ON ST. CHILDEMARA OR CHILDEMARCHA, ABBESS OF FÉCAMP IN NORMANDY,
SOME TIME AFTER THE YEAR DCLXXVIII.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Childomara or Childomarca, abbess of Fécamp in Normandy. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
Sole §. The old cult of St. Childemara. Her lost Life. Abbess at Bordeaux; then at Fécamp. The beginnings of this monastery; its perpetual praise and institutes. St. Leodegar guarded by St. Childemara.
Although St. Childemara or Hildemara, who is also Childemarcha or Hildemarcha, less purely Ildemerca and Hildemarga, seems now to receive no longer any honours of the heavenly ones from men, St. Childemara, inscribed in three most ancient martyrologies, in our work nevertheless she rightly demands a place for herself, because ecclesiastical authority once claimed her name and inscribed it on the roll of the saints. For in the second Lucca copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology, which in the 8th century was written at Fontenelle or at any rate augmented with a great many additions, and then, carried to Italy,
was for some time for the use of the very ancient basilica of St. Donatus of Lucca Fiorentini, Vetustius ecclesiae occidentalis martyrologium, p. 31 and 32., one reads at the 19th day of June Ibid., p. 602.: "And in the monastery of Fécamp the deposition of St. Childeomara, abbess"; similarly in the Blum copy, which in the year of Christ 772 was written either by a monk of Fontenelle or by a cleric of Autun, then was used in the monastery of St. Peter at Weissenburg between Strasbourg and Speyer, and finally came into the hands of Blum at Vienna Ibid., p. 1045 and 1055., at the same 19th day of June these words occur Ibid., p. 1065.: "In the monastery of Fécamp, of Childomara." Finally, as Mabillon is witness Annales Benedictini, bk. XIV, n. 61. and Denis de Sainte-Marthe Gallia christiana nova, vol. II, col. 857., in a very old calendar of Patriciacum the name is read on the 12th before the Kalends of July, that is the 20th of June: "Of Childomarga, virgin"; perhaps, adds the same venerable man, of Fécamp, and formerly abbess of St. Eulalia of Bordeaux: which matter is indeed plainly certain; but I am in doubt whether the 12th before the Kalends of July was written in place of the 13th. Patriciacum, however, not Patriarcus, commonly Percy or Précy, was a place in the diocese of Autun, distinguished by a priory belonging to the monastery of Fleury Valesius, Notitia Galliarum, at the word Patriciacus.: whence it may appear, as also from the Blum codex, that the cult of St. Childemara was spread from Fontenelle, not far distant from Fécamp, into the diocese of Autun; for although there is another Patriciacum or Princiacum in the diocese of Bordeaux, which diocese St. Childemara at one time inhabited, and there was once a monastery there, yet that ceased so long ago Gallia christiana, vol. II, col. 120. that in the 18th century a calendar could not have been designated by the name of Patriciacum. But if you wonder that nowhere in those fasti is the title of saint or blessed set before the name, know that this was the old form of calendars and martyrologies; so much so that, if it were otherwise, it would be an indication of interpolation.
[2] [She seems for a long time no longer to be honoured with ecclesiastical cult; although the memory of her sanctity has by no means perished.] About the middle of the 18th century D. Toussaint Du Plessis reported Description de la Haute Normandie, vol. I, Discours, p. 90. that St. Childemara was still honoured with public cult by the faithful of Christ; but this is very doubtful to me: certainly you will discover nothing of the kind in the Gallia christiana Vol. II, col. 857 and vol. XI, col. 205., in the Neustria pia of Arthur du Monstier Page 201., in the Acts of the saints of the order of St. Benedict Century II, p. 542. and in the Benedictine Annals of Mabillon Bk. XIV, n. 61; bk. XVI, n. 62.: not as if they denied her the praise of sanctity (on the contrary they everywhere call her St. Childemarca or St. Hildemarca); but because they either invoke in testimony only the old calendar of Patriciacum, or produce only more recent martyrologists or menologists, in whom there is no ecclesiastical or liturgical authority and who at their own pleasure (as is wont to happen) assigned to the 25th day of October the name of St. Childemara, which they had found in the Lives of SS. Waningus and Wandrille; on which day the blessed abbess was never venerated. Indeed Mabillon Acta SS. ord. S. Benedicti, century II, p. 974, note c., who had at hand the proper offices of Fécamp, testifies that she was venerated in his times by no particular feast within the year in the monastery of Fécamp. Arnold Wion went before the others, announcing this at the 25th of October Lignum Vitae, vol. II, bk. III, p. 350.: "On the same day of St. Hildemarcha, abbess, famous for miracles"; and adding in the annotations that in the Life of St. Wandrille, which was published by Surius in the Acts of the Saints, volume IV, at the 22nd day of July, it is reported that this saint died on this day; but in the edition of Surius of the year 1618, which I use, nothing of the kind is read; nor in the edition which is in our Acts or in the Acts of the saints of the order of St. Benedict; so that Wion seems to have been blinded. After him comes Ferrarius; who, since he knew that St. Wandrille was abbot of Fontenelle, in the general Catalogue of saints which he brought to light in the year 1625, at the 25th day of October established the memory of St. Hildemarcha, abbess, in the monastery of Fontenelle; alleging according to custom the tables or Calendar of Fontenelle; which he had never seen. Ménard, when four years later he published the Martyrology of the saints of the order of St. Benedict, clung closely to Wion: "On the same day (the 25th of October)," he says, "of St. Hildemarcha, first abbess of Fécamp."
