Gonduinus

ON ST. GONDUINUS, CONFESSOR, IN FRANCE,

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEVENTH CENTURY.

CRITICAL COMMENTARY.

Gonduinus, confessor in France. (S.)

BY R. D. B.

§ I. The cult of St. Gonduinus. He receives St. Eustasius as a guest. His sons, his daughter St. Salaberga, and his relations.

Chastelain Martyrologe Universel, pag. 718., whose footsteps are followed by the Chevalier de Saint-Allais Martyrologe Universel, pag. 408. and the venerable Petin Dictionnaire Hagiographique, tom. I, col. 1215

makes mention at the 30th day of October of St. Gonduinus, confessor, St. Gonduinus, once honored with cult, since it is manifest that cult, which is now obsolete, was paid to him in the tenth century. For in the Calendar of the saints, as Mabillon says, which is prefixed to the psalter of Hemma, queen of the Franks … on the third … before the kalends of November the name of St. Gonduinus, father of St. Salaberga … occurs, and likewise … in the litanies inserted in the psalter of the same Hemma, wife of King Lothar Annales Benedictini, tom. I, lib. 14, n. 48, pag. 440, Paris edit. 1703.: which Hemma lived in the tenth century.

[2] he receives St. Eustasius as a guest, It did not fall to St. Gonduinus to have a biographer: and the few of his deeds which were handed down to posterity we have taken from the Acts of SS. Salaberga, Austrudis, Agilus and Eustasius. Now these historical monuments are entirely sincere, nor do I judge that credit was ever refused them: whence it comes that we walk with a not uncertain foot. What we read in them, if a very few things are excepted, regards his family rather than himself. But since a wise son is the glory of his father, we cannot pass over those deeds of his offspring of which he was to some extent a part. Now the anonymous writer describing the life of St. Salaberga, daughter of St. Gonduinus, and relating how St. Eustasius, abbot of Luxeuil, freed her while still a girl from blindness, says: Returning from the Baicarii (that is, the Bavarians, to whom he had made Christ known), the excellent man, after a toilsome path through Germany and Belgium, at last came to a certain most illustrious man, wealthy in resources and riches, distinguished in fame according to the dignity of the world, and fitted for the affairs of the court, by name Gundoinus, who at that time was staying at an estate named Meuse, so called on account of the river flowing past in that place, which river, taking its source from the bounds of Langres, after many windings and frequent circuits of the land, receiving into itself in part the streams of the most swift river Rhine, enters the Barbarian ocean widely.

[3] who blesses his children, When Gundoinus therefore saw the venerable man, he received him as a most welcome gift. Then, as is usual, and as human affairs go, amid the wholesome words of exhortation the spirit of pious men grew through the conversation of faithful men. The same man of God began to inquire whether that illustrious man, sprung from the birth of the Franks, had offspring: for he perceived, as I suppose, the man of God, that there would be children foreknown by God, as the outcome of the matter afterwards proved. Then the illustrious man Gundoinus with his wife Saretrudis, a woman of elegant form and noble, presented two youths of good disposition to receive the grace of blessing: of whom the elder was Leuduinus, surnamed Bodo; the younger Fulculfus, who was himself also called by another name Bodo. The man of God inquired again whether any further offspring remained. To him they confess that they have a girl, a sister, surpassing in age, but long since deprived of sight. To them the man full of God says: "Let her come, I beg you, and be presented to our eyes." For he had perceived, as I think, in spirit that health would be bestowed on her by the Lord. Therefore, having carried out by himself a three-day fast, the man of God poured the oil of blessing on the eyes of the girl. Wondrous to tell! Immediately the girl, with the help of the grace of Christ, most perfectly attained her former health Acta SS., tom. VI of September, pag. 521 et seq.. Nearly the same narration is had by the biographer of St. Eustasius Ibid, tom. III of March, pag. 787.. From this we gather that St. Gonduinus was a distinguished and rich man, that he received St. Eustasius as a guest, that he begot by his wife Saretrudis two sons and one daughter Salaberga, deprived of sight, but healed by the intervention of St. Eustasius. From this we also learn that our saint was a Frank, or sprung from the birth of the Franks. And the biographer indirectly indicates that his daughter was a Sicambrian, since, as we shall presently see, he says that she took in marriage Blandinus, himself also sprung from the notable stock of the Sicambrians, surely a countryman. Nor is it any wonder: for all agree that the terms Franks and Sicambrians were from time to time used by ancient authors to signify the same thing [Brower, Notæ in carmina Venantii Fortunati. lib. VI, pag. 161 et seq., Mainz edit. 1617. Cf. Works of Fortunatus, Carmen de Chariberto, Not., col. 212, Migne edit. Cf. Watterich, Die Germanem des Rheins, pag. 207 et seqq.].

