ON ST. SIMON THE APOSTLE, MARTYR, IN PERSIA,
FIRST CENTURY.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Simon the Chananaean, apostle (S.)
BY J. V. H.
§ I. The sacred Calendars celebrate the Saint on various days; he is to be distinguished from Thaddaeus the apostle, from Simeon of Jerusalem, and from Nathanael.
The Roman Martyrology, as also others composed in the Latin Church, In the Latin Church SS. Simon and Thaddaeus are venerated jointly, commemorate in one celebration two apostles of Christ, Simon and Jude. There are, however, some who, as Cardinal Baronius attests in the Notes to the Roman Martyrology at this day, suspect that the codex from which today's announcement was taken is faulty: as though, that is, it ought to say: The Natal Day of the Blessed Apostle Simon, who is also called Jude. Of the confusion of both Apostles into one person we shall treat a little below. To vindicate, however, the reading which sets down two distinct Apostles, let it suffice to have said one thing. Namely, if on the 28th day of October Simon alone should be set down, on what other day, pray, is the festival of St. Jude Thaddaeus found in the Calendars of the Latin Church? No one, surely, would suppose that this Apostle has been omitted from the Roll of the Saints. Therefore for this day the announcement of both Apostles, Simon and Jude, is to be admitted. Especially since in the Hieronymian Martyrology edited by Florentinius the same festival is announced on other days, but it always reports the two Apostles as joined indeed, yet distinct. Thus on the 3rd day before the kalends of July one reads: In Persia the natal day of the Apostles Simon and Jude; and on the very kalends of July: In Persia the passion of the Holy Apostles Simon the Cananaean and Jude Zelotes. Nowhere, then, are these two read separately in the Latin Church. But it is otherwise in the Greek; where on the 10th day of May St. Simon is venerated, and Jude on the 19th of June, as may be seen in the calendars and Menaea commonly met with. The calendar of Constantinople has something singular, in that at the 20th day of August it marks the contest of the Holy Apostle Thaddaeus Morcelli. Kalend. C. P. volume II. page 216., without here or elsewhere making any mention of St. Simon. Something similar is found in the marble calendar of Naples, which at the 26th day of May announces Jude alone: Passion of St. Jude apostle Mazzocchi, Vet Kalend. Marmor, page 428.: nevertheless the same calendar at the 1st day of July writes: NT (natal day) of St. Simon and Jude ap. Indeed at the 10th day of September St. Simon returns: Passion of St. Simon ap. Maius, Scriptt. vet. nov. collect. volume V, pages 62 and 63..
[2] in the Greek Church they are venerated separately; But besides the variety of the sacred Calendars in joining or separating these two Apostles, there are also other difficulties, which touch the very person of St. Simon. First of all Cardinal Baronius, at the year 68, § VI, says that St. Jerome confused Simon and Jude into one person, when in the Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, book II, chapter 4, he says Migne, Patrol. volume XXVI, column 384.: We read of the good zeal… of the Apostle Jude, not however the traitor, who on account of the remarkable virtue of zeal in himself
also received the name of Zelotes. Similarly in the book against Helvidius on the Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary, chapter 13, he says Ibid. volume XXIII, column 196.: Jude Zelotes is in another Gospel called Thaddaeus. That Sophronius, a writer of the fourth century Biograph. univ. supplem. under the word Sophrone., held the same opinion, St. Jerome attests in his book on the Ecclesiastical Writers or on Illustrious Men, so far, that is, as the Greek version of the book is genuine. Now in that version one reads Migne, Patrol. volume XXIII, column 721.: Simon the Chananaean, surnamed Jude, brother of James the bishop, who also succeeded him in the episcopate after the death of James, surnamed the Just, lived a hundred and twenty years. And being crucified under the emperor Trajan, when a grievous persecution had been stirred up, he fell asleep. Although these things stand so, I do not however believe that Jerome or Sophronius erred so far as to have confused the two Apostles Simon and Jude into one person. For the pages of the New Testament distinguish the Apostles Simon and Jude Thaddaeus from each other. Thus Matth. X, 3 and 4: Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot. Nor can anyone suspect that Simon the Cananaean was set in apposition, as it were, to the name of Thaddaeus: for the names of the Apostles are set down in pairs, with the particle and placed between: then a little below, v. 5, the Evangelist says: These twelve Jesus sent. But if Simon is not distinguished from Thaddaeus, we no longer have the number twelve. Mark too, III, 14 and 18, keeps the same number when he says: And he made it so that twelve should be with him … and James of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus and Simon the Cananaean. Nevertheless below, VI, 3, the Jews say: Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Jude and Simon? Jude is indeed distinguished from Simon: but it is another question, to be examined below, whether the Simon who is related by kinship to the Lord Jesus is the same as our Apostle. Luke VI, 13 and 15: He chose twelve of them (whom he also named Apostles)… James of Alphaeus and Simon, who is called Zelotes, and Jude of James. In the same way, Acts I, 13, the Apostles are listed, among whom James of Alphaeus and Simon Zelotes and Jude of James. From all these it is most certainly established that Simon the Cananaean or Zelotes and Jude Thaddaeus are two distinct Apostles.
[3] St. Simon, distinct from St. Thaddaeus, But there is another question, far more difficult: namely whether St. Simon the Apostle was the brother of St. James the brother of the Lord, and so his successor in the see of Jerusalem. I do not linger over the variety of the name: among the ancients the Apostle is written indiscriminately Simon and Simeon, and in turn the bishop of Jerusalem, successor of St. James, is called both Simon and Simeon. For, as Origen attests in the Commentary on Matthew, Tractate XXIII Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume XII, column 1777., according to the property of the Hebrew language, also Simon, since the Hebrews write both the name of Simeon and of Simon with the same letters. Leaving aside, then, the cavil about the name, let us look more closely at the thing itself. Florentinius, in the Little Index of the Apostles printed at the head of the Martyrology, tried in a special commentary to show that Simon the Cananaean, likewise with Jude, surnamed Zelotes, was one of the brothers of the Lord, and the same as Simeon bishop of Jerusalem, and crowned in Persia with the martyrdom of the cross Martyrol. Hieron. page 161.. Florentinius proves first of all that the name of Zelotes was also applied to Jude: I for my part do not greatly oppose this: but he cuts his own throat with his own words when he says that Simon was called Zelotes from his homeland, for Cana is interpreted zeal: but that Jude was called Zelotes chiefly from love of virtue, although he did not deny him to be a Cananaean; but neither did he affirm it. No argument, then, can be drawn from the sharing of the name, when it has a different cause in different persons: and therefore even if the name of Zelotes be applied to St. Jude Thaddaeus, it indicates no connection, either of homeland or of blood, with St. Simon the Apostle.
[4] he was not the brother of St. James, bishop of Jerusalem But Florentinius draws a more effective argument from the authority of St. Hippolytus, who flourished in the time of Alexander Severus, and thus in the first quarter of the third century, if indeed the writing truly belongs to Hippolytus. Now he, treating of the twelve Apostles and of where each preached and where he was consummated, says, treating of Simon Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume X, column 954.: Simon the Cananaean, son of Cleophas, who is also Jude, having been made bishop of Jerusalem after James the Just, died, and is buried in the same place, having lived a hundred and twenty years. Σιμων ὁ Κανανιτης ὁ του Κλωπα, ὁ και Ἰουδας, μετα Ἰακωβον τον Δικαιον ἐπισκοπος γενομενος των Ἱεροσολυμων, ἐκοιμηθη και θαπτεται ἐκει, ζησας ἐτη ρκ᾽. If St. Hippolytus has so great an authority for Florentinius, as being a most ancient witness, I do not see by what judgment, having admitted one part of the testimony, he rejects the other. For no mention is made of martyrdom; indeed the Greek word ἐκοιμηθη, he fell asleep, indicates a death not at all violent. Then, and this is the decisive point, he is said to have fallen asleep at Jerusalem εκει, in the same place, which in no way agrees with what he wrote at the head of his dissertation, namely that St. Simon was crowned in Persia with the martyrdom of the cross, since Hippolytus says that he fell asleep, at Jerusalem to be sure, and found his tomb in the same place. From these things it is clear enough that Florentinius did not give entire credence to the testimony brought from St. Hippolytus: and not unjustly.
[5] nor, the testimony of Hippolytus being in no way an obstacle, For Remi Ceillier in his General History of Ecclesiastical Authors denies to St. Hippolytus both little works, on the twelve Apostles and on the LXX disciples of Christ. Because in one solitary copy they are ascribed to St. Hippolytus, and it is beneath the dignity of so great a man to have written such things, as an example of which he cites that very thing which is said of Simon the Apostle Hist. gén. des Auteurs ecclés. volume II, page 361.. Then various other things occur which depart from the common tradition. Thus St. Bartholomew is reported crucified, with his head turned downward Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume X, column 951.: whereas the more common opinion, which our predecessors too in the Acts of this Apostle at the 25th day of August hold as the more certain Acta SS. volume V of August, page 28., relates that he was flayed. Matthew is said to have fallen asleep at Hierea, a city of the Parthians Patrol. Græc. volume X, page 951.: our predecessors at the 21st day of September think it far more likely that he was slain in Ethiopia Acta SS. volume VI of Sept. page 209.. In the other little work, which is entitled on the seventy apostles or disciples of the Lord, there is already an error on the very threshold, since it curtails the number of the disciples by two Patrol. græc. volume X, column 954.: whereas in St. Luke, X, one reads that the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two before his face. A little later it names Cleophas bishop of Jerusalem Ibid. loc. cit.: but no bishop of Jerusalem of this name occurs. Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine, who must have known very well the succession of the bishops of his own homeland, wove an accurate Catalogue of the prelates of Jerusalem, and brought no Cleophas into it. In his Chronicle under the year of Christ 62 he writes Ibid. volume XIX, column 543.: James, the brother of the Lord, whom all called the Just, is crushed with stones by the Jews, to whose throne Simeon, who is also Simon, is taken up second; which Simon, son of Cleophas, is crucified, whom Justus succeeded… After Justus, Zacchaeus took up fourth the episcopate of the Church of Jerusalem; after whom Tobias fifth: whom Benjamin succeeds sixth; and then John seventh; Matthias eighth; in whose place Philip is established ninth Ibid. column 554.. Up to the year of Christ 124 we have the bishops Ibid. column 555. who are numbered in order, without any being listed by the name of Cleophas. Which things suffice to show that the credit to be given to the writer Hippolytus totters.
