Thyudgar

ON ST. THYUDGAR, CONFESSOR, AT VESTERVIG IN JUTLAND,

ABOUT THE MIDDLE OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Thyudgar, priest in Jutland. (S.)

BY R. D. B.

§ Sole. Description of Jutland. The homeland of St. Thyudgar. His journey to England, Norway and Denmark, his apostolic labors and profession. His cult.

That saint who is sometimes called Theotgarus, Theocarius, Teotgarus, in the vernacular Thöger, and whom we shall call Thyudgar, as is found in the most ancient document, In Norway and Jutland preached the gospel of Christ first in Norway, then in Jutland or Judlantia, a part of Denmark. We think that a brief description of this region, composed by Adam of Bremen, an author nearly contemporary with the times of St. Thyudgar, should be brought forward from the beginning. Now he writes Monum. Germ. hist., Scriptt., tom. VII, pag. 367 et seq.: The province of the Danes is almost wholly divided into islands, as is also read in the deeds of St. Ansgar. Now this Denmark is separated from our North Albingians by the river Egdore , which rises in the very deep forest of the pagans, Isarnho, which they say extends along the barbarian sea as far as the lake Slia. Moreover the river Egdore flows down as far as the Frisian ocean, which the Romans write of as British. And the first part of Denmark, which is called Judlant, stretches in length from the Egdore to the north, having a three days' journey, if you turn aside to the island of Fyn. But if you measure the road straight from Sliaswig to Alaburg, you have a journey of five or seven days. This is the road of Otto the emperor as far as the farthest sea Wendile , which to the present day is called from the king's victory Ottinsand. The breadth of Judlant along the Egdora is wider; but from there it is gradually drawn in to the form of a tongue into that corner which is called Wendila, where Judlant has its end. From there the crossing to Nordmannia is very short. The land there is sterile; except for the places near a river, almost all seems a desert; a land of salt and vast solitude. Moreover while the whole region of Germany bristles with deep forests, Judlant alone is more rugged than the rest, which is shunned on land on account of the scarcity of fruits, and at sea on account of the harassment of pirates. It is hardly found cultivated in some places, hardly fit for human habitation. But wherever arms of the sea occur, there it has very great cities. This region the emperor Otto … divided into three bishoprics. Such was Jutland when St. Thyudgar landed on its shores at Randrup Cf. L. Both, Danmark, En histor. topogr. Beskrivelse, tom. II, pag. 114., to make Christ known to the inhabitants of the district of Thy, and especially of the town of Vestervig. This town of Jutland drew its name from its situation on the western (vester) bay (vic) of the Limfjord (Lijmfordem), at the sea, toward Norway; and although it afterwards grew, yet it never turned out wealthy. In the year 1802 it held 1029 inhabitants, and in the year 1875 it held 2247 inhabitants [Aagaard, Vestrivelse over Thye, part. IV, pag. 202. Cf. Acta SS., tom. I of Feb., pag. 402.].

[2] St. Thyudgar shone. Of St. Thyudgar we know only that he was born in Thuringia, went first to England, then under St. Olaf the king into Norway, and after his

martyrdom migrated to Denmark, to propagate the Christian religion in those kingdoms; and at length fell piously asleep in the Lord at Vestervig, in Jutland. A good many miracles too are reported as performed by him living and dead. These deeds were drawn out for us from documents preserved in the library of Copenhagen by Louis Schmitt, a member of our Society in Denmark: namely from the Breviaries of Odense , which Lucas Brandis published at Lübeck in the year 1497; of Schleswig, printed at Paris in the year 1512; of Roskilde and of Lund, each printed at Paris in the year 1517: of which the former was revised and corrected by the efforts of Christiern Petri, canon, the latter revised and corrected by Boetius Achonis, Albert Laurentii and John Petri, canons; from that of Aarhus, according to the ordinary reading of the choir of Aarhus, amended with most exact diligence, printed at Aarhus in the year 1510. But from these inscriptions of the breviaries it is clear that they were not then first used, but long before; and accordingly that in the dioceses of Roskilde, Lund and Aarhus cult was paid to St. Thyudgar a good many years before those times. The same is to be judged of the diocese of Schleswig: for at the Mass of St. Thyudgar, which Stephen Arndes brought forth in the Missal according to the rite of the Church of Schleswig in the year 1486, the Collect is prescribed as in the Breviary of Schleswig. Now this breviary, according to the ordinary and rite of the church and diocese of Schleswig, was printed at Lübeck by the art and ingenuity of Stephen Arndes A. D. 1486 f. I suspect that this book was regarded by Gottschalk of Ahlefeldt, who was the last Catholic bishop of the people of Schleswig [Cypræus, Annales episc. Slesvicensium, lib. III, cap. V, pag. 414 et seqq. Moller, Cimbria literata, tom. I, pag. 14 et seq.], where in the preface to the Breviary of Schleswig published in the year 1512 he speaks of the fewness of breviary books in his diocese. How rare these monuments, even today most religiously preserved in the Royal Library of Copenhagen, have become appears also from this, that in the year 1634 John Adolf Cypræus, far the most expert in the ecclesiastical affairs of Schleswig (as the Lutherans themselves affirm [Moller, Cimbria literata, tom. I, pag. 119; the same, Isagoge ad historiam Cimbricam, part. I, cap. 7, pag. 124 et seq.], whose side he had deserted, having become a Catholic and entered the Order of Friars Preachers), transferred nearly all the Lessons of the northern saints contained in them into his Annals of Schleswig, rightly and deservedly fearing lest the memory of these things should perish forever.

