algardis grant in perpetuity without any reservation, to the Lord God and to Blessed Mary of Grandselve and to Gerard of Sales and to the brothers of the same place, both future and present, a certain part of Grandselve Ibid. Instrum. col. 15.. A little after, Amelius, bishop of Toulouse from the year 1106 to 1139 Ibid. col. 14., with the counsel of his clerics grants the donation to the most religious master Gerald of Sales and his disciples, and with episcopal authority confirms whatever they have acquired from the faithful of God, and may hereafter be able to acquire … to this end indeed, that to the honour of God and of the Virgin Mary and of St. Mary Magdalene they may build a church and dwellings there… Which concession Amelius makes on this condition, that for the honour of God they hold the Rule of Blessed Benedict after the manner of the Cistercians.
[4] which monastery, at first Benedictine, From its original foundation, therefore, that is at least from the year 1117, Grandselve had to observe the Rule of St. Benedict after the manner of the Cistercians: without, however, its having on that account to be counted already from the said year in the Cistercian Order. For we shall show below that this took place later, or around the year 1147. For when around the beginning of the twelfth century the Cistercian institute had spread abroad the good odour of Christ, very many purely Benedictine monasteries so reformed the Rule according to the Cistercian usage and custom that they nevertheless remained in their own right, and were held by no bond of obedience or subjection toward any Cistercian abbot. This is shown by very many examples by the editors of the most ample Collection edited by Edmond Martène and Ursin Durand, in their Preface to the sixth volume. Thus in the year 1120 the monastery of St. Mary of L'Absie in the diocese of Poitiers was founded, according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the institute of the most approved fathers, the Cistercian monks, by the venerable master Giraud Ampliss. Coll. tom. VI, pag. XXVII.: yet to the end that monastery persevered under the Rule and Order of St. Benedict. The same may be gathered from the Bull of Lucius II for the monastery of Fontdouce, formerly of the diocese of Saintes in Gaul, never united to the Cistercian Order, in which are to be noted the words of the Pontiff Ibid. pag. XXVIII.: Let no archbishop by his own authority presume to infringe or alter the customs instituted for the observance of religion and humility by him who presides and by the brothers, likewise according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the order of the Cistercian brothers, in your monastery and other churches subject to it. So too Ralph of Coggeshall, himself also a Cistercian, in the English Chronicle in Martène Ibid. tom. V, col. 838.: At that time, he says, there was a certain abbot not far from the City of Rome, of the Cistercian Order, but by no means subject to the Cistercians. It is manifest, therefore, that to live after the manner of the Cistercians, or to be reformed to their customs, is altogether different from obedience, subjection and fellowship with the Cistercian Order: and so, although Grandselve at the very threshold of its foundation held the Rule of St. Benedict after the manner of the Cistercians, it was nevertheless not on that account associated from that time, or from the year 1118, with the Cistercian Order Ibid. tom. VI Præf. pag. XXVII.. It remains therefore to inquire in what year that monastery was united to the Cistercians.
[5] then to the Cistercian Order It is well enough established that this happened about thirty years later; but as to exactly what year the scholars vary. Edm. Martène thinks that Grandselve was enrolled in the Cistercian Order in the year 1143, toward the end of the pontificate of Innocent II, who died on the eighth before the kalends of October of the same year. This indeed he says Ibid. pag. XXVIII. he gathered from a rescript of the same pontiff, given to the bishop of Toulouse in connection with the abbot of the monastery of Cadouin, which abbot, the father of the Order instituted by Gerald of Sales, had brought a complaint to the apostolic see about obedience refused to him by the abbot of Grandselve, that is, our Blessed Bertrand. Innocent therefore replies to the bishop of Toulouse in these words: We have received a grave complaint against the abbot and brothers of Grandselve, that they withdraw subjection and due obedience from the church of Cadouin. If this is true, we mandate and order you by apostolic letter to admonish them strictly to return to obedience to the aforesaid church. But if they refuse to hear you, you are to do full justice upon them as upon the disobedient. In order, therefore, to shake off the yoke of Cadouin the more surely, the praised Edm. Martène judges that the monks of Grandselve took refuge under the jurisdiction of Cîteaux. Now in order for this conjecture to stand, it ought to be established for certain that the apostolic rescript of Innocent II belongs to the year 1143. But the authority of Gallia Christiana seems to stand in the way of the conjecture, which assigns the pontifical letter to the year 1133 Tom. XIII, Instr. col. 17.; since, ordering the instruments according to their chronotaxis, it reports the rescript of Innocent under the year 1133, namely in the middle between the years 1130 and 1138, as is manifest to one inspecting the book Ibid. l. c.. It must therefore be inquired to which of the two years, 1133 or 1143, the Pontiff's letter is to be attributed.
[6] it was associated, First of all it is certain that in both years Pope Innocent, often a fugitive, was present at Rome. For in the year 1133, on the day before the nones of June, in the Lateran basilica, he crowned the emperor Lothair Ciaccon. Vitæ Rom. Pontt. et Cardd. tom. I, col. 974.: and in the year 1143, staying at Rome the whole time, he died on the eighth before the kalends of October Ibid. col. 976.. Although thus far the scale stands level between the two years, yet the opinion of the praised Edmond Martène seems preferable on this head, that a solemn bull, subscribed also by nine Cardinals and dated the kalends of April 1142, makes no mention of any subjection of the monks of Grandselve toward the monastery of Cadouin. In it indeed it is laid down that the monastic order according to the Rule of Blessed Benedict and the institute of the Cistercian brothers should be inviolably observed at Grandselve for all time: at the same time, however, the Pontiff decrees that on the death of the abbot of the same place, no one is to be set over Grandselve by any cunning of underhandedness or by violence: but, he says, let it be lawful for you by common counsel or by the sounder part of the counsel, according to the fear of God and the Rule of Blessed Benedict, without anyone's opposition to elect an abbot Gall. Christ. tom. XIII, Instr. col. 18 and following.. If therefore already from the year 1133 the monks of Grandselve were bound by pontifical rescript to render subjection and due obedience to the monastery of Cadouin, the Innocentian bull would not have granted them the free election of their abbots. But if the solemn bull preceded the rescript, it is easily understood how it was marked by the people of Cadouin with the fault of obreption and subjected anew to the pontifical balance; and how at length the monks of Grandselve were compelled to the obedience due to the people of Cadouin. All of which proceeds duly when the rescript is set under the year 1143: and at the same time the way is smoothed for the monks of Grandselve, having shaken off the yoke of Cadouin, to associate themselves with Cîteaux.
