Herifrid

ON BL. HERIFRID, BISHOP OF AUXERRE,

IN THE YEAR 909.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Herifrid, bishop and confessor, at Auxerre. (Bl.)

BY J. V. H.

§ Sole. The elogia of the Blessed man and his Life, written by a contemporary; sprung from an Armorican family, he is born at Chartres; he is formed in letters in the royal palace; the role of the king in the elections of bishops: goods taken from the Church of Auxerre are restored through the action of the bishop.

Traces of ancient cult; The reasons that persuaded a place to be given in our Acta Sanctorum to Blessed Humbald, bishop of Auxerre, at the 20th day of October, the same bring it about that we should accord equal cult to his predecessor Blessed Herifrid. In the first place Castellanus in his Martyrology, written in the French language, wishes the prelate of Auxerre Herefrid to be numbered among the Saints of the Gallican Church, in these words, which I render in Latin: At Auxerre, of the Venerable Herifrid, bishop, adorned with all virtues and wonderful for miracles, as Robert of Saint-Marien says Martyrologium universale, p. 987. In an ancient Martyrology, edited by Edmond Martène in the Amplissima Collectio, belonging to the eleventh century Compare Acta SS., vol. VIII of Oct., p. 329, and at the same time containing a Necrology, under the 4th day before the Kalends of September, after the names of the Saints have been recorded, one reads Amplissima Collectio, vol. VI, col. 718: On the same day, the ordination of the lord Herefrid, who gave to the brothers, for making the refection of that day, the estate of Artaldus, and one manse at Lindriacum, and another manse at Capillacum, and a mill below the wall. And on the Nativity of St. Mary, when he first sat in the episcopal cathedra, he gave to the brothers the church of Bacerna and Lindriacum and Lupinum, and also Lognicum. Gimiliacum he gave on the Natal Day of St. Clement. And at the 10th before the Kalends of November the same Martyrology has Ibid., col. 726: Died the lord bishop Herefrid, a most pious father, who gave the half of Malliacum for providing a refection to the brothers: and it then repeats the other foundations reported above. Moreover Castellanus, in the place of the Martyrology already cited, adds that the image of Blessed Herifrid is painted, with the title of Saint, in the chapel of St. Sebastian of the cathedral church. This painting, displayed about the year 1545, shows that the fame of sanctity of Blessed Herefrid is earlier, and so brings it about that his cult, of whatever kind, pertains to the excepted case of the bull of Urban VIII, as a colleague has shown at the 20th day of October in the Acts of St. Humbald, likewise bishop of Auxerre, for whom the very same reasons militate as for our Blessed Herefrid Acta SS., vol. VIII of Oct., p. 996.

[2] the Life written by a contemporary; The Life which we edit below, divided according to our custom into its numbers, written by a contemporary or near-contemporary, has been drawn from the History of the Bishops of Auxerre in Philippe Labbe, New Library of Manuscripts, vol. I. And that this writing was composed not long after his death we have as witness Frodo, saying that it is a not ignoble custom of the Church of Auxerre, as soon as its bishop departs from the world, to write down immediately the end of his life, his entry into the see, and especially his good deeds New Library of Manuscripts, vol. I, p. 454. And that this custom, which certainly flourished about the end of the eleventh century, also held at the beginning of the preceding century, the life of Blessed Herifrid shows, in which the writer says at num. 2: How he lived, and how noble a pattern of virtues he showed himself to all, there are several surviving who know these things clearer than light. Since then the writer in asserting the virtues of Blessed Herefrid appeals to survivors, as if many witnesses were still present, there can be no doubt that either he himself saw the same things in person, or at least learned them from suitable witnesses. And that the biographer of Blessed Herifrid was Blessed Heiric, monk of St. Germanus of Auxerre Acta SS., vol. IV of June, p. 239, may be conjectured to some extent from the fact that the same quite notable locution occurs in the dedicatory letter to Charles the Bald, which is certainly by Heiric, and in the Life to be edited. For in the letter to Charles he says Ibid., vol. VII of July, p. 221 that the commonwealth would be happy, if either kings philosophised or philosophers reigned. And the biographer at num. 1, treating of the same Charles: Happy, he says, were the affairs of the world, because both the king philosophised, and a philosopher guided the reins of the kingdom. Which conjecture is also strengthened not only from Heiric's being a monk at Auxerre, but especially from the very History of the Bishops of Auxerre, which has at chap. 39 New Library, vol. I, p. 434 that, while Bishop Wala was sitting, who preceded Blessed Herifrid by seven years, two luminaries of the College of Auxerre, Reinogala and Alagus, with the collaboration of Heiric, a theosopher and at the same time a monk, set down the deeds of the prelates of that see compendiously and concisely in elucubrated pages. And certainly the reckoning of time does not stand in the way of Heiric, who collaborated as a youth with the writers of the Gesta, having also survived Blessed Herifrid and having committed his Acts to writing as an eyewitness.