[6] his successor in the see; Furthermore, as to St. Simon the Apostle having been bishop of Jerusalem and successor of James, there is also another obstacle. Namely, none of those who are said in the Gospel to be Brothers of the Lord was numbered with the twelve Apostles. John Stiltingus published at the head of volume VI of the Acts for September a special dissertation, in which he demonstrates at length, both from the Gospel itself and from the interpretation of the Holy Fathers, that none of the Brothers of the Lord was associated with the apostolic college. He shows this first of all from the text of St. John, since the twelve apostles had already been chosen when the brothers of Christ did not believe in him. For John VI, 61 and 68, when many of the disciples of Christ were going back, because the discourse on eating his flesh and drinking his blood seemed hard, Jesus said to the twelve: Do you also wish to go away? Simon Peter therefore answered: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And we have believed and have known that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered them: Have I not chosen you twelve: and one of you is a devil. There were therefore twelve Apostles: and yet in the following chapter, namely VII, it is said, v. I: After these things Jesus walks into Galilee … and his brothers said to him: Pass from here and go into Judaea, that your disciples also may see your works which you do… For neither did his brothers believe in him. After the choosing of the twelve Apostles, then, it can indeed be understood from the Latin text that at least some brothers of Christ did not believe in him. But the Greek text treats of all, when it says οὐδε γαρ ὁι ἀδελφοι αὐτον ἐπιστευον ἐις αὐτον: For neither did his brothers believe in him: the article ὁι is definite and embraces, as the schools speak, a universal proposition. Therefore from the number of the twelve Apostles those are to be struck out who are related by blood to Christ the Lord: such as Simeon certainly was, the successor of James, son of Cleophas, who was a cousin of Christ ανεψιος κυρίου, as Eusebius has, book IV of the History, chapter XXII Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume XX, column 379.. Ado too, in his little book on the Festivals of the Holy Apostles, rejects this opinion altogether, saying: What some think, that Simon the Apostle, one of the twelve, is the same who suffered the cross under Trajan, is altogether false. For Bede too, the holy presbyter, who holds this on the Acts of the Apostles Patrol. lat. volume XCII, column 942., following Isidore Ibid. volume LXXXIII, column 153., blames himself in the book of Retractations for having held this wrongly Ibid. volume XCII, column 987.. But the Ecclesiastical History also narrates the deeds not of the Apostle, but of another Simeon.
[7] nor a kinsman of the Lord: It is therefore by no means likely that St. Simon the Apostle occupied the see of Jerusalem after James the brother of the Lord. Nevertheless this opinion persisted through many centuries, and in
crept into the Martyrologies of the Western Church. Thus in the cathedral church of the Most Holy Trinity at Dublin there exists a Martyrology which seems by no means to have been drawn from Usuard; both because it lists the Saints more sparingly, and because it reports their names on other days. It is said to have been written around the end of the fourteenth century or the beginning of the fifteenth [Irish archeologic. society. Todd. The book of Obits and Martyrology, Introduc. page XLI.]. Now at the 5th day before the kalends of November one reads: In Persia, the natal day of Saints Symon the Cananaean and Thaddeus, who is also read as Jude of James. Of whom Thaddeus is related to have preached in Mesopotamia, and Symon in Egypt. Who also, when James the brother of the Lord had been stoned by the Jews, is established by the Apostles as bishop of Jerusalem; in the persecution of Trajan, having been afflicted with tortures for a long time, he was crowned with martyrdom, all who were present and the judge himself marvelling that an old man of a hundred and twenty years had endured the punishment of the cross. All this concerning the succession of Symon in the place of the brother of the Lord and concerning his passion, the ecclesiastical history seems rather to narrate of another Symon, whom it also named the son of Clopha. It is a singular thing that a Martyrology, in general brief, should narrate a matter which it says is false or to be attributed to another man. The ecclesiastical history in question is the History of Eusebius, book III, chapter XXII Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume XX, column 282., which reports the martyrdom in nearly the same words.
[8] he is also other than Nathanael After we have distinguished our St. Simon both from St. Jude Thaddaeus and from St. Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, it remains thirdly that he be distinguished from Nathanael, of whom in John I, 45 and following. We can here dispatch with little trouble a laborious inquiry, inasmuch as our predecessors have already completed it in the Preliminary Commentary on St. Bartholomew at the 25th day of August Acta SS. volume V of Aug. page 1 and following.. For John Stiltingus in his Commentary demonstrates two things: that Nathanael was one of the twelve Apostles, and that he is the same as St. Bartholomew; the Greeks, however, and those who derived their Menologies or Martyrologies from them, excepting however the Basilian, said that our St. Simon is Nathanael. In the Menaea at the 22nd day of April we read: Τῃ αὐτῃ ἡμερα, Μνημη του ἁγιου Ἀποστολου Ναθαναηλ, ὁς ἐστι Σιμων ὁ ζηλωτης· ἠτοι ἡ ἀναμνησις της προς Χριστον αὐτου γνωρισεως. On the same day (the 22nd of April), the Memorial of the holy Apostle Nathanael, who is Simon Zelotes: or the remembrance of his confession of Christ. Here allusion is made to John I, 49, where Nathanael says: Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the king of Israel. The same is found in the Synaxary at the 10th of May: Οὑτος ἐστι Σιμων, ὁ και Ναθαναηλ ὀνομαζομενος. This is Simon, who was also called Nathanael. It was said that the Basilian Menology in no way confused St. Simon with Nathanael. And indeed at the 22nd of April Nathanael is listed, without any mention of our Simon. And in turn at the 10th of May the Holy Apostle Simon is announced, and Nathanael is passed over in complete silence. From which it is manifest that the Basilian Menology distinguished Nathanael from St. Simon, and from Bartholomew the Apostle, who is listed at the 11th day of June. But what may be the origin of the tradition by which St. Simon the Apostle is held to be Nathanael, it is difficult to say. Certainly among the ancient Fathers nothing similar is found, while on the contrary there are various indications in antiquity, as our predecessors have shown, pointing to St. Bartholomew for Nathanael. There is, however, one thing by which the opinion of the Greeks can in some measure be supported: namely that Nathanael is said, John XXI, 2, to be of Cana of Galilee: There were together Simon Peter and Thomas, who is called Didymus, and Nathanael of Canna of Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two others of his disciples. St. Simon too is called a Cananaean in the Gospel. Hence perhaps the origin of a tradition which, as may be seen, is uncertain enough.
§ II. Of the Saint's preaching in various provinces; he does not seem to have brought the light of the Gospel into Africa and the British islands.
Of the Holy Apostle few things are certain, many invented The deeds done by St. Simon the Apostle we altogether do not know; in the Gospels themselves nothing occurs besides the bare name and surname. I know no Apostle of whom the information is more meager. There is, however, no lack of inventions, which borrow no credit from antiquity. It is, however, most likely that the Holy Apostle came from Cana of Galilee: for Matthew X, 4 and Mark III, 18 call St. Simon the Cananaean: but Luke VI, 15 and Acts I, 13 call the same man Zelotes. For Cana signifies Zeal and Emulation. Nevertheless most interpreters judge that the name of St. Simon's native town is expressed when he is called Cananaean: and that from the name of his homeland the appellation of Zelotes was then derived: just as, says Cornelius a Lapide at Matth. X, 4, if you should call a brave man, born at Valencia, Valentinus or Valens, to signify that he was born at Valencia and at the same time abounds in strength. Our Francis Xavier Patrizi observes shrewdly in his Commentary on chapter III of Mark that in Matthew indeed Simon is written Chananaean, but in Mark Simon Cananaean, whereas the Greek copies constantly keep the latter reading καναναιος or κανανιτης Patrizi. Comment in Marc. page 31.. St. Simon therefore is not to be thought to have been a Chananaean by race, but to have had his origin from the town of Cana in Galilee.
[10] he does not seem to have been the bridegroom at the wedding of Cana of Galilee: And hence arose the opinion that St. Simon was the bridegroom at that wedding which Christ adorned with his first sign, as is read in John II, chapter I. Certainly the Greeks followed this tradition in their Menaea: Χρημετισας, says the Synaxary at the 10th of May, νυμφιος ἐν τῳ γαμῳ ἐν ῳ Χρίστος ἐκληθη συν τοις αὐτου μαθηταις ἐν Κανα, και το ὑδωρ εἰς ὀινον μεταβαλεν. This man was the bridegroom at the wedding to which Christ with his disciples was called in Cana and changed water into wine. It is added that Simon, leaving the wedding and the wine, followed Christ and was numbered with the Apostles. Others however, among whom the chief is Bede on John at the very beginning Migne, Patrol. volume XCII, column 633., judge that the bridegroom of this wedding was St. John the Apostle. This, says Bede, is John the Evangelist, one of the disciples of God, who as a virgin was chosen by God; whom God called from the wedding, when he wished to marry. Baronius, at the year 31, § XXXI, says that some are moved by the authority of St. Augustine, who says in the Preface to the Tractates or Sermons on John Ibid. volume XXXIV, column 1380.: This St. John, whom the Lord called from the wave-tossed storm of marriage, and to whom, a virgin, he commended his virgin mother. Certainly what we have brought forward by no means shows a wedding of John: St. John, persuaded by Christ, could have thrust marriage altogether from himself; in which sense it will truly be said that the Lord called John from the wave-tossed storm of marriage, because most certainly he preserved his virginity unblemished until death. But when Baronius insinuates that, on account of the authority of Nicephorus Callistus, a writer of the fourteenth century, the bridegroom was Simon the Apostle, he does not win credence even from himself, seeing that he adds that Nathanael too was from Cana of Galilee, and so could have been the bridegroom. From all of which it is clear enough that all these things rest on an uncertain tradition.