[7] through the agency of St. Bernard, But although these things stand thus, we do not however agree with the praised Edm. Martène, who lays it down that in the year 1143 Grandselve was associated with Clairvaux: rather we judge that this happened in the year 1146 or the following Migne, Patrol. tom. CLXXII, col. 437.. First of all, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, writing to the people of Toulouse in the year 1147: Let there be commended to you, he says, the bearer of the letter, the venerable abbot of Grandselve and his house, which is ours also, lately handed over by him to us and to our Order, and specially associated with the church of Clairvaux. Show to us in him and in the saints who are with him how much you have profited from our admonition in works of mercy; and give in them proof of your charity and of the devotion you have toward us. Whatever you do to them, consider done to me. Since therefore St. Bernard says that Grandselve was lately, that is either in the very year of the writing of the letter, 1147, or a little before, associated with Clairvaux, the opinion of Edmond Martène referring the association to the year 1143 is in no way to be admitted. For the association would have preceded the Bernardine letter by a solid four years: nor could the people of Toulouse have been ignorant of it, especially after the preaching done by St. Bernard in their very city. It is true indeed that Grandselve is said to have been united to the Cistercian Order in the year 1144, as Ang. Manrique notes at this year, num. 1, from the Chronography of the Order: nevertheless, although the authority of this document is very weighty, as our colleague noted in the Acts of Blessed Geoffrey and his Companions under 20 October Act. SS. tom. VIII Octob., pag. 1021., it is not so great that no one would dare to go beyond it: for the praised Manrique himself places the association of Grandselve at the year 1147, as he notes in the same place, chapter 14, num. 2. Not
however do the considerations he reports as reasons for a change of this kind seem to me to be approved; namely the relaxation of regular discipline; for it is not likely that a monastery founded no long time before had displayed a foul image of vices. I readily admit that the cause of the change at Grandselve was the preaching of St. Bernard and the examples of his most holy life, which impelled upright monks to strive toward greater holiness.
[8] around the year 1147 To the year 1148, therefore, or the preceding, I prefer to refer what Manrique also narrates under the same year, chapter 14, num. 4: The one counsel, he says, of all the brothers of Grandselve was to send their abbot to Clairvaux, who should hand over himself, the house, and all its monks to Cîteaux, under the visitation of Bernard and his successors. Bernard therefore (for that was the abbot's name), sent across to Bernard, and received courteously and, in keeping with the man's gravity, reverently by the holy Father: prostrate in the chapter of Clairvaux, his habit changed, promised obedience, and handed over himself and the illustrious house of Grandselve, from then on yet more illustrious, to Cîteaux, a house destined thereafter to produce distinguished men. On account of this association with the monastery of Clairvaux, St. Bernard writes to the people of Toulouse in the letter already praised: Show to us in him (abbot Bertrand) and in the saints who are with him how much you have profited from our admonition in works of mercy, and give in them proof of your charity and of the devotion you have toward us. Whatever you do to them, consider done to me. The grace of God and peace be with you. Amen. Thereafter the monastery of Grandselve was enlarged by many broad estates, and in a short time it led out four colonies to found new monasteries.
[9] then mother of the monastery of Fontfroide, The first daughter of Grandselve, then, was the monastery of Fontfroide (Fontfroide), formerly of the diocese of Narbonne, today of Carcassonne (Dept. de l'Aude). Most scholars say that it began in the year 1097, and so surpassed in age Grandselve, begun in the year 1114, as we said above at num. 3 [Gall. Christ. tom. V, col. 198. Vaissette. Hist. du Languedoc. tom. II, pag. 448.]. For this assertion of theirs they indeed adduce no suitable testimony; rather, Gallia Christiana hints the contrary, reporting a bull of Innocent II which confirms to the monastery of Grandselve in the district of Narbonne the place of Fontfroide with the tithes and first-fruits and all its appurtenances, which Aimeric Gall. Christ. l. c., viscount of Narbonne, conferred in perpetuity on the aforesaid abbot (Bertrand) and the brothers, for the redemption of his soul, for building an abbey there. Moreover in the Life to be edited below, num. I, we read that St. Bertrand ruled Grandselve for twenty years and more, and since he died in the year of Christ 1149, it is established that he received the abbatial staff scarcely before the year 1128 or 1129: hence also it is established that Fontfroide could not have been conferred by Aimeric of Narbonne on Blessed Bertrand as abbot of Grandselve before the one or the other year. It is true indeed that in the Catalogue of the abbots of Fontfroide there is recorded first one named Bernard, who is known in the year 1118 from an instrument of purchase made together with his monks Ibid. l. c.: but it seems to me that it must be said either that this Bernard, buying the land, did not carry through his plan, or abandoned it when carried through. For after a solid ten years at last, the land of Fontfroide is granted to Blessed Bertrand for building an abbey there, which, if Bernard's attempt had succeeded, it would have rendered useless; since a monastery would already have been constructed.