[3] little known. Why few things have become known to us of St. Thyudgar the chief cause seems to be that he spent almost his whole life and died in a foreign land, among men barbarous or little friendly. For in his first age, leaving his homeland, he migrated into England: from there a little later, to preach the gospel, he went to the Norwegians and thereafter to the Danes; as many English did, propagating the faith there, the bishops of Hamburg being neglected and unwilling, who were legates of the Roman pontiff through Sweden, Norway and Denmark. So it seems to have come about that even Adam of Bremen, a most diligent writer on the sacred affairs of Scandinavia and a stranger to party zeal [Cf. Monumenta Germaniæ historica, Scriptt., tom. VII, lib. II, cap. 78, pag. 319; cap. 87, pag. 323; lib. IV, cap. 242, pag. 383.], hardly knew by name a good many English bishops too, very distinguished heralds of the gospel in the North, and passed over their excellent deeds in silence. It is no wonder then if, having no knowledge of blessed Thyudgar, who carried out no episcopal functions either in Norway or in Denmark, he omitted his memory.

[4] Born in Thuringia, That he was a Thuringian by homeland, as has been said before, we take from the lessons of the Breviary of Odense: but it is not indicated there what were the bounds of Thuringia in those times, nor do the most learned writers on German affairs dare to determine this. This is certain, what Eckhart Commentarii de rebus Franciæ Orientalis, tom. I, lib. XXI, pag. 345 and 348., Stephan Alexander Würdtwein Thuringia et Eichsfeldia ecclesiastica, Erfordia sacra, pag. 7 et seqq. and others show from the writings of St. Gregory II Cf. Letters of St. Boniface, epist. XV, pag. 41 et seq. Würdtwein edit., St. Boniface Cf. ibid., epist. XVIII, pag. 47. and the Ravenna Anonymous Cosmographia, lib. IV, cap. 25, pag. 229, Berlin edit. 1860., that not rarely Thuringia was called Germany and vice versa; and that its bounds were not always the same. It is said however that the Thuringian people in the Middle Ages for the most part had their dwellings between Hesse to the west, Meissen to the east, Franconia to the south, and Saxony to the north, and that there they held the towns of Erfurt, Mühlhausen, Nordhausen, Weimar, Jena, Gotha and Eisenach [Cf. Baudrand, Novum Lexicon geographicum, tom. II, pag. 264, Eisenach edit. Acta SS., tom. I of Feb., pag. 210. Eckhart, tom. I, pag. 61 and 345. Ravenna Anonymous, pag. 229 et seq. Cf. Pertz, Monumenta Germaniæ historica, Legum tom. V, pag. 112 et seq.]. And it is not to be wondered at that St. Thyudgar betook himself from there into England; since the Thuringians, as our predecessors noted long ago, were most well disposed toward the English, mindful that their homeland two hundred years before had been illuminated with the light of faith by St. Boniface and his companions, Englishmen by home; that by them monasteries both of men and of women had been founded, indeed that the whole people had been led from a wild and rustic life to a humane and civil culture.