[11] he preached the Gospel in Egypt and Persia; Nor is it clear enough what peoples St. Simon visited in preaching. Ado, in the little book on the festivals of the Holy Apostles, prefixed to his Martyrology, makes mention of Egypt and Persia, saying in these words: But Simon is related to have preached in Egypt. From the Armenian History, written by Moses of Chorene in the fifth century, it is established clearly enough that our Simon preached the Gospel in Persia. For when Narses, son of the king of Assyria, had asked of Abgar, king of Edessa, himself cured by St. Thaddaeus, the disciple of Christ, that a wonder-working physician be sent to him, Abgar replied that one of his principal companions, Simon by name, had been sent from here, that is from Armenia, whom, he says, if you shall seek him out, you will be able to hear, and your father Artases along with you. He writes the same in nearly the same words to Artases Moses Choren. Hist. armeniac, page 140; edit. Whiston.. The annotator of the Whiston edition says that the words of Abgar rather designate Simon Peter, especially since he wrote his first epistle from Babylon Ibid. loc. cit.. But I do not at all doubt that Abgar is speaking of Simon the Cananaean: for in the following chapter he teaches Ibid. page 143. that Simon received Persia by lot. I cannot, he says, relate for certain what he did, or where he suffered martyrdom. For some narrate that a certain Simon, an Apostle, perished at the Iberian Bosphorus. Whether this be true I do not know, nor do I know why he went there. But I have noted these things only so that you might know that I am setting forth for you all that is proper in this history. Moses of Chorene, a writer, as we have said, of the fifth century, was certainly not ignorant that Simon Peter both established his chair at Rome and underwent martyrdom there. What he wrote, then, of Simon, one of the principal disciples, is to be referred to the Cananaean, in so far as he exercised the ministry of the apostolate in Persia.
[12] and probably in Egypt; Besides Persia St. Simon also evangelized Egypt. Ado, in the Little Book on the Festivals of the Holy Apostles, prefixed to the Martyrology, which passage we noted above at number 7, says openly: Simon is related to have preached in Egypt. St. Isidore of Seville has the same in the book on the Rise and Death of the Fathers, chapter LXXX Migne, Patrol. volume LXXXIII, column 153.: Simon, he says, received the primacy of Egypt. In the notes placed beneath the text of Isidore it is said that the preaching in Egypt and the martyrdom in Persia are established by the more certain documents. Yet St. Simon seems to have left no trace of his Egyptian preaching, since, as is clear from Ludolf's Commentary on the Ethiopian History, no memorial of St. Simon survives among the Copts in their calendar. Indeed those too who have written on the origin of the Church of Alexandria, metropolis of all Egypt, touch by not a word on the apostolate of St. Simon in Egypt. Either, then, St. Simon held the primacy of preaching in upper Egypt, or the Church of Alexandria founded by St. Mark entirely swallowed up and blotted out every memory of the greater Apostle. Usuard follows Ado closely, but in his usual manner, in compendious form.
[13] Pseudo-Dorotheus, who is refuted, relates But besides Egypt other arenas of preaching are assigned to St. Simon, namely Africa and the British Isles. In testimony of which is cited, before the rest, the authority of Dorotheus, bishop of Tyre and Martyr under Julian; he lived therefore in the middle of the fourth century. William Cave in his history of ecclesiastical writers page 103 and following. Edit. Genev, 1720. rightly observes that this Dorotheus wrote Commentaries in the Latin language, which were afterwards translated into the Greek tongue Ibid. page 104.. The author of this version seems to be Procopius
a certain man, distinguished by the dignity of the priesthood, conspicuous as much for holiness of life as for knowledge of sacred letters Ibid. page 108., under the consulship of Probus and Philoxenus, or in the year of Christ 525 Ibid. page 107., when Pope John I went to Constantinople by order of Theodoric. The little work, such as it is, aims at showing and exalting the pre-eminence of the see of Constantinople over the Roman. Whence I should readily believe that it belongs to the sixth century, when the bishops of Constantinople, as prelates of the New Rome, attempted to usurp the first place after the Roman throne, as is sufficiently established from canon XXVIII of the Council of Chalcedon Labbe, volume IV, Councils, column 769., and then we see usurped by John the Faster, prelate of Constantinople, the name Οἰκουμενικου, of universal bishop, which had by degrees passed into fact. Wherefore St. Gregory the Great at once condemned the wrongly usurped name, as is established in book V, epistles 18, 19, 20 and 21 Migne, Patrol. volume LXXVII, column 738 and following..
[14] that the Holy Apostle preached Since then the lucubration of Pseudo-Dorotheus seems to belong to the sixth century, I judge that it furnished the first indication of the preaching carried out by St. Simon through Africa and the British Isles. But first of all the very names of the twelve Apostles are already of doubtful credit. For he omits Judas Iscariot, who in Mark XIV, 10 is clearly called one of the twelve, and to fill up the number twelve he brings in two Simons besides Simon Peter Cave, Scriptt. Eccles. page 108., namely tenth in order Simon surnamed Jude, who after he had preached Christ at Eleutheropolis and from Gaza as far as Egypt, was buried at Ostracina, a city of Egypt, having been fixed to the cross under the emperor Trajan. Then in the twelfth place comes Simon Zelotes, who after he had traversed all Mauritania and the region of the Africans, everywhere preaching Christ, at length in Britain, crucified by the inhabitants, was consummated by martyrdom and buried there. Wrongly, then, Simon is here met with divided in two, since, as we have said, besides Simon Peter one Simon is listed in the Evangelists, who traversed Egypt in preaching: whereby is confirmed what we said above at number 11, that the preaching of St. Simon in Egypt is established by the more certain documents: for certainly there was only one Apostle Simon, whose apostolate in Africa and Britain flowed from Pseudo-Dorotheus into various Martyrologies. Which is now indeed to be examined more closely.
[15] in Africa, whose Christian origins That St. Simon preached the Gospel to the Africans and especially to the Mauritanians, no one asserts except Dorotheus, or he who plays his part, the presbyter Procopius. Indeed it seems certain that this Apostle founded no church there. For St. Innocent I in his letter to Decentius of Gubbio says it is manifest that throughout all Italy, the Gauls, the Spains, Africa and Sicily, and the islands lying between, no one founded Churches except those whom the venerable Apostle Peter or his successors established as priests. For the rest there is great obscurity about the origins of the African Church. Stephen Morcelli in his Christian Africa assigns its beginnings to the times of Nero, in which Christians living at Rome, fearing the savagery of Caesar, sought a refuge for themselves in Africa Volume I, page 41 and following.. Nevertheless the first who is read as bishop of Carthage in the Calendars of the African Church is Agrippinus, who began his pontificate in the year of Christ 198 Morcelli Afric. Christ. volume I. page 44.. But that before Agrippinus other prelates, whose names have been lost, ruled the African churches, I can scarcely doubt. For St. Cyprian, who occupied the chair of Carthage fifty years later, in epistle LXXIII Migne, Patrol. volume III, column 1112. to Jubaianus says, defending the rebaptism of heretics: Among us it is no new or sudden thing that we judge those to be baptized who come from the heretics to the church, since it is now many years and a long time since, under Agrippinus, a man of good memory, very many bishops coming together established these things. Now Agrippinus occupied the see for scarcely three years, if we give credence to Morcelli Afr. Christ. volume I, pages 44 and 54.: yet because, on the witness of St. Cyprian, he held a council with very many bishops, we can rightly infer that even before Agrippinus the African Church had already been established to some degree.
[16] are set forth; Which establishment of the Church St. Augustine also declares in the book on the One Baptism against Petilian, chapter XIII Migne. Patrol. volume XLIII, column 606., when he speaks of seventy predecessors of Cyprian, who, as Morcelli interprets Afric. Christ. volume I, page 43., he writes to have been present at the synods held by Agrippinus. Nor wrongly: seventy predecessors of Cyprian did not occupy the see of Carthage, since between the two only three are numbered, Optatus, Cyrus, Donatus. And if under Agrippinus there was already so great a number of bishops, it is shown anew that the African episcopate was much more ancient than Agrippinus. Whence from this head it can be inferred that the foundation of the African Church belongs to the first century, and therefore took its beginning either from some Apostle or from a man contemporary with the apostolic age. Two things, however, prevent us from attributing this glory to St. Simon: the authority of St. Innocent I, who ascribes the origin of the African Church either to the venerable Peter himself or to his successors, and so excludes every other Apostle or apostolic man sent from elsewhere, and relates this as a thing manifest to all. The other argument, namely the testimony of Pseudo-Dorotheus, is of no weight, since he errs most gravely on Simon himself, dividing into two persons, as we said above at number 13, what can belong to a single Simon. To all these add that no particular memorial of St. Simon exists in the most ancient documents of the African Church, such as are either the writings of the ancients, for example of Tertullian, of Cyprian, or even the Calendars, which by some sign indicate the Saints who were benefactors toward the region. And these things are of such moment that we rightly deny the apostolate to St. Simon.