[3] his homeland Chartres, Blessed Herifrid, as the Life has it at num. 1, of Chartrain nation, had as father Herefrid, derived from a most noble lineage of the Armorican tract. Under the name of the Armorican Tract there came, even in the VI and VII centuries, not only Gallic Brittany or Lugdunensis Tertia, but also the two Aquitaines, the province of Sens, and Lugdunensis Secunda, as was shown in the Historical Commentary on SS. Ursula and Companions Acta SS., vol. IX of Oct., p. 108. But such a division pertained to military matters: yet it was sometimes applied also in narratives, if one may so speak, of civil affairs. Thus SS. Basolus and Eligius of Limoges are reported to have sprung from the Armorican parts Dom Bouquet, Recueil, vol. III, p. 463 and 552. But whether the father of Blessed Herifrid is called Armorican inasmuch as he belonged to the province of Sens, under which is Chartres, I vehemently doubt: since in the tenth century, in which these things were written, the military division had been obliterated. Next Gauterius, afterwards bishop of Orléans, and a kinsman of the Blessed man, is called a pupil of St. Martin of Tours; he thus closely bordered on Gallic Brittany. For which reason I judge that the father of Blessed Herifrid is called Armorican because he drew his origin from Gallic Brittany. Since then the origin of the parents, inhabiting Chartres, is recorded as Armorican or Breton, it is likely that they had not long before, leaving Lesser Brittany, settled at Chartres when their son, Blessed Herifrid, saw the light. For if their immigration had been much earlier, its memory would probably have been obliterated by the lapse of a longer time. And if we consult historical monuments, we shall find that Armorican Brittany was oppressed by the greatest calamities about the year 843. Then intestine wars blazed up between the factions which either wanted their own king for themselves or contended that the homeland was bound to the kingdom of Gaul: then too the Normans threatened all Gaul, but especially laid waste the sea coast Bouquet, Writers of Gallic Affairs, vol. VIII, p. 46. Thus from a contemporary Fragment of history we see that Lambert, shamelessly invading the county of Nantes, distributed it to his soldiers, namely to Gunferius his nephew the region of Herbauges, to Reinerius that of Mauges and to Girard that of Tiffauges; all of which he granted them by hereditary right Ibid., vol. VII, p. 47. The mournful condition of Armorica is described in vivid colours by the fathers of the Council of Toul, celebrated in the year 859, in their synodal letter to the Bretons, excommunicated on account of their crimes,

in which they show that nothing was holy to that people Labbe, Councils, vol. VIII, col. 696. And about this time we judge that the parents of Blessed Herefrid, in order to escape the calamities of their homeland, emigrated to the interior of Gaul: noble indeed by race, says our biographer at num. 1, but they were nobler by sanctity, and they preferred, having left their unhappy homeland, to give themselves to themselves and to God in a more tranquil region.

[4] the origin of the family Armorican; There is also another thing which persuades me that the family of Blessed Herefrid immigrated into the interior of Gaul at about this time: namely, as the biographer has it at num. 2, that our Herefrid was directed to the emperor's court by the procuring of Gauterius, bishop of Orléans, from whose progeny he had come. And before Gauterius obtained the cathedra of Orléans he had been a pupil of St. Martin of Tours Gall. Christ., vol. VIII, col. 1426; and so he belonged to the metropolis under which all Armorica was placed. But at that very time the Bretons were falling away from the metropolitan of Tours and had set up for themselves their own archbishop of Dol: and on that account the already cited council of Toul of the year 859 has in canon VIII Labbe, Councils, vol. VIII, col. 678: To the bishops of the Bretons, who attempt to cut themselves off from their metropolis against authority, the synod has directed a letter according to sacred authority, that they should return to their metropolis, and subject themselves to it by due right, and not separate themselves from canonical and episcopal communion. And in the synodal letter directed to the bishops of the Bretons, they are admonished that they owe fitting reverence to their metropolitan, so that without his presence or consent nobody in the region can be canonically ordained bishop, nor can they sanction anything general without his consent Ibid., col. 696. And I consider that Gauterius, educated at Tours, was unwilling to adhere to the Armorican schism, and fled into Gaul, to which he brought his family with him: for not so long after he saw his nephew Gauterius promoted to the cathedra of Sens Gall. Christ., vol. VIII, p. 1426, and his kinsman Blessed Herefrid to that of Auxerre. There is finally also a third thing which could have persuaded the migration of the family of Blessed Herefrid: for in the same synodal letter it is enjoined on the bishops of the Bretons that they should suggest to Salomon, who held the region of the Britons, among other things, at what great danger of his soul he had invaded the dominion of the Britons, since he had previously sworn fidelity to our lord King Charles Labbe, col. 696. In manifold ways, then, it is explained how an Armorican family could have sought the interior of Gaul, on the one side namely the schism impelling, on the other the fidelity sworn to the king pressing.