[5] he migrates into Norway, in the reign of St. Olaf, In what year, with what companions the blessed man made first for England, then for Norway, can be inferred neither from his Life inserted in the Breviary of Odense, nor from elsewhere. For of these journeys the author of the Breviary has nothing besides this: But coming, he says, to manly age … leaving his homeland and his kindred … he sought the English land. And having stayed there a short time … entering a ship, God favoring, with a favorable wind blowing he arrived in Norway… King Olaf, hearing of his fame, commanded him to be summoned to him and made him his chaplain. Whether the holy man came into Norway before or after the baptism of blessed Olaf is difficult to say, since on this matter there is silence in the monuments of history, and it can only be gathered from them that St. Thyudgar lived in Norway at the time when St. Olaf was reigning there. First of all, then, it must be seen when that king obtained the rule. That this took place in the very year of his baptism nearly all agree, although in determining the time of the baptism authors have at times differed among themselves. That in the twelfth century there were already three opinions is reported by a not despicable writer of this age In Langebek, Scriptt. rerum Danicarum, tom. V, pag. 311., Theodoric of Trondheim, in the Ecclesiastical History of the Norwegians, in these words: Then (that is, between the years 995 and 1000) he (Olaf I, King of Norway) had him (St. Olaf) baptized together with his mother, in that same place (in Uppland) according to some: others contend that he was baptized in England: but I too have read in the History of the Normans that he was baptized by Robert, metropolitan of Rouen in Normandy Ibid., pag. 322.: to which third opinion our predecessors have added their vote, referring the event to the year 1014 Cf. Acta SS., tom. VII of July, pag. 94 et seqq.. With whom we too assent. Since therefore St. Olaf was probably baptized about the year 1014, and no long time intervening, England however being sought first, he landed in Norway and seized the kingdom, we are of the opinion with our Bosch that the beginnings of his rule should be attached to the year 1014 or 1015. His death some refer to one time, others to another: but, the matter having been diligently discussed, the cited author judged that the year 1030 should be established. Following him here too, we consider that St. Olaf was king of Norway from about the year 1014 to 1030. From which it follows that St. Thyudgar dwelt in that region between the same years.

[6] giving himself as a companion to others, as may be supposed. In this land, so the writer of the Breviary, the man of God, most celebrated for his honorable conduct, merited to be distinguished with the dignity of the priesthood *, and to become chaplain of King Olaf: on whose death he preached the gospel and crossed into Denmark. But indeed in what way, not yet being made a priest, could he go to Norway to join its inhabitants to Christ? For a plan of this kind would have to be thought rash and imprudent, unless the holy man attached himself as companion to priests or bishops. But it is altogether credible that he in fact followed priests, who at that time were making the journey from England into Norway and proclaiming the Christian religion there. Certainly it is handed down by Theodoric of Trondheim that Olaf I brought with him from England into Norway religious men, namely Sigward the bishop, who had been ordained for this very purpose, that he might preach the word of God to the nations, and some others whom he could have with him, Theobrand, a Flemish priest, and also another, Thermo, likewise a priest; he had also some deacons Langebek, tom. V, pag. 318.. This apostolic expedition is recalled in nearly the same way by an Anonymous of the fifteenth century, published by P. A. Munch: Blessed Olaf … crossed to Norway having with him John the bishop, and Tangbrand the priest, whom he sent to preach to the people of the ice. He had also a good many other ministers of God, who all of one mind with one mouth began to evangelize Christ to the heathen Munch, Symbolæ ad hist. antiquarum rerum Norvegicarum, pag. 14.. Now these things took place about the year 995, nearly nineteen years before the coming of St. Olaf, another king of Norway Cf. Acta SS., tom. VII of July, pag. 94. Munch, op. cit., pag. 26.. He too, obtaining the kingdom in the year 1014 or 1015, had with him many bishops and priests from England… Of whom those renowned for doctrine and virtues were Sigafrid, Grimkil, Rudolf and Bernard [Adam of Bremen, Gesta Pontif. Hamb., in Migne, P. L., tom. 146, col. 540. Cf. Langebek, tom. I, pag. 55 et seq., 118, 336; tom. VI, pag. 615, 639 et seq.]. The same distinguished men are recorded by the Anonymous of the fifteenth century, who adds that they were bishops, and came with St. Olaf from England into Norway Munch, Symbolæ, pag. 18.. Whether St. Thyudgar belonged to this band and was created priest by one of these bishops I would not dare, on account of the scarcity of documents, to determine, although I judge it altogether probable.

[7] He makes for Denmark. After the death of St. Olaf, St. Thyudgar departed from Norway into Denmark. The provinces traversed by him there the old writers have not indicated; nay his labors would be wholly hidden from us, were these things not most opportunely read in the Breviary of Odense: A not small multitude of the Danes therefore being converted, the estate which is called Westerwich,

situated in northern Jutland, he entered, preached Jesus, the word of life, drew countless souls from the devil and acquired them for God. It adds that St. Thyudgar built a very poor church at Vestervig.