[17] similarly also in the British islands, What we have said of Africa serves altogether to refute the apostolate of the British Isles, inasmuch as, the Latins being silent, the Greeks alone speak. Alford in his Annals of the British Church at the year of Christ 47, §1, admits indeed that one of the Apostles went to those provinces and announced Christ in them, since Eusebius openly teaches it, Demonstrat. Evang. book III, chapter V Migne. Patrol. Græc. volume XXII, column 203.: treating of the Apostles he says that some entered the Roman empire, and the very city that is queen of all cities, others the kingdom of the Persians, others the nation of the Armenians and Parthians; likewise others that of the Scythians, and certain ones came even to the very ends of the earth, and penetrated the region of the Indians; others again passed across the Ocean to those islands which are called British. Ἑτερους ὑπερ τον Ὠκεανον παρελθειν ἐπι τας καλουμενας Βρεττανίκας νησους. That Eusebius is here treating of the Apostles themselves is clear from the context; for he speaks of rustic, common, unlearned men, and so of the first disciples of Christ, whose successors were very often men instructed in every kind of the sciences and letters. We have it, then, that Eusebius supposed the Christian faith to have been propagated in the British Isles under the Apostles themselves. But he by no means agrees that this lot of preaching fell to St. Simon. For all the Latin Martyrologies, of Bede, Ado, Usuard, and the present Roman, touch by not a word on a British apostolate; which the historians of England too pass over, treating of the beginnings of the Church [Compare Usser. Brit. Eccles. Antiquit. page 4. Alford. Annales, volume I, page 26. Cressy. Church hist. page 14.].
[18] which trace more from the Roman see Which is also confirmed by the testimony of Innocent I, who, after he had claimed for the Roman see the foundation of the Western Churches, as we showed above at number 14, adds Labbe, volume II, Councils, column 1245.: Or let them read whether in these provinces another of the Apostles is found or is read to have taught. And if they do not read it, because they nowhere find it, they must follow what the Roman Church keeps, from which it is not doubtful that they took their beginning, lest while they pursue foreign assertions they seem to omit the head of their institutions. From the text it is manifest that the apostolate of St. Simon in the British Isles was not only unknown, but altogether denied. If then any of the twelve Apostles went to the British Isles to preach, he could have been no other than their prince, Simon Peter: concerning whom there is indeed a constant tradition among the English that he came to land here, as the historians cited by us a little above attest. Nor is Innocent to be charged with error or deception because St. Paul too preached in the West, especially in Spain, as he hints to the Romans XV, 24. But, says Cardinal Baronius at the year 61, § V, it is not to be thought that Innocent wished to divide Paul from Peter, as he did the other Apostles, whom he rightly denies to have taught the Western shores: for the case of Paul seems to be different from the others; inasmuch as he too, like Peter, taught at Rome. Since therefore the same Innocent, treating of the apostolic institutions handed down in the West, calls those to whom he writes back to the rites of the Roman see (since it is sufficiently established that both Peter and Paul imbued it with the sacred institutions), certainly he had no ground for making an exception of Paul: since one must say that he imparted the same ecclesiastical traditions both at Rome and in the remote provinces. But in that he makes mention only of Peter, he does so rightly, because he was bishop of the first see, from which the other Churches are derived, and to which they are joined together by catholic unity. Wherefore it is not to be thought that the Roman Martyrology At the 22nd day of March., when it makes mention of Paul's journey into the Spains, disagreed with the opinion of Innocent. But of these things enough; let us now pursue the rest.
[19] their conversion For so far we have rather eliminated than confirmed the things which are reported as done by St. Simon. And indeed very few are the things which antiquity has left us. Thus also the Basilian Menology at the 29th day of April says that St. Simon after the assumption and ascension of Christ went to Edessa: where, when he had taught the word of truth to many of the idolaters, he converted them to the Lord. After these things, going through Mesopotamia, he freely announced the name of Christ: and having returned again to Edessa, when he had performed many miracles for the glory of God, he departed in peace. But none of the ancients makes mention of this preaching. Joseph Simeon Assemani in his Oriental Library Volume III, page 414. says indeed that the people of Adiabene, the Elamites, Persians, Parthians, Medes, Hyrcanians and Bactrians were brought to the Christian faith by the Apostles Thomas, Thaddaeus, Simon, Matthew and Bartholomew, and the disciples Adaeus, Maris and Aghaeus, as … was shown above. But in the margin he says that it was shown above from page 3 to page 37. But if we go back to the place indicated, there is no mention of our Simon, while meanwhile there are listed of the Twelve, Peter, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew and Jude of James, the apostolate of each of whom in turn
is confirmed by various testimonies. Mesopotamia too, then, does not seem to have been in the lot of St. Simon, since those who have written most learnedly on the origins of Christianity in Mesopotamia bring forward no proved testimony by which St. Simon might be shown to have preached in that province.
§ III. Of the Saint's martyrdom and burial; of his cult, manifested by the erection of churches and altars; of the Relics in various provinces.
St. Simon underwent martyrdom in Persia, The Latin Martyrologies, alleged at the beginning of this Commentary, teach us that St. Simon underwent martyrdom in Persia. Nor do I know of anything more ancient that has been consigned to writing about the place of the martyrdom. Florentinius, who contends with all his ingenuity, as we said above at number 3, that Simon is the brother of St. James, first bishop of Jerusalem, necessarily places his passion at Jerusalem under the emperor Trajan; but how unstable this opinion is we showed above at number 4. Florentinius, admitting Persia as the arena of the martyrdom, explains that his burial was at Jerusalem; because other Martyrs too had different places of passion and of burial; in which regard he brings forward Page 169. the example of St. Ignatius the Martyr, buried at Antioch, and of St. Onesimus, buried at Ephesus, although both suffered at Rome. And this would be right, if it were established that the Apostle Simon was the son of Cleophas, the brother of James the Less, because then there would be no doubt about the episcopate of Jerusalem, Eusebius attesting it in book III of the Eccles. Hist. chapter II Migne, Biblioth. Græc. volume XX, column 246.. But this can in no way be shown, especially since no one of more accurate judgment admits it. Florentinius, in order to reconcile the martyrdom in Persia with the episcopate of Jerusalem and the burial in that place, says at the 1st of July, on which he announces the martyrdom of SS. Simon and Jude, that this day seems to be the memorial of a translation or dedication, not of the completed contest. But an interpretation of this kind is arbitrary, inasmuch as it is supported by no suitable testimony.
[21] and his burial is assigned to various places: Edessa in Mesopotamia, Since we have distinguished St. Simon the Apostle from St. Simeon bishop of Jerusalem, who fell a Martyr under Trajan, we now have no year to which we can bind the death of the Apostle. Wherefore we assign his death broadly to the first century of Christ. If, however, it were known that St. Simon was slain together with St. Thaddaeus, the time of the passion could now be indicated in a somewhat more accurate manner, since St. Thaddaeus is said to have undergone martyrdom before the emperor Domitian, and so before the year of Christ 81. But Francis De Aste, archbishop of Otranto, in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology, rightly observes at the 28th day of October that the ecclesiastical writers who treat of the Holy Apostles, whether on this or another day, nowhere say that they were martyred in the same region and at the same time. And indeed the Basilian Menology at the 29th of April, treating of our Simon alone, teaches us that the Holy Apostle first preached Christ at Edessa, after that traversed Mesopotamia, and having returned again to Edessa, when he had performed many miracles for the glory of God, rested in peace. Edessa, today Orfa, also formerly called Justinopolis, is situated in Mesopotamia: no one else, however, as we said at number 18, assigns to St. Simon an arena of preaching in Mesopotamia: further, that rest in peace seems to exclude a violent death, which also contradicts all the others who attribute to him the crown of martyrdom. Since furthermore the Menology of Basil was composed around the end of the ninth century, it is sufficiently established that this writing is not of such authority that full credence may be given to it unless it be strengthened by more ancient documents, and then certainly least of all when it contradicts most others.
[22] at Suanis in Persia, Alban Butler in the Lives of the Saints at the 28th of October says that the Martyrologists Jerome, Bede, Ado and Usuard place the passion of St. Simon in Persia, in the town of Suanir or Suanis. But none of these designates the town of Suanir as the arena, but all indicate Persia in a broad sense. Most of the Auctaria speak of this town; but since we do not know their authors and age, their testimony is of no great weight. Among the Auctaria of Usuard, one, that of Hagenoy, compiled around the end of the fourteenth century or the beginning of the fifteenth Soller. Mart. Usuard, preface page LX., reports that both Apostles, Simon and Jude, spent a year and three months in Persia, built churches, established bishops and priests and converted much people from error, and afterwards, being seized in the city of Swanyz, were at last cruelly slain. The Butler mentioned, who more probably did not find a city of this name, adds that by the city of Suanir there is likely to be understood the people of the Suani, confederated, he says, with the Parthians and Persians. Now Suan is a valley which bends toward the Euphrates: and it is also called Wadi-Suan Ritter, Geographie, volume XI, page 742 and following., whence it is manifest enough that by the word Suanis no city is indicated. In Asiatic Georgia there is the province of Suanetia, at the southern roots of the Caucasus; and it accordingly has Persia toward the East. This tradition is confirmed in some measure by the place of burial, which is said to have been at Nicophsia.