[10] of which mention is had in the body of the Decretals Wherefore Aug. Manrique in his Annals at the year 1145, chapter 10, num. 9, says doubtingly that Fontfroide is older than Grandselve: perhaps, he says, older under the black habit, that is, the Benedictine. A little below, under the year 1147, chapter 19, num. II, that Fontfroide was associated with the Cistercians under this very year, together with Grandselve or a little after. Jongelinus in the Notitia of the abbeys of the Cistercian Order under num. 110 refers to the year 1145 the association of Fontfroide with the Cistercian Order; while at num. 105 he asserts that Grandselve in the preceding year took up the white habit of Cîteaux Notit. abbat. pag. 61 and 62.. From this monastery of Fontfroide came forth Jacques Fournier or Furnerius, who first as abbot, then as Cardinal of the title of St. Prisca, and at last as supreme Pontiff, by the name of Benedict XII, governed the Church of God in holiness. Nor does it seem it should be omitted that the monastery of Fontfroide is cited three times in the canon law. First indeed, in chapter 26 de Elect. (I, 6), Pope Innocent III mandates the abbot of Cîteaux and R. and P., monks of Fontfroide, to remove from the office of provost of the church of Toulouse the chancellor Mascuron, who had knowingly elected an unworthy person to the episcopate, because namely by such action he had made himself unworthy of ecclesiastical benefices. The second place is chapter 4 de suppl. neglig. prælat. (I, 10), in which the same Innocent mandates R., monk and legate of the Apostolic See, that ecclesiastical benefices unduly conferred, if indeed they have been assigned to suitable persons, be permitted to be possessed by the forbearance of the Apostolic See. The third text at last is chapter XVIII de accusat. (V, I), in which he commits to P. and R., monks of Fontfroide, that they carefully inquire, as legates of the Apostolic See, into the accusation publicly brought against the bishop of Agde, and if they find him gravely culpable, that they see to his removal from the administration of the church of Agde.
[11] likewise also of Calers, Manrique remains uncertain about the second daughter of Grandselve, Calers, whose site and filiation he seems not to know, at the year 1148, chapter XVI, num. 11: Calers, he says, or Calerium or Calersium, a doubtful house, of which I can say nothing certain, except however that in the genesis of the churches of Clairvaux I read written Calers or Calerium. The beginnings of this house Gallia Christiana has explained more happily, bringing forward a charter from which it is established Tom. XIII, Instr. col. 156. that in the year 1157 of the Lord's Incarnation the brothers William Peter and Aymeric and Ademar gave to God and to St. Mary and to Bertrand, abbot of Grandselve, and to the monks serving God there, both present and future, for the redemption of their sins, all the land which lies between the Comba de Goyre and the condominium of Rossanella and as far as the stream of Calers, cultivated and uncultivated. A little below it is added that abbot Bertrand and the monks of Grandselve in this very year constructed a monastery in the same place. No doubt therefore remains concerning the place, time and filiation of the monastery of Calers, which formerly belonged to the diocese of Rieux (Rieux), and is now contained in that of Toulouse. The third daughter of Grandselve, born however after the death of Blessed Bertrand, is Candeil, now as formerly in the diocese of Albi. Its foundation is to be referred to the year 1150 from a charter of donation, by which Raymond de Montaigut with the consent of his wife, Guirand Bec and William de Grava give, for the remedy of their souls, to Alexander, abbot of Grandselve, who succeeded Blessed Bertrand, and to the monks of the same place whatever they have in the place of Candeil; from which donation the monastery grew Hist. du Lang. tom. II Pr. col. 528..
[12] and of Valldaura in Spain, From the monastery of Grandselve there came forth also, after the death, as it seems, of Blessed Bertrand, the Spanish monastery of Vallis-laurea or Valldaura, which somewhat later took the name of Santes Creus. Ang. Manrique at the year 1151, chapter VI, num. 1, reports as the cause of the foundation the killing of the archbishop of Tarragona, perpetrated by William Raymond de Moncada; to expiate which Pope Eugene III ordered among other things that there be a monastery of the Cistercian Order in which, in return for the sacrilege perpetrated, religion should flourish, and a continual service be rendered to God in return for the injury inflicted on the priesthood. But an assertion of this kind seems altogether erroneous. For Spanish writers everywhere reject such a cause of the foundation. Certainly a certain William Raymond de Moncada treacherously killed the archbishop of Tarragona, Berengar Vilademuls; but our Mariana refers this to the year 1194 in his History of Spain, book XI, chapter 18, before which year the monastery of Valldaura was certainly founded. The series of the archbishops of Tarragona is set out by Jaime Finestres, a Benedictine: from the year 1149 to 1163 the see was occupied by Bernard Tort, whom Hugh de Cervellon and William Torrosa followed, whom at last Berengar Vilademuls succeeded, killed by Moncada [Hist. Poblet. tom. I, pag. 234. Compare Marca Hisp. col. 758, where the Council of Tarragona of the year 1180 is cited.]. Wherefore Francisco Diego of the Order of Preachers in his History of the counts of Barcelona says that a confusion arose between two Moncadas of the same name, and the error was born [Hist. de los Conde de Barcel. pag. 218. Compare De la Paña Cataluñ. illustr. tom. I, pag. 357.]. But what is to be said of the bull of Eugene III, of which Manrique makes mention? For if a penalty exists, an offence will have existed. I for my part have run through the very ample collection of the letters of Eugene; but of a bull of this kind, which no one cites, I have found no trace: until therefore it is produced, we follow the latter opinion.
[13] which is also called Santes Creus: Which opinion Pierre de Marca also embraces in his Marca Hispanica Col. 502.: In the same year, he says, namely 1151, in the month of December, the monastery of Santes Creus took its beginning in this way, situated on the border of the dioceses of Tarragona and Barcelona. William Raymond the Seneschal and his sons William, Raymond and Berengar gave to the abbot of Grandselve (Alexander, successor of Blessed Bertrand), of the Cistercian Order, which is situated in the diocese of Toulouse, certain lands on the mount of Cerdanyola for constructing a monastery in honour of the Blessed Virgin Mary. There was then in the monastery of Grandselve William of Montpellier, who a few years before had renounced his possessions and transferred them to his sons D'Aigrefeuille Hist. de Montpel. tom. I, pag. 28. tom. II, pag. 38., in order to take up the institute of the Cistercian monks in that monastery. Him therefore, as abbot-to-be, with twelve monks and three lay brothers, the abbot of Grandselve sent to the place given by the Seneschal: and that place was then called the monastery of Blessed Mary of Valldaura… The place of the monastery was afterwards changed at the beginning of the pontificate of Alexander III (therefore around the year 1660) to the place called at the Holy Crosses in the country of Montagut, which Giraldus Alemandi, Gerald de Jorba and William de Montagut gave to the monks for that reason on the sixth before the ides of August of the year 1160… False therefore are the things commonly handed down about the beginnings of that monastery, namely that it was built in expiation of a grave offence. The monastery of Santes Creus renounced its filiation to Grandselve when it was associated with the Spanish-Cistercian congregation. And these are the daughters of the church of Grandselve.