[4] and foretells things to come. The companion of St. Eustasius's journey was St. Agilus, afterwards abbot, a blood relation of St. Gonduinus, as the biographer of St. Agilus teaches us, saying: They come (Eustasius and Agilus) to a certain most powerful man, by name Gondoinus, who … close to the most blessed Agilus by the bond of kinship, was staying at that time at the estate which they call Meuse, on account of the river on which it is situated. He received the most holy men … with courtesy *, and kept them with him for some time. When they had entered the house, a blessing having first been given, after much conversation of spiritual doctrine, two sons of the same man were brought to them to be blessed: consecrating them with their blessings, they indicated by a true prophecy that they would both flourish in the dignity of the world and would happily pass to the life to come, as afterwards became most evidently clear Acta SS., tom. VI of August, pag. 580.. From which words we learn that to the sons of St. Gonduinus there were openly foretold by SS. Eustasius and Agilus their future holiness, splendor in this life, and passage into heaven after death. With this account accords the anonymous biographer of St. Austrudis, daughter of St. Salaberga Ibid., tom. VIII of October, pag. 111.. It is well to report a few things about each of St. Gonduinus's near kinsmen.

[5] Leuduinus, son of St. Gonduinus What Saretrudis, wife of St. Gonduinus, did, or at what time she died, the historians have omitted to report. Nor is their other son Fulculfus or Filculfus much better known. But the other, Leuduinus, obtained a biographer, who says he was sprung from his father Bertoldus * and his mother Bertildis: from which it follows that St. Gonduinus had a double name Ibid., tom. III of Sept., pag. 840.. We know for certain too from the Life of St. Salaberga that Leuduinus took as wife Odila, strong in nobility and in natural goodness of disposition; that afterwards, his riches having been paid out to monasteries, he took up the monastic life, was then created bishop of the people of Toul Ibid., tom VI of Sept., pag. 526., and after his death was inscribed in the roll of the saints Ibid., tom. III of Sept., pag. 538 et seqq.. The venerable Odila also, having taken up the stigma (or sign) of Christ, joining herself to the choir of holy virgins, leading a blessed life under the rule of obedience (as a nun in St. Salaberga's convent at Laon), gave back the spirit to him to whom all things are owed Ibid., tom. VI of Sept., pag. 526.. Their daughter Teutberga was placed over a convent of girls founded by her father Ibid., tom. III of Sept., pag. 839..