[23] Nicophsia on the Euxine Pontus. For Nicophsia is a town situated on the eastern shore of the Euxine Pontus, today called Bidchwinta or Bitsounda. I read the following in the Description of Georgia, composed by Prince Wakhoucht in the last century, which I render into Latin Descript. de la Géorgie, page 407.: At Bindwintha there is a beautiful and conspicuous church, adorned with a dome, built by the sea, and very well endowed by the emperor Justinian. At first it was an episcopal see, then a patriarchal, in the time of the kings; but now it has one presbyter, because the people has withdrawn from faith and religion. I suppose that Bindchwinta is Nicophsia; and that the church was built in that place; for at Nicophsia the Apostle Simon the Cananaean found his tomb. If the burial of St. Simon were true in every respect, there would be a greater cult toward the Holy Apostle. In the work cited by us the patrons of the churches of all Georgia are listed, nearly 260 in number Descript. de la Georgie, page 407., and there is one single church under the name of St. Simeon, without the title of Apostle being added. Whence it is doubtful whether it belongs to our Saint. And if St. Simon the Apostle had had his tomb at Nicophsia, much more likely there would be more churches distinguished by his patronage. From this head, then, a tradition of this kind is unstable. Wherefore Francis de Aste rightly observes in his Notes on the Roman Martyrology that from this variety of tradition it is drawn how great the doubt is, whether the place or the time be regarded. Wherefore, so that the Roman Martyrology may not be entangled in these no light perplexities, he proposes a correction by which, all the tangles being omitted, it would be written simply: The Natal Day of the Blessed Apostles Simon and Jude, who, when by their preaching they had subjected an innumerable multitude of the people to Christ, consummated martyrdom. What further pertains to the cult and Relics of St. Simon the Apostle we shall set forth below in the Acts of St. Jude Thaddaeus, on account of the joint veneration of both in the Latin church. By way of a conclusion we append the elogium which St. Ado wove on St. Simon in the little book on the Festivals of the Holy Apostles, set before his Martyrology, and the translation of the arm of the same to the canonry of Sayn, formerly of the diocese of Trier.
COMPENDIUM OF THE LIFE OF ST. SIMON THE APOSTLE
From Ado, in the little book on the festivals of the Holy Apostles.
Simon the Chananaean, apostle (S.)
The Natal Day (the 28th of October) of the Blessed Apostles Simon the Cananaean, who is also written Zelotes, and Thaddaeus, who is also read as Jude of James, and elsewhere is called Lebbaeus a, which is interpreted Little Heart. Of whom Thaddaeus is related to have preached in Mesopotamia, and Simon in Egypt b. From there, having entered Persia together, when they had subjected to the faith of Christ an innumerable multitude of that very people, and saw the Church of the Lord now broadly founded, there, completing the course of their time, they consummated martyrdom by a blessed contest: being honorably buried by the Christian peoples whom they had themselves begotten for the Lord. What some think, that Simon the Apostle, one of the twelve, is the same who suffered the cross under Trajan, is altogether false. For Bede too, the holy presbyter, who holds this on the Acts of the Apostles, following Isidore, blames himself in the book of Retractations for having held this wrongly c. But the ecclesiastical history also narrates the deeds not of the Apostle, but of another Simon.
ANNOTATIONS.
OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE ARM OF ST. SIMON AT SEIN, OF THE PREMONSTRATENSIAN ORDER.
From the hagiographic collection of the royal library of Brussels, number 8924.
Simon the Chananaean, apostle (S.)
BHL Number: 7754
a] [bFROM MANUSCRIPTS.
CHAPTER ONE.
The arm of the Holy Apostle, brought from the East, is granted by an Armenian bishop to Bruno, provost of Bonn, who gives it to the monastery of Sein. God works miracles by the power of the Relics.
The arm of St. Simon How and when the Relics of Blessed Simeon the Apostle came to the Church of Heymen, and of what kind and how many healings took place over infirmities after the arrival of those Relics at that Church, through the merits of the same St. Simeon, and in the same place, I have often heard from truthful men and from religious persons; and when I had resolved to commit these things to writing, at the desire of very many who longed to know this, the smallness of my knowledge and likewise the ineloquence of my speech stood in the way. But since by our silence we should prove unworthy of God's benefits and ungrateful to the virtues of St. Simon, and there would pass into ignorance for those coming after what by our diligence, being further searched out by those who follow, could grow to the height of the praise of God and to greater reverence of the holy Relics, I have preferred to describe it in whatever manner, but briefly and truly.
[2] brought from the East In the year of the Lord, then, one thousand two hundred and four, Innocent the Great being prelate of the Roman see, and John of the diocese of Trier, and Adolf of the metropolis of Cologne, being archbishops c, a certain religious bishop, setting out from Armenia, desired to go to Cologne for the sake of visiting the holy bodies of the Three Kings. When he had passed through many stretches of land, he came into Germany, and descended the banks of the Rhine, and arrived at a certain village Weslich, situated in the upper part of the Rhine, two miles distant from Cologne d. There was at that time a great tempest of wars between Otto of Brunswick and Philip the Swabian , energetic men, around the borders of Cologne for the Roman kingdom, on the occasion of which wicked robbers, journeying all about those parts, plundered those passing through e. When the man of God, that is the holy bishop, understood this, and when he was now falling among certain armed men, before he should come to them, what afterwards befell he feared beforehand, namely that the arm of St. Simeon the Apostle, with the flesh and the skin stretched over it, and entirely whole except the joint finger, wrapped in clean linen, which for devotion and with great devotion to St. Simon he had brought with him from his homeland, into a certain empty
cask placed perhaps in the cemetery of the aforesaid village he secretly threw, and at once departed.
[3] the Armenian bishop Which however a man of the common people, Herelinus by name, Bishop by surname, when he had seen it, thought would be money, not knowing what is above gold and topaz, and took it; and when he had considered that it was not what he hoped, yet believing it something divine he gave it to lord Bruno, provost of Bonn f, who afterwards was made archbishop of Cologne g; who received it with immense joy, gave gifts to the man of the common people, charging him that he should reveal this to no one. But the robbers, when they had come to that pilgrim bishop, seizing him and not sparing his religion, inflicted wounds on him and despoiled him, with his companions, of horses and all his goods. Over which the man of God, though he was not a little saddened, yet because of the hope of his deposit, which he hoped was still preserved, bore his pains too the more lightly. When indeed after the departure of the robbers he came to recover the holy relics of the saint, and did not find them at all, how great a sorrow was heaped on him above his sorrow, no one can easily explain. And when he had long and much searched who might have this or know of it, and found no one, at length in grief he took up the journey he had begun, for which he had set out, and came to Cologne.
[4] to Bruno, provost of Bonn Where, when he had stayed for a few days and had venerated the Relics of the holy Three Kings, as he knew how, and had frequented the thresholds of other saints, bidding farewell to the holy city he again ascended the banks of the Rhine toward Bonn. When he had entered it, going to Lord Bruno the provost, he set forth to him the miseries of his calamities and especially the loss of the holy Relics. Him the provost received kindly and with great charity, and, a physician being sent for, kept him with him for some days until he had healed his wounds: and among the other words of conversation * he inquired of what saint the Relics had been which he had lost. To whom the pilgrim bishop, answering with a groan, said that it was the arm of Blessed Simon the Apostle. Hearing which, the Lord Provost Bruno rejoiced the more within himself, concealing this by a pious cunning in keeping silent, for the ampler honor of St. Simon and the advancement of the church to which perhaps he purposed to destine it. Which God too perhaps permitted to be done, because grains, when they are scattered in sowing, are the more increased. But when the time came that the often-mentioned bishop intended to return to his homeland, and was preparing himself for his journey, the lord provost asked of him that it might be permitted to him to have those relics, if he could find them anywhere.
[5] grants it; And so the good man, that is the pilgrim bishop, despairing of having them back, and not unmindful of the benefit bestowed, promised , because he had shown him such great kindness and displayed such humanity, that he would hold it most agreeable that he should rather rejoice in those Relics than that anyone else should keep them. Hearing this, then, the lord provost gave the pilgrim bishop garments and horses, and ten marks of silver, and bestowed gifts on his companions, sending them off honorably, and bidding them farewell sent them back to their homeland. For the same provost Bruno was a rich man and a glorious person, holding several dignities: for he was provost at the Steps of St. Mary at Cologne, provost of Aachen, provost of St. Castor in Koblenz, and he was also pastor in Engers h. Now after the departure of the pilgrim bishop of the Armenian church, the lord provost Bruno, taking those venerable Relics, brought them all to his brother, lord Henry, count of Heynnen , founder of his monastery, which together with his brother, lord Everard the count, he had newly built on his own land, in the year one thousand two hundred, next to his castle, Heyne *. For Count Henry was staying in those days in the castle of Blankenberg i, where the holy Relics were brought to him, which he, receiving them with great love and relying on wise counsel, hid for some time. And when two years had passed k, the lord count sent and had summoned to him lord Hermann, provost of Heyn l, a man truly religious: for they were then called provosts, as they are called abbots in the Premonstratensian Order m. And so the provost lord Hermann hurried in haste to the castle of Blankenberg, as he had been commanded. When he had come there, he was honorably received; for the count together with lord Bruno, provost of Bonn, gave the holy relics in perpetuity to the church of Heynen, to be transmitted by the same lord provost Hermann, so that as they had enriched the same church with estates and goods, so they also adorned it with such glorious Relics, which lord provost Hermann himself received with reverence, carrying them with him in fear and love alike to the church of Heynen. Until the report that the bishop had lost them should fade away, he kept them fittingly hidden in a secret place. Let these things suffice as to how the Relics of St. Simon were translated to the church of Heynen.