[8] [Whether St. Thyudgar was the first herald of the gospel in the district of Vendsyssel.] It follows that we should briefly discuss whether St. Thyudgar first, or before him Ebbo of Reims and his companion Halitgar, of whose efforts Langebek has collected much Langebek, tom. I, pag. 401., or St. Ansgar and St. Rimbert, proclaimed the gospel in the diocese of Vendsyssel or Børglum, of which Vestervig was a part. This province Ebbo and Halitgar did not undertake, nor, I believe, St. Ansgar, St. Rimbert, or another priest sent there by them or their successors. This certainly seems able to be inferred from no ancient document, although it is clear from Adam of Bremen [Gesta Hammaburg. Pontificum, lib. I, cap. 36, in Monum. Germ. hist., Scriptt., tom. VII, pag. 300.] that these apostolic men abstained from so excellent a work not on account of the ferocity of the people, but for another cause unknown to us. Nor does that same most diligent writer indicate any bishop or priest who before St. Thyudgar taught the Christian religion to the people of Vendsyssel or Vestervig. He does not explicitly name any heralds of the faith in these parts older than Magnus the monk and Albric. The former of whom, about the year 1065, Adalbert, archbishop of Hamburg, consecrated bishop … for Vendsyssel; for whom, when he was shipwrecked in the Elbe while returning after his ordination, he substituted the latter Ibid., lib. IV, cap. 209, pag. 369; cf. pag. 366.. Even if already before this (as Adam seems to signify to some extent) Unni and Adaldag, placed over the Church of Hamburg from the year 917 to 988, destined apostles for Vendsyssel Ibid., lib. II, cap. 47, pag. 304; cap. 50, pag. 307; cap. 69, pag. 314., yet none of them, I believe, reached Vestervig, or at least left traces of his labors there. For in the Breviaries of Odense and Schleswig one reads that St. Thyudgar drew countless inhabitants from the devil and acquired them for God, and because in the same place NO church had yet been built … erected there a SMALL basilica in honor of God. Similar things are sung of the holy priest in the responsories at the II and III lessons of the I nocturn of the Breviaries of Odense, Lund, Roskilde and Aarhus:

From his birth the Thuringian land first shone, But he taught the Danish peoples with honeyed tongue. Among the brutish peoples he scattered the words of salvation. He first built a church in this fort, In which he served Christ with devout breast. Teaching the faith of Christ with his mouth, he kept watch there.

Nor would I wonder that the people of Vestervig, gained for Christ by St. Thyudgar, were the chief flock of the bishops of this district, and that the bishopric of Vendsyssel was instituted for its benefit. For it was the custom of that age that among barbarous nations, such as the Danes, no episcopal sees were erected, unless a great part of them, or the king himself, had taken up the Christian religion [Cf. Jos. Bertrand, La Mission du Maduré, tom. I, Append., art. I, pag. 386 et seqq. Cf. Suhm, Historie af Danmark, tom. IV, pag. 377.].

[9] He seems to have been a Benedictine monk, The plan of this writing requires that we disclose what was the condition of St. Thyudgar. Whether he is to be called a monk or a secular priest or canon is not so easy a question. We are of the opinion, however, that he was a monk: although this is established neither from the Breviary of Schleswig, nor from other ancient monuments. We know however that the priests and bishops led from England by Olaf I were religious men [Theodoric of Trondheim, De regibus Norvagicis, cap. VIII, in Langebek, tom. V, pag. 318.], or, as Du Cange shows Gloss. latinit., under Religiosus., bound by the vow of religion: likewise that Rodulf, one of the chief ministers of God whom St. Olaf likewise called in from England, after many years spent in Norway returned to England, and there was placed as abbot over the Benedictine monastery of Abingdon [Chronicle of the monastery of Abingdon, tom. I, at the year 1052, pag. 463, London edit. 1858. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, at the year 1051, tom. II, pag. 143, London edit. 1861.]: which surely he would not have obtained, unless he had first embraced the monastic discipline. And these things sufficiently persuade us that these heralds of the gospel professed the religious life. Moreover at the time when St. Thyudgar sailed from Norway to Denmark (about the year 1030), Cornelius Hamsfort, a writer of annals of the sixteenth century [Regum Danorum series, in Langebek, tom. I, pag. 38; Chronol. secunda, ibid., pag. 269.], and Thomas Bartholin of the seventeenth century Ann., ibid., pag. 337. report, relying on the testimonies of the ancients, that Benedictine monks established their first seat in Denmark. Hence it is credible that our saint was one of them. There is the further point that John Adolf Cypræus, who, in writing the Annals of the bishops of Schleswig, had before his eyes many monuments of antiquity now lost, asserts that those who before the year 1096 taught and propagated the Christian religion in Denmark were of the Benedictine order; but that afterwards, the religious habit being changed, they changed also their name, and wished to be called canons regular, from the rule according to whose prescription they ordered their life Ann., cap. XXI, pag. 136.. If we follow this opinion, we must hold St. Thyudgar to be a Benedictine monk.