[5] in the palatine school, then flourishing, Further at Chartres, as the biographer speaks at num. 2, instructed for some time in liberal studies, that literary knowledge might run together in him, by the procuring of the lord Gauterius, bishop of the holy Church of Orléans, from whose progeny he had come, he was directed to serve in the service of the abovementioned emperor. Gauterius about the year 867 succeeded Bishop Agius in the see of Orléans. Since then Blessed Herefrid was admitted to the royal court by the procuring of this bishop, this must have happened after the year 867: and since moreover the blessed man's access to the court took place after he had been instructed for some time in liberal studies at Chartres, and had accordingly scarcely passed the years of adolescence, it is likely enough that Blessed Herefrid was then twenty years old: whence we shall have him born about the year 850: and so, made bishop in the thirty-seventh year of his age, 887 of Christ, he died nearly sixty years old in the year 909. Further, the palatine school under the emperor Charles the Bald was very celebrated, inasmuch as it flourished with principal teachers of letters and sciences, and busied itself to restore to its former honour the cultivation of the liberal disciplines, harassed by the Norman devastations Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. IV, p. 224. This is clearly confirmed by Heiric, monk of Auxerre, in the letter to Charles the Bald which he prefixed to the metrical Life of St. Germanus of Auxerre, and which our men have edited in the Acts of the same Acta SS., vol. VII of July, p. 222. For so, he says, the others being spurned, into that part of the world which your power embraces all the studies of the best arts have flowed together, that I hold it likely that they, long since weary of human sloth, would have utterly left the lands, were they not held by the amplitude of your integrity; in which also they have wonderfully placed (as stands out plainly) the sole summit and pinnacle of their profession. Hence it is that, though it is a very ancient saying, “Laws are silent amid arms;” yet these always obtain very much dignity with you in time of war as of peace. So that the palace is rightly called a school, whose summit is accustomed daily to scholarly no less than to military disciplines.

[6] formed, by the king That the palatine school was a seminary of bishops manifold examples show Histoire littéraire de la France, vol. IV, p. 225. For although the role of the clergy and people of a widowed Church in choosing a new shepherd had not entirely perished, yet the king obtained the greatest, as is sufficiently established from canon VII of the III Council of Valence, celebrated in the year 855, which has Labbe, vol. VIII, col. 138: Because, unsifted and unexamined, nearly ignorant of the knowledge of letters, and little approaching the apostolic precept, our sins bringing it about, bishops are ordained throughout the cities; by which occasion especially ecclesiastical vigour perishes; it has pleased that if at any time the bishop of any city should have departed by the Lord's calling, it should be supplicatingly asked of the most glorious prince that he should deign to permit canonical election to the clergy and people of that city. And so either among the clergy, or certainly in the diocese itself, or, if need be, in its neighbourhood, a person approved and worthy of the office should be sought, who, when found, by the consent of the whole clergy and people should be set in honour over that city. But if also from the service of our pious prince any of the clerics should come, to be set as bishop over any city, let him be anxiously examined with chaste fear, first of what life he is, next of what knowledge: and with ecclesiastical vigour let the metropolitan act in this matter under the eyes of Almighty God, the bishops bringing aid as ministers of God, lest one of stained life and disturbed by the pomps of the world, and polluted by the simoniacal heresy, should be set as bishop over the humble and clean members of Christ and of his Church: nor let him presume, as one about to render an account of his deed, to set one illiterate and blinded by excessive greed over the people of God. If the same metropolitan should see it necessary, lest he be compelled to do so great an evil as to hand over to one unworthy the honour due only to the good, let him instruct the people, form the clergy, rather to approach the imperial clemency, and let himself with his fellow bishops, by what means he can, approach, that the glorious emperor may honour the Church of God with a worthy minister. But if, overcome foully by any greed, or deceived by some gift, he should have carried out so great a work negligently and grudgingly, let him not doubt that he incurs all the judgements of God who sees, and let him also know that he is to be blamed by the sentence of the brothers.

[7] is destined bishop to the Church of Auxerre, Behold then the norm by which in the Gauls in the ninth century the election of bishops took place. First of all, namely, licence of free election was asked of the king, which seems to have been generally granted, unless some palatine cleric, the king consenting, offered himself for entering on the bishopric. Then indeed integrity of life and learning in letters had to be explored by the metropolitan and the other bishops of the province, and it had also to be inquired whether he had thrust himself by wicked arts into so great a ministry. And if he had been found less suitable or even unworthy, the king himself had to be approached, either through legates or through the metropolitan himself, that the king should suggest another who could worthily discharge the episcopal office. According to this norm was nearly celebrated the election of Blessed Herifrid as bishop of Auxerre. Meanwhile, says the biographer at num. 2, the mass of the clergy and people of the city of Auxerre being gathered in one, counsel was sought about choosing a shepherd, and a messenger was speedily directed to the ears of the royal magnificence: without delay the king, having heard of the prelate's death, all burning of greed being laid aside, the divine clemency preordaining it, by the counsel of the nobles of the royal court, all acclaiming, conferred the pastoral staff on the lord Herefrid, to be named with the highest reverence, and directed him to the city of Sens to be ordained. Whom the most divine archpontiff Gauterius, receiving him with the highest honour, by the consent of the clergy and people flowing together there for this purpose, on the feast of St. John … ordained in the monastery of Nesle, and with the highest exultation enthroned in this see. The king who was then reigning in the Gauls, namely in the year 887, was Charles the Fat, grandson of Louis the Pious through Louis the German. The election of Blessed Herefrid according to the royal commendation was made by the clergy and people, called together at Sens for this, and the bishops of the province also approved it according to the norm of the canon cited above.