[3] Her body does not seem to have been carried to Fontenelle. This sobriety did not please Du Saussay, whose Gallican Martyrology saw the light in the year 1637. For after praising in the supplement St. Hildemarca, as he calls her, he immediately subjoins: "Her body, deposited in the monastery of Fontenelle, shone forth with great glory of divine operations: which rendered her cult celebrated there"; which things passed from there into the Gynecaeum of Arthur du Monstier. But he afterwards wished the same to be exiled from his Neustria pia Compare p. 200., doubtless because they seemed to have been said by Du Saussay through conjecture: similarly Mabillon in the Acts of the saints of the order of St. Benedict and in the Annals, the writers of the new Gallia christiana and Du Plessis in the Description of Upper Normandy have plainly nothing of the body of St. Childemara carried to Fontenelle. Nor do I find anywhere else when or on what occasion the sacred remains were carried away from Fécamp, where certainly the pious woman was deposited, to Fontenelle: for in the age of the invading Normans the same wretched condition belonged to both abbeys. That translation is thus deservedly absent from the Benedictine menologies of Bucelin, of Heredia and of the venerable man Peter Lechner; all of whom at the 25th day of October praised St. Hildemara, yet said nothing of her body being kept at Fontenelle. Nor does it seem to have existed at Fécamp either. Certainly in the Historical essay on the abbey of Fécamp Essai historique et littéraire sur l'abbaye de Fécamp, Rouen, 1840., which Leroux de Lincy published in the year 1840 and in which several catalogues of relics are interspersed, mention never occurs of the remains of St. Childomara: which indeed I think perished amid the incursions of the Normans.
[4] [Since the deeds of St. Childemara have long since perished, they must be gathered from other sources.] At the end of the 10th century (for then was written the second fragment of the Life of St. Waningus (which, unknown to Bolland Compare Acta SS. at the IXth of January, page 591 and following., Mabillon first published Acta SS. Ord. S. Benedicti, century II, p. 974.)) you would say that there still existed a little book "which is written of her acts" and "which clearly narrates her life and praiseworthy way of living," seeing that it seems to be announced there in these words; but, since these things were taken word for word from the second Life of St. Wandrille Ibid., p. 542, and Acta SS., vol. V of July, p. 577., written at the end of the 7th century, that testimony is to be held not so much of a thing seen as of a thing read. What of the fact that in the Life of St. Wandrille the matter is not of the acts, life and praiseworthy way of living of St. Childemara, but of St. Waningus? Certainly Mabillon so understood this passage, as he noted in the margin Benedictine century II, p. 542.; and indeed the series of the speech seems so to urge, as the reader himself will perceive below. Was no Life of St. Childemara written? I would not dare to deny it, because in another place of the Life of St. Wandrille the biographer seems so to speak that his words can only violently be dragged to St. Waningus. For here it is: "To whom she," that is St. Childemara to the deacon Sindardus, "intimated that she had been warned in a vision that, leaving the city of Bordeaux, she should go to the land of Rouen, and visit the man of the Lord Wandrille, and under his rule obey the divine edicts. Who, AS IS WRITTEN IN HER DEEDS, arriving at the servant of Christ, led him to the aforesaid most illustrious man Waningus." If these things are right, those Deeds have long since perished, most probably (so I persuade myself) when the Normans laid waste all things sacred and profane with force, sword and fire. Wherefore nothing else remains but that we gather the few things known of St. Childemara from the cited second Life of St. Wandrille; from the four fragments of the Lives of St. Waningus, so published by Bolland and Mabillon that the latter here omitted the first of Bolland and in the second place published another, which had been hidden from Bolland; thirdly, from the second Life of St. Audoenus, archbishop of Rouen, which is usually attributed to Fridegod and was taken in part from the Acts of St. Wandrille; fourthly from the Lives of St. Leodegar, which were given at the 2nd day of October in our Acts and in Benedictine century II: for this most valiant martyr was for some time guarded in the monastery of Fécamp, St. Childemara being abbess: fifthly from the Little Book on the revelation and authority of the monastery of Fécamp: which little work, collected from those Lives by an anonymous writer in the 12th century, Arthur du Monstier first brought to light Neustria pia, page 191 and following..