[10] and to have died about the middle of the eleventh century, That he died and was given burial at Vestervig we take from the often cited breviaries. But since the time is in no way signified there, we shall try to attain it from the history of the cult. Erik Pontoppidan (as he himself reports) read in old breviaries that the sepulchre of St. Thyudgar, a few years after his death, was seen shining with light by a certain Ulphric, a priest: who was persuaded by this that it was pleasing to God that the relics of the holy priest should be honored with public veneration. Albric, bishop of Børglum from the year 1066 to 1080, was unwilling to grant the power: who perhaps was less favorable to St. Thyudgar because he was a stranger from England. The Roman pontiff granted the faculty asked for. But meanwhile neither did Sweyn II himself, who was king of Denmark from the year 1047 to 1074, allow the raising to be celebrated, unless first, according to the custom usual among a good many peoples in the Middle Ages Ferrand, Disquisitio reliquiaria, lib. II, part. I, cap. III, pag. 460 et seqq., the bones were proved by fire. Some will suspect that St. Thyudgar was less acceptable to Sweyn, as having once been made chaplain of King Olaf, whom Sweyn's uncle and predecessor, Canute the Great, had conquered. The sacred remains were therefore brought into the fire: but since, as is narrated in the breviaries, they leapt back of their own accord from the flames, no one dared to doubt the holiness of the man, and it was established that thereafter his memory should be observed every year Pontoppidan, Ann. Eccl. Danicæ, tom. I, lib. II, cap. III, pag. 194.. Now since these things took place at the time when Sweyn and Albric were governing together, the one the kingdom, the other the diocese, and this could only happen from the year 1066 to 1074, it follows that the raising was celebrated between these years. This is confirmed by the Bartholinian Annals, where at the year 1067 one reads: The relics of St. Theotgarus are raised Langebek, tom. I, pag. 338.. But since the blessed man had died a few years before, rightly and deservedly his death will be referred to about the middle of the eleventh century. This being supposed, he must be judged to have lived in Denmark under Kings Canute II, Canute III, Magnus and Sweyn II, none of whom was hostile to the Christian religion [Cf. Adam of Bremen, lib. II, cap. 114, pag. 333; lib. III, cap. 129, pag. 339. Works of St. Gregory, part. I, epist. X, col. 495, in Migne, Patrol. lat., tom. CXLVIII.]. Peter Frederik Suhm judges that the day of his death was the 24th of June Historie af Danmark, tom. IV, pag. 377..

[11] on the 30th day of October. Although about the year 1070 cult was paid to St. Thyudgar, yet his remains, as is reported, were not placed in a casket before the year 1197 Cf. Daugaard, Danske Klostre, part. II, cap. IV, pag. 344.. They were religiously preserved in the monastery which had been erected at Vestervig, and which, first Benedictine, was afterwards changed into a college of canons of St. Augustine: which, on the authority of Cypræus, happened to many other Benedictine convents. On what day of the year the monks, and then the canons, kept the feast of their holy patron we do not know; because we have been able to obtain no breviary or old calendar either of Vestervig or of the diocese of Børglum, in which it lay, although learned friends, at my request, have given diligent effort to searching for such books at Copenhagen, Stockholm, London, Berlin and in other libraries. I consider however that it was the 30th of October, celebrated for the raising of the body, because at this day in the cited Breviaries of Odense, Schleswig, Aarhus, Lund and Roskilde, in the Missal of Schleswig of the year 1486, and in the martyrologies of other nations, of which we shall speak below, the memory of St. Thyudgar is set forth.