[6] which Henry, the brother of Bruno, gave to the monastery of Sein. But by what powers of signs and benefits of miracles God honored that church through the merits of St. Simon, I shall declare as far as the Lord himself has granted, in whose hand we and our words are. But as to what kinds of vengeance befell the invaders of that same church, as we have often seen: although we know that it is not doubtful that God permitted this to happen on account of the merits of Blessed Simon, yet to avoid the offense of certain of those still living, lest we seem to rejoice at the ruin of enemies, or be reproved for wishing to probe the hidden judgments of God, I think it better to pass over in silence, and to return to the course of the narrative. When therefore it was time that the lamp placed under the bushel should be set on the lampstand, and should give light to all in the house, after six years, when the brothers of the same Church had been made certain that no one would take the Holy Relics from them, thinking that they should be displayed from the hiding place in which they were shut up (since a hidden treasure and wisdom lack usefulness), they began to venerate them for adoration, and to make them public with great reverence by showing them to religious persons and to those who feared God. That this might be done the more devoutly and honorably, and might at the same time stir up love with greater devotion in those who beheld them, they had a little casket made, artfully fashioned, in which the Holy Relics might be placed and displayed. For sight and hearing, according to what they are, for the most part change and transform the heart of man. And because funds and expense did not suffice them for such a work, being laid out on other buildings, since the monastery was as yet a new planting, they sent out the Holy Relics fittingly and reverently through religious brothers to collect the alms of the faithful, in order that they might pay for the same casket which they had procured. Which God perhaps consented to be done for this reason, that the merits of St. Simon might be the more made public, and that more might obtain his benefits.
[7] the sacred relics, wondrously preserved from fire, When they set out, having crossed the river Rhine, passing along the walls of Andernach n and the other villages and towns situated along the bank of the same river, they came also to a certain village Hersele o, on the border of Bonn. There, when they had entered a certain house known to them, they were dutifully received, and when they had refreshed their bodies, they were also eager to give their limbs to the rest of sleep. Yet first, before they went to sleep, they placed a candlestick with a candle fixed on it, with a linen cloth spread beneath the holy Relics. But in the night, by I know not what movement, the candle, falling on the linen, was wholly consumed in burning without harm to the linen. In the morning, when the people had risen, the household maid scarcely recognizing the traces of the burned candle, they reckoned what had been done to the account of the merits of St. Simon, glorifying God. Then going on, they came to the village called Mellenhove [p], not far distant from Hersele. There, having turned aside to certain persons who feared God and were familiar to them, they stayed with them: and when they had been well refreshed, and had rested sufficiently, and their business had been settled , bidding farewell to their hosts, they departed from there with the Holy Relics.
[8] a girl, lame in one leg, Now there had been in the same house a girl, weak in one leg, so that she could not fix either foot on the ground to walk. After the holy Relics, then, had departed a little farther from the lodging, she repented that she had not called upon Simon for the health of her leg. She however was persuaded by her mistress to place the foot itself which pained her in the same place where the holy Relics had stood. And when the girl, trusting the counsels of her mistress and confident in the merits of the Holy Apostle, had done it, she at once recovered the health of the foot, as though it had never pained her; so that she ran after the brothers themselves, the bearers of the Holy Relics, with exceeding gladness, giving thanks to God. When all, then, had seen and heard this, they began thereafter to venerate the Holy Relics of the Apostle with ampler devotion.
[9] and another girl, suffocated in the water, they heal; Finally, when they had gone through the borders around the parts of the Rhine for some while, having crossed the same river again they began also to go round the regions of Westphalia; and when they had traversed these in going about, according as it seemed to them expedient, after a few days had passed they came to the city of Soest. What God wrought there through the merits of Blessed Simon, as I heard it from the father of the girl to whom the benefit was granted, I shall narrate. For when it first happened that I set out from Westphalia to the church of Seinn, I came to the city of Soest [q], and there, having arranged the affairs pressing on me, I betook myself to the father of the aforesaid girl. For he was a merchant, Werner Krebs by name (in Latin Cancer), to whom among other things, when I had joined myself for the sake of trading, among the words of conversation he inquired of me where I was going. To whom I: To the monastery of Heyn. And he: In Heim the arm of St. Simon is kept, who raised my daughter from death. And when I asked how this had happened, he answered, saying: There came into this city some time ago messengers of the church of Heym, bringing with them in a little casket the arm of Blessed Simon, asking alms for the payment of the casket. In doing which, while they were setting the word of God before the people in the church, they placed in the middle a cask full of water, in which, when they had immersed the Holy Relics, and many had run up to draw the water with great avidity, my daughter, still a little child , mixed among the tumultuous crowds, was found suffocated in the press and dead, and soon, by the helping merits of Blessed Simon *, those who prayed asking it [r], she was restored. This same thing Werner Krebs afterwards related to me, which also was thereafter confirmed by others to be true.
[10] a young man, near death, they restore to health: Afterwards, walking with the Holy Relics by diverse exits of the roads, they returned to their own dwelling, namely the church of Heym. There from day to day the merits of Blessed Simon began thereafter to be more spread abroad, increasing everywhere through those very regions. And the rumor of them reached the ear of a noble matron, the lady Mechtild, countess of Nassau [s]. And so when this took place, they were received venerably and with all reverence, with the greatest devotion, both by her and by all who flocked there. Now there was there a certain young man lying ill to such a degree that he could neither speak nor have understanding of anything, so that he was utterly deprived of his senses
from excessive pain. And when he was lying as though half-alive, and nearer to death, at the intervention of his parents and friends the Relics of the saints were carried to the house where the sick young man was lying. When these were placed on his breast, he was at once restored to his own sense, and at the same time recovered the use of speech with his former health. These things were done there, as the aforesaid lady and the others who were then present affirmed. There was also a certain other woman, Sophia by name, a waiting-woman of lord Giselbert, a knight in the castle of Heyn, whom many knew; though not so noble as the aforesaid lady, yet of freeborn religion. She then bore in her throat such a swelling that she was entirely deprived of speech. When she had come to the altar of St. Simon, and her throat had been circled by the touch of the fingers of the same, and she had tasted the draught of the sacred liquid, sanctified by the dipping of the Holy Relics, which they were accustomed always to have ready for the relief of various infirmities, because rarely in the circuit of the year does a week occur in which aid is not given to infirmities, on account of the merit of most blessed Simon, by the drinking or the smearing of the sacred liquid. When she had taken this, her lost voice was at once restored to her, so that she said clearly: Have mercy on me, St. Simon. The witnesses being the abbot and the aforesaid knight, with the others worthy of belief who were then present.
[11] by waters sanctified by the touch of the Relics Likewise another thing, which the abbot at Syburg [t], a venerable man, related: that it once happened that he came to the monastery of Heynen to see the Holy Relics, which we, as we are accustomed to show * them with the greatest reverence to honorable men, and especially to religious, showed to the same venerable man and abbot. And he, when he had venerated them with the greatest devotion, asked that a fountain of the holy liquid be given to him. Which the brothers did, with a better chalice, for the veneration of the Holy Relics and the honor of the man himself. And he alone drank it with great care. When the brothers standing by saw this, and asked why he had taken that water with such avidity, the abbot answered: Because through the merits of the sacred Relics of Blessed Simon God once bestowed on me, by evident proofs, the service of health. For it happened once that I came to this place, and after I saw the holy Relics, that I venerated them; and in a certain side I had long before felt an obstruction and very great pain: so that for some days I felt myself scarcely half-alive. But I moistened the place of pain with the liquid in which these Relics had been dipped; and immediately, when I went out of the gate of the cloister, the ulcer of my side burst and was smoothed away. Wherefore from that time I have had full veneration toward these Relics and greater love. The name of the abbot was Godfrey.
[12] one out of his mind is set free, In the times of Henry, count of Heynnen, son of Henry, founder of this monastery, there was a certain man called Hano, who faithfully guarded the goods of the same count lying around the new castle. Now he was defamed before the count his lord by certain false rivals of his. When that Hano learned this, although he had suffered nothing grievous from his lord, yet he knew him to be a raging man and a tyrant, and he was saddened beyond measure within himself, so much so that, estranged from his senses, he went mad. When he was perishing, going about as if delirious, he was brought by his son, Theodoric, cellarer of Heynnen, who manifestly related these things to us, to the Relics of Blessed Simon. When he had seen these, and had drunk of the sacred fountain by the dipping of the Holy Relics, he recovered all soundness of his senses. Afterwards, many years later, Hano himself having died, his son, called Arnold, guarding a part of the New Castle, had a young son, who also, deranged in his senses, wandered through woods and mountains, as one delirious and straying. When he had been brought to the Holy Relics, and signed with them, and given to drink from the sacred fountain, he too recovered his senses entirely through the merits of Blessed Simon.
[13] another infected with leprosy. It still pleases me to tell briefly one thing which God has shown. There is, then, a certain boy, living in our parish, Gerlach by name, who was assigned to the service of the kitchen, to washing the vessels and preparing the food of the brothers of that place of Heynnen. When he was watching diligently over what was entrusted to him, it happened that he was afflicted with a strange sickness, of which he did not at that time lie abed. Now on a certain day, after the evening hour, as he * sat next to the hearth and warmed himself, a certain sudden swelling, as of a red and black leprosy, mixed with swelling pustules, at once spread over and seized his body, so that he was thought to be burning as if alive, and to be bursting asunder with pain. When the brothers passing by saw this, astonished, they cried out saying: Run, wretch, quickly to the monastery of Blessed Simon. And he, hearing these things, at once came to the church with what strength he could. When he had arrived there, being given to drink the water in which the Relics of Blessed Simon had been dipped, as if by an antidote, all the poison departed, and anointing himself with that water, and using a little wine, he obtained the health of his whole body. And afterwards he was often shown to strangers arriving, as a token of the power of St. Simon. These things have been said in compendious form of the Relics of St. Simon and their benefits; few out of many, avoiding the weariness of the reader. Yet if anyone had described them earlier, he could have added more. These things were written down in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and fifty-eight, in the time of lord Arnold, archbishop of Trier, who also died in the same year, within the Octave of St. Martin [u].