[14] but at last in commendam, Great glory, therefore, did the foundation and auspicious beginning of Grandselve confer on the Cistercian Order, great profit on the Church. But, as generally happens in human affairs, little by little the primitive fervour of religion grew lukewarm, especially from the frequent wars in Aquitaine between the French and the English, and most of all from
abbots, as they are commonly called, commendatory, from whose administration, says the Council of Trent, Session XXV, chapter 21 de Reg., monasteries have suffered no light detriments both in spiritual and in temporal things. For from a time beyond the first third of the 15th century Grandselve began to have abbots of this kind, and through almost an entire century one family possessed the monastery as if by hereditary right, as may be seen in the Catalogue of the abbots of Grandselve in Gallia Christiana Tom. XIII, col. 129 and following.. After Federico Lante della Rovere, created Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church by Benedict XIV on 9 September 1743 Moroni. Dizion. de sac. Erud. V°. Lante., there succeeded by virtue of resignation his kinsman de Veris, auditor of the Roman Rota, who himself gave way to Louis de Crillon, in whose hands the abbatial staff of Grandselve was broken by the calamity of the times [Jouglar. monogr. de Grand-Selve. Mém. de la Soc. d'Archéol. du midi de la France, tom. VII, pag. 192.].
[15] Grandselve passes to the monastery's ruin: Yet this must be confessed, that especially in the eighteenth century there was agreement quite peaceably between the commendatory abbots and the Cistercian monks of Grandselve. There were formerly grave dissensions, since abbots of this kind supplied the monks most sparingly with the necessaries of life. But in the year 1761 Cardinal Lante ceded all the revenues of the monastery to the monks, on the understanding that twenty thousand French livres a year, whole and free in every respect, should be paid to the abbot. Abbot Louis de Crillon refused to stand by the agreement [Jouglar. monogr. de Grand-Silve. Mém. de la Soc. d'Archéol. du midi de la France, tom. VII, pag. 194.]: which is easily understood; for at that period, or between the years 1760 and 1780, the fields were better cultivated and so more fertile, while the value of gold and silver and therefore of money was little by little decreasing: whence it could happen that the resources of the monastery, formerly divided with an equal balance, with the passage of time grew for the monks and melted away for the commendatory. Divisions of this kind were a seed-bed of continued discord and of perpetual lawsuits: nor did the monks think they should take great care for the cultivation of the fields, since they knew well that their labours would benefit not themselves but others. This disadvantage too the abuse of commendatories had, that regular abbots, when they have a separate rich table, residing assiduously in their monasteries, spend their revenues in those same places; whence they are also for the most part held to be benefactors: while commendatories almost always distribute the fruits they receive elsewhere, sometimes scandalously. But the custom of commendams had already in the 16th century struck such deep roots that the Council of Trent, Session XXV, chapter 21 de Reg., seems to have wished for rather than mandated their abolition; although there were not lacking fathers who judged that the decree on commendams, as Nicolas Psaume, bishop of Verdun, used to say Hugo. Sacr. Antiq. monum. tom. I, pag. 408., should be utterly rejected as unworthy of so great an assembly, and that rather what had been otherwise established in the Fifth Lateran Council according to the bull of Leo X Labbe, tom. XIV Conc. col. 221. should be renewed. But the usage prevailed, until most of these things were swallowed up in the common calamity.
[16] until in the year 1790, This same calamity utterly abolished the monastery of Grandselve Mém. d'Archéol. du midi de la France. tom. VII, pag. 222 and following.. For in the month of May of the year 1790 the magistrate of Bouillac (Bouillac) made an inventory of all the movable goods of the monastery. But ill-wishers, for the most part former servants, spread abroad among the people that the monks had hidden all the more precious things, and that thus the commonwealth had been robbed. The matter being brought to the superior magistrate of the district of Grenade, on 13 November of the same year a new inquiry was made, and first indeed they found untouched the movables recorded in the inventory; then, though they searched all the corners of the house for several days too, nothing met them that would bear out the slander. And so they left the monks their domestic and sacred furnishings: but all the rest, gold, silver, precious stones, they wished to be reserved for the nation, as it was then called. Meanwhile the monks of Grandselve were quietly devoting themselves to their accustomed offices, when they were informed that all their goods movable and immovable had been made over to the treasury of the republic, to be put up for sale. When therefore on 13 February 1791 a commissioner, attended by soldiers, had arrived to take away all the furnishings, the monks of Grandselve, lest they should seem to yield their right, closed all the entrances of the house. When at last the gates were at the point of being broken down, five or six monks came forth from a side gate, declaring in the name of their community that they were prepared to suffer every extremity rather than give any consent to the alienation or profanation of the sacred furnishings: and that if the commissioner chose to act by force, they would summon the neighbours by the sound of the bell, so that their right might be preserved safe and sound. To these threats indeed the commissioner gave way at the time: but yet the quiet of the monks of Grandselve was not of long duration.