[12] His cult long remained in Denmark, In the year 1535 his relics were still held in great veneration in the church of Vestervig Ibid., pag. 347.; but what was afterwards done with them those writers on Danish affairs whom I could consult have not handed down to memory. It is very probable that they were destroyed by fire or in some other way by the Danish heretics, who no differently from the German Lutherans did away with so many relics of the saints Cf. ibid., pag. 344 et seqq.. The same may be said of those relics of St. Thyudgar which Christina, queen of Denmark, gave to the Friars Minor of Roskilde in the year 1519 Langebek, Scriptt. rerum Danicarum, tom. VIII, pag. 300.. And why only few things have reached us about the college of Vestervig and the cult paid to the holy patron there seems to have been the cause, that in the year 1703 a fire blazed in the buildings, ruinous to the archive. But an even harsher calamity had afflicted the monastery, namely when, in the sixteenth century, the provost with some canons passed over to the side of the Lutherans. How wretchedly the college was harassed in that same age and stripped of its goods is witnessed by these verses inscribed in the refectory:

Torquemur, trahimur, toleramus tetra, tacemus; Tanta tamen tollet tandem tortura triumphum.

[We are tortured, we are dragged, we bear foul things, we are silent; yet so great a torture will at last bring triumph.]

But it is not necessary that we say much on these and the remaining fortunes, which the reader will find set forth at length in a good many Danish writers [Trap, Statistisk-topographisk Beskrivelse af Danmark, tom. V, pag. 158 et seqq., edit. 1875. Suhm, Hist. af Danmark, tom. IV, pag. 377. Daugaard, op. cit., pag. 344.]. I will add one thing: the church of the monastery, which J. P. Trap shows drawn in his books Op. cit., tom. V, pag. 158., in the twelfth century

was built in the form of a Latin cross, but afterwards was so changed outwardly that only certain parts persisted in their ancient form. There are also to be seen in the same district the ruins of the parish church of St. Thyudgar Cf. ibid., pag. 160.. Finally in the village of Randrup a fountain once most useful to the blessed man, and thence made salutary, the inhabitants named by the name of St. Thyudgar, a cross being also erected with these words inscribed: Memorial of St. Thyudgar. This cross was piously preserved up to the eighteenth century Both, Danmark, En hist. topog. Beskriv., tom. II, pag. 114..

[13] and he became known elsewhere for his virtues. So far on the cult of the holy priest in Denmark. Outside this region he has more rarely been honored as a saint, since his name is absent from most martyrologies. Yet we read at the 30th day of October in the augmented Usuardian Martyrology of Hagenoy, of the end of the fourteenth or beginning of the fifteenth century, and likewise in the Usuardian Martyrology augmented by Greven in the years 1515 and 1521: In Dacia (that is, Denmark), of Theotgar, confessor. To these add Molanus, doctor of Louvain, who at the 30th day of October, St. Thyudgar being omitted in the augmented Usuardian Martyrology of the year 1568, wove into the second edition of his book, namely of the year 1573, this praise of the holy man taken from the Breviary of Schleswig: In Denmark, of St. Theodgar, confessor, who, by preaching the word of life, by devoutly celebrating the hours, Masses and other offices for Olaf the earthly king, served the heavenly king. The same holy priest is recorded by Ferrari at the 30th day of October in the general Catalogue of Saints who are not in the Roman Martyrology, who calls him a bishop. These matters having been discussed, we place before the eyes of the readers what is found in the Danish breviaries on St. Thyudgar.

* Eyder

* Wensyssel

* Copenhague

* Odensee

* dignitatem in edit.

OFFICE OF ST. THYUDGAR

from the Breviary of Odense of the year 1497.

Thyudgar, priest in Jutland. (S.)

BHL Number: 8069

FROM PRINTED SOURCES.

AT THE 3RD DAY BEFORE THE KALENDS OF NOVEMBER.

AT FIRST VESPERS.

Let us rejoice that we have as patron ANT. Rejoice, people of the Danes, In the honor of Theodgar, Through whom the king of the heavens Has caused the faith to be preached to you, And in the choirs of the Angels Now causes him to glory.

ANT. St. Theodgar, confessor of God and gracious patron, Make us sharers of the eternal crown.

ANT. This man knew justice and saw great wonders, and prayed earnestly to the Most High, and was found in the number of the saints, alleluia.

ANT. This man from his youth merited in part to cure the sick; the Lord gave him great brightness, to give light to the blind and to put demons to flight.

ANT. Thou who art powerful everywhere, thou hast done great things for us, bestowing on the world not only the medicines of thy passion, but also the suffrages of confessors, and so providing by manifold aid for those to be saved; we beseech thee on the yearly feast of Theodgar, that thou mayest ever fortify us with his patronage.

CAP. The Lord gave confession. (The rest from the common of one pontiff.)