[6] and his daughter Salaberga, renowned for holiness. As for their only daughter Salaberga, whom we saw freed from blindness by St. Eustasius, St. Gonduinus and his wife, against the girl's will, gave her in marriage to a certain man of powerful lineage, by name Ricchramnus. He, having held her barely two months by right of marriage, was taken from human affairs and deprived of life… Salaberga … determined in her mind that she would seek by flight the shelter of the convent of sacred virgins which the venerable man Romaricus … had built in the forest of the Vosges: and she would have satisfied her vows, had her sex not been an impediment, and had royal obstacles not stood in the way. At the same time the sceptres of the Franks and the helm of the kingdom were governed by Dagobert (first king of the Austrasians, then, from the year 628, king also of Neustria and Burgundy), a man keen of mind above all, and renowned in his rule; and not only subject * to himself by right of fidelity, but also to be feared through his fame by foreign and neighboring nations. Now the aforesaid Gundoinus, fearing lest on account of his daughter he might incur the anger and savagery of the king, gradually drew her back from the path on which she had freely determined to go. For already the report of her had reached the royal ears. At those same times there was staying at the court of the aforesaid prince a certain energetic man, pleasing to the royal counsels, and celebrated in fame among his own people, by name Blandinus, who had received the surname Baso, who, being himself also sprung from the notable stock of the Sicambrians, soon, the aforesaid man took the aforesaid Salaberga into his marriage, not of her free will, since she had long since vowed to bind herself to the divine precepts, and though her parents were unwilling, yet by royal command, and for the sake of procreating children Ibid., tom. VI of Sept., pag. 522.. Whether Blandinus was the same as the holy man of whom our predecessors treated at the 1st day of May can be disputed Ibid., tom. I of May, pag. 49.. From this marriage were born three daughters, Saretrudis, Ebanis, Austrudis, and two sons, Eustasius and Baldoinus. To Eustasius Ibid., tom. VI of Sept., pag. 516 et seq., Austrudis Ibid., tom. VIII of October, pag. 108 et seqq. and Baldoinus Ibid., tom. I of January, pag. 502. the honors of saints have been paid [Cf. De Mangin, Histoire du diocèse de Langres, tom. I, pag. 294 et seq. Calmet, Histoire de la Lorraine, tom. I, lib. 10, num. 41. Roussel, Diocèse de Langres, tom. I, pag. 136 et seq.]. Of Ebanis and Saretrudis hardly any mention recurs elsewhere. Salaberga herself, her husband having been converted and her offspring consecrated to God, having received the habit of religion, and having taken counsel with blessed Waldebert, abbot of Luxeuil, with the connivance of her husband, endeavored to erect a convent of girls in the suburb of the city of Langres, on her paternal inheritance or succession. And these things are abundantly sufficient to make it manifest with how great holiness the posterity and connections of St. Gonduinus shone.

* collatam, ms. of the Accinctum monastery

* omitted in the ms. of the Accinctum monastery

* officiosissime in the cod. of the Accinctum monastery

* otherwise Bertaldus and Bertardus

* subjectis, cod. of the Accinctum monastery

§ II. The dwellings, excellent deeds, and age of St. Gonduinus.

St. Gonduinus had his dwelling Not only did St. Gonduinus lack a biographer, but also a writer to hand down to posterity in what year, in what place of France he was born, what functions he discharged at court or elsewhere, where he passed his life. There are however certain indications of his dwelling. For we read in the Life of St. Salaberga, his daughter, written by an author nearly contemporary, that she was by origin in a suburban place of the Leuci, a territory bordering that of Langres … Acta SS., tom. VI of Sept., pag. 521.; likewise in another Life of the same saint, written by an anonymous author: The blessed and venerable mother Salaberga, of her father Gundoinus and her mother Saretrudis, was native to the borders of the city of Langres, in the land which they call Uternensis *, on account of the river which flows there [Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti, sæc II, pag. 423; cf. sæc. IV, part. II, pag. 598.]; likewise, as we see in

the Life of St. Eustasius, which Jonas, monk of Bobbio, a contemporary author, wrote: When St. Eustasius was taking to the road, he came to a certain man, by name Gundeonus, who at that time was staying at the estate which they call Meuse, on account of the river flowing in the place Acta SS., tom. III of March, pag. 787.. Nearly the same is read in the Life of St. Agilus Ibid., tom. VI of August, pag. 580..