[17] its goods being auctioned, For in the following month of March, the sale by auction of all the goods of the monastery being announced, the monks were dispersed, some to give their labour to the sacred ministry, others to public instruction. The very furnishings of Grandselve, sacred and profane, were publicly sold off Ibid. pag. 233.. The neighbouring churches carried off rich spoils; for the high altar adorns the church of Savenès, the altar of St. Bernard that of Bouillac, that of the Blessed Virgin Mary with the painting of the Marian Annunciation that of Ste-Croix, the choir stalls that of Beaumont Ibid. pag. 234.. The estates and immovables of every kind were bought at a price of a hundred thousand French livres, probably to be paid in paper money (Assignats), by a certain judge of Toulouse, who afterwards presided over the horrible and bloody tribunal of Paris Ibid. pag. 233.. He, moreover, with associates of the same stamp, sold at auction the altars, the grilles, the stalls of the choir: but almost the whole of the buildings were preserved unharmed; until in the year VII of the French era (common year 1799) the monastery, cloister and chapter-house were undermined: then the church itself, after sacrifice had been offered with impious rite to the Goddess Reason in the time of those bacchanals, was destroyed in the year XI (common 1802). Thus at length all things were laid waste, so that the celebrated monastery of Grandselve has left no trace of itself, and one may say with the poet: The very ruins have perished Ibid. pag. 334.. We have set out the fortune of the monastery of Grandselve more at length than usual, both because it touches the glory of Blessed Bertrand, and so that some memory of the extreme calamity of a most celebrated house of ascetics may remain surviving. Little by little the memory of monuments of this kind is obliterated: what we have reported thus far we owe to the distinguished Mr. Jouglar, an academician of Toulouse, who at the request on our behalf of the Rev. Mr. Lamousque, a parish priest of Verdun, kindly communicated these things to us: to both we give the greatest thanks. Would that our hagiographical labours could often be lightened by like aids! With an easy, but useful work we could at least set down the outlines of a universal Monasticon.
[18] its very traces have been wiped out. Of Blessed Bertrand we have nothing much to say. One thing seems to need adding; namely, the words are those of the Cistercian Menology at 20 November, that he formed his monks to every manner of piety and virtue, and scattered everywhere the seeds of the divine word through the surrounding region with most abundant fruit. Although, moreover, the Life makes no mention of the sacred ministry exercised toward outsiders, we do not however doubt that the elogium of the Menology above praised is true: for as a pupil of Blessed Gerard of Sales he must have imitated his master in zeal for souls, which was very great, as will be clear from the Life of Gerard, to be attached to these Acts in the form of an Appendix. The authors of Gallia Christiana have the same, when they say Tom. XIII, col. 130. that Bertrand, a distinguished herald of the divine word, illumined this whole region by his preachings. But they err when they think the death of the blessed man should be assigned to the year 1148: since it is certain from the contemporary Life that he closed his life on 11 July 1149. It will seem strange that Benedictine writers were ignorant of what their chief author, Jean Mabillon, had handed down: or perhaps were the last volumes of the great work compiled with a drowsier pen? The same writers attest a liturgical cult: and the Cistercian Menology adds at 20 November that special Antiphons and a Collect exist at Grandselve, which we would gladly display here if we had them before us. For as the places perish in which blessed men were venerated, their memory little by little perishes. Today, if a very few monasteries in hither Europe be excepted, there scarcely exists any local liturgy other than that of the cathedral churches, which would have to be burdened with many Offices of the saints in order that their own honour be given to the saints who have illumined the diocese: and hence the complaints seem to need tempering of those who grieve that the ferial Office is in a way being effaced: for nothing is diminished for religion and piety by the public cult of those men who not only have shed great glory on their country, but have also heaped benefits upon it.
Of the happy death of Bertrand, abbot of Grandselve, and of the heavenly visions which took place after his death in his monastery,
BY A CONTEMPORARY ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.
From the ms. of Orval in Mabillon, Annals, vol. VI.
Bertrand, confessor, abbot of Grandselve in Occitania. (S.)
BHL Number: 1305
BY A CONTEMPORARY ANONYMOUS AUTHOR.
The writer sincerely narrates certain things To the honour of God almighty let there be handed down to memory that which was disclosed in few words by our most reverend and venerable father Bertrand himself at the time of his death. For it will be, as we trust, through the grace of Christ worthy for those present, of profit to those to come, useful to many, free of falsehood, full of truth, to be believed by all without doubting. And this aforesaid and venerable Father, when he had ruled the church of Grandselve for twenty years and more a, completing his glorious course, many of his sons having already been sent on before to the Lord, happily arrived at the palm, and received, by the gift of Christ, the prize of the heavenly calling, long and greatly desired. And of what manner of life and sanctity he was is likewise made known.
[2] concerning his virtues, For he was incomparable in simplicity of soul, renowned for purity of heart, endowed with abstinence, amiable to all by meekness and gentleness, strong in patience, foremost in charity, devoted to humility, and, to conclude thus, in all these and other virtues he was found a friend of God. And so, one day before his death, when certain brothers asked him whether, if at any time he had merited any grace of familiarity before God, he would kindly disclose it to them, he gave such an answer to those humbly questioning him: I am not of such merit that I could ever have come to know my end. But when the aforesaid brothers humbly persisted in their request, compelled at last by their insistence he answered in this way, saying that it had been no small endeavour of his at the beginning of his conversion to run through the Gospels every day in holy meditation, and to guard his life in all purity to such a degree that no one would presume to relate in his presence the talk of worldly people, greetings of relatives, narrations of dreams. By this holy observance he so far advanced that at the invocation of the name of the Lord Jesus showers of tears would easily flow forth. At that time the blessed and glorious Virgin Mary appeared to him, but in what order and in what manner we do not know. And at that same time he merited to find such grace in the sight of the Lord that, while still living in the mortal body, he merited to see the Lord Jesus. For he used to relate that when he was staying in a place called Tuscium b, where he merited the grace of the aforesaid vision, and was
in the assembly of the brothers, and was performing the solemn evening office, he saw the Lord standing by him before his face. And as he wondered exceedingly, he saw the Lord Jesus himself pass before each one: and the holy man supposed that each one saw the Lord passing. And the psalm they were singing was "When Israel went out." Ps. CXIII
[3] about the deeds of Blessed Bertrand After he took up the burden of pastoral care, and took up the governing of the church of Grandselve, he could not altogether and entirely retain the quiet that had been dear to him in his former pursuit. And so, as many necessities, straits and tribulations arose in that same place, he thought it best to change place for place, suspecting that in that same place there was and always would be detriment to religion on account of the impiety and folly of the men dwelling around him. Wherefore, departing from that same place, he came with the greatest labour as far as Sicily: where, as he implored the divine clemency to direct him in all the good pleasure of his will, the Lord showed him the place and the character of the place to which he was to come. When he had arrived there, he found the place to be just as it had been shown to him. And turning to the Lord, that he would deign to show him the good pleasure of his will, the Lord showed him that he could by no means remain in that place; but that he would move to another place, and showed him, as before, the place and the character of the place. When he had arrived there, he found it as it had been shown to him. And when two years had passed from the time he had gone out from the abbey, there stood by him in a dream two monks of his, whom he had left in the abbey with the others, and they held the book of Job before him, saying that he would suffer many temptations and disturbances. And when the holy man had related these things to the brothers, he said: I give thanks to God, that as he foretold to me, so have I suffered. After this, having returned to his own church, when he was hemmed in on every side by tribulations, straits and necessities, and on this account was imploring the help of God, the Lord showed him that help from him would always be at hand, and that he would free him from all tribulation.