[8] and is canonically elected and consecrated; Blessed Herefrid was ordained on the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, or the 29th day of August, which in the year 887 fell on the third feria. What the cause was that that episcopal consecration took place in the monastery of Nesle of the diocese of Troyes (Nesle-la-Reposte, in the district of Épernay, today in the bishopric of Châlons), Jean Lebeuf says he does not know in his History of the diocese of Auxerre: but he conjectures either that some ecclesiastical office had to be performed at Nesle, or that, the Normans being hostile about the river Yonne, Nesle offered a safer place for the consecration, or finally that the bishop of Troyes, who ought to cooperate in the consecration, hindered by disease, stayed there Mémoires concernant l'histoire d'Auxerre, vol. I, p. 212, Paris edition 1848. And if this was so, there is cause enough why the consecration of Blessed Herifrid was celebrated at Nesle in the diocese of Troyes. The biographer then adds: Galterius with the highest exultation enthroned Blessed Herefrid in this see: namely, as the old calendar of Auxerre has it Martène, Amplissima Collectio, vol. VI, col. 718, on the Nativity of Blessed Mary he first sat in the episcopal cathedra. From this 8th day of September, further, the time of the episcopate of Blessed Herifrid must be computed: he lived, says the biographer, num. I, in the episcopate 22 years, one month, 16 days. And if we set up the reckoning from the 8th of September to the day of death, the 23rd of October, we shall find the interval of one month and 16 days. But the writer of the History of the bishops of Auxerre entered on another reckoning of time, when concerning the predecessor of Blessed Herefrid, Vribaldus or Wibaudus, who died on the 4th before the Ides (12th) of May, he says Labbe, New Library, vol. I, p. 435: The Church remained without a pontiff 3 months, 17 days: for from the 12th day of May to the 29th of August, on which our prelate received episcopal consecration, there are accurately three months and seventeen days. Whence it is clear that the time of the episcopate is sometimes taken from the consecration itself, sometimes from the enthronement.

[9] goods taken from his Church, How thereafter, says the biographer at num. 2, Blessed Herifrid lived, and how noble a pattern of virtues he showed himself to all, there are several surviving who know these things clearer than light. From which words it may be deduced that the blessed man discharged the episcopal office most holily. Nevertheless Jean Lebeuf, as if wondering,

notes that the blessed prelate, in the time of his pontificate of 22 years, took part in a single council, namely that of Meung on the Loire (Meun-sur-Loire, Département du Loiret), in the diocese of Orléans Mémoires, vol. I, p. 218. But between the year 887, in which he was consecrated bishop, and the year in which he died, 909, apart from that of Meung no council occurs in the province of Sens at which he ought to have been present. That next he did not take part in the Synod of Reims of the year 893, although it was quite near, the probable reason is that Fulk, archbishop of Reims, in that assembly promoted Charles the Simple to the kingdom and anointed him king: while on the contrary Walter of Sens had girded Odo, king of the Franks, with the diadem in the year 888 Gall. Christ., vol. XII, col. 28. It is likely enough, then, that Blessed Herefrid either would not or could not fall away from his metropolitan, and so had to abstain from the assembly of Reims. There is another Synod of Reims, held in the year 900, in which the slayers of Archbishop Fulk were struck with anathema: but apart from the archbishop of Rouen only the bishops of the province of Reims attended the synod Labbe, Councils, vol. IX, col. 481. And the remaining councils celebrated in this interval of time throughout the Gauls were convoked in remote provinces, access to which was accordingly forbidden in a most harassed age. On this head, then, nothing occurs from which anything of negligence or folly might be sprinkled on the fame of Blessed Herefrid.

[10] having obtained royal letters, which And Blessed Herefrid applied himself in the time of his pontificate chiefly to this, to restore his devastated Church, and to have restored the goods dispersed by the iniquity of men. At the beginning, as it seems, of his episcopate, the city of Auxerre, says the biographer at num. 3, unexpectedly burned up by flames, was utterly turned into ashes only and rubble. For which reason Blessed Herefrid resolved in his soul that he would never make any dwelling for himself until the buildings of God should be brought back to their former state. These, content with a small hut, he soon began to rebuild, and he adorned them from the foundations with wonderful work. He repaired the calamity of the fire, then, to the extent that for his successor only the episcopal buildings remained to be restored. For the rest, the cathedral church restored by Blessed Herefrid burned down again one hundred and twenty years after; which Hugh of Chalon, bishop of Auxerre, began zealously to rebuild with a greater circuit and with vaultings of crypts in squared stones Labbe, New Library, vol. I, p. 450. Lebeuf, vol. I, p. 255. And in such a state the mother church remained until William II, bishop of Auxerre, in the year 1215 undertook a new building. At that time, namely, as the History of the bishops has it Labbe, p. 490. Lebeuf, p. 367, the devotion of the peoples was everywhere fervent about new structures of churches. So the bishop, seeing that his church of Auxerre laboured under the squalor and old age of an ancient and less composed structure, while others round about were raising their heads with wonderful appearance of loveliness, resolved to adorn it with a new structure and with the studied artifice of those skilled in the mason's art, lest it should be wholly unequal to the others in appearance or study. The writer adds that William in the first year spent on the expenses of the same work about seven hundred pounds of his own, besides the oblations of the faithful and besides the revenues of his jurisdiction which he had assigned to this from the beginning. Which money, if estimated in present coinage, will make for the first year about 80,000 francs, and then for each week 1,137 francs [Mémoires présentés par divers savants à l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, vol. I, p. 273]. And with such great expenses the cathedral church was constructed which is visited today.