[8] in the territory of Toul These words indicate that St. Gonduinus, as a man rich in many estates, inhabited at least two dwellings: one in the Uternensian Land, the place of origin of St. Salaberga, the other the estate of Meuse, where he received SS. Eustasius and Agilus as guests: on which estate St. Salaberga is not absurdly reported to have begun a convent of girls. Of the former dwelling it is known to us that it lay in the suburban district of the Leuci or of Toul, in the Uternensian Land; which region, says Mabillon, between the Meuse and the Marne, extends from North to South for about ten leagues, watered by the river Ornain (from which it takes its name) Acta SS. Ord. S. Bened., sæc. IV, part. II, pag. 598, edit. 1680.. Mabillon Ibid., Cleus Acta SS., tom. VI of Sept., pag. 519 and 523. and Benoît Picart Hist. de Toul, pag. 87. are of the opinion that St. Gonduinus inhabited, in the Uternensian land, the place which is called Gunduini Curtis, in French Gondrecourt. That the other dwelling of the holy man was at the estate of Meuse is agreed by all. But where it lay has fallen into dispute. For some are pleased to hold [Roussel, Le diocèse de Langres, tom. II, pag. 408. Cf. Annuaire ecclés. et hist. du diocèse de Langres, year 1838, pag. 12. Acta SS., tom. VI of Sept., pag. 519.] that it is the village today called Meuvy, situated in the Chaumont district ; others, however, the village of Meuse, at the head of the river Meuse, in the district of Langres . Nor does it help to untie the knot that they say the estate of Gunduinus was called Meuse on account of the river flowing in the place Acta SS., tom. III of March, pag. 787., or, as the biographer of St. Agilus says, on account of the river on which it is situated: for these things fit both villages, Meuse and Meuvy, very well. In favor of the former, however, for which Mabillon Ann. O. S. B., tom. I, at the year 614, num. XI; at the year 630, num. XVIII. and the priest Beaulleret Annuaire de Langres, pag. 12. stand, are the things we read in the Lives of St. Salaberga: Salaberga … endeavored to erect a convent of girls in the suburb of the city of Langres, on her paternal inheritance or succession… Which place, although it overhung the bounds of the Austrasians, yet near to Burgundy, was distant from the monastery of Luxeuil a little less than forty miles Acta. SS., tom. VI of Sep., pag. 525.. Now these things seem to fall upon the village of Meuse alone: since not only did St. Gonduinus have possessions there, but the place is also distant about forty thousand paces from Luxeuil: whereas Meuvy lies apart by forty-seven or eight miles Cf. Annuaire de Langres, pag. 13 et seq..

[9] and in the district of Langres. Nor do the words suburb of the city of Langres raise any difficulty, as if both St. Gonduinus had lived and St. Salaberga had founded her convent at the town of Langres. For long since, among others, Mabillon and our Cleus have observed that among the ancient authors suburbanum and suburbium are frequently said for a territory. And this is true in this place also, seeing that the monastery begun by St. Salaberga in the suburb of the city of Langres, as the biographer says, was soon abandoned by the holy abbess, because (so the same writer) in the same place a convent of girls was not safe, and the place had no stability or fortification Acta SS., tom. VI of Sept., pag. 525.. Which things cannot be said of Langres, as being a fortified city. Not undeservedly, then, Mabillon was of the opinion that the monastery of St. Salaberga existed at the estate of Meuse, which her father inhabited, and that this estate is the village of Meuse Cf. Calmet, Hist. de Lorraine, tom. I, col. 451 et seqq.. But the priest Beaulleret, advancing further, has inquired in what place of the village of Meuse the convent was begun, and he indicates that part which today has the name Terre-aux-Saints, some hundreds of paces distant from the parish of Meuse, on the road that leads to the village of Lecourt.

[10] Perhaps he also had other estates. Besides the estates of which we have treated before, St. Gonduinus perhaps had others Annuaire de Langres, pag. 2.. For you would not say unfittingly that he is signified in an instrument of the year 709, by which Wolfoaldus and Adalsinda, his wife, confer very many gifts on the monastery of St. Michael in the territory of Verdun, and in which they say: We give that portion in the place which is called Monnone-Villa, on the river Meuse, in the territory of Verdun, which, from the late Adalbertus, we purchased from Gondoinus at a price given, with slaves, houses, manses, fields, meadows, woods, etc. [Diplomata aliaque instrumenta ad res Gallo-Francicas spectantia, tom. II, pag. 281, Pardessus edit.].

[11] To founding the monastery of Grandval It is not known by what excellent deeds St. Gonduinus made so great a name for himself among his people, and was held worthy to be inscribed in the roll of the Saints. It is only said that, on the initiative of St. Waldebert, abbot of Luxeuil, he founded the monastery of Grandval in the diocese of Basel. And Longueval infers that this is probable from the Life of St. Germanus, first abbot of the convent [Hist. de l'Église Gallicane, tom. V, lib. IX, pag. 98 et seqq., Paris edit. 1826.]. Now hearing, says the writer of the Life, Gundonius, an illustrious man, that Blessed Waldebert the abbot was seeking with shrewd intent places where his monks might reside and lead a holy life, he directed his officers to him, that they should hasten to him as soon as possible. Then Blessed Waldebert without any ambiguity approached Gundonius himself, giving counsel. The illustrious man Gundonius gave him suitable places, and although their entrance is difficult, their approaches can be found. Then Waldebert began with gentle words to soothe his mind, and whether he was willing, in view of God or for the remedy of his soul or for the absolution of his sins, to produce a deed of confirmation concerning those places, strengthened by his own hands or by the hands of good men… But it happened that Gundonius the duke died, and Bonifacius, duke or Cathicus, succeeded in his place Acta SS. Ordinis S. Bened., sæculum II, pag. 512 et seq.. From this opinion of Longueval Mabillon had put forward a wholly different one, namely that the Gundonius called duke in this place is another than Gundoinus, father of St. Salaberga, who neither was duke nor was any longer among the living when the monastery of Grandval began to be built by Gundonius Ibid.. But Cleus holds that Longueval's opinion is not unfitting, and refutes Mabillon's views in this manner.