[4] and especially about the holy He said moreover that many times with a parched and cold heart he had approached the holy altar to perform the sacred mysteries, and that amid those most sacred mysteries the Lord Jesus had appeared to him, sometimes where it is said in the Canon: "This is my Body;" and sometimes in the fraction of the body of Christ it seemed to him that the Lord came very near to him, so that it seemed to him a kiss was given him by him. And being asked how and in what body the Lord Jesus was seen by him, he answered, "in the glorified body." He asserted also that frequently, as he walked along the road and prayed for the mercy of Christ, when he lifted his eyes to heaven, he saw heavenly things, and that a very great brightness came from the heavenly things down to him. All these things that have been told our holy Father did not disclose to those inquiring until they gave their word that they would speak about this to no man as long as he himself should live. As the hour of his death approached, the brothers being gathered around him (and it was, I think, more than midnight [c]), and he being now, as it seemed to us for certain by sure signs, lifeless, while the brothers chanted psalms he opened his eyes: O with what grateful eyes, with what most joyful and serene countenance he looked upon those standing by!
[5] his death Two months before his falling asleep, when he was pressed by the grievous affliction of fevers, he related that at night in a dream there appeared to him the glorious and perpetual Virgin Mary, sitting at table with a glorious and most holy assembly: and when he had come in before her, the Blessed Mother of God and most loving Virgin Mary began to invite him to the table, but he protested that he was unworthy of such an invitation. On the following night, when he was neither fully asleep nor wholly awake, he related that he had seen a vision of this kind, saying: I saw, he says, in such a place the Lord Jesus, such as he is, loving, sweet and merciful, and there were very many little dwellings there, but empty: and so, wondering, as he himself afterwards related, he heard the Lord saying and commanding him: Speak. And he said, Lord, what shall I speak or from what source, since I am unknowing and ignorant of what to say? To whom the Lord: Only speak, I will instruct you what to say. And you shall speak from this: its name is wormwood. After this, as he himself used to relate, those little dwellings were filled in manifold ways with men, which little dwellings appeared around the cloister and the church.
[6] and burial: In the year, therefore, of the Lord's Incarnation 1149, weighed down by bodily affliction, he arrived at the last day of his calling: and because it is truly written, the Lord saying: "Those who glorify me I will glorify;" therefore the holy man merited to be honoured by the Lord at the time of his death. For the Lord then sent him an abbot from far off and of another province, but of the same religious life, for the service of his burial, when all the nearby and neighbouring abbots were absent. And so he addressed the aforesaid and venerable man, when he had come in to him, thus: For this reason has the Lord sent you, that you may render me the service of burial. How truly you said this, venerable Father, the outcome of the matter proved: for at your death he rendered you both the service of a minister and the office of a priest. For he stripped you when dead, washed you, wiped you dry and clothed you; and with his own mouth commended your soul to the Lord, your body to the earth. And the holy Father died on the fifth before the ides of July, on the second day of the week d. And so the aforesaid and venerable abbot, when after the death of the most holy man he had given himself to sleep, saw a vision of this kind. For on the fifth before the ides, as he himself afterwards used to relate, flocks of sheep came and entered through the parts of the garden, and wondering he was at a loss what these flocks of sheep might mean; and he heard a voice saying to him: These sheep which you see are men, and their Abbot has led them. Truly the man beloved of Christ showed clearly in many ways that he took care, no less after his death, of those of whom he had taken care while living.
[7] after death to his sons, Then after the most holy Father and Pastor had passed to the Lord, the ancient enemy corrupted and overturned the hearts of certain brothers: but he was altogether unable at once to bring about what he wished and as he wished. And he persuaded some indeed to desert the Order, and others to decline to a more relaxed Order: but cunning of this kind could not remain hidden; yet, though forestalled, it did not altogether lose its power. For one of those whom he had led astray in depravity of heart drew away by crafty seduction one who was a monk in habit, from among the hands and out of the hand of the seniors who were looking into the matter, and persuaded him to flee. But hemmed in by distress, he could go no further: for after two days he asked pardon and returned to the monastery. Meanwhile the merciful God, meeting the wiles of the enemy, set his goodness against him, and mercifully prepared a vessel for the glory of his name out of the vessels of captivity. And so on the eleventh day after the departure of the most holy Father, one of those whom the cunning of the enemy had circumvented, still living in the cell of probation, when after the ninth hour he had prepared himself with the others for labour, as is the custom, sat down before his bed; and when all were going out, he alone staying and remaining struck all with stupor; and neither would he give any answer to those calling him. Disturbed and contrite, coming nearer, and crying out to him quite often by his own name, when they received no answer from him, and could barely perceive any motion in him, they informed the prior of the brothers, and announced that he was near to death. When they had arrived there, surpassing all bodily things most wonderfully in a certain inestimable ecstasy of mind, he gradually went out of himself to such a degree that it was openly clear to all that he had altogether, beyond doubt, lost bodily touch and sight: for as long as he was in ecstasy he held his hands inflexible and raised to heaven, often lifting his face and eyes to God.