[11] are in part cited, Besides the care of restoring the sacred buildings destroyed by fire, Blessed Herefrid also applied himself to this, that the benefices taken from the see of Auxerre he should, with skilled care and the highest vigilance, restore to their place, sanctioned by royal precepts and apostolic privileges, as the biographer has it at num. 3, and he adds: Of which he conferred half of Malliacum with its adjacencies for preparing the lights, the other half he granted to the canons for preparing a refection on the day of his death. He also, labouring long and much, obtained the estate of Crevennum and Narciacum and Novicum with their appendages, to serve himself and his successors perpetually. Indeed the charters of these estates have been preserved to this day. Concerning Malliacum there is a diploma of Charles the Simple, reporting Lebeuf, Hist. d'Auxerre, vol. IV, p. 26 how Herefrid, venerable bishop of the Church of Auxerre, presented to our sight certain precepts of emperors and kings … in which it was contained how those our predecessors had justly and reasonably given back certain properties, situated in the district of Auxerre, that is Malliacum with all its appendages, situated on the river Yonne, formerly unjustly taken away from the aforesaid Church. For which reason we sanction that, as is contained in that precept, so also thereafter through this our authority in succeeding times it should remain firm and unshaken, none of our successors ever breaking it… Done on the day before the Ides of March, indiction V, in the 10th year of the reign of Charles, most glorious king, the 5th of his restoration. Done in the palace of Compiègne, in the name of Christ happily. Amen. Namely Odo having died, who had governed part of Gaul with the royal title, on the 3rd day of January 898, the nobles of all France saluted Charles as king, and hence it comes about that the common year 902, in which the diploma was given, was the fifth from the restoration of the kingdom of France.

[12] restored. As regards the estate of Crevennum, the same King Charles had already wished it restored to the Church two years before, as is established from his diploma, in which he says Martène, Amplissima Collectio, vol. I, col. 256: We wish it to be known to all the faithful of the Holy Church of God and ours, present namely and future, that we, thinking of eternal reward and of the remedy of the souls of our glorious grandfather, the emperor Charles of pious memory, and of our father the lord King Louis, a certain estate which is called Crevennus, situated in the district of Auxerre on the river Yonne, through the entreaty of our beloved and dearest Richard, venerable count, we give back and restore and perpetually confirm to the holy mother church of Auxerre, founded in honour of Stephen, most blessed Martyr of Christ, and to its rector Herifrid, bishop beloved and venerable to us. And this estate, formerly taken away from the same mother church, was seen to pay ninths and tithes each year to its hospital on account of the investiture. Whence we have ordered this precept of our highness to be made, and have given it to the aforesaid venerable bishop Herifrid; through which the mentioned pontiff of the aforesaid Church and his successors may by firmest right perpetually hold and possess the aforesaid estate of Crevennus with all its integrities and appendages … like other properties of the same Church, nobody disturbing. But also we earnestly ask our successors that, meeting in a fitting place in future for the love of God and of St. Stephen, they should permit this our restoration to be valid and stable, as they desire their own statutes to remain stable… Given in the 8th year of the reign of the Lord Charles, most glorious king, the third of his restoration. Done in the palace of Compiègne. The emperor Charles and King Louis who are cited in the diploma, grandfather and father of Charles, are Charles the Bald and Louis the Stammerer, from whom Charles the Simple directly descends. And these are the things which we have had to illustrate in the Acts of Blessed Herifrid: the rest we shall annotate in the Life itself. He sat, further, for 22 years, 1 month, 16 days, and so, having entered Auxerre on the 8th day of September 887, he met his day on the 23rd day of October 909, which year we have marked at the head of this Commentary.

LIFE OF BL. HERIFRID, BISHOP OF AUXERRE,

From the History of the bishops of Auxerre, vol. I of the New Library of Manuscripts of Philippe Labbe.

Herifrid, bishop and confessor, at Auxerre. (Bl.)

BHL Number: 3834

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR OF AUXERRE.

Blessed Herifrid, born at Chartres, Herifrid, of Chartrain nation, lived gloriously in the episcopate 22 years, 1 month, 16 days ^a. How this most noble man took up this dignity, what he was in the pontificate and what also before, not to allege in writing is most unbecoming. For at that time Charles, second to none in virtue, was governing the empire of the whole world; with him as host , the affairs of the world were happy, because both the king philosophised and a philosopher guided the reins of the kingdom ^b; for although, as the most powerful of all kings, his mind was extended in different directions, he would never see the ferules of the liberal arts lacking from the palace, but you would wonder at the court of royal dignity standing forth as the gymnasium of all wisdom ^c. To this place all the nobles and nobility of the realm destined their offspring of human and ecclesiastical dress for the sake of learning; sure that the teaching of both disciplines shone there exceedingly. Finally among other youths of proud blood, flowing together there with exulting spirits, was present the aforesaid man, derived from a most noble lineage of the Armorican tract ^d, Herifrid by name, most proved in sanctity of morals, angelic in countenance and conduct, a burning ray of divine contemplation in the human darkness. His father was named Herifrid, and his mother was called Hisemberga: noble by race, nobler by sanctity: who, though they were married in the world, yet their citizenship was in heaven; and tenderly loving the aforesaid offspring, they handed him over to the service of the Almighty and of Blessed Mary: having him tonsured with huge rejoicing in the city of Chartres, whence they too were sprung ^e.