℞ The tinder of leprosy is put to flight by the power of this man, While she offers tears and prays with pure heart. ℣ The unclean flesh is made clean, While it cleanses itself in the wave ^b.

HYMN. ^c

powerful, The star returning in the solar circle Has brought back the sacred feast of the confessor, Whose renowned merits shine with various signs. He restores healing to the diseased, Hearing to the deaf, speech to the silent, Strength to lame feet, and power to worthy prayers. He shone with celebrated praise while he lived, And hence after death the Creator bore him up, Bestowing on him the joys of the kingdom which he promised to his own. With sincere heart let us think on the saint, That he may wipe away for us the lament of Eve. May he gladly hear the song of this hymn with everlasting praise. To God alone be glory and power, Whose majesty glows red in the heavens, Who rules the world, governs the angels, three and one.

AT THE MAGNIFICAT.

who came to us ANT. From generation to generation the Lord has shown mercy, who led Israel out of Hur of the Chaldeans, and from the farthest bounds of the earth called St. Theodgar, that in this our land he might be a pilgrim and stranger, but in that homeland a heavenly fellow citizen of the saints and of the household of God; where he is given to us by God as patron. May he intercede continually for this holy people and for all peoples.

COLLECT.

O God, who hast given to thy people blessed Theodgar, thy confessor, as a minister of eternal salvation, grant, we beseech thee, that him whom we have had as teacher on earth we may merit always to have as intercessor in heaven. Through our Lord etc.

INVITATORY.

Let the world proclaim with jubilation the feast of Theodgar, Who is accustomed continually to help all diseases.

Hymn, psalms, responsories and versicles from the common of one confessor not a pontiff.

I NOCTURN.

an apostle in signs. ANT. Theodgar the servant of God, Ever remaining dear to God, Preached in Denmark The great deeds of the Saviour.

ANT. Of honorable parents He was renowned: But by his examples and manners He was more renowned.

ANT. Hastening to these parts, By preaching the word of life He converted to the Lord The rude crowds of men.

St. Thyudgar, a Thuringian, fulfilling the omen of his name, Lesson I ^e. When in various places the Church was strong in the origin and religion of holy fathers, blessed Theodgar, drawing his origin from honorable parents, appeared as a new star in the land of Thuringia, in an unknown land he stood known to God, and among barbarous and rude peoples he happily flowered like a lily among pricking thorns. And surely not without a certain heavenly presage was he distinguished with the title of so festive a name. For Theodgar is called dear to God ^f. For truly he showed himself dear to God, since by living piously and justly in his days he pleased God and was found just.

℞. The signs of Theodgar, done by divine favor, Denmark wonders at, rejoicing in his honor. ℣. Fixing the love of the heart On the confessor.

having lived holily in England. Lesson II. So from the first flower of boyhood he flowered in letters, in knowledge; and what is more precious, whatever he read in the holy books, he depicted in holy works. And coming to manly age, acting manfully, and mindful of the Lord who says: "Whoever leaves father or mother or fields for my name's sake shall receive a hundredfold," leaving his homeland and kindred, like another Abraham he went out from his land and kindred. And so, God ordering it, he sought the English land. And having stayed there a short time, living not in English but in angelic fashion, he still disposed ascents in his heart, that he might go from virtue to virtue, until the God of gods should be seen in Sion.

℞. From his birth the Thuringian land first shone, But he taught the Danish peoples with honeyed tongue. ℣. Among the brutish peoples He scattered the words of salvation.

then in Norway chaplain of Olaf, Lesson III. Wishing therefore to proceed from good things to better, entering a ship, God favoring, with a favorable ^g wind blowing, he arrived in Norway. In this land the man of God, most celebrated for his honorable conduct, merited to be distinguished with the dignity of the priesthood *. Whence also King Olaf, hearing of his fame, commanded him to be summoned to him and made him his chaplain. And because the Lord loved him, he magnified him in the sight of King Olaf. For the man of God too, by celebrating the hours and Masses and other divine offices day and night for the earthly king, served the heavenly king, and by preaching the word of God in fear and justice he strengthened his heart. Moreover the king gladly ^h received the words of the preacher, and embraced him with wondrous love, and venerated him with worthy honor as a priest of God.

℞. He first built a church in this fort; In which he served Christ with devout breast. ℣. Teaching the faith of Christ With his mouth, he kept watch there.

II NOCTURN.

ANT. Having true knowledge, First by the grace of God He began the church here.

ANT. Night and day he served here, Here he finished his holy life, For the sake of Jesus, with whom he lives.