[8] he is present to those wavering in their holy vocation: And when, all being present, he was speaking thus with groaning, "Lord," he said, "Lord," and said this for quite a while, being asked by them whether he saw the lord Abbot, "I hear," he said, or as it seemed to some, he answered thus: "I hear him." After this, with intervals and pauses, he said scarcely anything. Yet after the first questioning he spoke thus: "Lord, he said, Bertrand, Lord Bertrand; and after a little: Lord, he said, holy Bertrand. And when he had said this for quite a while, he fell silent. After this he invoked now the Lord Jesus, now his glorious Mother, quite often with weeping and tears, and spoke thus:" "Lord Jesus, I a sinner am not worthy, I am not worthy: I am not, he said, Lord Jesus, I am not worthy." Then after some little interval he spoke thus: "I did not say, Lord Jesus, I did not say." At the last, all hearing and seeing, he answered in a sweet and clear voice: "Thanks be to God." And as if awaking from a heavy sleep, with eyes opened in supplication he looked at those standing around. And when they asked where he had been, he answered: "In glory." Did you see, they say, the lord Abbot? "I saw him, he said, and he exhorts you greatly!" Again questioning: "Did you see, they say, the Lord Jesus? I saw him," he said. Again, questioning him as before whether he had seen the lord Abbot, they receive this kind of answer: "I saw him, he said, and he exhorts you greatly, and he pleads for you greatly before God. And so he has sent you a mandate concerning the Order and the religious life, that you take care of it and hold to it, and he himself will be your leader before God. And if you do this, he mandates you this also, that where he is, you too will arrive." They say to him again: "Did you see the Mother of God?" I saw her, he said, and she pleads for you greatly before the Lord. How, they say, or in what manner did you see the lord Abbot? Radiant, he said, clothed as for Mass, and the multitude that was with him was clothed in white and went along sweetly chanting psalms. Did you recognize, they say, anyone among them? No one, he said, did I recognize except him. They say to him: Does the lord Abbot mandate nothing else to us? Nothing, he said, except only concerning the Order. To what, they say, did you answer, Thanks be to God? He answered: To a precept. They say to him: "To what precept?" But he who had seen these things, now fully returned to himself, would disclose nothing further of what he had seen to any man. And when the prior thought that by a precept of obedience he could constrain him to reveal all that he had seen, he set against it the fear of the Lord. "I fear, he said, the offence of my Lord, if I say more." Questioning him again and again whether the lord Abbot mandated anything more to them, he answered: "Only, he said, concerning the Order, that you keep it." After this he who had seen these things, destitute of bodily strength, became quite seriously ill. And from then on the eighth day, when he had come into the church to render praises to the Lord with the others, and that psalm was already being sung, "Attend, O my people, to my law Ps. LXXVII, 1 e," after an inestimable fragrance of odour, greatly wondering, suddenly and motionless he saw the lord Abbot passing through the middle of the choir, and he said this at the first vision, that many of the Order and monastery
would have withdrawn, if the lord abbot had not held them back. "For the lord abbot himself holds you back, and he himself brought back this one who had fled. For I too wished to depart, but the lord Abbot held me back." These things are indeed to be wondered at, but things more to be wondered at succeed the wonders, free indeed of falsehood, yet full of truth.
[9] to a certain novice Bertrand of blessed memory, abbot of Grandselve, appeared after his death to a certain novice of those of whom, while living, as was said above, he had taken care. In the same year likewise he manifested himself no less gloriously to another novice. When the same novice, matins having been sung in the infirmary with his two companion brothers who were keeping vigils in the same place, had returned to his own pallet, he suddenly heard the door of the privy being violently shaken, as if a crowd of persons coming in were pressing on it: he believed they were robbers, he wished to speak, but yet he delayed, and resolved within himself to keep altogether silent. Those who were coming in, filling the inner room, began to go out to the outer one, where he was lying: but before they could go out into the outer room, the same novice, as he sensed in advance their coming, and knew that those whom he had believed to be robbers were malignant spirits, began to be distressed, to tremble, to turn pale, to be gripped by excessive cold. He called his companions by a sound and held out a candle, asked for a light, and, as much as he could, rose up in his bed. Wherefore his companions, seeing him so disturbed, turning pale and being distressed, ran to the church, and announced to the abbot and to certain brothers, who had then entered the church with him, that their companion was dying. They run in haste, and found him not dead, but nearly dead, and gripped by excessive cold and pallor. They call his name, redoubling it, yet could have no answer from him: they ask whether he wished to receive the Lord's body, and he nodded to them that he wished to receive it. When it had been brought, his voice then recovered, he spoke. Being questioned, he confessed him as Redeemer and Saviour, adored the cross, received the body of Christ, and was restored from his fear. Yet he still cried out that the house was full of demons, and he was in dread at their presence. Being asked what the demons wanted, "They want, he said, to drag one man away from here. And he said: O wretch, O wretch! who had come to God, now he wishes to be separated from God." Saying these and like things, he began more and more to be afraid, not able to bear the presence of the demons.
[10] he appears in the habit But he testified that at the sprinkling of holy water they fled, and through the privy f, through which they had come in, they went out of the house. But standing around the door of the house, they stirred up a great din, which another novice also hearing was thoroughly terrified. But he who saw these things feared the more; he began to cry out that the door be closed. But the demons being put to flight by the sprinkling of holy water and by divine power, he fell silent and was at rest. But after a little he spoke, wondering also, "how, he said, two Angels are now ascending into heaven." Meanwhile his eyes began to fail, and his countenance too began to change in pallor. For by the pallor of his countenance and the touch of his vein, and by the look of his eyes he showed signs that he was dying. The abbot was present with the monks, all stood around the novice, and thought that he was dying. Without delay his eyes were made more beautiful, and his face more cheerful, and it became gracious in the eyes of all those standing around, while he altogether lost bodily sight and hearing. For rapt sublimely and wonderfully in ecstasy, and with eyes fixed upward, he said that he heard a sweet-sounding song g. Joyful indeed and pleasant, and no less to be wondered at, are the things which follow. And wondering greatly: "What a most glorious Lady I see, he said, O how beautifully she sings." He was silent a little: then he said: "Hail, full of grace." Having said this he was silent: and afterwards with wonder he said: "Now I see our Lady, then Mary, and where? I see her in the heavens, and how beautifully the Blessed Mother of God sings a certain hymn!" He narrated these things, namely, in this manner, yet not continuously, but he interposed a little pause of silence; yet in one manner, because he kept quiet now a little, now longer, in silence. He was silent a little, and disclosed what hymn the Blessed Mother of God was singing, saying: "Hail, star of the sea." He was silent for a moment, and afterwards, wondering, said: "She sings very beautifully, and O how sweet is that hymn." For some while he was at rest; and then he said: "Now she is at the third verse". He rested a little, and said: "Show her to me, and O how beautifully she sings!" Having said this he fell silent. Afterwards he said: "Now the Blessed Virgin Mary has finished the hymn." When he was saying these things, who could tell the joy he was showing, and the graciousness of his countenance, the beauty of his eyes? For he both wept for joy, and compelled those standing around to weep for joy.