[2] is educated in the palatine school; made bishop, There instructed for some time in liberal studies, that literary knowledge might run together in him, by the procuring of the lord Gauterius, bishop of the holy Church of Orléans, from whose progeny he had come, he was directed to serve in the service of the abovementioned emperor ^f. There, fully searching the pages of the Scriptures, he clung here * to the service of the Senior, so that he would never wish to depart from his presence, never to be separated from ecclesiastical business. Meanwhile, the mass of the clergy and people of the city of Auxerre being gathered in one, counsel was sought about choosing a shepherd; and a messenger was speedily directed to the ears of the royal magnificence: without delay the king, having heard of the prelate's death ^g, all burning of greed being laid aside, the divine clemency preordaining it, by the counsel of the nobles of the royal court, all acclaiming, conferred the pastoral staff on the lord Herifrid, to be named with the highest reverence, and directed him to the city of Sens to be ordained. Whom the most divine archpontiff Gauterius ^h, receiving him with the highest honour, by the consent of the clergy and people flowing together there for this purpose, on the feast of St. John, on which, his head being cut off, he was introduced into the heavenly sanctuaries ⁱ, ordained in the monastery of Nesle ^k, and with the highest exultation enthroned in this see ^l. Where how he lived, and how noble a pattern of virtues he showed himself to all, there are several surviving who know these things clearer than light. And since the enemy of the human race, ever more watchful of his fraud against the just, stretches his snares, he brought various temptations on this apostolic man, so that, persuading him wickedly, he might turn him, swerving from the path of truth, to his own counsels.

[3] restores the city devastated by fire, For the city, unexpectedly burned up by flames, was utterly turned into ashes only and rubble. These things having so happened, the dear one of the Lord Herifrid resolved in his soul that he would never make any dwelling for himself in the city, until the buildings of God, namely the church of the ever Blessed Virgin

Mary and of St. John, and at the same time of the First Martyr Stephen, should be brought back to their former state ^m. These, content with a small hut, he soon began to rebuild, and he adorned them from the foundations with wonderful work. In this zeal he remained to the end of his life. And thus, the churches being nobly rebuilt, unhappy death prevented him from founding the houses of his predecessors. Finally many benefices had been taken from the aforesaid see, which with skilled care and the highest vigilance, sanctioned by royal precepts and apostolic privileges, he restored to their place. Of which he conferred half of Malliacum ⁿ with its adjacencies on the altar for preparing the lights, the other half he granted to the canons, and a refection to be prepared on the day of his death. He also, labouring long and much, obtained the estate of Crevennum and Narciacum and Novicum ^o, with their appendages, to serve himself and his successors perpetually. Finally he granted Artadum and one manse in Capilliacum, another in Lindriacum [p], and a mill [q], which is beside the wall of the city, for preparing a food for the brothers on the day of his ordination. Indeed the oratory of the most blessed Clement, which is in the same city, burned up by flames, he restored [r], and to it, through the entreaty of Herimbert, who used these things by beneficiary right [s], he attributed the estate of Chimiliacum with the church of St. Andrew, which is in Gurgiacum, confirming it by royal precept [t]. On the same terms, that the same Herimbert, a most faithful son of the church committed to him, who after the aforementioned pontiff sweated over the restoration of all the churches, should enjoy the same things while still living, and after him one relative whom he should choose, and thus they should minister the necessities to the aforesaid oratory, and on the feast day of St. Clement the Martyr [v] should impart a fitting meal to the canons, so that by his intervention with Almighty God, for whom a house was prepared in the sea even by angelic hands, he might bring in, unburdened of the waves of crimes, to the harbour of eternal rest by the anchor of his virtue, and might continually cherish him in the bosom of his clemency. And this he sanctioned as enduring in perpetuity by the authority of the lord Gauterius the Archimandrite [w] and of the pontiffs of his diocese. In Arbricum [x] also he donated four manses to the altar of the church of St. Stephen in the dominion of the archiclavus, and in the district and county of Sens at the estate of Noerolium [y] on the river Yonne, namely 36 manses and a third part of a manse, which was once the benefice of Agano, with the allod in the estate of Pomerium on the river Orosa [z], which Wlfagius gave to St. Stephen for restoring the fabric of the church of the same Martyr, he conferred on the ministry of the archiclavus [aa]: on this condition however, that the already mentioned Wlfagius and his son Anseisus should hold both estate and allod and pay in rent 15 solidi to the archiclavus: and when they have died, the same properties should return to the ministry of the archiclavus. Innumerable indeed are the insignia of his sanctity, which a carnal tongue will by no means suffice to narrate fully.