[5] Her homeland, family and the name Childemara Further, that St. Childemara was by nation of Bordeaux is established from the first Bollandian fragment of the Life of St. Waningus Acta SS., vol. I of January, page 592., or the second Mabillonian one Benedictine century II, page 973., where she is called the virgin of Bordeaux. That she was Frankish by race is indicated by the name itself, Childemara or Hildemara, or (as others prefer) Childemarca or Hildemarca. Which form ought rather to please I do not know, since both are good. For that name consists of Child, or with a milder aspiration Hild, by which a boy was signified among the Franks, as still among the English; the Germans and Teutons preferring Chindh, Kint, but now Kind: and of Mara or Marach, which word indicates a horse and a mare. For not the form Mara alone, more than sufficiently known, was once in use; but also Marc, Mark or Marach, as Du Cange and Schilter, by examples cited, in their Glossaries at the word Marach and Adelung at the word Mähre have demonstrated. What of the fact that the form Mark is far the most ancient? Certainly Pausanias is related to have taught that a horse was called μαρκαν by the Celts. Yet in polyglossic names, as most old Germanic and Frankish ones are, I nowhere find marc at the end, but always mar. I have gone through, namely, the entire Catalogue of proper names which the Alemanni and Burgundians once used; which Catalogue Senckenberg published from the library of Goldast according to an old St. Gall codex Rerum Alemannicarum scriptores, vol. II, page 93.; and I have found there these: Acmarus; Adalmarus; Altmar, Audomarus; Andemarius; Angelmarus; Cuthmar; Deodemarius, Teodemarius, Thietmarus, Thiomar; Ermenmarus, Hirminmarus; Filemarus, Folmar, Volcmar,
Vulmarus, Willimarus; Gauzmarus; Gisemarius; Hamarus; Hiltimarus, Hildomarus; Ismar; Kummar, Gummarus; Ludemar; Ostmarus; Otelmarus; Otmar, Othmar; Peretmar; Ratamar; Richamar; Roadmar, Ruadmar; Sigemarus; Tagamar; Thancmar; Ursemarius; Walmarius; Wantalmar; Wimar; Winemar; Wolfmar: all of which names are masculine; and among those feminine ones that are read after them, there is none that ends in mar or marc.
[6] Or Childemarca: which two are forms of one name. But where mar stands at the beginning of words, it sometimes puts on the form marc: as in Marward, which becomes Marchwart, Marhcwart, Maracwart, Marcwart: which is also observed in Marcrat and Marcherat; Marchire; Marcholf; Marcfredus; Marquinus. Among feminine names there are only doubtful examples; which select from among the following: Margund; Marhgund; Maracholt; Marahsind; Merabind; Meridrud, Merithrud; Merigard; Merisind; Meriswith and Merihilt or Merehilt: which is the same as Childomara, except that the roots have changed place. From this head, then, the form Childomara or Hildomara is preferred; which also (as we have seen) the very ancient calendars of Lucca and of Blum have, and which Arthur du Monstier, living in Normandy, shows in the Gynecaeum to have been known to him too. But in all other monuments the name is written otherwise: namely Childemarcha, Childomarcha, Childemarca, Hildemarcha, Hildomarcha, Hildemarca and Hildomarca in all those monuments from which I have shown above that the deeds of St. Childemara are to be taken, except that in the Mabillon edition of the Life of St. Leodegar, by the author Ursinus, c or ch is changed to g and she is called Childomerga, in the Bollandian edition Childomarga; which form we have already discovered in the calendar of Patriciacum. And we have discoursed on these things only for this reason, that it might be manifest that either rule of writing is good. Beware of this one thing, lest, because that name consists of two words, you should believe that it is a compound and has one meaning; it is not so. Child and Mar are set in apposition, as if you were to write two baptismal names, Charles-Louis. And this is the rule of all Germanic and Frankish names, seeing that they for the most part consist of two words set in apposition, not that some sense should arise from this, but for the sake of distinction. And indeed the part was sometimes written for the whole name; thus (to use a very ready example) Bruna in place of Brunhild, the most celebrated queen, occurs in contemporary writings: sometimes, however, the last part was as it were double, as may be seen in the most celebrated mayor of the palace Ebroin, who is also called Eber-Winus (Boar-Friend) and Eber-Merus (Boar-Horse). But I remember that I have already elsewhere handled this argument, commonly little known and perceived.
