Domitius

ON ST. DOMITIUS, CONFESSOR, IN THE TERRITORY OF AMIENS,

BEFORE THE MIDDLE OF THE VIII CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Domitius, confessor, in the territory of Amiens. (S.)

BY J. V. H.

§ Sole. The Saint's elogia in the Martyrologies;

he seems to have been only a deacon; his Life written by various men at various times; of the cathedral status of the church of St. Acheul near Amiens and of the clerical life of the Saint.

The sanctity and ecclesiastical cult of St. Domitius are attested to us by various Martyrologies; in the first place by the Roman, in these words: St. Domitius the deacon In the territory of Amiens, of Saint Domitius, presbyter. Molanus, however, in his Auctarium of Usuard says: In the territory of the Ambiani, of Saint Domitius, bishop and confessor; but the Martyrologies of Évreux and Auxerre present St. Domitius as presbyter and canon of the Church of Amiens. Apart from Molanus nobody has called our Saint a bishop; indeed, he should not even be called a presbyter, since the most ancient Life, which we give below, calls him a deacon. In the regions of Gaul, it says at num. 1, there was a certain old man, illustrious not so much by age of years as by honesty of morals, at first a canon of the Church of Amiens, by name Domitius, a devout man, filled with the Holy Spirit and adorned with the grace of the diaconate. And indeed in the rest of the narration of his life nothing occurs that would indicate that St. Domitius ever held the office of the priesthood; rather, the words of num. 9 indicate the contrary: For the Saint, feeling his death to be imminent, a little before his departure, … approached one of the priests who was preparing himself to celebrate Mass, and asked of him that in that very Mass the most holy host should be conferred on him. And if Domitius had been a presbyter, while still healthy and vigorous he would undoubtedly have offered the sacrifice himself. Rightly therefore the Breviary of Amiens, edited in the year 1746 by order of Bishop Louis de la Motte, called Saint Domitius a deacon.

[2] his Acts were edited both by the old writers, The Acts which we have before us and edit are not contemporary, but they are the most ancient of all that we know: for since St. Domitius in the eighth century, in the time of Christianus, bishop of Amiens, who

held the see between the years 721 and 748 Gall. Christ., vol. X, col. 1156, flourished, and these Acts were written when the convent of the Paraclete, that is in the year 1219 Ibid., col. 1345, was being built, as our biographer says at num. 2, it is plain that their writer flourished at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Yet it seems likely to me that a more ancient Life lit the way for the biographer, to which he conformed his lucubration, both because he is altogether sober in reporting events, and because words of similar cadence and almost exact to metre indicate that some metrical Life existed, as we shall show here and there in the Annotations. Our biography of St. Domitius also agrees entirely with that of St. Ulphia, which Bolland edited from the same Legendary of Abbeville at the 31st day of January Acta SS., vol. II of Jan., p. 1123. Yet the two sets of Acts differ in this, that they were written at different times: for at the time when the biographer was composing the Life of St. Domitius, the monastery of the Paraclete was being built, not yet finished; as he himself says at num. 2, that St. Ulphia, inflamed with desire for the hermit life, fled and to a certain spring, where the monastery of the Paraclete of nuns of the Cistercian Order IS NOW BEING BUILT AND FOUNDED: and this happened in the year 1219, as is established from the charter of foundation given in the year of grace MCCXIX, in the month of June Gall. Christ., vol. X, instruments, col. 339. But when the Life of St. Ulphia was being written, the monastery of the Paraclete had already been built and founded, the biographer writing Acta SS., vol. II of Jan., p. 1124: That the place of the Virgin Ulphia's dwelling might be held more celebrated, by divine providence in this same place that noble monastery of sacred virgins which is called the Paraclete stood built and founded: and so the Life of St. Domitius preceded the Life of St. Ulphia.