ANNOTATIONS.
be inviolably observed. Then, having enumerated the estates with which the monastery was endowed, he wills that they may receive clerics and laymen fleeing from the world for conversion and may retain them without any contradiction. He ordains moreover: 1° That it shall not be lawful for anyone to give personally, or to alienate in any other way, lands or any benefice conferred on the church of Sayn, without the consent of the whole chapter, or of the greater or sounder part of it. 2° That it shall not be lawful for any bishop or other to ask and receive from those of Sayn for tithes more than has been required by their predecessors down to these times. 3° When, moreover, there shall be a general interdict of the land, it shall be lawful for those of Sayn, with doors closed, the excommunicated and interdicted being shut out, the bells not being rung, with subdued voice, to celebrate the divine offices. 4° Chrism, he says, holy oil, the consecrations of altars or basilicas, the ordinations of clerics who are to be promoted to sacred orders, you shall receive from the diocesan bishop, provided he be catholic and have the grace and communion of the most holy Roman see, and be willing to furnish these to you without any depravity: otherwise it shall be lawful for you to approach whatever catholic bishop you prefer, having the grace and communion of the apostolic see, who by our authority may bestow on you what is requested. But if the see of the diocesan bishop should chance to be vacant, you may in the meantime receive all ecclesiastical sacraments from neighboring bishops, freely and without contradiction; yet so that from this no prejudice be generated in future to your own bishops. 5° He forbids that anyone, within the bounds of the parish of those of Sayn, without the assent of the diocesan bishop and of the same people of Sayn, should dare to construct a chapel or oratory anew, saving the privileges of the Roman Pontiffs. 6° He decrees also that the burial of that place be free, so that no one may oppose the devotion and last will of those who have resolved to be buried there, unless perhaps they be excommunicated or interdicted, saving however the justice of those churches from which the bodies of the dead are taken. 7° In the parish churches which they held, it was lawful for them to choose priests and to present them to the diocesan bishop, to whom, if they be suitable, the bishop should commit the care of souls, so that they should answer to him for spiritual things, and to those of Sayn for temporal things. 8° When, moreover, the abbot of that place dies, no one shall be set over it there by any cunning of stealth or violence, except him whom the brothers by common consent, or the part of the brothers of greater or sounder counsel, shall have provided to be elected according to God and the Rule of Blessed Augustine. 9° Moreover all liberties and immunities formerly granted by the Roman Pontiffs to the Premonstratensian Order he confirms to them by apostolic authority, and fortifies by the privilege of the present writing. We have set these things forth at somewhat greater length, both so that it may be established that the same rights and privileges were attributed to the abbey of Sayn as to the other monasteries of the Premonstratensian Order, and so that it may be more plainly elucidated what is the force of the words when the Pontiff says that he takes some Order or monastery under the protection of Blessed Peter and his own.
p. Mettenhove is nowhere found in the List of all parishes and hamlets. The Codex has the obliterated name Nettenhove, but neither can this be found anywhere; since it is said to be a place not far distant from Hersele, its situation is known in some measure.
q. Susatum, in German Soest, a town of Westphalia, in the diocese of Münster.
r. I have noted in the margin by what means the sense, dislocated on every side, could be healed in some measure. We shall do the same hereafter according to our small ability.
s. The phrase hangs, because the other member is missing. It seems that one should add that the Countess Mechtild asked that the sacred Relics be carried to her castle of Nassau. What follows then flows very well, namely the concourse of the people and its piety toward the holy Apostle, and especially what is said a little below: There was THERE a certain young man, by which a place is indicated in no way named in what precedes. Nassau or Nassovia is a town, as I read in the Topographical Lexicon of Adrien Guibert, containing 1080 inhabitants. Mechtild, of whom our writer speaks, is probably the daughter of Otto III, count of Guelders Kremer, Origin. Nassov, volume I, page 414., wife of Henry, count of Nassau, who died between the year 1247 and 1250 Ibid. page 411.: there exists also a seal of the same Mechtild in the book cited at the foot of the page Ibid. plate V..
t. The monastery of Syburg, of the Order of St. Benedict, or better Sigeberg, in the diocese of Cologne, founded by St. Anno II the archbishop in the year 1066 Gall. Christ. volume III, column 769., lies on the river Sieg. Today it is the head of a deanery in the same diocese.
u. We have already noted in annotation a the time at which our writer composed his history. Arnold, second of this name, died on the 5th of November 1259 Ibid. column 443.. Nor is our writer contrary, when he says that Arnold ended his life in the same year. For the words in the same year do not signify the same common year, or 1258, but within the year in which these things were written. And indeed Arnold, having died on the 5th day of November, closed his life within the year begun from the octave of St. Martin, or from the 11th to the 18th of November.
* Suevum Swabian
* auricularem little finger's
* adde esse add: to be
* quum? when?
* collocutionis of conversation
* respondit quod answered that
* Sein
* Sein
* faculæ? of the small torch?
* peractis? completed?
* causas ex pedire disposuissem had arranged to dispatch my affairs
* parvula little girl
* adde reliquias admota, opitulantibus ejus meritis add: brought to the relics, by his helping merits
* adde consuevimus add: we are accustomed
* ipso? him?
CHAPTER TWO.
The Saints not rarely punish those who neglect their cult; a woman negligent of a vow is punished, and afterwards healed; the guardian of the monastery is freed from a most grave evil.
The cult of St. Simon For if, searching out the causes of things together, we weigh them with a vigilant heart, the divine that is, as far as is permitted, the human, as far as we are able, we shall the sooner wipe every doubt from our eyes, every scruple of conscience a. For one reads in the Old Testament of Eliseus the prophet, who was long before the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ, that when the corpse of a dead man had been thrown into his tomb, at once when the corpse had touched the bones of the prophet, the man came to life, and stood on his feet IV Kings XIII, 21 and Eccl. XLVIII, 14.. In a similar way one reads of Blessed Catherine, who was after the Ascension of the Lord, that wherever one of her tiny little bones has been carried, oil flows forth from it. And Blessed Simon, one of the twelve Apostles, when our Lord Jesus Christ himself had appeared in the flesh, ate and drank with him, walked and remained, son … as also his other brothers, namely Jude, who is called Thaddaeus, Joseph, who is surnamed Justus, James the Less, who is the Brother of the Lord, because he was like him in human nature in all things in face, and because the Jews called kinsmen brothers b. If therefore of God, on whom no motion falls and who persists ever fixed in his tranquillity and stability, it is yet lawful to say, in the human manner of speaking and custom, according to the merits of men, that he is moved, rejoices, is angry, it is to be believed that he is rightly moved with an ampler affection of love toward his kinsmen, as one reads of Blessed John the Apostle, than toward others, although he loves all who work well, as he himself says: "I love those who love me Prov. VIII. 16.;" which is proved chiefly through the observance of his commandments, John XIV, 23. as is read elsewhere: "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word."
[15] wrongly neglected, For these reasons, then, St. Simon must be said to be loved more principally by the Lord, because he fulfilled the keeping of his commandments, like the other disciples and the other Saints, and because he is known to be his according to the flesh; and it is rightly to be hoped that from his bones the oil of grace flows forth to all who faithfully ask; namely from the arm of so great an athlete and kinsman, which we guard whole among us, and which we assiduously behold, venerate with venerating kisses, and adore. Wherefore we too know that for certain reasons that in some way suit us we are bound to love Blessed Simon more specially. Of which reasons one is proved to be very great: because if we love God with our whole heart, and frequently serve his mother the glorious Virgin Mary with the affection of true love, by right Blessed Simon is to be loved and honored by us with a special prerogative, because we do not at all doubt that he is their beloved kinsman. Another is that with his so glorious and venerable Relics he patronizes our church, and we see it daily adorned with a frequency of miracles and innumerable benefits of powers and of merits. Rightly indeed is Blessed Simon to be honored by us, and that which is to be feared is to be kept continually in the heart: that when a certain church, having venerable Relics stored up in its keeping, did not venerate them with due service, the Saints whose Relics they were, the vault being opened, were seen visibly at a certain time to go out, and thereafter their Relics were no more found there. That church was deprived both of these Relics and of their benefits on account of ingratitude.
[16] like other Saints, Something similar befell concerning three virgins, who were and are of the number of St. Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins, who had been placed in a certain monastery in the parts of Thuringia, Ollersleuben by name c. Whose bodies were in that place for many years, and were held in great reverence, as long as reform was there. But when the reform fell and perished there, wonderful to say! the same virgins, or their bodies, as whole as they were in life, went out, leaving the church and monastery, and in the morning were found at Cologne standing together in the church of St. Ursula, where to the present day their Relics are kept with the other Relics, as appears more clearly in the same church, where in memory of them their return has been depicted and written, and at what time and year, etc. d. And that we may not seek distant examples, let us greatly fear this: that Blessed Nicholas, when the people of Myra did not serve him with due honor, permitted himself to be transferred from Mirrea * to Bari e. In a similar way too the arm of St. Lawrence was translated with miracles to Laon f. Wherefore not from the heat of avarice, not from the hope of offerings, are the Relics of St. Simon or the Relics of any Saint ever to be shown to anyone. But nevertheless for the honor
of God, and at the same time the love of the Apostle, for the sake of veneration and the salvation of those who arrive, as we have hitherto been accustomed to do with the highest devotion, clothed in a solemn cope, with a stole placed around the neck, a candle being always used and incense likewise, and confession having gone before, let it not irk us to approach; which we see done in the same place both by seculars and by religious who desire to see them: for whom simple confession did not suffice, without their mortifying themselves with long discipline; bearing at once without doubt in memory how Oza, when he tried to raise the ark of the Lord, falling from the cart, the oxen kicking, was slain by a sudden death. And that too, that if any who came to venerate the body of Blessed Lawrence, on behalf of the body of St. Stephen the Protomartyr, qu … license, were punished by sudden death, which I think is not hidden from many g. From which there comes to memory, and I persuade * of the like, that no one should ever presume to approach the most sacred and life-giving body of the Lord in carrying or distributing it. For what terrible thing happened from this a few years ago I do not presume to make public by writing. With these examples of exhortation, then, we are content for the present, and to keep always what is to be kept and to avoid what is to be avoided, until almighty God to us, who wills to be glorified in his Saints and alone to be praised, who lives and reigns in perfect Trinity, praiseworthy and glorious through the ages of ages. Amen.