[4] wonderfully from the gout, Now indeed the sickness of gout suddenly invaded the blessed man, continually ruminating on Christ, and of arthritis of the hand also, and a huge languor of all the limbs in his body, by which trouble he was long and much weighed down: yet his mind was never empty of divine meditation. He continually begged to be relieved by the suffrages of the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, and of St. John, forerunner of the Lord's Incarnation, and also of the lord Stephen. And on a certain day a most powerful swelling brought itself upon his feet, so that it entirely veiled * from him the faculty of tasting and chewing. Then suddenly a raven, the bird that is friend of carcasses, forgetting its own nature, seized with open mouth a piece of tin, with which a spoon [bb] had been covered, and threw it down before the bishop's window, beside which he lay; and this little piece of tin was brought before the prelate: the pontiff, seizing it, the name of the Lord being invoked, and trusting that he could be healed by the merits of St. Stephen, placed the tin on his feet, and straightway the pain departed. Nor is this a wonder: if this bird at the Lord's command brought a poultice to the holy man's feet, which also refreshed the hunger of Elijah with food of flesh. Moreover for some time, desiring to enjoy the conversation of the lord Rithver, bishop of Troyes [cc], he went to a little estate on the river Yonne, to which the aforesaid pontiff eagerly came to meet him, where cherishing one another in mutual embraces, they brought forth a long discourse about religion. And there was a spring, bubbling out delicate waters [dd], which the magnificent man, Bishop Herifrid, beholding, he ordered an earthenware flask, full of this water, to be brought; and sitting on his horse, the sign of the Cross being made over it, he took the vessel. But the most fierce horse, feeling the flask upon him, leapt out, and thus threw the vessel, full as it was, down to the ground: wonderful thing: for the vessel, full as it was, as if it were gently laid down by hands, settled on the ground, and retained the waters in itself, so that they should not be spilt. All who were present wondered. The same man also then ordered the water to be brought back to him, and blessing the name of the Lord, drank most sufficiently, and gave it to his fellow bishop and the others who wondered at this to drink. Let nobody of sound mind doubt that this was the merit of the pontiff Herifrid and of the lord Rithueus. For the rest, after long addresses between them and sweet kisses between Saints, each returned to his own.

[5] and is freed from other infirmities; And when the lord Herifrid was arranging to return to the walls of the city, Hermembert, most faithful to him, entreated his magnificence that he should withdraw to the church of St. Andrew, which is in Gurgiacum, to stay that night; and he granted him what he asked; where he stayed that day. And when the aforesaid Hermembert was preparing the things that befitted the pontiff, he was suddenly so inflamed by the heat of fevers that he felt nothing but burning. Which the glorious Herifrid beholding, the name of the Lord being invoked, he forbade through the same Lord that he should feel this trouble any longer, and straightway all pain in him rested: then food being taken, the night fell, and the aforementioned prelate went on to bed. So Almighty God, as he is the uncircumscribed searcher of secrets, so also secretly examined his servants by different kinds. For, as human frailty stands, lest on account of so great a gift conferred on him the prelate should extol himself, the heats which by his adjuration and merit he had removed from the body of another, the just sentence of God turned back upon his own strength; since he who, glad and unharmed, had laid his limbs on the couch in the silence of the dead of night, roused from sleep, felt a huge pain of fevers in his whole body: struck by which sickness, he fled with swift step to the church of St. Andrew, and there spent what remained of the night supplicating the Lord; thereafter, as the day shone forth, he girded himself to celebrate the sacred solemnities of Masses, so that, counsel being drawn from the divine fountain, he might take the libation of the Body and Blood of the Lord, that by its power all harassment of infirmity might rest. Which the divine power not denying * to the one asking: for immediately, as he took in his mouth the inestimable gift of our redemption, the heat of fevers, as if it had never been in him, was extinguished.

[6] beneficent to others, This moreover is not to be omitted, which we know to have been spread abroad both in the pontifical see and in the surrounding places: for those who applied themselves to school studies in his time assert that if in the morning they merited to enjoy his blessing, or at least his presence, all dread of being beaten that day with rods or with a stick was excluded [ee]. For he was made all things to all: the old he invited by his example to better things, the young he corrected with placid speech lest they should be foolish; adolescents he sustained in the bosom of the highest piety; the rich he formed with continual zeal that they should bestow their goods on the Lord, and remember that they had been appointed dispensers, not lords, of riches; to the poor also, as a cheerful giver, he by no means denied his goods, for clerics in need of a stipend and clothing he refreshed with himself, as sons, as long as he was present, and ministered all necessities: and setting out anywhere, he ordered his ministers to feed by name each one whom necessity pressed, for canonical food, continually by a daily allowance, until he should return. Of this zeal, of this solicitude was he, that the bite of the wolf continually lying in wait should tear no sheep of the Lord's fold; but as a good shepherd he continually defended the flock entrusted to him by fasting, passing nights awake, praying.

[7] having made a pious testament, rests in peace. While such things were being done, the most almighty disposer and most fair moderator, the power of God and the wisdom of God, did not delay to prove the merit of his servant: for a prolonged languor began gravely to dissolve the frame of his body; so that no limb was able to be joined to its office. Yet not even so did he cease from the service of his God: for his tongue alone unharmed sounded forth the praises of the Lord, and meditation on the divine scriptures cherished his mind; and that in the future he might not lack the saving victim, which is Christ, he himself in the present was made a living victim, using the example of the outstanding preacher Paul saying: “I am now being sacrificed and the time of my dissolution is at hand” 2 Tim. IV, 6. It can confidently be said that the Almighty God was inviting to his college him whose example, placed on earth, he was following. The clergy were sad, covered with a mournful cloak of grief, and needing the blessing of their shepherd, and sighing that he was wearied by long languor, they lamented. And the prelate, when he felt his exit drawing near, knowing that he could not accomplish what he had deliberated, distributed the sum of pence which he had collected for this. Namely thirty pounds for making a table before the altar of St. Stephen: twenty also for adorning the altars of Blessed Mary and of blessed John. Remembering that the church of St. Eusebius was utterly destroyed, he gave in the estate of Loconvacum two and a half manses, in Ceriacum likewise, in Aqua Niolum a third part of a manse [ff], conferring half on the altar, bestowing the other half on the canons of the same place; and this, long before his death, he confirmed by the hands of his fellow bishops to last perpetually: all the rest he paid out to the canons and his faithful. “Naked, he said, in the manner of St. Job, I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there.” Job I, 21 For all his limbs being dead, the tongue alone quivering in his mouth confessed the Lord. What more? At length the sickness, spread through the limbs, returned to the vitals. There gathered there an abundant multitude of the city: all ran up imploring the gifts of blessing; the clergy were present wailing, and singing psalms for the departure of the soul; and straightway, ashes being prepared and a haircloth laid on top, as befits a man who worships Christ, he ordered himself to be stretched out on them; and thus rendering thanks to the Lord with the others, and fortifying himself and all who were present with the sign of the holy Cross, by a happy passing he departed to the Lord, and was honourably buried before the altar of the ever Virgin Mary within the walls of the city [gg], whom living he had vowed perpetually to serve.