[3] and by more recent ones: After the more ancient Acts, certain more recent writers also devoted their work to writing the Life of St. Domitius. Pierre de Saint-Quentin, of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, edited a Life of SS. Ulphia and Domitius in French at Amiens in the year 1664. And since nobody can touch on the deeds of St. Ulphia without reporting at the same time the principal records of our Saint, those too who have written specifically of St. Ulphia must be reckoned among his biographers. A Life of St. Ulphia, as patroness of the monastery of the Paraclete, was written in the French language and edited at Paris in the year 1648 by Suzanne de Brasseuse, 23rd abbess of the same monastery, from the year 1626 to 1681 Gall. Christ., vol. XX, col. 1346. Finally Louis Sellier of our Society, recently deceased in holiness, composed a new Life of St. Ulphia, which he made public at Amiens in the year 1841. This little book, put together by the most pious man, has this worth among other things, that, using the lucubrations of his predecessors, he could narrate also the recent fortunes of the sacred Relics, which were dispersed by the whirlwind at the end of the past century, and testify to the pious tradition of more ancient times, so far as it is still in force today. We shall therefore frequently have occasion to cite him; and although the book was printed with the author's name suppressed, with only the device A. M. D. G., we shall nevertheless present it under the author's name at the foot of the page, according to our custom.

[4] he seems to have flourished Further, as regards the time at which St. Domitius flourished, nothing can be accurately defined, since no chronological mark occurs either in his Acts or in those of St. Ulphia apart from the pontificate of Christianus, bishop of Amiens, whose time may not be determined by certain numbers. Now Christianus before his episcopate was, on the testimony of Charles Le Cointe in his Annals at the year 713, num. 38 Annales Francorum, vol. IV, p. 526, abbot of Réome among the Lingones. Pierre Rouvier, of our Society, who composed the History of the monastery of St. John of Réome, says P. 76: We hold from the chronological notes of the Catalogue of abbots that the headship of Christianus was a decade later than that which preceded it, of Eustorgius: (and he had said that Eustorgius was abbot in the year 710, so that Christianus began his headship in the year 720) but its end may not be precisely assigned, much less the things done by him, except that he held the episcopate of an undiscovered see. After which words Le Cointe, loc. cit., adds: Yet we think that see has been discovered by us, namely Amiens, which Christianus obtained in the year 721, Dominicus of Amiens having died immediately after the translation of St. Lambert.

[5] before the middle of the eighth century: But the presence of Bishop Christianus, as of the other prelates who are said to have attended the translation of St. Lambert, our men say at the 17th day of September, in the Commentary on St. Lambert, num. 200 and following Acta SS., vol. V of Sept., p. 453, is not proved by sufficiently suitable testimony: indeed, says Constantine Suyskens, Commentator on the Acts of St. Lambert: of some of these prelates the time of the episcopate, as it is handed down by the writers, did not coincide with the time of the translation, of others it is altogether doubtful, and of the rest, finally, the presence is plainly uncertain. Although, then, most of the more recent writers, Adrien de la Morlière Antiquités de la ville d'Amiens, p. 196, Charles Le Cointe Annales Francorum, vol. IV, p. 646, the authors of Gallia Christiana Vol. X, col. 1156 and the Celestine monk Daire Hist. de la ville d'Amiens, vol. II, p. 13, report as undoubted the presence of Christianus, bishop of Amiens, at the translation of St. Lambert, yet it is not certain, and so cannot furnish a certain foundation for chronology. Although, then, we cannot give any certain beginning to the pontificate of Christianus, there is yet no doubt that he was bishop of Amiens about these times, since this may be computed from the succession of the bishops. Thus Ursinianus, bishop of Amiens, is mentioned in the placita of Clovis III, of the year 692, and of Childebert III, of the year 697, concerning the estate of Nocidum on the Oise, Noisy-sur-Oise Dom Bouquet, vol. IV, p. 671 and 676: he is followed by Dominicus, whom Christianus follows, after whom we have Raimbertus, of whom Pope Zachary makes mention in a letter to Boniface of Mainz and various bishops of Gaul, which, as Sirmond notes, was given in the year 748 Migne, Patrology, vol. LXXXIX, col. 948. And so between the year 697, in which Ursinianus sat, and 748, in which Raimbertus sat, we have an interval of fifty-three years, in which interval there is room for the bishops Dominicus and Christianus; and this indeed suffices for us to say that St. Domitius, living under Christianus, occupied the earlier part of the eighth century: for which reason, since we had nothing more certain, we have broadly marked his death as before the middle of the eighth century.