[12] he probably gave his effort. First he thinks that Mabillon will never show that St. Gonduinus was not a duke, all the more since he stood forth, as we saw at num. 2 and 3, as very eminent in nobility and wealth, and as most acceptable to King Dagobert. He adds that both the Gundonius of whom one reads in the Life of St. Germanus Acta SS., tom. III of February, pag. 263 et seqq. and the Gundoinus of whom one reads in the Acts of St. Salaberga were known to Waldebert, and that the names differ only by the transposition of one letter, while nearly all the rest agree. After this he proceeds: For how, I ask, is it shown that Gundoinus, father of St. Salaberga, was not surviving among the living when Gundonius invited St. Waldebert to him, intending to grant land for building the monastery of Grandval? I appeal to Mabillon's own chronology so far. In the Benedictine Annals, tom. I, pag. 400, he ties the sending of St. Germanus to rule the convent of Grandval, recently founded by Gundonius, to the year 647. The death of St. Salaberga, both in the Notes to the Acts and in the Annals, he fixes about the year 655. St. Austrudis took up the rule of the convent of virgins at Laon after her mother at twenty years of age, as her contemporary biographer attests. She was therefore born about the year 635. Let us grant all the preceding years of that century to St. Salaberga, the firstborn of Gundoinus, and let us believe, as Mabillon fixes it, that she was freed from blindness and a flow of blood by St. Eustasius about the year 614. From these things it follows that the saint's father should not be said to have been born before about the year 80 of the sixth century. Now, if you begin the reckoning from there, according to which Gundoinus could have counted about 25 years when his firstborn daughter was born to him, he will not yet be seventy when St. Germanus was put in charge of ruling the monastery of Grandval: let the reader judge whether this age and even some years more cannot be granted to Gundoinus without damage to credibility. Certainly Mabillon nowhere shows, nor any other that I have seen, that he died before the year of Christ 660; and the reckoning deduced from this does not, in my view, exceed likelihood, and the probable conjecture remains that this same parent of St. Salaberga was the founder of the monastery of Grandval, which will become even more likely from our chronology. So far John Cleus Acta SS., tom. VI of September, pag. 518., whose argument one of our colleagues and predecessors confirms not a little in illustrating the Acts of St. Austrudis Acta SS., tom. VIII of Oct., pag. 108 et seqq..

[13] He was still living in the middle of the seventh century. We have set forth at such length that St. Gonduinus was probably the helper of St. Waldebert in founding the monastery of Grandval in order at the same time to show in this way about what time he lived. Surely from the fact that he placed his daughter with Blandinus at the time when Dagobert was governing the sceptres of the Franks and the helm of the kingdom Cf. above, num. 6., it is manifest that St. Gonduinus was among men in the year 628. But it will also have to be said that he lived after the year 660, if it is granted that the convent of Grandval was founded by him. We find the name of a certain Count Gondoenus among the subscriptions of a diploma which King Childeric is falsely represented as having drawn up in the year 670 for the monastery of St. Denis Diplomata, etc., tom. II, pag. 152, Pardessus edit.. With the sign of Count Gundoenus was also sealed a diploma by which Dagobert I, in the year 636, is said to have conferred very many gifts on the monastery of St. Denis on the border of the Limousin and Berry. But we shall not linger on these things, since both diplomas are spurious.

* Ornois

* Arrondissement de Chaumont.

* Arrondissement de Langres.