[7] [St. Childemara, a virgin of Bordeaux and abbess in the suburb of an unknown monastery;] That St. Childemara was abbess in a suburb of Bordeaux is plainly certain. For by a law of Theodosius it was forbidden that monks should stay within the walls of cities; which, although it was abrogated a little later, nevertheless continued to have force in the Gauls: these words of the second Bollandian fragment of the Life of St. Waningus are thus to be understood not of the town itself, but of the neighbourhood: "Childemarcha, virgin of Bordeaux, and there mother of many virgins"; and these others of the second Mabillonian fragment and at the same time of the Life of St. Wandrille and also of the Little Book on the revelation of the monastery of Fécamp: "For there was at that time at the city of Bordeaux a virgin of Christ, by name Hildemarcha, in a certain monastery of nuns the most holy governess." Which monastery of Bordeaux Denis de Sainte-Marthe would have distinguished by the name and patronage of St. Eulalia, virgin and martyr Gallia christiana, vol. II, col. 857, and instr., col. 326., and those who followed him in augmenting the Gallia christiana Ibid., vol. XI, col. 205.. But this is nowhere related; but only that St. Eulalia warned St. Waningus to call St. Childemara from Bordeaux to Fécamp, to preside over the new convent of the Holy Trinity. Nor is there any reason why St. Eulalia should be judged to have been patron there rather than six hundred other martyrs; unless you would have it that she could not designate an abbess outside a monastery that did not have her name. Let the people of Bordeaux, then, strike out the monastery of St. Eulalia, which de Sainte-Marthe attributed to them, content to be ignorant of the name and site of the convent which St. Childemara ruled among them.
[8] The most pious virgin stayed there until after the middle of the 7th century, [She is called to Fécamp, where Duke Ansegisus (as they would have it) was to have raised a monastery.] when namely she was ordered from heaven to go on to the diocese of Rouen. How this matter was done is explained in the fragments of the Life of St. Waningus, in the Lives of SS. Wandrille and Audoenus and in the Little Book of the revelation of Fécamp. Further, in the second Bollandian fragment of the Life of St. Waningus Acta SS., vol. I of January, p. 592., which Mabillon published in the first place Benedictine century II, p. 972., it is openly declared that the valley of Fécamp was first designated for a monastery to be founded in it by a revelation to Duke Ansegisus; which revelation was explained more fully in the lost part and is still preserved in the Little Book of the revelation. When namely that Ansegisus was once hunting in the parts of the district of Caux *, a white stag appeared, fearing nothing from the dogs and going with slow step to the valley. When it had reached this, the hunters, horses and dogs grew stiff. Stunned by the miracle, Ansegisus ordered the men to get down on the ground, and as a suppliant he begged from God a signification of his will: then the stag by a certain circuit as it were designated a building and disappeared. The duke understood that a church should be built there to God, one and three; and at once he constructed a little building from shrubs and branches, intending afterwards to undertake a great structure: but, prevented by death, he could not Arthur du Monstier, Neustria pia, p. 196 and 197.. Wherefore, since he met his day before the convent of Fécamp was founded, he must be other than Ansegisus or Ansegisilus, son of St. Arnulf, husband of St. Begga and father of Pippin of Herstal, as being more recent: unless it is preferred to banish this whole narrative among fables (which I wonder is not disapproved by Mabillon Annales ordinis S. Benedicti, bk. XIV, n. 61.), since it is omitted in the first Bollandian fragment, in the Life of St. Wandrille and in other documents of better note.