[6] his cell stood from Amiens In the Life at num. 1 we read that St. Domitius led a solitary life in a certain secluded place, distant fifteen miles from the city of Amiens, and had the custom each night of attending vigils in person at Amiens in the church of Blessed Mary, where the monastery of St. Acheul now stands, and, those being completed, of going back at what hour he could to his hermitage. In the Life of St. Ulphia, edited by our predecessors, num. 4 Acta SS., vol. II of Jan., p. 1123, her cell is said to have been at about the fourth mile from the same city (Amiens), near the stream of the Noye. Which indeed in no way agrees with the Acts of St. Domitius: perhaps an error infects the Life of St. Ulphia, namely the omission of the word ten, so that it should be read that the cell of the holy Virgin was distant at the fourteenth mile from Amiens: by which reckoning the two Lives would agree sufficiently, since the Virgin's cell lay two kilometres nearer to Amiens than the holy Man's hut. These things are established from the Cassini Atlas of France. But I doubt whether the topographical measures are rightly expressed in either Life: the mile formerly, at least in the time of Gregory of Tours, made up a third part of a French league, of which there are 25 to a geographical degree. For the History of the Franks, book VIII, chap. 15 Migne, Patrology, vol. LXXI, col. 457 says that the monastery of St. Wulfilaicus was eight miles distant from the fort of Eposium, which make up two and a half French leagues Compare Acta SS. of Belgium, vol. II, p. 184, Annotation a. And so if St. Domitius had been fifteen miles from Amiens, or rather from the church of St. Acheul, the daily journey would have been of five leagues, which being doubled on account of the return, he would have had to run through a space of ten leagues every day: and to undertake daily so great a labour of travelling, even through rains, snows and ice, all but surpasses human strength, especially if we observe that this was to be performed both by a man already sloping in age and by a tender virgin.

[7] by two and a half leagues, But if we consult geographical maps, we find that the matter, though still arduous, was yet transacted in a more human way. The Cassini Atlas determines the distance of the Cell of St. Domitius, which is now simply called St. Domitius, from St. Acheul as ten kilometres or a little more than two and a half leagues; and the cell of St. Domitius is distant two kilometres from that of Ulphia, which afterwards grew into the convent of the Paraclete, as may be seen in the praised Atlas, on the map marked 5 II. For these reasons we consider that each biographer stumbled, one by excess, the other by defect; and we judge it should be read that the holy man's cell was about eight miles distant from Amiens, for which reason we place the hermitage of St. Ulphia also at the seventh mile from the city. Nor are these things said as if we wished to lessen the labour of either Saint: certainly a journey of five leagues, to be completed daily in winter and summer, presents to us such arduousness that no other work of penance seems able to be put on a level with it.

[8] and he went there every day by night: Further, at the same num. 1 two other things occur which need some illustration, namely that the monastery of St. Acheul was then the church of Blessed Mary, and that the canons of the cathedral church sat in it. As regards the cathedral status of the church of St. Acheul, the writers of Amiens agree that it was built first of all in the diocese of Amiens, and thus that the first bishops established their pontifical see in it [Gall. Christ., vol. X, col. 1148 and 1325. Daire, Hist. d'Amiens, vol. II, p. 251]. Yet this is singular, that the principal church was built outside the walls of the city of Amiens; for for the most part cathedral churches were erected in the city itself. And that the church of St. Mary at St. Acheul was placed outside the city is shown by the custom of burying the dead there, since the senator Faustinianus had his sepulchre there. For which reason I cannot approve the reason alleged by the authors of Gallia Christiana in order to establish, as they say Gall. Christ., loc. cit., col. 1148, that it was the cathedral, namely because it is established that the first and very many bishops were buried in it. For it was provided by the laws that the dead should not be laid within the city, as is clearly testified to us by the Council of Braga of the year 561, which in canon

XVIII, prohibiting [De Aguirre, Councils of Spain, vol. III, p. 181. Compare the Addition of Joseph Catalani, ibid., p. 187] that the bodies of the dead be in any way buried in the basilicas of the Saints, adduces this consideration for its ordinance: For if this most firm privilege still remains to the cities, that in no way should the body of any dead person be interred within the circuit of the walls, how much more ought the reverence of the venerable Martyrs to obtain this. Accordingly the first bishops of the cities were not buried in their cathedral churches, when these were contained within the circuit of the walls, but the place of burial was outside the city, as could be shown by bringing forward many examples Compare Thomassin, Ecclesiastical Discipline, Part III, book I, chap. 66. These things are not said, therefore, as if we were rejecting the opinion of those who judge that the church of St. Acheul was once the cathedral; but lest ineffective reasons should be produced to confirm an opinion otherwise most probable: since by the consent of all the church of St. Acheul was the most ancient of the whole diocese, one readily judges that the first bishops of Amiens had their see in it.