ANT. Through him hope is given to the unworthy; From his brilliant signs The whole world becomes distinguished.

at last the apostle of Denmark, Lesson IV. Now it came about after the death of the renowned King Olaf that Theodgar was greatly saddened, and poured out tears and prayers for him to the Lord. Leaving that land, he betook himself to the parts of Dacia, that he might water the dry hearts of the barbarians with rivers * of salutary doctrine and convert unbelieving peoples to the faith of Christ. A not small multitude therefore being converted, the estate which is called Westerwich ⁱ he entered, preached Jesus, the word of life, drew countless souls from the devil, and acquired them for God. But because in the same place no church had yet been built, he himself as a poor man of Christ, rods and osiers being acquired at a price given, erected there a small basilica in honor of God ^k. In which he celebrated the solemnities of the holy Masses, and prayed frequently for the people of God.

℞. Certain men, seizing the blessed bones through the darkness, Are deprived of sight, until the bones are brought back. ℣. Neither do they see the light, Nor do they pass the river by boat.

in virtues Lesson V. He visited the sick, he consoled widows. To shepherds also and farmers, like a good farmer, he sowed daily the seeds of the word of God. And he especially kept this custom, that when he came to table, he divided the food brought into three parts. Of which, keeping one part for himself, he paid out the other two to the poor. The people therefore, beholding and wondering at his holiness, venerated him with wondrous affection, so that they faithfully and willingly offered him tithes, and in a short time made him rich and abounding in goods.

℞. Although the bones were thrown into the midst of the ashes, They felt not the pyre, but power shone in them. ℣. The people are stupefied that these Fly unharmed above the altar.

pursuing more perfect things, he is presented with the reward. Lesson VI. He abounded therefore in riches, but he would not set his heart on them. Nay often turning over in heart and mouth that saying of the psalmist: "Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor," he both unstintingly dispersed and gave to the poor, that his justice might remain for ever and ever. Advancing * in good things and not ceasing, he well understood what the ankle-length tunic of Joseph signified, since he brought his good work to completion up to the end of life. At length the pious Lord, wishing to reward the labor of his servant with a heavenly recompense, on the eighth before the kalends of July called him to himself, rendering rest for labor, joy for sorrow, heavenly things for earthly, eternal things for transitory. So his whole soul, borne up on the wings of the virtues, flew away to the heavens, and his body, buried with honor, rested for many times in the earth.

℞. She who for her sins cannot enter his church, While she asks him, the woman merits to go to the holy places. ℣. True confession indeed Looses all crimes.

III NOCTURN.

ANT. Certain despairing sailors, Hastening to the sepulchre, He freed from pirates And placed in harbor.

ANT. Not only to men Using reason, But also to brute creatures He brought the hope of salvation.

ANT. On the woman standing outside, Not entering the sacred building, The saint piously has mercy, While she confesses her guilt.

GOSPEL. Watch and pray, for you know not etc. from the common.

℞. Restraining the swollen sea and the plunder of robbers,

This saint delivers the sailors and their ship,

℣. While they make their promises,

And send gifts to the saint.

℞. A certain woman, blinded through Satan, began to offer prayers:

The saint has compassion, and the blind woman received her sight.

℣. Sparing the innocent,

He restores new stars to her brow.

℞. By his power the taint of a leper is put to flight,

While he offers tears and prays with a pure heart.

℣. The unclean is made clean,

While the flesh cleanses itself in the wave.

AT LAUDS.

ANT. A certain man put off his leprosy,

And put on a clean body,

While he washed himself with weeping

And had hope in this saint.

ANT. The saint three times blinded a thief,

And three times restored his sight ^l.

ANT. A fruit-bearing olive,

The saint merited to be called,

For the sacred works

Which he performed while living.

ANT. From the olive is born

Light, food, anointing:

So the blessed man is called

Threefold in his help.

ANT. He profits the blind with sight,

He refreshes many with food,

He makes the sick well.

AT THE BENEDICTUS. He is the healing of the infirm,

The saint is the healing of the blind,

The foot and safeguard of the lame.

AT THE HOURS, the antiphons from Lauds.

SECOND VESPERS.

The antiphons from Lauds, the psalms from the common of one

martyr.

ANTIPHON AT THE MAGNIFICAT.

O excellent confessor,

Protector of sinners,

Who already shine in the repose

Of the citizens above,

To your servants on this day

Bring your aid.

ANNOTATIONS.

* dignitatem in the edition.

* fluvius in the edition.

* in the edition servabit

* in the edition affecerunt

* proficiscens in the edition.