[17] he corrects the negligent The devotion which we have toward the sacred Relics of Blessed Simon the Apostle, most loving God, attending to it more and more from day to day on account of the unspeakable gift of his sweetness, has deigned assiduously to renew by the frequency of his miracles, and especially at the present time, after we had written down these things which we have set forth above concerning him, through a benefit which we saw visibly done through his merits in our church of Heyn, perfectly showing forth what we have said above, namely that concerning the powers of the same apostle there is always room for writing more. In the village, then, which is called Heymbach, situated next to the monastery of Rumersdorff h, a certain woman, called Mechtild, suffered pain in one leg, so that her function of walking was hindered. When she came with the others to the dedication of the chapel of St. Nicholas, which is celebrated every year on the Sunday next after the feast of Servatius i in the church of our monastery of Heyn, she called upon Blessed Simon for the health of her leg, and when the holy Relics had been seen, she at once recovered her former health. For the sake of this thing, then, moved to compunction toward the love of the venerable Relics of Blessed Simon *, she bound herself to bring him a due payment on the Sunday of the dedication every year. When she had offered this for two years, in the third she neglected it; the thirteenth day having passed from the said term, which was then the next Friday before Pentecost, on the same night, talking in bed with her husband, called Albert, she complained that she had not paid the due which she had vowed to offer to St. Simon, and feared that she could not pass without a blow. And while she was turning over in her heart what she was uttering with her mouth, a certain figure in human form appeared to her saying: Rise, rise, set out for Heynne.
[18] the woman, careless of her vow, Terrified at once by the vision and the voice of it, the woman strove to veil her face with the coverings with which she was covered. When she was stretching out her left arm to accomplish what she was attempting, the figure which she saw seized with violence the same arm which she had raised, and first the thumb, then each of the fingers one by one, bending them so powerfully as though they had grown together into one, it bent them back into the palm. When this was done, such pain followed in that arm and hand that it penetrated her whole body, and, estranged from her senses, she lay as if dead. Her husband, seeing this, roused those who were with him in the house, and when a light was kindled they saw her wretchedly tormented. All sorrowing with her misery, and especially her daughter, moved as she ought by the affection of maternal piety, she suppliantly called upon the help of Blessed Simon: and she was quickly heard, and sense with voice was restored to her mother. Yet the pain of the arm still strongly lasting, and the contraction of the hand firmly lasting and remaining, without doubt that it might be understood how far it would profit, by whose grace the present benefit had been bestowed. The mother herself too, when voice and sense had been restored to her, because of pains so sudden and pressing, filled the whole house with cries, so that the neighbors ran up. And when the day had shone more clearly, she was led to her church, and shown to the parish priest with the others, for the sake of counsel * and at the same time of help, and nothing was found that would serve. One of the bystanders, however, tried to raise her fingers with a sharp stake, but could not. While many felt and uttered different things, she was at length led with great labor by her husband and daughter to the church of Heynne.
[19] is punished, but calling upon the saint, When they had passed the gate of the cloister, entering the minster at once, the woman unceasingly repeating many times, St. Simon, help me now, and throwing herself before the altar of the Holy Cross, which we also purpose to consecrate in honor of St. Simon: when I, detained in the choir by certain occupations, heard her cry, and marvelled, I put off approaching. But as she still persevered in her cries, compelled at length by weariness at her wailing, taking two brothers, namely brother Rudolf the subprior and brother Manegold, who had then met us, we went forth to see what it might be. When we had come to them, the woman, turning to us and showing her hand, narrated to us all in order what had happened and how, with so much pain that she moved us to tears, as we repeated often from the inmost heart: O St. Simon, help us now in so great a moment of need. And she: O St. Simon, help me now, and I promise, as long as I shall live, every year, on each Friday before Pentecost, to offer the due with a wax hand. As the woman uttered such things, her husband and daughter asked that we should show them the Relics of the same Blessed Simon. To which the brothers assisting me showed themselves ready: but because the other brothers of the community, being still asleep, made delay, meanwhile one of the brothers, feeling compassion for the miseries of her calamities, taking pity and wholly dissolved in tears, prayed saying: O St. Simon, that we may believe the benefits and miracles told of you to all, help this woman now.
[20] is restored to perfect health: Then the sacred Relics having been solemnly placed on the altar with reverence, and we having called upon the help of St. Simon by singing, the woman, advancing on bended knees, placed her arm that pained her on the Relics. After a very brief interval, the fingers, which had been so bent back that no one could tear them from the hand, when the holy Relics were touched, all began to be raised one by one, and first the little finger, afterwards the others. The woman herself too uttered words of compunction and of understanding k, which perhaps her affliction gave her. And when the first finger was raised, so great a pain of heart, as if a sword were passing through, seized her, whence she also said: These are your works, St. Simon, finish what you have begun. When we had seen these things, moved to compunction both by her words and by what we saw, what at first we wept out of compassion, afterwards we wept the more for gladness. These things then being done, all the bells being rung, q … l, is called together, those making manifest what had been done, and hearing which they glorified God. These things we three priests, one deacon, namely Brother Arnold of Unckele, Richard the subdeacon, protest that we saw, and as we prayed in the first place, and wrote all things of St. Simon, we do not doubt that they are confirmed by the present benefit. But another man, called Henry, a smith by trade, when he had said, sneering, that the disease was "Kramppe," in Latin it is called Spasm, was suddenly struck by the same infirmity as that woman, died before he foretold it to us, and departed on the 16th day. These things were done in the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred and fifty-nine, on the Friday before Pentecost, through the merits of Blessed Simon, to the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns, etc.
[21] is freed from an abscess: In the same week, a thing which we learned was recently accomplished, we have thought fit to join a benefit to the present miracle. Our guardian, Brother Peter, still living, some days ago being gravely held by infirmity, languished lying in bed. From which, divine grace intervening, after some days he began by recovering to give way toward an increase of health. Yet almighty God, willing to have alone this honor of the giving of thanks in this matter, deigned to share it with his beloved kinsman Blessed Simon, and, that he might afterwards render the same guardian and chaplain more devout and at the same time more fervent in his service, permitted him to fall into another grave and most dangerous sickness, in that an abscess arose secretly in a certain hidden part of his body. Which, to the increase of his pain, began to swell more and more by rising. Whence he was afflicted with such pains from it that he could neither sit, nor act, nor walk. Sleep withdrew from his eyes, and he dreaded to take food with a sound palate. Pressed on every side by pains, straitened everywhere, not knowing what to choose, since the place of the pain was unsuited to medicines, even if a physician were present. And when he was now verging on despair, at length, spurred by the aforesaid recent benefits of Blessed Simon, in order to beg the help of the same Apostle, he resolved to go forth from the place of his infirmity to the minster, as if on pilgrimage, which he also did. With what strength he could he went before the doors of the church, and because the community was then at supper, he prostrated himself at the locked doors: he said the Psalm "Have mercy on me, O God" and the antiphon with the collect of St. Simon with tears, praying that God through the merits of Blessed Simon might free him from the imminent danger of the sickness.
[22] a brother of that monastery. When these were finished, he returned to his place: and when he sat down to supper, and wished to set down his limbs more softly in his accustomed way of pain, he felt nothing of pain as before, and the ulcer, which had hardened like a stone, without any medicine suddenly burst without pain. Whence for exceeding gladness he filled the house with cries, so that he disturbed those passing by, giving thanks to Blessed Simon, to whose merits it was most certainly to be credited. We indeed knew the straits of his pain. But how he was healed, as we have said before, he swore to us as if under oath. From the present miracle of the arm which we have written above, we recall another benefit of health bestowed through the merits of Blessed Simon on a certain citizen of the city of Cologne, which until now , we neglected to narrate. For there was in the city just mentioned a certain citizen, abounding sufficiently in goods and means, who had been accustomed to guard against the evil of want by his craft of brewing. This man *, when he was quarreling with someone, tried to stab him with a knife, and he, in fleeing, swerving aside, fell into the snare which he had set, wounding himself dangerously, namely in his own arm next to the hand. This then, while he thought it little, he cared for the less, holding it of small account. Yet because when we despise small losses we for the most part slide toward greater ones, that arm began to swell with such inflammation that neither by day nor by night could he have any rest. Whence if he should now lose his life, who the hand
he now despaired of, he was persuaded by our brother Godfrey the carpenter, who was then at Cologne, to call upon Blessed Simon in so great a danger, and to vow that he would render him service, and he would at once be freed from so great an evil. When he had gladly done this, medicines being applied at the same time, he was restored to his former health. Crediting this, then, to the most holy merits of Blessed Simon, he gave thanks to God, and also sent to St. Simon an arm, in token of the giving of thanks, by the same brother to our church.
ANNOTATIONS.
* Myra.
* persuasio. persuasion.
* amorem. love.
* consilii? of counsel?
* tunc? then?
* omittendum quum? is quum to be omitted?
* addendum quum. quum to be added.