[9] whether he was enrolled in the clergy of the Church of Amiens is inquired. But at the time when St. Domitius flourished, namely in the eighth century, it had already ceased to be the cathedral, which St. Salvius, bishop of Amiens, had transferred within the city at the beginning of the seventh century, as our men have shown in the Acts of the two St. Firmins Compare Acta SS., vol. I of Sept., p. 186 and vol. VII, p. 36. But there seem to have been in the church of St. Acheul clerics who, as Gallia Christiana has it Vol. X, col. 1325, fought for God by day and night under the authority of the chapter: and with these clerics indeed St. Domitius associated himself to discharge the nocturnal praises to God, as is narrated in his Life at num. 1. Whether, further, he was a canon in the true sense of the name, such as we know and have today, may rightly be doubted, since the chapters of cathedral churches had not yet been constituted in the present manner. Yet from the very beginnings of the Church certain presbyters and deacons adhered to the bishop, whom St. Ignatius the Martyr, in the letter to the Trallians Migne, Greek Patrology, vol. IV, col. 678, already called the senate of God and the council of the Apostles, which he wished to be held by the faithful in the highest veneration. On account of a similar reverence it was forbidden in most ancient times for rural presbyters to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, in the presence of a city presbyter, without his licence, as the council of Neocaesarea of the year 314 has it Labbe, Councils, vol. I, col. 1488. Since, then, St. Domitius had a dwelling quite distant outside Amiens, so that he could not easily attend his bishop, it is doubtful whether he belonged to the senate or presbytery of the Church of Amiens. Next, the bishop and cathedral clergy commonly dwelt together. For from canon XII of the second council of Tours, celebrated in the year 567, we have it Ibid., vol. V, col. 855 that the bishop dwelt with his presbyters, deacons and younger clerics; for which reason the bishop, if he should be married, should hold his wife as a sister and make her dwelling separate: let them be so far apart, divided from nearness of dwelling, that those who are nourished for the hope of recovery in the service of the clergy should not be polluted by the near contagion of the maidservants (of the bishop's wife). The episcopal house, then, was not only what we now call the episcopal palace, but also the cloister of the canons and the seminary of the young. And in this way we entirely admit that St. Domitius was for some time enrolled in the school of the Church of Amiens, and so in its clergy; but thereafter he served as deacon of the basilica of St. Acheul, since he was a sharer, as the Life has it at num. 1, in a small prebend. These things we have thought should be set before the Life of St. Domitius.

LIFE OF ST. DOMITIUS, CONFESSOR AND CANON OF AMIENS,

Copied from the Legendary of the Collegiate Church of St. Wulfram, of the city of Abbeville, diocese of Amiens.

Domitius, confessor, in the territory of Amiens. (S.)

BHL Number: 2258

BY J. V. H.

St. Domitius At the first time when the mighty persecution of the tyrants who opposed the Christian laws had been fully relieved and quieted, there was in the regions of Gaul a certain old man, illustrious not so much by age of years as by honesty of morals, at first a canon of the Church of Amiens ^a, by name Domitius, a devout man, filled with the Holy Spirit and adorned with the grace of the diaconate. This man, sweetly wounded by the charity of Christ, freely resigning his canonry, had scorned all the pomp of the world, had left behind vanity and had given over the care of the flesh to oblivion, leading a solitary life in a certain secluded place, distant about fifteen miles from the city of Amiens ^b. He also had the custom each night of being present in person at vigils at Amiens in the church of Blessed Mary, where the monastery of St. Acheul now stands ^c, and, those being completed, of going back at what hour he could to his hermitage. Nevertheless the daily small prebend from his canonry prescribed by himself for himself ^d, moderate however and strict, as befitted a sober hermit, his fellow canons kindly furnished, which he humbly carried in a wallet, as if begging, on returning from vigils.