[11] and in the rite When he spoke, he did this without knowing, neither attending to those present, nor answering what he was asked; for he was altogether rapt in ecstasy. But in order that those present might in part know the things that he was seeing in the spirit, he himself, without knowing, said some things in his fashion. And the things he said are such as the following discourse will narrate. "I see, he said, a very little cross exceedingly beautiful, and a certain good man is holding it." He was silent a little, then he said: "The holy abbot Bertrand, O how he rejoices and is glad." What delight and exultation there was then for those present! The abbot too, turning to the praise of his predecessor, said: "Come, novices, come, pray, entreat St. Bertrand." And O with what devotion he began to exhort all who were present to the glory of his predecessor! But he who was seeing these things said: "O what a beautiful college! O what a beautiful company!" Being silent a little while, he said this also: "His brothers of Grandselve are with him." He was silent a little, then he said: "His brothers, saying, of Grandselve are with our abbot and the college of Clairvaux." Wondering also, "what great joy, he said, Clairvaux can have!" For a little he fell silent, and afterwards said: "Now he is being vested, and O how beautiful are those vestments!" Having said this he was silent. Then "how orderly, he said, this good man begins, Glory to God in the highest! He rested in silence, and following on added," and on earth, "redoubling it," peace, he said, to men. Having said this he was silent. But would that as he could report the words, so also the joy and the gracious sighs. For truly he rejoiced, truly he rejoiced, and wept for joy. For a long time he was silent, wholly rapt in ecstasy, intent on the praises of the blessed spirits, and through the pauses and intervals of the praises he was hearing, he said some things, and certain small things, in his mouth, and said: "With the Holy Spirit;" and when those standing by had heard this, they said that it was the last words of the angelic hymn. For a little space he rested, and afterwards he said: "How beautifully, he said, a certain boy begins the Epistle." At this those standing around, greatly wondering, said that it was the Mass; but, to confess the truth, Christ being witness, these things are of such dignity that they can never or scarcely be worthily uttered in human speech.
[12] solemnly Nevertheless, lest perhaps these things be hidden by the cloud of oblivion from the benefit of many, God granting it, let a poor little word of exhortation run through the rest. And so when he had said how beautifully a certain boy begins the Epistle, he subjoined: "From the beginning;" having said this he was silent until about the end of the Epistle: and he said: "And in the fullness" and with wonder repeating this: "And in the fullness, he said, of the Saints." Using a measured silence, he said: "Adore the Lord." And when those standing by had heard this, and said that these were the last words of the Response, in a voice of exultation and wonder he said again: "How beautifully two good men begin the Alleluia." He was silent a little, then he said: "Now they are saying the verse": and he said: "We have seen the Lord" and with immense exultation repeating this, "We have seen," he said, the Lord mo … at the end of which he fell silent. In this manner he reported, "adore the Lord:" then he said: "Alleluia." And wondering, "How beautifully, he said, a certain good man begins the Gospel." Having said this he fell silent, and with gladness said again: "The book;" repeating this for joy: "The book, he said, of the generation." He was silent in measure, then said: "Who was God." Having said this he fell silent: and after the end of the Gospel he spoke thus and said: "Now the good man kisses the book." For a little while he fell silent, then he said: "O what a lovely censer!" After a little he said again: "O what an ornate censer!" When he was saying these things, who could report the joy with which he rejoiced? And truly beyond human measure was his face delightful, his gracious eyes raised upward, and watering his face with tears he sent forth gracious sighs. And those standing by, rejoicing with him who rejoiced, wept together for joy.
[13] celebrating. These things were done, not feigned; true, not false; they can be believed, they cannot be comprehended by reason: and, Christ being witness, they are devoid of falsehood, full of truth. And O the ineffable goodness of Christ and his immense loving-kindness, which when it raised one man to contemplate ineffable things, through his mediation, so to speak, the minds of those who are lifted up to the heavenly mansions. For through the mediation of him who was seeing these things, they rejoiced that they had been made sharers in that ineffable Mass of the blessed spirits, as if they were present among the holy souls above. But let the discourse run back to its narrative. For after he who was seeing these things had said, "what an ornate censer!", using a measured silence, he went on and added: "Through all:" and being silent in measure, he said: "Holy, Holy, Holy." He rested and fell silent: then with joy he said: "Blessed is he who comes" and in a voice of exultation redoubling this very thing, he said: "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Having said this, he rested and fell silent until the "Our Father." And using a measured silence, he said: "Lamb of God." Repeating this again a third time, he went on and added: "Grant us peace." When he had said this, a little silence being made, wondering he said: "Now two Angels are serving, holding two cruets." After this, when he had said, "The Lord be with you" and in a voice of exultation added: "Go, it is the dismissal." Those standing by rejoiced magnificently, joining their voice to the blessed spirits, they were glad, and in gladness responded and said: "Thanks be to God." After all of which he who was seeing these things said: "Blessed the Son of God:" and using a measured silence, he said: "Now he has been unvested." etc.
ANNOTATIONS.
c. These
words, which assign even the hour of the event, show an eyewitness, who, certain about the substantials, remains somewhat doubtful in the accidentals.