ANNOTATIONS.

who administered with varied fortune first part of France from the year 840, then the whole from the year 870, and finally the Roman empire from the year 875, having died in the year 877, on the 6th day of October. To the times of Charles the Bald, then, must be referred the admission of Blessed Herifrid to the palatine school.

p. Artadum Jean Lebeuf renders in French as Arte, which place neither the cited Polyptych nor the topographical lexicons indicate Ibid., vol. I, p. 215: Capilliacum the praised Lebeuf interprets as Chouilly, today in the diocese of Châlons, until, he says, a more suitable place may be found Ibid., loc. cit.: Lindriacum (Lindry) in the present diocese of Sens, archdeaconry of Auxerre.

q. Farinarium, according to Du Cange's Glossary, is a mill by which, the grain being ground, flour is produced.

r. The oratory of St. Clement is designated in a double Polyptych of the years 1535 and 1648 as if situated beside the chapter of the church of Auxerre Ibid., vol. IV, p. 305. Pouillé d'Auxerre, p. 16.

s. Herimbert Jean Lebeuf called a presbyter, whom the editors of his History judge to be a layman Hist. d'Auxerre, vol. I, p. 214. The former opinion pleases me more: for although he is not openly said to have been enrolled in the clerical militia, this is altogether established from our biographer, both that he was most faithful to his bishop and that he spent all his work on restoring churches, inasmuch as he sweated over the restoration of all the churches: which in my judgement indicate a cleric rather than a layman.

t. Chimiliacum is (Chemilly, dép. Yonne, arrondissement de Tonnerre), in the present diocese of Sens. Gurgiacum is today Gurgy, an estate seven kilometres distant from Auxerre.

v. The feast of St. Clement, Pope and Martyr, is celebrated on the 23rd day of November.

w. Generally the word Archimandrite signifies the supreme head of monks: sometimes however it is also taken for an archbishop, as Du Cange teaches by various examples in his Glossary under this word.

x. Arbricum Jean Lebeuf interprets as Esbri, near Aponiacum Ibid., loc. cit..

y. Noerolium the praised Jean Lebeuf also by conjecture interprets as Nolon Ibid., loc. cit..

z. The estate of Pomerium Jean Lebeuf renders in French as Pommeraye, and the river Orosa as Oreuse, without assigning the place more closely, except that it is situated beyond Sens Ibid., loc. cit..

aa. Archiclavus is a dignity of the church, which afterwards took the name of treasurer. Compare Du Cange under this word.

bb. Cochlear or Cochlea signifies a high tower, inasmuch as one ascends to its summit through a circle and round. Compare Du Cange under this word. And the top of such a tower was covered with lead or tin to keep off rains.

cc. Rithverus, in Gallia Christiana Rieveus Vol. XII, col. 493, occupied the see of Troyes about the end of the ninth century: concerning which he seems to have had a controversy with his metropolitan Gauterius of Sens; since the latter was attempting to intrude another into the cathedra of Troyes: but Pope Formosus preserved the right of Rithverus intact.

dd. Jean Lebeuf suspects that Appogniacum (Appoigny) is indicated, an estate eight kilometres distant from Auxerre towards the north. For there is in that place a spring of ferruginous, and so salutary, water.

ee. Something similar is reported of St. Anianus, bishop of Orléans, whose Acts will be elucidated at the 17th day of November; for those scholars who had visited the Relics of this holy prelate escaped the penalties due on that day Dom Bouquet, Recueil des historiens de France, vol. X, p. 110.

ff. The church of St. Eusebius, situated first outside, afterwards within Auxerre, was and is to this day parochial. Loconvacum (Jean Lebeuf writes Loconnacum) is the present estate of Leugny, 19 kilometres distant from Auxerre: Ceriacum (Jean Lebeuf Terincum) is the estate of Cerin under the parish of Chevannes, 7 kilometres distant from Auxerre: finally Aqua Niolum (in the praised Lebeuf Aquinolium), Avigneau or Avignol, an estate 9 kilometres distant from Auxerre.

gg. Jean Lebeuf says that Blessed Herefrid was the second bishop of Auxerre who obtained burial within the city. But I doubt whether this is said accurately: for if we go to the topographical table which he displays in his History Hist. d'Auxerre, vol. III, p. 14, we see that down to the eleventh century, and so a hundred years from the death of the blessed prelate, the church of Blessed Mary was outside the walls of the city: whence also the name Notre-Dame-la-dehors clung to it.

* in safety?

* he wished?

* thus?

* forbade?

* denied?

* to discharge?

* to complete?