[2] of St. Ulphia, Virgin, There was also in those days a certain virgin, very beautiful, Ulphia by name ^e, who, inflamed with desire for the hermit life, had fled from homeland and parents, riches and marriage, and to a certain spring, where the monastery of the Paraclete of nuns of the Cistercian Order is now being built and founded ^f. At that time, however, she had withdrawn into a thorny place crammed with brambles; and there she had still for a short time lain hidden, imploring the Lord that grace and mercy be speedily bestowed on her. When therefore on a certain day, about the sixth hour ^g, the holy old man Domitius was returning from vigils, as he did every day, and had to pass near the said spring, beside which Ulphia was staying, at a bowshot's distance, such a voice suddenly came down upon her from above: Ulphia, rise quickly, and looking on your * father, hasten to run to meet him. She, turning her eyes to the slope of the hill, saw the holy old man coming down, in hermit's dress and with an angelic countenance, having the hair of his head and a venerable beard ^h, snowy with whiteness, and supporting himself on a staff for old age and weakness of body. Ulphia ran to meet him as divinely commanded, and with head bowed and face cast down to the ground, having fallen forward on bent knees before the knees of the holy old man, she said in a tearful voice: Most holy father, have mercy on me. And the old man, astonished at the novelty of the unaccustomed thing, and seeing the young girl thus casting herself down, courteously stopped his foot, saying briefly to Ulphia: Who are you? What do you seek, and why do you thus humble yourself? And she: I, she said, am Ulphia by name, Christian by religion, a handmaid of God by devotion, who, seeking the salvation of my soul and freely thus humbling myself, that thence by the pity of God I may obtain an everlasting exaltation, have been sent to you by the divine will, that you may have compassion on me with fatherly affection, and that I may obey you in Christ with filial service.

[3] much soliciting this, And Domitius to her: What proof, he said, can I have of you, that I may consider what you say to be true? The holy virgin answered: If you shall find me, she said, dwelling in the thicket ⁱ adjoining this spring for the rest of my life, doing the things that savour of the hermit life, and shall detect me prompt and not sluggishly prepared for those things which pertain to the divine worship, know that the Lord has sent me to your sanctity to be nurtured by you in his holy service. Meanwhile, however, Saint Domitius, as Ulphia related this and the other cause of her coming to that place, kept his eyes fixed on her, discovering and wondering beyond measure at both the elegance of the virgin's own countenance and the intelligence of her hearing, the perspicacity of her understanding, the wakefulness of her sense, the efficacy of her weighed speech and the clear evidence of her discreet answers, and moreover the firm and living constancy of voice of her religious purpose.

[4] takes up the care; That he might prove more fully a constancy of this kind, the old man, of shrewd and ancient circumspection, not at that time assenting to the holy virgin's petition, astutely put off the answer until the morrow, because he knew it had been said by the Apostle: “Let no one seduce you with vain words” Ephes. V, 6; and because the devil sometimes “transforms himself into an Angel of light” II Cor. XI, 14; and because he says elsewhere: “Try the spirits, whether they are of God” I John IV, 1: turning over in his mind especially this, that the Lord had not yet revealed anything to him about these things. And he said to her: According to my custom I shall set out this next night to vigils at Amiens, and on my return I shall open my will to you. And so, she remaining, he departed and went on his way, the fire of divine love, fervour and devotion sparkling into his heart with an exceedingly vehement impulse, so that he could scarcely think of anything else. And returning on the next day, he said to her: Ulphia, yesterday, if you recall, I promised to answer today the petition you had made me, whether I would join a religious affinity with you and adopt you as a spiritual daughter: in which delay, more fully taught by the Lord, I do not draw back from your supplication, devoutly made, but kindly grant what you have asked. And Ulphia, rendering very many thanks to the holy old man, having made a moderate cell, remained there with the same Domitius ^k.

[5] the holy woman, hindered by the din of the frogs, Now at the time when the holy virgin Ulphia used to go by night to vigils at Amiens with her holy father in Christ, the hermit Domitius, and had as yet been only newly accustomed to go, it happened on one of the nights, in the summer season, that after compline and a fervent earnestness of prayers she laid her head down on her bed of haircloth, clothed just as she was, so that the Saint, arriving through there at the hour of going to vigils, might find her more prepared and more wakeful. And behold, immediately, as the head of the holy Virgin was laid down, the frogs, of which there was always a fertile abundance there, according to their manner, not newly accustomed, making a powerful assault with their song, not only then according to their wont, but because of the excessive warmth of the air, raised their song much more strongly, as if celebrating a festive assembly: so that by the sound of their tumultuous voices they might perhaps bring on some persons no moderate weariness and fear. But when the depth of the night and the sharpness of the cooling dew had gradually and at last entirely repressed the voices of the little creatures, and had imposed silence on them, and the holy virgin herself had remained awake through this clamour far beyond her wont, and the hour of rising and going on to vigils had drawn near, greatly wearied she fortified herself with the sign of the holy cross, and so more quickly than usual she fell more firmly asleep.