[9] [St. Waningus, duke of the district of Caux, is twice warned by St. Eulalia to raise a monastery there, over which St. Childemara should preside;] These things being set aside, then, there was a certain man, as is read in the first fragment Acta SS., vol. I of January, p. 591., in the territory of Rouen, by name Waningus, sprung from an illustrious lineage of Franks, strenuous in arms, rich in wealth, strong in the amplitude of his estates. He then was among the first of the palace, in the times of Clotaire III or the Younger, who, scarcely four years old, began to reign from the end of the year 656 in Neustria and Burgundy, St. Bathilde being his guardian; "with whose counsel King Clotaire valiantly governed the kingdom of the kings of the Franks. For this holy man frequently visited the oratories of the saints, and asked their suffrages with sedulous prayers; he built very many monasteries in and from his possessions. In pious offices the illustrious Waningus stood out as a distinguished helper of the holy places of the monastery of Fontenelle, and to the same he most devoutly conferred, by a happy gift, a great many estates for the uses of the servants of Christ … He venerated the holy virgins who had passed from this world; and above all the holy virgin and martyr of Christ Eulalia: and so in her name he had consecrated very many places to God … There is in the archbishopric of Rouen on the sea a district which is called Calcegius *; in which place the man mentioned had no moderate possessions; one of which is called Fiscampnus … On a certain night, then, the virgin Eulalia, appearing to him, said: Waningus …, for the heap of your good works build on your estate of Fécamp a monastery in the name of the Holy Trinity; and having collected a congregation of consecrated virgins, you shall send an embassy to the city of Bordeaux [and thence summon Childomarcha, mother of many virgins, who shall preside over the new monastery with the title of abbess.] Which being done, it will come to you, by which you will be restored to the heavenly inheritance. Then the holy man, roused from sleep, began to consider how he should fulfil what the holy virgin had commanded. Hastening therefore he went to the blessed Audoenus and Wandrille and set out to them the order of the vision. Then the holy men, the Holy Spirit revealing it, said: The vision which you have seen, if you fulfil it as quickly as possible, you will unlock the entrance of heaven. Hasten therefore, and present yourself to the king … Then the holy priests, at the humble prayers of Bl. Waningus, went to the presence of the king, and … asked from King Clotaire the Younger, who with his mother St. Bathilde was ruling France, for a private audience, to disclose the counsel for which they had come. Which the king granted; and lending them his heart, he gave what they asked; and what they did not ask for he lavished as royal gifts. Hence blessed Waningus returned gladly to his own …, and quickly built a monastery at Fécamp. In which place he was seized by a strong fever, and was snatched into an ecstasy of mind, with terror and chill at once he became very like a dead man …; and the funeral (as is the custom) was celebrated: and then he saw the punishments of the damned and the rewards of the elect; and he heard divinely [From the Life of St. Wandrille.] that [he] would survive for twenty years, and that blessed Eulalia, to whose prayers he had commended himself, had obtained this. Then, Bl. Waningus having returned from so bitter a vision and from those above and been restored to safety, the holy confessors Audoenus and Wandrille, King Clotaire, and all his leading men, with the whole multitude of the people, seeing the miracle done, gave thanks to God."
[10] [St. Childemara is similarly warned and discloses the vision to Sindardus, deacon of Fontenelle: and all these things are fulfilled through the intervention of SS. Wandrille and Audoenus.] "There was moreover," we continue with the second biographer of St. Wandrille Acta SS., vol. V of July, p. 277., "at that time at the city of Bordeaux a virgin of Christ, by name Hildemarcha, in a certain monastery of nuns the most holy governess: to whom a certain man of God, a monk (of Fontenelle [Compare the Chronicle of Fontenelle, in d'Achery, vol. II, p. 266, folio edit., and Mabillon, Annales Benedictini, bk. XIV, num. 61.]) and deacon, by name Sindardus, when he was being sent into those parts for the benefit of the servants of God [of Fontenelle [Fragment of the Life of St. Waningus, Mabillon II, Benedictine century II, p. 974.]], was accustomed to turn aside for the sake of hospitality. To whom she intimated that she had been warned in a vision that she should go to the land of Rouen, and visit the man of the Lord Wandrille, and under his rule obey the divine edicts. Who, as is written in her deeds, arriving at the servant of Christ, led him to the aforesaid most illustrious man Waningus; and the same Waningus, handing over by testaments the aforesaid monastery of Fécamp to blessed Wandrille, by his counsel handed it over to the same most religious virgin to be ruled. Whose life and praiseworthy way of living the little book which is written of her acts clearly narrates. Which I have thought should be set down for this reason, that it might be intimated to posterity that the aforesaid monastery was recently, or from the beginning, under the right and rule of the aforesaid father." Nor could these things be done without the authority of St. Audoenus, of Rouen
archbishop; which is related in his second or later Life to have intervened in all these matters. But I excerpt from it only these words Acta SS., vol. IV of August, page 815.: "And so, building a monastery on the aforesaid estate (Fécamp), Waningus namely and the venerable Audoenus, he established there a multitude of nuns, living in monastic observance, under Childemarcha, and they by counsel set the holy man Wandrille … over it." Which things agree with the first Bollandian fragment; where it is also indicated how great the number of nuns was: "Then at last (these are the last words of that fragment Ibid., vol. I of January, p. 592.), the monastery of Fécamp having been completed by Bl. Waningus and also consecrated by the bishops of the Gauls (that is, of the province Lugdunensis II); three hundred and sixty-six virgins having been assembled, Bl. Waningus committed the monastery to the aforenamed holy men Audoenus and Wandrille, that they might more sedulously instruct the holy virgins in the regular disciplines."