[6] lest St. Domitius, calling But as soon as Ulphia fell asleep, those little creatures, which had already rested from their clamour and were silent, seemed to din upon her even as she slept in such a way that she could attend to nothing else in any manner. For at that same point and moment Saint Domitius arrived, and striking with his staff the bolt of Ulphia's little cell, as was his habit, and standing outside and listening, he heard nothing within. Wherefore repeating his voice once and twice more strongly with blows of the staff, he said: Ulphia, rise. And when the holy old man heard no voice of response, he cried out

more strongly, with as loud a voice as he could: Ulphia, Ulphia, rise, my daughter, for the second watch of the night is passing ^l. But when all his cries failed in vain labour, and no answers given from within refreshed his hearing, Domitius, judging that Ulphia had already gone on to vigils, and that she had risen at the right hour of vigils, accusing in himself his own sleepiness and detesting his sloth, because the tender virgin had so fervently forestalled him to the vigils, and he, held back by laziness, had rested too long, seizing the road and believing that she was going before, he strove hastily to follow, touched with great shame, drenched in his whole body with excessive sweat running down.

[7] might hear her at the church, But when he had arrived at the church, and the first signal of vigils had scarcely been rung, and he had many times sought his daughter Ulphia here and there through the church and by no means found her, secretly departing from the church, he was unwilling to halt his feet. Indeed, he could not have even if he had wished, until, sad, anxious and sweating, he came to Ulphia's cell, and found her coming out of it; for she had then for the first time woken and opened her little door. And Ulphia, seeing her holy father Domitius flushed with redness from excessive fatigue and bathed in sweat, having compassion on him and addressing him gently and softly, said: May God forgive you, Lord father, that going on to vigils today you did not call me and by no means roused me when I was too sleepy *. To this the old man replied: On the contrary, I called you five times and more, but hearing no answer within your cell, I judged that you were already at vigils. And sitting down on the ground, the old man, very tired, narrated in order to Ulphia everything that had happened to him that night.

[8] imposes silence on the frogs: The holy virgin therefore at once understood that through the din of the frogs and their immoderate chattering her hearing had then been as it were phantasmally hindered, so that she should neither hear nor perceive her father rousing or calling her. And immediately bending her knees to the ground, and stretching her joined hands to heaven, she prayed to the Lord saying thus: O God almighty and eternal, lay low the garrulity of these frogs, stop up their throats so that they may no longer chatter in this place, may make no tumult, may be silent henceforth for ever, both these present and also all the others hereafter to be born of them, and the daughters of their daughters and those who shall be born of them, the greater and the middling with the small. And turning to them she said: Because you, most vile worms, have gravely troubled us this night, and have deprived us of the good of devotion and peace by your tumultuous sound, I, trusting in the gift of God, impose perpetual silence upon you, and thus I set a pact with you, that I subject to this interdict all like you who shall come here hereafter. O mighty curse! O interdict so spoken by a holy * and virginal mouth, that this miracle is established to be in no way invented ^m. For indeed, St. Domitius answering Amen, from then until now that sentence has endured, and God has been pleased so to exalt the merits of both that, a most diligent inquiry having been made by us not only with many but also with nearly all the neighbours, all say with a most evident voice that they have never heard the songs of frogs there ⁿ.

[9] near to death And the Saint, feeling his death to be imminent, a little before his departure, setting the best end to good work, strove thus to fortify each person with the saving viaticum. For on the night then following, coming to vigils with his holy daughter as he had been accustomed, when morning had come he approached one of the priests who was preparing himself to celebrate Mass, and asked of him that in that very Mass the most holy host should be conferred on himself and on the holy virgin ^o. Having received it, they came to Ulphia's little cell the same day, and the holy old man, sitting down, began thus to address her: Do you know, Ulphia, my daughter, why I have had the two of us fortified today with the sacred host? Ulphia said: On this, holy father, I dare answer nothing straight out, I define nothing on it, except what I conjecture, that you believe and hope shortly to go to God and to withdraw from this light. To this the Saint said: Excellently have you thought, daughter, and skilfully and prudently have you striven to conjecture, turning this very thing over in mind: since before the first cockcrow of the approaching night, unless I am mistaken, my spirit will let go the clod of flesh; and on this account, that it may depart hence more safely, it needed to be fortified beforehand with the sacred body of Jesus Christ, lest the evil spirit should hinder or strike its way.

[10] St. Domitius, with the Most Holy Eucharist, For this body of Christ truly is and is truly called Viaticum, and this royal banquet, this heavenly fodder, makes the servant of God, walking over the sand of the world, an emulator of the good gift, and is accustomed to render him assiduous in the divine worship. This is the food welcome to the faithful, pleasant to the faithful, helping the frail, strengthening the feeble, in the strength of which Elijah walked with light effort and did not weary himself, going forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mount of God. This also is manna, namely a food working great things, raising the fallen, directing the straying, correcting the erring, offering solace, reducing to nothing the efforts of demons, with which the Lord once fed his people, come out of Egypt, in the desert. Whoever is worthily refreshed with this bread in the present is perfected in every good work, is not infected with the enticement of the flesh, is not affected by weariness of mind, is not conquered in intestine war, consent in graver sins is altogether repelled, and moreover one worthily receiving is made godlike, and lastly is led from this valley of misery into eternal rest to be crowned. The spirit of each of us, therefore, was to be adorned and strengthened with such a viaticum, namely mine, soon to depart from its body, and yours also, to remain in the flesh as long as shall please its Maker.

[11] and fortified with extreme unction, Ulphia, hearing her holy father Domitius make such a mention of his departure, could not restrain herself from most abundant tears; and that she might be present at his death, she went on to his cell with him. And entering the oratory they sang the canonical hours, and behold, vespers being scarcely finished, the parish priest of that place, with certain clerics and other faithful of Christ, men and women, entered the oratory, bringing with him the oil of the sick. And he said: Peace be to this house; and the clerics answering: And to all who dwell in it: St. Domitius subsequently added: Amen [p]. And the priest said: Behold, brother Domitius, the Lord revealing it to us, we have learned that this night you will depart from this world; and that we may pay our service to your funeral, and give dust to dust, ashes to ashes, we have come to keep watch around you, not sparing the journey, nor do we count a burden of this kind as a burden, while we are intent on this work of mercy. And since in the place where you once stood as a canon you have today received holy communion, thereby being made a sharer of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ; if you wish to do the reasonable thing, it is fitting that you receive extreme unction through us; for in our parish you have held long exercises of holy conversation and of spiritual apprenticeship. And Saint Domitius answered the priest: The word proposed by you, dearest brother, pleases me; fulfil your ministry. Then the priest, having applied the sacrament of extreme unction, said to St. Domitius: We have now paid you, brother, what was fitting, for it was proper that this should be done for a faithful Christian.

[12] And Saint Domitius, rendering immense thanks to the priest himself and to the faithful of Christ gathered there on account of his death, dies holily and is buried in his oratory. and commending to them his holy daughter in Christ, the Virgin Ulphia, opened and clearly disclosed to them the order of life of this virgin, and the cause of her coming to those parts; truly [q] also the vision shown to him by an Angel concerning this virgin, and that St. Ulphia herself had been miraculously consecrated by the bishop. And these things said, and all being greeted by him in a holy kiss, he breathed out his soul, full of virtues, and rendered it clean and pure to his Maker, on the tenth before the Kalends of November. Seeing which, the holy virgin Ulphia, pouring out tears abundantly, stricken in mind, bellowed with a great cry and said: Alas, wretched woman and unhappy that I am! What shall I do henceforth? Where shall I busy myself to turn? For I have lost my holy father and patron, by whose fiery prayers the demons, burned up, withdrew from me confounded time and time again. I behold him extinguished, by the removal of whose protection from our midst I almost wholly fail, and therefore I am wholly afraid, I am weary of myself; yet in this alone I rejoice, that I do not doubt that he lives with God. I trust also that through his merits I shall by no means hereafter withdraw from the path of holiness, but shall always proceed from good to better. And when for a long time the holy Virgin, in bitterness of spirit and with tearful sobs interrupting her voice, and with clasped hands, had brought forth these and other things, and, her groans being checked *, had rested a little, approaching the holy body she kissed his hands, reverently on bended knees. And the body of the most holy Confessor Domitius being carried away, bringing immense fragrance to those standing by, they buried it in his oratory [r]; where afterwards, miracles growing frequent, and the body being elevated and carried to the city of Amiens, a little church was built by the devotion of the faithful, in which down to these our times, through the merits of this holy Confessor, very many healings take place, and the place itself is frequented by worshippers of Christ with fitting veneration and devotion [s]: he himself permitting it and bestowing the devotion, to whom is honour, glory and power through infinite ages. Amen.