[11] [366 nuns celebrate the perpetual praise there, St. Childemara being abbess. Whether they observed the Benedictine Rule. The monastery was founded about the year 660] The same number is read in the second fragment; from which we also understand that the perpetual praise was then celebrated at Fécamp, which about that age was in use at Agaune, at Dijon at St. Benignus, at Laon, at Marmoutier, among the people of Remiremont, for a while at St. Denis, and at Luxeuil, and also elsewhere, and to which the institutes of the Greek Acoemetae came very close. Here are the words Ibid., p. 594.: "The blessed Trinity, the unchangeable God, rejoices both in the completed temple and in the chaste service of the virgins assembling: contemplating the daily and nightly and continuous praises of whose three hundred and sixty-six, he promises and prepares both by the deliverance from death and in the abiding city the unfading crown of blessed retribution." In the first Bollandian fragment Ibid., p. 592. it is said that the Rule of St. Benedict was used from the beginning at Fontenelle; whence, since in the second Mabillonian fragment these words occur: "The monastery (of Fécamp) is dedicated, the number of sacred virgins is gathered, the rule of living is arranged"; the thought comes up whether at Fécamp too at that time the same Benedictine Rule stood in the place of law: the more so since we have just seen that Fécamp was subject to St. Wandrille, abbot of Fontenelle. I for my part shall candidly profess that I do not believe it, not that I wish at this place to handle the great question of the spread of the Benedictine Rule, but because I maintain that one should not depart from the views of our predecessors, who in the commentary on St. Aurea at the 4th day of October tried with singular learning to show that in the 7th century the Rule of St. Columban or the institutes of the Holy Fathers were chiefly in use among the Gauls, and less the Rule of St. Benedict. For that fragment is not of such great antiquity that it would command belief, when in all other monuments there is deep silence on that matter. Since, however, the foundation of Fécamp was made while St. Bathilde held the reins of the kingdom as guardian, it is manifest that it is to be assigned between the year 656, in which she obtained so great an authority, and the year 665, in which, having shaken off secular solicitudes, she entered the monastery of Chelles. With which things, if we join that St. Waningus according to the promise of St. Eulalia was to live for twenty years more and that he (as we shall soon see) led his life until after the martyrdom of St. Leodegar, bishop of Autun, who fell in the year 678 by the bloody machinations of Ebroin Ibid., vol. I of October, p. 420., the building of the monastery of Fécamp could not have happened before the year 658, at which Mabillon recounts it Annales Benedictini, bk. IV, num. 61.. Nor can Le Cointe stray far from the truth Annales ecclesiastici Francorum, at the year 661, num. 13., who wrote that the first foundations of that monastery were laid about the year 661.
[12] [Many holy men favoured Ebroin, mayor of the palace and killer of St. Leodegar; among whom St. Waningus. St. Leodegar, having already suffered many things,] Bl. Childemara, together with St. Waningus, was mixed up in the last calamities (which I have just recalled) of St. Leodegar. I would not wish to reweave that long tragedy, which our Bye has explained with the highest diligence in these our Acts of the saints at the 2nd day of October. This one thing I should wish to be remarked, that the beginnings of the enmity which existed between Ebroin and St. Leodegar did not consist in the ambition and insolence of the former alone; but that perhaps the chief stain of the evil was the party zeal which, the kings being boys and weak, had arisen among the leading men, especially between the Austrasians, to whom St. Leodegar for the most part adhered, and the Neustrians, on whom Ebroin chiefly relied. Hence it may be seen that truly upright men too stood with Ebroin, for instance the second biographer of St. Praejectus, bishop of Auvergne or Clermont; likewise the biographer of Queen St. Bathilde and St. Reolus, archbishop of Reims, and other most holy prelates, who cultivated the closest friendship with that man. What wonder then if St. Audoenus, archbishop of Rouen, and St. Waningus, duke of the district of Caux, moving in the midst of Neustria, so favoured Ebroin that he feared nothing from their fidelity? What of the fact that in a fragment of the Passion, published from a codex of Moissac by His Eminence J. B. Pitra Histoire de saint Léger, évêque d'Autun, p. 504., St. Waningus is set down as no less guilty of the martyrdom of St. Leodegar than Ebroin himself? Which assertion, however, from which some infamy would overflow onto St. Childemara herself, is not in every respect true. In the year 674, namely, about the autumn season (as it seems), St. Leodegar by spontaneous surrender (for he was being besieged at Autun) had come into the hands of the party of Ebroin; by whom he was blinded, given into the custody of Waimer, sent by him into Champagne, and then thrust by Ebroin himself first into a forest, afterwards into a monastery. Meanwhile that crafty man recovered the friendship of King Theoderic and the mayoralty of the palace; which power he at once used to destroy his adversaries by plunder, exile and slaughter. He also summoned to the court in the year 676 St. Leodegar and his brother St. Guerin; of whom he ordered the latter to be killed with stones; but Leodegar, that he might drive him to despair by a slow torture, his soles being lacerated, his tongue cut out, and his lips mutilated, to be handed over to St. Waningus; fearing lest, if he finished him off at once (as the holy man wished), all should hold him for a martyr.