ANNOTATIONS.

took its name from the holy Martyrs Acius and Acheolus in the time of our antiquity, touched from heaven by the hand of the divine propitiation, and with the assent of our whole senate, by the authority of our office, we decree to be free from every revenue of the bishop and his ministers, and we assign in it clerics who may serve God canonically and regularly. He then assigns to the said clerics various things for sustaining life, under the burden however that the prior of that church should concelebrate the solemnities of Masses for one whole week, like the priests of the cathedral church; and that the clerics should attend each year the solemnities of SS. Honoratus, Fuscian and companions; and that on the feast of the Martyr St. Firmin they should come in the daytime to Mass in procession, in due order to the best of their strength; and that they should pay to our brothers the canons two candles of two solidi, immune from every other exaction Gall. Christ., vol. X, instruments, col. 293. The series of abbots of St. Acheul is shown by Gallia Christiana down to 1730 Ibid., col. 1325 and following; and this state of things continued until the end of the eighteenth century; afterwards the buildings came to the Society of Jesus, in which today it forms its novices.

p. This formula is found in the most ancient orders, as may be seen in Edmond Martène De antiquis Ecclesiae ritibus, vol. I, p. 301, Venice edition 1783.

q. At this spot our manuscript text has pretium in place of verum, which indeed gives no sense: but our men edited this fragment of the Life of St. Domitius in the Commentary on St. Ulphia, num. 7 Acta SS., vol. II of Jan., p. 1122, where one reads: He opened to them and clearly disclosed the order of life of this Virgin, and the cause of her coming to those parts; truly also the vision shown to him concerning this Virgin, and St. Ulphia herself, etc. For which reason we have followed this reading.

r. In the Acts of St. Amandus the Hermit at the 16th day of October it was shown that Hermits frequently obtained burial in their cells or oratories Acta SS., vol. VII of Oct., p. 847: which was done here too for St. Domitius.

s. I have not found in the writers whom I was able to consult any mention of a little church of St. Domitius within the city of Amiens, which perhaps perished leaving no trace of itself, especially after the Relics of the Saint were brought into the cathedral church; which seems to have occurred in the year 1279, on the 17th before the Kalends of June (the 16th of May), when the sacred bodies of St. Firmin the Confessor and of St. Ulphia were also translated [Sellier, Vie de Ste Ulphe, p. 88 and following. Gall. Christ., vol. X, col. 1187, Instruments, col. 343]. Yet Louis Sellier, loc. cit., is mistaken in this, that he seems to ascribe this translation to Bernard of Abbeville, 50th bishop of Amiens, who died in the year 1278, whereas it occurred at the beginning of the pontificate of William of Mâcon; next, he supposes that in the year 1279 the body of St. Domitius still remained in the cell in which it was first buried; whereas already in the year 1219, in which these Acts were written, namely at the time of the foundation of the monastery of the Paraclete, as we have seen at num. 2 of the Preliminary Commentary, miracles growing frequent, and the body being elevated and carried to the city of Amiens, a little church by the devotion of the faithful

was built. It seems likely, however, that the body of St. Domitius was brought into the recently built cathedral church in the year 1279 together with the relics of SS. Firmin and Ulphia. The instruments of the translation of SS. Firmin and Ulphia exist Gall. Christ., vol. X, Instruments, col. 343. Sellier, Vie de Ste Ulphe, p. 90; and we do not doubt that a similar document existed in the casket of St. Domitius: both instruments were drawn up on the same day and year, with the same witnesses present. Further, the caskets of St. Domitius and St. Ulphia rested under the high altar of the cathedral church of Amiens until the year 1793: at that time, the church being despoiled of its treasures, the caskets indeed were plundered, but the bones of the Saints, secured in their wrappings, were collected by the faithful and escaped the hands of the impious, and in the year 1816 they were placed in a gilded wooden casket, together with the Relics of SS. Firmin the Confessor, Honoratus and other pontiffs: and they rest to this day behind the high altar of the cathedral church in the hope of a blessed resurrection.

* your?

* sleepy (feminine)

* holy?

* expressed, Boll.