[13] [He is handed over to be guarded to St. Waningus; who, having learned of the miracle of his speech recovered, places him in the monastery of Fécamp and treats him better. The holy martyr preaches there without a tongue. St. Childemara dies some time later.] "But after," are the words of the contemporary anonymous writer who wrote the first Passion of St. Leodegar Acta SS., vol. I of October, page 475., "Waningus had led him to his own, the grace of God accompanying, his lips began more quickly, contrary to nature, to grow back together with his tongue, and words also, beyond what was usual, to flow from his mouth unceasingly. When Waningus learned of this miracle, he did not stop up his mind to inflict evil on him, as he had been ordered by the tyrant; but on the contrary, now recognizing him as a martyr of God, having received him he led him to his monastery, which is called Fécamp, where there was a congregation of nuns and virgins, over whom presided Hildomarcha, servant of Christ; in which he stayed as a resident for many days under guard. For his cut-out tongue both received again its usual office and showed the great seed of his doctrine among the people: whenever it happened that he came among the band of virgins, so sweetly (as is reported) did his eloquent words shine that whoever heard wondered at what great things the clemency of God was working, and, turned from wicked works, quickly sought the fruit of penance. There, when within a small space he had received again the office of mouth, face or tongue, because he himself had been offered, he now was zealous to offer sacrifice daily; so that, since spiritual light had filled him within, he cared nothing for the eyes of his body. For by days and nights he stood wide awake in the worship of God, so that he went out from the church only a little at some time for the necessaries of the body, that he might be able to take some sleep and food. After so many scourges, then, as befitted a martyr, the faithful peoples showed him venerable service." And of all these things St. Childemara was witness and part for two years. For still, are the words of that same biographer, the man of God Leodegar was staying in the same monastery of nuns in which he had been placed to be guarded, when in the year 678 he was led to a synod or assembly of the nobles, called together by King Theoderic, and deposed by the arts of Ebroin, immediately afterwards handed over to Chrodobert and finally by the order of Ebroin killed in the midst of the forests of the district of Artois. Which things are read not only in all the Lives of St. Leodegar, but also in two fragments of the Life of St. Waningus and in the Little Book of the revelation of Fécamp. From this, moreover, learn how useful to St. Childemara and her holy virgins was the conversation of St. Leodegar among them: "When the glorious martyr and bishop," says the anonymous writer Arthur du Monstier, Neustria pia, page 199., "entered the sacred buildings of the highest and almighty God and heard the angelic voices of the virgins chanting psalms, he received again the office of his tongue taken away: and having lived for the turn of two years with the holy virgins, he showed the form of humility and patience, and he watered and made fruitful the hearts of his hearers with the dew of heavenly doctrine. Blessed Waningus, then, beholding the unexpected glory of the temple, and the religion and heavenly multitude of the holy congregation, reckoned up all the riches of his property, and assigned them to the uses of the holy virgins: and through the whole course of his life he showed the humility and obedience of a whole service in the same church, in the manner and custom of those who serve." Some time after the year 678 St. Childemara must have died. Since the second Mabillonian fragment of the Life of St. Waningus has not yet appeared in our Acts, and since it pertains much more to St. Childemara than to St. Waningus (in very truth it is a brief history of the monastery of Fécamp, until from a women's it became a men's), we shall bring it to light here: for there is no hope that the old Life of St. Childemara will ever anywhere be found.
Annotata* Pays de Caux
* Pays de Caux
LIFE OF ST. CHILDEMARA, WITH THE ORIGINS OF FÉCAMP,
From Benedictine century II, page 974 and 975.
Childomara or Childomarca, abbess of Fécamp in Normandy. (S.)
BHL Number: 8812
St. Waningus, seized from heaven, undertakes Fécamp, In the days of Clotaire a, king of the Franks, there was a certain illustrious man, eminent in prudence, very famous for goodness, and obedient to God, by name Waningus b, who built manifold dwellings of monasteries on his own possessions c, of which one is that which is called Fécamp: which matter proceeded in this way. He, seized by a very sharp illness in the same place, had been brought nearly to the end. Rapt in ecstasy, however, there were shown to him the punishments of the damned and the felicities of the just, and he heard, a heavenly oracle being shown by a gift, that he would live the spaces of twenty years, and that the holy martyr of Christ, Eulalia, had obtained this from the Lord,
to whose prayers he had been accustomed sedulously to commend himself d. And the martyr herself, appearing to him, warned him that he should build a monastery on the aforesaid estate where he was staying, and commit it to none of his stock to rule. Having returned to those above e, he summoned to himself the priest of Christ Audoenus, archbishop of Rouen, and at the same time the man of God Wandrille, abbot of the monastery of Fontenelle, and he set out the order of his vision, and at the same time, cured by their prayers of the fever by which he was pressed, he recovered the wished-for safety, and at once began to build the aforesaid monastery, as he had been warned f.
[2] Clotaire assenting, Hildemarcha is established as abbess. In the same assembly King Clotaire, son of Clovis the Younger, was present, summoned above all by the famous amazement of that miracle which had been done to Waningus: that namely by the prayers of the priest and abbot he had been restored from the threshold of death to the gate of life: and that to him, rapt in ecstasy, the chaos of Tartarus had been unlocked; and that in the manner of King Hezekiah, through a heavenly vision, twenty years of life had been added to him. Whence a huge rumour had stirred all the leading men of the Franks and a huge multitude of the people to this heavenly spectacle. The work, then, for which the pontiff and abbot had assembled was fulfilled, the monastery was dedicated, the number of sacred virgins was gathered, the rule of living was arranged. For there was at that time at the city of Bordeaux a virgin of Christ, by name Hildemarcha, in a certain monastery of nuns the most holy governess; to whom a certain man of God, a monk and deacon g, by name Sindardus, when he was being sent into those parts for the benefit of the servants of God of Fontenelle, was accustomed to turn aside for the sake of hospitality. To whom she intimated that she had been warned in a vision that she should go to the land of Rouen, and visit the man of the Lord Wandrille, and under his rule obey the divine edicts. Who, as is written in her Deeds h, arriving at the servant of Christ, went on to the aforesaid most illustrious Waningus i; and the same Waningus, handing over by testaments the aforesaid monastery of Fécamp to Bl. Wandrille, by his counsel handed it over to the same most religious virgin to be ruled; whose life and praiseworthy way of living the little book k which is written of her acts clearly narrates.
[3] She receives Leodegar at Fécamp. King Clotaire having died, then, Childeric took up the kingdom of the Franks: but he too, holding the kingdom not fully four years, departed from life; to whom his brother Theoderic succeeded l. In his time Ebroin, mayor of the royal palace, was holding Leodegar, bishop of Autun, in chains m. Who, calling the aforesaid Waningus: "Receive," he said, "Leodegar, whom you once saw a proud man; for there will be a time of his death, receiving what he merits from his enemies." Then having received him he led him to the aforesaid monastery; in which he stayed for many days living under guard. For his cut-out tongue both received again its usual office, and showed the great seed of doctrine among the people, so that, when he could, he went to the virgins; and so (as is reported) did his sweet eloquent words shine, that whoever had heard * heard wondered what great things the clemency of God was working, and, turned from wicked works, quickly sought the fruits of penance n.
[4] The monastery is plundered by the Northmen. The same place flourished from the time of the aforesaid kings to the times of the emperor Louis o, son of Charlemagne. In his time the most savage nation of the Danes, bursting into France, wrought on the sea coast no small slaughter of Christian peoples. Whence it came about that the same place was reduced to a solitude, so that it became a dwelling of wild beasts, which had before been the ornament of the worshippers of Christ.
[5] The dukes of the Normans. In the year of the Lord's incarnation 876, then, King Charles governing the kingdom of the Franks, a certain Rollo, a Dane by nation, a gentile by rite, a soldier by rank, entered France by ship with his men: and greatly devastating that land, receiving a certain part as a gift from the aforesaid king and the leading men of the kingdom, and having obtained the grace of baptism, he remained faithful for the rest. Ruling that land excellently as long as he lived, and framing laws and ancestral rights for its inhabitants, he passed from the world in the year 917 from the incarnation of the Lord. To whom in the rule succeeded William his son, who built a palace for himself at Fécamp with wondrous work. While he was staying in that place, he begot there a son, Richard by name, an infant of elegant form; whom he commanded to be imbued with liberal disciplines by the princes of his land. At this time in the aforesaid destroyed monastery it was no longer inhabited; because, the wall having been destroyed, a great forest had grown up there. In that place, however, the settlers of that estate covered over for the present, as far as they were able, with brushwood an altar that had been found; from the beginning of which, as we have heard from the ancients, the very author and redeemer of the human race, foreknowing his future service in that place, deigned to show a great miracle in the form of a certain most beautiful stag [p].
ANNOTATA.
p. Of the history of this stag we have spoken in the Preliminary Commentary, num. 8. The church which Richard I afterwards built there was dedicated on the XVIIth of July of the year 990 in honour of the most holy Trinity. Canons were then brought in; who, since they did not live holily, it seemed good to substitute Cluniacs for them. On the conditions, however, there was no agreement between Richard and St. Majolus. Wherefore at the beginning of the 11th century the church was committed to William, abbot of Dijon, who brought in the Benedictines.
* audierent